thank you for watching. it's time for "ac 360." good evening. tonight i want to show you a pair of live pictures. on the left, the iowa event center in des moines. on the right, drake yesterday, also in des moines, just three miles away. in just about an hour on the left, the final republican debate before the caucuses on monday. all the leading candidates except donald trump. also in just about an hour on the right, donald trump. just moments from now on this program, donald trump as well. a 360 exclusive. breanna keilar sat down with him on the jet. the interview is just wrapping up. we'll bring it to you as soon as we physical can because it was quite a conversation and a totally unique moment in american politics.

donald trump pulling out of tonight's debate taking on fox news directly. his gamble that they've not been watching the debates to see all the candidates. trump is betting they've been tuning in to see him. he's holding his own event tonight. not every veterans group supports it. not every caucus watcher or political professional thinks that skipping a debate is a good idea either. then again, donald trump has made his bones by proving the professionals wrong time and time again. sunlan, let's talk about skipping the last debate before the iowa caucuses, holding this fund-raiser. what do people expect from him and what is this event he's going to hold? what does it entail? >> we can read a lot into what to expect by the way this was arranged. no coincidence donald trump will be speaking here at drake university in an hour at the same time the debate will be starting. the trump campaign aware of that

split screen image they want to present. i'm here outside of the event. you can see this line behind me. it goes blocks down the street. you can tell people very excited to be here. the first person i talked to today started lining up at 11:30 a.m. inside, there's 700 people that will be allowed inside. drake university first to send a press release saying the trump campaign has significant overticketed the event. the trump campaign has set up an oerflow area. bone-chilling weather but big television screens set up so those who are excited to see trump will be able to. this is billed as a veterans event. we expect to hear that on stage. all day it's been a mystery where the fund-raising money would go to. trump's son tweeting out tonight that he'll reveal on stage tonight where this money is going to. >> so some of the other

republican candidates are planning to join him. the ones on the undercard debate. but is this basically just a trump talking event? is he just going to be talking? are other people going to be talking? how is this raising funds? do we know? >> that's is the big question. i had the same question. i talked to many people online. they were not asked to donate any donations when they registered to come to this event. inside it's a similar experience. people are not being prompted in any way to give any money. not sure how that one to one transaction will work. the trump campaign thinking people will be inspired to donate to the donald trump website where they are funneling these funds and later it will be revealed where the funds get divvied out to organizations. mike huckabee will be here. rick santorum will be here. we're not sure what capacity, whether they'll appear on stage with donald trump or not. both candidates rival candidates of donald trump saying theyed to be here to support the veterans.

and they say they will make a donation as well. >> sunlen, thank you. we'll be talking to mike huckabee shortly. until a couple of days, too was supposed to be the debate. sara murray joins us from outside the venue -- excuse me, from inside. the debate stage without donald trump. how are the other republican candidates preparing for a debate without the front-runner. his shadow is looming large, even though he's not there. >> anderson, it will certainly be an interesting dynamic. remember for a number of these debates, donald trump faded into the background. he's been prominent front and center. this may give some of the candidates more talking time. it could also mean that senator ted cruz, one of the front-runners in iowa, could be the prime target. that's something we're hearing from his campaign. some staffers were joking they hoped donald trump would show up at the last minute because that may take a little heat off

senator cruz. that's what's we're preparing for here. you can see much feistier exchanges between senator rubio, senator cruz and even people like governor chris kichristie o were hoping to use these final days to boost their poll numbers. >> sara, thank you. a night like no other. governor huckabee will be on this broadcast. as well as an interview with donald trump. that interview just wrapping up. we'll try to turn that as quickly as possible and bring it to you as soon as we have it. joining us is anchor of inside politics john king, gloria borger, dana bush, ana navarro, carpenter, kevin mad n madden. >> do you have that programmed? >> i say that every night before i go to bed. >> and i'm working on teaching

him how to do it in spanish. >> have you ever seen a night like this? in presidential politics? >> no, but i've said that several times. it's almost become commonplace to expect the unexpected. but, look, i think there's been a lot of talk back and forth. is trump making a mistake? he's going to be in the lfd this story if he showed up and he's going to be in the lead if he doesn't show up. he's dominating -- we haven't mentioned cruz, rubio, or any of the others here yet. the entire attention is focused on donald trump. and he's escaped what could have been a difficult debate for himself a few days before the caucuses. i kind of think it's pretty savvy on his part. >> yes again, as we have seen before, he's dominating the conversation no matter what he does. >> just even the visual of it, the stagecraft. he's a genius.

the fact he's got his plane sitting there on the tarmac knowing full well there's no way it's an accident there's going to be this split screen that someone was just talking about between the plane, trump air and the debate. >> breanna keilar was doing the interview on the plane? >> that's correct. >> that's what's happening inside the plane. >> on air trump one. >> he made an emotional decision on this. got angry at roger ailes. angry at the way they spoke about him. made an emotional decision and then turned around and turned it into something that could work for him. as you say -- >> that's been the whole campaign. >> he's like a scrambling quarterback. he improvises and then makes the most of what he has. >> total improviser. comes from doing reality tv. >> exactly. >> an article in "the wall street journal" where the reporter spent several days with him watching how he makes decisions. and his -- it really seems like, not only does he have a small group around him. he seems to be making a lot of these calls by his guts, his

intellect on the fly just based on watching tv, reading polls, and sheer instinct. >> there's a minor point of what that would mean if you are president of the united states. >> we'll know monday night if this is the right or wrong decision. here's a guy in the lead or tied for the lead in iowa. we'll see if he can turn out his vote. the calculation inside the trump campaign is if you around undecided republican, you're probably not going to go his way. he's gotten what he's gotten. if he can turn out what he has, he's going to either win or be a competitive second place to ted cruz who has a strong organization on the ground in iowa. y a fight with fox news and megyn kelly. he keeps telling her, he hates her. >> seven th grade. >> no, third grade. he keeps telling her he hates her. there's something more to it. he knows ted cruz is going to take a lot of harpoons. ted cruz is the threat to him in iowa. donald trump will not take

harpoons. how many times did you say you were pro-choice? your economy does better under democrats? how many times did you say hillary clinton was great before it was a disaster? and now guess what. huckabee and santorum are coming to the trump event. every vote they get comes from ted cruz. donald trump knows what he's doing. >> jeff, i have to ask you. john mentioned megyn kelly. i want to show you a tweet donald trump retweeted. "and this is the bimbo asking presidential questions. and underneath it says criticizing trump for objectifying women, poses like this in "gq" magazine with a photo of her posing in "gq" magazine. is this presidential language to be tweeting this and those pictures? is that presidential behavior? >> in the 21st century that we're headed to with twitter, there may be other presidents who start doing this.

>> using the term bimbo and retweet -- >> this gets to political correctness. wait, no -- >> you are saying political correctne correctness. there's political correctness and political behavior and decency. >> well, bill clinton wasn't into presidential debehavior. we've had lots of presidents not into presidential behavior. >> what donald trump has done is reinvent presidential and political convention here. he is as a fellow colleague, cnn colleague, said in a column and rush limbaugh compared him to steve jobs, to amazon, uber, this is not your father's presidential campaign. this is a totally different way of approaching american politics, approaching convention. the political correctness thing is done. we're done with that. whatever comes out, comes out. >> to me, that -- to me, that retweet just validates the questions megyn kelly was asking. for a guy whose wife is a former supermodel who posed on "gq" in

a provocative pose and could be first lady of the united states, for him to be throwing around -- >> are you saying mrs. trump say bimbo? >> no, but for a guy who has had plenty of people in his family who have posed provocatively. why isn't it fine for a woman to pose provocatively. >> because this entire campaign, since june when he's been doing things which would have killed any other candidate, whether it is coming out and offending p.o.w.s, coming out and saying he's never asked god for forgiveness, telling people of iowa in their state in their face, they are stupid. he's done things we have said over and over again, this has got to be the straw that breaks the camel's back. but he can't. he gets away with it. the reason he's doing this is because he's a new york manhattan billionaire who acts like one. he can do it.

if you -- he'll sue you and counterattack and try to squish you because he has the big pockets and big ego. >> the key to donald trump's entire campaign has been to dominate the headlines with whatever outrage from day-to-day. that's how he leads in the polls because he thinks the polls are like ratings. look what he's doing to fox news. i'm not coming. i'm going to hurt you. he's monetizing the political process. >> he's talking about their ratings saying they're going to go down. this is going to cost you. >> this is the political process. he's saying it's about money at the end of the day. that speaks to the kind of person donald trump is. i hope that view does not prevail. >> it is grotesque, but does anybody around this table doubt that fox news will lose viewers tonight from that debate because there will be a lot of people turning in to a live streaming that every other network is going to put on? >> that's for fox news. the tv networks can worry about ratings. we need to worry about what the ideas are that are on the table. if donald trump, you can look

and see that he is not a team player. at the end of the day he is in it for donald trump and donald trump only, not the republicans and not -- >> what do you make of huckabee and santorum going to this event? >> other than the fact they're trying to get as much attention as possible? the old saying if you're going to get run out of town and come monday, they may be run out of town. if you'll get run out of town, get in front and make it look like a parade. that may be what they are trying to do. grasp on to the last embers of their own campaign and some attention toward their campaign. >> let's remember, these 24 guys who won the iowa caucuses and now are relegated to being like two little minnows that swim behind the shark. >> they are bobbles on donald trump's charm bracelet. >> but they don't like ted cruz. >> we will count their votes monday night and dr. carson's votes monday night. what those three get will have a lot to say about what the margin

is at the top. >> this is not so much how much they love donald trump but how much they don't like ted cruz. >> and that's the big question. is this the first sign of other folks within the campaign starting to move their infrastructure toward donald trump, where the -- when the rest of the field begins to winnow to only a handful, three or four candidates, do they start to see their supporters as well? >> there's a lot of complicated strategies going on. you saw the governor. you saw taking his position against cruz. you saw senator grassley appear at a trump rally. the establishment of the republican party has decided that donald trump in iowa is their vehicle to stop ted cruz. and they want to stop ted cruz in iowa. if he wins iowa, he could be a very formidable candidate in this race. so they are making an embargo with trump now thinking they can catch him later. maybe rubio catches fire. >> as a member of the republican

establishment, that's a risky bet. >> let's stop cruz now and stop trump later? >> the one thing under the radar with so much focus on trump, and i saw this in iowa, is that to your point about huckabee and santorum and cruz trying to stop him. they have been, and people who like them, have been trying very hard to push the evangelical vote away from ted cruz with a lot of things. whether it is on immigration or other issues. they have been very much trying to chip away at that because he's doing so well with evangelicals and that is historically the ball game in iowa. we'll taik a quick break and check back in kwiwith all of ou panelists here. our iowa coverage continues throughout the evening. just ahead, we're scrambling to bring you that interview with donald trump. he just sat down with breanna keilar on his boeing 757. this is live at a trump event.

you can see there the crowd is energized. a lot of trump fans. that that's expected to start soon as well. we'll talk about which veterans group or groups may benefit from it, as well as why some veterans think the only one who stands to gain tonight is donald trump. more ahead.

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as we said, breanna keilar just wrapped up her interview with donald trump. his event tonight about 40 minutes away. he's billing it has a fund-raiser but has not said which veterans groups will benefit. his son tweetd his father will reveal which groups will receive donation during his event tonight. one group, vote vets, says he's using veterans as a prop. joining me is a vote vets senior adviser and former navy adviser. he's also a democrat. also jeffrey lord. you say trump is exploiting the veterans issue, that he's using it as a prop in order to hide behind his lack of policy initiatives. how so? he does have, or his campaign says they have some policy issues on their website. >> well, listen, if donald trump wants to give money to veterans, he should give money to veterans. why does he have to hide behind us because he's afraid of megyn

kelly. the person that wrote that forum doesn't even know the department of veterans affairs has been a cabinet level agency since 1988. they are still calling it the veterans administration. basically it reads about the depth of policy you'd expect from donald trump when you've heard it on the trail so far. reads like somebody googled what's wrong with the v.a. and cut and pasted what they found. very little depth or understanding of what veterans do. very little understanding of what veterans need. and, like really like donald trump, much of his campaign, no depth there. >> jeff, i want you to be able to respond. donald trump obviously has been vocal about veterans saying how much he loves the veterans from the beginning. claims to have introduced veterans issues into his campaign. if you look at his charitable foundation which is doling out the donations from tonight's event. and of the nearly $6 million it donated over that period, only

$77,000 went to veteran related chari charities. to peter's point, is he using veterans? >> no, i don't think he's using veterans. being a veteran in politics, john kerry sailed into boston harbor on a boat that was supposed to recall memories of his own military career. general wesley made a beg deal out of the fact he was a general. injecting military backgrounds and veterans -- >> donald trump is not a veteran himself. >> peter, i assume, is a supporter of hillary clinton. neither is she. she certainly could have joined the military. there were ladies in the military in the 1960s. she didn't join either. i think with all due respect to peter and his service, we have to say must be appreciated. and thank him for it. one of the values he fights for is freedom and liberty to sit on panels like this. he clearly is a hillary clinton

supporter. that's fine. ing his criticism of donald trump comes from that background. >> peter is that where you criticism comes from that, in fact, you are a democrat? >> my counterpart is clearly a donald trump supporter. we've aired that. donald trump does not have a military background. he went to a ritzy little military prep school and yet goes about denigrating veterans. it wasn't democrats he went after this summer. he denigrated the service of john mccain and prisoners of war. genuine american war heroes and denigrated their service. he has never worn the uniform a day in his life and thought nothing of denigrating their service. when he had a press conference in front of a naval warship to say he was pro-veterans, trotted out more props for him. talked about this big veterans group that was going to be with him. and it turned out that veterans group didn't exist. two guys standing behind him. i don't know what this event is

about in iowa. it seems he's really scared of megyn kelly, really scared of being uncovered for the fraud he is for the lack of depth that he has. the fact he's more p.t. barnum than commander in chief. i don't know what this event is but certainly has nothing do to do with veterans other than they serve his public relations interest. >> jeff, why do you think it's needed to have an event that he says is for veterans that's, as far as we know, we don't know who else is coming. maybe he'll have veterans speaking. it seems like it's going to be donald trump speaking. his whole family will be there. i y put it under the mantel of veterans? >> i assume he wanted to make a point here and do something for veterans. again, the quarterback. david's point about the quarterback. i think that we got into this situation with fox. he wanted an alternative and his first thought was a good one. let's do something to help veterans. i don't think he should be criticized for that.

president obama didn't serve in the military. president clinton was accused repeatedly of being a quote/unquote draft dodger. hillary clinton didn't serve. ted cruz i don't believe has served in the military. we have presidents who haven't served and presidents who have served. i really don't think there's anything unusual about donald trump in that respect. >> what about ted cruz and carly fiorina saying they'd donate to veterans charities if donald trump would debate them either one or one or carly fiorina wanted to get into a debate with ted cruz. >> they're all cut from the same cloth. you don't have to serve from a commander in chief but you have to know what veteran goes through. hillary clinton has that. when you see ted cruz getting out there trying to jump into this, they are cut from the same cloths. it's the same issue. they are using veterans as a pr stunt. i'm a new yorker. and new york has a special law that dates back to the civil war where if you are a veteran, you can get a special license and sell products on the street in

new york city. it's a way to encourage veterans to help take care of them that they can earn an honest buck. what donald trump has fought for 20 years against them because he didn't want veterans selling t-shirts outside his ritzy hotels in manhattan. he kicked them to the curb literally. fighting against it for 20 years. had them kicked off fifth avenue. that's how much donald trump cares about veterans. when you see this pr stunt tonight, when you look at his background, he doesn't care about veterans. ted cruz is no better. he just wants to get in on the pr gimmicks as well. >> jeff, have the final thought. >> i think what donald trump does in terms of who is or is not in front of his buildings applies to anybody. there's nobody. i was in trump tower the other week. there's nobody out there, veterans or anyone else. to say this saul about veterans is just flatly false. peter, and i respect him for it, he's a partisan democrat. and i get that. i'm a trump supporter. he gets that.

so i don't really think this criticism comes -- i heard from one today whom i don't know who happened to see peter on television earlier today, and was quite unhappy and said that her husband, she and her husband, were very strong supporters. and her husband was a vietnam vet who was disabled. so there's a lot of diversity of opinion. >> a lot of diversity of opinion among veterans. jeffrey lord, peter, appreciate your perspective as well. jeff is going to stick around. we work to turn around breanna keilar's interview with trump. we'll get some quick thoughts from the panel about this truly remarkable night to say the least. we'll be right back. with it neutralizes stomach acid and is the only product that forms a protective barrier that helps keep stomach acid in the stomach where it belongs. for fast-acting, long-lasting relief. try gaviscon®.

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wife, his daughter and sons looking on the entire time. and we talked about how he decided not to go to this fox news debate tonight. he was fielding phone calls all day from fox news, including roger ailes. he got a phone call apologizing. wouldn't say who apologized. he might have considered going to the debate but at this point it was too late and he already had this event scheduled for veterans in des moines and he was unable to go. here's the interview. mr. trump, i want to clear something up right off the bat because i've heard from people over at the debate site and i know a lot of them are expecting and hoping you'll make some sort of appearance tonight, even if it's in the spin room. do you think that's something you'll do? >> what's happened is when i said we won't do the debate because, as you know, i was treated not so nicely and at some point you have to put your foot down. what i said is we'll do something for our veterans.

we're going to have a big fund-raiser. it's already set up. i just saw on cnn we have thousands of people standing in line. it's a big event and it's taken a whole life of its own. i'll be going there. we're going to raise a lot of money. we've already raised a lot of money for the vets. >> put aside the fact you're upset with fox news, we are just a few days from the caucuses. there are a lot of iowa republicans who are undecided. do they deserve to hear you on the debate stage tonight answering tough questions? >> well, i think they will hear me because i'm going to be up there for an hour, hour and a half at a bigger event and we're going to have more people than they have. >> but getting questioned asked by a moderator. >> i've had six debates and according to every online poll, i've won every debate. they've asked me every question they can probably ask me. i guess we have five other debates scheduled after this, which is a lot of debates. the democrats are already finished wuths their debates. >> i think they are having more

now -- >> i understand they want to do some more. >> i hear you say there have been several debates. back in 2011 when republicans had gone through several debates you were hoping to do a debate and they started bailing on the idea. you told megyn kelly at the time they weren't showing courage or bravery. here you find yourself bailing on the idea of having another one. >> that was an interesting thing. newsmax called me out of the play saying we'd love to have you host a debate. i said i'll do that if you want me to do that. not something i've ever done before but think i could do it pretty well. i could do it okay. so i was willing to host the debate. but i think they were a little concerned with me as a moderator because they think i might have been a fairly tough moderator, which i would have been fair. >> you have an issue with one of the moderators of the debate. how is it any different? >> well, i'm not a person that respects megyn kelly very much. i think she's highly overrated.

other than that, i don't care. when fox called me because they very much want me here. they called me just before you walked on the plane. in all fair, very nicely. but they want me there nicely. i never once asked that she be removed. what i didn't like is their public relations statement where they were sort of taunting. i didn't think it was appropriate or nice. >> don't you sometimes put out press releases that are somewhat similar in tone to the one you object to. >> i can understand that. for me, i didn't think it was appropriate right before the debate. >> you do have this well-documented beef with megyn kelly. we've seen it go back and forth at this point. >> and i think she's fine. i think she's fine. it doesn't matter. she asked me a question which i thought was inappropriate. i think it was unfair. i gave her a good answer. i was my -- it was my rosie o'donnell answer. and to be honest, i won that debate according to every online poll and many pundits.

i regret also asking a question which was the raise your hand question, which was not exactly an easy thing to do. but i love the debates. i've probably given more interviews than anybody -- in fact, i'm credited with that, whether it's you or anybody else. i've given more interviews than anybody. i've been in six debates. i've done well in every debate. everybody said i won the last one. i enjoyed the process. i just didn't think this was a fair process. by the time they apologized i said, look. the problem is we now have a big event scheduled. >> on the phone they apologized? >> fox could not have been nicer. >> you got an apology? >> yes. >> who apologized? >> i don't want to say. >> when it comes to megyn kelly and you've had this beef, you raised the idea of the word bim l bo. >> you said the word and retweeted -- >> i said i don't want to use it. >> you've retweeted followers

who have used the word. why? >> they are followers. that's a retweet. that's different. look, i haven't had a very good relationship with her. i think she treats me very unfairly. she covers me all the time. for somebody that doesn't want to necessarily like donald trump, i'm always covered. i'm on her show all the time. i just don't think she treats me fairly. she's got to do what she's got to do. i don't think she treats me fairly. it's one of those things. >> ted cruz, not just ted cruz but those who support him, have been hammering you when it comes to your previous -- >> i'm hammering him on his views and where he was born. he's very weak on -- >> but you says to my colleague just recently, dana bash. you said i don't want to talk about that when asked about your previous support for late-term aborti abortion. >> i am pro-life. everybody knows i'm pro-life. he knows i'm pro-life. ted cruz also took a

commercial -- wait a minute. ted cruz took a commercial that i ripped down an old lady's house. he said ripped down. he said he destroyed -- because of eminent domain. which is very important. you wouldn't have roads or schools. the house was never ripped down. i never ripped down the house. she doesn't want to do it. ultimately, i said let's not do it. >> this is my question, though -- >> brianna, he did a big commercial and said i ripped down a person's house. >> what about not talking about this issue of late-term abortion. >> it has a lot to do with it because he's very dishonest. he said i ripped down a house of an elderly lady and i didn't rip it down. >> and you've said that, certainly, and that's in the interview. >> but he never apologized. >> was this you bailing on this debate so you didn't have to talk about things like this issue that's you clearly don't want to address. >> not at all. i'm doong interview with you and

with bill o'reilly. >> i'm answering every question. you're hear a long time. a lot longer than you're supposed to be. i'm doing interviews last night with bill o'reilly. he evened so, i'm so surprised you did the interview. i have nothing to hide. i've done more interviews than anybody. i've done the debates. i was insulted by fox and i said it's not time to do it. i think you'll find a lot of voters and caucusgoers will say he's the one person that will stand up for himself. when it comes to this country we have nobody that stands up. with the iran deal, instead of walking out of the room, we took everything they gave us and gave them $150 billion, and it's a disaster. we didn't get our prisoners back until everything was done. then they put guns to our sailors' heads. we need people that are going to stand up for themselves and the country. >> focussing on tonight.

what do you say to that iowa voter who may say, i like donald trump. now maybe they are backing away, they are turned off because they feel this is just a bunch of drama? >> brianna, i wanted to fight for myself, just like i'll fight for the country. i was treated for badly and unfairly by fox. fox was very nice -- >> fox aside. what about the voters? >> i was treated very unfairly by fox. since then, they've been excellent, very nice. but it's too late. we have an event and we're going to make a lot of money. over $5 million for the veterans. probably more than that. but i was treated very unfairly since then. fine. what i say is this. you have to stick up for yourself. you have fight for yourself and fight for your country. and a lot of people are saying, i really respect trump because he took on the establishment, which in this case is fox. he took on the establishment. and you know who else respects him? fox respects him. and they told me that. >> you've been going back and

forth, certainly there's been some criticism of you from ted cruz when it comes to immigration. you talked about sending undocumented immigrants back to their home countries and then allowing the, quote, good ones back in. ted cruz has called that touchback amnesty. >> i was just endorsed by sheriff joe of arizona. nobody tougher on immigration. he chose me because he understands me and my plan. ted was totally in favor of amnesty. ted didn't want to build a wall. now he's saying he wants to build a wall. ted was saying -- ted was very weak on illegal immigration. and just to go a step further. if i didn't bring up illegal immigration it never even would have been a subject. you wouldn't be asking me that question. you would have never been asking me that question. we are going to have borders. we are going to have a wall. mexico is going to pay for that wall. everyone sort of smiles when i say that. they think it's impossible. the reason they're going to pay is because they make a fortune

with our country. with trade and other things coming across that border. that very porous border. so we're going to have a border and a country again. >> i've heard -- you joked about, you can shoot people and wouldn't lose supporters. i've heard some say, that's kind of maybe taking supporters for granted. are you taking your supporters for granted. >> not at all. and that was done, obviously, in a very joking manner and a lot of people laughed. i was smiling. they were smiling. everybody was smiling. and the truth is your own report, your own polling said that, by far, trump has supporters that will never leave him. i was up to 68% or 69% and then got even into the 90%. we have great people. i have great supporters. just amazing people. i am in love with the people. i cherish these people. they are really great. and i'm very proud of that. to me, that makes me very proud that i have people that are so strong in favor of me. by the way, far stronger than

any other candidate by a long shot. >> before i do leave, i want to ask you more about this event tonight. who is going to be with you on stage if you're going to be talking specifically about the veterans groups you plan on donating money to? >> it's a tremendous evening. it's become a tremendous evening which is really one of the reasons i just can't go to the debate now. >> would you if you didn't have the event planned? >> i might have because fox was very nice to me. they couldn't have been nicer. i spoke to the top people. they couldn't have been nicer. i might have. this took on a life of its own. you covered it bettered than anybody. you've seen the thousands of people standing in line. we're very proud of the event. it was done over about a 24-hour period, which is pretty amazing. we are going to raise a lot of money for veterans today. the veterans have been treated horribly in our country. we're going to take care of our veterans. and one thing i'll say about the debates. with all of the time i've debated. i've gone through six debates

and done well. i don't think any question has been asked of me or anybody else of the veterans. they forget about the veterans. the veterans are like forgotten about. even in the debates, the veterans aren't discussed or talked about. and what i'm going to be doing is we're going to be talking about them and doing more than talking. we're going to be raising millions of dollars tonight for the veterans. >> mr. trump, thank you. really appreciate you making the time. >> fascinating interview, brianna. and what trump said is very true. he's given more interviews and more accessible as a candidate than any candidate we've ever seen, certainly in a long, long time. >> he certainly has given a number of interviews, and that really is sort of the forum that he clearly preers if. one on one with a reporter. compared to the debates where he hasn't necessarily -- he talks about how he's won them. a lot of observers look at the debates and say there are other candidates who create their moments. and donald trump really creates his moments instead out of the

campaign trail. clearly what he wanted to do tonight, though, was to hit ted cruz in a forum where ted cruz could not defend himself. that was a pretty interesting sort of thing he was trying to do. instead of appearing in a debate. he would have gotten that pushback from cruz. >> cruz now will also probably be the focus from a number of candidates on that stage tonight who might not have otherwise been. brianna keilar, thank you for being with us. we wait for the trump event and the everyone but trump event. we'll be joined by mike huckabee right after the break. when heartburn hits

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welcome back. two big events tonight just moments away in des moines. the fox debate and the trump event which he says is for veterans. you guys just heard the donald trump interview. fascinating interview, frankly as it usually is. >> i've never heard a candidate asked about abortion and answers talking about eminent domain. trump is just great at it. just wanders and goes where he

wants to be. >> for fans of linear thinking, it's not for you. >> again, i have been saying this from the first trump speeches. he is unlike any other politician in that even if he's not answering the question, you feel he's doing it in a way that is genuinely authentic to him. it's not a canned answer. you sense his mind is working and maybe he's dodging things but doing it in a way that seems like it's a real person talking. >> if he has any talking points, he's jotted them down himself. he doesn't have anyone telling him what to say. >> what was interesting about brianna's interview, he seemed a little wistful about not being able to go to the debate because, after all, fox apologized. >> that's really the -- probably one of the big headlines from this interview. let's play that. >> i was treated very unfairly by fox. since then, they've been excellent, very nice. but it's too late because we

have an event and we're going to make a lot of money. over $5 million for the veterans. probably more than that. but i was treated very unfairly. since then, fine. what i say is this. you have to stick up yourself. you have to fight for yourself. and you have to fight for your country. and a lot of people are saying, i really respect trump because he took on the establishment, which in this case is fox. he took on the establishment. and you know who else respects it? fox respects it. and they told me that. >> of course, he wouldn't say who he spoke to at fox. the higher-ups. it's interesting to hear him linking his fighting back against fox with fighting for the country. >> i think he knows what his comparative advantages are. and that pugnaciousness is what people are responding to. but i also think he doesn't want to bear the impetus for not being there tonight. if they had just spoken up sooner and apologized sooner, i would have loved to be there. he wants to have his cake and eat it, too.

>> he also calls fox the establishment. ted cruz has been trying to portray donald trump as the establishment and donald trump is having a fight with fox news. he says i'm not. they're the establishment. >> david or gloria, somebody made the point that without donald trump being on that stage tonight not only is a shadow looming large but other candidates are probably going to go and bear their fire on ted cruz to a greater extent. >> i think that's largely right. cruz is a very good debater and smart candidate. he's going to try and turn this opportunity into a two-hour attack ad against donald trump. donald trump won't thereby to defend himself for the next 120 minutes. he could also use it to his advantage. >> what would be remarkable if the rest of them decided to ignore the guy. that would kill donald trump if for two hours all of them refuse to mention his name. he whose name shall not be

mentioned. >> we're going to take a short break. more on the other side. more from the donald trump interview in just a moment. price match guarantee. and this? yep! so no monkey business, no tomfoolery? oh, we do have tom foolery, tom. staples has a price match guarantee. make low prices happen. staples make more happen. these are the hands that build the machines, the machines that sort, stack and seal. these are the hands that keep private information private.

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welcome back. just want to show you another moment from brianna keilar's interview with donald trump that occurred just moments ago. let's watch. >> put aside the fact that you are upset at this point with fox news, we are right now just a few days from the caucuses. there are a lot of iowa republicans who are undecided. do they deserve to hear you on the debate stage tonight answering tough questions? >> well, i think they will hear me because i'm going to be up there for an hour or hour and a half at a bigger event. we'll have more people than they have. >> but getting questions asked of you by a moderator. >> i've had six debates and according to every single online poll and particularly in the last one, i've won the debate. they've asked me every question they can probably ask me. i guess we have five other

debates scheduled after this one, which say lot of debates. the democrats are already finished with their debates. >> i think they are already have more. >> i understand now they want to have more. >> at least hillary clinton would like to do some more. we'll see if that occurs. how does donald trump judge success tonight? ratings? >> it's always ratings. >> or just sheer media attention? >> for him, they are one in the same. it's hard for me to believe that if fox news, from his perspective, does like really flop in the ratings. i also found it really interesting he was pulling back. yes, he said he got several calls from fox. i have the counterperspect pitch obviously his supporters back him. i think there's a fundamental dynamic and sensibility in iowa that they do have expectations from the people they feel privileged to have to go and begin to choose in the caucuses.

and the fact he just said i'm not going to be part of something like that may not have gone over there with some. and there are a lot of people undecided. >> the ratings come out tomorrow. he'll declare victory tonight. >> but i was at a bunch of rallies with people for the last couple of days. and his voters, it's not going to make any difference. but those undecideds that dan is talking about is a large group in iowa. there are people who said, i was thinking of trump and they showed up at a rubio rally, a cruz rally. and, you know, they are clearly trying to decide. and as iowans, they said to me, i'd like to see him on the debate stage. >> he's going to be raising money for veterans groups. he said they've already raised $5 million. >> remember, every rule that's applied to prior campaigns does not apply. i was driving past a hog farm in iowa and i wanted to toss one in the air and see if it would fly.

that's where we are in this campaign. four days from tonight at this hour we'll be counting votes. amen. >> and we have really no idea what's going to happen. quite a night already. it's far from over. cnn is covering all of it nonstop. we'll be back with another edition of "360" at 11:00. cnn with don lemon starts right now. 3. here we go. breaking news. it's a big night. no debate. iowa is the place to be. and we're taking you live to all of these events. look at all of these events happening. all the politicos are out. all the people running for president. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. four days until the iowa caucuses where the first votes of the campaign will be cast. republicans and democrats making their last-minute pitches tonight. there you see them out in force from donald trump's event about three miles away from the gop debate to bill and hillary clinton's rallies to bernie sanders. ther