Return to Transcripts main page

S.E. Cupp Unfiltered

Elizabeth Warren Announces 2020 Presidential Run; Virginia's Three Top State Officials Mired in Scandal; Amazon Reportedly Rethinking Plan for Massive NYC Campus; Trump to Speak in El Paso for First Rally of 2019; Interview with Mayor Dee Margo of El Paso; Jeff Bezos Accuses "National Enquirer" of Blackmail, Extortion; Interview with Carly Fiorina, Former Republican Presidential Candidate. Aired 6- 7p ET

Aired February 09, 2019 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

S.E. CUPP, CNN HOST (voice-over): Welcome to UNFILTERED. Here's tonight's headline.

Warren out her welcome?

In case there's any lingering doubts, Elizabeth Warren is running for president. She officially kicked off her campaign this morning at a rally in her home state of Massachusetts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MASS.), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the fight of our lives, the fight to build an America where dreams are possible, an America that works for everyone.

(APPLAUSE)

WARREN: And that is why I stand here today, to declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUPP: Warren's announcement was received enthusiastically by those in attendance, except for these two, who apparently had somewhere else to be. But if you had to plan a week to announce you were running for president, you probably wouldn't plan for it to be the same week you had to issue yet another public apology for falsely identifying as a member of another race.

What's the saying, we plan and God laughs?

The show must go on and go on it did. Despite "The Washington Post's" report this week that Warren listed her race as American Indian on a state bar of Texas registration card in 1986, she made no mention of the controversy she's courted for years, in her announcement.

But you know who did?

The Trump campaign. Even before Warren took the stage in Massachusetts, Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale released this statement.

"Elizabeth Warren has already been exposed as a fraud by the Native Americans she impersonated and disrespected to advance her professional career and the people of Massachusetts she deceived to get elected."

That's just a preview of what we're likely to see over the next few months, I'm sure. But Trump is the least of her problems. The polls are far more concerning. A new "The Washington Post" ABC News poll of Democratic leaning voters found only 2 percent would back Elizabeth Warren if the 2020 primary were held today.

She trails Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Beto O'Rourke, Michelle Obama and, wait for it, Donald Trump, again, among Democratic leaning voters. So don't y'all call me crazy for saying her campaign might be just DOA.

OK. For more on Elizabeth Warren's official entrance into the 2020 race, I want to turn to Marcela Garcia, she's a member of the "Boston Globe" editorial board, which encouraged its home state senator not to run last year.

Marcela, in December, as I mentioned, your editorial board wrote that Senator Warren had, quote, "missed her moment" in 2016. She was a little too divisive and should call it quits on her presidential bid. She obviously decided not to heed your advice. So talk about that decision, though, to issue that sort of advice to her last year.

MARCELA GARCIA, "BOSTON GLOBE": Well, the reasoning, S.E., was pretty much -- has kind of come to the fore or has been a little bit validated this week, because what we really meant is we felt she hasn't fully reckoned with these Native American claims and they seem to haunt her.

That's what we meant with the editorial, that she had become divisive among voters. Some felt this Native American controversy continued to haunt her and it wasn't going to stop until she fully apologized and revealed exactly what was behind it.

As you remember, the whole controversy around her DNA test, which, you know, it's still perplexing to think that she did it to kill it, when it actually inflamed it. So it came at the heels of that DNA test.

We felt that until she actually fully, fully disclosed what exactly was behind it -- because it really did -- her family revealed insensitivity around issues of identity of Native American race. So that's where we were coming from basically.

CUPP: I want to go back to that moment because I'm a journalist. I work for newspapers. I think to sort of an outsider, they might hear, a reporter for the "Boston Globe" talking --

[18:05:00]

CUPP: -- about telling a hometown senator not to run for president, who is a Democrat. People tend to think of the media as liberal. They may think this as startling.

Was there pushback when this decision was made internally in the newsroom?

Was this a tough call?

Just take me into the room.

GARCIA: There's always a lot of debate among us and to the untrained and the average American or the average reader or consumer of the news it may not seem evident that the news and the editorial side are completely separate.

All members of the board, we continue to debate all these decisions and weigh them very, very carefully, precisely for this reason because we want to be deliberate, we want to be thoughtful. And some members of the board are always -- we're always disagreeing with each other and we're always making the case for yes or no and that what happened that week was basically a week of deliberations.

We were thinking, look, she has all this baggage that she hasn't really addressed. It may end up hurting her more and the Democratic Party as well because the one issue we kept coming back to is for the 2020 presidential race, Democrats need to elect someone who can beat Donald Trump, not necessarily who is the best candidate. But the issue of electability was going to be number one and this week there was this poll that CNN released precisely showing that.

So that is one fact that we weighed in very carefully, too.

CUPP: We're going to talk about this in the next segment. I think that is the factor, electability. Marcela, thanks so much for joining me tonight and walking me through that decision and that process.

GARCIA: Thank for you having me.

CUPP: While all eyes are on Elizabeth Warren today, tomorrow will undoubtedly belong to Amy Klobuchar. The Minnesota senator will be at an event in Minneapolis tomorrow, where she's expected to announce her plans for the 2020 presidential race.

Back to back announcements from Klobuchar and Warren are sort of fitting, as the two senators are emblematic of divergent paths, the Democratic Party could follow when choosing a candidate to face off against President Trump in 2020.

While Senator Warren is known for her uber-progressive, anti-banker coastal populism, Klobuchar is a Midwestern Democrat. She's liberal enough for the base but with a common-sense appeal to the moderates. It's an important debate for Democrats to have.

Do we go to the left? Do we go to the middle?

Here's the deal. Democrats should ask themselves one question and one question only when it comes to selecting their nominee.

Who can beat Donald Trump?

Voters agree with me. According to a recent poll by Monmouth University, 56 percent of registered Democrats -- that's a clear majority -- would prefer someone who would beat a strong candidate against Trump, even if they disagree with that candidate on most issues; while only 33 percent say they would prefer a nominee who they are aligned with on the issues, even if that person would have a hard time beating Trump.

Hear that, Democrats?

Warren is far too Left, she's too unrelatable, she's too damaged to take on Trump. She's already lost the one thing that voters care about most: authenticity. Klobuchar, on the other hand, she has some work to do on name ID but she's in a far better position to capture those moderate Democrats, maybe independents and maybe even some remorseful Trump voters that Warren is.

But let's ask my experts. I have a dynamic duo. Democratic strategist Maria Cardona; Republican strategist Doug Heye.

Maria, I will give you a chance to sing Warren's praises. But let's be real. If you've got a choice between one candidate with a race problem and one with not, isn't the answer always the one without it?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think so but I think the beauty of what Democrats will be facing in these primaries is that we have a slew of candidates to choose from.

CUPP: An embarrassment of riches?

CARDONA: Well, you can call it that or a plethora of riches but I think what people are thinking of when they look at Warren, the people who are very enthused about her, are her policies, are her accomplishments, are her issues with what she has claimed in terms of her heritage going to be an issue.

Yes, I do think that it will be. And they will be continued questions that she's going to have to deal with. But this is what primaries are for. She's going to have to figure out if it's going to be a bar that she cannot pass.

CUPP: Right.

CARDONA: And then ultimately that is going to be played out during these primaries. You're right, electability is absolutely the question for us.

CUPP: It has to be. CARDONA: It has to be. But I don't think what we have figured out, I don't think what voters have figured out yet is what are the ingredients that go into that electability?

Do you want somebody who can --

[18:10:00]

CARDONA: -- really speak to what America looks like today for Democrats, a woman preferably, a nonwhite woman --

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: -- you know what I mean?

CUPP: I would argue that's identity politics. Some people are a fan of that.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: -- it does have to deal with electability. And this is some that we are going to have to figure out.

CUPP: I don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: -- is that subjective?

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure. Because every candidate running for office thinks they're electable and they're likable and the reality is, whether you're talking Republican, Democrat, male, female, whatever, a lot of them aren't terribly likable, certainly have trouble getting to that next level.

And we saw that in the Republican primary. One I think Democrats --

(CROSSTALK)

HEYE: -- should remember is, in 2016 Republicans 15 and 16 had the biggest bench they have ever had. The person who won it wasn't on the bench to begin with.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: -- it's really impressive candidate.

HEYE: Sure. But we also learned is a lot of them were impressive on paper. And then once announced, they were less impressive every day. That certainly is -- looks to be the case with Elizabeth Warren right now.

CUPP: Do you think that Amy Klobuchar is well positioned in this race if she gets in tomorrow?

HEYE: Potentially so. Amy Klobuchar could be the absolute anti-Trump of all anti-Trumps. That certainly could benefit her. She does have a very real problem in attracting key staff right now with the stories that have been released.

Having worked on Capitol Hill, you hear stories about good bosses and bad bosses. And there are a lot of them on Capitol Hill. But it's not something that people vote on but if you have trouble getting those key fundraisers --

(CROSSTALK)

HEYE: -- that's a practical problem for a campaign.

CARDONA: But I will tell you about Amy Klobuchar, is I've had many conversation with my Republican friends and I will not out any of them but they have told me, if Amy Klobuchar runs, I will vote for her.

So again, to your point about electability, it's about trying to get the biggest coalition of swaths of voters all around the country. And I think that certainly continues to be the one thing that Democrats will look at.

The question is, what will that entail?

CUPP: Maria, let me go back to Elizabeth Warren, for just a second. She made her announcements in Lawrence, Massachusetts. I know Lawrence well. I grew up in the town next door. It's a city with some real economic hardships.

The gas leaks that we all remember last year did not help things at all. It's predominantly Hispanic. I want you to look at this crowd shot from Elizabeth Warren's announcement today.

That is a predominantly white audience, it's not a very diverse crowd. In fact, I was startled to hear this but Elizabeth Warren says at the beginning of her speech, thank you to everyone who has traveled here to Lawrence.

It felt to me -- I'm not a Democrat, I'm not Hispanic -- it felt to me as if she was using Lawrence as a prop. She would not be the first to do that, to engage in that sort of theater.

But the concern is that she's using diversity as a prop.

Do you think there's anything to that?

CARDONA: I think, as you explain that, it goes into the criticism of what she has done apparently up until now that's garnered these questions.

CUPP: That's where I'm going, yes.

CARDONA: Again, and I do think it will be a huge challenge for her. She thought she had put it to bed with the DNA test and I actually think that woke it up.

(CROSSTALK) CARDONA: In fact, if she had been as authentic as she believes I think she is in terms of why she did this from the very beginning, then perhaps she wouldn't be facing that.

(CROSSTALK)

HEYE: Compare that to the Kamala Harris announcement, big difference, in size, enthusiasm, message.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: Great stuff. (INAUDIBLE). We'll do this again, I'm sure.

Next, chaos reigns in Virginia as the lieutenant governor faces sexual assault allegations from a second accuser and that's just one of the scandals there.

And later Trump gets ready to hold his first rally of the year at the border.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CUPP: Not since the Illinois trifecta of former Governor Rod Blagojevich, Senator Roland Burris and Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. has the Democratic Party in one state suffered as much humiliation and controversy at one time.

But the past two weeks in the Commonwealth of Virginia, as the state's top three elected individuals try to weather their individual scandals, have been nothing short of disastrous or at least you'd think so. And yet all three men, Governor Ralph Northam, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax and attorney general Mark Herring are, as of this minute, still in their jobs and say they're not going anywhere.

Northam has reportedly spent the week meeting with African American legislators, community leaders, brushing up on his black authors, reading Alex Haley's "Roots." According to an interview he gave to "The Washington Post" Northam believes the experience leaves him better positioned to remain in office and explore the issue of white privilege and push an agenda of racial reconciliation.

While Herring and Northam are hoping voters can look past their blackface scandals, things just got considerably worse for Fairfax. He now faces two allegations of rape. Meredith Watson alleges that, in 2000, Fairfax sexually assaulted her while both were undergrads at Duke University.

This comes after Dr. Vanessa Tyson alleged that Fairfax forced oral sex in 2004 while at the Democratic National Convention. The lieutenant governor has denied both allegations, claiming they're part of a coordinated smear campaign. But just last night, calls for Fairfax's resignation came from the Virginia Democratic Party, the Virginia congressional delegation, Virginia senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, Democratic presidential candidates and more.

So will he stay or will he go?

For more, let me bring in former Virginia attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli.

Ken, Virginia state delegate Patrick Hope, he's a Democrat, he is threatening to file articles of impeachment against Lieutenant Governor Fairfax if he doesn't step down.

Do you think Fairfax can survive this?

[18:20:00]

KEN CUCCINELLI, CNN LEGAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think so, unless he is able to make his case in impeachment hearings, which would be the only forum, unless somebody sues somebody else for defamation here, that these allegations can be judged in any formal way.

This happened in 2000 and 2004 -- or at least it's alleged to have -- and Fairfax is refusing to resign. We're seeing and hearing a lot of the discussion. You've heard it, too, that reflects back on the Kavanaugh hearings.

But candidly, Dr. Tyson here laid out a very particular -- dates, places, times, circumstances, facts -- to a level of detail we never saw in the Kavanaugh situation and Justin Fairfax's first reaction, at 3:00 in the morning, literally at 3:00 in the morning, was to launch out a press release that attacked Dr. Tyson, saying "The Washington Post" already knew about this and didn't run the stories because of her inconsistencies and red flags.

Now remember, these are all Democrats. "The Washington Post" came flying out and said that's a lie. We didn't -- none of that is true. There were no inconsistencies, no ref flags.

So when "The Washington Post" is calling you out and you're a Democrat in this serious hot water, you are in deep trouble. I just don't think he can survive.

CUPP: Well, for our viewers not following this story as closely as we have been, especially you, a big reason why they're not stepping down is because the next guy in line would be Kirk Cox, a Republican.

CUCCINELLI: Right.

CUPP: So to my ears, Virginia Democrats are basically saying to voters that maintaining power is more important as a party than these allegations of racism and sex crimes.

CUCCINELLI: Right. They would rather have a potential racist or rapist than a Republican. That's certainly what it looks like although I do think that's started to crack when the second allegation hit Justin Fairfax.

Now part of the problem here is -- again, for your viewers, who don't know the details of these folks, the governor is white. And his scandal for the Democrats began with blackface.

For people like me, it began when he said that letting a child born alive die two days before the blackface scandal is when he really started to hit the news, then blackface hit that Friday --

CUPP: And I covered that, by the way.

(CROSSTALK)

CUCCINELLI: Yes, I know you did. And then Fairfax's allegation hit Sunday the same week and by the way, the attorney general, white attorney general Mark Herring, called for Governor Northam's resignation over the blackface incident. And then four days later, admitted his own.

CUPP: No, I know.

CUCCINELLI: So if the two white guys stay in and the black guy is knocked out, all by Democrats, that is going to --

CUPP: That's a bad look.

CUCCINELLI: -- that's like pouring gasoline on a fire in this Democrat --

CUPP: Real quick, I just want get your take on this idea that some of Republicans think that these scandals provide a new opening in Virginia which has been getting increasingly Democrat, for Republicans to sort of regain some influence.

Do you think there's truth to that, quickly?

CUCCINELLI: I think just as a matter of balance of power, yes. But it's more by the negatives. So all of the biggest players in the 2019 campaigning that would go on for the whole general assembly are the three statewides. And they're now wiped out, not only aren't they helpful, they're an albatross around Democrats' necks.

CUPP: Ken, thanks for wringing that down. Appreciate it.

CUCCINELLI: Good to be with you.

CUPP: Next up, Trump gets ready for a rally in El Paso to drum up support for the wall despite opposition from local leaders. I'll speak to the border city's Republican mayor about that.

And coming up, the 2020 campaign may be an unprecedented one for women candidates but that doesn't mean that sexism in politics is gone.

(MUSIC PLAYING) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CUPP: Say what you will about Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez but she knows how to make headlines and enemies. In the same week that she introduced her green new deal legislation, the freshman representative from Queens celebrated a report that Amazon is reconsidering its plan to open a new campus in New York's Long Island city neighborhood, which borders Ocasio-Cortez's district in Queens.

According to "The Washington Post," which is owned by Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos, company executives are rethinking the move and are frustrated with the reception the plan got as it immediately facilitated opposition from AOC and local progressive and union leaders and community members.

But there are still plenty of powerful proponents of the impending move, like New York governor Andrew Cuomo. Yesterday he called opposition to the deal "irresponsible and governmental malpractice." Meanwhile, Mayor Bill de Blasio remained confident it would move forward and Amazon released a statement saying it was, quote, "focusing on engaging with our new neighbors."

Speaking of Amazon, I'll try t o make sense of the messy fight between founder Jeff Bezos and "National Enquirer" publisher AMI. Stick around for that. We'll be right back.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CUPP: In the red file tonight, President Trump hasn't had a ton of luck getting Democrats to budge on his border wall funding demand. First he tried shutting down the government. Then floated a national emergency. He's tried changing its --

[18:30:00]

CUPP: -- name from a wall to slats. And he reportedly even suggested lowering the price -- nothing.

So what now?

Well, it must be time for a rally. Trump will head to the border on Monday for a rally in El Paso, Texas, one mile from Mexico, where he's expected to double down on the State of the Union talking points that El Paso was one of our nation's most dangerous cities before a border barrier made it safer.

That's not true. Lawmakers there say the crime rate in El Paso was on the decline long before border fencing was completed in 2009. Moreover, the Republican congressman whose district stretches the southern border from San Antonio to El Paso Will Hurd opposes a wall favoring smart technology and increased staffing.

Democrats are ready for the president's arrival. Beto O'Rourke and Congresswoman Veronica Escobar will speak at a counter rally during his visit. Eagerly anticipating his visit is El Paso mayor Dee Margo. He joins me now.

Mayor, welcome; you are a Republican but, as I understand it, you dispute the president's comments about El Paso.

What do you want him to know before he comes to your city and effectively uses it to push for wall funding?

DEE MARGO (R), EL PASO MAYOR: Well, you know, El Paso is the intersection of three states, New Mexico, Chihuahua and Texas and we're really one region with these two countries of about 2.5 million people. It's been this way for almost 400 years. We have families on both sides of the border, commerce on both sides of the border.

People don't realize, until 1848, El Paso was on the south side of the Rio Grande. We were located there. So I'm looking forward to having the president come here and see the border first-hand and I've been saying for months, if the folks in Washington, the politicos, the pundits all want to know about the border, they need to come down here.

CUPP: So he's going. What will you say in response, if he repeats that line that he said at the State of the Union, that El Paso has been, you know, was a dangerous city until the wall was built?

MARGO: Well, he had -- I believe he was given some misinformation by the Texas attorney general when he was in McAllen, talking about there was a great deal of lawlessness and crime before the fence went up. I prefer the fence rather than saying the wall. And that's not factually correct.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: We assume he has the correct information now.

If he repeats that line that is not true, will you have some words with him?

Will you correct him?

MARGO: Absolutely. I've been stating it publicly since last Tuesday night. The fence serves a useful purpose. It's part of our border security to the extent it is. It's not the total panacea. It can't be. The geography of Texas won't allow a fence from El Paso to Brownsville, even if you wanted to do it.

So it's got to be part and parcel to technology and manpower and all the above. I don't think anyone argues that we're a sovereign nation and we need to control our borders. CUPP: And to that point, Congressman Will Hurd has talked about technology like drones and fiberoptic cables, sort of an all-of-the- above approach. But I think this is why I'm glad you joined me today. I think people feel as though both parties have dropped the ball when it comes to immigration. Presidents and U.S. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle they talk a lot about it. They fund raise on it, they run elections on it but almost never solve it.

Case in point President Obama had two years of total Democratic control. He did not use that time to pass immigration reform. Likewise, Donald Trump had two years of total Republican control and he didn't use it to get wall funding.

As a local lawmaker, for whom immigration isn't just a talking point but a very real issue, what would you say to both parties about finally solving some of these problems?

MARGO: Well, it's time to develop some intestinal fortitude and do what's right, irrespective of the political fallout or perceived political fallout. We have got to do something about immigration, about the relationships we have with Central America and this mass migration coming north.

We get somewhere between 300 to 400 a day coming across with families after processing, with immigration, ICE. Something needs to be done. You look at the DREAMers, the DACA, whatever. To me, if you served in the military, it ought to be actually automatic. You get citizenship if that's what you want.

But the other 10 million or 12 million who are already here, I don't know what that full number is, who are really basically productive citizens paying taxes with improper Social Security numbers, ought to be vetted from a criminal activity standpoint. If they are, have any criminal background problems, they ought to be deported but if --

[18:35:00]

MARGO: -- they don't, then they ought to be given the ability to have a green card. I don't care how people feel and say, well, gee, they got here -- they're illegal. That's -- the egg is broken, it's too late. Give them green cards and don't allow them to have citizenship.

Most of them that come here are not looking to be citizens. They're looking for economic opportunity.

CUPP: I've got to go but, Mayor Dee Margo, appreciate your coming on. Thanks.

We'll be right back.

MARGO: Thank you. (MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING) CUPP: From bozo to hero?

The man Trump nicknamed Jeff Bozo --

[18:40:00]

CUPP: -- Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, appears to be winning in the court of public opinion after issuing a scorching checkmate to the "National Enquirer" and its parent company. American Media.

On Thursday, Bezos posted a tell-all blog on the online platform Medium, claiming that the "Enquirer" threatened to publish more salacious texts and pictures that exposed his affair with former TV anchor, Lauren Sanchez, unless he agreed to make a public statement saying the tabloid's coverage of his affair was not politically motivated and to stop investigating the leaks.

That sounds to you like extortion and blackmail?

Well, Bezos agrees. He says rather than capitulate, he openly published their threats. AMI insists it acted in good faith, whatever that means, but promises the board will investigate Bezos' claims, so the "National Enquirer" will investigate the "National Enquirer" and probably publish the findings in the "National Enquirer."

Joining me is CNN chief media correspondent and anchor of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter and senior national security correspondent for "The Daily Beast," Spencer Ackerman.

Brian, you have new reports, for us. Federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York are reviewing the "Enquirer's" handling of their Bezos reporting. For something specific, to determine if the company is in violation of a deal they made last year?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's the immunity deal they struck in the Michael Cohen case. Look, the "Enquirer's" hands were dirty in the Cohen case with regard to hush money payments. But in exchange for not being prosecuted, AMI agreed to cooperate, flip on the president and, in exchange, they said we won't commit any more crimes and clean up our act. There's specific provisions about that. No more crimes. Well, this sounds like a crime. It looks like a crime. That's what prosecutors are looking at --

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: -- as their folks, has he cooperated, has he called the FBI?

Amazon won't comment on that. It would seem Bezos has left the evidence right there out in the open.

CUPP: Spencer, put this in context. This is not just about an extramarital affair. There's a lot of working pieces. Bezos owns "The Washington Post," which has been both critical of President Trump and of the alleged Saudi murder of Jamal Khashoggi, one of their reporters, which Trump has basically let slide.

Is what Bezos suggesting merely conspiracy theory?

Or real evidence of, like, a political cover-up attempt?

SPENCER ACKERMAN, "THE DAILY BEAST": So Exhibit A in the case of AMI's weird, difficult-to-explain, so far unexplained interactions with Saudi Arabia is a visual aid that I brought, which is --

CUPP: Sure.

ACKERMAN: -- this magazine called "The New Kingdom," which is a 100- page, $13.99 magazine that AMI put out for Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. This came out on last spring on supermarket shelves, back when the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was just a glimmer in --

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: It was an advertisement for Saudi reform.

ACKERMAN: It is beyond an advertisement. It's a incredibly fawning, ad-free magazine from around the time on publication stands when Mohammed bin Salman was coming to the United States to meet with important political and Silicon Valley figures, basically the rich and powerful in the United States.

It could not be more fawning, more abject or more convivial to Saudi propaganda. At some point, it refers to Saudi Arabia as "the magic kingdom." We are talking about a place that critics refer to as Diet ISIS. It's a pretty wild thing. And AMI has never explained why they made this very weird investment.

CUPP: Maybe we'll get to the bottom of it now.

But, Brian, I'm not sure; when you think about the "National Enquirer," I'm not sure you think of credibility.

(LAUGHTER)

CUPP: -- for every John Edwards revealed there's a Hillary Clinton has six months to live story.

But do think this will take a hit on its credibility?

STELTER: Yes, yes, I do. I look at the original Bezos story was accurate and it's worth acknowledging that. They revealed this lovelife story that he probably preferred to keep private. That was a real scoop.

But what they did afterwards was to say we're going to hang these photos over your head unless you do what we want, that's another level. Not only are there criminal consequences, it has people talking about whether the "Enquirer" will survive in its present form. They're up against the richest man on Earth.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: -- does not care.

STELTER: So I think it's real crisis for the "Enquirer."

CUPP: It's a complicated story.

[18:45:00]

CUPP: And I'm glad you were both here to break it down. We'll talk about it again. Brian, Spencer, thanks.

Watch Brian on "RELIABLE SOURCES" tomorrow at 11:00 Eastern here on CNN. We're back in a minute.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CUPP: Elizabeth Warren made it official today. Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar might be making it official tomorrow. She has an announcement from her hometown. That would bring the total to five women running for president in 2020. That number could increase.

We all remember too well what the two women who ran against Donald Trump --

[18:50:00]

CUPP: -- in 2016 faced. I'm joined by one-half of that very small club.

Carly Fiorina is the first female CEO to lead a Fortune 50 company, as the former chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard. She's also a former Republican presidential candidate.

Her new book, out in April, "Find Your Way: Unleash Your Power and Highest Potential."

She joins me for an exclusive first interview about her book.

Thanks for joining me.

CARLY FIORINA (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks for having me.

CUPP: Before we get to the book, I really want to get your thoughts on this 2020 field. It's already crowded. It's going to get more crowded. Let's start with Elizabeth Warren.

What do you think of her candidacy?

FIORINA: I think it's great there's so many women running for president. It shouldn't be one out of 16 or 17 on the Republican side. I think Elizabeth Warren is someone I could personally never vote for. I find her policies unrealistic. I find them far to the Left.

I think she supposedly champions working people without really understanding what works for working people but good for her. She has as much right to run for president as anybody else.

CUPP: Voters will make that decision.

FIORINA: They will.

CUPP: You had some unpleasant exchanges with then candidate Donald Trump. You know he can be nasty.

What's your advice to any of the Democratic candidates, men and women, when it comes to running against him?

FIORINA: Let me say, in fairness, I did face nastiness but he wasn't the only man I faced nastiness from on the campaign trail. The truth is Donald Trump reflects a culture that is still acceptable, where you can say things about women's appearance, either positive or negative.

I wrote an op-ed about this recently, where he's -- of course we would expect a presidential candidate or a President of the United States would be held to a higher standard. But he's not the only man who has said irrelevant or demeaning or diminishing things about a woman's appearance, positive or negative.

What I would say to any woman running is don't lose your cool and remind people, whatever they think of your appearance, good or bad, it's positively irrelevant to whether or not you're qualified to run for and become President of the United States.

CUPP: Let's turn your book, "Find Your Way." A number of high- profile successful women have written books in recent years about how women can make their marks from leaning in to knowing your value to settling for more.

What's advice behind finding your way?

FIORINA: The overarching advice for "Find Your Way" is in way no different for the women that I hope to speak to in this book than for the men. Number one, don't have plan for your life that depends upon you achieving a certain job, achieving a certain salary, reaching a certain destination. It never works.

I never had a plan for my life. I did early on; I was going to be a lawyer and that plan blew up quickly. But I do advocate having a path that involves how you choose, how you behave, how you use the gifts that each of us have been given.

The second thing I would say is to women in particular, my advice is don't get a chip on your shoulder. You're going to have a lot of stuff happen to you that is unfair, that feels unfair, that is different.

The truth is while there are some very bad men, most men aren't bad, although they do make mistakes. So when something bad happens to you, confront it if necessary, deal with it but don't let it poison all of your other relationships.

The other thing I say to women I would say to anyone. Don't hide your light under a bushel. Be as brave as you are, be as smart as you are, be as confident as you are. Don't dumb yourself down or pretend to be as less than you are because as much as you are makes other people uncomfortable.

CUPP: I would add dress yourself down. That comes up around women who run for political office, this idea they have to cover themselves up, hide themselves, dress more masculinely. I think that's sort of an edge on that as well.

(CROSSTALK)

FIORINA: You're right --

CUPP: Go ahead.

FIORINA: Not to interrupt you but when I was coming up in the business world, there was this book called how to dress for success for women and --

[18:55:00]

FIORINA: -- literally what it advised is we dress as much like men as possible to the point we wore bow ties and white shirts buttoned up to the collar. I dressed like that for a while until after a while I was like this is ridiculous.

CUPP: I'm a woman. Can't put on a dress.

(CROSSTALK)

FIORINA: I've been around a long time, in other words.

CUPP: Great. The book is "Find Your Way." It will be out in April. Carly Fiorina, thanks for joining me. Really appreciate it.

FIORINA: Thank you.

CUPP: That's it for us tonight. Up next, Van Jones sits down with 2020 hopeful Julian Castro. Hear his State of the Union reaction and how his family roots are shaping his presidential platform.

Plus Van is back in his van with voters to find out what they want in a candidate. Don't miss "THE VAN JONES SHOW." That's next.