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New Day
No Timeline for Troop Withdrawal; Warren and Klobuchar Announce Runs; Warren Suggestion about Trump; Vonn Announces Retirement. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired February 11, 2019 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00] BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Caliphate, the land that ISIS once control in Syria is now out of their hands. That, right now, is something he's looking forward to saying when he talks about ISIS being gone, that they no longer will control territory, hopefully, in his view, within the next couple of days inside Syria.
But when we spoke to General Votel on his plane overnight, he took a much longer view of the ISIS threat, the scope of how many fighters are out there and what they are capable of still doing, even if they do not control land.
Have a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENERAL JOSEPH VOTEL, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I'm kind of aligned with where the intelligence community is on this. They've kind of sought and talked about tens of thousands that have been disperse and disaggregated from the areas. They're dispersed and disaggregated, but there is leadership there. There are fighters there. There are facilitators there. They, you know, have -- still have some access to resources. And, of course, they still maintain this kind of diverse ideology that's --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: There's leadership, there's fighters, there's capability out there and that's something that General Votel was talking about, the U.S. will have to keep the pressure on ISIS.
He is armament, the president's orders are being followed. U.S. troops are and will continue to be withdrawn from Syria. More than 2,000 of them will be making their way out of that country in the coming days.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So interesting to hear from the general who must feel very strongly knowing that people will look at those comments and say they're slightly different than what the president has said, but sticking to that timeline for sure.
Barbara Starr, great to have you on the road with General Votel.
Millions of Americans face a new round of heavy snow this week. And that could mean travel disruptions and school closings.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers with really our forecast.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Punxsutawney Phil said spring around the corner, he just didn't say which corner. Snowing in Philadelphia, BWI, all the way down to D.C. A messy commute there in the Northeast right now.
This weather is brought to you by Boost nutritional drink, be up for life.
There's the snow across parts of the Northeast this morning and here is your Boost forecast for the rest of the day.
We will see the snow moving into Chicago and Detroit for tomorrow. Very ugly weather tomorrow morning across that area as the storm does move in. Also ice just to the south of that snow. Look at this. This is 9:00 tomorrow morning. We are going to see significant snow even into New York City. Could be 3 inches on the ground for New York. It changes over to rain and washes away but not before you slowdown that early, early morning rush for tomorrow.
There's ice on the ground in some spots. There's snow on the ground in some spots. And we are seeing these purple areas here, at least a foot of snow across parts of the UP, even into New England.
Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Oh my gosh, Chad.
MYERS: Here it comes, again.
CAMEROTA: Thank you very much.
MYERS: You're welcome.
CAMEROTA: All right, so two more Democrats jumping into the 2020 race, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What are their chances? Harry Enten breaks it down, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:37:35] CAMEROTA: All right, two more Democratic candidates have officially jumped into the already crowded 2020 race. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar making it official over the weekend.
There's something about Harry, so let's get "The Forecast" with CNN's senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten.
Harry, great to see you.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Welcome back.
CAMEROTA: So -- thank you very much. And so Senator Amy Klobuchar announced in a hardy, Minnesotan style in
the middle of a driving snowstorm. So tell us what we need to know about her.
ENTEN: I have respect for her as someone who went to school up in New Hampshire solely for the reason that I like the snow. So I appreciate her being out in the snow.
So let's talk about her strengths first, right? I mean we can get to this a little bit later. But, look, she's right next to Iowa, which, of course, is the first in the nation context. So the fact that she might be more familiar, she connects with those types of voters, could, in fact, be helpful to her in the Iowa caucus, which I think she needs to win.
She's also very moderate. She's, in fact -- we'll get to this a little bit later -- but she's more moderate than I believe about 75 percent of Senate Democrats. And, of course, 54 percent of Democrats are non- liberal and more than that there's a real sort of clogging of the liberal lane. You know, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, all these people have very liberal records. So she might be able to stand out as someone different, someone who might be able to appeal to those more moderate Democrats.
And then finally, third, electability. This is something that Democrats are saying is very important to their vote this time around. And the three times she's run for the Senate in 2006, 2012, and 2018, she's had above-average performance in all three of those outrunning the average congressional Democratic candidate in Minnesota by at least ten points or more in all of those (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: All right. On the other hand --
ENTEN: On the other hand -- by the way, notice she's smiling here. And then look here.
CAMEROTA: She's sad.
ENTEN: She's a little sad.
BERMAN: Yes.
ENTEN: And why is that? Because we're talking about her weaknesses. Number one, look, the Democratic field right now is huge, huge, so it's going to be kind of difficult to become known. And only 31 percent of Democrats right now have an opinion of her. And more than that, when say there's a scandal or something bad that comes out, the way that she treats her staff, that might be the first impression that voters get of Amy Klobuchar this cycle.
Then also, you know, we -- I noted earlier, less liberal than about 75 percent of all Democratic senators. The fact is that when you have a Democratic Party that's moving further to the left, that can be very difficult.
And then, yes, when we -- CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, isn't she just the personification of where we
are? Are we, as a country, moving for Democrats, moving leftward?
ENTEN: Yes.
[06:40:01] CAMEROTA: Or is it that there's this big chunk of independents who want somebody who's centrist in the middle and she is -- would be that person?
ENTEN: She could be that person, but the Democratic Party itself is moving further to the left.
And then the final thing I'll note for weaknesses, she represents few African-American and Latino voters. Only about 20 percent -- I'm sorry, only about 15 percent of Minnesota Democrats are non-white. And, of course, in the national party it's significantly greater.
BERMAN: All right, let's look at the numbers for Elizabeth Warren very quickly because we want to leave time at the end for her.
ENTEN: Right.
So, you know, we've spoken about Elizabeth Warren a lot. The strength is, if the Democratic Party's moving further to the left, she's the most liberal senator. More than that, if you have a contest like last time that went long, long, long, long, long, she raised a ton of money from small dollar donors back in 2018 for her Senate run. And then here's the other thing that I'll note. She lives right next door to New Hampshire so she could -- if she wins Iowa, then she'd be in a perfect position to set herself up to win in New Hampshire and run the table.
BERMAN: It worked well for John Kerry in 2004.
ENTEN: That's exactly right. I think it's the same exact thing. But in terms of weaknesses, if Amy Klobuchar is strong in her races, Elizabeth warren has had below average electability in her races. Last time around she only won by 24 points in Massachusetts, which seems like a wide margin. Remember, Hillary Clinton won by 27 points in 2016. And that, of course, was a much less Democratic year.
Competition, a lot of liberal candidates that she'll face and, also, she has that same problem with she represents few African-American and Latino voters versus the national Democratic Party.
CAMEROTA: You're wearing pink.
ENTEN: I'm wearing pink.
CAMEROTA: And so I understand you want to talk Valentine's Day.
ENTEN: Well, I thought that we could all get together here and the first thing I'll point out is, can we keep in mind that, of course, there's still some people, this 28 percent of people who aren't in a relationship.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
ENTEN: So none of us, I don't think, are in that position, but, you know, let's keep our heart out for them.
CAMEROTA: OK.
ENTEN: But in terms of valentine's gift, if you are, in fact, in a relationship, I wanted to help John out. I wanted him to know whether --
CAMEROTA: What to get me.
ENTEN: What he should get you, what he should do.
BERMAN: You're the least of my worries, all right, but I appreciate it.
CAMEROTA: Chocolate is the answer always.
BERMAN: Yes.
ENTEN: You know, maybe a simple card or a gift. You know, that 15 percent. A night out, 40 percent. Or maybe, you know, maybe just an expensive gift, some jewelry.
BERMAN: Could I just tell you what the problem here is?
ENTEN: Yes.
BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE). I'm going to go yellow here. Is that the top two things basically are diametrically opposed, which is life for a guy, because what are you supposed to do. You can't do both.
CAMEROTA: Well, just go with the night out. Go with the night out.
BERMAN: This is number two (INAUDIBLE).
ENTEN: Why don't --
CAMEROTA: This is the part --
ENTEN: Why don't you do two Valentine's Days so you can do a pre and an actual. Like Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
CAMEROTA: With each of your wives.
ENTEN: Oh, my God, I'm not getting in the middle of this.
BERMAN: Big love.
ENTEN: Big love. It's on HBO and on CNN.
CAMEROTA: Thank you.
BERMAN: All right, Harry, appreciate it.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BERMAN: Don't go far.
So did Senator Elizabeth Warren go too far on her first day of campaigning as a declared candidate? She suggested President Trump could be in jail by 2020. We'll discuss, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:46:09] BERMAN: New entries into the race for president and a new line of attack from Senator Elizabeth Warren.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president.
In fact, he may not even be a free person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, joining us now to discuss, Harry Enten and MJ Lee, CNN national politics reporter. She is in Iowa traveling with Elizabeth Warren, chasing her around the country.
And, MJ, you wore there for that comment from Elizabeth Warren, which actually needs some context. It's interesting because she's been going out of her way not to respond to every statement or tweet from the president of the United States, then all of a sudden she comes out with this, which is, you know, nuclear. The president might be in jail by 2020.
MJ LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: That's right. I can tell you, John, what Warren made those comments yesterday in Cedar Rapids, you could see the reporters sitting up in their seats because it is so rare that she goes after Trump by name. And I think, in fact, since she announced her exploratory campaign about a month ago, she's really only brought up Trump if she has really had to because she gets asked about him explicitly by a voter or a reporter.
So it was clear that she sort of walked into that room with the plan to make this specific comment about Trump. But I think you're right, that there is this bigger point that she really wanted to make, which is that this is not going to be the Warren that we see on the trail every day. She does not want to be throwing punches at Trump every single day or responding to every one -- every single one of his tweets or his attacks.
And, in fact, she was kind of calling on her fellow Democrats too, to not let the president sort of set the conversation and set the agenda for them because she said there's too much else that we need to be talking about and otherwise we are not going to sort of get our message across and set the conversation to our own terms.
CAMEROTA: Yes, it's interesting, because, I mean, that's a different strategy. So do you ignore the president or do you engage with the president?
So over the weekend, President Trump put out this tweet about Elizabeth Warren. Today Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to me by -- as Pocahontas, joined the race for president. Will she run as our first Native American presidential candidate or has she decided that after 32 years that this is not playing so well any more. See you on the campaign -- capitalized -- trail, Liz.
So, you know, you have to decides if you're going to rebut that or ignore that.
ENTEN: I mean, look, a lot of people saw that as an illusion to the trail of tears.
BERMAN: It was an illusion to the trail of tears.
ENTEN: Yes.
BERMAN: There's no other way to look at it.
ENTEN: Yes, exactly.
BERMAN: Which is flat out racist.
ENTEN: Flat out racist. Yes, it is. And so I think that Elizabeth Warren said enough is enough. If the president is going to go after me and go after a subset of people, then you have to respond in kind. And I think while Democrats don't want President Trump to be their only focus, at the end of the day, if he is going to make statements such as those, then Democrats are going to want a fighter to fight back because even if in the primary you're just going up against individual -- your own -- your own party, eventually the main prize is going up against the president of the United States. So you have to show that you're able to push back.
BERMAN: Do the numbers dictate that? Do the numbers say that Democrats want people fighting the president every day, day in and day out?
ENTEN: No, not really. I mean, for them, the most important thing is, though, electability. And if you can't fight back against the president of the United States, then what are you going to be doing in a general election? What are you just going to be speaking about your own message as the president goes out and dominates the news media? No, you have to show an ability that you're able to fight on the same stage as he is.
CAMEROTA: OK, so let's talk about Amy Klobuchar. She, in typical Minnesotan fashion, announced in the middle of a snowstorm. So we -- look at this.
BERMAN: This is amazing.
CAMEROTA: This is amazing. I mean --
BERMAN: It's good advance work. It's god advance work to have the snow blowing in like that. [06:50:00] CAMEROTA: She's not wearing a hat. I mean, it's just -- that's how tough she is. That's how hardy these Minnesotans are. Look at all the people who turned out in the middle of this Minnesota snowstorm.
So, MJ, this went well, I guess? I mean what's the -- what's the feeling about the fact that she announced and that this snowstorm may have upstaged some of it?
LEE: Look, I'll first say I am so glad that I was not covering that press event. I thought I was cold in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on Saturday. And it was cold and it was an outdoor event but we didn't have snow coming down on us.
Look, clearly what Amy Klobuchar did in using sort of the weather and the elements in her announcement was to say, look at this, look at the grit that I'm showing. I think she used that word a couple of times. This shows that I am all in. This shows that I am in it for the long haul, that I will brave the elements and that I can take on the president.
I saw that she tweeted back at the president too yesterday when he tweeted about her announcement. So clearly from day one showing that she wants to engage him.
And as far as just the field getting bigger, I just wanted to note that, you know, we've been talking to voters every time we come to Iowa or travel with the candidates and they are excited, especially in the early stages. This is the moment that they wait for every four years. They're so excited that the candidacy -- the candidates that are jumping in, the field's getting bigger. Just seeing all of that and sort of getting the chance to get to know all of these candidates, because what it all means is that there are a number of people that are going to take on President Trump and this buffet of options that they have. Voters are really excited about that right now.
BERMAN: It's interesting to see if she wanted to differentiate herself with her announcement in the snow like that, it certainly did, no question about that.
MJ, Harry, thank you very much.
We should note, Beto O'Rourke, by the way, tonight with some kind of event when President Trump is in El Paso.
CAMEROTA: In El Paso. Yes.
BERMAN: So this may be an opportunity for him to try to shine the spotlight on himself as he considers running.
CAMEROTA: All right, so be sure to watch a special CNN town hall tomorrow night. Poppy Harlow is going to be speaking to former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who, of course, as you know, is considering an independent run in the 2020 race. That's 10:00 p.m. tomorrow night only on CNN.
BERMAN: All right, they're calling it the miracle in Missouri. An unreal finish you just have to see. The "Bleacher Report" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:56:41] BERMAN: One of America's greatest athletes says she is done competing. Lindsey Vonn going out with style.
Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report."
Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, guys.
You know, no matter how many times Lindsey Vonn fell, she always got back up. Vonn, one of the most dominate forces ever put on skis. But after multiple knee injuries and a bunch of scary crashes, Vonn calling it a career yesterday in Sweden at the world championship. The 34-year-old had a bad crash just earlier in the week in her final super-g run, but still wanted to give it one more go in the downhill. And she came through with a great performance, raising her hands in the air one last time as she crossed the finish line. Vonn earning bronze for that final run. She said she's putting it right next to all of her golds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDSEY VONN, THREE-TIME OLYMPIC MEDALIST: I want to end my career on a high note. I didn't want to crash. But I also wanted to risk everything. So it was just hard for me to manage those emotions. But I kept it together and I did well enough for a bronze. So it was an amazing day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: And this morning Vonn posting to Instagram, I did it. One last medal in my final race. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Thanks, everyone, for the years of support. It means the world to me.
Vonn retires as the winningest female all-time skier of all time.
All right, we had a crazy finish in college basketball yesterday. Check this out. Missouri State down by two to Illinois State with under eight seconds to go. There's a mad scramble for the ball. Jared Dickson finally comes up with it, heaves it from half-court and it goes. Missouri State wins it 66-65. And, you know, guys, it's a perfect example of sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
BERMAN: You've got to chuck that ball up, throw it up. You never know what's going to happen. That was chaos, Andy.
Thanks so much.
CAMEROTA: That was great.
SCHOLES: All right.
CAMEROTA: All right, "Saturday Night Live" back in action this weekend. Here are your late night laughs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once upon a time there were women, and then they became fed up women, and then they became congress women. They fight crime. They right wrongs. They wear white, but they're not all white, and we love that. They're the women of Congress.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ladies, we have a message from President Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations women of Congress. You know, since I've been president, we have more women serving in Congress than ever before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't get to take credit for that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it's not because of you. That's --
(CROSS TALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you're not rich.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During the State of the Union Address, President Trump urged political unity, which is kind of like Captain Morgan -- it's kind of like Captain Morgan urging sobriety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is still refusing to resign after a racist photo from his yearbook surfaced. OK, but if it was in a yearbook, I mean, how bad could it be? Oh, oh, oh, OK, so very bad. I see. I knew it was a yearbook, but I didn't know the year was 1870.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: That's funny.
BERMAN: Right. Yes.
CAMEROTA: That's good material.
BERMAN: Aren't you glad you're back.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
BERMAN: Thanks to our international viewers for watching. For you, CNN "TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, border talks breaking down, could a shutdown, a new one, be just days away? NEW DAY continues right now.
[07:00:02] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not to a point where we can announce a deal. The negotiations seldom go smooth all the way through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has become an ego negotiation
END
