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Judge Summons Stone after He Appears to Threaten Her; Bernie Sanders Receives over $1 Million Online after Launching Presidential Bid Sen. Klobuchar Take Case to Voters at CNN Presidential Town Hall; Trump Speaks to Reporters Amid "New York Times" Report He Tried to Interfere in Cohen Investigation. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 19, 2019 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] KEVIN SHARP, FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE: Even if Mr. Stone didn't intend to imply or ask someone to actually take and conduct an act of violence against the judge. It's entirely possible and that appears to be a part of his schtick that I will say these inflammatory things and you will send me money. But the problem is, it could go beyond that and it gets dangerous.

(CROSSTALK)

SHARP: Sorry, go ahead.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: What did you think when you first saw it?

SHARP: It was shocking. It was shocking to see that and the idea that it was a random photo is, you know, is totally unbelievable. That is not the case. So it was an intentions photo to do that with crosshairs in the corner. It's just dangerous. Does it violate the court's order? She had a very narrowly crafted order. Maybe not? So I'm not sure back to your question of, what are her options. It may not have specifically violated her order because he had a little carveout in there. But it's certainly is an attack on the judiciary and an attack on her. And judges have the inherent ability to control their courtroom. And so she's got to take some action. So I wasn't surprised to see that she had called everybody into court on Thursday.

BALDWIN: The threat, itself, I hear you in using the word dangerous. That is not at all lost on me, how common are these?

SHARP: In the way this was done, it's -- unfortunately, it happens. It's not common. It happens from time to time. And the U.S. Marshals Service is great at what they do to protect members of the judiciary. It happens, sometimes a prosecutor or a judge may be threatened in a criminal case. Sometimes it happens in civil matters. But the Marshals Service is trained for this kind of thing.

BALDWIN: Judge Kevin Sharp, thank you very much. We appreciate you.

Coming up next, was Congress aware? Andrew McCabe says he warned top leaders including to entire Gang of Eight into the FBI's investigation into President Trump in 2017 and nobody objected. Does this undermine Trump's claim for the potential coup against him? And just in, Senator Bernie Sanders -- listen to this -- raises a

million dollars in online donations hours after launching his 2020 presidential campaign. Is that an early sign of how far he could go in this race?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:00] BALDWIN: All right. Now to 2020. The campaign is shaping up for a significant choice for Democrats, not in terms of the White House but the possible future of the party. The choice of being progressive and pragmatic. The contrast is on clear display thanks to the two entrants, Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders.

Sanders, the Vermont Independent is once against seeking the Democratic nomination declaring that he began the political revolution some three years ago and that now is the time to move it forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & DEMOCRAT PRESIDENTICAL CANIDATE: In 2016, many of the ideas that I talked about Medicare-for-All, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, making public colleges and universities tuition free. All of those ideas people say, oh, Bernie, they're so radical, they are extremely, the American people just won't accept those ideas. You know what's happened in over three years? All of those ideas and many more are now a part of the political main stream.

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: You are saying the party came your way?

SANDERS: Well, I don't want to say that. I think most people would say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So someone who you can definitely say is not most people when it comes to Sanders' politics is Sen. Amy Klobuchar. The Minnesota Senator took her centrist pitch directly to New Hampshire voters last night during a CNN town hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHARD, (D), MINNESOTA: First of all, I believe this is unconstitutional what he is doing.

(APPLAUSE)

KLOBUCHAR: I will, the first day as the president, sign us back into the international climate change international agreement.

(CHEERING)

KLOBUCHARD: That is no day one.

(CHEERING) KLOBUCHAR: I think that they are aspirations. I think we can get close. I don't think we are going to get rid of entire industries in the U.S. There's going to be compromises. It's not going to be exactly like that.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR & HOST: So no Medicare-for-All?

KLOBUCHAR: It could be a possibility in the future. I'm looking at something that will work now.

I always look at every probably and say will this help my Uncle Dick in the deer stand?

To paraphrase Martin Luther King, you can do all you can to integrate a lunch counter? But if people can't afford a hamburger, what did you do?

Am I a tough bass? Yes. Have I pushed people too hard? Yes. But I have kept expectations for myself that are very high.

I am not for free four-year college for al, nol. If I was a magic genie and can give it to everyone, I would.

LEMON: You know you are on a college campus. Many of --

(CROSSTALK)

KLOBUCHAR: I know that. But I've got to tell the truth. We have this mounting --

(APPLAUSE)

KLOBUCHAR: We have a mounting debt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist, and Kirsten Powers in a columnist to "USA Today."

To both of you -- Ana, let me start with you.

I know are you a lifelong Republican, but you leaned into Hillary in 2016. You know, what do you think are the future in terms of the Democratic candidates? You know, is America going to go with a progressive? The pragmatic or the personality?

[14:40:00] ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR; You know, for me it's different. I'm very invested in beating for Trump. Ly vote for a cactus over Trump. But Amy Klobuchar is somebody that appeals to me.

BALDWIN: Why?

NAVARRO: Her pragmatism, blunt talk. The ability to walk across the aisle. I have asked Republican Senators who worked with her now and in the past. They all love her. They can all work with her. I thought if I have to choose between a woman who has been tough on her staff or a man, Donald Trump, who I have heard on tape boasting about sexual assaults, that is not a hard choice to make. I am going for the woman who has been tough on her staff. If that's all they can come up with against her, really?

BALDWIN: Kirsten, what about you? There's -- on policy there's a stark contrast between say an Amy Klobuchar and a Bernie Sanders, Klobuchar says she is being realistic on these ideas that other candidates are throwing out there. How do you see it?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think that's right. The question is, where will the Democratic base be in terms of who they want to support. Now I think in their hearts, they're probably closer to where Bernie Sanders is. But most poll versus shown and I can say anecdotally from talking to a lot of Democrats the main goal for Democrats is to find somebody who can win. So the left is concerned this time around with having the purity task and checking every single box of getting every single thing they want than getting somebody that can win. There are obviously people who think obviously Bernie Sanders will be the best person to win. There are people that look at Amy Klobuchar and say she can win in states where Democrats haven't within winning. She can attract people like Ana Navarro. She has another past. So I think that this is what people will be trying to figure out as they watch these debates and they watch this process go forth.

BALDWIN: What about stay on Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten, staying with you, she's answered a bunch of times these questions about all these stories that are out there about how she treats her staff. She is saying, true, her same answer, that, you know, I'm tough. You know, my standard is this high. I expect that of the people around me and of the country. And you know, we've heard that before. But the first time we've actually heard audience applause.

And what do you think, Kirsten, of her?

POWERS: Yes, I think it's the best answer she can give. I have to say, look, I think it's wrong to treat your staff badly. There's no excuse for it. Even if have you high standards. I don't know what's going on with her staff. But I will say it's not an uncommon thing in the political world. And a lot of the stories reported about her are stories that I have experienced, that people I know have experienced. Again, I'm not saying that makes it right. What concerns me is there are people I can think of right now who are in office who are men who do a lot of the same things and sometimes worse and we never hear about them. It's a non-issue. And so it to me it does feel like a double standard, because I know other people know that these men are doing it and it's not getting reported.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: We're talking about, for example, Klobuchar's, you know, staff turnover. Donald Trump, at this point, has had more chiefs of staffs than he has had wives.

(CROSSTALK) NAVARRO: That is not being low ball.

BALDWIN: But is that the standard now? Well, Donald Trump did this, so this person --

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: If you are running against him, yes, that is the standard.

BALDWIN: Yes.

But the other side is, all right, it's one thing to be tough and expect greatness from your staff. It's another to toss office supplies. Now, granted she clarifies that the binders didn't hit anyone. She forcibly put it down. Is that acceptable?

NAVARRO: If you are throwing an office supply at Steve Bannon? Of course, that's acceptable. The question is, why would Donald Trump spit by people, like Rob Porter, who was accused, incredibly accused of abuse? (CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: So, yes. You have everything in life is relative. And if the relative is running against Donald Trump, this pales in comparison.

One of the things that I think benefits Klobuchar is that to me it's almost feeling the Democratic side like the Republican side in 2016.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Hang on. Hang on.

Speaking of --

NAVARRO: Oh god.

BALDWIN: -- President Trump.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, they are very complex talks. They are going very well. We are asking for everything that anybody has ever suggested. These are not just, you know, let's sell corn or let's do this. It's going to be selling corn but a lot of it. A lot more than anyone thought possible. and I think the talks are going very well, with China you are referring to, and the talks are going very well. Our group just came back and now they're coming here. I can't tell you exactly about timing, but the date is not a magical date. A lot of things can happen. The real question will be, will we raise the tariffs because they automatically kick into 25 percent as of on $200 billion worth of goods that they send. So I know China would like not for that to happen. So I think they're trying to move fast so that doesn't happen. We'll see what happens.

[14:45:23] I say the talks with China on trade have gone very, very well. In the meantime, our economy is very strong. We're doing well. I don't know if you noticed, but deficits seem to be coming down. And last month, it was reported, and everybody was surprised, but I wasn't surprised. We're talk taking in a lot of money to our treasury from tariffs and various things, including the steel dumping and our steel companies are doing really well, aluminum companies also. We're very happy about that. I think that they'll be coming very shortly. They'll have detailed discussions on subjects that have never been discussed by people that Saturday in this chair and they should have been, very important subjects and I think we're doing very well. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESITON)

TRUMP: I've seen it. I've watched. I've gotten a lot of reports on it. We'll have a comment at the appropriate time. It will be wonderful if they got along. It seems like that was a horrible situation. But we're getting reports, we'll have a statement to put out.

OK. Thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you ask Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to change -- Michael Cohen?

TRUMP: No, not at all. I don't know who gave you that. More fake news. There's a lot of fake news out there. No, I didn't.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

TRUMP: Very good. I have a lot of respect for Mr. Whitaker. I think he's done a great job. He's a very, very straight shooter. I watched him during the shooter. Some of it. I thought he was exception am. He is a very fine man and he should be given a lot of thanks by our nation.

OK. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's your reaction to the lawsuit yesterday filed by the state against --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I think I called it exactly, right? Including the fact that they would put them into the Ninth Circuit. That's where they put them in. I think we will do that. I have an absolute right to call national security. We need strong borders. We have to stop drugs, crime, criminals and human trafficking. We have to stop all of those things that a strong wall will stop. I can call it a barrier. I don't think I have to do that so much anymore. We'll call it whatever we want. The point is we have to have a stoppage. Billions and billions of dollars of illicit things are pouring through our border.

You know, we talk about points of entry. One of the things we do have now is a lot of money for points of entry. Everything was given the money so much that you almost don't know what to do with it by Congress. When it came to the wall they wanted to hold back. It was politics. In fact, I hear the Democrats want to take down all walls along the southern border. If you do that, you will have a different country. First of all, they won't do it. They know it's wrong. They know walls are necessary maybe more than we do. But they're playing a political game and their new game is let's take down all walls. I saw what Beto wanted to take down walls. They asked me, what do you think? I said I think that's probably the end of his political career.

We're doing very well on the wall. We're building a lot of wall right now you know that. In the valley, we're doing tremendous work in a very important area. We have a lot more under negotiation right now. We're working with the Army Corps of Engineers. They're fantastic. A lot of great things are happening.

I think in the end we're going to be very successful with the lawsuit. So it was filed. It was filed in the Ninth Circuit and I actually think we might do very well even in the Ninth Circuit. Because it's an open and closed case. I was put here for security. Whether it's Space Force, which we're doing today, or whether it's borders. Because of our nation doesn't have borders, we don't have too much of a nation. Especially when drugs and all of the things you know better than anybody what's happening at the border. It's a bad situation. So I think we will do very well with the lawsuit.

OK. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) -- referred to meetings in Vietnam.

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What do you want to see?

TRUMP: I want to see de-nuclearization. We will see that ultimately. I have no pressing time schedule. I think a lot of people would like to see it go very quickly from the other side. I really believe North Korea can be a tremendous economic power when this is solved. Their location between Russia, China and South Korea is unbelievable. I think that North Korea and Chairman Kim have some very positive things in mind and we'll soon find out. But I'm in no rush. There's no testing. As long as there's no testing, I'm in no rush. If there's testing, that's another deal. There has been no testing. If you look at the end of the Obama administration, it was a disaster what was going on. You don't have that right now. It's a much different feeling. There's always danger, but I think people have a much different feeling. So I hope that very positive things are going to happen. I think it will be a very exciting couple of days.

Thank you all very much.

[14:50:47] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President --

(CROSSTALK) TRUMP: Oh, Bernie Sanders is running. Oh, that's right. Personally, I think he missed his time. But I like Bernie because he is one person that you know on trade, he sort of would agree on trade, I'm being very tough on trade. The problem is, he doesn't know what to do about it. We're doing something very spectacular on trade. But I wish Bernie well. It will be interesting to see how he does. I

I think what happened to Bernie maybe was not so nice. I think he was taken advantage of. He ran great four years ago. And he was not treated with respect by Clinton. And it was a too bad. I thought what happened to Bernie Sanders four years ago was quite sad as it pertains to our country. We'll see how he does. We got a lot of people running. Only one person is going to win. I hope you know who that person is.

Good-bye, everybody. Thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: All right. So, we dipped in the president there just quickly on the news the breaking news out of the "New York Times" piece that they have been reporting on that Trump spoke with his acting attorney general about getting an attorney for SDNY to unrecuse himself in the Michael Cohen investigation. The president was asked about that. He denied the allegations in the "New York Times" piece that he tried to interfere. And went on to say Matt Whitaker is a straight shooter and a very fine man.

So I wanted to put a button on that. I got Kirsten and Ana with me as well.

We were talking about these Democratic contenders, in 2020, you just heard president ask, Kirsten, about Senator Sanders. He thinks he likes Bernie. He wishes him well. It might be complimentary. Why?

POWERS: Because I think that this was the plan for Republicans to focus on Bernie Sanders and talk about Socialism and pretend that the plan for the Democratic Party is to somehow look like Venezuela, even though that's not even the kind of Socialism that Bernie supports. I think they see that as a real winning issue is to brand the entire Democratic Party as being Socialist, which is a certain population a very triggering word.

BALDWIN: What do you think?

NAVARRO: I think she's right. And I've got to tell you, as somebody who lives in south Florida, surrounded by Venezuelan exiles, I take great offense to Republicans or anybody comparing what's happening here to what's happening in Venezuela.

BALDWIN: He mentioned Socialism in that Miami speech 28 times.

NAVARRO: Yes. And it was in Florida for the Senate race and the governor's race saying these Democrats are going, want to turn the United States into Venezuela. Venezuela is a place where there's a thug dictator who is starving his people who is killing his people, who is jailing his people, who is beating up his people. This is not Venezuela. And to use that metaphor, for me just cheapens the stress and the despair of what is happening in that country. If the one thing -- the one thing I agree on with Trump is vis-a-vis sanding in solidarity with the Venezuelan opposition.

Look, Bernie Sanders, he'd love to run against Bernie Sanders, but I've got to tell you, as I was listening to him right now, I thought it was the "Twilight Zone" in a moment where a Republican president is saying out loud that he agrees with Bernie Sanders on trade. I am so dam old. I remember when Republicans were pro-free trade. We're completely opposite where Bernie Sanders is on trade. Yet, Donald Trump who has taken this Republican Party hostage and has got a lot of fools to believe that he is the Republican messiah is in the same place. He has said it in his own voice like Bernie Sanders on trade.

[14:55:07] BALDWIN: It feels like this guy is upside-down. I know. I know.

Ana Navarro, thank you so much, and Kirsten Powers.

Ladies, appreciate it.

We want to get back to that breaking news. The president denied he spoke with his acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker, about the idea of getting the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York to unrecuse himself in the Michael Cohen investigation. More on that at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: Welcome back. You are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

[15:00:04] It's a very busy news day here.