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Manafort Argues for Lighter Sentence; Sanders Town Hall; Biden Running out of Time; Trump Shows Strength in Polls. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 26, 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] DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's the reality, yes, especially when they want a conviction.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Laura, one of the other things that his lawyers, Manafort's lawyers, are saying is that he is being depicted as like an arch villain rather than a sort of garden variety, white collar criminal, and that that is very bad for his reputation and sentencing.

Your thoughts?

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well -- well, it should be bad because it -- he -- according to the government, he is somebody who is notorious. You know -- no, he's not a murderer. He's not what they were talking about.

They mentioned Madoff and Ponzi schemes and the collapse of Enron. It's true, it's not that. But these arguments are really dead on arrival when you begin at this -- at this stage. We are at sentencing, not the beginning of trial when you're saying, look, your honor, these cases should not even go forward. They should be dismissed because it's outside the jurisdiction of Mueller.

We are now past that point and we have convictions and, oh, guilty pleas as well. And so the idea of saying, well, look, it may be tax evasion, it may be lying, it may be conspiracy, it may be actually serious crimes that have this label "white collar" to make it seem better than the quote/unquote average criminal. However, these are still crimes.

But it's not Russia, so you have to be lenient to us. It's not collusion, be lenient to us. This would hold maybe more water, Alisyn, if we didn't already realize that part of the filings that were handed over in this case involved knowledge of Manafort handing over polling data to people tied to the Kremlin. So they've already essentially blown this argument out of the water. The judge will probably be lenient in the sense of his age -- his age and will realize that a life sentence will actually be any -- any range, 10 years or more likely. But this is still a criminal. A criminal who has admitted to the crimes and pled guilty and been convicted.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: But it's not collusion, it's not armed robbery, it's not jaywalking.

COATES: It's not collusion.

BERMAN: Yes, there's a long list of --

CAMEROTA: It may be jaywalking. I don't remember that.

BERMAN: There's a long list of things that it's not. No, he didn't -- he didn't plead guilty or wasn't convicted of that.

All right, Rod Rosenstein chose yesterday, of all days, in late February, in the weeks before we believe that a Mueller report will be turned over, to talk a great deal about transparency. Let's listen to the deputy attorney general.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROD ROSENSTEIN, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: There's a knee-jerk reaction to suggest that we should be transparent about what we do in government. But there are a lot of reasons not to be transparent about what we do in government. If we aren't prepared to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt in court, then we have no business making allegations against American citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: There are those, Joe Lockhart, who say that was some not too subtle messaging about what the American public may not be told about the Mueller report in the coming weeks.

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. Yes, I certainly hope he wasn't referring to that, but why else would he be saying that at this point except to condition the environment.

You talk about something that will reduce trust in the Department of Justice and our government is if you go out and tell the American public, we can't indict the president, but we can't tell you what he did wrong because, well, you can't -- if you don't indict him you can't reveal any of the information. That -- that is unexplainable, I think, to anyone in the country and will reduce trust in justice. And I think it -- ultimately, if they're trying to keep this under wraps, might even backfire because, can you imagine, you know, Bob Mueller being subpoenaed for a hearing on -- and he gets up and he starts talking about, here's what they don't want me to tell you. This is going to come out. And I can't understand why they're trying to do what they're doing right now.

CAMEROTA: Well, because one of the rules that they're falling back on, David Gregory, is that you don't release incriminating -- or derogatory I guess is the word, information about people who are unindicted or not charged. And on some level that makes sense. Of course not, why sully their reputation if you're not going to, you know, pursue them with charges, except that they did not follow that rule with all of the Hillary Clinton stuff.

GREGORY: Sure.

CAMEROTA: I mean they released, you know, 800,000 documents for review when the then chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Republican, Bob Goodlatte, wanted information on Andrew McCabe and Hillary Clinton, et cetera, the Department of Justice handed it over. So they were -- they were transparent --

GREGORY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: On people who were -- with derogatory information with people who were not charged.

GREGORY: Right. I think that's a good point. And it was in the name of government oversight. You know, how did they do the investigation? Was there something that was unfair in all of that.

Look, what Rosenstein just said was a rebuke of Jim Comey, and he wrote the memo to get him fired saying you don't dump all this stuff on Hillary Clinton if you're not going to bring the case. Well -- and then he admitted, well, but we do have this tension here, right? You have this certain right to know about some of this activity. And I -- look, I think -- I think Joe's right and I think, you know, Joe and others who worked for President Clinton back then would have liked the promise of a little bit more restraint when it came to the Starr report, which they didn't get.

And now you have this tension between, well, if he's -- if the president is involved, he's not charged with a crime, then what else is part of the report. So there's all these things we don't know about.

BERMAN: Right.

GREGORY: We don't know what kind of report ultimately Mueller is going to produce that then could cause the reaction of what gets released to Congress. But I think there has to be some oversight here. There has to be the ability for Congress to do the job because if this -- the only way this is adjudicated is through a political impeachment process, the public's got to be brought into it. And one way or the other, they will.

[06:35:15] BERMAN: All right, David Gregory, Joe, Laura, thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: All right, Senator Bernie Sanders holding court at a CNN presidential town hall last night. What he did not say that's now raising eyebrows.

BERMAN: Did he say hi? Hi.

CAMEROTA: Hi.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Overnight, the CNN town hall with the newly announced Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders. He did not hold back on a range of subjects.

CNN's Ryan Nobles live in Washington with the details. Ryan.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning.

And while many of his fellow Democratic opponents have run away from the socialist tag, in last night's CNN town hall, Bernie Sanders spent a lot of time embracing the label, arguing that his brand of Democratic socialism is not only better for the country but it will help him beat Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[06:40:01] WOLF BLITZER, MODERATOR: Senator Bernie Sanders.

NOBLES (voice over): A self-described Democratic socialist weighs in on an embattled socialist leader. Bernie Sanders warns against intervention in Venezuela and declined to call Nicolas Maduro a dictator.

BLITZER: Why have you stopped short of calling Maduro of Venezuela a dictator?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, he -- I think it's -- it's fair to say that the last election was undemocratic. But there are still democratic operations taking place in that country.

NOBLES: That's just one takeaway from CNN's town hall with Sanders.

SANDERS: When I talk about democratic socialism, what I talk about are human rights and economic rights.

NOBLES: The presidential candidate conceding that private health insurance would probably end if his Medicare for all plan is implemented.

BLITZER: Will these people be able to keep their health insurance plans, their private plans --

SANDERS: No.

NOBLES: And after urging surrogates to, quote, engaging respectfully with Democratic opponents, Sanders took shots at President Trump.

BLITZER: How will you engage with him?

SANDERS: Well, we'll bring a lie detector along. And every time he lies, it goes beep.

NOBLES: Sanders also vowed to release 10 years' worth of tax returns after only releasing a 2014 summary during the last campaign.

BLITZER: Will you release 10 years of your tax returns? As you know, Elizabeth Warren has decided to do that.

NOBLES: Yes. Our tax returns will bore you to death. It's simply a -- nothing special about them. NOBLES: Sanders rejecting one questioner's claim he undermined Hillary

Clinton during the 2016 campaign. He referenced a letter directly from Clinton three weeks before Election Day where she thanked Sanders for campaigning for her in many crucial states.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: And so far the Sanders pitch is working, at least with his vast network of online donors. The Sanders campaign says that he's now raised more than $10 million for his 2020 campaign from close to 360,000 donors, 39 percent of those donors using an e-mail address that the campaign has not been connected to before. So these could be new donors. And perhaps the most surprising statistic, on the first day of his campaign, 12,000 of those donors were Republicans. And, keep in mind, the Sanders 2020 campaign, Alisyn, now only one week old.

CAMEROTA: That -- those are some very interesting stats. Thank you very much, Ryan. We'll get into those with Harry Enten.

So the clock is ticking for Joe Biden to jump into the Democratic race for 2020. How late is too late? Harry Enten is going to break that down for us, next.

BERMAN: And passengers trapped on a train for more than 24 hours in the cold. We'll speak with one of them live about what's going on in the next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:50] CAMEROTA: Former vice president, Joe Biden, is still weighing his options as he considers whether to launch what would be his third presidential campaign. But is he running the risk of wait too long to make this decision?

There's something about Harry, so let's get "The Forecast" with CNN's senior politics writer and analyst, Harry Enten.

Harry, is there a timeline for Joe Biden?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Is there a timeline? I think there is but perhaps it's a big broader than a lot of us in the press give the former vice president credit for.

So Biden seems to be biding his team. It's already February 26th. Will he do it? Won't he do it? We don't know.

But let's take a look first at the average date for when nominees generally get in. We're already past that. It's February 19th. We're at February 26th. So, clearly, he's a little later than average. But, of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that he's later than everybody else who's ever run before.

So let's take a look at some announcement dates from some past years.

CAMEROTA: Let's do that. ENTEN: And we can see there's really just a wide array of when nominees get in the races. I should point out, these are when they first sort of indicated for real that they were running. It's not just the formal announcement, whether or not they formed an exploratory committee. And we can see that a lot of people, in fact many of them, declared in January of the year before the primary or even earlier. John McCain, I remember, declaring, he did an exploratory committee all the way into November of 2006. George H.W. Bush in February the year before. But you notice, a little less than half of them were March of year before. That's later than this date or even later than that.

BERMAN: And the one that he's going to like more than any other -- or the two, I should say, Bill Clinton, but also Ronald Reagan. And they're drawing some parallels there, right?

ENTEN: Yes. Right. So these are the two that got in the latest, Bill Clinton in the very late forming field of 1992, didn't get in, I think, until August of that year.

BERMAN: Right.

ENTEN: He didn't formally declare until October of that year.

But I think the better comparison, in all honesty, is Mr. Reagan, who's right over there. And why is Mr. Reagan, former President Reagan, a good comparison? He didn't get in until May of that year. He was a -- he was running against an incumbent. He faced issues about his age. He led in the polling. He had run twice for president before. Those kind of sound a lot like Joe Biden.

CAMEROTA: That sounds very familiar.

So then what's everybody worried about? If you can do it in May or later, what's everybody freaking out about?

ENTEN: So I think that this is a key sort of point, and that is, it's not just about the historical comparison, it's about the intra-year comparison. And what we see is that, normally speaking, the nominees, 75 percent of them got in before the median candidate of that year. And we've already had 12 people say that they're running for president or formed an exploratory committee and are still running. And so it's very likely that Biden is going to be towards the latter half of the pack if he decides to get in. Normally candidates who do that don't win nominations. Now, of course, there were four that did so he could, in fact, fill that mold. But, normally, candidates who are interested in running and have a really good shot tend to get in early.

BERMAN: Maybe the idea -- I mean voters want to believe that you want this, that you're all in there.

First of all, there's something different about Harry this morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Is there? BERMAN: I think there's something -- you know, you're like doing Harry

Enten, the musical version this morning a little bit. A little more sing songy.

Something poll numbers came out this weekend which caught my attention, I know caught yours also. Gallup approval ratings state by state. And it's a good window into how President Trump is doing.

ENTEN: Right. So what we can do is, take those Gallup numbers state by state and sort of say, OK, if his net approval rating was positive in those states, he'd win those states in the Electoral College, if they're negative, he'd lose them. And what we see is the Democratic candidate in such a scenario is blowing Trump out of the water. He only gets 125 electoral votes. The Democrats get 395. They carry most of the swing states. They even go in and win Arizona, which they haven't won in a while. Georgia, which Democrats haven't carried since 1992. Texas. All these states where Donald Trump is under watch, which you might say is a good thing for Democrats.

[06:50:27] But, take a look at this, which I think is kind of interesting. Let's look where Trump's approval rating, his net approval rating, is above the national average versus below. Because you remember in 2016, he won the popular -- he lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College. This suggests that Donald Trump could, in fact, do that again because he is above the national average in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa. So if the thing's tied up nationally and we get a tie nationally, don't be surprised if Donald Trump wins the Electoral College.

CAMEROTA: All right, we need to talk about the Oscars because you made an interesting prediction on Friday. OK.

ENTEN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So you thought that "Roma" -- your stats suggest that "Roma" --

ENTEN: The betting markets suggested.

CAMEROTA: The betting markets suggested.

ENTEN: Right.

CAMEROTA: And, in fact, "Green Book" was at 21 percent.

ENTEN: Correct.

CAMEROTA: But you had an interesting addendum. Let's remind people what you said --

ENTEN: Shall we?

CAMEROTA: On Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ENTEN: So, 21 percent. Things happen all the time. In fact, Bernie Sanders' chance of winning the nomination, according to the betting markets, is right around 21 percent. So if the "Green Book" wins, it's a good indication that sometimes underdogs do win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Is Bernie Sanders going to win the presidency? Is that what you're saying, Harry?

ENTEN: I don't think that those two are necessarily explaining one or the other, but I think what's rather key in that is that underdogs can win. Things at 21 percent chance can win all the time. And that was my point. I was saying that even though Bernie Sanders only has a 20 percent chance of winning the nomination, that's actually fairly high.

Some people online didn't necessarily agree with that or necessarily understand it. This aged (ph) well, congrats, you just -- no, that was exactly what I meant. And that -- and that was that Bernie Sanders doesn't have a 50 percent chance of greater winning the nomination but he does, in fact, have a pretty good shot. Twenty percent things happens all of the time.

BERMAN: Your discussion about "Green Book" managed to upset Bernie Sanders supporters, that --

ENTEN: Somehow.

BERMAN: Which is the most telling thing of all.

ENTEN: Perhaps.

BERMAN: All right, Harry.

CAMEROTA: Oh, the irony.

ENTEN: Oh, the irony.

CAMEROTA: What up, Steph (ph) says.

BERMAN: All right, a group of journalists detained in Venezuela after an interview with the embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. We have new details on this, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:56:26] BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, a group of Univision journalists, including Jorge Ramos, are now free after being detained while interviewing the embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Vice President Mike Pence has just announced some new sanctions against Maduro's regime, saying it's time for action. A lot of developments.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, live in neighboring Colombia.

Nick, give us the latest. NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it

seems Jorge Ramos and his crew are on their way to the airport now, about to be deported. But you couldn't have more official real presence for Univision in the country than conducting an interview with President Nicolas Maduro. It appears that during that interview Maduro became quite angry and here's how Jorge Ramos described the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORGE RAMOS, UNIVISION ANCHOR: I show him a video that I personally took last Sunday of three kids behind a trash truck looking for food. And he just couldn't stand it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: Now, Maduro denies there is a hunger problem in this country. It's one of the sort of weirdest things to get your head around about Venezuela, despite people starving there. That crew were then taken out of the interview. They were put in a room where the lights were turned off. They were then taken to their hotel, which they say were surrounded by Venezuelan authorities, and now deported eventually. Their equipment taken from them. I understand they still have much of their footage, though.

This is a number of journalists, though, harassed in Venezuela. Quite often they are intimidated too. And, of course, these are foreigners who often get to leave. Many Venezuelan media stay behind and face these threats every day. Just one aspect of difficult life inside Venezuela.

Back to you.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely, Nick. Thank you very much for bringing that to us.

All right, so here, now, are our "Late Night Laughs."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SETH MEYERS, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": Last night's Oscar ceremony did not mention Trump by name once. The closest anyone came was Spike Lee mentioning the 2020 election in this acceptance speech.

SPIKE LEE, DIRECTOR: The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Make the moral choice between love versus hate.

MEYERS: I love that he didn't mention Trump by name, but Trump heard "hate" and assumed it was about him. When Trump hears the word "hate," it's like his bat signal. Someone said the word "hate." Alfred, give me my Twitter belt.

TREVOR NOAH, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH TREVOR NOAH": That's right, President Trump called Spike Lee racist. It was like, "BlacKkKlansmen," that's offensive, folks. Should have been called black very fine people on both sides. Both sides. JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": Of course no one appreciates

the way Donald Trump has handled North Korea more than Donald Janis (ph) Trump himself.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a great relationship. The Singapore was a tremendous success. We would have literally been in a war with North Korea, in my opinion, had I not been elected.

OK, thank you very much, everybody.

KIMMEL: Well, no, thank you for -- for achieving what had only been achieved previously by Dennis Rodman.

BERMAN: Donald Janis Trump.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

BERMAN: Awesome (ph).

CAMEROTA: What is the J?

BERMAN: Jonathan.

CAMEROTA: Jonathan.

BERMAN: Yes, for $500, Alice, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Impressive.

BERMAN: All right, thank you to our international viewers for watching. For you, CNN "TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, big testimony on Capitol Hill as President Trump arrives in Hanoi for discussions with Kim Jong-un.

NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His credibility will be under the microscope. He's a damaged witness.

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER ACTING FBI DIRECTOR: The possibilities are limitless.

He had extraordinary access to people of interest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael Cohen has already plead guilty to lying to Congress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

[07:00:01] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So every time he says anything, the Democrats can say, why should we believe you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump is trying to create this environment that is so favorable.

END