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CNN Poll: Biden Opens Commanding Lead Over Dem Field; Biden Begins Two Days of Campaigning in Iowa Today; Trump Introduces Sweeping Changes to Asylum in Memo; Trump Sues to Block House Subpoenas for Records. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 30, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The former vice president headed to Iowa.

[05:59:18] JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to choose hope over fear, unity over division, truth over lies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe Trump voters, in his mind, he can win over. He's got to play it moderate.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Trump Organization and the president's family suing Deutsche Bank and Capital One to block congressional subpoenas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump is going to fight on all fronts to keep his financial records private.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president and his family have a right to contest it, and we'll have a court bat and will see who comes out on top.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, April 30, the last day of April, 6 a.m. here in New York. We do begin with breaking news.

A brand-new CNN poll releasing this second, and it shows a huge opening weekend for former vice president, Joe Biden. Think "Avengers: Endgame" here.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That huge?

BERMAN: That big. In a crowded field of 20 candidates, Joe Biden has broken away from the pack. He's at 39 percent of potential Democratic voters. They say he is their top choice for the nomination. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders way back in second with 15 percent.

CAMEROTA: Biden getting a bigger bounce than expected after entering the race last week. Today, Biden begins campaigning in Iowa, where he is already doing much better this time around than during his previous runs.

The Iowa caucuses are 279 days away.

So joining us now is CNN political director David Chalian to break down our new numbers. David, this is a bigger bounce, as we're saying, than expected.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, it is a big bounce indeed. And we should note, this is the first poll that we've seen conducted entirely after Joe Biden rolled out that video last Thursday, Alisyn.

And there is the horse race, as you said. Joe Biden way out in front; 39 percent of Democrats are backing him. Fifteen percent for Sanders. And you see the next four -- Warren, Buttigieg, O'Rourke and Harris -- all sort of grouped together in that -- in that next tier.

Let's look at where they were last month in our poll, compared to now. And look at that Biden movement. That's 11 points higher than he was just a month ago. This clearly is a bounce out of his rollout, out of his announcement.

The only other candidate to make a big jump, Buttigieg went from 1 percent to 7 percent. But you see Warren holds steady. O'Rourke and Harris go from double digits to single digits. Even Bernie Sanders went down a bit, all to the benefit of Biden and a bit to Buttigieg.

Here is one thing I want to sort of caveat, just so folks are aware, where the support is coming from. Look at this. Among white Democrats versus non-white Democrats, Joe Biden's commanding lead is being fueled by this huge lead among non-white voters. He's at 50 percent compared to Sanders at 14. He's still leading among white voters, but not by that huge margin that he is among non-white voters.

Here's the thing: Nobody is locked in yet here. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats might change their mind, according to this poll, 64 percent. Thirty-six percent say they definitely are going to support the candidate they are with right now.

We also asked about the kinds of qualities of a candidate that people are looking for. There it is, guys. Electability, the chance to beat Donald Trump, is the most important candidate quality; 46 percent call it extremely important.

That's followed by the right experience; will work across party lines; looks like the future of the party. And then far less important credentials in the candidates.

How about the issues? Take a look at this number. Climate change: 82 percent of Democrats call it extremely important. This is an animating issue inside the Democratic primary, followed by Medicare for all, then guns.

Some of the other topics you've seen debated -- free public college, impeaching the president, paying reparations, voting rights for felons, they fall far below. But climate change and Medicare for all, those are the animating issues inside this Democratic nomination race.

BERMAN: All right. David Chalian, do not go anywhere. We need to talk much more about this poll, the breaking news, in just a moment.

First, though, this morning, Joe Biden makes his first trip to Iowa as an official 2020 candidate for president. This comes the day after the former vice president took on President Trump at his first official campaign rally in Pittsburgh.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny on the ground in Iowa, Cedar Rapids. Jeff, what can we expect today?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, good morning. Joe Biden has come to Iowa so many times as a presidential candidate, but never like this, as a front runner.

Of course, his dreams to be president were twice extinguished here in Iowa by those Iowa caucuses in 1998 and in 2008. But he argues this is a different time and a different moment, as he presents himself as the best Democrat to beat Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (voice-over): Joe Biden is coming back to Iowa, hoping the third time is a charm in his quest to win the presidency.

BIDEN: The major moral obligation of our time is to restore, rebuild, and respect the backbone of America.

ZELENY: He's opening a two-day visit to Iowa after firing up supporters in Pittsburgh on Monday with a message to middle-class workers at the first rally of his new campaign.

BIDEN: If I'm going to be able to beat Donald Trump in 2020, it's going to happen here. It's going to happen here.

ZELENY: The battle lines are quickly coming into focus, with Bernie Sanders urging voters to take a closer look at Biden's record, by firing off one of the sharpest exchanges yet to a Democratic rival.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I helped lead the fight against NAFTA. He voted for NAFTA. I helped lead the fight against PNCR with China. He voted for it. I strongly opposed the Transpacific Partnership. He supported it.

ZELENY: Those stark policy disagreements will be litigated first in Iowa, the opening stop of the Democratic nominating contest next year.

[06:05:04] Biden collected the first endorsement of a major union, the International Association of Firefighters, whose leader warned the party from choosing a liberal nominee.

HAROLD SCHAITBERGER, PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIREFIGHTERS: This may not be popular in parts of the Democratic Party, but we have to have a nominee and can't have a nominee that is too far left. It's just that simple.

ZELENY: This didn't sit well with President Trump, who blasted union leaders, vowing that their members, quote, "love Trump."

Long labeled a front runner before entering the race, Biden is now trying to justify it by keeping his sights trained on Trump as long as he can.

BIDEN: Donald Trump is only president -- is the only president who's decided not to represent the whole country. The president has his base. We need a president who works for all Americans.

ZELENY: Yet, Biden is also still trying to strike the right chord in reconciling his long record in the Senate. While declining to directly apologize last week to Anita Hill for her treatment during the 1991 Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings --

BIDEN: I am sorry she was treated the way she was treated.

ZELENY: -- taking a different tone Monday during an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts, with his wife Jill by his side.

BIDEN: As the committee chairman, I take responsibility that she did not get treated well. I take responsibility for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Biden is saying for the first time, he takes responsibility. Notice that change in language there from just a couple days ago.

But John and Alisyn, that is part of his record that he's bringing here to Iowa. But notice the contrast Bernie Sanders was drawing directly with Joe Biden's voting record. That is what voters here, of course, will have to decide between Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, or all of the other candidates -- John and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Jeff, stick with us.

We want to bring back David Chalian --

ZELENY: Sure.

CAMEROTA: -- to talk about all of this. It sounds like we can put the Anita Hill stuff to rest now. It took a couple of decades, but he got it right there, and it doesn't sound, David, as though that's what voters are focused on.

What you're seeing in the new polls that are out six minutes ago is that it's electability. It's who can beat President Trump.

CHALIAN: That's certainly, of all of the candidate qualities we tested, that is what is top of mind, where most Democrats say that's most important to them, Alisyn.

And it's interesting, hearing in Jeff's piece there, highlighting Sanders going at Biden on his record and where they differ. Because one of the things we see in this poll is that there's a whole swath of Democrats who are not familiar with Joe Biden's record way back then in the Senate. So there is a potential opportunity for his opponents, like Sanders was doing on "ANDERSON" last night, to try and educate a newer part of the Democratic electorate about Joe Biden's record.

BERMAN: I will say that Joe Biden is getting some help from an unlikely source over the last two days, and I think that's President Trump.

Joe Biden is basing his candidacy on, "I'm the guy who can beat Trump." He is taking on the president directly.

And what's the president doing? He's responding and egging him on. I'm not going to read these tweets, but the president tweeting repeatedly here. And to an extent, Jeff, it seems like he's making this a two-man contest, which is exactly what Joe Biden wants.

ZELENY: John, there's no question about it. And that is what some of the president's advisers had hoped he would not do, to try and elevate someone. Now, it's difficult to elevate Joe Biden because, of course, he's the front runner, the former vice president, but this is exactly what the Biden team was hoping would happen. And in fact, it has happened.

It's one of the rare times that a Democrat has been able to draw President Trump into something. Usually, it's the other way around, that President Trump is drawing other people in.

So this is a fascinating dynamic to watch. We do know the president is watching all of this unfold. We also know he's a little bit concerned about the attention that he's not getting.

Of course, every time Joe Biden is on television, others are on television, the president not getting that air time and oxygen, if you will.

But by talking directly about the union members yesterday, for example, the president going after the union members themselves and the union leaders, saying their dues are too high, it's clear Joe Biden is in the president's head. No doubt about it. He's treated him sort of differently than all the other Democratic candidates.

So we'll see how that, you know, keeps playing out here. But there's no question, Joe Biden benefits from all of this. Because it goes directly at his argument, that he is the best Democrat to take on President Trump.

CAMEROTA: Yes. And David, Joe Biden is seizing upon this. I mean, you know, in his campaign launch video --

ZELENY: Right.

CAMEROTA: -- he talked about the difference that he sees in America than what the vision that President Trump has had. And so yesterday, again, in Pittsburgh, he talked about the difference. So listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. And I believe. I believe in hope. They know who we are. We have to let them know who we are. We Democrats, we independents, who have the same view have to choose hope over fear, unity over division, and maybe most importantly, truth over lies. Truth over lies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:10:05] CAMEROTA: That, of course, David Chalian, is the same day that the fact checkers determined that President Trump hit the 10,000 untruths -- if that-s a word -- mark of his administration, when they count these things. So what do you hear Biden doing there?

CHALIAN: Yes. I'd just note, also, though, remember, the American public did not find Donald Trump honest and trustworthy when they elected him president either.

And so I don't know if that will be the most resonant message to win back voters, or if it will be more on an economic appeal, which Joe Biden spent much of the speech yesterday doing, Alisyn.

I mean, this was sort of a piece, a pillar of his campaign, was about his vision for how to rebuild the middle class. And when he said that, if a Democrat is going to win back the White House, it's going to be right here, I mean, this is why I think he's getting under the president's skin.

I think the president is keenly aware that Joe Biden may have a unique appeal in this field of 20 Democrats to actually win back some of the very voters that delivered the Oval Office to Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, in Michigan, in Wisconsin, that he may have a unique appeal to bring some of those people back into the Democratic fold.

BERMAN: Let's put up P-102, just so people can see the numbers once again, with Joe Biden at 39 percent. Thirty-nine percent in a field of 20 candidates, that is a big number. And you can see the movement there.

Now, if you put up P-108, we asked an interesting question, Jeff Zeleny. Which candidate do you want to hear more about? And leading that is Senator Kamala Harris from California, whose overall number has dropped, yet voters are still curious about her, which is very interesting to me, Jeff.

ZELENY: It is, John. And I think that is a sign that we should say again and again, as David has, these numbers are a snapshot in time. Candidates do want to know -- more voters, excuse me, want to know more about the candidates.

And the number for Senator Harris there, that says to me that she has caught, you know -- has caught the attention of a lot of voters. People want to hear more from her. They're familiar with her.

So the question for Joe Biden is, as voters become more familiar with his old record, how does that change things? That's exactly why Bernie Sanders is trying, as David said, to educate voters about Joe Biden's record.

Joe Biden wants to talk about the last eight years of his public record, when he was the vice president to Barack Obama. But of course, the first 36 years of his time in the Senate is also coming into play.

But that number there for Senator Harris, certainly interesting. And it will be fascinating to see, as Joe Biden spends the next two days here in Iowa, where you know, his -- it's so important to his chances. If he does not do well here in the Iowa caucuses next year, it's hard to see him going forward.

Voters are looking for new things but, again, electability is the central part of that. So that's why this trip for Biden is not an ordinary trip to Iowa. It is a critical trip, as he begins reintroducing himself to a whole new generation of voters.

BERMAN: I would submit there are no ordinary trips to Iowa.

CAMEROTA: I mean, on Kamala Harris, just one last thing. We have seen that in the town halls. She is the person who gets the most viewers.

ZELENY: Right.

CAMEROTA: So clearly, there's a lot of interest. These are early days. And so we'll see how that plays out.

BERMAN: All right. David Chalian, Jeff Zeleny, a lot more to discuss on this news. And we'll get to it again in a little bit.

But also breaking overnight, President Trump with major new moves on immigration, taking aim at asylum seekers with sweeping changes. CNN's Joe Johns live at the White House with these details.

Jeff, tell -- Joe, tell what the president is doing.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the significance of this is the president has essentially opened up a whole new front in his push to put hardline immigration policies in place. And it comes right as the presidential election year starts ramping up.

This memo requires the attorney general, as well as the homeland security secretary, to put together new rules. Now, there are a lot of things in there. Among those things is the president trying to speed up the process on asylum.

Right now, it takes just about a year, two, maybe more, to get an asylum application through. The president wants to trim that back to 180 days.

There are also some roadblocks in there, including charging fees for applications, including work permits. And also, if you try to sneak into the country, then you can't get a work permit.

Of course, the president has been railing on the campaign trail about the idea of credible fear. This is something that asylum seekers have to declare in order to get the application process started in the first place. The president has said he thinks that's a scam. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The asylum program is a scam. Some of the roughest people you've ever seen, people that look like they should be fighting for the UFC. They read a little page given by lawyers that are all over the place. You know, lawyer. They tell them what to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:15:11] JOHNS: They've really been focusing on that credible fear idea. The government says those claims on credible fear have increased, something like 2,000 percent over the last five years.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: And Joe, thank you very much.

Also breaking overnight, President Trump and his adult children and his businesses are all suing two banks to block them from turning over the financial records to House Democrats who have subpoenaed them.

CNN's Cristina Alesci is here with the details. What's their basis for this?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Trump has vowed to fight any kind of efforts to get at his financial records, especially from Congress, and he's making good on that -- on that promise.

So what's happening here is the House Financial Services Committee and the House Financial -- the House Intelligence Committee are saying they want to know whether or not the president is compromised by any foreign entity, and they want to know whether his business was any way involved with illicit activity. And they are going to go look for that information.

So they subpoenaed his banks, Deutsche Bank and Capital One. And Trump's attorneys turned around, sued the banks, trying to stop them from releasing those records. And they're arguing that that information is protected by bank privacy laws.

And they're also arguing that Congress has no legislative purpose for this information, that it's all political; it's all presidential harassment.

But look, this is Trump's -- this mess is Trump's own making because of the -- what I call the original sin. When he took office, he basically flouted ethical norms by keeping control of his -- not keeping control on a day-to-day basis, but essentially not --

CAMEROTA: But not divesting fully.

ALESCI: -- divesting in a way that ethics officials wanted to see. So all of that is -- and then on top of that, he's not releasing his tax returns. So all of that is creating this demand for investigations.

CAMEROTA: And so didn't they subpoena these records a while ago? So the banks haven't turned them over yet. In other words, the lawsuit could still work to block it.

ALESCI: The lawsuit could work. But what I'm hearing is that Congress, if it wants specific information like this, usually gets it. What the Trump attorneys are probably trying to do is limit the scope of the subpoena. So that's probably the best outcome for them.

CAMEROTA: Cristina Alesci, thank you very much --

ALESCI: Of course.

CAMEROTA: -- for the update on that -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New overnight, a judge in Charlottesville, Virginia, has ruled that statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, he's ruled they're war monuments, and based on state code, the city of Charlottesville cannot remove these statues.

This ruling comes nearly two years after violence at a rally killed Heather Heyer. In response to the rally, the Charlottesville city council had voted to have the statues removed.

The judge, again, says that state law prohibits that, will now say -- now still has to decide whether this question will go to trial in September. The judge says the state law is pretty clear. Now, we will wait and see if Virginia legislators will try to change that law.

CAMEROTA: All right. I mean, it's a teachable moment anyway for kids and for everybody who goes to see the statues, of what the full history is.

BERMAN: That's one way of looking at it, yes. Other people say they look at that, and they see it as a symbol of oppression.

CAMEROTA: Sure.

BERMAN: But this judge says that, no matter how you look at it, the law protects the statues.

CAMEROTA: The war monuments. OK. Got it. Thank you.

Meanwhile, our new CNN national poll shows Vice President Joe Biden getting a big bounce after getting in the race. How can the other candidates catch up? We discuss all that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:22:10] BERMAN: All right. The breaking news this morning, this new CNN poll which shows former Vice President Joe Biden opening up a sizable lead in the Democratic race for president. He's at 39 percent. You can see an 11-point bounce since March.

Of course, what's happened since then? Joe Biden has made it official he is running for president. Bernie Sanders in second place at 15 percent. And you can see where the other candidates are, as well.

Joining us now, David Gregory, CNN political analyst; and Laura Barron-Lopez, national political reporter for "Politico."

David, polls are a snapshot in time. I understand we are a long way from the election. And this isn't to say that covering the horse race is as important as covering the issues, but what this poll does tell us --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: -- is what Democratic voters are hungry for, at least today. Which is they say that they want to beat Donald Trump. And at least today, they see Joe Biden as the best way to do that.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I think that's right. And I think that it does expose today. And tomorrow what's going to be a big dividing line in this race, which is, are you focused on the practical, just who can beat Donald Trump? Or do you want to remake the Democratic Party, think about the future of leadership in the party, think about the kinds of problems in the country that a lot of younger voters, in particular, want to see addressed that are generational issues, things that Mayor Pete is talking a lot about and other candidates, as well.

So I think that dividing line becomes really important. And I think we have to remember that a lot of the energy in the party among younger voters doesn't necessarily capture who's most likely to vote. And I think our poll picks that up in terms of Biden's strength among older voters. And that's important.

And I think it does underline -- look, Biden is well-known. The media is giving him a great deal of attention. There's been so much anticipation over the months that have been leading up to this. So he's going to get a pop.

But it also underscores that it's Biden and everyone else. In a big field, Biden, if he stays above 30 percent, running against 19 other candidates, at that level, can prevail. And the more he keeps his attention squarely on Donald Trump and not his -- and not his opponents, perhaps even the better for him.

CAMEROTA: I think what's interesting, Laura, one of the things that's interesting, is that it's all been hypothetical up until now. Right?

So all the poll numbers that we'd seen about the enthusiasm for Biden, it was like people either crossing their fingers, or thinking maybe he won't get in, or whatever. And now that he's in, I mean, this is -- these are the first polls

that we have since he has been in the race. And when you contrast it to a month ago, you see that he's actually, it looks like, stealing some of the enthusiasm from Beto O'Rourke and Kamala Harris.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "POLITICO": That's right. I mean, before Biden jumped in, a lot of us wondered if his poll numbers would actually dip as soon as he announced because of the fact that his -- his history, his record, is going to be scrutinized more heavily than it has in the past, and that could very well help it in the future.

[06:25:05] But so far, this first poll from CNN shows that -- that he's actually getting a boost right out of the gate.

The other numbers that stood out to me were the fact that voters want to know more about two candidates specifically. They want to know more about Harris. They want to know more about Warren.

Those are the two that they say they would like to learn the most about. And so that's a place where maybe we could see one of those two female senators emerge, if Biden and Sanders end up focusing on each other in the primary and attacking each other. We could maybe see Harris and Warren emerge in states like Nevada or South Carolina.

BERMAN: And both Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris coming forward with policy proposals, fairly, regularly, and giving voters something to listen to.

Let's talk about the other major development overnight, which is David, you know, we woke up to the news that President Trump is making all these new proposals on immigration, making it tougher for asylum seekers to find their way to the United States; charging them if they want to seek asylum. Speeding up the process overall.

I just want to show people, since we're talking about polls, ABC News did a poll about the president's immigration policy and asked him if it makes you more or less likely to vote for the president. Actually, most people oppose the president on immigration policy, 44 percent. That's interesting.

GREGORY: It is interesting. And it's -- this is an easier issue to discuss, just in terms of the pure politics, to understand the president is targeting his political base probably does more poorly among political independents in the country, who look at the images at the border, or who hear about new developments like having a fee to apply for asylum, which would make it so difficult for people who are -- who are fleeing violence or desperate circumstances to try to get into the United States.

What's more difficult is to look at this as a policy area, which is an area that the Obama administration struggled with, as well, where there's been a change in the patterns of those seeking asylum, not just coming from Mexico; coming from other Central American countries, where circumstances are very difficult, providing a backlog of cases, providing difficulty in terms of work permits, who gets them and when, how you adjudicate. These are really hard problems.

The way they've been boiled down by this administration doesn't make them more solvable. They've been reduced to -- to sloganeering and fear, which is not helpful. If anything, one hopes that this -- this attempt to change the rules will invite a more thoughtful approach by Congress to dealing with the asylum problem, than just having it be fodder for the campaign.

CAMEROTA: I mean, by the same token, Laura, speeding up the process is not a bad goal. It is an average of two years, waiting time right now. There are 800,000 cases of asylum pending.

And we've all seen the pictures. We all know what's happening at the border. This is a problem that needs to be addressed. Now, the idea that the administration isn't doing it in a comprehensive fashion, that they appear to be doing sort of punitive things for asylum seekers. You can be in favor of that or not, but they have to do something.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Right. I will just say, though, when Republicans controlled all of government, and they tried repeatedly to push something through on immigration, they failed. They weren't able to come to a consensus amongst themselves.

And so these new measures that Trump is trying to push on asylum, Democrats are not going to be on board with that. They control the House. They're going to push back against him.

And when they tried to work with him when Republicans controlled all of government, it didn't go very well. The president repeatedly changed his mind on a number of issues.

And so what we can see from Democrats is a vote that could put Republicans on the record, one that they think may actually hurt them as 2020 approaches.

They had some ideas about that when Trump was first talking about shutting down the border completely. They had started drafting up a resolution that would have condemned that action. And it also was supposed to include some language pushing back against Trump's asylum proposal. So we could see that come forward.

BERMAN: All right. Laura, David, thank you very much.

The elusive leader of ISIS is back. For the first time in years, a new video. While here in the United States, authorities stop a man plotting a terror attack in Los Angeles. We have the details here next.

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