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John Bolton Claims White House Froze His Twitter Account; DOJ Watchdog Report Expected to Debunk "Russia Hoax" Conspiracy; Black South Bend Official Endorses Biden Over Buttigieg. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired November 23, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani is willing to tell Congress about meetings Devin Nunes had last year with an ex- Ukrainian official to get dirt on Joe Biden.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This whole impeachment is about a shadow foreign policy that Devin Nunes appears to have some involvement in. He is a drama in this play himself and yet he has not told anyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president's ousted National Security Advisor John Bolton, he's accusing the White House of blocking his Twitter account over the past two months since he was fired.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you guys freeze his account?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, of course not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody who is of an advanced age may not understand all you have to do contact Twitter and reset your password.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you concerned that they're trying to stop you from testifying?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: You'll have to ask the White House.

(END VIDEO)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: So glad to have you with us here on this Saturday, good morning to you. And guess what, while you were sleeping, two huge developments that could really have a major impact on the impeachment proceedings against President Trump right now.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: First, new allegations that Congressman Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intel Committee who led this defense of the president during the hearings went to Vienna last year reportedly to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.

PAUL: A lawyer for Rudy Giuliani's indicted associate Lev Parnas is willing to tell Congress all about those meetings.

BLACKWELL: Plus new documents released last night by court order reveal the White House helped set up a phone call between Giuliani and President Trump's personal attorney, and that is who he is and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and this was the day after Giuliani handed over a packet of information filled with debunked claims about Biden and his son and unproven claims as well. The emails are giving new insight into just how big a role the White House played in coordinating Giuliani's efforts to pursue political investigations into Ukraine. CNN's Kristen Holmes is following all the details and joins us now. Kristen, let's start with Congressman Nunes and this claim by one of Giuliani's associates of this meeting in Vienna.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. Lots of details here to break down. So essentially as you said, Devin Nunes has emerged as a staunch ally of President Trump's and particularly during this impeachment hearing. At one point during the hearing he actually questioned why President Trump would ask Ukraine, a country that he says President Trump doesn't even like, to investigate the Bidens. Well, that's an interesting point given that now it appears that Nunes himself was part of this effort.

So according to Lev Parnas' attorney, Parnas wants to testify in front of Congress and say that Nunes met with Viktor Shokin back in December in Vienna to get dirt on the Bidens. Who is Viktor Shokin? He is the ex-Ukrainian prosecutor who has really been at the center of all of this who under pressure from Western leaders including Vice President Biden was fired back in 2016.

He was the one who says he has dirt on the Bidens and also it appears he has an axe to grind here because Biden was part of that effort. So essentially according to Parnas' attorney, after he returned, Devin Nunes reached out to Parnas. He said he wanted to coordinate efforts - his effort to get dirt with Giuliani and Parnas' effort to get dirt, and essentially talked to him several times, and even had an aide communicating with Parnas on who to reach out to who might have some of this information.

So this here is not great for Devin Nunes and puts him in a complicated situation here given he was one of the leading questioners, also Ranking Member of the intelligence community. Now, two of our colleagues reached out to Nunes and this is what he said in response, to be perfectly clear I don't acknowledge any questions from you in this lifetime or the next lifetime. So a non-answer there, but no denial. We've also reached out to Viktor Shokin but have not heard back yet.

PAUL: So during the impeachment hearings -- sorry, Victor. Go ahead.

BLACKWELL: Thank you. Democrats complained that the State Department, we know during the impeachment hearings that they weren't handing over documents. What more do we know about, about this claim and this connection between Giuliani and Pompeo and the phone calls that have been revealed.

HOLMES: So these documents came out late last night; essentially the 11th hour of a lawsuit. They were court ordered to release them to a nonprofit oversight committee. It's called American Oversight as part of a Freedom of Information Act, reluctantly giving over these documents. Essentially it shows that the White House helped arrange a conversation between Giuliani and Pompeo. This is very important. First of all it shows they talked twice, and that the second one was arranged through President Trump's personal assistant who after Giuliani reached out, said he couldn't get a hold of Pompeo connected the two of them.

[06:05:00]

This is important for two reasons. One it shows how deeply involved the White House was in this effort. I mean they were connecting Giuliani with Pompeo here. But two, look at Secretary of State Pompeo. During all of this he has really tried to distance himself from Giuliani, from this effort in Ukraine and all of this comes after a bombshell testimony earlier in the week from one of his own ambassadors to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, who said that he said he was communicating regularly with Pompeo about all of these investigations and Giuliani looking into the Bidens and to the Ukraine. But I want to note one thing here; this was Pompeo's only response to that testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you respond to Ambassador Sondland's evidence today that you directed and coordinate Ukraine policy with the president's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani?

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: The second one is easy. I didn't see a single thing today. I was working. Sounds like you might not have been. I was in meetings all day and haven't had a chance to see any of that testimony.

(END VIDEO)

HOLMES: So I would point out that obviously in that case the reporter was working since it's their job to ask the questions. I also want to note that the U.S. Special Envoy Kurt Volker did testify that Pompeo had spoken to Giuliani but that Pompeo was not always on board with what Giuliani was doing.

BLACKWELL: All right. Kristen Holmes thanks so much.

PAUL: All right, a lot to unpack here. I want to bring in Errol Louis, our CNN political commentator as well and CNN legal analyst Shan Wu, defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. Gentlemen, thank you both for being here. Errol, I want to start with you and I want to start with this information that Parnas has said according to his attorney he's willing to tell Congress about Representative Nunes' meeting with an ex-Ukrainian official to get dirt on Biden.

Nunes is the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. Help clarify the juxtaposition we're seeing here. We've got the image of him in the last two weeks taking, you know, taking it all in from the witnesses that we've seen in this impeachment inquiry, and now we've got this image of him meeting with Shokin. Can you reconcile either of those things with us?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well look, it is reminiscent of what we've seen from Representative Nunes in the past. If you remember in the early days of the administration, he got wind of some information that might have been helpful to the Trump Administration, ran straight to the White House literally. It's sort of a cloak and dagger kind of operation and tried to inform them.

He apparently has never really surrendered his position as part of the Trump transition team. He clearly sees himself as part of the White House effort. In this case we just watched him over the last week time and time again go on at length about how the entire proceedings and the basis of the proceedings of the impeachment investigation were a sham and a circus and a shame and farce and on and on and on he went. Well if it was a circus apparently he was in center ring. Apparently he was a real participant in all of this and much of that is going to come to light. It's very easy for him to say he'll never talk to CNN or other news organizations but sooner or later the information will, in fact, come out.

PAUL: And with that said, what is the responsibility of Nunes now Shan?

SHAN WU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, the responsibility of Nunes is a complex question. You could say the moral responsibility is he should come forward. Legally, he's in a tough spot. He's got some exposure. I think from the trial strategy of the impeachment, this is a huge gift for the democrats. Maybe they can't call Nunes himself, because he is one of the questioners, but if they put on direct testimony, for example, from Parnas, about his involvement that will be a devastating blow to the entire Republican strategy with him leading it.

PAUL: So I want to move on to this newly released State Department document that says the White House actually helped arrange this phone call between Rudy Giuliani and Secretary of State Pompeo. We just heard Pompeo's reaction to that testimony that he says he hadn't seen when he was asked about it. What is the significance of that reporting?

LOUIS: Well, my sense is that what we're going to see the White House have to do or try to do is assert some kind of executive privilege and try to make all of this go way. The reality is, though, if you track statement by statement, what the president has said, what Rudy Giuliani has said and what the Secretary of State has said, they've never really denied they were working in this direction, but this is irrefutable proof. This sort of gives you dates, times and sort of shows that this was a White House effort all along.

More importantly, it takes you very, you know, really, right to the door of the Oval Office, and for the president to claim that he didn't know what was going on, I think this sort of gets rid of any lingering doubts that there might have been isn't rogue operation that Rudy Giuliani was being overzealous or that the Secretary of State wasn't keeping the president fully informed of what was going on.

[06:10:00]

PAUL: So when we look at these two headlines today, Shan, I'm curious as to if the Democrats' deadline of Christmas and this impeachment going through by then if that's realistic now? I mean, aren't these two elements that would now have to be reconciled somehow, that would have to be certainly either confirmed in some capacity?

WU: Well, I think they could keep to the deadline. They can kind of just keep pushing forward. On this new information with regards to what Parnas is saying about Nunes, I mean if Parnas is willing to testify, other people with direct knowledge are willing to testify, they can simply put them on there and I think that's going to be very powerful evidence for them. On the Giuliani/Pompeo connection, even if Pompeo and Giuliani themselves never agreed testify, for whatever legal reasons they mount, I think they can still go forward just on the basis of these documents.

I think to Errol's point, if they try to use executive privilege, I think they're going to have a hard time wrapping Giuliani in that cloak especially given his own statements that he's working as the president's personal attorney. So I think the fact that some of these documents are starting to come forward, I think it's really quite amazing testament to our system that they're coming forward under the Freedom of Information Act while the Republicans are ready to fight in court or the Congressional subpoena. Regular citizens are able to get these documents and put them forth. It's though documents I think, that are really going to be the key to unlocking some of this.

PAUL: That's a very good point. Errol Louis, you stay with us. I know that you've got more to talk about. Shan Wu, always appreciate your insight. Thank you both.

WU: Good to see you.

PAUL: Sure.

BLACKWELL: Up next, mistakes made, but no top-down bias. What sources are telling us about a report on how the FBI handled its investigation into Russia election interference and the Trump campaign?

PAUL: Also, former National Security Adviser John Bolton returning to Twitter with a series of how some are describing it mysterious tweets including an accusation that the White House blocked access to his twitter account. How he claims they kept him from speaking out.

BLACKWELL: And CNN has an interview with former Vice President Joe Biden covering a range of topics including the attacks on his mental fitness coming from the Oval Office.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:00] PAUL: Sixteen minutes past the hour and we're just a couple weeks away from the first contest of the 2020 Democratic primary and we're hearing exclusively now from former vice president and 2020 hopeful Joe Biden.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Don Lemon spoke with Biden about his support among African-American voters and about criticism that maybe he's losing his step.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: I've watched you today when you officially put your name on the ballot here --

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes.

LEMON: -- hopping across chairs, something I couldn't do in a way I couldn't do it, but people love you here. People love you here and especially the black folks here. Right? You said in the debate that you come from the black community. The support that you have, that you're ahead in the polls is largely in part for the black community. People say when they hear that, they say, wait, wait. Is Joe Biden black? He came from the black community?

BIDEN: Well, yes. No. I -- I understand that. What I meant was politically I come from the black community and I really do. It's the reason why I ran in the first place. It's how I got engaged. I didn't plan on running. I got engaged because what was happening in my community. I got engaged as the county councilman trying to put public housing in the suburbs. I almost lost my seat. I mean it was - it was - it really is - it's a little bit like today. A lot of young people seeing those kids in cages at the border --

LEMON: Right.

BIDEN: -- said that can't be true.

LEMON: Yes. Well I mean there is a certain degree of comfort that you have with black folk. Does it come from that?

BIDEN: I've never been uncomfortable. For real. Yeah it does. I mean I've --

LEMON: Let me read this.

BIDEN: Sure.

LEMON: This is one of your competitors for the nomination, Senator Kamala Harris. And this is a quote, she said, for too long candidates have taken for granted constituencies that have been the backbone of the Democratic Party. Are you taking the black community for granted assuming, you know, that you, because you were the vice president with Barack Obama that you have the black community support?

BIDEN: I have never ever, ever taken the black community -- look it's all about dignity. It's all about treating people with dignity as my dad would say and I have never, never, never taken a black community for granted.

LEMON: So what do you do to justify the support that you have? What do you do as president to justify that overwhelming support that you have from black people?

BIDEN: To continue to do what I've always done; to deal with the idea that there's such an abuse of power that goes on in America today but with this president in particular of people who are black and brown. It's just a pure abuse of power and the way this guy coddles the white supremacists. I mean, you know, one of the things I learned, and I thought we passed it, when I was standing waiting for Barak to pick me up coming down from Philadelphia, you know, in January, when we got sworn in, and thousands of people down along the tracks. And I looked out over the east side and what you call the Third Street Bridge and call up my kids up and I said you know, I came home from college from law school, had a job with a really prestigious law firm and quit to become a public defender because my city was occupied by the National Guard for ten months, with drawn bayonets in the corners.

I became a public defender and thought things would never get better. I said, guys, look. I stood here 40 years ago to this month and look what's happening. Don't tell me things can't change. And then what I misunderstood was, you know, hate only hides. It only hides. It doesn't go -- it never goes away. A friend of my Jon Meacham says, it in fact, the history of this United States of America is not a fairy tale, and so to see those folks come out of those fields carrying torches and chanting anti-Semitic bile with faces contorted and head of the Ku Klux Klan, former head, (INAUDIBLE) saying, you know, this is why we elected him and him asked when a young woman got killed what do you think?

LEMON: So you got our back? You have black folks' back? Is that what you're saying?

BIDEN: No. They've had my back my whole career and I hope I have the back of everybody. But I think I understand, presumptuous of me to say this. But I've always been engaged with the community my whole career.

LEMON: Listen, people are concerned about whether you have lost a step, right, because you know what happened in Detroit. I was one of the moderators in Detroit and you stuttered on stage. There's an "Atlantic" article about that. You're overcoming that as a child. But have you overcome stuttering?

BIDEN: Yes, I've overcome it. Look, --

LEMON: Is that part - is that part of the issue?

BIDEN: No, I don't think so at all.

LEMON: Donors are concerned, whether or not you've lost a step. They're concerned about your cognative abilities. "The Atlantic" article made a good case for some of the reasons that you, you know, may not be as - may come up and say the wrong words sometimes or are unable to complete your thoughts sometimes but you don't believe that that this an issue.

BIDEN: No I don't.

LEMON: You don't believe that is any --

BIDEN: Take a look at the point though --

LEMON: -- they shouldn't be concerned - no one should be concerned about that?

BIDEN: No one should be concerned about that. Why am I so far ahead in the national polls? Why am I so far ahead here? Why am I so far ahead in Nevada? Tell me why? If that - if everybody says the people are thinking, people are thinking. OK, the pundits may be thinking but that's not where the people are.

(END VIDEO)

PAUL: So the Former National Security Advisor, he's back on Twitter and he's saying he's preparing to speak out. How the White House is fighting claims that they blocked Bolton's access to his own Twitter account.

BLACKWELL: Plus an important recall alert just ahead of Thanksgiving. What states are affected, we'll give you the list coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:00]

BLACKWELL: John Bolton is back on Twitter and he's teasing that he's ready to tell you a few things. The former National Security Advisor claims the White House used software to block access to his personal Twitter account. White House Press Secretary is pushing back on that suggesting his age may play some role here.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

STEPHANIE GRISHAM, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't know a whole lot about it, but sometimes -- I'll use my father as an example. Somebody who is of an advanced age may not understand that all you have to do is contact Twitter and reset your password, if you have forgotten it, so I'll just leave it at that.

(END VIDEO)

PAUL: So the back and forth between Bolton and the White House comes after John Bolton's lawyer says his client has relevant information on Ukraine that hasn't been disclosed yet. Here's CNN's Brian Todd with more on how Bolton hangs over the impeachment proceedings at this point.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's been one of the ghosts of the impeachment hearings on a list of key figures like Mike Pompeo, Rudy Giuliani and Mick Mulvaney who didn't testify. But former National Security Adviser John Bolton could know more than all of them about the allegations that President Trump abused his power to leverage the Ukrainians to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.

MELANIE ZANONA, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER,"POLITICO": John Bolton has been one of the most mysterious figures in this whole Ukraine saga. He was one of the biggest staring players in this whole episode with Ukraine and yet he was an offstage character almost the entire time in the impeachment probe.

TODD: But on Friday after more than two months of silence a tease from John Bolton. In a series of tweets and later in an encounter with reporters he accused the White House of blocking his access to his personal twitter account.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

BOLTON: They attached software to it. And Twitter unattached the software to it.

(END VIDEO)

TODD: Bolton didn't explain what that meant. President Trump and the White House denied blocking or freezing Bolton's twitter account.

(BEGIN AUDIO)

TRUMP: No, of course not. No. I actually had a good relationship with John.

(END AUDIO)

TODD: In a tweet, Bolton asked whether the White House blocked his Twitter access, quote out of fear of what I may say. The specter of John Bolton loomed over the impeachment hearings in accounts his top aide Fiona Hill gave of Bolton's concerns about the Trump team's pressure on Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

FIONA HILL, FORMER NTIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL OFFICIAL: He then in the course of that discussion said that Rudy Giuliani was a hand grenade that was going to blow everyone up.

(END VIDEO)

TODD: Hill said Bolton physically stiffened at a July 10th White House meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian officials when E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland first linked a possible Trump meeting with Ukraine's president to Ukraine investigating the Bidens. Hill said Bolton immediately walked out of the meeting and gave her an ominous directive afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

HILL: Specific instruction was that I had to go to the lawyers, to John Eisenberg, senior counsel for the National Security Council to basically say you tell Eisenberg, Ambassador John Bolton told me, that I am not part of this -- whatever drug deal that Mulvaney and Sondland are cooking up.

TODD: And American diplomat David Holmes testified that Bolton met with Ukraine's president in August and warned him what it would take to lift a hold on U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

DAVID HOLMES, U.S. DIPLOMAT TO UKRAINE: It would hang on whether President Zelensky was able to quote, favorably impress President Trump.

(END VIDEO)

TODD: But Bolton could know so much more. Two weeks ago his lawyer wrote a letter to Congressional leaders saying Bolton was involved in quote, many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

MICHAEL ISKOFF, CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT FOR "YAHOO NEWS": What could he have witnessed? John Bolton would have had more communications directly with President Trump than any witness we've heard from to date. So anything the president said in John Bolton's presence about the pressure campaign on the Ukrainians would be enormously significant testimony.

(END VIDEO)

TODD: Including one meeting that an aide testified Bolton had with Trump in August where the aide said Bolton tried and failed to get Trump to lift the hold on U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Among the crucial looming questions are when will John Bolton reveal what he knows about the Ukraine dealings and in what forum. Bolton's lawyer said he wouldn't testify at impeachment hearings unless a judge forced him to and he wasn't subpoenaed by House Democrats but he might have to testify at a Senate impeachment trial, or Bolton's first revelations could come in a new book he's writing which is due out next year, sometime before the election. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

PAUL: CNN Political Commentator Errol Louis is back with us now. Errol, do you think that Bolton is intentionally hanging on to some things here or is he just chomping at the bit to get it out?

LOUIS: I think both are true, frankly, Christi. He wants to talk, clearly, but it's in the nature of things like book contracts that you save the juicy stuff in exchange for a big, fat advance and clearly that seems to be what John Bolton is angling for.

PAUL: But if the juicy stuff affects an impeachment inquiry?

LOUIS: Well you know, I mean look, he's timed this very well. You know what people have to remember about John Bolton is he has served in the Justice Department, he has served in government in a wide range of agencies, a wide range of positions. He is a bureaucratic in- fighter of the highest degree. He is not going to let the process kind of run away with his information. He's holding that information close to the vest. He's specifically asked for a legal ruling before he decides to start talking. He's got his book contract lined up. He's picked up 800,000 twitter followers over the last few days. When he speaks it's going to be with authority and with accuracy and on his terms. I think that's really what he is signaling so far.

PAUL: Who do you think is more nervous about him speaking, President Trump or Rudy Giuliani?

LOUIS: Huh. I think the president would and should be very nervous about this, because they left on very bad terms. Some say he was fired; Bolton insists he resigned. It's not -- it's not going to be pretty when it does come out and some of these are policy differences not just personal stuff Christi.

I mean John Bolton is an interventionist, whether you like it or not, his policy all along, he's still unapologetic about the invasion of Iraq which he thought was a good idea. He wants confrontation with North Korea. He differed with the president in several key respects. He wanted armed confrontation to be always on the table and always talked about. He's a very aggressive kind of a foreign policy figure and to the extent he had differences, he wants those differences, I suspect to come out.

He's an ideological warrior. H e's somebody who knows what the world should look like according to his own lights and hasn't backed down from this kind of a thing. I think we're in for really quite a time not just in terms of impeachment but the larger foreign policy questions that he's tried to always push to the front.

PAUL: Yes, good point. Errol Louis, always appreciate your insight, sir. Thank you.

LOUIS: Thank you Christi.

BLACKWELL: We've got new details this morning on the Justice Department Watchdog Report on the origins of the Russia investigation. What sources say that report will reveal about how the FBI handled the probe.

PAUL: Also, people in Oregon, they aren't sure what to think after they saw this shooting through the sky.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

PAUL: The Justice Department Inspector General's report in the beginnings of the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in 2016, that's coming out soon.

BLACKWELL: Sources tell CNN it will say the probe was properly launched but lower-level FBI officials made a series of mistakes. CNN's Evan Perez has more.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department IS investigating a former FBI lawyer who allegedly altered an internal document used to prepare the 2016 surveillance warrant application on a former Trump campaign advisor. The altered document is among a number of mistakes that are expected to be cited in an upcoming report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Despite those mistakes, Horowitz' report is expected to find that the court-ordered surveillance of Carter Page was valid, and the report is also expected to conclude that the FBI properly opened an investigation into connections between Trump campaign figures and Russians in 2016.

But if those mistakes including the altered document that will likely add fuel to criticisms of the FBI by President Trump and his allies. The low-level lawyer who allegedly altered the document is now the subject of a criminal investigation by John Durham, who was appointed by Attorney General Bill Barr to take another look at the intelligence used in the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation.

The president has said he and his campaign were illegally targeted by the Russia investigation, but the Horowitz inspector general report is not expected to support that claim by the president. Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, Mayor Pete Buttigieg may be surging in the national polls, but at home in South Bend, Indiana, he is not getting the support maybe he had expected.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No one person speaks for black voters in South Bend and I'm proud of some of the black supporters who know me best from Indiana and from South Bend who have not only supported our campaign but traveled with us and helped tell the story of our community.

(END VIDEO)

BLACKWELL: That was Mayor Pete Buttigieg responding to criticism from longtime black city council in South Bend, Indiana. Councilman Oliver Davis doubts Buttigieg can beat President Trump in 2020, partly because Buttigieg hasn't not yet won support from the African-American community.

PAUL: Just to give you some perspective on that, a new Quinnipiac poll out of South Carolina shows Buttigieg polling at less than 1 percent specifically among black voters.

BLACKWELL: Yes, he's not even on the graphic, one percent and below was not listed there. Joining me now to discuss, political reporter for "The Hill" Julia Manchester. Julia, good morning.

JULIA MANCHESTER, POLITICAL REPORTER FOR "THE HILL": Good morning Victor.

BLACKWELL: So it's been about seven months since that CNN town hall during which Mayor Buttigieg kind of catapulted into significance there nationally, contention for maybe the nomination, and still zero percent support among black voters in South Carolina. He's done a lot since then; 72 days until Iowa, another 10 days until South Carolina. What is he doing?

MANCHESTER: Well look Victor, I think it's important to point out that Mayor Buttigieg's campaign has really focused in on Iowa and New Hampshire and he's always pretty well known in Iowa, because he is a Midwestern mayor. However, his campaign hasn't built the same kind of infrastructure in South Carolina and his name recognition is already very low in South Carolina. So right now you're seeing a lot of scrambling on the part of his campaign to build that infrastructure, because they know even if he wins Iowa or does well in Iowa and New Hampshire and then he gets to South Carolina and doesn't perform well, that doesn't really bode for him going forward in the primary because remember, once you get into the Nevada caucuses and the super Tuesday states, you know those are much more diverse states than Iowa and New Hampshire and he's probably going to run into very similar issues that he ran into in South Carolina.

However, it's interesting. On the spin room floor of the debate last Wednesday I talked to Martin Luther King, III, and he told me that a lot of this right now is more about Mayor Buttigieg trying to get his name out within the African-American community and this is essentially about name recognition and this community does not know him well. However, you're seeing a number of his 2020 opponents, notably Kamala Harris or Joe Biden who is doing very well with the African-American community starting to call Buttigieg out on his low name recognition in the community and his history as Mayor of South Bend so that won't bode for him well going forward.

[06:45:00]

BLACKWELL: Yes. So let's move now to former Vice President Joe Biden in South Carolina with Don Lemon in this exclusive interview, and he talks a bit about his strengths and this was the question from Don about questions maybe some supporters have.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

LEMON: But let's get back to the whole issue, because donors are concerned about that, whether you've lost a step. They're concerned about your cognitive abilities.

BIDEN: No one should be concerned about that. Why am I so far ahead in the national polls? Why am I so far ahead here? Why am I so far ahead in Nevada? Tell me. Why? If that -- if everybody says the people are thinking, the people are thinking, OK. The pundits may be thinking but that's not where the people are.

(END VIDEO)

BLACKWELL: Now let's talk about those strengths. Makes sense to have that conversation in South Carolina where I think that Quinnipiac Poll has him at 44 percent among black voters and at the top of the heap there. Not the case in Iowa, not the case everywhere. Reconcile this strength that we're hearing Biden talk about and what the numbers are showing us in those early states beyond just South Carolina and even as relates to donors.

MANCHESTER: Well look, Biden is very well-known in a lot of these states, such as South Carolina and in Iowa and New Hampshire. I think he's struggling a bit, because these voters are starting to get to know other candidates, such as Buttigieg, Warren and they have already very well a acquainted with Sanders from 2016. But we know that a lot of decisions that are made in Iowa and New Hampshire on behalf of voters are made last minute so it's kind of early to make a prediction on that.

But I think Biden, he mentions these national polls, he mentions these state-level polls and he's doing so well because he's known in these states like I said before. But a lot of these candidates are - these voters are starting to get acquainted with candidates like Mayor Buttigieg in states like Iowa and I think that's what's pulling on Biden's support there. Because these voters, they already know Biden. They know about his credentials in the Obama Administration but they are being introduced to new players in the Democratic Party and that's something he's going to have to compete with and we're seeing that his strategy on that is to continuously tie himself to Barack Obama who remains--

BLACKWELL: Which he did--

MANCHESTER: -- probably the most --

BLACKWELL: -- several times --

MANCHESTER: -- popular democrat. Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- during that interview with Don Lemon.

MANCHESTER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Julia Manchester, good to have you this morning.

MANCHESTER: Thanks Victor.

PAUL: One of the all-time greats proves he still has it. Coy Wire is here. He is an all-time great as well.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're talking about an esteemed insurance salesman, Peyton Manning, but I heard he used to play some football back in the day, too and I'm sure plenty of NFL teams would love to have him back. Peyton, showing off that rocket laser arm one more time for the fans. That and more coming up right here on "New Day."

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[06:50:00]

PAUL: We have a recall alert we have to tell you about here and in effect just ahead, of course, of Thanksgiving. Forty people across 16 states have been affected by an E. coli outbreak traced to romaine lettuce. The CDC and FDA warning consumers not to purchase or sell romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, California, that's after the outbreak hospitalized 28 people. No deaths have been reported thus far on this. Officials say if you do have romaine lettuce in your fridge and it doesn't have a label, throw it away. You know, be cautious there. We want you to be healthy.

BLACKWELL: Two of the NBA's biggest stars or four of them, I should say the duos - the biggest duos. Last night turned out to be a pretty awesome ending when they went head-to-head.

WIRE: Yes.

PAUL: Coy Wire is here this morning. Good morning.

WIRE: What a game. You said it. Two of these dynamic duos, these are the two powerhouses in the west going at it, yes, the L.A. Clippers, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George going against the Rockets James Harden and Russell Westbrook looking loose as a goose, or like Victor on gin and juice. Look at him. Yeah. Two minutes to go. Harden with two guys leaping into him; an insane three and the foul turning a four-point play. Just wow, Harden says as he puts the Rockets up five. Thirty-five seconds to go now, Paul George to Lou Williams with the corner three and buckets. Twelve in the fourth for Lou. He gives L.A. the lead but they were down again, just 15 seconds to go and Kawhi Leonard is clutch. The reining finals MVP with a jumper to put the Clips up for good. Westbrook would have one more chance, a wide open shot there with five seconds to go but he can't get it to fall. The Clippers went on a 10-2 run when they were down by 5 with just a minute to go to pull off this big win in L.A.

All right, quantum physics, two things existing in separate locations at the same time. You have electrons. You have protons and the James - Lebron laying down the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Now watch this. It's another win for the Lakers and their league best record but Lebron is still dunking with the best of them, right. Seventeen NBA seasons, left side of the lane, one handed dunk. Meanwhile, his 15- year-old son, Bronny, following dad's footsteps, his first ever high school dunk, a near mere image of his dad's dunk in just his second high school game. Cool stuff there.

All right the Nuggests had a legend in the house in Denver. Peyton Manning sitting in the stands. When Rocky the Mountain Lion asked him to sign a football and then Peyton tells him, go deep. I'm sending you deep. All eyes on Peyton and he delivers a Hail Mary strike but Rocky, not butter fingers, he's got butter paws. It just slips right through him and Peyton is like man you're messing up my stats. That's an incompletion thanks to you but a fun moment to see Peyton there in the crowd, having some fun and still showing he has an arm.

BLACKWELL: That's got to be tough to even catch that considering those paws I guess you would call them.

WIRE: Yes, the big head.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: It wasn't the throw Peyton. It wasn't the throw. WIRE: It wasn't the throw, that's right.

BLACKWELL: And just for the record, I like tonic with my gin. I know it didn't rhyme.

WIRE: It didn't rhyme--

BLACKWELL: But I just want both, you know. If you ever buy a brother a drink--

PAUL: Because you should know that.

BLACKWELL: -- it's a gin and tonic. A gin and tonic.

PAUL: And you got the better --

WIRE: You two have an affinity for old school hip hop at times--

BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes.

PAUL: There you go.

BLACKWELL: I got to try it - thank you Coy.

PAUL: Coy thanks.

BLACKWELL: All right people in Portland, Oregon, thought they were witnessing a plane crash when this giant fireball showed up in the sky. No crashes reported. Look at this. Polk County sheriff's office says they think this was a meteor (INAUDIBLE). They sent a helicopter out to go look for it but they didn't find anything. Actually, they're still trying to figure out what this was.

PAUL: And I can see why.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: Next hour of your NEW DAY up in a moment, stay close.