Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Democratic Presidential Debate Tomorrow on CNN; Prince Harry Meeting with Queen Today; Interview with Chris Levi, Army Vet. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 13, 2020 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:41]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: A high-stakes debate, one day away, where the six candidates will make their case, three weeks before the first vote, of course. That is in Iowa, as is the debate tomorrow night.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: We're joined now by CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash. Listen, this is tight race in that top tier, is it not? Joe Biden, Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, not (ph) behind. Tell us what the stakes are and perhaps who has the most pressure to turn in a strong performance tomorrow night.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: All the above, everybody you just mentioned. And I'll keep it clean: Stuff's getting real on the campaign trail now, with Bernie Sanders, someone in his campaign sending out talking points to their volunteers that are really tough on a lot of the candidates.

A lot of the opponents but most notably Elizabeth Warren, with whom the senator had a nonaggression pact before this campaign actually started. We have not seen them go after each other at all on the debate stage. This time, tomorrow night, it is definitely going to be different, given where they are right now.

HARLOW: Foreign policy, always critical especially critical right now, given the situation with Iran. How much of that do you expect to be part of what we see on-stage tomorrow night? And who -- you know, to whom does it advantage and disadvantage?

BASH: It's so interesting because up until now, the big differentiator when it comes to policy between all of these candidates has been on health care: Medicare for all, how much do you want the government involved or not.

Since what happened in Iran, foreign policy has taken center stage like we haven't seen before. And you saw on CNN.com, Joe Biden writing an op-ed today --

HARLOW: Right. BASH: -- talking about Iran, not about his opponents so much but

about President Trump and how President Trump is wrong. And then Bernie Sanders is on the other side of the debate and the discussion, of course, saying -- reminding people -- he was on Anderson's show last week -- Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War, Joe Biden has been wrong on issues of national security.

We have not seen that as part of the campaign discussion in general, but particularly on the debate stage in a robust way so far, because the news hasn't been there and now it is.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It was consequential, that very --

BASH: Yes, very.

SCIUTTO: -- question in 2008. Barack Obama saw an opportunity with Hillary Clinton's pro-Iraq War vote.

I want to ask you, though, with the candidates versus Donald Trump, which is really their focus down the line, is foreign policy, national security an opportunity for them or a weakness?

BASH: It's hard to say. Look, I mean, if you asked me that question about the Donald Trump pre-killing Soleimani, I would say it's maybe a jump ball because his whole M.O. was to be noninterventionist.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BASH: But this action he took changed the ball game. And a lot of people who say that they supported him, back in 2016, even and especially among Republican primary voters, they said that they did it because they were done with foreign wars, particularly in the Middle East.

Now, Bernie Sanders, who has always felt that way, can take up that mantle in a way that others maybe can't. Joe Biden is saying -- again in this op-ed -- do it smartly. But he's not saying don't do it --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BASH: -- he's saying, have a strategy.

SCIUTTO: Understood. Dana Bash, good to have you.

BASH: Good to see you guys.

SCIUTTO: I think we might be talking about this debate and this race more than once in the coming couple of weeks --

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: Thanks, Dana.

SCIUTTO: Always good to have you on.

BASH: You too. [10:34:23]

HARLOW: So the presidential debate is tomorrow night, in partnership with the "Des Moines Register." It airs only right here on CNN, 9:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Well, this --

SCIUTTO: We've all probably had some awkward family meetings --

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: -- before. This one would qualify. The queen of England, sitting down with Prince Harry, her grandson, and Meghan, his wife, who shocked a lot of folks in the U.K., announcing they're stepping back from their royal life.

Joining us now, historian Kate Williams. She's a CNN royal commentator and a lecturer at the University of London.

So what happens behind closed doors in this meeting? Is the queen going to say, hey, guys, I know what you want to do but here's what you're going to do?

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: You know, Jim, it's a big question. That's what we're all asking, here in Britain. The whole country's galvanized by this huge story. And exactly at this moment, the meeting is going on at Sandringham, the queen's palace in Norfolk. Charles has flown in, William has flown in, Harry is there, Meghan is dialing in by conference call. All the courtiers are there, the government is involved -- our government, the Canadian government.

[10:40:09]

And the queen basically is saying, guys, find a solution. Because what she doesn't want, there have been this very damaging speculation that we've seen in the press about rifts, about arguments. The longer this story goes on, the more of this expose is going to happen. So she wants it stopped. She's saying, let's find a solution.

So I'm expecting to see, you know, some kind of solution within a couple of days. But the queen is in charge and she is saying, sort this out.

HARLOW: Can we talk about what this means, Kate, for the future of the monarchy and modernization? Because there are those that say, look, you know, it's time for this structure to be modernized, it's time for it to look different.

WILLIAMS: You're right, Poppy. I mean, what we're doing here, what the monarchy's doing here actually, there are lots of naysayers saying it can't work, this half-in, half-out, flexi-royal. I disagree. What actually it brings the British monarchy in line with the other European monarchies, like the ones of Sweden or of Holland, where most of the members have full-time careers. And this is what's going to happen here.

And I think it could work very well and be a positive way forward for the future. Because, you know, the monarchy demands body and soul, and it's tough. And we can sympathize with this. But certainly, there are big questions here for the monarchy, it's a big change. But also for Britain, because there's been racist coverage, sexist coverage and really, I think we have to reckon with ourselves about what's happened here.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I want to ask you about that, Kate, because that's what Meghan and Harry say led to this, that they felt attacked by the British tabloid press. And of course, for Harry, that's a very personal issue because that's what he and his brother think, in effect -- or they blame it, in part, for the loss of their mother's life in that -- in that crash there. I mean, is it -- is their point of view justified here?

WILLIAMS: I do think there is justification. I think that women who marry into the royal family, they get this terrible time. You know, they're criticized, they're attacked.

And it's been worse for Meghan, and particularly worse because it's unfair. Things that other royal women have done, such as editing magazines or wearing certain types of gowns or, you know, even using avocados, Meghan is criticized for.

And it has to be said, there has been racist, sexist, very cruel criticism. And I think, really, Harry felt this -- very much, there's no reason to it, but children do feel this way -- that he couldn't protect his mother, he was just a little boy. His mother's death stays with him, it will never leave him and now he wants, above all, to protect his wife. And he thinks that this is the way to do it.

And you have to have sympathy with him. It -- they meant to be full- time royals. Within two years, they were wanting out because it's just been so miserable.

HARLOW: Kate Williams, thank you for being there.

WILLIAMS: Thank you, thank you.

HARLOW: Appreciate it.

All right. So Spotify, right? You probably listen to music on it, but it wants to be a whole lot more, especially when it comes to podcasts. This is all part of the company's strategy to try to dominate how we listen. Will the bet pay off? Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Spotify wants to be known for more than just music.

DAWN OSTROFF, CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, SPOTIFY: Our goal is to be the largest global audio network. CRANE (voice-over): The streaming giant bought Gimlet Media, Anchor

and Parcast, three popular podcast companies, for nearly $400 million, a large price tag considering the entire podcasting industry's ad revenue was less than half a billion dollars in 2018.

STEVE JOBS, CEO, APPLE: Now, we recently announced something new for iTunes and iPod, and it's called podcasting.

CRANE: Apple had you guys beat a little bit in terms of the timeline. They got into podcasting in 2005. And as a result, most people go to Apple. So how are you guys going to change that?

OSTROFF: One of the big initiatives for us is to be as good at podcast discoverability as we are on the music side. And we're finding that creators are excited about working with us on an exclusive basis because we're able to put so much more of our marketing and on- platform data and insights in their hands.

ALEX BLUMBERG, CEO, GIMLET MEDIA: In the old world, people download the podcast and then you don't know what happens to it. And so as part of Spotify, you can sort of see, like, this group listens to this music and they like this kind of podcast, that's one of the biggest advantages.

CRANE (voice-over): Even Spotify says it can't guarantee it will make a profit from podcasting. But for Ostroff, it's all about betting on the future.

OSTROFF: The younger generation has really taken to it. And I always say, where the young people go, the older people follow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[10:44:36]

SCIUTTO: You'll really want to watch this next story. He lost his legs, fighting in Iraq. Now, this Arm veteran, trying to hold Iran accountable. Why the news of recent days and weeks means a lot to him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: We have this news just in to CNN. Days after Iran's parliament voted unanimously to declare all U.S. forces terrorists, Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, has signed a bill deeming the Pentagon and all of its subsidiaries terrorist organizations. That's according to state news agency Press TV. That's, of course, a step that the U.S. took, Poppy, before calling for the killing of Qassem Soleimani.

HARLOW: Mm-hmm. The killing of Iran's top general and commander, Soleimani, stunned the world, took everyone pretty much by surprise. But for our next guest, it is very personal in terms of the reaction. He is a veteran who served in the Army. He was severely injured while stationed in Iraq.

SCIUTTO: Chris Levi lost his legs after a deadly bomb ripped through his Humvee. He believes Iran's top commander, General Qassem Soleimani, was behind the attack. Chris, thanks so much for taking the time here and appreciate all the service you've done for the country.

CHRIS LEVI, U.S. ARMY VETERAN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Let's talk first about Qassem Soleimani and why you believe he was responsible for your devastating injuries there. This was at a time when Iran was shipping in highly sophisticated IEDs, which were able to penetrate U.S. armored vehicles. Is that why?

LEVI: There's a lot of things behind that. To us, it's not an unfamiliar name or an unfamiliar word. In 2007, the military had already marked Commander -- General Soleimani as the commander of the Quds Force, the Iranian-backed Quds Force. So to us, it was a familiar name.

We did EFP drills all the time. We knew they were coming in from the borders. It was something that we had taken.

The belief that I have is actually based on a federal district court judge ruling last year in our Osen (ph) Law case, that actually names him as the direct cause of material support that has flowed through Iran to Iraq and based off the judgments from that case, he's named specifically for at least seven strikes.

I was one of the lucky ones, where I only lost limbs. In this, I just hope the family members of the military that have been affected by the funds that have flown into Iraq, they're not lost in all of this. So, you know, those are my personal feelings.

[10:50:01]

HARLOW: You wear the pin of the Purple Heart that you so deserve, and that you received. And for people that didn't get a chance to meet you like Jim and I are, you may have lost your legs, but you have not lost your spirit and you have not lost your sense of humor, which I said one day, might you be a stand-up comedian.

But in all seriousness, your reaction, when you woke up the next morning and found out about this death?

LEVI: Honestly, ma'am, I've been looking for a way to frame this. The military is proactive, not reactive. The fact that he was a high-value target and taken out based on years of evidence backed (ph) against him that the military put together, I'm not sure of the barriers between military intelligence and civilian intelligence.

But it was not a surprise that a terrorist leader in the world had been taken out. I was just praying for our service members deployed, and I'm confident in their ability to take it. The family members like Sergeant (ph) Hawk (ph) and his wife and his son Gauge (ph), I hope, you know, don't get forgotten. Those are the people I'm interested in.

My mission has changed. General Soleimani is no longer on my target list. I'm a local community leader. I work with Josh (ph) Lefferson (ph) and Juan (ph) Leon (ph) and Juan (ph) Serrano (ph). I could name all these names that make me a proud American and a confident American, that's where my humor comes from. And my family and loves ones, of course --

HARLOW: Yes.

LEVI: And those are the people who are in my purview. The military, I'm confident. I hope our leaders make the best decisions and wisest decisions they can with the information they have.

HARLOW: Yes.

LEVI: Sadly, I lack that intel right now. But that's --

HARLOW: I hear you.

LEVI: -- that's the way I was (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO: As you know, Chris, there are still thousands of Americans deployed, not just in Iraq but int he region. And there's concern among U.S. officials and apparently intelligence, that they remain targets of Iran. I wonder what your level of concern is for them today, particularly when Iran is now calling them terrorists, in effect, designating them terrorists.

LEVI: Sir, I pray every day for any American who's outside the borders. I pray for the Americans who are training in the States that are in danger because they have dangerous jobs. They've taken on the responsibility and the mangle to be the military of America. They can handle it. I hope their family members don't worry too much for them, that's something I've only recently come to understand, as somebody who stays stateside.

But I'd like to point out that American embassies are American soil. And if they were attacked, American soil had been invaded. So the fallout and reaction from that, I can't make decisions for. But I'm confident in our military.

SCIUTTO: Well, there's been a lot of theorizing about how folks like you, who were directly affected by Qassem Soleimani's attacks, felt about this. Folks, you hear it directly from Corporal Chris Levi. Thanks so much for coming on.

LEVI: Thank you.

HARLOW: Thank you, Chris.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back.

[10:57:47]

HARLOW: It's not the Vikings, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Sorry Poppy. I'm sorry, genuinely.

HARLOW: Not the Vikings. But fans of four other teams still have dreams of a Super Bowl victory. SCIUTTO: Yes, my New York teams went out about six and a half years

ago. Our Coy Wire has more, this morning's "Bleacher Report," from New Orleans where there's some college football game tonight.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think there's a little --

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: But let's start with the NFL showdowns this weekend.

WIRE: Hey, guys, Jim, Poppy. The Chiefs, they haven't been to a Super Bowl in 50 years but now, they're just one win away. But it took an epic comeback to get here. They were down 24 to nothing to the Texans in the second quarter, but reining league MVP Patrick Mahomes, he starts yelling at the guys, do something special.

Well, the chiefs listened. They begin one of the greatest comebacks in NFL playoff history. Mahomes throws three passing touchdowns in a three-minute span and just like that, the Chiefs were back.

Magic Mahomes throwing for five touchdowns, three of them going to Travis Kelce. Damien Williams scored three in this game as well, Kansas City reeling off 41 unanswered points, winning 51 to 31, the first playoff team ever to win by 20 after trailing by at least 20. They'll host the Titans in the AFC title game next Sunday.

Now, in the NFC, the Pack is back, Green Bay handling the Seahawks, wire to wire, Aaron Rodgers, connecting with Davante Adams eight times for 160 yards. That's more yards than any Packers receiver in playoff history.

And how about that Pack defense? On the attack, sacking Russell Wilson five times. Green Bay wins 28 to 23, they will play at San Fran next week.

Now, yes, we are here, Jim and Poppy, for the college football playoff national championship tonight in New Orleans, Clemson and LSU. They'll be playing where the Saints play, probably the loudest stadium I played in my NFL career. The place will be rocking.

And it's truly a story of a team of destiny versus a team of dynasty. Clemson Tigers, they're the defending champs. They've won 29 games in a row, they could win their third title in the last four years. LSU, they're playing just a 60-minute drive from their school's campus. They've got the Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Joe Burrow.

The last time, Jim, Poppy, LSU won the national title was 2007, and it happened to be on this very field. Who you have, Jim Poppy, Tigers or Tigers?

[11:00:07]

END