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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Pete Buttigieg Maintains Lead with New Results in Iowa; Trump Turns SOTU Address Into Partisan Rally; Trump Set to be Acquitted in Impeachment Trial; Two China Evacuation Flights En Route to U.S. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired February 05, 2020 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:30:51]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A big test for a divided nation. Votes from Iowa still coming in, hostilities boiling over at a divisive State of the Union, and the Senate poised to acquit the president of high crimes and misdemeanors. And the senate, poised to acquit the president of high crimes and
misdemeanors.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett. Thirty minutes past the hour here in New York.
Breaking overnight, new results in from Iowa caucuses. And former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is still out in front. With 71 percent of precincts now reporting, Buttigieg has 26.8 percent of state delegates, followed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Joe Biden. Amy Klobuchar is not far behind the former V.P.
Remember here, nearly 30 percent of results still not reported at this hour. Still not clear when the rest of the results will come out. The Sanders campaign, no doubt, looking at the popular vote totals where Sanders remains in the lead.
ROMANS: Buttigieg began his campaign in obscurity. He now has to be regarded as a serious contender. That reality appeared to be sinking in after the first set of Iowa results was released.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And it validates, for a kid somewhere in a community wondering if he belongs or she belongs or they belong in their own family, that if you believe in yourself and your country, there's a lot backing up that belief.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Former Vice President Joe Biden is looking to leave Iowa behind and pick up some momentum. Nevada and South Carolina are ahead, with large blocs of Hispanic and black voters who support Biden. But first, New Hampshire, an overwhelmingly white state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's good to be back in New Hampshire. More than you know.
Look, I said from the beginning. I want to do well. I want to do well in Iowa. The four is -- I count the four. The first four are the key, two caucuses and two primaries. And so we'll see what -- have they finished counting?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Mike Bloomberg's campaign is looking to capitalize on the chaos in Iowa. The former New York City mayor is doubling his spending on television ads, and has already topped $300 million. As for that app at the center of Iowa's reporting issues, the Department of Homeland Security says Democrats did not take them up on an offer to test it for security flaws ahead of time. But Iowa officials say the data that was entered was accurate and the paper trail backs that up.
ROMANS: Trouble with the app had been reported last week during testing. The same software was supposed to be used for the Nevada caucus on February 22nd. That won't be happening now. Nevada Democrats say the party is reevaluating its options and has a series of back-up plans in place.
All right. A can't-miss, two-night event on CNN starts tonight. The last Democratic presidential town halls before the New Hampshire primary. Join us tonight at 8:00 Eastern, only on CNN.
JARRETT: While Democrats struggle to count votes in Iowa, President Trump was turning his state of the union address into a rowdy, partisan, divisive campaign rally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHANTING)
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JARRETT: Republican chants of four more years there.
While Senate Republicans are on the verge of acquitting the president and keeping him in office, last night the president leaned on voters to do the same in November.
ROMANS: Two defining moments book ending the State of the Union Address: the president snubbing Nancy Pelosi's handshake at the start, and the House speaker tearing up her copy of the president's speech at the end.
It was a speech filled with re-election themes for the president's base, the economy, immigration, the border wall, guns, abortion, judges, and healthcare. That's a topic of great interest for voters on both sides of the aisle. The president highlighting a fracture in the Democratic Party.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To those watching at home tonight, I want you to know we will never let socialism destroy American healthcare.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: The president also claimed he will protect coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions, even though his administration is in court to abolish those very same protections, without a plan to replace them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: With unyielding commitment --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Democrats, many of them women, wearing white as a tribute to the suffragettes, counter the president's healthcare talks with chants of "HR3". That's the Democratic bill to lower prescription drug costs.
ROMANS: The president's guests reflected demographics he is trying to appeal for. He honored a 100-year-old Tuskegee airman, he awarded a scholarship to a young African-American girl for the school of her choice, a shot at public schools.
He also engineered a reunion between service member Townsend Williams and his family. And emotional moment there.
And he had First Lady Melania Trump award the Medal of Freedom to conservative icon Rush Limbaugh, who announced earlier this week he is battling lung cancer.
JARRETT: Not one mention of impeachment during the State of the Union Address. The same cannot be said for the Democratic response.
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GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): As we witness the impeachment process in Washington, there are some things each of us, no matter our party, should demand. The truth matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: That's Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of Michigan, focusing on healthcare and American workers. She offered up a challenge to the president's take on the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WHITMER: The president says the economy is strong. My question is, strong for whom? Strong for the wealthy, who are reaping rewards from tax cuts they don't need?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: The Democrats chose to elevate Michigan in the rebuttal. A critical state, won by President Trump in 2016.
ROMANS: A strong economy is central to President Trump's re-election argument. The deal maker president taking credit for his trade deals, at times, with trademark exaggeration.
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TRUMP: The USMCA will create near 100,000 new high-paying American auto jobs and massively boost exports for our farmers, ranchers, and factory workers.
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ROMANS: The president there inflating his own administration's forecast of new jobs under USMCA. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative estimates 76,000 jobs created over five years. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimated an increase of 29,700 jobs in auto parts production, but a decline of 1,600 jobs in vehicle production.
For farmers, USMCA in that phase one trade deal should provide some relief. The president's trade wars disrupted ag markets, even with a $28 billion bailout, twice as large as the auto bailout in the Obama administration, foreign bankruptcies jumped to their highest level since 2011.
JARRETT: The Senate is set to acquit President Trump today in the impeachment trial. He was charged with abuse of power for demanding Ukraine announce an investigation of the Bidens, in exchange for much- needed military aid.
There are some senators who could have crossed party lines here. Senator Susan Collins will not be one of them. The moderate from Maine voted to hear from witnesses in the trial but says she will not vote to convict.
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SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I believe that the president has learned from this case.
NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: What do you believe the president has learned?
COLLINS: The president has been impeached. That's a pretty big lesson.
(END VIDEO CLIP) JARRETT: You can watch CNN's live coverage of the Senate vote today at 4:00 p.m. eastern.
ROMANS: The president will not say he's sorry. He will not show contrition for the impeachment.
JARRETT: He says he didn't do anything wrong.
ROMANS: So did he learn from impeachment? We shall see.
All right. If the State of the Union was a blueprint for the campaign, a divided nation will see no signs of healing. What it all means nine months to Election Day?
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[04:43:05]
ROMANS: After a very divisive State of the Union, focus now shifts back to Democrats looking to unseat President Trump. New results overnight from the Iowa caucuses, former South Bend Mayor Buttigieg maintaining his lead and pressure will grow on Joe Biden heading to New Hampshire.
JARRETT: Let's bring back Nathan Gonzales, editor and publisher of "Inside Elections" and a CNN political analyst.
ROMANS: Good morning.
NATHAN GONZALES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.
JARRETT: Nathan, let's talk -- let's talk about Biden. How does he bounce back from this? Obviously, he wasn't expected to win in Iowa. It's just the first race. But it does set a tone. I think, especially for Democrats who, historically, if they don't win Iowa and they don't win New Hampshire, they're in real trouble. He is obviously banking on South Carolina, Nevada.
You know, is that -- is that a risky move for him, though? Because there's open primary in South Carolina. Even though it has a largely black population that he wants to see there.
GONZALES: Yes. There's absolutely risk. There's just not a lot he can do to control the calendar. He has to sort of run out the clock in the first couple of states. Hope that he doesn't get swamped by Bernie Sanders and the caucuses in Nevada and then get to South Carolina.
I think that this is -- you know, this -- this election or this primary was never going to be over after Iowa. I mean, this race is too crowded, too complicated. There's too much at stake for the nomination in -- in facing President Trump. And I think you're going to see these top contenders stay in.
You know, you have to -- Mayor Buttigieg had to do well in Iowa and he did. And you have to give him credit. But we still don't know -- or he still hasn't proven that he can expand his base into -- into minority communities. And we also have to remember my mind went back to the 2016 Republican race.
And remember that between -- between Iowa and New Hampshire, there was that debate where governor, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie went after Marco Rubio. And Marco Rubio, you know, turned into a robot briefly.
[04:45:04]
And that fundamentally changed the race because Rubio fell in New Hampshire. Ohio Governor John Kasich finished ahead of where he was supposed to and that gave Kasich in his mind a license to stay in the race. That means the anti-Trump vote never really consolidated behind one candidate. And it was just -- we have a long way to go in this race I think before this is said and done.
JARRETT: Yes, there's no question he is staying in the race. It just -- it seems like he is going to have a tough road if his argument is electability. I'm the one who can beat Trump. Put everything else aside. Just focus on that. And he can't win against his fellow Democrats.
ROMANS: Meantime, Mike Bloomberg doubling his ad spending the day after Iowa. A place he wasn't even, you know, campaigning in. No surprise there I think that Bloomberg sees an opening here.
GONZALES: Yes. Well, Laura, you mentioned the losing Iowa and losing New Hampshire. Bloomberg is banking on losing Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and winning the nomination.
JARRETT: That's one of the reasons why I'm skeptical. And you have to take him seriously because of the money that he's spending. I mean, maybe it's just me.
It looks like Mayor Bloomberg bought the Internet. I mean, every website that I go to, he has -- he has ads that are rolling. And so, you know, you have to take him seriously. And I think a key with Bloomberg is does he ever turn that money on to another Democrat? I mean, does he use that, instead of negative ads about Trump or playing up his own candidacy, does he feel the need to go after one of the others?
And when you put that kind of firepower, that kind of money behind a message, that could really do some damage to one of these other contenders.
JARRETT: Nathan, before I want to get your thoughts on the State of the Union before we let you go. Congress, it's interesting, there was bipartisan clapping and support when Trump spoke of the need to depose Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, obviously, attacking socialism. It was one of the -- the notes he wanted to hit last night.
I mean, what does it tell you that that's -- that's the applause line from both of the chambers?
GONZALES: Well, I think it shows that, at times, they are -- the times were -- the places where we can agree are when it's happening overseas or in another country. That we can find more agreement as a country and who we are as we look at things going on elsewhere.
But, you know, the speech in general is -- is a microcosm of what we're going to see moving forward. The president's going to tout the economy. But it also set up the frame of the election. What Republicans -- while Republicans realize, at least I think the strategists that have done this before, that if this election is just a vote on do you like the president or not? The president is not going to win.
If this election is about do you want capitalism or socialism? That's a very different type of election. And the president is on more firm footing in that scenario.
ROMANS: Right. The president, last night, said that, you know, he wants to fight socialism at home and abroad. And by bringing in socialism, it's a way for him, it's a backdoor --
JARRETT: Attacking Sanders.
ROMANS: Yes, attacking Sanders and others. He says, you know, socialist takeover of healthcare.
GONZALES: You know, Democrats are still figuring out who they're going to nominate. The president has already decided who or what he is running against. He is running socialism. That's what Republicans are going to be running against for the next nine months.
JARRETT: Nathan Gonzalez, thank you so much. See you soon.
GONZALES: Thank you.
ROMANS: All right. We'll be right back.
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[04:52:57]
JARRETT: Two evacuation flights carrying Americans from the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak are on the way to the United States right now. They left China with about 350 passengers on board.
CNN's David Culver is live for us in Beijing.
David, what more can you tell us?
DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Laura, I have been in touch with several of those passengers and we know they are going to be splitting between two locations in California. They'll be at Marine Corps air station Miramar and they'll be at Travis Air Force Base. And they'll be there for two weeks.
And the reason this is a mandatory quarantine is because of the way they are coming from, Hubei Province, the epicenter of this outbreak. We do know there will be at least two more flights leaving potentially tomorrow according to the State Department because there's still hundreds of Americans still stranded in Hubei province and in the city of Wuhan.
As far as quarantine on a ship is concerned, may sound like a good scenario, a cruise ship. But this is the reality folks are dealing with in Japan, off the coast there. It's because of one of the passengers who was in Hong Kong testing positive for coronavirus. That passenger was on the ship 12 days ago.
Now, they have tested several of the passengers and crew and they found ten of the passengers have tested positive for coronavirus. One of them is an American. You can see here they were taking them off the boat and bringing those ten to Japan so that they could be treated in hospitals.
But the others who are on board may have to stay there for up to two weeks as they determine whether or not this virus has spread while the infected were on board that ship. Back here in mainland China, I can tell you they are trying to set up more and more capacity for hospitals. And they are now expanding into field hospitals, Laura. They're doing, essentially, exhibition halls and some of these stadiums are turning those into hospitals of sorts, and you see the beds just lying out there.
It's not the most comfortable of situations. Kind of desperate. But that's where they're at.
JARRETT: Yes. You can see how tightly they're packed in there.
David, thanks so much.
CULVER: Yes.
ROMANS: A second member of a high school track team has died in Oklahoma after a pickup truck ran over six members during a practice run.
[04:55:02]
The driver, 57-year-old Max Townsend (ph), was arrested on charges including manslaughter. Police say Townsend lost his own son in a car crash in the same city the day before and appeared to be impaired.
JARRETT: Shannen Doherty is battling stage 4 breast cancer. The 48- year-old actress was originally diagnosed in 2015 and went into remission in 2017. She decided to tell ABC News her cancer returned to send a message to others fighting the disease.
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SHANNEN DOHERTY, ACTRESS: People can look at that and say, oh my God, yes, she can work. And other people with stage 4 can work, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Doherty has been quietly battling cancer while filming the Beverly Hills reboot. She was coping with the disease while also mourning the death of her friend and former "90210" co-star Luke Perry last March.
ROMANS: Screening "The Lion King" at a fundraiser turned out to be costly for a school in Berkeley, California. A company that licenses films for Disney and other big studios told the PTA at Emerson Elementary School they would have to pay $250 for showing the movie illegally. The fine is nearly a third of what they raised. Movie Licensing USA did not respond to a request for comment.
JARRETT: An Ohio man was expecting a letter about his daughter's tuition. What Dan Kaine (ph) did not expect was this, 79 bins of mail for him at the post office. It seems the student loan company accidentally sent Dan 55,000 copies of the same letter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dee and I were shocked. We were like, are you kidding me? Who makes that kind of mistake?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: The company apologized, citing a glitch in their outgoing mail system. A spokeswoman for the postal service says that many letters -- that many letters addressed to one person is, in a word, uncommon.
ROMANS: Yes, you're likely to hear mistakes and student loan company in the same sentence here.
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: Let's get a check on CNN business this morning, and take a look at markets around the world.
Asian markets recovering after being shaken by coronavirus fears on Wall Street. Looks like futures also leaning higher, 274 points on the upside if this holds. Stocks rally Tuesday and here's why. The idea that more stimulus from China will come and will calm the fears of just how bad the coronavirus will hurt the overall global economy.
The Dow rose 408 points. S&P 500 closed up 1.5 percent. The Nasdaq finished up 2 percent. That's a record high for the Nasdaq, in part because of Tesla. Tesla stock has doubled this year.
A strong debut for Disney in the streaming wars. Disney Plus now has nearly 30 million subscribers up from 10 million in November when it launched. Disney has forecast 60 to 90 million global subscribers by 2025. It also reported revenue. It rose to $20.8 billion, but told investors it could take a hit due to its theme parks in China being closed because of the coronavirus, assuming those parks are closed for two months.
JARRETT: While you were sleeping, late night hosts had a field day with the Democratic debacle in Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: Last night, Iowa's supposed to kick off the 2020 election. Instead, they kicked democracy right in the old hanging chad.
JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: It was a very long day for Democrats today. The Democrats somehow found a way to lose the Democratic caucus in Iowa.
The president, of course, was delighted by this. He weighed in today, tweeting: It is not the fault of Iowa. It is the do-nothing Democrats' fault. As long as I am president, Iowa will stay where it is.
Is there -- was there talk of moving Iowa? Did Iowa decide to retire and move to Florida? Because I didn't know about that.
TREVOR NOAH, COMEDIAN: The Democrats commissioned to make vote counting easier ended up malfunctioning and screwing up the entire night. And I guess what do you expect? I mean, the average age of the party leadership is like 85 years old. What do they know about apps? The only thing they know about apps is that you get one for free with the early bird special. That's it.
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ROMANS: You got to try really hard to have Iowa the butt of every joke at late night.
JARRETT: Well, maybe tomorrow we can tell you who won, officially, the Iowa caucuses.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarrett.
"NEW DAY" starts right now.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More than a day after the Iowa caucuses, the first results have finally come in.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am disappointed. I suspect I could speak for all the candidates, for the people of Iowa.
BUTTIGIEG: What we know is that our vision has been validated. And that this is an astonishing victory.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a big night for him. And historically, this was the first openly gay candidate that's ever run.
TRUMP: The State of our Union is stronger than ever before.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I thought the president gave the single best speech I've ever seen him give.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): It was a manifesto of mistruths.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): To Speaker Pelosi, you can tear up the speech but you can't tear up the accomplishments.
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, February 5th, 5:00 here in New York.
Welcome back.
END
