Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

What Is Joe Biden's Potential Path To Victory?; Coronavirus Cases Double On Quarantined Cruise Ship; Gunman Wounds Two New York City Police Officers In Separate Attacks; Donald Trump Tell Advisers He Doesn't Want Another Kim Jong-Un Summit; Leading Democrats Clashing Ahead Of New Hampshire Primary. Aired 7.30-8a ET

Aired February 10, 2020 - 7:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: And I get it New Hampshire the electorate the 1 percent African -American will vote in the New Hampshire primary and South Carolina where you are that I 60 percent of the voters will be African-American voters in the Democratic Primary.

I get that. But in Iowa and New Hampshire these are voters who have sat with the Vice President, who have gone to the Vice President's events over the last couple months who have no doubt watched him in the public sector for the last 40 years.

So why couldn't he connect with those voters in Iowa? Why is he having trouble connecting with the voters in New Hampshire in such a way that you're telling me that whatever happens tomorrow, he'll still be in this race?

SYMONE SANDERS, SENIOR ADVISOR, JOE BIDEN CAMPAIGN: Well, John, I actually disagree with the notion that he doesn't connect with voters especially voters in New Hampshire. I take you to a dinner in New Hampshire that a number of candidates participated in and we have our strong section at this dinner on Saturday.

But what you will note is when Vice President Biden entered the arena, he got a standing ovation. When he said he'll be damned if he sits back and lets Donald Trump walk into another four years in the White House, he got a standing ovation.

So I think that speaks to the depth and breadth frankly of the Vice President's appeal. We believe Joe Biden is the greatest retail politician in America. He has been able to show it yes we took our lumps in Iowa, absolutely. We'll concede that point. But we're still in this race John.

And the voters of New Hampshire have yet to have their say. And so we know what the polls are going, polls go up and down. The voters of New Hampshire, though, will let us know what the rankings are on Tuesday. Whatever those rankings are John, we will be here the day after to continue the fight.

BERMAN: Polls are one metric, obviously. The vote count in New Hampshire will be much more important. But another metric is money. And let me read you some of the fund raising numbers we've received from the other campaigns. The Klobuchar campaign has raised $3 million since Friday's debate.

The Buttigieg campaign says it has raised $4 million in the days after the Iowa Caucuses. And then there is this Sanders campaign saying it raised $25 million in January. Those are all different time periods. But I haven't heard anything from the Biden campaign. Can you give me any metric either since the debate Friday night, since the Iowa Caucuses one week ago or in January of how much money you've raised?

SANDERS: Absolutely John. Last week we had one of our best fund raising weeks. Frankly, our actual best fund raising week since launch which goes to show --?

BERMAN: How much?

SANDERS: --that voters - oh, John, John. You want the numbers.

BERMAN: Well, I kind of do. But I want to know because the Klobuchar campaign said $3 million since Friday. So is one of your best weeks better than $3 million?

SANDERS: What it is our best week since launch John? And I think what's important here to note is, sure. Other candidates want to put out their numbers. One could argue that's what they need to do. Our strategy and our campaign are focused on speaking with voters, focused on talking about issues.

And that's what we mean when we talk about electability, John. Electability is about where Vice President Biden sits on the issues. And when it comes to health care, when it comes to climate change, when it comes to guns Americans across this country are frankly where Vice President Biden is. Healthcare is the most important issue in this country John, and Americans had noted.

I mean, look, in 2018 Democrats won back the House talking about health care. Now in 2020, there is a decision before us. The Trump Administration is in court right now working to undermine the Affordable Care Act and work to take health care away from millions of Americans.

Our health care plan is building on the success of Obamacare providing for a public option. But there are other candidates in this race John that aren't being straight with the American people. So when we talk about electability, when we talk about Vice President Biden being viable, what we're talking about is his ability to connect on the issues.

BERMAN: You also - the Vice President has been talking about his experience and why he thinks his experience is better than Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. I imagine also Senator Amy Klobuchar. So why does the Vice President think that is an effective argument?

SANDERS: Well, look John, the next President of the United States will confront a merit of issues more than any President in my generation has ever had to confront. We will need a commander in chief who is ready to walk into the Oval Office on day one.

Someone who can pick up the phone and help reassert our place in the world, someone who other world leaders know someone who has fought hard fights, hard, bold progressive fights knows about a bold fashion. From the Affordable Care Act to the Recovery Act Joe Biden has done that work.

We don't need someone with on the job training and this Vice President Biden is said this weekend you know they're great candidates in this race. It is really good Democrats, but the reality is it would be a mistake, we believe to nominate someone for this nomination who serves as the Mayor of a town smaller than the size of Manchester, New Hampshire.

BERMAN: Yes or no, do you think Pete Buttigieg would be ready on day one?

SANDERS: No.

BERMAN: Symone Sanders, thank you for your time. I appreciate you being with us.

SANDERS: Thank you so much John.

BERMAN: That makes it crystal clear what the Biden campaign's position is as we head into the New Hampshire Primary. We'll see you again real soon.

SANDERS: Thank you.

BERMAN: Interesting.

[07:35:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Very interesting. Everything that she said and where she is and all the question I mean the next 24 hours are going to be telling.

BERMAN: Okay so Former Vice President Joe Biden himself will sit down with Don Lemon tonight 10:00 pm eastern time. That of course just hours before New Hampshire begins voting and we will be live from Manchester, New Hampshire, tomorrow.

CAMEROTA: There was also troubling news overnight about the fight to contain the deadly Coronavirus aboard this quarantined cruise ship. So Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us to tell us how alarmed to be next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Breaking news overnight, the number of people with Coronavirus on that quarantined cruise ship docked in Japan nearly doubled overnight 65 new cases since just yesterday.

[07:40:00] CAMEROTA: CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now. So Sanjay what does it tell you that it doubled on that cruise ship?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know when you have a virus like this and it clearly was spreading at some point and has an incubation period meaning people who were infected before at the time before they're diagnosed there was a period of time.

The question really is at what point did these people get infected? Are people still getting infected now despite isolation strategies on that cruise ship? Or were they infected earlier from around the same time? And you're getting people in different incubation periods who are now testing and finding that they're infected.

We don't know the answer to that yet. What you're still hearing from public health officials and I want to be clear on this is that the way that this is spread, this Coronavirus is spread is through close contact three to six feet away, respiratory droplets. It's not something that sort of hangs in the air for a long time. Not something that spreads through the air through the ventilation, things like that.

That's what we're hearing from public health officials. But I think to your point, Alisyn, if it's subsequently found that despite the fact that people have been isolating themselves on this cruise ship that they're still getting infected, then I think obviously public health officials will have to ask is something else going on here? Is this virus spreading in different ways?

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, I think it is very hard for our viewers - I know I'm personally confused - about how alarmed to be? We had on our Correspondent Will Ripley. He is in Japan. He did an interview via cell phone with an American woman named Rebecca who is in the hospital in Japan right now.

She was - she has the virus. She tested positive. She was taken off that cruise ship and she is in the hospital. She says she is getting better despite the fact that she's not taking any medication in the hospital for the virus. So just help us understand if people can recover on their own, if this is getting worse, how alarmed should people be right now?

GUPTA: There is couple of things to sort of really keep in mind here. When you look at any kind of viral outbreak like this there is two questions that people are always talking about but maybe conflating to some extent. How transmissible is this? And how lethal is this?

So when you take the situation that Will Ripley's been reporting about with this woman Rebecca, you know, it makes this case that people can have this virus, be infected with this virus, and have little or no symptoms it doesn't surprise me that she's not being treated.

First of all, there is no specific treatment for this virus. There's no antiviral. You just can treat the symptoms. But again, many people may have no symptoms at all. They're taken to the hospital to isolate them from the general population, typically.

When you start to see the larger numbers, we could put those up quickly and we know over the weekend the numbers have now surpassed Sars. When you look at large numbers like this, you want to really look at them in context. So, on the left, 8,000 infections, nearly 800 deaths it is about a 10 percent fatality rate.

Look on the right now 40,000 plus infections 900. Just the math there would suggest it is around 2 or 2.5 percent fatality rate. But as we're hearing from Chinese health officials there may be many, many more infections. That 40,000 number may in the hundreds of thousands.

And as you and I've talked about Alisyn, what does that mean? That means this is very transmissible. But that also means that there may be tens of thousands even hundred thousand patients out there who have minimal or no symptoms. That's going to be the big question.

Yes, people can recover. We have seen that. They recover on their own without meds because there is no particular med. But it's that denominator question. The real true number of those infected that's going to be a number that we need to know. World Health Organization going into China this week to try and answer I think some of those very basic questions.

CAMEROTA: That would be really helpful because we also just don't know that we can trust the Chinese officials. We've heard that they are not being terribly forthcoming. So that will help. Sanjay, thank you very much for explaining all of these to us, John?

GUPTA: Absolutely.

BERMAN: The gunman who allegedly ambushed two New York City police officers over the weekend in separate attacks will appear in court this morning. Law enforcement official tells CNN the suspect did it because he hates police. CNN's Polo Sandoval live in the Bronx with the very latest. Polo what can you tell us?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John. Good morning to you. Convicted of attempted murder back in 2002 and then paroled in 2017. Robert Williams in a man that the NYPD says opened fire specifically targeting their officers on two separate occasions over the weekend.

The attacks captured on surveillance video. The first incident taking place Saturday night according to investigators Williams walked up to an NYPD vehicle, asked two officers inside for directions. And then pulled out a 9 millimeter pistol and opened fire.

He wounded one of the officers inside the vehicle shooting him in the neck and in the chin. And then fled and in the second attack happening early Sunday morning at the precinct that you saw behind me. Investigators saying that he walked into the precinct opened fire with that same pistol.

[07:45:00]

SANDOVAL: It wasn't until he ran out of ammunition, that he finally surrendered to authorities but now without wounded a police lieutenant inside and what it comes to a motive investigators say it was simply out of his hatred towards the police. This is what New York Mayor Bill De Blasio said over the weekend about the attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK: This was an attempt to assassinate police officers. We need to use that word because it was a premeditated effort to kill. And not just to kill other human beings. But to kill those who wear a uniform who represents all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: He is expected to face charges in the coming hours. Potentially more attempted murder charges that Williams will face. And then a really a positive and emotional moment took place yesterday. We were there as one of the officers, the one who was injured on Saturday was released from the Bronx hospital his brothers and sisters in blue standing by supporting him.

Keep in mind, Alisyn; this was the day after he was shot in the neck. So as you could imagine, the fact he's alive today is nothing sort of a miracle. And then when it comes to the police lieutenant that was injured at this particular precinct. We're told he's also doing okay. He too expected to make a full recovery Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: That is a miracle. Polo, thank you very for that reporting.

BERMAN: Nice to see all the fellow officers out there like you knew they would be.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. President Trump has said that he fell in love with North Korea's Kim Jong-Un. So what's happening with the nuclear program there brand new reporting next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:00]

CAMEROTA: The treat of heavy flooding is intensifying across the southern U.S. as the region braises for another round of wet weather. CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers has our forecast. What are you seeing, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know Alisyn just day after day of rainfall last week with some tornadoes as well and more of that this week as well. This is the area that is going to see the biggest threat. This weather is brought to you by celebrity cruises. Go to celebrity.com and book your award winning vacation today.

So where do we start? We start from last week. 4 to 6 inches of rainfall on ground that saturated where do we go from here? Yesterday was even a little snow too but a lot of rain. Here is the rainfall coming down right now and it is going to focus on the exact same area that we had weather last week. This is now an ongoing problem. There will be a little snow on the north side up into New England but this is not a snow event. This is more a rainfall very, very heavy rain at times and a potential free room for tornado or two. That's not out of the question. But it is the problem is how much rainfall is coming down?

This is what's still coming on top of what we've already had and those two stripes are in the exact same spot guys. Big weather down here this week.

BERMAN: Watching closely, Chad, thank you very much. So new this morning CNN has learned that President Trump has told his top foreign policy advisers that he does not want another summit with North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Un before the November election. Kylie Atwood live in Washington with the details. So what's the status of the love affair?

KYLIEATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes so President Trump has recently said, as you said, he does not want another summit with Kim Jong-Un before the Presidential Elections in November. So he expressed this frustration with North Koreans at the end of last year.

That was after the U.S. and North Korea working level negotiations essentially fell apart in October with the North Koreans pointing to the U.S. side saying that they showed up empty handed and we have seen no success on the negotiating front at the working level since that time.

President Trump essentially put on display his continued disinterest with Kim Jong-Un and North Korea last week. We saw the State of the Union Address. He didn't mention North Korea or Kim Jong-Un once during that address. Why it's important, is because look at last year.

He actually used that platform where he was addressing the American people to announce that he would be having his second summit with Kim Jong-Un. So it is clear that things have changed here. One of the important things to consider is that the Presidential Election in November.

And I am told by sources close to that campaign that they do not consider North Korea as a crucial issue to President Trump winning his re-election. So as he focuses on that effort, he's really focused on domestic policies.

President Trump, when asked about Kim Jong-Un and North Korea at the he said of last year was a little bit more blunt in his assessment saying I focus on my leadership, Kim Jong-Un focuses on his, and we both do what we have to do back to you.

CAMEROTA: That's fine. But who is focusing on their nuclear program? That's what I think the question is for some Americans. Kylie, thank you very much.

BERMAN: Like you are taking a break, like Ross and Rachel in "Friends." I mean seriously that's what the President basically was saying there, I know I don't mean to make light of this because we're dealing with nuclear weapons there but he is basically.

CAMEROTA: Want a break.

BERMAN: Yes, I still respect him--

CAMEROTA: It didn't go that well with Ross and Rachel so I would say that's a cautionary tale. Now that President Trump was impeached for his personal political pressure on Ukraine but not removed from office, what will happen next? John Avlon takes a look in our reality check. Hi John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, guys. Look some people might say our President is impulsive and erratic but outside his tan lines I would say he's remarkably consistent. That's why no one should be surprised that this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Lieutenant Colonel Vindman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: He marched out of his White House post just two days after the Senate trial was done all for telling the truth.

[07:55:00]

AVLON: And then he moves straight out of the Godfather his twin brother got taken out as well. Meanwhile, remember this guy?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDON SONDLAND, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO EUROPE: Was there a quid pro quo, the answer is yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Also gone recalled from his post as EU Ambassador. Trump has been consistent. From the very beginning he said, I did not wrong. It was a perfect call. There was no quid pro quo. But Trump's allies initially tried to tamp all that down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R-KY): There is always contingencies on aid.

MICK MULVANEY, ACTING CHIEF OF STAFF: We do that all the time with foreign policy. I have news for everybody, get over it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: The next attempted defense was Trump was just kidding about asking Ukraine and China to investigate the Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know that is a real request or him just needling the press knowing that you guys are going to get outraged by it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Trump also smacked that one down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: China has to do whatever they want. If they want to look into something, they can look into it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Next up, Republicans said the Trump isn't focused on Bidens; he just really cares about corruption. How did that work out?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It is a very simple answer, they should investigate the Bidens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Okay. So once Senate math Trump morality the President was acquitted without witnesses we were assured that he got the message that he wouldn't do it again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R-ME): I believe that the President has learned from this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: But when it appeared the President would do exactly as expected an crow about his acquittal Senator Susan Collins was disappointed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Very much so. I hoped that the President would have learned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Like a bad news for her because it's only going to get worse. Our fellow Republicans are advancing the very investigation that they got Trump impeached for trying to push secretly all to damage a political rival. They requested a massive amount of documents from the Treasury Department considering Hunter Biden including travel logs and financial records, despite no credible evidence that he did anything illegal.

And the administration that couldn't seem to find one shred of information even what was legally obligated to do so just produce those documents in record time. It's an attempted political hit job in broad daylight during the Democratic primaries and the man who used to choke up talking about Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): He's as good a man as God ever created.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Is now saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: Rudy Giuliani last night said he's got the goods on Hunter Biden. Let's look at Hunter Biden's conflict, let's look at Joe Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: While in a fund raising email the President still insists I did nothing wrong. I've been a perfect President. But the only thing perfect about this President is his ability to stick to his story no matter how outrageous or absurd and then get his party to fall in line. That's your reality check.

CAMEROTA: That is a superpower. Thank you very much, John, for all of that.

BERMAN: A little known member of the super friends after Green Lantern and Aquaman. Thank you for our international viewers for watching. For you CNN newsroom is next for U.S. viewers, the high stakes New Hampshire Primary just hours away. "New Day" continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Tensions run high amongst the candidates just one day before the New Hampshire Primary.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm running against Buttigieg among others who have raised campaign funds from over 40 billionaires.

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D-IN) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I respect Senator Sanders but when I hear that you're either for revolution or status quo, that's a vision of the country that doesn't have room for most of us.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have one job in November, beat Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the Oscar goes to "Parasite."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They told me I only have 45 seconds up here which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are the girls we hear the music - we need to hear your voices.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is "New Day" with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your "New Day." It is Monday, February 10, 8:00 in the east. We're less than 24 hours away from the first votes being cast in New Hampshire. The excitement is building on the campaign trail. There are high-energy crowds greeting the candidates as they make their final push.

Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren fired up the crowds on Sunday, both Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar had crowds of over 1,000 people as well. Senator Bernie Sanders is on top in the latest New Hampshire poll with Pete Buttigieg in second place. Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden are battling for third place at the moment and Klobuchar is hoping for a bounce after a strong debate performance. There are 24 delegates up for grabs tomorrow.

BERMAN: So can you tell it's nearly primary day not just because of the crowds but also because the Democratic candidates are now making more pointed attacks on each other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I'm running against a candidate, Pete Buttigieg among others, who has raised contributions from more than 40 billionaires.

BUTTIGIEG: With a President this divisive, we cannot risk dividing Americans future further saying you that must either be for a revolution or you must be for status quo.

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Come on, man, you think - this guy is not a Barack Obama.

BUTTIGIEG: Well, he's right, I'm not, and--