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CNN Projects Bernie Sanders Wins Nevada Caucuses; Democratic Candidates Switch Focus To South Carolina Primary; Buttigieg Warns Against Electing Sanders After Nevada Loss; President Trump Departs For Two-Day Trip To India; National Security Advisor, Robert O'Brien Contradicts Intelligence Official On 2020 Russian Election Meddling; More Departures Expected At Nation's Top Intelligence Office; Backlash Over Evacuation Of Diamond Princess Passengers; Jury Deliberations To Resume Monday Morning. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired February 23, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:15]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: CNN can now project that Bernie Sanders is the winner of the Nevada caucuses.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In Nevada, we have just put together a multigenerational, multiracial coalition which is going to not only win in Nevada, it's going to sweep this country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie Sanders has momentum. It is the most cherished gift in politics and he has it.

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Before we rush to nominate Senator Sanders in our one shot to take on this president, let us take a sober look at what is at stake for our party, for our values and for those with the most to lose.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a real blow-out that we're seeing here. And it's a problem for all of these other candidates because one or more of them need to figure out who is going to be the one to step back?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Another big win for Senator Bernie Sanders in Nevada with 50 percent of precincts reporting in. CNN projects that he will win the state's caucuses. Now former Vice President Joe Biden is in right now in distant second place, Mayor Pete Buttigieg rounds out the top three.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Sanders told a roomful of supporters in Texas his campaign -- quote -- "put together a multigenerational, multiracial coalition" in Nevada that's going to sweep the rest of the country. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: In Nevada and in New Hampshire and in Iowa, what we showed is that our volunteers are prepared to knock on hundreds and hundreds of thousands of doors. That no campaign has a grassroots movement like we do, which is another reason why we're going to win this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: But as Senator Sanders celebrates his victory, his rival candidates, they are increasing the attacks.

PAUL: Yes. Both Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden making the case for why they are the only ones that can beat President Trump in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTTIGIEG: I am here to make the case for a politics that invites everyone in instead of saying it's my way or the highway.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I ain't a socialist. I ain't a plutocrat. I'm a Democrat. I'm very proud.

I was proud to have and run with Barack Obama. And I'm proud to still be his friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN Correspondent, Evan McMorris-Santoro is in Reno, Nevada. Evan, good morning to you. Very early morning to you out on the West Coast but let's talk about this win. Both the Sanders argument that he can broaden his appeal across the Democratic Party and turn out voters.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, we call this last night where you're sitting.

(LAUGHTER)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Yes. It's very early.

But listen, yes, I mean, if it's a caucus and it's 2020 votes are still coming in. But unlike Iowa, the Nevada numbers that we have so far have really given a message that we can take away from Nevada, which is that Bernie Sanders has done a much better job here than he did in 2016, built a bigger coalition than he did in 2016 and turned Nevada into a place where it starts to look like he can make some of the real arguments he needs to make if he wants to solidify the party.

And you can see that he's already moving on to doing that in his speech he gave after his Nevada win. You can see that he talked a lot about bringing the party together and how he's going to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SANDERS: If we stand together, if we fight for an agenda that works for working families and the middle class, if we get involved in the political process, if we stand for justice, if we stand for compassion, if we understand that we are all in this together, that my family has to care about your family, your family cares about my family, brothers and sisters, if we stand together, we will not only defeat Trump, we will transform this country and create a government and an economy that works for all of us, not wealthy campaign contributors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:05:14]

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: So listen, the gist of that statement is Sanders essentially saying, listen, the message that I've been running on for decades and decades is the message the Democratic Party needs to link up. So that's not too -- not too huge of a surprise from him. We're used to him saying, listen, I know what needs to be done. I'm not going to change my position. Democrats need to follow me. We're used to that.

But what's interesting about what happened here in Nevada and another message coming out of this is just how he went about creating this victory he created. And up here in Reno where I am, Washoe County, he won it in 2016, but also he built a massive organization here that I heard about from other Democrats when I was being around town this week. And they were talking about just how wired up Bernie had the county. He knew where he needed to be, they were knocking the right doors. I heard about volunteers on horseback canvassing around. Making sure everyone got touched.

This is the kind of thing that, along with the message that Bernie keeps consistent. If he can prove that his organization is stronger than in 2016, that's the kind of thing he hopes to prove with a win like the one here in Nevada.

PAUL: Yes. A lot of people actually last night were talking about how strong his organization is, that this is a portion of a campaign that he is very, very adroit at. A lot of people might be waking up this morning who are Warren fans and thinking, all right, well what does this mean for Senator Elizabeth Warren? What are you hearing, Evan?

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Well, look, let's keep everything in perspective, right? Because if we remember from the last time, there was a contentious primary in 2016 with the Republican Party every time they went to different states, that candidate that won that state got a ton of delegates. That doesn't happen in the Democratic Party.

So even though Bernie got a big win that he can make a -- turn into a message machine, he didn't get that many more delegates than any other candidate did. So for people like Warren who are thinking, look, we can hang on, there's things we can do, we can maybe try to do a better debate performance or ride a debate performance into more votes. The reason why they think they can do that is because there is such a slow pace to delegates. You know, Warren is going to make her decision. She has got her supporters talking to her. She has got her advisers talking to her. But it doesn't seem as crazy as it might to people on the outside for someone like her to keep running because there is a chance to keep getting delegates.

PAUL: Evan McMorris-Santoro, so good to see you.

BLACKWELL: In the middle of the night.

PAUL: I hope you get sleep soon, buddy.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Thank you so much.

PAUL: You're going, so do I.

BLACKWELL: Yes, so do I. Thank you, Evan.

PAUL: Nice job. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in CNN Political Analyst and White House Reporter for "The Washington Post" Toluse Olorunnipa, and CNN Political Analyst and Historian and Professor at Princeton University, Julian Zelizer.

Gentlemen, good morning to you.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So, Julian, let me start with you. Entrance polls -- CNN's entrance polls, they challenge any narrative that Senator Sanders appeals only to a very limited narrow part of the party. The polls show that Sanders is on top in every age group in Nevada, every level of education. Three points behind Vice President Biden among moderates even. Who knows what comes in the next contest or throughout the process. But this is a good narrative for Sanders.

ZELIZER: It's an incredibly good narrative. Two things are happening. One is that his coalition is broadening. And it's not a coalition based on one group. It's increasingly looking like the Democratic Party.

And the second thing is more Democrats are saying from what we're seeing that he is the most electable of the candidates. And if those two trends continue he will be in a pretty strong place come Super Tuesday and beyond. It will become increasingly hard for the other candidates to catch up with him.

BLACKWELL: So, Toluse, let's go through what Sanders has won here. Two states now. Nevada and New Hampshire. Very close in Iowa. He's got the delegate lead topping most national polls. I think it would be fair to call him the front-runner. Detail for us how real this down ballot angst is over potential Sanders at the top of the ticket.

OLORUNNIPA: There is a lot of angst among some of these moderate congressional members who won in 2018. They were seen as sort of the more moderate people who helped Nancy Pelosi become speaker. They are worried that having a Democratic socialist at the top of the ticket could make it harder for them to win re-election, could be harder to flip some of the Senate seats that are needed in order for Democrats to gain the majority.

But if Sanders is able to continue to build his coalition, show that he can be very influential when it comes to winning Hispanic voters and young voters, and maybe putting together what he calls this army, this revolution of new voters coming into the system, that may help to ease some of their angst.

[06:10:00]

But having a Democratic socialist at the top of the ticket will make it very easy for Republicans to attack some of these more moderate Democrats and say that they are part of a socialist movement. And it may be difficult for them to win re-election with that hanging over their heads.

BLACKWELL: Julian, this serves right up to the new piece you have on CNN.com about how political factions don't have to lead to tearing the party apart. You point to the example of 1980 election and you write that "Political parties can survive the most intense factionalism. With a skillful leader guiding them, parties can even use internal divisions as a source of electoral strength." Make the case.

ZELIZER: Look, it was about Ronald Reagan in 1980. And the conservative movement the Republican Party, it had many factions, they didn't all agree on many issues. In fact, they were often very divided. But Reagan found key points of commonality. In his case it was anti-communism and cutting taxes and brought them together and used those multiple factions to energize the entire party. And I think that's the challenge that Sanders now faces. Is if he could do that, I think he might be very formidable. It might look like 1980 than 1972.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's put the board up, the results that we have thus far from Nevada. I think we're still at about 50 percent. And, Toluse, let's go to Vice President Biden. There at 19.2, about 27 points behind Bernie Sanders. He thanked his supporters last night. This is what he said about what this second place finish means.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I think we're in a position now to move on in a way that we haven't been until this moment. I think we're going to go -- we're going to win -- we're going to win in South Carolina and then Super Tuesday and we are on our way.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: So the optimism is expected, right, Toluse? But what does this finish -- yes, second, still 27 points behind, what does it potentially mean for the South Carolina setup and moving forward? And reconcile this with what we heard from the campaign maybe three weeks ago, a month ago about what they expected out of Nevada.

OLORUNNIPA: Yes. They had been saying that Nevada was a place where they would do well, in part because there are a lot of minority voters, Iowa and New Hampshire where majority white, almost exclusively white in New Hampshire -- or Nevada was a place where they would be able to win. And the fact that they are in second place and not even close to Senator Sanders has to be some source of consternation within the campaign as they go to South Carolina where they are the favorites.

But when you look at those entrance polls, Biden only beat Sanders by a few points among African American voters in Nevada. And if he does not continue to have a strong showing among African American voters, it could be difficult for him to move forward beyond South Carolina into Super Tuesday.

It doesn't seem like he has the kind of coalition that Sanders has at this point. He's not running away with any specific group the way Sanders is with young voters or with liberal voters or even with Hispanic voters in Nevada. So if Biden is not able to make up some ground, he could find himself losing after South Carolina in places like Texas and California to Sanders and then it becomes off to the races for Sanders with a delegate lead and it would be difficult for Biden to catch up.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Speaking of difficult to catch up, we're going to skip over former Mayor Buttigieg and go to Senator Elizabeth Warren. Fourth as the results stand right now. Fourth in most national polls. I want to play a line from her speech after the caucuses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to talk specifically for just a minute at the top about a threat that is coming our way. And it's a big threat. Not a tall one, but a big one, Michael Bloomberg.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, Julian, I mean, she's going for the personal insult which if we think back to Marco Rubio that maybe -- doesn't work for candidates who don't do that naturally. But is this line against Michael Bloomberg her best way to attract Sanders voters? I mean, he's the front-runner. Bloomberg is not.

ZELIZER: It's not. The way she attracts voters is talking about the issues she has worked on her whole life. Meaning helping working families, dealing with issues like debt, education and more. And every time she gets off of that, whether it's that kind of quip or whether it was the tangled process of dealing with Medicare for All, I think she moves away from her core strength. So if she has a shot, if she's going to continue to amass delegates, I think she has to actually take a page from Sanders and get back to the issues that matter for her.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Toluse, let me wrap it up with you and get back to Mayor Buttigieg. He went after Senator Sanders quite pointedly and directly.

[06:15:01]

Is it any clearer after Nevada who is leading the Sanders alternative lane or, I mean, is that person in the race but waiting on Super Tuesday, Michael Bloomberg?

OLORUNNIPA: Yes. It's not clear who would lead that race. In part, because Bloomberg is sitting there with hundreds of millions of dollars willing to blow up the entire process and try to anoint himself as the top leader of the moderate wing of the party. And right now everyone is staying in the race, you have Warren, you have Biden, you have Buttigieg and now Bloomberg coming into the race.

And right now they're splitting up the vote and there's nobody that anyone who has coalesced around and it makes it very difficult to defeat Sanders when all of the rest of the moderate vote, including Amy Klobuchar, has split up among four or five candidates. And with Bloomberg prepared to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, there's no certainty about anyone who would be able to take on Sanders as a single candidate.

It seems like right now they're going to continue to split up that vote and make it very difficult to break into Sanders' lead.

BLACKWELL: All right. We've got 50 percent of the results in from Nevada. The clear winner. We'll see if the rest of the pack shuffles up. Toluse Olorunnipa and Julian Zelizer, thank you both.

OLORUNNIPA: Thank you.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: CNN original series, "RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE" returns tonight with a look at, as Julian Zelizer mentioned, the 1980 campaign. Jimmy Carter v. Ronald Reagan. Be sure to watch tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

PAUL: And with the days counting down until the South Carolina primary, six presidential candidates take voter questions in a special CNN two-night town hall event that is live from Charleston all starting tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern only here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: The national security adviser is contradicting a top intelligence official on Russia's election meddling. So which campaign is Russia trying to assist?

PAUL: Also a bus in San Diego, California rolls up a highway killing at least three people onboard. We have the very latest for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:09]

BLACKWELL: Welcome back. Twenty-one minutes after the hour right now.

PAUL: Just waiting for it there.

BLACKWELL: Just wanted two seconds. I wanted to make sure it was specific.

Later this morning, President Trump will be heading up for a two-day trip to India. This is his first visit to the country as president.

PAUL: India's prime minister Narendra Modi is expected to roll out the red carpet for the president. On the itinerary is a rally, a tour of the Taj Mahal and a state dinner.

Now back in Washington, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien is contradicting a top intelligence official saying that he has seen nothing that shows Russia is interfering in the 2020 election specifically to benefit President Trump.

BLACKWELL: On Friday, Senator Sanders told reporters that his campaign was briefed about Russia's effort to help his run for the White House. Now, senior national security officials tell CNN there is no preference.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is following the latest. So, Kristen, tell us what you have learned about this?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Christi.

Yes. So there's a lot to break down here. So let's start from the beginning. All of this is stunning from an intelligence briefing that happened earlier in the month. The top intelligence officials talking to lawmakers about what was going to happen with Russian interference in 2020. Now sources around that say it was a comprehensive briefing. But that top intelligence official told lawmakers twice that President Trump was a favorite. He was preferred for Russians.

Now you have, of course, Robert O'Brien saying that he hasn't seen any information that says that. That he was briefed by lawmakers in that briefing and they said there was nothing to back that up. He essentially said that it was rumors. So what's going on here?

Well, we talked to sources who were both in the briefing and familiar with the briefing who offered us a little bit clarity. They said it's not so cut and dry. It's not just Russians like Trump. And that wasn't the narrative that the intelligence community wanted to get out there with the briefing.

But that top intelligence official was peppered with questions by these lawmakers trying to pin her down on where exactly the Russians stood, who their preference was for. And that is when she relented and gave her view which was that there was a preference for President Trump. But here's where it gets really political. As you mentioned there, Bernie Sanders also saying that his campaign was briefed that there was an effort to help his campaign by Russians. O'Brien was also asked about that. He did not say anything there about rumor, but he said that it didn't surprise him. So very political answer here as we move forward. But one thing very clear, just as in 2016, Russia is going to be a big part of this election narrative as we inch towards November.

PAUL: All right. Kristen Holmes, always good to see you. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: CNN has learned that more departures are expected at the nation's top intelligence office this is after President Trump named Richard Grenell as the acting director of national intelligence.

PAUL: CNN's Kylie Atwood breaks it down for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Some top intelligence officials are looking to leave the office of the director of national intelligence. Sources tell CNN, this comes as there has been an upheaval at that office.

Now this is the office that oversees all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies. And just this week the director of that office, the acting director was fired from his post and President Trump put in his place Rick Grenell. Ambassador Rick Grenell is seen as an ally to President Trump, someone who does not have very much intelligence experience. And as he came into the role this week, he immediately fired the number two at this office.

And there are fears within the intelligence community that other folks may also be forced out. One of those is Shelby Pierson. She is in charge of overseeing the assessments of election security. And she was the one who provided an intelligence briefing behind closed doors to lawmakers just last week.

[06:25:03]

One of the things that she revealed in that briefing was the intelligence assessment that Russia is trying to help President Trump in his presidential election campaign. And so that was not met well by President Trump. He has come out and said that that is not true. It's a hoax. But that is the intelligence assessment. And there are fears that because Shelby Pierson was the person who provided that assessment, she may be forced out as well.

There are also questions about how Rick Grenell is going to be as a leader at this office. I am told that sources within the office made phone calls to those that they knew at the U.S. embassy in Germany asking them what it was like to work with Rick Grenell. So there are a lot of developments that we are watching. But so far Shelby Pierson is still in her job and there is the expectation that some folks are going to leave or be forced out in the coming days.

Kylie Atwood, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Thank you to Kylie there.

Now voters in Nevada obviously have had their say. The next stop for the candidates is South Carolina, then Super Tuesday. Next we're going to break down for you why the next 10 days are so critical.

BLACKWELL: Plus, Microsoft says that it has new technology that will protect your vote from hackers. Up next, how they say they can do it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]

BLACKWELL: The big story this morning, the big win for Bernie Sanders win in Nevada. 50 percent of precincts reporting in and CNN projects he will win the state's caucuses, former Vice President Joe Biden there in second place with over than 19 percent of the vote, and then Mayor Pete Buttigieg, he is in third. Senator Elizabeth Warren rounds out the top four.

Now, campaign headquarters in Texas, Sanders touted his strong grassroots movement and ensured supporters that they will win across the country.

But as Sanders takes a victory lap, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden, they are piling on the attacks. Most of the candidates have switched their focus to the next primary in South Carolina.

PAUL: Yes, Victor. And this is what we're talking about for South Carolina, because it's going to start getting really interesting at this point on. We've got 27 points, as you can see, between Biden and Sanders for Nevada. But this is a critical next several days for all of these Democrats.

In total, there are 15 states that are holding voting contests, South Carolina being the first, the Democratic primary next Saturday. Let's remember, the primary is different from the caucus. They'll be voting, they'll be doing it in privacy. So we could see something different there obviously happening than what we see in caucuses. And, again, 54 delegates up for grabs there.

Then we move on to March 3rd, Super Tuesday, we're talking about 14 states and American Samoa voting. 1,357 delegates are at stake there, as you can see. Then California has the most delegates, 415, most delegates in the country.

The money is the other big story in all of this, massive Super Tuesday T.V. ad spending going on. So far, there's been $210 million spent and that's just on television ads. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent nearly $160 million just on T.V. ads in 14 states. And just for some clarity there, that's three times more than all of the other candidates. We should point out Tom Steyer is a distant second with $39 million. You can bet you're going to see a lot more than that on the television and elsewhere, digital, as we head into those contests.

BLACKWELL: Yes, just a couple weeks now until the biggest voting day of the season.

So let's talk about this. We saw in Nevada, we're still waiting for some returns, but what we saw in Nevada was not nearly as bad as what we saw in Iowa after that massive tech breakdown there. There are serious concerns about using electronic ballots in November. Now, Microsoft says it has a solution to keep voting secure.

This new technology goes for a test run this week in Wisconsin. Here is CNN's Rachel Crane is here to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM BURT, CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT , CUSTOMER SECURITY AND TRUST, MICROSOFT: This is where the ElectionGuard magic happens. Because when you insert the card here and it prints the ballot, that same moment the device is connected to this tablet are encrypting your data.

We're not saying that ElectionGuard makes it impossible to hack voting machines. We're saying it makes it pointless to hack voting machines.

We're right outside the town hall for the town of Fulton, Wisconsin.

RACHEL CRANE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Fulton doesn't have a bank, a post office or even a grocery store. But today, this town of just over 3,000 residents is testing the latest voting security technology in a statewide election.

BUT: The grand vision of ElectionGuard is to make elections more safe, secure and trustworthy than thye have ever been in the history of the United States.

CRANE: What inspired Microsoft to tackle the hairy problem of voting in America?

BURT: It's very much a direct response to what we saw happen in 2016 with the efforts that were made by foreign adversaries to actually influence the voting process in the United States.

CRANE: Microsoft says ballots are encrypted electronically the moment they're cast and stay that way. The system can tally those encrypted votes without deciphering them. And even more importantly, it means hackers should have a harder time tampering with those votes.

BURT: We're building a world class vault that your vote goes into and then we're wrapping it with tamper-proof seal. If somebody successfully hacked into the system, if they could break into that vault, the technology would reveal that something had happened and then the election officials can make sure that the vote is accurate.

[06:35:02]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you here to vote?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So there's a slightly different voting process going on today.

CRANE: Here in Fulton, voters are using a tablet to make their selections and saving them on card. When they insert that card here, their vote is encrypted and a paper duplicate prints automatically. None of this hardware is connected to the internet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came in expecting little pencils and forms with the little dots, and it wasn't like that at all.

BURT: ElectionGuard will work with paper as a primary source, it will work as the backup, but it would also work in a system that has no paper ballot at all.

CRANE: And that's important. There are more than 10,000 election jurisdictions in the United States and no universal voting system.

MEAGAN WOLFE, ADMINISTRATOR, WISCONSIN ELECTION COMMISSION: Here in Wisconsin, each of our 1,850 cities, towns and villages run their own elections. And so cost is a huge factor.

CRANE: The Microsoft team wouldn't say how much it spent on the ElectionGuard project. But it's clear this isn't a profit play. Anyone can download the open sourced software for free.

BURT: It's absolutely core to our democracy that people know that when they vote, their vote counts.

CRANE: A recent Gallup poll found that 59 percent of Americans lack confidence in the honesty of U.S. elections.

WOLFE: I think one of the largest challenges that's facing the election cycle this year is misinformation. It doesn't take an actual breach or an actual hack of a system, it just takes a rumor to undermine someone's confidence.

CRANE: That's why core feature of ElectionGuard is voter confirmation.

Fulton's official results came from a hand count of the paper duplicates.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It also resulted in the exact same numbers from the tally from the machine.

CRANE: The encrypted tally from ElectionGuard matched.

And for the first time, voters could use a unique code to verify that their vote was counted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your vote was counted.

CRANE: Do you have to be a software engineer to understand the significance of that?

BURT: Voters will believe in the technology when they see that it works and that it works consistently. We're really optimistic and hopeful that in the 2024 election cycle, many votes in the United States will be cast using ElectionGuard technology.

CRANE: But in the wake of public debacles like the app meltdown in Iowa's Democratic caucus, many officials and voters might be wary of new technology from private companies.

Do you think private tech companies are the answer to securing our democracy?

BURT: We need the public sector and we need the private sector working together to solve these problems.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I voted and I hope it counted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: That's Rachel Crane reporting for us.

PAUL: So I wish that this lead line were different, because I feel like we keep saying it, but it's just getting worse. The number of coronavirus cases across the U.S. is climbing. Why the government is facing backlash now over the evacuation of coronavirus patients.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: CNN learned that the helicopter pilot in the crash that killed Kobe Bryant and several others violated weather-related flight rules.

PAUL: Kobe and his daughter, Gianna Bryant, also with seven others were killed when their helicopter crashed in the hills near Calabasas, California. They were heading to a youth basketball tournament. But there were reports of low visibility the day of that crash.

The cause is under investigation. But according to an FAA report from 2015, pilot Ara Zobayan entered the airspace around Los Angeles International Airport in that year despite being warned of reduced visibility.

BLACKWELL: We also want you to be sure to watch our special coverage of Kobe Bryant's memorial service. That starts tomorrow at 1:00 P.M. Eastern right here on CNN.

PAUL: Well, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the government from transferring coronavirus patients to a city in Southern California. Costa Mesa sued the state and federal governments when it learned that several patients from the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship would be quarantined in their city.

BLACKWELL: But right now, the passengers are being monitored at an Air Force base. But according to CNN affiliate KTLA, state health officials are working with the federal government to find a place to house them. A hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.

13 passengers from that cruise ship are being monitored in Nebraska as well. 11 have tested positive for the coronavirus. There are now a total of 35 confirmed cases in the United States.

We have some new details about the decision to airlift those passengers from the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship to the U.S.

PAUL: 18 of the 35 confirmed cases in the U.S. are from that ship. Here is CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A rising toll of coronavirus in America. More than 30 cases now confirmed. Sacramento reporting a new case, someone who recently traveled to China. The new numbers reported as U.S. officials deal with continuing fallout over their decision to airlift more than a dozen Diamond Princess Cruise Ship passengers who had tested positive for coronavirus on the same planes with passengers who are not infected.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you made those kinds of complicated decisions, there are going to be different perspectives that are brought to the table.

TODD: Officials responding to a Washington Post report saying the Centers for Disease Control did not want to fly the infected passengers on the same planes as non-infected people, but the State Department did. And that after arguments, the State Department got its way.

Two planes with infected and non-infected passengers in the same cabins flew from Japan to the U.S. earlier this week. State Department officials didn't deny there was disagreement, saying there was a, quote, robust interagency discussion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the end of the day, the State Department had a decision to make, informed by interagency partners and we went ahead and made that decision and a decision I think was the right one in bringing those people home.

TODD: U.S. officials say those airlifted passengers who had tested positive were not showing coronavirus symptoms at the time of the flight and that they were segregated from non-infected passengers. But non-infected people on the evacuation flights also have criticized the decision.

Cheryl and Paul Molesky, without symptoms, were concerned about sharing the plane with those suspected of being infected.

CHERLYL MOLESKY, DIAMOND PRINCESS PASSENGER: They were put in an area towards the back of the plane and -- but they were just kind of like wrapped in plastic. We had to walk past there to go to the bathroom. Our food was in the back of the plane.

TODD: The Moleskys are now 14-day quarantine at a base in Texas. One public health expert believes the State Department bungled this.

ERIC FEIGL-DING, PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT, HAVARD UNIVERSITY: I think even if you keep passengers separated in a tarp, it is not an airtight bio lab safe environment in terms of segregating the air and all of the potential exposures. It would have been more prudent to completely keep them on separate planes or fly them back separately at a later date.

TODD: 18 of the more than 30 confirmed coronavirus patients in the U.S. are from that Diamond Princess voyage, which experts say has been nothing short of disastrous.

FEIGL-DING: I think the ship was just the perfect Petri dish for spreading of this virus. Passengers were also in inner cabins sharing the same ventilation as people on the rest of the ship, even though they were isolated. And a lot of the crew were working elbow to elbow sharing the same kitchen. They were sharing the same buffet line.

TODD: And State Department officials out with a new warning saying that Americans should reconsider taking cruises in Asia for a while are now saying flat out to Americans, if you're in Asia and you think you might be sick, don't expect more repatriation flights back to the U.S., that that's not their standard practice. They didn't say if that new warning was a result of the internal fight between officials over flying back those infected patients from the cruise ship.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Tomorrow morning, jurors will continue deliberating in the sex crime trial of Harvey Weinstein. But there are signs the jury is deadlocked on two of the most serious charges. We have new details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: At least three people are dead and 18 hurt after a bus crash. This is in North San Diego. The Fire Department there says that several people were trapped after the bus rolled off the highway.

PAUL: The Fire Department says several people had to be extricated from the bus. Right now, it's not clear who owns that bus, where it was headed or where it began.

BLACKWELL: Jury deliberations in the Harvey Weinstein trial, they continue tomorrow morning.

PAUL: Before breaking on Friday, jurors have indicated that there is a chance they could be deadlocked here. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Before deliberations wrapped for the week in the trial of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, jurors sent a note suggesting that they may be deadlocked on some of the charges in the indictment. The jury asking the judge they can be hung on one or two counts listed in the indictments, namely predatory sexual assault while reaching a unanimous decision on the rest.

But after speaking with the defense and prosecutors, the judge urged the jury to keep deliberating and said any verdict the jury returns on in account, be it guilty or not guilty, must be unanimous.

It was just one of ten notes sent by jurors during their deliberations, including requesting multiple read-backs of testimony. Two of the requests focused on witness Annabella Sciorra's graphic testimony that Weinstein could not be charged with assaulting or raping her due to the statute of limitations. Prosecutors used her allegations to establish a pattern of predatory conduct.

But the indictment against Weinstein stems from the allegations of two other women, Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann. Haley testified that while Harvey was mentoring her when she was working as a production assistant, she was asked to go to his New York City apartment where she was allegedly assaulted in the summer of 2006.

The jury also asked to review Haley's charges and her testimony. Mann has a similar story, alleging that Weinstein assaulted her in a New York hotel room. Their testimony, Weinstein's defense pointed out that both women had consensual sex with their client after the alleged attacks and they have continued to have friendly contact with him for years. Weinstein has also repeatedly denied all accusations of non- consensual sex.

Jurors head back to court Monday morning. If the jury deadlocks on some of the counts, defense attorneys told the court on Friday, they would take a partial verdict. That means some counts could be declared a mistrial while verdicts on the others would be accepted. But the prosecution has indicated it will not accept that result. A source on Weinstein's team told CNN their client was, quote, cautiously optimistic but nervous.

Regardless of the outcome, Weinstein still faces rape and sexual assault charges in Los Angeles.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

BLACKWELL: Big win for Senator Bernie Sanders in the Nevada caucuses. He wins according to CNN's projections. We'll hear what he says about the win and we'll hear from some of his rivals, next.

[06:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PAUL: So tonight, you can watch an all-new episode of the CNN original series, "The Windsors: Inside the Royal Dynasty." We'll give you a preview here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 1917, the First World War rages on. Prince Edward is now an officer in the British Army.

TED POWELL, BIOGRAPHER: But he's not allowed to fight. He's not allowed near the frontline.

PIERS BRENDON, BIOGRAPHER: He says to his father, King George, look, I've got to be doing my bit. And his father says, no, no, you can't risk being killed or captured.

[07:00:00]

POWELL: And that's an experience that he finds extremely humiliating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His father insists that the Prince of Wales is protected at all times.