Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Bernie Sanders Wins Nevada Caucuses, CNN Projects; Coronavirus Outbreak; 2019-2020 Flu Season; Warren Attacks Bloomberg after Nevada; Controversy over L.A.'s New Voting Machines; Trump Departs for India; Intelligence Community Feels Immediate Impact of Trump's Diplomatic "Disruptor"; Earthquake at Turkey-Iran Border; Bullied Australian Boy Gets an Ovation; Zamboni Driver Wins for Hurricanes. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired March 01, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): If you haven't heard of a guy named Bernie, you have now. He is the winner in the U.S. state of Nevada and the caucus there demanding victory for Bernie Sanders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): We're also following the coronavirus for you. Another spike in cases in South Korea. CNN is live on the streets of Seoul for you.

ALLEN (voice-over): In just a few hours, Donald Trump on his way to India. We unpack the president's itinerary.

HOWELL (voice-over): We are live from CNN headquarters in the ATL. I'm George Howell.

ALLEN (voice-over): I'm Natalie Allen. NEWSROOM starts right now.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HOWELL: 5:01 on the U.S. East Coast. If you're just waking up, the results are clear. Bernie Sanders is the undisputed frontrunner to challenge Donald Trump presently.

ALLEN: CNN projects he is the winner in the Nevada state caucuses. Early results showing how decisive a victory it is. Look at that, with half of the precincts reporting. Sanders has more than double support of his next closest rival, Joe Biden, and Pete Buttigieg holding steady in third, ahead of Elizabeth Warren.

HOWELL: Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer and Tulsi Gabbard rounding out the field in single digits. The Vermont senator is looking ahead, addressing supporters in the state of Texas shortly after it became clear that he won Nevada.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Now I'm delighted to bring you some pretty good news. I think all of you know we won the popular vote in Iowa. We won the New Hampshire primary. And according to three networks and the AP, we have now won the Nevada caucus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Senator Sanders hopes his Nevada win will propel him to victory and, of course, the votes to come. Our Ryan Nobles is traveling with the Sanders campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Senator Bernie Sanders will spend his Sunday in Texas. This after being able to claim victory in the Nevada caucuses, a convincing one that will allow Sanders and his campaign to say they're three for three. They won in Iowa, New Hampshire and now in Nevada.

Sanders already thinking about the Super Tuesday states, despite the fact that the caucuses were happening in Nevada on Saturday, he spent his entire day in Texas and an event in El Paso and another in San Antonio.

Sanders making his message very clear to his supporters here, it was not just about winning one state, they plan on winning the Democratic nomination and the White House.

SANDERS: In Nevada and New Hampshire and 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 are going to win this election.

NOBLES: What is very important about this win in Nevada for the Sanders team is because it was the first state with a diverse set of voters casting ballots. According to the CNN entrance polls, Sanders won virtually every demographic group.

He won with black voters, Latino voters and African American voters as well, which bodes well for him as they move into these states that even are more diverse, South Carolina among them. Of course the big Super Tuesday prizes of California and here in Texas -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: The former vice president Joe Biden is tweeting his distant second place finish as the beginning of a comeback. It is a vast improvement on his fourth and fifth place showings in Iowa and New Hampshire.

HOWELL: He's trying to paint himself as the best alternative to Sanders as he eyes the next contest. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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 and we're going to win in South Carolina. And then Super Tuesday and we are on our way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: And then a similar message from the third place finisher Pete Buttigieg and wasting no time spreading it.

[05:05:00]

ALLEN: The candidate immediately flew to Colorado to hold a rally there following the Nevada outcome. His message, an urgent plea that voters look to him instead as the candidate to take on President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I congratulate Senator Sanders on a strong showing today, knowing that we celebrate many of the same ideals.

But 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.

Senator Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans. This is our shot. This is our only shot to beat Donald Trump. So I am asking Americans to make sure that we get this choice right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Let's get some context now with Leslie Vinjamuri, the head of the U.S. and American Programme at Chatham House, the international affairs think tank.

Always good to have you.

LESLIE VINJAMURI, CHATHAM HOUSE: Thank you, George.

HOWELL: Let's talk about Bernie Sanders' convincing win across some very important demographics. There is enthusiasm at least in this moment it seems to be on his side. But centrist Democrats are concerned, just as centrist Republicans were concerned.

Are Democrats in danger of missing a certain degree of momentum here if they push against this campaign?

VINJAMURI: Yes, well, that is clearly the question. The progressive side of the Democratic Party and now in the person of Bernie Sanders is taking the lead. It looks like it's his nomination to lose. And he is turning out young people. He is turning out union voters and nonunion voters and the Latin American vote. And he got over 50 percent of that vote and that becomes very important in Super Tuesday and states like California and Texas.

That big question, whether or not a progressive candidate can take the nomination and then be a viable leader in the general election against President Trump, that is the outstanding question.

That first part, you know, the moderates continue to divide the vote. Joe Biden hasn't delivered in the way that people initially thought he would. Bloomberg is, of course, going to peel off a lot of votes -- a big question as to how many. And if that continues then the likelihood of Bernie Sanders staying out in front of this looks very considerable.

HOWELL: Which is similar to what we saw with the president, his supporters, you know, kept at a certain level while the other candidates, the many on stage essentially divided the vote.

As these candidates continue to divide the vote, does there come a point where they have to say at some point people have to step aside here?

VINJAMURI: Well, looking at it from the outside, if you're not one of those candidates, that certainly seems like the rational choice that, at some point, the moderates of the party, if it wants to really run a serious race on Super Tuesday and beyond -- and it gets very difficult after that -- then they need to consolidate on a single candidate.

But right now there is nobody that is talking about stepping aside.

HOWELL: Just a bit more on the Sanders appeal at this point, his appeal to voters.

Is that appeal enough, do you believe to do what some suggest that could bridge a divide with some of the president's supporters?

VINJAMURI: It is interesting, right?

He's got a very different political bias. He's on the Left, not on the Right.

But he has a similar tack, right?

He's focusing on America's inequality, which is dramatic, the most unequal country in the world. He's focusing on those who have been left behind. He plays well to those states that are very important in the last general election and likely to be very important in the next general election. That's Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania.

He talks about education. He talks about the need for health care. And what he doesn't speak to that, of course, Donald Trump managed to do very effectively, was to speak to that base, that lower income class in the United States. But Donald Trump also managed to speak to wealthy Americans because it

was clear he was for corporate tax cuts and that he was going to reduce tax on the wealthy.

And that is not the case with Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders has a very different message: raise tax on wealthy Americans and undertake a series of policies that won't be persuasive when you start to talk about that higher income and more moderate demographic in the United States.

[05:10:00]

VINJAMURI: And this is, of course, what the moderate arm of the Democratic Party is very concerned about in a general election.

HOWELL: Keeping in mind that Biden, Buttigieg and, you know, other candidates certainly behind Bernie Sanders. But there is one question that could come into play here very soon. It is Michael Bloomberg.

How do you see that factoring in here, Leslie?

VINJAMURI: You know, the noise is all over the place with Michael Bloomberg. He didn't do well in the debates. But a lot of people are not basing their votes and their choices on the debates.

He is putting a lot of money, as we know, into advertising, which is effective; it put him on the map and put him into that debate. And for a lot of Americans I think Bloomberg would be a viable alternative if he would get the nomination because he does speak to the moderates across the aisle.

He's somebody who people would have confidence in with the economy. Business would have confidence in him. It would give them an alternative to President Trump.

But getting through, getting through this Bernie Sanders lead, getting the moderate wing of the Democratic Party to coalesce around his candidacy, right now it looks like the risk is that Bloomberg threatens to divide the vote on the moderate side.

So if Biden and Bloomberg and Buttigieg go into Super Tuesday, it looks like it's a vote for Bernie Sanders.

HOWELL: It will be interesting also to see in these next contests what happens with African Americans voters, which is a very critical demographic here with who gets ahead here. Leslie, thank you.

VINJAMURI: Thank you.

ALLEN: Well, 600 cases of coronavirus in less than a week but it's not in China. South Korea is now on high alert and two other countries, as well. We'll have live reports coming up.

HOWELL: Plus, all eyes on the spread of the coronavirus but a far more common illness, it is still a deadlier threat. We'll tell you more about that as NEWSROOM returns. Stay with us. (MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: The president gets very, very upset easily, so don't tell him that we're going to beat him here in Texas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Right there in George's home state.

Bernie Sanders already looking toward future contests after emerging the projected winner of the Nevada caucuses. He won a greater share of the vote than the next three candidates. That's Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren combined, as you can see there.

HOWELL: And others: Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer and Tulsi Gabbard not breaking 5 percent.

ALLEN: The coronavirus now appears to have gained a foothold in Europe. More than 110 cases have been confirmed in Italy, including two deaths; 80 percent of all cases are in China's Hubei province still, which account for 95 percent of the deaths.

HOWELL: There are close to 80,000 total cases there. The vast majority, 77,000, are in China. The total number of deaths is nearing 2,500, again, most in China's Hubei province.

ALLEN: But South Korea is now at its highest alert level over the virus. More than 600 new cases were reported in less than one week. Five people there have died.

We want to go to all the regions that are on alert. Our Ivan Watson is live in Seoul and Blake in Tokyo for us and Barbara Nadeau has the latest from Rome.

Ivan, let's start with you.

How big is the concern there in Seoul?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the South Korean government has announced that it's raising the crisis alert level to its highest level at this point in response to the outbreak.

The South Korean president Moon Jae-in saying that it is facing a watershed moment. The next couple days are critical and they need to identify additional cases as quickly as possible and urging the population not to gather in large groups. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MOON JAE-IN, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have vividly witnessed how dangerous it is to have mass meetings in an enclosed indoor place in terms of the spread of the contagious disease.

I urge everyone to restrain themselves from group events or activities not only in indoor places but also outdoor places, which could harm others, the people of the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: President Moon also said moves to stop gatherings of a South Korean religious movement, Shincheonji, were not aimed at restricting religious freedom. It was also in the interest of public health.

Now the reason he has mentioned that religious group is that roughly half of the cases of coronavirus in South Korea involve members of that religious organization and, in particular, gatherings that took place in the southern city of Daegu, where a big cluster of the infections have been originating from.

And we were just broadcasting in the last hour from outside one building here in Seoul that is operated by that religious group. And one of their members came out and he said he was bristling at criticism that he says the organization has faced from within South Korean society, saying it feels like a 19th century witch hunt here at this time.

There have been other calls to stop these public gatherings from the Seoul city government about weekend opposition, political protests that take place. But they were absolutely flouted by members of opposition groups that went ahead and gathered in the thousands downtown here in Seoul on Saturday and on Sunday.

There was a large police presence but no moves to try to break up those gatherings. That's one of the challenges that the South Korean government will face as it tries to tackle the growing public health crisis.

[05:20:00]

ALLEN: Ivan Watson there in Seoul. Ivan, thank you.

HOWELL: Now to Tokyo, Japan, Blake has the latest.

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The good news is all the passengers are off the Diamond Princess. The bad news is that we learned that 23 of these passengers did so without following the proper quarantine protocol.

And specifically what happened was, when this ship was quarantined on February 5th, passengers were tested for the coronavirus. And to get off the ship and disembark, you had to be tested again. These 23 passengers never received the second test.

So at this point we've heard from Japan's health minister, who has come out and apologized and he said this was a big mistake and vows that it will never happen again. But the problem here, it has already happened and even though the Japanese government is in the process of trying to track down these 23 passengers, wherever they are in Japan, and have them retested, at this point they returned home already using public transportation.

We've also learned that there was a 60-year-old woman. She did follow the Japanese quarantine protocol; after she returned home, she developed symptoms and has since tested positive for the coronavirus, making her the first passenger out of the more than 900 passengers to disembark over the last several days to return home and having follow the protocol and tested positive for the virus.

These are two specific cases which really speak to the concern that we have been hearing over the past several days and even weeks before that about the effectiveness of this quarantine from infectious disease specialists, governments around the world and Japanese residents right here in Japan -- George.

HOWELL: Blake in Japan, thank you.

ALLEN: Those are some stories from Asia. And let's turn to Europe now and Barbie Nadeau is in Rome, Italy.

Tell us about the threat and the background on these cases.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the officials are telling us now they have 111 confirmed cases. But that could go up during the day as more and more people are tested.

Most of this is centered in the north of the country into these clusters. And 10 towns and villages have actually been locked down, which means that there is absolutely no public transportation within the cities. The trains don't stop when they roll through.

People can't go to Sunday mass and the soccer games have been canceled. People are going to be fined or even put into jail for three months if they defy these orders by the government over the last 24 hours.

And that's causing a lot of concern as these numbers go up. The authorities, though, have taken extraordinary measures even all the way across the country. They suspended all scholastic travel into and out of the country.

In Milan, the mayor just announced that they're canceling schools and university classes tomorrow and for the foreseeable future. So there's a sense of urgency and a little paranoia on how to contain this virus and make sure it doesn't spread to other parts.

And right now the officials are doing everything they can to make sure that everyone who has come into contact with these 111 cases is tested and that their trail is followed to see where they might have gone or who they may have been in contact with.

But in these 10 little towns and villages in the north of the country, they actually have just started to set up the food corridors to get food in there without having to have anyone potentially contaminate themselves -- Natalie.

ALLEN: Barbie Nadeau for you in Rome, thank you so much.

As the coronavirus spreads around the world, a more common virus is a more serious threat here in the U.S.

HOWELL: American health officials say more than 100 children have already died this season alone from more common strains of in influenza. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us the overall death toll from the flu is enormous.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When public health officials described this flu season so far, they're describing it as having started early, early as in September as opposed to typically in October and also being particularly hard on kids.

We've been talking a lot about the coronavirus this year, but let me show you flu numbers so far this flu season.

In the United States alone, some 29 million illnesses, 280,000 hospitalizations and 16,000 deaths. When you look at that hospitalization number, the most hospitalizations occur in people who are 65 and older, but the next biggest category is newborns to four years old.

[05:25:00]

GUPTA: You know, this flu can be particularly hard on kids and this year so far has been the worst year for kids. If you take out 2009, which was the h1n1 flu pandemic, this now becomes one of the worst years on record for kids with regard to the flu.

I want to show you just quickly looking at the flu numbers here, which I just shared with you and coronavirus, again, because we've been talking about coronavirus so much. On the left, those are U.S. numbers.

On the right are global numbers for coronavirus. And you can see obviously flu does cause a lot more illness and a lot more death in the United States and around the world.

The reason there continues to be such concern about coronavirus is because it is a new virus and whenever you have a new virus you are not exactly sure how it's going to behave, how it's going to trend, or if it's going to continue to mutate.

So those are things that researchers are keeping an eye on, but certainly here in the United States, we've got to keep an eye on flu as well, can't take our eye off the ball. And it's still not too late to get the flu shot, something we talk about a lot. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ALLEN: It never is.

We have an update on the coronavirus and we're just learning that Pakistan has closed its border with Iran to try to stop the spread of coronavirus. They've reported several cases there so that is a step they have taken.

HOWELL: This virus certainly a threat around the world.

Elizabeth Warren is not backing down with her attacks on Michael Bloomberg.

ALLEN: What she is saying now about the New York mayor. That is coming up here.

HOWELL: Plus Los Angeles has spent a fortune on new voting machines but there is a problem and the big primary vote is just ahead.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A billionaire who hides his taxes and has a bad history with women and defends racist policies. Let me just put it this way. We're not just substituting one arrogant billionaire for another in 2020.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Elizabeth Warren taking a shot at fellow candidate Mike Bloomberg, who skipped the first four early contests including Nevada. Warren is projected to come in fourth behind Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar is in fifth place ahead of Tom Steyer and Tulsi Gabbard.

HOWELL: Elizabeth Warren is taking a different approach from Biden and Buttigieg; instead of attacking the clear frontrunner, Bernie Sanders, she's going after a candidate who wasn't even on the Nevada ballot.

ALLEN: For more, here's MJ Lee for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator Elizabeth Warren addressed thousands of supporters here in Seattle, Washington, after a disappointing showing in Nevada.

As soon as she took the stage, she congratulated her colleague, senator Bernie Sanders and then went on the attack against Michael Bloomberg, clearly her campaign recognizing that her strategy of going negative on Bloomberg has been helpful to her campaign. Take a listen.

(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.

Now this is important to pay attention to now because he has skipped the first four states and he plans to come in on Super Tuesday and, immediately afterwards here in Washington, drop hundreds of millions of dollars and buy this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Now speaking of Michael Bloomberg, his campaign senior adviser telling CNN today that they worry that, given the pace at which Bernie Sanders is currently amassing delegates, that they worry no Democrat can catch up to Bernie Sanders. One more sign with the concern within the Democratic Party about how well Bernie Sanders is currently doing in this Democratic primary.

And turning back to Senator Warren, the campaign is focusing on the strategy for Super Tuesday contests and beyond in March. The campaign says they feel very good about the last debate that she had in Las Vegas and that they are feeling very good about the fund-raising boost that the senator was able to get after that debate as well.

So clearly, this is a campaign, even though they had a very disappointing showing in Nevada, they are trying to look forward and say they still have a path forward in the 2020 race. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Las Vegas, of course, known around the world for its hotels and casinos; working there, thousands of Nevada voters.

HOWELL: And many of those casino and shift workers were not able to take off to vote. So several casinos in Vegas allowed them to participate anyway. Lucy Kafanov was at the Bellagio hotel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are at the Bellagio hotel and casino and this was an unusual caucus site because it is one of seven sites on the Las Vegas Strip that allowed shift workers within a 2.5 mile radius to come here and participate.

Union workers, nonunion workers, gas station attendees, restaurant employees, people who aren't simply able to take time off to go to their home precincts, they were able to come here to this casino, to this room right here, to cast their ballots and participate in this caucus.

The results we saw were quite interesting: 61.8 percent of the people here went for Bernie Sanders, Senator Sanders; 36.6 percent went for Joe Biden; 1.6, that's just two people, remained uncommitted.

And that was a very interesting breakdown because we saw a lot of union workers participating here. There was some question as to whether the culinary union was distancing itself from Senator Bernie Sanders.

But the results, again, Sanders taking the lead with 61.8 percent of the vote. Now we have to stress this is just one caucus location, one of many; 2,000 locations participating here in Nevada. This is just one of them.

It's a microcosm look at how this election is playing out; Nevada, the third state to have its say in who the Democratic nominee should be -- Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Las Vegas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: In Los Angeles, officials spent big money building new voting machines from scratch. They hope this $3 million fleet will be the voting system of the future.

ALLEN: We need one that's solid.

HOWELL: Seems like we do.

ALLEN: Without hanging chads.

HOWELL: Hanging chads.

ALLEN: I had to say it.

[05:35:00]

ALLEN: But as Nick Watt explains, the new machines are bringing a wave of controversy. Here we go.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): After that catastrophic caucus confusion in Iowa...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I apologize deeply.

WATSON (voice-over): -- eyes and some sideeyes now turning to California. There's a presidential primary here March 3rd and Los Angeles County will debut a brand-new super accessible, multi-lingual voting system.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, one consequence has been security hasn't gotten as much attention as it should have.

WATT: This is not connected to the Internet. This is just an interface that produces paper in the end.

DEAN LOGAN, L.A. COUNTY REGISTRAR'S OFFICE: That's exactly right.

WATT (voice-over): It's not online but still electronic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any device with a CPU can be hacked.

WATT (voice-over): It's called the voting solutions for all people system but not all people are happy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest security flaw and the design of the ballot marking device is the fact that the paper goes back under the print head on its way to the ballot box.

LOGAN: I'll go and reinsert that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's an opportunity for the printer to alter votes and alter the QR code, render the ballot unreadable.

WATT (voice-over): California's secretary of state has certified the machines with some conditions that must be addressed before that general election in November but not before the primary.

For example, testing showed a paper misfeed rate of 1 in a little over 100. State law requires better than one in 500.

WATT: Is it below that now?

LOGAN: It has not been. No, it is not below that now.

WATT (voice-over): Also, there's only room for four names on that screen. So voters will have to scroll down on a longer slate.

LOGAN: When we did our mock election test back in September, that was not glowing. That wasn't there.

WATT: OK.

LOGAN: This was physically a little smaller.

WATT (voice-over): Those tweaks still not enough for Beverly Hills, which is suing all candidates should be represented in an equitable and transparent way, claims the city's attorney.

A voter may not realize they're bypassing additional candidates.

LOGAN: In our user testing, that's not what we've seen.

WATT (voice-over): L.A. County hasn't had new voting machines since Bobby Kennedy was on the ballot way back in '68.

ROBERT KENNEDY, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: My thanks to all of you. Now it's on to Chicago and let's win there.

WATT (voice-over): So the county is trying hard to educate everyone with PSAs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A vote center assistant will greet you and check you in before taking you to the ballot marking device.

WATT (voice-over): Mailers and outreach to the media, including foreign language media. And there will be contingency plans in place.

WATT: Right. So I mean, you are quietly confident this is going to be OK?

LOGAN: I am.

WATT (voice-over): Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Still ahead, the leaders of the world's two largest democracies are set to meet on Monday.

What is on the agenda as the U.S. president heads to India?

CNN is live in New Delhi with that report for you.

ALLEN: Also ahead here, is the new acting Director of National Intelligence trying to clean house?

Apparently it's all about loyalty in the White House.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:40:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's give Trump exactly what he doesn't want. Let's give him you and Joe Biden as the nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Joe Biden there framing his second-place finish in the Nevada caucuses as something of a win. The results as they currently stand, he has less than half the support of the projected winner, Bernie Sanders.

ALLEN: Pete Buttigieg there in third, not far behind Biden; following him, Elizabeth Warren fourth. And much more on the results and where the candidates are heading next in the hours ahead here.

Early Sunday, U.S. President Trump leaves the White House for India. That is his first official trip there.

HOWELL: People in India have gone to great lengths to prepare for this visit. Kaitlin Collins has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, President Trump will be making his first state visit to India, somewhere he has not visited since taking office. Though he and the prime minister have shared the stage here in America before.

This is going to look a lot different. It's a state visit, it is expected to last two days. The president going back and forth in different locations in the country.

Of course, this comes at what could be a welcome time for the president. He's facing his own troubles in Washington, coming off of that impeachment inquiry, the acquittal vote and his confidant being sentenced to over three years in prison.

But it also be a welcome distraction for Prime Minister Modi, who's been facing his own political troubles back at home. Now he will have President Trump on his home turf, hoping to give him a boost as they are taking part in these banquets, these dinners.

They will also have a rally where the president has been promised he will see millions of people during this visit there. The question will come down to whether they will sign any kind of a limited trade deal agreement, any weapons purchases.

So far their trade teams have not seen eye to eye so far. They've tried to come close to making an agreement. The president might be more encouraged to do so because it is an election year. He's hoping to have some wins that he can tout on the campaign trail.

But overall, it is going to be a quick visit, about two days on the ground for President Trump there in India -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Let's go to India now. Our senior international correspondent Sam Kiley joining us there in New Delhi.

What's the feeling there, Sam, about this visit from President Trump?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Natalie, it has to be said, quite a bit of enthusiasm for President Trump here in India with opinion polls showing an approval rating for him at 53 percent. He would like to get those kind of numbers back home, no doubt, in this election year.

This could be his final foreign foray in the process before the elections begin or the election process starts in earnest up to November. It is an opportunity for him to pay his respects in some ways to prime minister Modi, who one might describe as Donald Trump's Indian guru, since it is Mr. Modi who pioneered the populist politics that took Mr. Trump to power.

Mr. Modi has campaigned very successfully, re-elected in the summer of last year with a majority for his party on platforms of outright Hindu nationalism. He has been suffering some setbacks in terms of nationwide protests earlier this year against what his opponents describe as anti-Muslim legislation. [05:45:00]

KILEY: The citizen act, which requires refugees from neighboring nations to prove they are not Muslim to get Indian nationality. But nonetheless, he is also taking Mr. Trump for his first visit to his home state of Gujarat.

He was the chief minister there just under 13 years, a scene in the past of internecine or intersectarian killing which, at the beginning of the decade last decade, nearly 1,000 mostly Muslims were killed. Nonetheless Donald Trump says he believes he could see a turn out in favor of him of some 10 million. I think he got himself in a muddle there.

There are an awful lot of Indians, 1.4 billion. But local authorities don't expect more than 100,000 people to turn out and welcome Mr. Trump. And welcome him they are expected to do because Mr. Modi has galvanized the Hindu nationalist parties to come out and wave the flag for Donald Trump.

ALLEN: And, also, though, Sam, I believe the two countries, the two leaders wanted to hammer out a new trade deal. But that hasn't happened.

What do you know about that?

KILEY: The anticipation is Donald Trump himself has said ahead of this visit that what he calls a great trade deal may be announced after the November elections. He's assuming he will win those elections, of course.

From the Indian perspective, it's very, very important, indeed, $5.6 billion worth of trade in it for India. They used to have preferential trade status and that has been removed.

There may be some small, relatively speaking, announcements on some arms sales to India but that even itself is a somewhat scratchy issue between the United States and India because the Indians have purchased the Russia-made S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries which, of course, controversially were also purchased by Turkey.

Turkey, of course, being a NATO partner. That was more controversial there. But in terms of the United States' efforts here, they're really trying to get ahead of the relationship between India and neighboring China, in particular, over the next few decades.

ALLEN: Sam Kiley, we appreciate it. We know you'll be covering this two-day event for us. We'll see you again.

HOWELL: In Washington, President Trump's new acting Director of National Intelligence maybe tried to clean house.

ALLEN: Richard Grenell ousted the number two official at the DNI and many observers predict the purge may not end there. Kylie Atwood has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: 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.

This is the office that oversees all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies. 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. As he came into the role this week, he immediately fired the number two at this office.

There are fears within the intelligence community, that other folks might also be forced out. One of those is Shelby Pierson. She is in charge of overseeing the assessments of election security.

She was the one who provided an intelligence briefing behind closed doors to lawmakers just last week. 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 is a hoax. But that is the intelligence assessment.

And there are fears that because Shelby Pierson was the person who provided that assessment, she might be forced out as well. There are also questions about how Rick Grenell is going to be as a leader at this office.

I'm told that sources within the office made phone calls to those 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 -- Kiley Atwood, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: We are following a developing story ,a magnitude 5.7 earthquake on the border of Turkey and Iran.

[05:50:00]

ALLEN: Reuters News Service reporting that eight people have died, three of them children. Many others, we're told, are injured and trapped under collapsed buildings.

The epicenter of the quake was in a rural area in northwest Iran. As you can see, rescue efforts are underway. We'll keep you updated as we get more information. This was on the border with Turkey.

Well, from substitute to star, an emergency goalie becomes a hockey hero. We'll have that story when we come back.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORTS)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As usual, I think we have exceeded expectations. I always note that a lot of people didn't even think that I would still be standing at this point. They didn't think I'd make it through that speech in the snow. They didn't think I'd make it to the debate floor.

But time and time again, because of all of you and because of the people around the country that want something different than the guy in the White House, we have won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Senator Amy Klobuchar in her home state of Minnesota. She's had a disappointing showing in Nevada, not even reaching 5 percent. Bernie Sanders still leading the pack by a wide margin and followed by Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg.

[05:55:00]

ALLEN: Elizabeth Warren holding steady in fourth place. We'll continue to update you as new totals come in and we'll let you know where the candidates are heading next.

HOWELL: Now to Australia and some joy for a 9-year old who really needs it. Quaden Bayles won the hearts of many people around the world after his mother shared a video online about her son being bullied and not wanting to live.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN (voice-over): Now look what he's doing. He was ridiculed for his dwarfism but led out an all-star team of rugby players on Saturday. Thousands in the audience stood and applauded. Celebrities like Hugh Jackman have also rallied behind him, saying you have a friend in me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: That is awesome.

ALLEN: This next story is the stuff of legend: a Zamboni driver gets his shot at playing in a major league hockey game. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stopped by David Ayres. The Carolina Hurricanes surround him and defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-3.

HOWELL (voice-over): That's emergency goalie Dave Ayres, helping the Carolina Hurricanes defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 42-year old who was called to the ice after the Hurricanes lost two of their goalies to injuries.

ALLEN (voice-over): He started shaky, quickly giving up two goals. But in the third period Ayres stopped all seven shots. North Carolina's governor Roy Cooper was overwhelmed. He tweeted he is ready to make him an honorary North Carolina citizen and called the win "courageous and amazing."

Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. The news continues here on CNN.

ALLEN: See you around.