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New Day

Roberts Condemns Schumer for Threats; Passenger Self- Quarantines after Sailing on Ship Linked to Death; Coronavirus Impacts Sporting Events; Biden Leads the Delegate Race. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 05, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

ANNA PALMER, SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "POLITICO": If anybody in the two candidates that are left, it has the kind of actual validity to say, I am the embodiment of Obama, that is Joe Biden.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, his vice president.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, but when I hear that ad, I think that Obama likes Bernie better. It tricks me.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You just -- you were convinced?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: Just 30 seconds, like that?

CAMEROTA: It convinced me, yes. I'm quite persuadable, as you know.

BERMAN: Remember the whole -- remember those whole eight years that Biden was vice president?

CAMEROTA: No, no, no, I think that Bernie -- I think he likes Bernie better.

AVLON: Because he smiled when he said feel the Bern.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

AVLON: Yes, yes, yes.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

AVLON: Yes.

BERMAN: Advertising.

AVLON: Well done, (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Michael Bloomberg's right, advertising always works. Just ask Michael Bloomberg.

CAMEROTA: On me. Yes, good point. Very good point.

Thank you, both, very much.

All right, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sparking controversy after saying conservative Supreme Court justices should, quote, pay the price for some of their decisions. The chief justice has condemned those comments. We have a "Reality Check" for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Chief Justice John Roberts issued a very rare rebuke to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Roberts says Schumer crossed the line with his heated comments about Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch.

How unprecedented is this moment? John Avlon has our "Reality Check."

Hi, John.

AVLON: Hey, guys.

Look, it's sometimes said that the most dangerous place in Washington is between Chuck Schumer and a microphone. Well, the Democratic leader proved that yesterday in a speech about protecting abortion rights outside the Supreme Court.

[06:35:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price.

You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Well, that whirlwind hit him first. No question Schumer's comments crossed the line. With lifetime appointments, judges can't pay the price in political terms, and you won't know what hit you sounded to many like a threat. It certainly did to Chief Justice John Roberts, who issued a rare rebuke to a sitting member of Congress saying, justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All members of the court will continue to do their job without fear or favor from whatever quarter.

Hear, hear.

But, of course, it didn't stop there. House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, who knows political violence, tweeted, enough. This rhetoric has dangerous consequences. Where's the media outrage?

Well, he didn't have to wait long as President Trump took to the airwaves to denounce Schumer from the safe space of Sean Hannity's show. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And if that were a Republican, you would see really bad things happening. It's very -- it's very unequal justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Trump, of course, also tweeted, this is a direct and dangerous threat to the U.S. Supreme Court. If a Republican did this, he or she would be arrested or impeached. Adding later, without irony, he must pay a severe price for this.

Here's the thing, we should try to apply the same standards to statements and actions regardless of party, even if the president doesn't. That's why it was refreshing to see liberal legal scholars like Laurence Tribe condemn Schumer's remarks as inexcusable and call on him to apologize, saying, it's beneath him and his office. He's right.

But that's also while we should wonder why conservatives and the chief justice have been relatively silent when President Trump attacks judges. After all, last week Trump demanded that Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor recuse themselves from cases related to him because of a dissent he didn't like. Two weeks earlier, Trump attacked the judge and the jury in the Roger Stone case.

Then there was the time Trump rage tweeted at a judge over his travel ban, saying, if something happens, blame him and the court system. Well, that judge received more than a hundred death threats after that. Or the time he insisted that the Indiana-born judge in the Trump University case couldn't be impartial because --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is of Mexican heritage. I'm building a wall, OK, I'm building a wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: There's a lot of performative outrage in politics today. A lot of pointing to the other side while ignoring or excusing offenses committed by your team. But principles only matter if they're applied equally to people on both sides of the aisle.

Senator Schumer was wrong and should apologize because we need to reinforce democratic norms even and especially when the president doesn't. To borrow a line from Chief Justice Roberts, we should call be trying to call balls and strikes based on what's right or wrong, not what's right or left, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.

And that's your "Reality Check."

BERMAN: Schumer learning a lesson, though, from President Trump, making clear he will not apologize here. That seems to be the new normal in Washington.

AVLON: That's a problem.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: So -- John, thank you.

A few moments ago, we tracked down a passenger who was on the cruise ship that is now off San Francisco, not allowed to dock because there are possible cases of coronavirus on board. We're going to speak to this person who is now in quarantine. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:19]

BERMAN: Happening now, a cruise ship off San Francisco not allowed to dock this morning with more than 2,000 passengers on board. Twenty-one people on the Grand Princess cruise ship are showing potential coronavirus symptoms. One man who travelled on the ship last month has died. California's governor says they're airlifting test kits to the vessel immediately.

So joining me now on the phone is Heidi Wolter. If we can put back up her information for me. She was on board this vessel and is now self- quarantining at her home in California.

Now, Heidi, you were on board the Grand Princess from San Francisco to Mexico last month. That trip was linked to the first death. So when were you told you'd possibly been exposed and how did you come to self-quarantining?

HEIDI WOLTER, WAS PASSENGER ON GRAND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP (via telephone): Good morning, John. Good morning, Alisyn.

I was only notified yesterday by e-mail from Princess Cruises. I only got confirmation from them by e-mail at 1:30 in the morning I think something came through yesterday. I self-quarantined on Monday because I had read a very vague press release out of Sonoma County about a potentially positive passenger, now patient, who had been on a Mexican cruise.

BERMAN: How do you feel?

WOLTER: How do I feel? I -- I'm -- I feel grateful. I feel -- I feel concerned and I feel grateful. I feel like I should have a t-shirt made that said I survived the coronavirus and it's terrible. Very serious.

BERMAN: But no symptoms this morning?

WOLTER: Oh, no, no, not at all. No. I traveled with a group of four folks out of my local area and all of us are symptom-free. And -- so that's --

BERMAN: But, Heidi, let me ask you this, just to be clear. When were you on board this vessel?

WOLTER: So we boarded out of the Port of San Francisco on February 11th and visited four ports down in Mexico and had excursions and things like this. And then we returned to Port of San Francisco on the 21st of February that is.

BERMAN: So I think what concerns me, and is of concern probably to a lot of people here is, you were on board this vessel from the 11th to the 21st. That's weeks ago at this point and you were not officially told by the cruise line until yesterday morning that there was a potential concern?

WOLTER: True. True. I mean, the -- on Monday when I self-quarantined, it was only because I had done my own detective work, looked up the official records for Port of San Francisco with their ship traffic, and then kind of put a timeline together. Even my postings on FaceBook groups and things like this for Princess Cruises are getting deleted because they don't want that kind of thing to, you know, get around.

[06:45:02]

But, yes, there were a lot of people who disembarked in San Francisco with having been exposed to this other patient who has passed away in Passerville (ph), one in Sonoma County, as well, who is, I believe, in ICU. But these people have caught Ubers and we had, you know, baggage handlers and bars and restaurants and grocery stores and people go to the salon and to the dentist and go about their normal lives without having any concern. And there should be a great deal of concern at this point.

BERMAN: Yes. So everyone -- you and everyone like you who got off that vessel on the 21st, I don't know if it's dozens or hundreds of people have been living their life for two weeks, meeting with and coming into contact with --

WOLTER: I would guess --

BERMAN: You know, countless people --

WOLTER: True.

BERMAN: With no instructions from the cruise ship or anyone else?

WOLTER: True. With kids in school and elderly parents. You know, my mother's 70 years old, so that's been my primary concern since I first kind of put this all together and then got confirmation yesterday.

So I think it's very important that people do not minimize their potential contact or exposure because, not to create panic, but it is out there among us. I don't even understand how things can be forecast as far as numbers go because, you know, the people who were on the cruise boat now, and the people who were on the cruise when we were on, are primarily elderly folks. They're all over 65. I was a small handful of people who were under 65. But that's the target population that's really getting hit by this virus viciously.

BERMAN: Yes, can you imagine what it must be like to be on board right now with the ship not allowed to dock?

WOLTER: No. There were -- there were 60 passengers who had stayed on from the Mexico cruise that followed our cruise. It went -- they went to Hawaii and then they went -- (INAUDIBLE) went down to Mexico and then to Hawaii. So there were 60 passengers, I guess, that were told to remain in their cabins.

BERMAN: All right, Heidi Wolter, listen, we're really glad that you are feeling well and that everyone you know who was on board is feeling well this morning. We're also grateful that you took the initiative yourself to self-quarantine, even before you heard from anyone from the cruise line or any public health officials. It is a wise, wise move and we're grateful for that.

We wish you the best of luck and hope you continue to feel well. Please keep us posted.

WOLTER: Oh, thank you so much and you guys have a great day.

BERMAN: You, too, Heidi.

I got to say, there's a two-week gap there between when she got off that ship on board with someone who now we know has died.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: And when she was even contacted by the cruise line.

CAMEROTA: Heidi is more conscientious than the officials around her. She is her own -- doing her own detective work, as she said. She's her own surgeon general. She's quarantining herself. And not everybody is -- has the ability to do all of that.

Look, the -- the -- I think the cruise ships are just the microcosm of community spread that we're seeing and we just don't know what to do yet about containment.

OK, so the Democratic race is now a two-man contest and Bernie Sanders is turning up the attacks on Joe Biden. A Biden backer responds, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:50]

CAMEROTA: Coronavirus fears forcing cancelations of sporting events around the world, including college basketball games here in the U.S.

Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report."

What's happening, Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Alisyn.

Well, the NCAA has established an advisory panel of experts to monitor the coronavirus outbreak. And for now, March Madness is going on as planned. But two schools have canceled games. Chicago State announced their

men's team would not be traveling to Seattle University to play today or to Utah Valley to play on Saturday. The women's team games also canceled as well. The University of Missouri-Kansas City's men's team also has made the decision to not travel to Seattle for its game Saturday against the Red Hawks.

All right, now earlier this week Cody Moore, who you see on the right here, he was introduced as Plano High School's new head football coach. So yesterday he gathered his players at Braswell High, near Denton, Texas. They all thought he was saying good-bye when this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CODY MOORE: There ain't nobody else I want to coach. I'm here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, a pretty awesome moment there as Coach Moore telling his players he had a change of heart and he was going to stay. And, guys, you know those players all must really love him and have a special relationship to have that kind of reaction.

BERMAN: That's really nice for all of them.

All right, Andy, thank you very much.

SCHOLES: All right.

BERMAN: So, this morning, Joe Biden is leading in the delegate count after his surprisingly strong performance on Super Tuesday. So what's next for the Biden campaign? How can the Biden campaign capitalize on this and how could Bernie Sanders turn it around?

Joining us now, CNN political commentator Terry McAuliffe. He is the former governor of Virginia and a former chair of the DNC. And he has, in recent days, very late for the Biden campaign, endorsed Joe Biden.

Governor McAuliffe, thanks so much for being with us this morning. I'm only teasing you on being very late. You waited until after South Carolina to endorse Joe Biden.

What does the Biden campaign need to do now? OK, they over performed what anyone thought they could do on Super Tuesday. They're leading in the delegate race. But if we put up the list of the states voting next Tuesday, how does Joe Biden guarantee that he does what he needs to do next Tuesday in Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi?

[06:55:08]

TERRY MCAULIFFE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the key thing, and what I have said all along on television on CNN for months, who is it that can build the broad, diverse coalition. You know, Joe Biden proved that in South Carolina. I think a lot of folks were looking for an alternative to Bernie. Once Joe Biden won all of those counties in South Carolina, showed that he would win the hearts and minds of the African-American community, a lot of people coalesced. So he has to take that diverse coalition going forward, Missouri, Michigan, states with large African-American populations.

The biggest test I think is on Senator Sanders to show that he can expand, that he can build a broader coalition, because if he can't win a large percentage of the African-American community, you're not going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party. Sanders has not been able to do that. Biden has. And this is a test in Michigan and Missouri for Senator Sanders to show that, you know, he can have an impact on this race and build his coalition.

CAMEROTA: Governor --

MCAULIFFE: If he can't, then we'll keep moving along and Biden will continue to get delegates.

CAMEROTA: Is this where the rubber meets the road in term of, are we about to see things between Biden and Sanders get ugly? Because it seems to me that former Vice President Joe Biden isn't that comfortable when things get ugly. He has made a point of saying he doesn't like going after his rivals on the Democratic side. But is that what's about to happen?

MCAULIFFE: Well, and you're right, I mean everybody loves Joe. He's a happy Irishman who's out there with his message. But, you know, he's tough. I remind you of the debate. Vice President -- the vice presidential debate that he had before, you know, he was very tough on that.

I think it's going to -- listen, it's going to get tough. You saw Senator Sanders the last two days go after Senator Biden, Vice President Biden. But, you know, this hasn't been an abnormally tough primary. I think back in '92 with President Clinton then and Jerry Brown going after each other, and we've had some tough ones. But, listen, for the next five, six weeks, it's going to be very tough. I was surprised with the ad that Senator Sanders just came out with.

CAMEROTA: The Obama ad you're talking about?

MCAULIFFE: Yes, really surprised me.

CAMEROTA: Let's just play -- let's play a little bit of it. Let's play one moment and tell us your thoughts.

MCAULIFFE: Yes. Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I think people are ready for a call to action. They want honest leadership who cares about them. They want somebody who's going to fight for them. And they will find it in Bernie. That's right. Feel the Bern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What surprises you?

MCAULIFFE: Well, first of all, it's spliced up. I mean he's thanking Senator Sanders for coming out and helping Hillary Clinton, as you know. But, you know, he had said that President Obama should be primaried. He even himself thought about primarying President Obama. He's been on a radio interview, said that President Obama had been weak on certain issues. So I'm just sort of surprised, after going after the so-called establishment for awhile, that all of a sudden he is now embracing it and running television ads.

But, you know, we're at the point now, we're down to a two-person race. This is where we wanted to get this race. And both of them happen to come out and now make their pleas to the delegates and to the public out there that I'm the best one to be the standard bearer. I don't take it lightly. Donald Trump is going to be tough. He's going to have $2 billion. I'm really happy to see Mayor Bloomberg -- hey, listen I -- you know, Mayor Bloomberg, I'm a big fan of. He was very helpful to us in Virginia. But having him now in helping Vice President Biden is really going to help us because you do have Donald Trump with a $2 billion war chest out there. So he's going to be a huge advantage for the Biden campaign.

BERMAN: What -- we have about 30 seconds left and I know you have endorsed Joe Biden --

MCAULIFFE: Yes.

BERMAN: But I'm curious where you think opportunity would be for Bernie Sanders in the next few weeks.

MCAULIFFE: I think the biggest test is going to be, John, the upcoming states of Michigan and Missouri. He has to show in these two upcoming states that he can win the African-American community. That he can get a certain percentage of the African-American community. And if he can't do it, then that map even gets tougher.

As you know, then we go on March 17th. We've got Arizona, Florida, Ohio. I mean we've got big states coming up on St. Patrick's Day on March 17th with a large percentage of African-American vote there. Senator Sanders has to figure out how he can get that.

For Vice President Biden, I think the now big issue for him, expanding how you get those young millennials excited about the campaign. And that's the challenge, I think, from the two candidates going forward.

BERMAN: And neither, to an extent, has been able to crack through either of those barriers.

MCAULIFFE: Right.

BERMAN: We'll see if they can.

All right, Governor McAuliffe, thanks so much for being with us.

MCAULIFFE: Yes, great. Take care, everybody.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

We have a developing situation off the coast of San Francisco involving coronavirus and a cruise ship.

NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: How will the United States contain the coronavirus with thousands now affected on both coasts?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's safe to assume that most communities will see cases if they aren't already.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We have an epidemic caused by coronavirus. But we have a pandemic caused by fear.

[07:00:03]

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm glad to say I endorse Joe Biden.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mini Mike just got out. He's got to try and save --