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Sources Say, Trump Plots 2024 Run and Revenge Ahead of CPAC Speech; Republican Leaders Publicly Clash Over Trump's Role in GOP; Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) Attacks Democratic Colleague's Transgender Child. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 25, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is New Day.

And brand new CNN reporting this morning, he's running. We're talking about the former president. Maybe not that explicit but enough so that it will complicate the lives of dozens of Republican lawmakers who want to be president, not to mention the everyday politics on Capitol Hill.

Our Kate Bennett reporting this morning, quote, Trump's stated goal barring impact from ongoing criminal investigation is to run for president again in 2024. This comes days before he is due to speak in public for the first time since being sent home from Washington at the CPAC conference on Sunday.

When I say it's going to complicate things, I want to give you an example of what I mean. Watch this, when two Republican leaders are asked just about the speech he plans to give this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you believe President Trump should be speaking -- or former President Trump should speak at CPAC this weekend?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Yes, he should.

REPORTER: Congresswoman Cheney?

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): That's up to CPAC. I've been clear in my views about President Trump.

I don't believe that he should be playing a role in the future of the party or the country.

MCCARTHY: On that high note, thank you all very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN NEW DAY: Awkward. New details on President Biden's plan for coronavirus relief, that is set for House vote tomorrow with near unanimous Republican opposition.

President Biden is also facing difficulty trying to keep Democrats in line when it comes to key cabinet nominees.

But we begin with CNN's Kate Bennett live in Washington with new reporting on Donald Trump's 2024 plans. Kate, what have you learned?

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, he is running, telling people close to him, his family is being told that he's running. Certainly, this is a former president who has lots of time on his hand to consider it. He spends most of his days as we know at the golf course, and then he returns to Mar-a-Lago where he essentially plots his future.

Now, we've seen just from that clip alone the discomfort that has been sown in the Republican Party. Certainly, there are those who believe they cannot move forward in their political quests without sort of getting the approval from Donald Trump, and there are those who believe Donald Trump has no place in the Republican Party, a smaller, quieter voice, of course.

But this is Donald Trump who, four or five years ago, had the quixotic belief he'd be president and he believes that, again, now he is telling people that this is the case.

And we've seen plenty of politicians head down there to, quote, unquote, kiss the ring. I talked to one Republican consultant for this story who said the fealty will never end. This is now the cycle. This is sort of a, as the word he used, mafioso situation, where Donald Trump has said nice little Republican Party you got here, how can I mix it up?

This is certainly the plan for 2024. He is enlisting his son, Donald Trump Jr., who is happily getting on board. We'll see a lot of Donald Trump Jr., I'm told in this piece from my reporting, on the campaign trail for the midterms in 2022. He will have a large influence obviously on the course the party takes.

He is a vocal member of the MAGA Trump base. He and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle are extremely popular. They spend a lot of time on the road. They'll start next week fundraising for 2022, when they host a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago for Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, who was running again.

So, certainly, this is going to be a ramped up Trump potential 2024 campaign. And, of course, Alisyn, we are talking about should these criminal investigations, other investigations, release of his tax returns, those things could obviously be major bumps in the road for Donald Trump, but beyond that, his thought process is very squarely looking ahead to 2024.

BERMAN: All right. Kate, very interesting, stay with us.

Also joining us now is CNN Political Director David Chalian. He is the co-host of the CNN podcast, Politically Sound. And, David, what I said at the top, he is running. I don't know if he's going to file papers. I don't know if he will be on the ballot in Iowa and New Hampshire or the functional equivalent in 2024 but I'm not sure that that distinction matters today.

He is effectively doing everything he would need to do to run, and it will have the same impact on other potential Republican candidates all of these young senators who want the job, not to mention the everyday politics on Capitol Hill.

[07:05:04]

This is enough to mean that he's a factor in everything, right?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, and we fully expected this, right? He did it as he was leaving the White House some 36 days ago, deliberately didn't rule out a future run after being defeated by Joe Biden and serving only as one-term president, he held open this option.

It serves his political interest, of course, to hold open the option for as long as possible because that's how, as you're noting, John, he can freeze the rest of the field from being able to truly advance their presidential ambitions, as Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, just indicated this week, if Donald Trump runs, he's likely to be the nominee. And so it does as he hangs this out here to maintain his power within the party, it does indeed freeze everything else in place for some time.

We are just into this, right? This is not -- the current context is not going to be the context when he actually has to make a decision about this and when others try to figure out if they are going to run, if indeed he is running or if they're going just going to step aside and hand him the nomination.

So there are miles to go here, but you are right to note that's dangling this out there to make it be known that this is something that he is looking at, is all about him trying to maintain his position of power in the party.

CAMEROTA: I assume it also helps raise money. And so, Kate, he had, I think, toyed with the idea of having a radio show, stepping in into Rush Limbaugh's shoes perhaps, running a T.V. network. Did those things not pan out?

BENNETT: The most incredible thing of these last, as David said, 36 days is the silence, relative silence of Donald Trump, a man who spent most of the days tweeting and talking and messaging, so it's really unclear. My reporting indicates that his life right now is really centered around he does want to take some time off, you know, golfing and being at home and I think he's seeing what the options are.

But more importantly, as David just said, his role is to disrupt and his role is to focus on the weak spots of the Republican Party, to focus on the millions of people who voted for him and sort of see what's out there. But just the presence itself of Donald Trump, I don't think right now he's thinking he needs to be on air waves or he needs to be on television. We're watching in real-time the impact of him lingering in our political landscape as a presence hovering is doing already. And I think for now, that satisfactory, of course, we'll see him this weekend when he speaks at CPAC down in Florida. But that will be the first time we've heard from him, again, relative silence.

BERMAN: And, Kate, I do want to note, you add that he's bragging adding 20 yards to his tee shot. Rick Riley has written entire books about the fact that the former president lies about golf. I'm curious if he added even a yard to his tee shot.

David, it's not completely disconnected.

CHALIAN: It's not just golf, we learned, that he lies about.

BERMAN: I'm just talking about gold. This is not -- not the golf but the other part, not disconnected from what we're seeing in Washington now, in the future of the current president's agenda, President Biden, what he wants to get done and what he is getting done. The stimulus relief package, $1.9 trillion, which could be passed by three weeks from now, it looks increasingly likely that it will pass without a single Republican vote. We haven't seen a sign that any Republican has signed on just yet.

And this is significant. And I think it comes with a risk for both Republicans and the White House. What is that?

CHALIAN: Totally agree. Yes, I think it leaves two big open questions, if indeed this big COVID relief package just goes down on party line votes. As Republicans, we know, are whipping to ensure no defections from their ranks, John, I think, one of the question is, is there any potential political danger for them in doing so since all of the polling suggests that the relief package is actually quite popular with the American people broadly.

And if you even look at the individual components of the relief package, the components are individually quite popular, broadly, with the American people.

And so are there going to be some Republicans from competitive districts, I realize there aren't a ton of them left, but some Republicans on competitive districts or competitive states that are actually going to take a party line vote here to stay with their party but it's going to make it harder in their campaigns in 2022. That's one question we can't answer yet.

The other question is, as you note, how does this complicate Biden and the Democrats' agenda moving forward if indeed out of the gate this first big piece, after all the talk the new president expressed about unity and wanting to try bipartisanship and bringing Republicans to the Oval Office.

[07:10:00]

If we start kind of where the Obama team started in 2009, which is facing total Republican resistance, moving forward on purely Democratic votes, does that sort of set the table for the rest of the Biden presidency and just make it that much harder to find bipartisan agreement on big ticket items going forward?

Again, unanswerable from this vantage point, but to me, it's a question that hangs out there if indeed that's the way the vote goes.

CAMEROTA: David, how about the resistance within the Democratic Party? How about Senators Manchin and Sinema, did that come as a surprise to the White House?

CHALIAN: Well, I don't think Joe Manchin is ever going to surprise the White House when he goes against it, because it's sort of part of his DNA as the Democratic senator from West Virginia, probably the most conservative Democrat in the United States Senate and somebody who likes to flex his muscle, especially when he sees a50/50 divided Senate and understands the power he can have in that. I think that the administration probably anticipates having to do a lot of business and talking and wooing with Joe Manchin all the way through this period of time.

Kyrsten Sinema is a different matter. Of course, she comes from a state that Joe Biden won narrowly, flipped it from a Republican state to a Democratic state this election cycle. Perhaps her reticence at the moment to join on board with the minimum wage or not saying where she is on the Neera Tanden confirmation, that may be a bit more perplexing to the White House at the outset. But, again, I don't think this White House is surprised they're hitting occasional obstacles here. I think we just need to watch how do they try to steer themselves around them.

BERMAN: David Chalian, Kate Bennett, thank you both for being with us. Kate, thank you so much for bringing your reporting this morning. We really appreciate it.

There's new CNN reporting as well from the K-file, an investigation that found video of a friend of Marjorie Taylor Greene taking part in the Capitol insurrection video that suggests, believe it or not, that Marjorie Taylor Greene was lying. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you believe President Trump should be speaking -- or former President Trump should speak at CPAC this weekend?

MCCARTHY: Yes, he should.

REPORTER: Congresswoman Cheney?

CHENEY: That's up to CPAC. I've been clear in my views about President Trump.

I don't believe that he should be playing a role in the future of the party or the country.

MCCARTHY: On that high note, thank you all very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: An awkward moment on Capitol Hill between top Republican leaders about Trump's role in the party as all signs point to Trump wanting back in.

Joining us now, CNN Political Commentators Ana Navarro and Scott Jennings. Scott is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush.

How about Liz Cheney, Ana? I mean, she could have held her powder but she said exactly what she thinks about Trump and then watching their body language afterwards, where they turn their heads and both walked in the opposite direction was interesting. I mean, and obviously that is just a symbolic moment of the different directions that some in the Republican Party want to go.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, kudos and claps to Liz Cheney for having conviction, having a spine, having principles, and being consistent. We are seeing way too many people in the Republican Party who are political wind socks and want to have it both ways, talking out of both side of their mouths, people like Nikki Haley, I think. Liz Cheney has shown, look, this is what I believe and I'm going to stick to it, which is refreshing in politics these days.

But I also thought people describe it as an awkward moment. I thought it was very healthy. I think it's, you know, fine for people to disagree and do it civilly, without it meaning that they're going to be stripped of their leadership post or they're going to be censured or they're going to be punished or penalized and there're going to be vendettas about them.

So what you saw here was the number one Republican in Congress and the number three Republican in Congress disagreeing publicly in a civil manner. I think that's fine.

BERMAN: I mean, Liz Cheney may get censured for it again. I mean, you talk about people doing that, I mean, she may get censured again because that's what happens when you say things like that in public.

Scott, I want to play you some sound that CNN uncovered the K-file and a K-file investigation, and this gets to Marjorie Taylor Greene. And I know anything having to do with Marjorie Taylor Greene is not surprising, but it is symptomatic, I think, of this trend we are seeing with some in the Republican Party of revisionism of what happened over January 6th.

Now, if we have the tweet, Marjorie Taylor Greene is one who had been suggesting immediately after the insurrection that somehow it wasn't Trump supporters, it was Antifa in disguise. This is what the tweet says there. There are warnings that Antifa would dress as Trump supporters in the January 6th rally days in advance, blah, blah, blah. Okay. So she's raising the possibility it wasn't Trump supporters. But what turns out the K-file uncovered, she had a friend.

CAMEROTA: Close friend.

BERMAN: Close friend, a friend who took part in the Capitol insurrection. How do we know, because he's on video saying so. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY AGUERO, CONSERVATIVE LIVESTREAMER AND ALL OF REP. GREENE: We were all there. It was not Antifa and it was not BLM. It was Trump supporters that did that yesterday. I am the first to admit it, being one myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Okay. So, really, no ambiguity there, Scott. So my question, why then -- and forget Marjorie Taylor Greene for a second, but Ron Johnson, right, in a hearing on Capitol Hill reading this revisionist stuff into the record, why? Why are there some trying to say, basically, it didn't happen?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, I feel like Lucy setting up my psychiatrist stand and charge people five cents to figure out why they do stupid things. I mean, it' s just -- we all watch television. We've all seen the court filings.

[07:20:00]

We've all seen the video. We know who was at the Capitol and we should just accept it and try to prevent it from ever happening again and banish these kinds of people who would commit insurrection against the United States from our ranks.

I think some people have an impulse to try to rationalize what they have defended or rationalize the situation. And the best and most healthy thing to do is to acknowledge it, to be honest about it, to understand it and then to try to move on from it as best you can by not letting it happen again.

I think as a political matter, in Wisconsin, Senator Johnson has taken some positions and said some things that I think if he runs again are going to make it difficult for him to get reelected up there. So I don't know what the political future holds for this Senate race but this is going to be one of those races in a 50/50 Senate that's going to determine control. And I just don't know if running a Senate race trying to revise what happened on January 6th is the best way forward.

So my advice, just be honest. I think people expect honesty and would appreciate honesty and certainly in this case, that's what we need.

CAMEROTA: I mean, there is another explanation, of course, for Marjorie Taylor Greene's relationship with this guy, Ana. Maybe she has a lot of close friends in Antifa. I mean, maybe that's what she's trying to tell us. NAVAROO: Honest to goodness, I have no explanation for Marjorie Taylor Greene, but I'm glad we are talking about her because she's still in Congress, and she is an embarrassment. She is an embarrassment. I think she is a threat to democracy and I think she has no place in Congress. And we should be talking about her more because we should not forget that this is happening.

And as far as Ron Johnson, I agree with Scott that it's going to make winning a general race in Wisconsin very difficult. At the same time, you got to walk before you run, right? You got to win a primary before you run for a general.

And if Ron Johnson were to take a position ala Mitch McConnell or ala Mitt Romney or like Adam Kinzinger, if he were to admit that it was a bunch of Trump supporters who raided the Capitol, domestic terrorists who put their lives in danger and he were to vote his conscience on that, it would mean that he would risk the wrath of Trump in a primary, and we know that that's going to happen.

Donald Trump is going to reach into primaries in Congress and the Senate and he's going to come back with a vengeance and punish those that dare say the truth and vote their conscience. And Ron Johnson doesn't want to risk losing a primary.

So I think that's what you're seeing, cowardice in action.

CAMEROTA: Ana Navarro, Scott Jennings, thank you both very much. And if you want to talk more about Marjorie Taylor Greene, your wish is our command because we have a segment coming up, because Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is facing bipartisan backlash again this time for hanging this sign and we'll explain the backstory, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

CAMEROTA: New this morning, freshman Congressman Marie Newman is speaking out for the first time about her feud with Republican Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene over the Equality Act. That's a law that would ban discrimination against LGBTQ Americans.

This began when Congresswoman Newman displayed a transgender flag in the hallway directly across from Congresswoman Greene's office. In response, Greene tweeted referring to Newman's 20-year-old transgender daughter as her, quote, biological son.

Hours later, Marjorie Taylor Greene then posted this video of her putting a sign up that reads, quote, there are two genders, male and female, trust the science, exclamation point.

Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Marie Newman for her first interview on this issue. Congresswoman, thank you very much for being here.

REP. MARIE NEWMAN (D-IL): It's a pleasure. Thank you for having me. CAMEROTA: How did this fight with Marjorie Taylor Greene start exactly?

NEWMAN: It was never meant to be a fight. It was a statement I felt very necessary. This woman has supported insurrection, she voted against the election, she believes in a wide variety of conspiracy theories, she has been called out any number of times. But on this issue yesterday she tried to block the Equality Act. And I felt as though she needed to hear from us. And what I mean by that is that I just wanted to make a statement so that she sees LGBTQ plus people. And so the symbolism was simply to put the flag out there so she has to see our community every day.

I'm immensely proud of my daughter and that's all anyone is asking for is to be treated as anyone else. And that's what I want Representative Greene to see.

CAMEROTA: So when you walked outside of your office and you saw that sign that she put up that said, there are two genders, male and female, trust the science, what were your thoughts?

NEWMAN: Well, two things. I thought, wow, she's got a lot of time on her hands because she would have to go get that printed, and decide that this is the right thing to do, so kind of wild on a bunch of fronts.

Further, what I would say is that she's welcome to her sign. No one is buying it, and that is not science.

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean not like that, she -- now likes science? I mean, this is the same congresswoman who proudly doesn't wear a mask in close confined quarters, as we saw, I believe, on January 6th.

But I guess my question is, when you put that transgender flag outside of her office to get her attention, obviously, how did you think she would respond? I mean, this is a woman who seems to always be ready for a dare. We remember her chasing and harassing David Hogg, a survivor of a school shooting.

[07:30:01]

And so what did you think she would do?

NEWMAN: I was not concerned with her reaction. What I wanted her to do was see the LGBTQ.