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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Iowa Caucus Chaos Continues; President Trump Airs List of Grievances; Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) is Interviewed About His Vote to Convict Trump. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired February 06, 2020 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:02]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: It's the longest single spaceflight by a woman.

And while she was at the International Space Station, she was also part of the first all-female space walk and scientific experiments there.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being here.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: As we heard at the prayer breakfast this morning, do unto others before they can do it to you. Amen.

THE LEAD starts right now.

Meet the new President Trump, now acquitted, acquitted for life, they say, sounding as accountability-free as ever in his first remarks since 52 Republicans let him off the hook.

Breaking today, Bernie Sanders becomes the second Democrat to claim victory in Iowa, as his party has a plan that could turn this chaos into a full-on circus.

Plus, Americans stuck on military bases and confined to cabins in cruise ships, as a new deadly mystery virus spreads now to a dozen people in the U.S.

Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We begin today with the politics lead.

President Donald J. Trump acquitted and emboldened, taking victory laps and spewing spite today, first at the National Prayer Breakfast,where he seemed to question the faith of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican rival Senator Mitt Romney, and he showed off the acquitted headline on the front page of "USA Today" and again this afternoon showing a similar headline on "The Washington Post" in the East Room of the White House, where the president delivered a 63- minute angry and rambling speech, a stream of consciousness celebration of his acquittal in front of a rapt and adoring crowd. The president calling Democrats such as Pelosi and impeachment manager Adam Schiff vicious and horrible people, accusing Romney of using his faith as a crutch to explain his guilty vote.

The president railed against what he called her cops and leakers and liars. He claimed the so-called witch-hunt started from the time he announced his campaign.

It was, to say the least, not exactly an effort to heal the wounds of impeachment or to bring the nation together. It was an airing of grievances and a settling of scores, a preview of the even less shackled and tethered Trump we will almost certainly see in the next nine months to five years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We first went through Russia, Russia, Russia. It was all bullshit.

We thought after the election, it would stop, but it didn't stop. It just started.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Apologies to parents there.

As CNN's Kaitlan Collins now reports for us, with President Trump acquitted by the Senate, a whole new phase of the Trump presidency seems to be just beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: This is what the end result is.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One day after he was acquitted, President Trump touted the headlines and expressed no remorse as he claimed vindication.

TRUMP: I never thought that word would ever sound so good. It's called total acquittal.

COLLINS: From the East Room of the White House, the president lashed out at the Democrats he says tried to bring him down.

TRUMP: Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person.

COLLINS: Trump repeated a jab he made at the House Speaker Pelosi during the National Prayer Breakfast, accusing her of being dishonest when she says she prays for him.

TRUMP: I pray for the president, I pray for the president, she doesn't pray.

COLLINS: Pelosi, who was four seats away from Trump at the breakfast, later hit back.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I don't know if the president understands about prayer or people who do pray. But we do pray for the United States of America, pray for him.

COLLINS: Basking in his victory while surrounded by Republican allies, Trump also denounced the one member of his party who voted to convict him on the abuse of power charge.

TRUMP: And then you have some that use religion as a crutch. They never used it before.

Say hello to the people of Utah and tell them I'm sorry about Mitt Romney.

COLLINS: Some Republican senators have claimed Trump learned his lesson after being impeached. But, today, he insisted he did nothing wrong.

TRUMP: I had some who said, oh, I wish he didn't make the call. And that's OK, if they need that. It's incorrect. It's totally incorrect.

COLLINS: During the at times rambling remarks, Trump appeared to undermine aides who claimed earlier in the day he would express honesty and humility.

TRUMP: We first went through Russia, Russia, Russia. It was all bullshit.

COLLINS: Instead, he lashed out at the investigations against him, which he dismissed as efforts to take him down.

TRUMP: It was corrupt. It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars.

And this should never, ever happen to another president, ever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Now, Jake, the legal team that led the president's impeachment defense got a standing ovation in that room earlier today.

[16:05:03]

But, even though the president spoke for over an hour, there was one attorney that he made no mention of, his own, Rudy Giuliani, who, of course, is at the center of all of this.

TAPPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thanks so much.

Our panel is here with us.

Amanda Carpenter, let me start with you.

Your reaction to what we just witnessed?

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There's a lot to unpack there. It makes me sad.

He -- if Donald Trump has faith, he had a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate it at State of the Union when Nancy Pelosi tried to shake his hand. That would have shown grace. That would have shown that he's above it all.

But he's not. And he doubled down. And I don't agree with Nancy Pelosi ripping up the speech either. It's all bad. But to do this as president, to say that he questions someone else's faith, we -- people of faith pray for leaders. We pray for America to prevail, to show goodness in the world, and he's questioning that.

Why wouldn't he take the prayer? Why wouldn't he say, thank you very much?

So the only thing I can say to that, Donald Trump, is, bless your heart.

TAPPER: Do you think this is a preview of what we're going to get the next nine months to five years, this kind of, like, even less tethered, encumbered president, where he just says anything and just constantly goes after his political enemies?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Yes, I think that's exactly what we're going to see, especially between now and November.

The president feels exonerated. He feels vindicated. He is allowing us to see his unvarnished, raw emotions. He didn't really have much filter between what was going through his head and what came out of his mouth. There was no teleprompter. There was no written speech. We saw the president in his full form.

And I think that now that he's been acquitted in the Senate of his impeachment trial, he believes that he can do whatever he wants, that he has the support of his party behind him. And you saw the clapping and the heads nodding as he spoke for over an hour and rambled.

He believes his party's fully behind, and there's nothing he can do to shake that support. And the fact that Mitt Romney decided to vote against him is just another reason for him to sort of try to put Mitt Romney's head on a pike and make him an example, while the rest of the party stays behind him.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, and he was reminding members in that room of why they were there and why -- with their election, saying, I helped. You weren't going to win and I helped you.

And he did that with several people by name. So, even if they had any inkling of straying, he's reminded -- there was this constant drumbeat reminder of him basically saying, I'm why you're here. So you better stay in line.

TAPPER: And, Jen Psaki, some Senate Republicans said that they thought that President Trump had learned his lesson. They seemed to suggest, whether it's Lamar Alexander, Susan Collins, John Thune, others, he's not going to do this again, he's chastened.

JEN PSAKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: How sad and incredibly naive of the senators.

I think they're telling themselves that and telling their constituents that to justify their kind of bumbled statements that both said, he did something wrong and something they didn't agree with, but then they didn't vote to back that up. That's clear what's happening.

I will say, watching the speech this morning, it was emotionally exhausting to watch it.

TAPPER: The National Prayer Breakfast or the one in the East Room?

PSAKI: Well, probably both, but I will just -- I will focus on the East Room.

TAPPER: Yes.

PSAKI: And, also, I think, for a lot of Democrats, it makes you feel powerless, because you have this president who is acting insane. And you have a Republican Party that is, for the most part, incredibly loyal, because his political power and his political hold over them, to Jackie's point, is what is making them make decisions, for Susan Collins and others as well.

TAPPER: So I wondered exactly -- because we have been through this before. We have had a president who did something that most people disapproved of, and went through an impeachment and then was acquitted by the Senate largely because of his own party, Bill Clinton.

And here's what Bill Clinton did after he was acquitted by the Senate in 1999:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1999)

BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to say again to the American people how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and on the American people.

This can be and this must be a time of reconciliation and renewal for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Slightly different tone, slightly different tone.

CARPENTER: Yes, he apologized.

Trump will never apologize. It was the perfect call. And this is the conundrum that, as you pointed out, senators like Collins and Lamar Alexander are in.

They're telling themselves fairy tales so that they can sleep easier at night. Trump is not going to change. And none of them have ever answered the question, if you think it's inappropriate, how are you going to stop it from happening again?

[16:10:01]

I haven't heard a single good answer.

TAPPER: And, in fact, the president, who is not known particularly for his demonstrations of faith, or his church attendance, or his great charitable works, going after Pelosi and Mitt Romney, who are both legitimately people of faith, Pelosi in the Catholic Church, and Mitt Romney with the Church of Latter Day Saints.

KUCINICH: And there's a lot of room to criticize both of them about their politics and perhaps some of their decisions.

But as someone who's followed Nancy Pelosi for years and somebody -- I covered the 2012 campaign. And, yes, there was a lot said about Mitt Romney and about his missteps, his wealth, things that -- perhaps his policies, but one thing he really -- no one really went after is his faith, because that's one thing you knew about Mitt Romney that was genuine.

And hearing him talk about it -- there was a great interview on "The Daily" podcast today talking about how he went through his decision- making process. This is real. This is -- and you can tell. And you could tell on the floor when he gave that speech.

And so it does -- it rings -- this, it rings hollow. And as -- I can't say it any better than you did.

CARPENTER: I just want to say, on this question of faith, though, the evangelical community really has to look in the mirror.

Recently, Jerry Falwell Jr. was asked by "The Washington Post," is there anything President Trump could do that would endanger support from you or other evangelical leaders? He said no.

Does everyone else say no too? This can't be. I loved what Arthur Brooks did at the prayer breakfast this morning, where he stood up and said, raise your hand if you love someone who disagrees with you politically?

Most people raised their hands, except Trump. That should be how it is. He is the outlier. People of faith need to stand up to this and point it out. And if he's outlier, so be it.

TAPPER: I'll raise my hand.

Coming up, our other top story: The Iowa caucuses just got even messier. Will we ever find out who won the first contest of 2020?

And then: why two newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus may be new cause for concern about how this disease spreads.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [16:16:07]

TAPPER: And we're back with the politics lead now.

President Trump celebrating his impeachment acquittal today by viciously attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Senator Mitt Romney during a freewheeling, hour-long speech at the White House, and at the normally bipartisan, come-together National Prayer Breakfast.

Joining me now is Alabama's Democratic Senator Doug Jones, who voted to convict President Trump. Jones is in a tough reelection fight this year.

Senator Jones, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

SEN. DOUG JONES (D-AL): Always a pleasure, Jake. Thank you.

TAPPER: So, I know you're a man of faith.

I want to get your reaction to what the president said about Romney and Pelosi earlier today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong, nor do I like people who say, I pray for you, when they know that that's not so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: As you know, the Prayer Breakfast has been going on since Eisenhower. It's typically a bipartisan celebration of faith.

What's your response to that?

JONES: Well, a couple of things.

Number one, I think that is typical, unfortunately, of President Trump. He has never let anything, whether it's the Prayer Breakfast or anything else, start -- stop him from stoking the partisan divide in this country.

It is a huge, huge problem. Everyone knows it. And I think the president makes it a lot worse.

And I think it's pretty disingenuous of him, someone who I think uses religion to just stoke his political career, as opposed to attacking somebody like Mitt Romney.

Everyone who knows Mitt Romney knows he is a man of faith, a man of deep faith. We see it all the time in the U.S. Senate. Speaker Pelosi is the same way. And I think it's just wrong. It's unfortunate. But that seems to be par for the course for this president, attack people on anything he can.

TAPPER: It seems likely that Romney and you are going to have the tough time politically because of your votes to convict.

Have you talked to Romney about the vote that he made?

JONES: No, I have not.

I wanted to yesterday on the floor, but he and I missed each other on the floor. I did call and left him a message today and told him I believe he is a man of courage and conviction and faith, and I appreciated him.

But that was true before this vote. I think that he just simply demonstrated a conscience that I think we need more of in the United States Senate, we need more of in the Congress, we need more of, of public officials around the country.

TAPPER: Alabama, as I don't need to tell you, is a state that President Trump won by 27 percentage points in 2016.

Is it possible that you just guaranteed you will not be reelected in November because of this vote?

JONES: Oh, I think far from it, Jake. I think just the opposite, as a matter of fact.

I mean, there are people that are not happy with that vote. But at the same time, Alabama is a state that believes in right and wrong. And that was the -- that was how I was brought up in Fairfield, Alabama.

I talked about that on the floor yesterday. And we believe in right and wrong. And when you understand somebody and how they vote and what they do, and the -- and the abiding conviction that they may have and the amount of time we put in there, I think people will understand.

They're not going to always agree, and I get that. But, you know, what's interesting, I just looked at a couple of statistics. You know, Alabama voted pretty heavily for Mitt Romney too.

And so it's one of those interesting things that I think, as people go forward, they're going to look at the facts. And, Jake, we have not heard the last of the facts that are going to come out.

You know I was a big proponent of witnesses and documents. We've not heard the last of this. So, these facts and all are going to continue to come out. So, we have got a long way to go before this election in November.

TAPPER: Jeff Sessions, the former -- former attorney general and Alabama's Republican senator in the past, tweeted at you -- quote -- "Doug Jones is deeply complicit in this grave wrong. In voting to remove our duly elected president, Doug Jones personifies the left's irrational enmity against President Donald Trump.

[16:20:07]

He's made it clear that he's in the U.S. Senate to represent Washington Democrats, not the people of Alabama."

Now, Sessions does not yet have the Republican nomination in the race to take you on. But what would you say to Alabamians who might want to vote for you, but really disagree with your decision to convict President Trump nine months before a presidential election?

JONES: I'd tell them to look at my record, look at what I have done for the people of Alabama. Compare that with somebody like Jeff Sessions, who didn't do very much at all for the people of this state.

Look at what I have done in just two years in the United States Senate, whether it is on the widow's tax, whether it's on -- for other veterans, for armed services, for work force development, you name it. We have been there for the people of Alabama.

And then I want them to look and see and listen to how I came to a very, very difficult decision. I think the most sacred thing we have in this country right now is the right to vote and the will of the people.

But, at the same time, the Framers noted that there will be times in our history, just a possibility, that our damage could be more done by a president who embarks on a corrupt course of conduct for his own personal benefit.

And, regardless of this vote, I am prepared to do all I can to let folks know where I am, stand where I am. And for people to say that I'm just part of the left is laughable. Anybody that knows my record and sees my record and understands it knows that I am for the people of Alabama.

TAPPER: Senator Doug Jones, Democrat of Alabama, thanks so much for your time, sir. Appreciate it.

JONES: You got it, Jake. Thank you.

TAPPER: We don't have 100 percent of the vote for the Iowa caucuses in and now there is even more confusion. Is Iowa the new Florida?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:26:40]

TAPPER: In our 2020 lead, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is declaring victory in Iowa despite incomplete state party results of the caucus and an official DNC call to recanvas the whole state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I want to do today three days late is to thank the people of Iowa for the very strong victory they gave us at the Iowa caucuses on Monday night.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: Now, Sanders appears to be referring to the popular vote of the Iowa caucuses there, but just as in a general election, winning the popular vote does not mean you win. Just ask Hillary Clinton.

Caucus rules say that the victor is determined by what are called state delegate equivalence or SDEs. And with 97 percent of precincts reporting, it's actually Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the lead on SDEs by array a razor thin margin, just 1/10 of a percentage point.

So, as of now, party official results, it's essentially a tie, as CNN's Abby Phillip reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The New Hampshire primary is now just five days away, but the drama in Iowa isn't over yet.

Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez stunning Iowa Democratic Party officials with his call for a full recanvas of the results from the caucuses on Monday.

Perez tweeting: Enough is enough.

But Iowa Democrats aren't budging, saying in a statement, they won't start a recanvas until one of the candidates officially asks for one.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders are locked in a virtual tie, with only 0.01 percent separating them.

Senator Sanders now declaring victory and calling Buttigieg's slight lead meaningless.

SANDERS: And what certainly is not going to change is the fact that in terms of the popular vote, we won a decisive victory.

PHILLIP: But in Iowa, state delegates determine the winner, not the popular vote.

Even without a clear winner, Iowa is shaping the New Hampshire race. Sanders announcing his campaign raising a whopping $25 million from supporters just in the month of January, the largest fund raising month ever for his campaign. On a call, Buttigieg urging his supporters to keep their financial support going.

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Each day, our campaign is making decisions about how to guide our resources. I need everyone on this call to go to the website, PeteforAmerica.com, chip in five bucks or whatever you can right now.

PHILLIP: After a disappointing performance in Iowa, Joe Biden acknowledging that Iowa was a gut punch, and sharply pivoting his message to attacks on the two leading candidates.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every Democrat will have to carry the label Senator Sanders has chose for himself -- chosen for himself. He calls him -- and I don't criticize him -- he calls himself a Democratic socialist. Well, we're already seeing what Donald Trump is going to do with that.

I have great respect for Mayor Pete and his service to this nation. But I do believe that it is a risk, to be just straight up with you, for this party to nominate someone who's never held an officer higher than mayor of a town of 100,000 people in Indiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIP: Now, Senator Elizabeth Warren is likely to finish in a solid third place once all the votes are counted in Iowa, but she is defending her campaign's decision to pull back on ad spending in upcoming states of Nevada and South Carolina. She said her campaign is grassroots-funded and they are being very careful about how they spend their money from here on out -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Abby Phillip, thank you so much.

Let's start with the announcement from the DNC chairman Tom Perez. He's calling for the Iowa Democratic Party to recanvas, that's recounting all the votes, all the ballots and such.

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