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Blizzard, Freezing Temps Could Wreak Havoc on Iowa Caucuses; Pentagon on Yemen Strikes, Our Message was Clear; Trump Attorney Attacks Michael Cohen as Serial Liar. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 12, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Middle East on edge after the United States and U.K. carry out multiple airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthi targets in Yemen overnight. President Biden defending the move and the concerns this could widen the conflict now in the region.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And we are only three days now away from the first major test, the 2024 election, the Iowa caucuses, as Republican candidates make their final pitches. Who will come out on top and who is playing for second?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: They're all playing for a warm blanket because these caucuses forecast to be the coldest ever.

BOLDUAN: It's so cold.

BERMAN: It's blizzard conditions, mouth freezing temperatures, and now severe weather warnings just in for other parts of the country as well.

I'm John Berman with Sarah Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN New Central.

SIDNER: We are just three days away, that's it, from the Iowa caucuses and the GOP hopefuls are facing an unexpected challenger, Mother Nature. The candidates have been crisscrossing the state, making their final pitches to voters, but heavy snow, powerful winds and absolutely frigid temperatures have forced candidates to cancel events.

And those brutal conditions aren't expected to let up for several days. Forecasters say Monday's caucuses could be the coldest in history with the temperature expected to drop to minus 30 in some areas.

The former president has held a commanding lead in the state for months. Recent Des Moines Register poll has him leading by more than 30 points. That's left Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley trying to battle it out for second place.

CNN's Eva McKend is live in Iowa. Girl, I am sorry because this is rough.

[10:05:02]

All right, we're going to get back to you in just second, but, first, we're going to go to Alayna Treene.

Alayna, is the Trump campaign worried at all about the conditions in how they might impact the caucusing, Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Sara. And we actually have some new reporting out on this today. But I can tell you, from my conversations with several Trump allies over the past several days now, they are growing increasingly concerned about how this dangerously cold weather could impact turnout for their campaign.

And, look, I mean, I've had these conversations with them, and they said one of the key concerns is trying to manage expectations. One of those is with the former president himself. They want to make sure that Trump himself recognizes that perhaps the turnout and the lead that they are anticipating might not be what they had initially expected, but also with voters and the general media.

And I think if you take a step back and you just look at what we've been reporting for months now, which is a key part of the Trump campaign's ground game strategy in Iowa, has been to turn out as many caucus-goers as possible on Monday. And it's something that the campaign recognizes could now be problematic with this weather and a lot of voters potentially not wanting to have to brave that dangerous weather to come out and caucus for him on January 15th.

And I think also we have seen Donald Trump himself in recent weeks really escalate his messaging, warning voters not to get complacent ahead of Monday, warning them not to stay home just because they recognize that he has such a commanding lead in the polls. His team tells me that they are worried that some of these voters may see Donald Trump is doing so well. They might think that he has Iowa locked down, and with these very cold temperatures, may decide, you know what, he has this in the bag, we don't need to come out for him. And that's the key concern here.

And also just one interesting tidbit I got from this reporting is, in preparation for this, the Trump campaign has actually been hiring drivers equipped with four-wheel drive who are going to be driving these people to the caucuses on Monday, trying to make sure that they can access the stations, trying to do as much as they can to make sure that turnout isn't affected because of this weather.

SIDNER: it is rough out there. Eva McKend, I know you are in the middle of it, thank you, Alayna Treene.

Can you just give me some sense, Eva, of what the heck is going on there and how you're handling this? You look so cold. I am so sorry.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: I'm okay, I'm okay. Sara, this comes at a time when the candidates can really ill afford it. They are trying to get their message out to Iowans, and this weather is causing a wrinkle in those plans.

Nikki Haley, she was forced to shift her campaign events to tele-town halls. Governor DeSantis, he was out on the trail this morning, but he postponed two events, and then he's monitoring the rest of the day.

The problem is, you can stay the course, you can try to hold these events, but how are voters going to physically get there? The roads are terrible. It is very, very windy. And then after the snow is the cold on Monday, those frigid below zero temperatures, still, these candidates, they're leaning on Iowans to get out there and caucus for them. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know it's going to be negative 15 on Monday. I don't even know what that is. That's so -- like I literally can't comprehend it. It's going to be negative 15. But I'm going to be out there. And I want you to go out there.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Even though people here are used to cold weather, it's going to be maybe a record for an Iowa caucus. So, I'm asking you to go out there. I'm asking you to brave the elements. I'm asking you to support me. And if you can trudge through some really cold weather for a few hours, you'll launch me to be able to serve you as president for the next eight years and turn this country around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And I have to say, Iowans are showing real resolve. They are out in full force at these candidate events, pressing them on a number of issues, on everything, from the future of Social Security in this country to foreign policy. Sara?

SIDNER: Eva McKend, thank you so much for braving the temperatures out there with your crew as well, lots of hot coffee your way. All right, thank you Alayna Treene as well. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Joining us now to talk more about this is Lanhee Chen, the former policy director for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and also Republican Strategist Shermichael Singleton. It's good to see you guys.

Lanhee, from your experience, how big of a factor could the weather be this time around in Iowa?

LANHEE CHEN, FORMER POLICY DIRECTOR, MITT ROMNEY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I mean, Kate, it's a factor. You know, anytime it's that cold, of course, people are going to be dissuaded from going. But Iowans are a hardy bunch, and they take the caucuses very seriously.

And, you know, we've dealt with subzero temperatures and past caucuses. I think turnout will be fine. I think it does benefit the campaigns who have great organization. And we've said from day one on this network, as well as others, that organization is going to be the key. [10:10:04]

That's why it's important, for example, that Donald Trump has been working in Iowa for many, many months to set up that organization. We've heard similar things about Ron DeSantis. That organization is going to get tested.

But it is going to come down to the campaigns who can motivate and animate those voters to get on an election day on Monday night.

But I think the weather will be a factor, but I don't think it is going to be as determining of a factor when we actually get there.

BOLDUAN: Shermichael, I was actually going to ask about the ground game factor, because the DeSantis campaign has touted their ground game and how strong it is and how they've been working so hard and long to get that in place. So, in the end, I'm kind of wondering, you've got Nikki Haley, who everyone talks about, is having the momentum but in the end could the troubling weather actually really helped DeSantis on the day.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I mean, look, I think Lanhee made a very great point, and he and I both worked on Romney's campaign, so we're very familiar with Iowa.

I mean, look, we had Rick Santorum win Iowa caucuses, you had Ted Cruz who won the Iowa caucuses, and it surprised everybody. So, we know that the polls don't always predict who the ultimate winner will be, but having a substantial ground gains in terms of being able to mobilize individuals and energize them around a candidate is fundamentally important.

As it pertains to former Governor Haley, I don't necessarily think that she has a strong base of supporters in Iowa when compared to New Hampshire, where I think the voters are more moderate-leaning Republicans who are looking for someone like her versus a more conservative individual like DeSantis.

BOLDUAN: Lanhee, a super PAC supporting Nikki Haley just put out a new ad airing in Iowa kind of hitting at DeSantis and trying to make it out of DeSantis idolizing Donald Trump, almost painting him as a father figure. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESANTIS: Big league (ph), so good.

Make America great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Not a suck up, it says at the end. What do you do with that? What do you do with that? What are they trying to do in these final moments with that?

CHEN: Well, I mean, obviously there, it's -- you know, it's there -- what they're trying to do is they're trying to demonstrate a level of closeness between DeSantis and Trump. And what they're really, I think at some level, trying to say is that if you're going to -- the reality is that voting for DeSantis is not a whole lot different than voting for Donald Trump. I mean, I think that's really the message that's out there.

And that will be a saleable message in New Hampshire. I think that will be something that Nikki Haley needs to continue to drive, particularly with the exit of Chris Christie from the race.

But, you know, these kinds of ads sometimes, it's really just for the effect of being played on T.V. for the so-called our (ph) media impact because that's a funny ad. Whether it will actually have an impact in terms of voters seeing it on T.V., That's a separate question.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you, Shermichael, about what we heard from the governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, just last night, who support, obviously, given a big endorsement to Nikki Haley, but he made clear on CNN last night that he would support the eventual Republican nominee, even if it was Donald Trump, even if he was a convicted felon at that point. And he says that should surprise no one. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): I'm going to support the Republican nominee, absolutely. Yes. Like that shouldn't shock anybody. That shouldn't be a surprised anybody that the Republican governor and most actually of America is going to end up going against Biden because they need to see a change in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Shermichael, what do you hear in those words from the governor?

SINGLETON: I mean, Kate, look, I think there's a level of sobriety in knowing that Donald Trump yesterday, today and tomorrow is the likely GOP nominee. And under that expectation, Republicans will come around and they will support that individual despite all of the baggage, despite all of the indictments.

There's a reason why some polls showcase the former president being appointed to a head of the current president within a margin of error, or the current president is barely ahead by one percentage point. That is indicative of the fact that most voters aren't very happy about the current direction of the country.

And despite all of the things impacting Donald Trump, I would argue, Kate, that many of those pronouncements are sort of baked in at this point. People are looking for answers to some of their very serious daily problems, whether it's immigration, whether it's the economy, jobs, access to affordable housing, or some of the more prolonged international conflicts that are costing the country hundreds of billions of dollars with no end in sight. And so if the former president can sort of stick to that message, I think you'll see Republicans come home and that may be a palpable and appealing message to many independents across this country, particularly in some of those battleground states, like Georgia and Arizona, that the former president will need to regain.

BOLDUAN: Yes. It's good to see you both.

[10:15:00]

Shermichael, thank you, Lanhee, thanks so much, guys.

SINGLETON: And, Kate, by the way, you get an outstanding job in that last interview with the former congressman, by the way.

BOLDUAN: Current congressman. It's good to see you both.

SINGLETON: You like how I threw in a former, right?

BOLDUAN: You know what, Michael, I just really like to do my research. So, I double checked that before I do those interviews. It's good to see both.

SINGLETON: Well done, Kate. Good to see you.

BOLDUAN: In classic fashion, Lanhee is just like, I'm going to smile and survive this one. See? I'll see you guys. Thank you. John?

SINGLETON: See you later.

CHEN: Thanks.

BERMAN: All right, the United States leading multiple strikes in Yemen this morning, new threats of retaliation. We've got new reporting just in.

Extreme weather affecting millions over large swaths of the country, a new wave of frigid, cold and blizzard-like conditions.

Donald Trump attacked his former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, just after closing arguments in his civil fraud trial. So, there he is. What does Michael Cohen have to say about it this morning?

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[10:15:00]

SIDNER: New this morning, the Pentagon says the message from overnight coalition strikes on multiple Houthi targets in Yemen is clear to prevent more attacks by the Iran-backed militants on vessels in one of the world's most important shipping routes, the Red Sea.

The U.S. and U.K. hit over 60 Houthi targets, including weapons depots and radar systems. President Biden is warning there could be further measures.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us now from the White House. What more is the administration saying about those 60 strikes?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the resounding message from senior administration officials is that this was a move to deescalate by degrading the capabilities of the Houthis following multiple attacks in the Southern Red Sea. The White House, leading up to this point, had called all of those attacks intolerable, going so far as to provide a final warning as this was ongoing.

Now, on Tuesday, there were additional Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, and that is what administration officials said marked the final straw, the president convening his national security team to review a list of military options. And after that, the president directing the defense secretary, Austin, to carry out the response, which, as you mentioned there, included 60 targets at 16 Iranian-backed Houthi militant locations. Senior administration officials say, of course, that this was, again, to degrade their capabilities.

Now, in a statement, the president saying the following, quote, these targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world's most critical commercial routes.

Now, the Houthis have since responded in their own statement saying that America and Britain will, quote, pay a heavy price. What that looks like, though, is still unclear.

But what is clear is that there has been a growing international alarm over these attacks in this critical waterway that led major shipping companies to have to reroute around the continent of Africa, posing a threat to the global economy. And as you saw and heard there from the president, they are not ruling out additional measures if it's required should these attacks continue.

SIDNER: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you for bringing us all of that. There is a huge concern that this is going to turn into a regional conflagration. We appreciate you and we'll be checking back in with you soon. John?

BERMAN: All right. So, not only did Donald Trump rant during closing arguments in his civil fraud trial, he also attacked the testimony of his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, just after. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: He's a felon, convicted felon, and not a good person. But that's their only witness, and he's now crashed and burned. They have no witnesses. And, by the way, that witness took back everything that he said. He took back everything he said in court, took it all back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And here now is Michael Cohen, former attorney for Donald Trump, author of Revenge and host of the Mea Culpa podcast. Michael, nice to see you. I just wanted to give you a chance to respond to what Donald Trump said.

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: And is there a reason really to respond? I mean, he makes things up on a regular basis. And no matter how many times that Alina Habba or Chris Kise or Donald Trump attempt to denigrate me and to impugn my credibility, the one thing that we all know, the one thing that Donald knows, which is why he looks so terrible, it's why he looks so nervous and preoccupied, is that the bill is coming. And he doesn't have the money to pay it.

So, sure, why not attack the witness? Why not attack the judge? Why not attack the judge's law clerk, attack everybody? Because what Donald Trump knows is that he was handed a business by his father, to which he destroyed. And now that's going to be his legacy.

BERMAN: Let's talk about the facts of what he said. You did not recant your testimony on the witness stand. What's he referring to?

COHEN: I have no idea. I mean, that would be something that you would have to ask him because only Donald knows what's going on inside Donald's head. He makes things up.

One of the things that they jumped out of the courtroom screaming, we won, we won, is when they asked me a question about, specifically, did Donald Trump tell you to inflate the numbers? And the term, specifically, is very specific, right? He did not.

But what they decided to do is to ignore how I continued, which was that Donald Trump speaks like a mob boss.

[10:25:08]

And you don't have to specifically say something, especially when you're with the guy for over a decade, when you know exactly what he wants you to do, you do exactly what he wants you to do, and he signs off on it. It's just the distinction between explicit and implicit.

BERMAN: So, Michael, you did plead guilty to lying to Congress. You did admit just about a month ago that you sent citations, legal citations that did not exist because you found them on A.I. to your attorney. And you knew that this was going to come up in this trial. And you know it's going to come up if and when you were a witness in other trials, including Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg's case against Donald Trump.

You were a lawyer for a long time. How do you think a jury sees you as a witness?

COHEN: Okay, great question. Thanks for asking it, John.

Let me be very clear. The lie, and I'll say it a million times, I'm going to say it on the stand, the lie that I told Congress was the number of times that I stated I spoke to Donald Trump about the failed Trump Tower Moscow real estate project. Donald, his team, and don't forget, it wasn't just me. It was Ivanka. It was Jared. It was Alan Garten, Abbe Lowell, Ty Cobb, you know, Jay Sekulow. We all worked on this letter, which, of course, I did present and I put into evidence before Congress. They wanted me to say the number three, that I spoke to Trump about it three times because that's what Donald wanted. It was de minimis and it was on his -- it's what he wanted.

The real answer was ten. And if anybody would turn around and say that my credibility is impugned because of the three versus ten, well, there's nothing I can do to change their mind.

Now, as far as the A.I. is concerned, I want to be clear about this. Yes, I went on Google Bard because I don't have Westlaw, Lexis, Nexus, now that I'm going to go for my license, my bar application, I'm going to ask for it to be reinstated. So, I used what I thought was a very powerful A.I. tool, which is Bard of Google. And it produced a hundred different citations, which I forwarded to my lawyer.

Now, I want to be clear about something. My other lawyer, Danya Perry, found the mistake. We notified the judge, all right, before the judge acknowledged or even knew that they were inaccurate. Southern District of New York Prosecutor Nicolas Roots didn't acknowledge or didn't notice that there was a mistake.

We did and we sent proper citations with new cases that exactly are on point to what we wanted, which is the fact that these terminations, these early terminations of supervised release are very common. That's all that it was.

So, once again, I don't think either of these will have any effect upon my credibility, whether I testify before the Manhattan D.A. or not.

BERMAN: You obviously worked with Donald Trump for a long time. So, I want your take on one of the things he is now trying, I think perhaps to mitigate this notion out there that he's sort of been running on, that when if he is elected president again, that it will be a period of retribution. Listen to what he's saying now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not going to have time for retribution. We're going to make this country so successful again. I'm not going to have time for retribution. And remember this, our ultimate retribution is success.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What's your view of that?

COHEN: I hope that he's telling the truth. Unfortunately, I know that he's not.

Donald is a very vindictive human being. Just take a look at some of the statements that he made. If you punch him, he wants to hit you back ten times harder. That's who he is. Now, of course, he won't do it himself. He will just have SEAL Team 6 do it.

If you want to know who Donald Trump is, just listen to him. Just listen to what he's saying. This in front of this Iowa audience, it's an absolute lie. He is going to spend the next four years if, God forbid, he's re-elected, vindicating, retribution, causing chaos and destruction to this country. The only person who will benefit will be Donald Trump and no one else.

BERMAN: Michael Cohen, we appreciate your time this morning.

[10:30:00]

Thanks so much for coming in.

COHEN: Good to see you John.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for --

BERMAN: Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, a new winter storm is on the way. Take a look --

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