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Blizzard, Frigid Temps Could Wreak Havoc On Iowa Caucuses; U.S. And U.K. Strike Iran-Backed Houthi Targets In Yemen. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 12, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:22]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New threats of retaliation after the U.S. led airstrikes in Yemen and a new assessment of how much damage the strikes really did.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Every single state in the country right now under a weather alert. Blizzards in the Midwest, severe storms in the south, tornado watches in five states. How many layers do Iowans need to weather this weather in what could be the coldest caucuses in history?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Access denied, Homeland Security officials say they were shocked after Texas blocked Border Patrol agents from part of the southern U.S. border. What does this mean for enforcement? I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: All right, just three days from the Iowa caucuses, three cold snowy days. How cold is it projected to be on caucus night? I just got to show you some of these projected temperatures. Look at Waterloo, Iowa. Monday night minus 14 degrees, Cedar Rapids where Sara Sidner will be minus 17 degrees, in Des Moines minus 15 degrees, so, so cold on caucus night. How do you get your voters out there?

Some of the candidates have to deal with that even today. Both Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis have had some events canceled because today not as cold yet but snow, a lot of snow, eight to 12 inches in the Des Moines area right here. And it's covering the entire state. CNN's Jessica Dean is in Des Moines this morning inside the Des Moines snow globe this morning, Jessica. So one of the candidates doing about this?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a couple of things, John, so you mentioned that Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis have canceled or postponed events. Nikki Haley's doing some events over the phone like a tele townhall type thing. Ron DeSantis was able to get one of his events done earlier this morning before the conditions really deteriorated here. I'll let you listen to him talking to some potential caucus goers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I view the choice on Monday as boiling down to this. Donald Trump is running for his issues. Nikki Haley is running for the donors issues. I'm running solely for your issues, your family's issues, and to turn this country around. That's the sole focus. That's the sole mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So here we are in this final stretch, just days now before the Iowa caucuses, John, when really you would have candidates going all across the state meeting with as many potential caucus goers as they possibly could? Well, listen, it's really hard to do that nearly impossible, especially tonight, to get people all in the same room to travel.

Now, the snow is supposed to stop and then it's going to get as you mentioned, absolutely frigid here and the campaigns are already looking to Monday to see how they might manage that. It's Iowa, it snows in the winter, there's no doubt about that. But we're talking record breaking cold. This is forecasted to be the coldest caucus day ever in Iowa's history, wind chills at negative 40, so really extreme temperatures.

So you have the Trump campaign that's starting to kind of downplay expectations, saying, look, in all of these polls, so many of these polls, we have such a commanding lead people, might stay home, we've seen the former president telling his supporters, I need you out there. So we're hearing that from the Trump campaign.

On the DeSantis front, you know, they have hiked this ground game that they have for months now that with their aligned Super PAC, and then within the campaign as well. It's going to be really put to the test on Monday to see how effective it will be if they can get their supporters to those caucus sites. Nikki Haley last night just saying listen, it's going to be unthinkably cold, I'm going to be out there I need you to be out there.

So they're really trying to, you know, convince people that it's worth getting out. But in Iowa especially it's about organization, it's about ground game, it's about who shows up at those caucus sites. And when you throw in extreme weather like this, we're just going to have to see how that all shakes out on Monday, John?

BERMAN: Yes, look with temperatures like these, it's not so much of a ground game is like a Tundra game. Jessica Dean in snowy Iowa, thank you so much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump, he is heading back to the campaign trail this weekend after spending much of this past week focused on his legal trouble. CNN's Alayna Treene has more on this. Now, Alayna, you have new reporting on the Trump campaigns approach now in Iowa.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Kate. We do have some new reporting out today. And look, from my conversations with Trump's advisors. They are growing increasingly concerned about how the weather could impact turnout on Monday for many of their supporters. And, you know, if you look at the ground game strategy that the Trump campaign has really implemented over the past several months.

[11:05:19]

BOLDUAN: I had to head back at Capitol Hill right now. House Speaker Mike Johnson, speaking after -- speaking to reporters, let's listen.

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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): -- to complete the appropriations process. It's an important part of keeping the government running. The top line agreement includes hard won concessions to cut more billions as you know from the IRS giveaway and the COVID era/funds. It replaces accounting gimmicks from the prior FRA agreement. And it brings Congress much closer to regular order, which is our big commitment here.

And keeping up with my commitment to bring members into the legislative process, I've spoken and received feedback this week from many members all across the Republican Conference. That's a very important part of this. When I became speaker, I committed to decentralizing the Speaker's office, and making this a member driven process that's been part of this.

Our top line agreement remains. We are getting our next steps together. And we are working toward a robust appropriations process. So stay tuned for all that to develop. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: All right, just given an B to C, and the speaker has now walked up. I missed the tippity top of from what we hear just now from House Speaker Mike Johnson, when he says the top line agreement remains that to me, and we're going to get our correspondents up to discuss this further. But that to me says that his -- when he talks about the agreement, the last agreement was a top line agreement with the Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, a top line agreement on keeping -- on funding the government.

We are up against a first of two deadlines next week, to come to a funding agreement to avoid a series of steps that lead to a government shutdown, a partial government shutdown would set in next week. And then two weeks after that a full government shutdown, this has been obviously this is now another moment where House Speaker Mike Johnson is up against a challenge and a real test.

And he's really facing it from the right flank of the party who had been bulking over that top line agreement, some of them over moving forward with any government funding without serious cuts and other things brought in. Lauren Fox has been covering all of this. Lauren, you were standing right there. That's where the speaker was just -- so tell us what does this -- what more does this mean?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Speaker Johnson making it crystal clear just moments ago that he is sticking to the top line spending agreement that he reached with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and was announced on Sunday. There had been some question whether that deal may be in jeopardy given the fact that there were hardline conservatives who were pushing Johnson to back away from the agreement that he reached with Chuck Schumer.

He just said, he believes that that agreement is the best one he could have gotten. He also made it very clear that he was talking to the hardline conservatives yesterday, because his approach to the speakership was always going to be that he wanted to hear from all sides of the Republican conference.

But the underlying reality here is that Republicans are divided on the best path forward. And as the speaker, he has to make a call, the call he's making is that they are sticking with that top line agreement. We should note that Speaker Johnson did not answer questions on whether or not he believes they need to have a short term spending deal in order to give themselves more time to negotiate those fuller bills at that top line spending agreement.

That is something that majority leader Schumer has made clear that he believes is necessary. He took procedural steps yesterday on the floor of the Senate to make sure that the Senate is ready with a short term spending bill. So that still remains to be a major question right now. But the underlying news this morning is that Johnson is not walking away from the deal that he reached and announced on Sunday, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Not giving into that pressure right now from the right flank, which also means it looks increasingly likely that he's going to need more and more Democrats, no matter how they move forward on this. Lauren Fox all over it for us, Lauren, thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: Let us go back to Iowa to the campaign trail now. CNN political director, David Chalian is with us here on CNN News Central. David, you know, the weather is a serious factor right now because it is insanely cold, how are you doing? How is this going to really impact the candidates though? They must be worried.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, listen in the immediate term, Sara, obviously the impact is some events get pulled down today. Some events move for like Nikki Haley moved to events, to remote events, virtual events, not in person. Obviously, the desire for any candidate and campaign right now in these closing hours is to sort of get in front of people, get them to sign that commit to caucus card that they're going to show up on Monday night and support your candidacy. That's not happening in this kind of environment.

[11:10:11]

DeSantis had some events that have been postponed as well. So in the immediate, it's not a great day for the candidates. But, you know, the snow will hopefully be gone by Monday, it'll be frigid here. And for the campaigns that have built organizations and knocked on doors and have a robust ground game here, the hope is that they are going to be able to still get their people out even in the cold. I think as the time develops here, we're going to start sensing, which campaigns fear that the weather is going to impact them negatively the most, whether it's they're very dependent on first time caucus goers who may decide not to show up in the cold or perhaps they're very reliant upon seniors to get out who may be less likely to come out in the frigid temp. So all of that in the next 24 or 48 hours, we'll be starting to be gamed out by each campaign.

SIDNER: And I know that Iowans are used to some really, really cold temperatures, there's some strong hearty people. But this is unusually cold. I want to ask you what, when you looking forward and looking at the field, what you would consider a successful caucus for the two people who really are vying for second according to the polls, unless something major changes, Donald Trump is still the front runner, but you have Haley and DeSantis, battling it out.

CHALIAN: Yes, well, first, Sara, I think we are going to look most closely at the margin if Donald Trump does indeed come in first, as many people expect between him and who was ever in second place. That margin is going to be important because he has in the polling thus far has been 30 points ahead.

So if all of a sudden that shrinks to something like 15 points, or 10 points come caucus night, that will be taken note of that his performance may not be as dominant as the polling suggests, we are going to get a final Des Moines Register poll this weekend, that will also set expectations going into Monday. But to your point about that battle for second place, if Ron DeSantis, after all he's invested here, after it has been all about Iowa for him, ends up being displaced in second place by Nikki Haley and comes in third, I think that is going to be devastating for his campaign, and its ability to have enough money and support to move forward.

Otherwise, if he comes in second and does have a closer than expected finish to Donald Trump, you can imagine the reverse is true. Some money will come in and some ability to move on to New Hampshire where obviously he has not been in the game there much at all.

SIDNER: Yes, he spent a lot of time going. He visited all 99 counties, so spending his time there trying to get the votes, trying to get to people to come out. I do want to ask you about whether or not I know we call it an October surprise, but I guess it would be a January surprise. There is anything that might topple Donald Trump's lead. And you talked about those 30 points, which is insanely hard to beat. But would -- could anything changed by Monday, you think?

CHALIAN: I don't know the answer. It's something that I cannot even dream of right now. I mean, the way it has been described to me by Republican political professionals in the state is something so out of the ordinary would have to occur to so dramatically change the trajectory of the race at this point. That doesn't mean it can't happen.

And I do think Monday is in a really important moment for the Republican Party. This is going to be the first time, Sara, since Donald Trump left office, since January 6th, that the Republican Party is going to start weighing in on this big question about whether or not they want him to be their standard bearer for a rematch against Joe Biden, or if they want someone else.

Now we know where all the polls are in this race. We see how ahead he is, but voters actually start weighing in to answer that question on Monday, and that will define much of 2024 going forward.

SIDNER: David Chalian, thank you for braving the temperatures to your crew as well. And we'll be back with you. Hopefully I get to see you there in Iowa. John?

BERMAN: All right, the U.S. leads airstrikes on targets in Yemen. We've got new reporting on how the Iranian-backed militia group that was targeted might respond.

[11:14:09]

Alaska Airline passengers now suing Boeing after a door plug flies off an airplane. That's happening just as federal officials are launching a new investigation.

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BERMAN: All right, new this morning, threats of retaliation after the U.S.-led airstrikes in Yemen overnight responding to weeks of attacks on commercial ships here in the Red Sea. CNN's Oren Lieberman at the Pentagon with the very latest on this. Oren, what do you hear?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John, now it's a question of how do the Houthis expect to respond? And how does the U.S. prepare for that response. The Houthis, an Iranian-backed group in Yemen promised they would respond to any sort of U.S. aggression. We haven't seen that yet. But there's every expectation that this is more than just bluster on the part of the Houthis that this will go beyond rhetoric that some sort of attack on U.S. forces, now whether that's U.S. Navy vessels in the Red Sea or an attempt to launch ballistic missiles against U.S. forces elsewhere in the Middle East or U.S. allies in the region. That remains to be seen.

Crucially, the Houthis with the assistance of Iran providing technology training have the ability for any of these different options. In terms of the U.S. attack, this came from a number of different assets. Fighter jets, we saw a video of FAA teams launching off the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea. There were also Tomahawk launches from a submarine as well as destroyers, the targets, 60 different targets at 16 different Houthi sites. The U.S. wasn't trying to start a war here or this would have been a much broader attack.

[11:20:18]

Instead, this was specifically designed to try to degrade or disrupt the ability of the Houthis to target international shipping in the Red Sea, one of the world's most critical waterways. So the U.S. and the U.K. went after command and control nodes, as well as going after storage and launch sites for ballistic missiles, UAVs, and cruise missiles. Those are the types of weapons the Houthis have used to try to attack commercial shipping.

At this point, over the course of the past month or two, the Houthis have carried out according to U.S. Central Command 27 attacks on international shipping, which is frankly scared away some of the world's largest shipping companies. Part of the goal here for the U.S. is to make sure that the companies feel safe in what should be one of the world's safest and most critical waterways. And that John is why it was so important that not only was this done with the U.K., but several nations backing this and you saw the U.N. Security Council resolution before that, the multinational statement before that.

So there is international support to effectively force the Houthis or attempt to force the Houthis to stop attacking shipping in the Red Sea. Of course, it's not just the U.S. here, the Houthis have a say in how this plays out and that is what we're very closely watching.

BERMAN: Yes, commercial shipping has to pass right past Yemen here at this checkpoint if it wants to travel north through the Suez Canal and out into the Atlantic. That's why it's such an important location. That's why we're seeing all this activity there. Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon, thank you so much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Let's now get the view from the State Department on this. Joining us now from the State Department is State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel. Thank you so much for coming on, Vedant. We've heard from Pentagon. We've heard from the White House on the strikes. I'd like to hear from the State Department. What is the word from the State Department and the Secretary today after the strikes in Yemen? How does this further U.S. to -- further U.S. diplomatic efforts, or at least at the very least impact them?

VEDANT PATEL, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, STATE DEPARTMENT: Thanks so much for having me, Kate. And really what this is about is we need to take a step back. We are talking about one of the world's most vital waterways. We're talking about 15 percent of all global seaborne trade passing through these waters, about 30 percent of global container shipping. And so the President, Secretary Blinken, and you saw Secretary Austin speak to this last night as well.

We're quite clear that the United States is not going to hesitate to take steps to protect international vessels, to protect legitimate international commerce in one of our Secretary Blinken most vital waterways. This is about degrading the ability of the Houthis to be able to conduct these kinds of attacks on international vessels that have put impact on U.S. personnel, on civilians, on sailors and has impacted a number of nations as well.

BOLDUAN: With these strikes, is the United States on a path of military escalation with Iran proxies?

PATEL: Look, nobody is interested in seeing any kind of escalation in the region. But also, there is absolutely no acceptable reason for bad actors to be conducting these kinds of strikes that put our personnel, that put legitimate international commerce, that put freedom of navigation in harm's way.

BOLDUAN: Do you think that we are on a path now of escalation even if you don't want it, is it a reality?

PATEL: Again, the United States is not going to hesitate to take steps to protect its personnel and protect lawful trade and the freedom of navigation. The President and the Secretary made that clear yesterday. But again, we also have to make sure that we're taking steps to hold malign actors accountable for actions that put our personnel and put our interests in harm's way.

BOLDUAN: The Houthis have not been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government since 2021. And that's when Secretary Blinken revoked that designation on February 12th of that year. Does the Secretary believe the Houthis should be redesignated as a foreign terrorist organization?

PATEL: More than any designation of any one group or the other. The most important thing is the actions of the United States. And yesterday as well as previous actions that the U.S. has taken in terms of sanctions and other measures to hold the Houthis accountable, have made it quite clear that we will not hesitate to hold actors like the Houthis to justice when they take provocative actions like this.

BOLDUAN: But make no mistake, these designations do matter. There are things that are triggered with these designations or what's the point of it anyway, and then why remove it if the designations don't matter? Is this under discussion of redesignating the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization?

PATEL: Certainly, these kinds of designations matter and was not trying to indicate the otherwise. I'm not going to get into continued ongoing deliberative processes. But the point that I was making is that when it comes to holding malign actors like the Houthis accountable, the United States and this administration has a track record of doing so when actions, provocative actions have been taken.

[11:25:17]

BOLDUAN: I wanted to ask you really quickly on what we've heard from the Houthis. They've now vowed retribution issuing one of the warnings issued last night was the following, we will confront America, make it kneel down, burn its battleships, all its bases and everyone who cooperates with it, no matter the cost. How does the State Department and Secretary Blinken interpret that statement?

PATEL: Well, I think President Biden put it best last night in his statement in that the United States isn't going to hesitate to take further action if needed to hold these kinds of activities account to ensure that things like freedom of navigation and legitimate international commerce and international vessels are protected.

BOLDUAN: Vedant Patel from the State Department for us, thank you so much. Sara?

PATEL: Thank you.

SIDNER: Thank you, Kate. Coming up, an extraordinary step in the migrant crisis, the Texas Military Department doubled down on efforts to block federal law enforcement from accessing miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. Now the Biden administration is taking their complaint to the Supreme Court. That's ahead.

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