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Iowans Face Bitter Cold For The First Race Of 2024 Tonight; Final Appeals To Iowa Voters By Trump, Haley, And DeSantis; Interview With Radio Iowa News Director Kay Henderson; Iowans Will Caucus Tonight To Choose Republican Presidential Nominee; U.S. Shoots Down Anti-Ship Missile Fired By Houthis In Yemen; Ballistic Missile Fired By Houthis Struck US-Owned Warship, Causing Minimal Damage; Suspect In Gilgo Beach Murder Faces Fourth Murder Charge; Texas Must Stop Limiting Border Patrol Access, According To Biden Administration; Trump Solidifies Evangelical Support In Iowa. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired January 15, 2024 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:34:22]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: You are looking at live pictures coming in right now from Des Moines, Iowa, where it's a negative nine degrees and there are still nine hours until the door is open for the caucus goers tonight. The wind chill temperature right now, negative 27 degrees. Wow. Our coverage continues with Kate Bolduan. She's on the scene for us in Des Moines. Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: It can always be worse. That's what we're saying here in terms of the temperature, Wolf. So, it is the first test of 2024 here. It's the first nominating contest of the presidential election cycle and the first moment when the polls stop talking and the people start voting. The candidates pleading with Iowans to turn out tonight, and also in their final pitches touting the work that they and their campaigns have put in.
[10:35:00]
Ron DeSantis, widely seen as having the largest ground game operation here, which helps. Nikki Haley, seen to have some real momentum heading into tonight, which helps. Here she was in Adel, Iowa at a campaign event that I was able to attend last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You get to set the direction for the country. And if you will join with me in this movement, if you will join with me in caucus, I promise you, our best days are yet to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So far, Donald Trump has shown his support is resilient here no matter, basically, no matter the -- no matter what. Joining me now is someone who knows a lot about all of this, Kay Henderson, the news director for "Radio Iowa". She's covered Iowa politics for years. It's great to have you here, Kay.
KAY HENDERSON, NEWS DIRECTOR, RADIO IOWA: Hello.
BOLDUAN: Give me a sense -- OK. So, the projections on turnout, there have been, you know, if you -- before the forecast and the weather set in --
HENDERSON: Right.
BOLDUAN: -- it was going to exceed, some were thinking, then the record set in 2016 at 186,000. Now, it's all over the map. What is your sense of how this cycle feels compared to past?
HENDERSON: It's completely different because you essentially have an incumbent running, and then you have a whole pack of people, some of whom are no longer with us on the campaign trail, who have dropped out and that has an interesting dynamic. The difference between 2016 and 2024 from the Trump perspective is it was really organic in 2016, depending on the polls, popularity people who were sort of, you know, enthralled with the idea of Donald Trump. Now, these people know what Donald Trump is to them. And so, that is a different dynamic.
The other dynamic is he actually has an organization here.
BOLDUAN: A real organization.
HENDERSON: And has camp -- and has done the precinct level organizing that they didn't do last time. So, what we're going to see tonight is if that paid off in the caucus room because what happens is -- the first thing that happens is somebody local stands up and says, hey, you should vote for Donald Trump. And if it's someone that everyone in the community or the precinct, as it were, knows, that may make a difference.
BOLDUAN: That's persuasive. That's what the caucuses are all about.
HENDERSON: Right.
BOLDUAN: I want -- I'm always interested in smart people's take on the places to watch. I want to ask you about where are the places that you are watching tonight? I know that you have said that one county that you are watching in particular is Dubuque in the eastern part of the state. Why is this a county to watch tonight?
HENDERSON: Well, in 2016 Donald Trump barely won at less than one percent ahead of Ted Cruz, that's really important. And it's important because you see the candidates are going there. Nikki Haley has had events there. She wasn't able to make an event there --
BOLDUAN: She tried to get there yesterday, yes.
HENDERSON: Yes. But she'd previously had events there. DeSantis was there on Sunday. It's a key Missouri River county for folks. It used to be heavily Democratic. It's flipped to Republicans in the past. And Donald Trump carried it, you know, heavily, as he would say --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HENDERSON: -- in 2016 and 2020 in the general.
BOLDUAN: So, that's one place to watch. What's another place that you are watching really closely?
HENDERSON: Linn County, that is the Cedar Rapids metro.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HENDERSON: Donald Trump finished third there in 2016. And Nikki Haley has had several events there --
BOLDUAN: For sure.
HENDERSON: -- over the past few. DeSantis is going there -- back there today.
BOLDUAN: So, it's all -- you know, if Trump's really turning it out there, that's a sign. If Haley's holding strong there, that's a sign. If DeSantis is also showing strength there --
HENDERSON: Right.
BOLDUAN: -- that could be something to watch as well. I went to a Haley event last night in Adel, as I mentioned. That's Dallas County. It's closer to Des Moines.
HENDERSON: Right.
BOLDUAN: Packed house. I met a man, Mark Jorgensen (ph) -- hi, Mark. He said he was going to be watching us today. He had been Trump all the way. 2016, 2020. He said that Trump was just too divisive. And he was now in for Nikki Haley, but seeing her for the first time in person after the event, he was visibly emotional about what he heard. He admitted he's a bit of a crier, but he said that for him, she was so grounded. She was so authentic. That's what he really saw. If that is what is connecting with folks, what does that mean in Iowa?
HENDERSON: It means that she has momentum. People love a bandwagon. They looked at that Iowa poll that came out from the Des Moines Register --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HENDERSON: -- and they see that she has some momentum. The other thing is that her stories, her personal stories, she talks about growing up in an incredibly small town that sells well in Iowa.
BOLDUAN: Talked about her husband.
HENDERSON: Talks about her husband being deployed.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HENDERSON: The personal anecdotes that she tells connect with the audience. And then she talks about solutions, and that really resonates with people.
[10:40:00]
BOLDUAN: Real quick. Is it clear to you what a second place victory looks like for Ron DeSantis after everything he's put in here?
HENDERSON: The DeSantis campaign has, you know, all their chips in Iowa right now. And so, they are counting on all of those people that they have on the ground who have been calling their friends and neighbors and saying, let's go to the caucuses. I mean, some of them have arranged for babysitting at the caucus site, so that --
BOLDUAN: That's awesome.
HENDERSON: -- you know, parents can go and caucus tonight. So, we will find out if that kind of ground level organization on his part is going to pay dividends.
BOLDUAN: Now, we get to stop talking --
HENDERSON: Exactly.
BOLDUAN: -- and we get to see the caucusing play out.
HENDERSON: Exactly.
BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Kay. Thank you for coming in. HENDERSON: Thanks.
BOLDUAN: Back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Kate, thanks very much.
Up next, even as there's a lot of interest, understandably so, for what's going on in the Iowa Caucuses, let's not forget there's a war going on and it's escalating in the Middle East. And today, a U.S. fighter jet shot down a missile launch from Houthi rebel territory aimed at a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea. How the Pentagon is now responding to the clearly escalating tensions.
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[10:45:50]
BLITZER: Much more of our special coverage of the Iowa caucuses is coming up. But first, new this morning. The U.S. Military Central Command now says, U.S. fighter aircraft shot down an anti-ship cruise missile that was fired at a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea from a Houthi controlled area of Yemen. And this comes just days after the U.S. and the U.K. launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The militant group vowed to retaliate.
CNN's Oren Liebermann is joining us right now from the Pentagon. Oren, we're now learning, what, that another ship was hit by a missile just off the coast of Yemen. What's the latest? OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We have seen more launches since the incident on Sunday in which a U.S. fighter jet shot down a cruise missile that was fired at a U.S. destroyer in the Red Sea. We've just learned from U.S. Central Command that there was a ballistic missile fired against a U.S. owned and operated vessel.
The Central Command did not say exactly where this happened, but the U.K. Maritime Security Organization said that this happened south of Yemen. The missile fired by the Houthis struck the MV Gibraltar Eagle, a Marshall Islands flag, U.S. owned and operated boat carrier that was traveling through the Red Sea. Obviously, one of the world's most critical waterways.
Now, according to U.S. Central Command, there was minor damage to the ship and no injuries. And, crucially here, the ship itself remained seaworthy, which is that it continued on its way as part of its voyage. But of course, the Houthis had promised to retaliate. They said that any U.S. or U.K. asset was a legitimate target. So, this perhaps part of the retaliation and the response that the Houthis had promised against the much more widespread U.S. and U.K. strikes that we saw on Thursday evening.
Worth pointing out that the U.S. then carried out a follow-on strike 24 hours later. The Pentagon and the White House had expected a Houthi response. This may be part of it, but the expectation is there will be something, frankly, bigger, broader, and more powerful coming from the Houthis. Still, this is now the third or fourth launch we've seen from Houthi territory following the U.S. strikes. Makes clear that the Houthis retain and still have quite a bit of military capability to try to threaten Red Sea shipping here. The U.S., the U.K., and the other coalition there trying to safeguard that shipping to make the waterway safe.
Wolf, I think with what you see here playing out over the last 24 hours, it is impossible to say that the waterway is safe at this point, even as the U.S. tries to get there.
BLITZER: Yes, Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon for us. It looks like this situation is escalating big time indeed. Our thanks very, very much.
Also, this morning, the suspect in Long Island's South Shore serial killings, known as the Gilgo Beach Murders, is scheduled to appear in court. Rex Heuermann now faces a fourth murder charge. The specific victim in the new charge wasn't disclosed, but Heuermann is considered the prime suspect in the disappearance and death of Maureen Brainard- Barnes. Her remains were found near the same location as the three other women. Heuermann is charged with killing. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charges. Authorities discovered the remains of "The Gilgo Four" as they are called in 2010.
The Biden administration, meanwhile, has directed Texas to stop obstructing border patrol operations along the border after a recent incident led to the drowning of a woman and two children. Agents were barred from the area by state officials. The Homeland Security Department has labeled Texas's actions as unconstitutional and a hindrance to emergency responses. Texas's military department denies impeding access.
Right now, President Joe Biden is en route to Philadelphia, where he's expected to volunteer at a food bank to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. These are photos from previous years. This will be the third time President Biden has volunteered at full abundance on the holiday. He visited with the First Lady Jill Biden back in 2021 and in 2022.
Coming up, some of former president -- the former president's strongest supporters in Iowa identify as evangelicals. How their support could be key to winning the caucuses tonight.
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[10:54:20]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: It is caucus day in Iowa. The Iowa caucuses kick off this evening. We talk about the importance of the evangelical vote in Iowa. In the overall population of Iowa, evangelicals make up just over 12 percent of the voting population, but that does not tell the story in a Republican caucus. They can be 50 percent, 60 percent even higher of caucus goers.
And let me show you where they are in the state, located largely in the northwest here, also in the northern section, this broad swath here, not far from Sioux City, other locations in the south. The darker the color, the higher the population of evangelical voters. That's mattered a lot in the past.
[10:55:00]
We talked about Ted Cruz in 2016. Again, keep an eye on those areas right there. You can see Ted Cruz, the areas in yellow, the areas with the densest evangelical population, these are areas where Ted Cruz did very, very well.
Now. A lot has changed since 2016. I want to show you something that is fairly remarkable. Let me put up the evangelical filter again. You can see these two counties in the northwest has some of the highest population of evangelical voters there. In 2016, Donald Trump, in those two counties, he was not even among the top three voters. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson finished first, second, and third in Lyon County and Sioux County. Donald Trump wasn't the leader among Evangelical voters in 2016.
Times have changed. Take a look at the new Des Moines Register poll evangelical support, Donald Trump's at 51 percent among likely caucus goers with evangelical support. Ron DeSantis at 22 percent. That's how much Donald Trump, those are the inroads he's made among evangelical voters since 2016. It is fairly extraordinary, Wolf.
BLITZER: Certainly is. Thanks very much for that update.
We're following all of the final pitches by Republican candidates in this first big event of the 2024 race for the White House.
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