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Republican Candidates Shift Attention to New Hampshire; Trump Wins Iowa; Trump in Court For E. Jean Carroll Case. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 16, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to book it this entire week to continue doing what we have done for 11 months, and it's paid off. It's why we're a stone's throw away from Trump, and it's why I think we're going to be even stronger in New Hampshire.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because of your support, in spite of all of that they threw at us, everyone against us, we have got our ticket punched out of Iowa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: All right, let's get some insight on all of that and Trump's mind-set as he is in court right now.

Kristen Holmes, now in Atkinson, about 40 minutes from where I am, I believe, where Trump will be campaigning later today.

And the weather has followed us, Kristen. What are you learning?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I know, but, Kate, honestly, this is such a joy to be in this snow and where it's not ice cold. I feel like I could just take my coat off right now.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: I'm going to talk to Trump's advisers today as to where his mind-set is. They got in late last night to New York. He has been in court all morning, but here's what they were telling me leading up to last night.

This was exactly the results that they were looking for. They were hoping that Ron DeSantis would come in second. I know that sounds crazy, given the fact that Trump spent the better part of the year attacking the Florida governor, but they're seeing a lot of momentum for Nikki Haley going into New Hampshire.

Ron DeSantis doesn't have a path in New Hampshire. But Nikki Haley does. So the fact that he actually came in second, instead of Nikki Haley, is good, the Trump think -- the team believes, because they think it could have slowed down some of her momentum.

Now, Kate, the other thing that we're watching is Vivek Ramaswamy. Now, we talked a lot about this when Chris Christie dropped out of the race. Chris Christie doesn't own those voters. Vivek Ramaswamy doesn't own those voters. But if you're looking at the kind of voter that would go to Vivek Ramaswamy, the Trump team believes those are also a Trump voter.

And we also know that a lot of the Vivek Ramaswamy votes, voters were very enthusiastic. So him campaigning alongside Donald Trump is going to be an add. So, this is where their head is right now. Now, we're trying to figure out what is going to shift. But one thing we do know for certain, they are concerned about New Hampshire, particularly about Nikki Haley.

They are already spending millions of dollars between the campaign and the super PAC advertising against Haley, hitting her particularly hard on immigration. And that doesn't seem like it's going to stop. They believe that's a key issue here in New Hampshire.

And the other thing to point out, we were originally told that he was only going to have two events. He was going to have an event right after the Iowa caucuses in New Hampshire. Then we weren't going to see him again until over the weekend. Now he's having an event almost every single day, only going to Florida one day in between for Melania Trump's mother's funeral.

So that clearly shows you that they are ramping up their presence here in the state. It's something that they're watching closely again with Nikki Haley, hoping they can stem her momentum and hoping that her momentum was stymied by last night.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, it's going to be -- I'm very interested to hear what Trump's message -- when he hits the ground in New Hampshire, what his message is today, who he takes on, who he doesn't take on, who he leaves out of that campaign speech, probably specifically and intentionally.

We will find out soon enough. It's great to see, Kristen. Thank you so much -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: All right, for the first time in decades, Donald Trump is in the same room with his accuser E. Jean Carroll, the woman who sued him and won for sexual battery and defamation.

CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid is with us now.

Paula, jury selection is under way. It's moving fairly quickly. What are some of the tea leaves we can read so far?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's important to know that this jury will be anonymous, because we have seen that juries in other Trump-related cases, they have faced threats.

So, it's significant that they're going to remain anonymous and travel to court each day sort of in a group after meeting at an undisclosed location. But it also speaks to the significance of the task at hand.

Well, this is a pretty routine damages matter, the fact that it involves the former president makes it anything but. Now, we expect that this jury will be seated by noon and then opening statements will get under way. And, here, the jury's job will be to decide if Trump owes damages to E. Jean Carroll. She is asking for $10 million.

Now, last year, there was already a separate trial that dealt with her allegations that former President Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store in the mid-'90s. Now, that jury found him liable for sexual abuse and that he defamed her and awarded her $5 million.

Now, this time, the judge says that verdict carries over and this jury just needs to look at damages. But, John, we have already seen one notable incidence here in the courtroom already this morning. His attorney, Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, who's also his spokesperson, she got up and she sparred with the judge a little bit about what's going to happen on Thursday.

They are asking the court to adjourn or just not hold court on Thursday, so that Trump can attend his mother-in-law's funeral. And Trump's legal team has already asked to push this case back because of this funeral. That request was denied.

[11:05:08]

Now, notable that Alina would bring up this question again, though this time she tailored her request. And, of course, the judge dismissed this. There's no requirement for Trump to be at this case. He has no role. And, again, at the last trial, he didn't show up at all.

So the judge said, look, if he wants to testify, he can do that next Monday, but he's not moving the case. Seemed a little irritated that Habba was bringing this up again. But, of course, John, this is all about how this is not just a legal proceeding, but is some ways a campaign event as well.

And here, by bringing this up, Habba's serving not only as his lawyer, but really more as his spokesperson and trying to amplify this idea that somehow he's not getting a fair shake.

BERMAN: In many, if not most ways, this is a campaign event, his first stop after winning the Iowa caucuses.

Paula Reid, thank you very much for that.

With us now, CNN's senior political commentators Scott Jennings and Ana Navarro.

Let's talk not about the Iowa caucuses. Let's talk about the New Hampshire primary. Iowa was so yesterday. We learned already this morning, Scott...

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. BERMAN: ... that Nikki Haley, who finished third in Iowa, basically says she's done debating Ron DeSantis. She's not going to debate again unless Donald Trump shows up. What do you think of that?

JENNINGS: I don't blame her, because the last time she debated Ron DeSantis in Iowa, I think it hurt her. It may have cost her second place over in Iowa.

Plus, she wants to keep this narrative alive that it's a two-person race, which was the theme of her speech last night, which I think maybe they wrote thinking she was going to finish second and then just decided not to rewrite when she actually finished third.

Now, it is true she is competitive with Donald Trump in New Hampshire, and Ron DeSantis is not. So, for her to have any chance to keep the ball bouncing, she's got to keep the focus squarely on she and Trump and hope Ron DeSantis doesn't find anything there. He's pretty far down in the polls right now.

BERMAN: Is Ron DeSantis competitive with Donald Trump anywhere, Ana?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Certainly not in New Hampshire, certainly not in South Carolina, certainly not in Florida, and certainly not in Iowa. He was 30 points behind Donald Trump.

I agree with Scott. I think it's smart for Nikki Haley not to debate anymore, where the last debate we saw, all they did was spar and fight with each other. And she -- I think she's trying to be a little bit more of a positive force in this campaign.

And it's very hard to be the positive person when you are in this what I then called insult-palooza, which is what those two hours were like. I don't think either of them gained much, but she certainly can't the positive role and be in this tantrum and fight and bickering with Ron DeSantis. Not good.

JENNINGS: You know what was interesting about that debate? She came with that Web site DeSantislies, and she went to that well over and over.

But she didn't have a Trump Web site, and so she sort of showed up to beat Ron DeSantis, but it didn't seem like she showed up to beat Trump. Now she's changing her strategy, which is, well, I'm just going to run against Trump and pretend like DeSantis doesn't exist.

BERMAN: What's DeSantis doing?

For so long, Ana, everyone was on Chris Christie's back to get out of the race, so that anti-Trump vote could consolidate around Nikki Haley or someone else. What's Ron DeSantis' current role in the campaign?

NAVARRO: I don't think folks are going to get on Ron DeSantis' back the same way, frankly, because he's a sitting governor with still a lot of power for the next three years in Tallahassee.

And so he still has some money he can extract from special interests and corporate lobbyists from Tallahassee who are still backing his campaign, because it is to their benefit to do so. I also think they're giving him time. Look I fully expect Ron DeSantis to drop out before Florida, because he is nowhere near Donald Trump in Florida.

And I think the humiliation and embarrassment that would come from losing his own state -- he's already lost the endorsement of the majority of Republicans in Congress. He's already lost the endorsement of Marco Rubio. And to actually lose Florida, I think would be a level of humiliation that -- the walk of shame he'd have to make all the way back to Tallahassee would be way too painful.

BERMAN: So is he in it to beat Trump or sink Haley?

JENNINGS: Well, I think he's in it on the hope that a Hail Mary here, something like Haley falls short New Hampshire, she's out of runway, she drops, they then go off to South Carolina, something in the atmosphere changes, and he catches a little bit of something.

I mean, this is a total -- it's like the old Larry Bird-Magic Johnson commercials, off the scoreboard, off the bleachers, off the roof, nothing but net. I mean, that's what it would take. And, obviously, he's pinned his hopes on being competitive in South Carolina, but, as was pointed out, Trump's still dominant.

NAVARRO: I think he's in it for his own political future. He's termed out as governor of Florida in the next three years, right?

And if he fails this miserably after all the money he had, after all the endorsements he had, after all the structure he had, after all the talk and all the expectations, his chances of ever being a senator or continuing a political career are really slim.

[11:10:12]

He needs to somehow rehab his ego. And, frankly, it's a little sad, because he has gotten better in -- I mean, it's a low bar, but he has gotten better in the last two to three weeks.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting, Scott. You were mentioning in case something happens, the double bank shot off the scoreboard and whatnot.

It's hard to conceive of what that could possibly be. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's hard to conceive of it. There was this question in the entrance poll in Iowa. And let's put this up on the screen, so people can see. It basically had to do, if Donald Trump is convicted of a crime, would he be fit for the presidency.

JENNINGS: Yes.

BERMAN: Sixty-five percent said yes; 31 percent said no in the Republican caucuses, where, what, 60 percent also said Joe Biden didn't win the election.

How do you wrap your head around that? JENNINGS: This was the most significant entrance poll number of the

night, because, obviously, there are Republicans who have deep reservations about Trump if he becomes convicted.

Of course, what we didn't ask, but what is probably true, is that a significant chunk of those people would also say Joe Biden is not fit for the presidency, and so then they're looking at a ballot with two people that may not be fit for the presidency and where do they go? Even if most of them go back to Trump, if Trump loses a little chunk, is that enough to sink you in a general election?

So, if I were Biden, I'd be reaching out to these people. And if I were Trump, I'd be thinking, can you really bleed any of these folks and still be competitive?

BERMAN: Ana.

NAVARRO: Donald Trump has beaten all belief and hope out of me. I'm now a hollow shell. I really don't put that much stock on those poll numbers, because I remember still vividly 2016, when we all heard Donald Trump boast about grabbing a woman in those "Access Hollywood" tapes.

And I remember when all the evangelicals and the elected officials and Republican leadership all shunned him for about three days. And three days later, they were all backing him again because he was the choice, the alternative to Hillary Clinton. And they would rather the man they'd just heard boast about sexual assault than Hillary Clinton.

And so I tend to agree with Scott.

JENNINGS: It's the independent. It's the center-right independents. And we did learn a little lesson about this in the November '22 midterms. We all thought they were going to break against the Dems. They did not, and Republicans underperformed a little bit.

And now you're going to have Trump himself on the ballot, possibly with a conviction, although this is not for certain.

BERMAN: No.

JENNINGS: We don't know if these things are going to come to pass. And he could also get acquitted, which could have another impact on the campaign.

NAVARRO: Right.

BERMAN: Right now, it's about watching how these candidates readjust and posture themselves after Iowa now that they're in New Hampshire.

Scott Jennings, Ana Navarro, thank you so much.

Let's get to New Hampshire.

Our Kate Bolduan is there.

BOLDUAN: Let's do that, John Berman.

Coming up for us: What drove Donald Trump's dominating win in Iowa? And how does that translate now to New Hampshire? The state of play in New Hampshire and the work that all of the candidates still need to do to win here.

And the Republican field shrinks further today. Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy dropping out of the race. Where do their voters go? Who benefits from this?

And all of this while Donald Trump is in a courtroom right now. How his courtroom campaign strategy looks today after his big night, dominating in Iowa.

We will be right back.

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[11:18:20]

BERMAN: All right, Donald Trump didn't just win in Iowa. He won huge. Let me show you the 99 counties here. These are all the counties that Donald Trump won by more than 10 points, OK?

Every single county, 97 counties in Iowa, he won by more than 10 points, except for Story County, which is where Iowa State University is, and Johnson County. This is where the University of Iowa is. And this is one of my favorite numbers as we sit here the day after the caucuses right now. Nikki Haley leads in Johnson County by a single vote. One vote, Nikki Haley leads in Johnson County.

We will see as that holds, if that holds, 99 percent of the votes in. One other number I want to show you from Iowa before we leave Iowa behind is that we just got word that Asa Hutchinson has suspended his campaign. Asa Hutchinson received 191 votes in Iowa, 191 votes, Donald Trump right now 56,260, Asa Hutchinson one of the few candidates who was willing to campaign directly against Donald Trump.

You can see what it got him, 191 votes. As we head to New Hampshire, one of the things to look at the most closely here, and we will be talking about this for the next week, who can vote in the Republican primary there? This is the voter registration in New Hampshire. You can see 268,000 Republicans; 262,000 Democrats, they can't vote in the Republican primary.

But this group is the big one, undeclared, 343,000. They can vote in the Republican primary. They may make up most of the Republican primary voters. It's a very different group to reach than any of these candidates were trying to reach in Iowa. In New Hampshire, they tend to be moderate, they tend to be independents. It'll be very interesting to see how the candidates approach them.

[11:20:15]

Let's get to New Hampshire to find out the answer to just that question. Kate Bolduan is there.

BOLDUAN: Of course, when you mean I have the answers, it means that we're going to go to the smart people with the answers, but however it works.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: So we're back on the campaign trail here in New Hampshire and just hours after Donald Trump won the Iowa caucuses.

And the Republican field, as John mentioned, has gotten smaller already today, down essentially to three, Asa Hutchinson the latest presidential contender to drop out of the race, dropping out just last hour, and more campaign headlines already this morning, Nikki Haley with something of a power play, putting out a statement saying this.

I will read what she says, in part. She says: "We had five great debates in this campaign. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them. He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it."

So she's going to be a no-show for any more debates if it's her and Ron DeSantis? I guess that's a question today.

Joining me right now for some of those answers, one of the smart people we have been leaning on is the director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, Andy Smith.

Andy thank you so much for taking the time today.

As the candidates leave Iowa, they're heading to New Hampshire. Can you give us the state of play, what it's looking like on the ground in New Hampshire right now that everyone should be aware of?

ANDREW SMITH, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SURVEY CENTER: I think it's pretty much the same as it was before Iowa.

The Iowa campaign and the New Hampshire campaign have been going on simultaneously, but one doesn't really rely on the other, other than Vivek Ramaswamy dropping out. I don't think the Hutchinson campaign is going to have much -- is not going to lose too much or not going to shift votes too much here in New Hampshire. He was at about zero percent.

But that said, New Hampshire is a very different state than Iowa. New Hampshire has high turnout, historically, 40 to 50 percent in the primary, compared with Iowa, which typically has in the 5 percent range to 10 percent range. So it's a different group of people, nonideological.

The other big difference between Iowa and New Hampshire is that Iowa has a lot of evangelical voters on the Republican side, and New Hampshire is arguably the least religious state in the country. So, those issues that resonate more with those more conservative voters, more socially conservative voters, just don't work here. And that means that this is a state where somebody like Nikki Haley

has a chance of winning, maybe the only chance for a more moderate Republican candidate to beat Donald Trump, but this is the place where she's got a chance to do it. She's had momentum in recent weeks. We had a poll last week which showed her within single digits of Trump, but she still has a ways to go.

She still has to consolidate some of that more moderate vote in the state. And she's got some work to do.

BOLDUAN: Nikki Haley this morning said she's a stone's throw from Donald Trump in New Hampshire. What's the polling equivalent of a stone's throw, I think could be a question, but, regardless, talk to me about where she needs to build.

SMITH: Well, New Hampshire's a state, as your previous discussion had said, we have a lot of what we call undeclared voters.

And about two-thirds of them, I think, are up for grabs still. Now, it may be even less than that. There's undeclared voters who are really Republicans. They're Republicans in everything but registration. And those are the ones that Haley has been going after.

Right now, among the undeclared voters, she's at 43 percent. Trump's only at 17 percent in our recent poll. Unfortunately for her, historically, it's been the winner of the registered Republicans that wins the nomination. In fact, no candidate has won the New Hampshire primary without winning the plurality of their party's registered voters.

And Trump was -- in our most recent poll was at 58 percent. So, she's within a stone's throw of Donald Trump, 7 percentage points, and things can move around. But she'd better have a pretty good arm to make up that distance, because that's still a long way.

BOLDUAN: Is it clear to you when you say that there are however many undeclareds are left -- and New Hampshire voters are known to break late, if you will -- what more they want to hear if there's one question they still need answered before they're comfortable in making that final decision?

Is that coming up in surveys?

SMITH: Yes, I think the thing that we have -- that we're seeing in our surveys, and the messaging corresponds with this, is that Donald Trump's got his supporters. He's got his -- the hard-core supporters at about 40 percent, 42 percent or so.

What the other candidates have to do is convince the remaining Republicans or remaining potential voters out there they are a credible alternative to Donald Trump, that they can go first toe to toe with him in New Hampshire, and, more importantly, that they have got a chance of beating Joe Biden in November.

[11:25:15] And I think that's what the message that Haley has behind her that she can really use, use some of the polling data that's coming out nationally to focus on how well she does against Biden compared with Trump, and that she is Trump policy without Trump's drama. That's, I think, the thing that maybe helps her pull some more voters away from Trump.

BOLDUAN: I will say that, and how she stands in polls against Joe Biden is something we -- she has definitely already been leaning in, and we can be sure we're going to hear more of that when she starts hitting the ground here again in New Hampshire.

Andy, it is great to see you. Thank you so much.

SMITH: Pleasure to talk with you, Kate. Enjoy the snow.

BOLDUAN: So -- thank you.

Exciting times here in New Hampshire, one week before New Hampshire goes to the polls, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is going to be making his case and taking questions directly from voters.

Wolf Blitzer moderating the CNN -- CNN presidential town hall live from New Hampshire tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Easy for me to say, John.

BERMAN: All right, moments ago, tension in the courtroom between Donald Trump's attorney and the judge in the defamation damages trial against Trump. Trump is in that courtroom.

The Gilgo Beach murder suspect charged with killing a fourth woman now. He has pleaded not guilty, as new evidence just went public in this case.

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