Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump Prioritizes Court Appearance over New Hampshire Campaigning; FAA Urges Boeing Inspections Following In-Flight Incident; Biden Administration Takes Steps to Protect Reproductive Rights; Biden and Harris Make First Joint Campaign Appearance; Dexter Scott King, Son of MLK Jr., Passes Away at 62; Iowa Basketball Star Caitlin Clark Collides with Fan in Incident; Trump's Defamation Trial Postponed Amid Juror and COVID Concerns. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 22, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We are hours away from a pivotal primary in New Hampshire. Nikki Haley betting big on the state to give her campaign some momentum. But for Donald Trump, a win could effectively lock in his nomination and knock out his final opponent. Plus, more bad news for Boeing. The FAA now urging airlines to inspect door plugs on other versions of that grounded jet. A setback after the same part blew off in Alaska Airlines flights some two weeks ago.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And the big winner in last night's Chief Bills game is an NFL star who isn't on either team. There he is without his shirt on. The man, the myth, the legend. We're following these developing stories and Jason Kelsey and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

KEILAR: Welcome back to CNN News Central. I'm Briana Keiler alongside Boris Sanchez here in Washington. And we are revving up big time for election mode once again. Because here in less than 24 hours, New Hampshire voters will choose between the two remaining Republican candidates. Former President Donald Trump. And former Governor Nikki Haley. And those two are hitting the trail hard in the Granite State. Tonight, Trump will host his final rally there with the help of three former GOP rivals.

BORIS: But his most recent vanquished opponent, Ron DeSantis, not going to be there despite the Florida governor endorsing Trump upon exiting the race. Nikki Haley, meanwhile, is getting in front of as many voters as possible throughout the day and sharpening her attacks on the former president. Let's take you to the campaign trail now with CNN's Omar Jimenez. Omar, this is what Nikki Haley had wanted all along. A one-on-one matchup with the former president. How is she planning to take advantage?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for starters, in the 24 hours after Ron DeSantis announced he was suspending his campaign, Nikki Haley's campaign says they raised around $500,000. So, they're hoping to at least start with a little bit of that momentum to carry them into, of course, the actual primary tomorrow. As you mentioned, she is hitting a number of events. She's about to get going with one with her essentially stumping mate, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, for a get-out-to-vote rally in just a few moments here. Trying to find as much support as she can, but also to paint herself as an option, a choice against what some have viewed as the inevitable of former President Trump becoming the nominee.

How she's done that in recent days, she has trained her aim a little bit more specifically at the former president as opposed to before. It was sort of lumped together with the former president and the current one. Take a listen to some of what she said about Donald Trump earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (R): Every single thing that Donald Trump has said or put on TV has been a lie. He says I want to cut Social Security and raise the retirement age. I never once said that. Not once. If anything, we're going to make it solvent so that no one lives in fear. He said that I don't want to have a border wall. I never said that. I said you can't just do a border wall. You've got to do all these other things that are going to stop what's happening at the border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: This is what she wanted, a two-person race. She said it after Iowa, even though she finished third in Iowa. Now that's become a reality here. But even her campaign or people close to her campaign have tried to temper expectations just a little bit over the past week, saying even a strong second place would be considered a victory for them as it would show that they at least have momentum.

[14:05:09]

KEILAR: And obviously, it's all about New Hampshire right now, Omar, but we're still seeing the campaigns eyeing the next big contest, South Carolina, of course, Nikki Haley's home state. What's in store there?

JIMENEZ: Well, of course, South Carolina is a big calculus here. I mean, part of why Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign was, he said it in his video, they did not see a path. So, when you look at what that potential path for Nikki Haley could be in South Carolina, her team has said that they are preparing a $4 million ad buy starting tomorrow, the day of the New Hampshire primary, the ad buy being in South Carolina. So already preparing for that next step. She knows she has the cards stacked against her as far as endorsements go with South Carolina, Senator Tim Scott, the governor, others flocking toward President Trump, former President Trump.

But she even said, today, that while some have said this is a sign for her to get out of the race and just get in line and support the former president, she said, this is a democracy. And in a democracy, you have options. And she wants to present herself as the option. She also said she is a fighter and that she plans to go fighting to her home state. And look, I think at this point, it's safe to say the odds are stacked against her, but they are not odds her team sees as insurmountable at this stage.

All of that. But that said, we still have a very big test with the New Hampshire primary tomorrow that may give some very clear answers as to whether Nikki Haley's camp actually has momentum heading into any next tests or if it is a statement in the wrong direction.

SANCHEZ: Omar, a random question for you. When you were going live earlier, I noticed there was a giant Ron DeSantis bus behind you that was apparently still active the day after he dropped out. Do we know where that is now? Did it get repossessed?

JIMENEZ: Yeah, the Never Back Down bus, the pro-DeSantis super pack, it took off out of town, I guess, along with Ron DeSantis' campaign. So, we're not seeing any more DeSantis signs at this point. It was a sign of, it was a remnant of a past time here in the state. And, you know, it'll be something we remember for a long time.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, for sure. It did look expensive. Omar Jimenez from Manchester, New Hampshire. Thanks so much, Omar. From the campaign trail to a New York City courtroom. That's where Donald Trump arrived this morning, prepared to testify in the civil defamation trial against him. But moments after court began, the judge cancelled the day in court because of a sick juror and a COVID scare within Trump's legal team.

KEILAR: Trump's lawyers say that he still plans to take the stand, but they're now asking the judge if the former president can testify on Wednesday due to, of course, the New Hampshire primary happening tomorrow. We have CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid joining us. Now on this, Paula, what more can you tell us about why court was delayed and how things may proceed if Trump can't be there tomorrow?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Brianna, never dull here in New York with a civil case. So today there was a juror who apparently got sick on the way to court. So, the judge dismissed that juror and then asked both sides, what do you want to do? Do you want to go ahead with just eight of the nine jurors or do you want to adjourn for the day? Now, E. Jean Carroll's lawyers said they were happy to proceed. But Alina Habba, Trump's lawyer, said wanted to adjourn for the day. Then she told the judge that her client, Trump, does want to testify. That was the big question going into today. Will he or won't he?

She said that he wants to testify, but that he cannot do it tomorrow because of the New Hampshire primary. Now, what we've seen with this judge, Judge Kaplan, so far in this brief trial is that he has not really been willing to accommodate things like this so far. Last week, Haba asked for an adjournment for Trump's mother-in-law's funeral. That was denied. The judge told Trump, look, you have a right to be here either in person or be represented by counsel here, and no one's interfering with that. So, they were not willing to adjourn court last week. And it's unclear what the judge is going to do here. He told Habba that he was not going to rule at that moment from the bench.

So we're still looking to see if he will allow court to be adjourned tomorrow, then allow Trump to testify on Wednesday. If he did that, you know, he could probably avoid a fight with Habba and with Trump and allow this juror an extra day to recover. But as of now, court is scheduled to resume tomorrow. So, we'll see. Again, like I said, it's never dull. They always keep you guessing, guessing down here in New York.

KEILAR: Yeah, certainly. Paula Reid, thank you for that. Hope everyone is feeling their best as well. Let's break this down now with Republican strategist Matt Mowers. He is the president of Valcourt LLC and former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh. He is the director of Mission Democracy and the host of the White Flag podcast. All right, Joe. So, after the brief New York court appearance today, Trump is going to head to New Hampshire. He's going to rally with three former GOP opponents of his, notably DeSantis, not part of that group. I wonder if you read anything into that.

[14:10:19]

JOE WALSH, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (R-IL): No, Brianna, I think that's more DeSantis. The fact that he endorsed Trump yesterday is what Trump wanted and needed. And look, you know how I feel about Trump. It always needs to be said. He's the only American president who lost an election and refused to participate in the peaceful transfer of power. And he tried to overthrow an American election. But look, he's the leader of this party. I think it's too late for Nikki Haley. And I expect Trump to win a fairly decent victory tomorrow.

SANCHEZ: Matt, do you agree with Joe that it's too late for Nikki Haley? And how did DeSantis exiting the race when he did impact her chances?

MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINSTRATION OFFICAL: Well, you know, I'm not sure it really impacted too much here in New Hampshire. I mean, Ron DeSantis was polling around five or six percent. Of course, at a close election, that's going to matter. And if you looked at the polling, his supporters kind of split almost evenly. A few more may have gone to Trump, but Nikki Haley will pick up a few of those as well. But he's almost been a non-factor here for quite some time in New Hampshire. I think looking into tomorrow, look, Donald Trump continues to slowly but surely build support. I mean, there's this theory of the case for a long time by those who are trying to beat Donald Trump, that if the field consolidated, that was the best way to beat him.

We're now seeing that actually it's maybe having the inverse impact because you had Vivek Ramaswamy get out, his five percent goes to Trump. Even if he only gets half of the DeSantis supporters, that's a couple more points he's got. And he's already flirting with that 50 percent mark. And so, you know, right now, I mean, New Hampshire does have a tendency to surprise. There will be record turnout tomorrow per what the Secretary of State is saying. There's also likely going to be record independent participants. There's also likely going to be record independent participants in the Republican primary tomorrow. So there could be a surprise. But if all indicators are accurate, it looks like Donald Trump's going to possibly pull this off by 10 points plus.

KEILAR: Matt, it's such an interesting point about the consolidation. We did speak with someone from New Hampshire, a political observer there, who thinks that maybe those poll numbers are a bigger spread than what is actually happening in New Hampshire. Maybe New Hampshire could surprise us. If that's the case, Matt, how well does Nikki Haley need to do, in your opinion, to continue on in earnest?

MOWERS: She's got to have a close race. I mean, it's certainly got to be within 10 points. Because here's the truth. You have the perfect storm in New Hampshire to potentially beat Donald Trump. You have a wide open primary, no primary on the Democratic side. Let's go with that, right? Joe Biden's not on the ballot. Independents can participate in either party primary. So, with the only show in town being on the Democratic side, you have a wide open primary. So, you know, you're going to have a large independent participation. And you've got a popular Republican governor in Chris Sununu, who is backing Nikki Haley as the non-Trump candidate.

So, what you could do at looking down the pipe, you can try to replicate what's happening in New Hampshire elsewhere. Look to Michigan, where you have an open primary. South Carolina, there is no party registration. So, it's essentially an open primary as well. But that's only if you can do it here in New Hampshire. If you can't pull it off in these circumstances here, it's very difficult to see how you could replicate that in other states as the primary process goes out.

SANCHEZ: Joe, I want to get your perspective on something Nikki Haley has been saying out on the campaign trail to make the case that the race isn't over. I don't know how much it applies to New Hampshire necessarily or her chances of getting the nomination, but I'm curious from a general election perspective. She was pointing to the turnout in Iowa being relatively low, a sign that Trump isn't as strong as the numbers suggest, saying that he only got in the low single digits turnout in the caucus there last week. Is she right? Is that a red flag?

WALSH: I don't think so, Boris. And the weather really did play a factor. But again, we talk about this consolidation around Trump. And the reason for that is this isn't 2016, where everybody thought one challenger to Trump and we can beat him. This is eight years later, and it's his party. And more importantly, this is the MAGA party. This is a completely different Republican party. Most of DeSantis' support and Ramaswamy's support, they're all Trump supporters. Nikki Haley, the only way she wins tomorrow is if unaffiliated voters come out in a big, big way and vote for her. Trump will dominate among the Republicans. It's his party. Look, Matt's right. Anything could happen. But all indications are, this thing's over, and this is her best state to have a shot in.

[14:15:19]

SANCHEZ: Joe Walsh, Matt Mowers, thank you both so much. Thank you. Thanks, of course. Still ahead, scrutiny is growing with Boeing. The FAA now urging airlines to inspect another model of Boeing airplanes following that blowout in midair of the 737 Max 9. We'll explain why.

KEILAR: Plus, while former President Trump and former Governor Nikki Haley duke it out in New Hampshire, the Biden campaign is putting reproductive rights front and center, hitting the airwaves in key battleground states with its first abortion-focused ad of the year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Happening right now, President Biden is marking the 51st anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision by announcing new actions to protect reproductive rights.

KEILAR: That's right. And moments ago, we were watching as the Vice President delivered this speech in battleground Wisconsin. She kicked off the Fight for Reproductive Freedoms Tour and directly blamed former President Trump for abortion bans and masterminding the overturning of Roe in 2022. CNN's MJ Lee is live for us at the White House. The Biden campaign has been anxiously awaiting getting this messaging out there. MJ, tell us more about the new actions that are being announced today.

[14:20:09]

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we are seeing quite a bit of a push both from the White House and the Biden campaign to try to make reproductive health issues really front and center ahead of the 2024 election. For starters today here at the White House, the president is convening right now the fourth meeting of his so-called task force on reproductive health rights. You know, since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, we've seen the administration try to take a number of actions at the federal level to try to expand access to reproductive health rights.

We are now seeing an announcement today on expanded access to contraception, on emergency medical care. The Biden campaign at the same time is also making a similar significance push, including releasing this new minute long ad over the weekend. It's basically a direct-to-camera testimonial from a Texas doctor and mother who had to leave the state in order to terminate a pregnancy. Here's a little bit from that new ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Two years ago, I became pregnant with a baby I desperately wanted. At a routine ultrasound, I learned that the fetus would have a fatal condition and that there was absolutely no chance of survival. In Texas, you are forced to carry that pregnancy, and that is because of Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Now, all of this is, of course, time to the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade. At the White House press briefing that I just came out of, administration officials are making clear that they do plan to continue taking any actions they can, again, at the federal level. But they also say something that the president has been saying all along as well, that the only thing to sort of fully remedy for the Supreme Court having overturned Roe v. Wade is for Congress to take action. Boris and Brianna.

KEILAR: And Biden and Harris are going to make their first joint campaign appearance tomorrow. MJ, tell us about that.

LEE: Yeah, this is going to be the first time that we see the president and vice president together on stage at a campaign event this year. And at this event tomorrow as well, the key focus is rights (ph), I think just goes to show you once again how central the Biden campaign wants to make this issue for the re-elect efforts. You know, Democrats felt like they got a lot of validation, both in the midterm elections as well as the off-year elections last year. And they also say it isn't just about which candidates are on the ballot, but also various ballot initiatives that were aimed at countering what the Supreme Court did in overturning Roe v. Wade.

So this is something that we expect to hear a lot more from both on the official side, the White House side, in terms of any policies that they can move forward, as well as on the campaign side. Obviously, they believe this is one of the key issues that they can talk about as they try to draw a contrast between President Biden and whoever the Republican nominee is going to be. Of course, the campaign widely believes that that is still expected to be Donald Trump. Guys.

SANCHEZ: MJ Lee, live from the White House, thank you so much. And as you've perhaps been seeing on your screen, Vice President Kamala Harris talking one-on-one with CNN's Laura Coates about the state of the race and how she and President Biden plan to win a second term. That exclusive interview starts tonight at 11 p.m. right here on CNN.

We do have some breaking news just into CNN. Dexter Scott King, the youngest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has passed away. A statement from the King Center says he had been battling prostate cancer. His brother, Martin Luther King III, released a statement that says in part, quote, the sudden shock is devastating. It is hard to have the right words at a moment like this. Please keep the entire King family in your prayers. Dexter King was 62.

So still ahead, just one day before the New Hampshire primary and former President Donald Trump chose to sit inside a New York courtroom instead of the campaign trail today. Up next, we're going to speak with his former communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, about why it appears his former boss picked the courtroom over the campaign trail.

KEILAR: And a scary moment on the college hardwood this weekend. Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark colliding with an Ohio State fan who ran onto the court. She wasn't seriously injured but should more be done to keep fans from storming the court after games. We're going to discuss coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:09] SANCHEZ: Just one day until voters in New Hampshire head to the polls, and Donald Trump opted to go to court rather than stay on the campaign trail. It just so happens his trial proceedings were postponed because of COVID concerns, and a sick juror. But Trump's decision still begs the question: Does the former president see more value in being inside a courtroom versus out with voters campaigning?

Let's discuss with former Trump White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Anthony, thank you so much for being with us. I'm curious to get your reaction to this decision by Trump, again choosing the courtroom over the campaign trail. Is it good politics?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I do think it's good politics for him. Listen, whatever you think of President Trump, rightly or wrongly, he has great political instincts, and I think his instincts here are that he's a victim and that this is a specious case. The more time he spends inside the courtroom, the more sympathy and strength he gets from his ardent supporters. So, it seems to be working for him now. Obviously, they cancelled the --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:00]