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Trump, Haley Battling For NH Voters One Day Before Primary; Supreme Court Allows Biden Admin To Remove Razor Wire On Border; Judge Puts Deposition Of DA Fani Willis On Hold In Divorce Case Of Lead Trump Prosecutor. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 22, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:42]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And then there were two, Nikki Haley and former president, Trump, making their final pitches to voters in New Hampshire one day before the state's pivotal primary.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, a divorce that could impact Trump's election subversion case in Georgia. The latest on this drama involving the district attorney and her lead prosecutor.

And the CEO of a baby clothing company is under fire after apologizing twice for not letting this mom whose infant was in intensive care work from home.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Welcome back to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. I'm Boris Sanchez alongside Brianna Keilar in Washington, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.

The final push for New Hampshire where voters in the Republican primary are going to have a binary choice now when they get to the polls tomorrow morning. Do they pull the lever for Donald Trump or Nikki Haley? Is there still a lever? Do they use levers or something like that?

KEILAR: No, but I like to think of it like that.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: Right?

SANCHEZ: Metaphorical lever.

KEILAR: Metaphorical lever.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: And this is the face-off that Haley has wanted and right now she's zigzagging through the state arguing that she is the one fit to lead a new generation of GOP leadership. Later tonight the former president is also going to be in New Hampshire. He'll rally with the help of a few GOP candidates who dropped out earlier in the race.

We have our reporters all along the campaign trail: Alayna Treene there and Kylie Atwood as well.

Kylie, to you first, Haley can directly take on Trump now, so what is her closing message in New Hampshire?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, she's hitting the campaign trail incredibly hard. We're here at a brewery where she just left. She was sitting in the pub here with voters asking personally for their vote. That has been what she's been doing over the course of the last few days here going to coffee shops, going to schools, pouring beers, holding babies, I mean we're really seeing it all from Nikki Haley.

And her message is really a resounding memory of what she's been talking about over the last 11 months of her campaign that she is the future. She is the next generational leader. We've seen her crank up some of her critiques of former president Trump going after his mental fitness over the weekend, but also today telling voters on the campaign trail that he's talking about vendettas, he's talking about the past, casting him as someone who brings chaos which she has also been saying throughout the entirety of this campaign.

And as there are folks who are questioning the future of her campaign, because even though it is a one-on-one race there are questions about how competitive she can be with former president, Trump, she is downplaying any of that doubt saying this earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've watched the entire political elite yesterday and today. I've watched the entire media elite yesterday and today say that I should drop out for the good of the country to support Donald Trump.

CROWD: Boo.

HALEY: We believe in choices so let's get everybody out to vote let's show all of the media class in the political class that we've got a different plan in mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now, her campaign for their part says in the last 24 hours or so since Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race, they have brought in half a million dollars and that's growing in terms of new support that they are getting from grassroots supporters. They feel like they could get some of his support. But, of course, he did endorse former president, Trump.

I talked to someone in this room who was deciding between DeSantis and Nikki Haley is now going for Haley because this person wanted a younger option, wanted to vote for someone who is next generational but we'll have to see how that six percent that Ron DeSantis had in the state breaks down tomorrow as she competes in a state that is high critical for her.

SANCHEZ: Alayna, I'm curious to get your perspective on something that Haley said. It's interesting that she's painting Donald Trump as the choice of the political and in her words media elite.

[15:05:00]

But Trump, I think, is welcoming all these endorsements as a boon, right? What are you hearing from his campaign?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yes, they are welcoming it and it is pretty remarkable. I mean, in just the last 10 days, Boris and Brianna, you've seen four of Donald Trump's former presidential primary rivals come out and endorse him in Iowa last weekend or - it feels like longer ago, it was last weekend. Doug Burgum, the North Dakota governor joined Trump on stage and offered his endorsement.

The next day or on caucus night in Iowa, Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out, endorsed Donald Trump. You saw Tim Scott appear with Trump on Friday here in New Hampshire, also offering his endorsement. Something the Trump campaign really played up and tried to make a moment. And then, obviously, yesterday Ron DeSantis suspending his campaign and immediately endorsing the former president as well.

And this is something that the Trump campaign is touting. We heard Donald Trump at a rally last night in Rochester say that we are now seeing the party unite behind me and this is the time for Nikki Haley to drop out. Take a listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Get your neighbors, get your family, get everybody, you got to vote, because we have to win by big margins. We have to let them know this is a movement.

Tomorrow I go to that. I do the court thing and then I come back and I make a speech tomorrow night and hopefully that should wrap it up, because we are so far ahead. It's incredible. We have to win on Tuesday.

Vivek just came with us and now Ron just came with us. They're all coming with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: "They're all coming with us," that is how Donald Trump is putting it. And look, again, they're going to be playing this up in a big way tonight at his rally as well. You're going to see some of these candidates, Burgum, Ramaswamy, Tim Scott all appear onstage with Donald Trump.

We are told, though, that DeSantis is not going to be there. My colleague, Kristen Holmes, has learned that while he's not expected tonight, the Trump campaign had reached out and offered him an invitation to join Donald Trump on the campaign in the future. So, again, they are leaning in on all of these endorsements.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene, Kylie Atwood, thank you both so much.

We have some Breaking News into CNN out of the Supreme Court. This is a major battle between the Biden administration and Texas.

CNN's Joan Biskupic is joining us now. And Joan, the Supreme Court here by a five to four decision allowing the U.S. Border Patrol to remove razor wire that was deployed by the state of Texas at the border. This is while the legal challenge to this dispute now plays out in court, right, Joan?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: That's right. And we've been waiting for this decision. This has been going on for several weeks where the state of Texas, Gov. Abbott has been blocking the Biden administration Border Patrol at the border in Texas. This is a long simmering immigration battle and it rose from lower judges blocking the administration from taking down the razor wire.

And today, by a five to four vote along largely ideological lines, the Supreme Court has allowed the Biden administration to continue having access to the border and to take down that razor wire.

And let me tell you about the split, Boris and Brianna. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh all dissented from this order.

Now, this all started in December, and since early January the Biden administration had been urging the Supreme Court to intervene and to block the order that kept its border control agents from getting to a stretch of the border along the Rio Grande and to continue taking down this right razor wire.

And we know how contentious this has been, but it's also been the kind of situation that has caused a lot of injury and deaths in the middle of this controversy a woman and two children drowned and the Biden administration said it needed access to this area and to the river to - for safety reasons and to, frankly, to carry out the Border Patrol's mission.

KEILAR: And Joan, you said this is what is going to be in place, is this had worked - as this had worked its way out, obviously, for the decision, how does this go forward?

BISKUPIC: Okay. So there's still an underlying battle in uh lower federal courts, Brianna, a fight over Texas' effort to block the Border Patrol from doing its job at the border, saying it wants - it - Texas is obviously trying to discourage migrants for - coming to the U.S. and coming to its state. This is a battle that's played out in so many different ways and this one happens to involve the razor wire.

And so what happened in the middle of this litigation was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an order that said that the Border Patrol couldn't take down the razor wire that the Abbott administration had insisted on putting up.

[15:10:10]

And that was the - it was a very discreet issue involving this razor wire and the danger it was presenting in the mind of the Biden administration to its agents, and to migrants and to many people right there in the border.

So litigation will continue, Brianna, but the key thing is that the Supreme Court has sided with the administration at this phase of the case saying that the Border Patrol can continue taking down what it views as very dangerous razor wire right there at the river.

KEILAR: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: Closely decided.

SANCHEZ: Right.

KEILAR: Five to four there.

BISKUPIC: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BISKUPIC: And here's one other thing, we've been waiting for this for weeks and we presumed that there was a lot of tension behind the scenes because this has been going on for weeks with no answer. And I think this vote today, five to four, shows that there was some issue and maybe the four dissenters thought they could pick up a fifth vote and end up siding with Gov. Abbott in the state of Texas to have to have its way there right there on the border, Brianna, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes. And notably, justices Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the Liberals in this decision, one chapter of a broader fight between the state of Texas and the Biden administration

Joan Biskupic, thanks so much for the update.

BISKUPIC: Sure.

KEILAR: All right. Let's talk now with former Texas Republican congressman and former GOP candidate, Will Hurd.

First off, your reaction to this ruling.

WILL HURD, FORMER TEXAS REP.: Well, my reaction to this ruling is very simple, the Biden administration needs to be cooperating with the state of Texas on how to secure our border. Border Patrol doesn't have enough manpower in order to secure it and they should be working with Gov. Abbott and his team on this, not trying to fight.

Now, also for your viewers, this is talking about a very specific areas of the border. It's not the entire border where this debate is coming in. And ultimately, this is a problem that Donald Trump started and it has gotten significantly worse under President Biden and we need to be working together on this issue not fighting each other for political gain.

KEILAR: Okay. And I mean, look, it's a crisis at the border, I think we can agree on that. When you say they should be working with the state at the border, this particular Shelby Park area ...

HURD: Mm-hm.

KEILAR: ... the state officials have been keeping the federal officials out, so is that an accurate representation of how they should be working together?

HURD: Well, it's accurate to say they have been keeping him out, but this notion that the Texas officials didn't do their job is inappropriate and inaccurate. And the reality is Texas is trying to deter people from coming, the Biden administration is attracting people to come and it starts with the Biden administration has gotten asylum all wrong, they're reading the rules wrong and they're not recognizing that asylum.

You have to be part of a protected class and you have to be targeted because you're part of that protected class. And coming to the United States because you want a better paying job is not a reason for asylum. And until that changes, you can continue to see millions of people coming into our country illegally

Oh, and by the way, Democrats in Congress are not willing to work on streamlining legal immigration which would be helpful for all the industries that that need workers. Unfortunately, everybody is trying to use this as a political bludgeon because it's a political year rather than in trying to solve the problem.

KEILAR: Yes. I will say the Republican bill in the House doesn't do a whole lot on that front either to be clear. I do want to pivot now to the New Hampshire primary to talk with you about that.

HURD: Sure.

KEILAR: You are backing Nikki Haley, of course. She is 13 points behind in New Hampshire according to this latest CNN-UNH poll. How are you viewing that? Do you have concerns that Trump has widened the gap?

HURD: No, I don't have concerns. Guess what, it's individuals, voters that make this decision not pollsters. And even if you get into the details of the poll that y'all did at CNN, you show - it shows the kinds of people that they turn out a Nikki Haley can win. Nikki has - Ambassador Haley has been saying this is a two-person race. She's showing it. She's barn storming New Hampshire for the last, what, six, seven days.

The crowds are - we always talk about crowd size now. Her crowds - there's more people at her events than Donald Trump. We're seeing that cognitive decline of Donald Trump. That is only going to continue. Probably one of the reasons why he's been afraid to debate and why he's lying about Ambassador Haley, so this is - could this comes down to turnout.

And the Granite Staters know the role that they play for the rest of the country and we're going to see them come out to vote.

[15:15:01]

And guess what? This is not decided, despite what polls say, despite what some of your friends and peers in the media say. This is about voters coming out and asking the question, do we want chaos and drama for four more years or do we want a new generational leader that's looking to the future.

KEILAR: I do want to ask you - we were just talking about the border. We're talking about Nikki Haley. So let's talk about how she would govern, specifically, on the border. Haley has said that Trump is lying about if she wants a border wall, saying that she doesn't want just a border wall. During your time in Congress, you described a border wall, I think it - in the concept of how Donald Trump envisions one, which is pretty much stretching along the whole border, as a third century solution to a 21st century problem. How do you think then that she would see this? And it sounds like she still does want a wall.

HURD: Look, in some places, a physical barrier makes sense and put a physical barrier in those places. But you also need to do things like address the abuse of asylum laws, like you have to ensure that Border Patrol has the manpower and the technology to secure the border. You have to address root causes in many of these places that historically have - has caused people to come here illegally.

So Ambassador Haley has made it very clear, she wants to make sure using all the tools in the toolkit, which include a physical barrier, which includes technology, manpower and that's how we actually solve this problem.

KEILAR: But a physical barrier like Trump envisions, which as you've clear about how you envision is not a good idea.

HURD: Well, no. Look, a physical barrier, a wall, a fence, whatever you want to call it, we already have that in many places and there's some places where you need more of that, right? And so Ambassador Haley has been clear. It's just use the right tool in the right place.

And the problem is Donald Trump only talks about one tool and he only focuses on one tool. He doesn't talk about all the other elements that need to happen. Ambassador Haley talks about the drugs that are coming into our country. The majority of that is coming in between our ports of entry.

We got to address that issue as well, too. And so this is a complicated problem that requires a number of different solutions. And that's what she's advocating for and that's why she's having so many people show up to her events because they recognize we want someone who's talking about solutions and not just complaining and crying about the past. KEILAR: Well, former Congressman Will Hurd, it was sort of serendipitous that you, as a Texas Republican, former member of the House, were with us as that decision came down. Thank you so much for being with us ahead of this big day tomorrow. We appreciate it.

HURD: Always a pleasure.

KEILAR: And still to come, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, she will not have to testify for now. Anyways, her deposition in the divorce proceedings of her lead prosecutor in the Georgia election subversion case put on pause. We're going to tell you why.

SANCHEZ: And later, New Hampshire Democrats are holding an unofficial primary on Tuesday, but President Biden's name won't be on the ballot. We'll explain why when we come back on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:22:34]

KEILAR: We have some new developments out of Georgia, a judge ruling today that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will not have to testify yet, anyways, in the divorce case of special prosecutor Nathan Wade. He's the lead prosecutor on former President Trump's election subversion case there in Georgia.

SANCHEZ: Remember, Wade was appointed by Willis back in 2021 and they're now being accused of carrying a romantic relationship.

CNN's Nick Valencia joins us live from Atlanta.

Nick, walk us through the judge's ruling here.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fani Willis has been given a pass in this deposition, but she's not entirely in the clear just yet. Her lead prosecutor will have to be deposed first in his divorce proceedings before the judge says that he could make a ruling or decision one way or another if Fani Willis has unique information that's relevant to this case.

Another headline that emerged from today's divorce proceedings was that Nathan Wade's divorce proceeding records would be unsealed. And this is significant because the attorney here in this case, Trump's racketeering case, one of the co-defendants, made this allegation that Wade and Willis were involved in this improper relationship in a motion to try to get this case dismissed.

That attorney, Ashley Merchant, said that if her wish is granted for these divorce records to be unsealed, she could further prove this claim. It is still yet to be seen, though. We're still waiting for these records to be unsealed, which could happen at any moment, Boris and Brianna.

KEILAR: And how might this impact the election subversion case that Willis and Wade are prosecuting against Trump? VALENCIA: Well, that's yet to be seen, but at the very least, it is a distraction. Look, the district attorney here would much rather be talking about the infamous phone call made by the former president to the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, after he lost the 2020 election. She would much rather be talking about the fake elector scheme involving the former president and his operatives to try to subvert the electoral college and try to send him and qualify him as the unrightful winner of the 2020 election. She'd much rather be talking about this alleged illegal data breach in Coffee County by some of Trump's operatives to voting machines in rural Coffee County.

Instead, this is now the focus of this. Meanwhile, there is still a hearing that's yet to be set. Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the Trump racketeering case, says he wants Fani Willis to address these allegations in open court and has signaled that he's going to schedule a hearing sometime for early to mid-February, Boris, Brianna.

SANCHEZ: Nick Valencia, thanks so much for the update.

KEILAR: President Biden's name will not be on the ballot for tomorrow's Democratic primary in New Hampshire, but a group of supporters is trying to make sure that he wins anyway.

[15:25:06]

A top New Hampshire Democrat will tell us about the write-in campaign, next.

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[15:29:51]

SANCHEZ: One key name missing from the Democratic ballot in tomorrow's New Hampshire primary, President Joe Biden. The DNC changed the election calendar for 2024, moving the Granite State's first-in-the- nation primary after South Carolina, and that angered many New Hampshire politicians who decided to.