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New Attacks in Yemen on Sites Held by Houthis Carried Out by U.S. and U.K.; 2024 U.S. Election; Haley Faces High Stakes in New Hampshire Primary; 2024 Oscar Nominations Released; Voting in New Hampshire Primary Currently Underway; In Vital Primary in New Hampshire, Haley Attempting to Defeat Trump. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired January 23, 2024 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We'll have much more of our special coverage of the first in the nation primary in New Hampshire, that's coming up. But there's also other very important news we are following right now, including the U.S. and the U.K. carrying out a new round of strikes against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.
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BLITZER: According to senior U.S. and U.K. military and defense officials, they struck eight sites and successfully destroyed missiles, drones, and weapons storage facilities. It's the eighth round of attacks by the U.S. military in just over 10 days.
CNN National Security Reporter Natasha Bertrand is over at the Pentagon for us. Natasha, what was the U.S. going after here specifically?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, Wolf, according to a joint statement from the countries involved in this operation, they were targeting a Houthi underground storage facility, as well as different locations associated with Houthi missile and air surveillance capabilities.
[10:35:00]
And as you said, this was the eighth time that the U.S. has conducted strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, and it was the second time that the U.S. has conducted these kinds of operations jointly with the United Kingdom.
Now, the U.S. says at this point that they do believe these strikes were successful. They hit roughly eight different locations inside Yemen, and they say that they successfully hit the targets that they were intending to go after. But the question now, of course, is whether it is going to sufficiently deter the Houthis from future attacks, because the U.S. has been conducting these strikes pretty regularly, and the Houthis have continued to launch strikes into the Red Sea on commercial shipping there.
So, the question now is whether this is going to be enough. The Houthis have been able to maintain a significant portion of their capabilities, but the U.S. points out that they haven't seen a missile or drone launch from the Houthis since January 18th, which is very promising, according to officials we spoke to. Wolf.
BLITZER: We shall see. All right. Natasha Bertrand of the Pentagon for us. Thank you very much.
Just ahead, Nikki Haley is facing what could be her last chance to pull off a major upset against Donald Trump today. We're going to break down what needs to happen.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just feel she has a shot, especially now that DeSantis is gone, I think that between her and Trump, I think Nikki's got a -- she's got a good chance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems like she wants to sustain her campaign, at least with South Carolina, so that gives me hope.
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[10:40:00]
BLITZER: So, will Nikki Haley's campaign gain momentum or will it hit a major snag? A lot is certainly riding on what happens in New Hampshire today. CNN's Phil Mattingly is joining us now to help break down what needs to happen in order for Nikki Haley to pull off a major upset.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: There is a reason why Nikki Haley and her campaign have focused on New Hampshire. It is a very different demographic and socioeconomic profile than what we saw in Iowa. Here's the map right now, obviously, not much is filled in. Just one township, Dixville Notch, obviously every cycle at midnight, we see the votes there. Nikki Haley pulling all six of the votes in Dixville Notch. That is not indicative of what's about to happen, Wolf, but it is a good start to the day for Nikki Haley, as she said a number of times.
But as the rest of these townships fill in, what you are going to need to watch is a couple things. One, why did the Haley campaign decide that this is where they needed to play? Well, not only did they decide, they spent a huge amount of money. Well, $29 million, almost double what Donald Trump and his aligned groups have spent because they knew Iowa, not necessarily made for Nikki Haley. New Hampshire, on the other hand, very much was.
What do we mean by that? Look at the education in this state. Nearly 50 percent of individuals who live in New Hampshire are college graduates, that's about 11 percent higher than it was in Iowa. Also, the income threshold in this state is significantly higher, more than 50 percent make more than $125,000 a year. These are suburban voters. These are educated voters. These are the voters that Nikki Haley believes she can make inroads with.
Here's the issues that they will run into. This is back in 2016. Donald Trump won 35 percent of the vote in the state. The person he beat, John Kasich -- well, if you will remember this, he basically took up residence in the state of New Hampshire over the course of the months leading up to the primary. He did win a number of townships. Those are the types of townships when you look over here at the pink where he was able to edge Donald Trump out in various places. These are the types of townships that are demographically aligned where Nikki Haley wants to be.
This is Peterborough right here. Not a huge township. You see 274 votes to 269 votes, but this is higher income. This is higher education. So, Nikki Haley not only needs to hit on these counties that John Kasich won back in 2016, but she needs to expand out.
And here's where the problem lies if you are the Haley campaign right now, if you go into places like Manchester. This is the biggest population center in the state. It's where a lot of our people are right now. It's where I was just yesterday. This is a place where Democrats in a general election usually win. Donald Trump dominated this township back in 2016.
Here's what we're going to be watching for tonight. Flip down just a little bit, one township over into Bedford County. This is where Donald Trump actually won by 12 points, Wolf, back in 2016. If you look at the education makeup of this township, this is prime Nikki Haley demographics right here. 73.6 percent are college graduates. It's higher income as well. Watch Bedford. If Bedford moves heavily towards Nikki Haley, unlike what happened in 2016, that will be a sign that what they were looking for in the Haley campaign is starting to happen.
The other thing to keep a very close eye on, Wolf, you'll remember this is now more and more turning into a democratic state. Joe Biden winning handily back in 2020. We're talking about Democrats voting, but where Democrats strongholds are, these types of areas down here where you see the blue. That's where Biden won. That's also where suburban voters are. That's where voters who are undeclared but might want to come out and vote for Nikki Haley. That's where they will -- where they will need to rack up big vote. And that's the final point that I want to make here.
When you look at the voter registration, we've been talking about this now for several weeks since we came out of Iowa, and that is there are undeclared voters in this state, and that matters. That means that they are not Democrat or Republican. That means they can walk in with their ballots and decide which way they want to go. The Haley campaign needs this number, 343,000 to break in a huge way because Donald Trump's dominance in this number, the Republican number, is very clear.
If that breaks major towards Nikki Haley, there's a possibility of a very real race. If it doesn't Donald Trump is walking away with the second victory.
BLITZER: We'll be watching that undeclared number very, very closely. Excellent report, Phil. Thank you very, very much.
And still ahead, the Oscar nominations are now in. The movies and the actors vying for that coveted gold statue that's coming up next.
[10:45:00]
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SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: All right. With us now, New Hampshire Union Leader and State House Bureau Chief and also New Hampshire Press Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Kevin Landrigan and Boston Globe Politics Reporter Emma Platoff (INAUDIBLE).
Thank you both for being here. I'm going to start with you, Kevin. We were just talking about -- we're in a very interesting time. I think the word you used was bizarre. Explain.
KEVIN LANDRIGAN, STATE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, NEW HAMPSHIRE UNION LEADER: Well, I've done 12 presidential primaries. I'm sure I don't look that old, Sara.
SIDNER: Not at all.
LANDRIGAN: But this one is the most unusual in that you have a sitting president who's not on the ballot and isn't really running here. And you have a former president on the other side of the ballot who's sucking all the oxygen out of this race ever since the very beginning.
[10:50:00]
Making it so difficult for all these candidates to get traction such that we're left with only one candidate left on election day. That's never happened in modern history in New Hampshire in either party.
SIDNER: I'm curious, Emma, listening to that. What you're hearing from people and how they're responding to this. Because there are two big things happening at the same time. You've got a right-hand candidate who is the current president. And you have another candidate who really, I mean, we are down to two candidates at the very beginning.
EMMA PLATOFF, POLITICS REPORTER, BOSTON GLOBE: Right, this is the last best chance for Nikki Haley. As she said, it's the last best chance for anyone in the Republican Party who doesn't want Trump to be the nominee. And as the point you made, this is a slower New Hampshire presidential primary than we're used to seeing.
You know, one event maybe from Donald Trump when he's not in court in New York. Nikki Haley picking up the pace a little bit over the weekend doing a lot of retail stops with the popular governor here, Chris Sununu. But it's not the type of cycle we've seen in the past, and I think that raises really big questions about enthusiasm as we wait to see the polls tonight.
SIDNER: We were hearing from the Secretary of State earlier this morning who said he believes this is going to be a record turnout. Do you think the same? We are seeing lots of numbers, lots of people coming out.
LANDRIGAN: Right. Well, he's saying a record turnout on the Republican side --
SIDNER: Republican side, correct.
LANDRIGAN: -- remember that? And it would be a record, and it probably will be a record, frankly, because it's going to be so low on the Democratic side. If you're an independent, you really want to play in this party unless you feel so threatened by Trump as the next president for another four years that you decide, OK, I'm going to send a message and write in Joe Biden's name or vote for another Democrat on that side of the ballot.
We -- Emma's right. We've seen less energy than we usually see in presidential primaries in the past because of what I spoke of. But the voters have been coming out for months, and then -- and you have to give them a lot of credit for that. They really checked all these folks out, whether it was Ron DeSantis or Chris Christie or now Nikki Haley.
I think the problem always for Nikki Haley has been, if you're running against a frontrunner and you're trying to attract independent voters against someone so popular with the base, you have to find an issue on which you can turn those voters out.
John McCain did this in 2000. He talked about the deficit, when people were so upset about the deficit. And frankly, Pat Buchanan did this to President George H. Bush. Buchanan lost the primary, but he got 40 percent of the vote. He talked about jobs being sold to China. All these jobs going on. The economic nationalism messages. It really resonated there. Haley has been unable to create that. That issue that would get people pulling to her because she's such a contrast with Trump.
SIDNER: We are talking about the very first primary and there are two Republicans that are on the ballot. DeSantis dropped out over the weekend. What do you see happening with those votes? Because some people have already voted, and I know they can go to the polls afterwards and they can vote for who is now on the ballot. What do you see happening with the votes that went to him initially?
PLATOFF: DeSantis wasn't a huge factor in this primary even before he dropped out. You know, it was sort of a two-person race, and now it's officially a two-person race. We know from polling that we've done at the Globe that the majority of DeSantis supporters told us Donald Trump was their second choice over Nikki Haley, so the numbers would tell us that we, you know, should see them breaking that way.
But I also -- I was at, actually, Nikki Haley's event on Sunday when the news broke of DeSantis exit, and folks there were really optimistic that DeSantis voters didn't want to vote for Trump. They wanted someone young, they wanted someone new, and so they're hopeful that some of those people will come their way.
SIDNER: I do want to ask you, Kevin, because you talked about independents, and there have been -- we've talked to quite a few independents, that's what the state is known for. But if those numbers are very high, if people who have not committed to either party have decided, all right, I'm coming out. What do you think -- who do you think they're going to vote for?
LANDRIGAN: Well, there's certain, the polls say they're going to vote for Nikki Haley and not Donald Trump. But they have to -- he has such an advantage among this Republican core base that she needs to win the dependence today, like two and a half to one against Trump in order to eke out a victory here, which would be a complete shock and be unprecedented, by the way, for somebody to get that kind of supermajority support among swing voters against a former president. That's a really high bar.
What she also needs today is not a large turnout. She needs a seismic turnout. One that we're not even talking about right now. Secretary of State Scanlan says 320,000. She needs 350,000, 360,000. People who don't even usually vote every four years in a presidential race, in the primary, to get off the couch and say, the stakes are too high, the choices are between two.
And what New Hampshire likes to do is not end the race, basically not allow the establishment to decide, OK, it's going to be Trump, or OK, it's going to be Clinton. We like to give people a choice, the rest of America. And Nikki Haley's hoping she gets enough of those votes tonight.
SIDNER: And we will all be watching that.
Emma, I want to lastly ask you, if Nikki Haley does not rise to the occasion, in other words, if her numbers are just so much lower than we're expecting, if she doesn't win or she doesn't even get close. Is it over?
[10:55:00]
Is this now literally a two-person race, Donald Trump and potentially Joe Biden?
PLATOFF: Well, we've certainly seen Nikki Haley over the past few days here try to manage just that expectation that you're mentioning. There's been questions about could she win New Hampshire? How close the second could she come in behind Donald Trump? But what she said is, I always wanted just to be stronger here than I was in Iowa, and then go into South Carolina even stronger. We do expect her, of course, to finish at, you know, vanishingly, got to be a second place here which would be stronger than Iowa.
So, she's setting the course for her campaign to continue no matter how it goes tonight, and we will see what her decision is tomorrow. SIDNER: We will all be watching. It is bizarre and exciting because it's bizarre. Kevin Landrigan, Emma Platoff, thank you so much for coming in to this fantastic cafe. I've been eating since the moment I got in here. Appreciate you. Much more on this pivotal day in New Hampshire coming up next.
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