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U.S. Supreme Court Likely to Rule on Whether Colorado Can Remove Donald Trump from Republican Presidential Primary Ballot; President Biden Gives Interview During Which He States Donald Trump Will Not Conceded Presidential Election Loss in 2024; Police Release Body Camera Video Showing Illinois Officers Shooting Man Inside His Home. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 04, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, if you've ever seen him in person, you just realized how high that really is.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, exactly right.

SIDNER: Derek Van Dam, thank you very, very much.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Supreme Court jumping into the presidential race like we haven't seen in two decades. A historic ruling could be coming in the next two hours. Here on CNN, we are standing by to see if Donald Trump will stay on the ballot in several well stay.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I am the only one who has ever beat him and I'll beat him again. Brand new this morning, a ray, riveting, and revealing new interview with President Biden as he faces his last campaign.

SIDNER: Plus, Eras tour trouble? Taylor Swift facing backlash after striking an exclusive multimillion dollar deal with Singapore that's left millions of fans in other parts of southeast Asia unable to see her.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: It is decision day for the Supreme Court, but will it be an election altering decision day? This morning, the justices are expected to hand down a decision, and it could be on the questions that have been swirling on whether Donald Trump can remain on Colorado's presidential ballot, or if the state can kick them off. Not since Bush v. Gore, 24 years ago, has the Supreme Court been so directly involved in a presidential race.

CNN's Paula Reid and Joan Biskupic standing by for this big moment. Paula, can you lay out what is at stake this morning for everyone?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So of course, the Supreme Court does not tell us which opinions they are going to release, but we widely expected today that they will release their decision on former President Trump's ballot eligibility. That's a little surprising that its' been almost a month now since this case was argued, but it's a case with enormous significance, especially as voters across the country head to their primary polling locations tomorrow for Super Tuesday, including the state of Colorado.

If you remember how this case played out at the Supreme Court several weeks ago, former President Trump's lawyer did pretty well. Not only did the law really appear to be on his side, but the justices on bolds sides of the aisle appeared willing to agree with a lot of what he was saying. So it's widely expected that he will likely win in this case, but it's not clear exactly how, why it's taken so long, how difficult it might have been for Chief Justice John Roberts to build some sort of consensus behind the scenes. And we'll be looking to see how narrow that consensus is.

It's also expected that once this is a decided that what they decide will also apply to other states, because of course, we have seen in Illinois and Maine, they have also tried to remove former President Trump from the ballot.

But this is, as you noted, its one of the most significant election- related cases since Bush v. Gore. But unlike those cases, of course, they're not deciding the outcome of an election. They're just deciding who can appear on the ballot.

BOLDUAN: All right, Paula, thank you so much.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

We are going to bring in our Joan Biskupic now because ahead of this potential ruling that we all think is going to happen being that the vote is happening tomorrow, they've already been some major context clues from the justices about how they might rule. What can you tell us?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. I think it was pretty clear on February 8th, Sara, that the justices are going to reverse the Colorado Supreme Court by a nearly unanimous if not a complete nine-zero bottom line. The court's rationale then will be something to look at, because I think the sentiment from most of the justices across ideological and political lines earlier in February was that they just don't think it should be up to individual states to keep a candidate for president off a ballot in a way that were reverberate nationwide.

So I think what you've got for sure is going to be unit reversing the Colorado Supreme Court that found that Donald Trump should be disqualified from the ballot as an insurrectionist. But exactly how we're not sure. I think it's going to come down to that some sort of congressional authorization would be needed before Section Three of the 14th Amendment is invoked. And that's the key provision here that says that no one who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution we then engages in an insurrection or rebellion shall hold future office. So I think two key things. States on their own can't do this, needs some sort of congressional authorization.

[08:05:00]

And then finally, Sara, I do not think we are going to get any kind of decision that says whether Donald Trump engaged in insurrection or not. The sentiment back on February 8th was that the justices do not want to go there. And the way this case is framed, they do not have to. Now, Colorado lower court judges did find that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection that culminated on January 6th, 2021, with the attack on the Capitol. But I don't think this Supreme Court is going to comment on that at all, Sara.

SIDNER: Can you give us a sense, if the Supreme Court rules a way that you think they're going to rule just because of the context that you have read, and you you've watched this court very closely, can you give us a sense of what this means to the states? There are a lot of states in limbo, if you will. Will all of those cases just basically be null and void and they, they drop them, or what happens?

BISKUPIC: Well, lower courts in those states now will be able to look to what the Supreme Court did and apply it in their particular situations. There's two states in particular that would follow on this, and that would be Maine and Illinois. Those are the only two states, Sara, that ruled in any way like Colorado. Now, only in Colorado did it go to the state's highest court with a clear resolution. So other states would now follow suit.

But I have to say, Sara, for all practical purposes, Donald Trump's name has never been removed from any ballots at this point. He's been disqualified, but those decisions were put on hold pending what the U.S. Supreme Court says.

SIDNER: Joan Biskupic, we will be watching it, and I know you will be watching the closest. Appreciate you. John?

BERMAN: A new rare Oval Office interview just released with President Biden. The president says he does not expect Donald Trump to concede if, or as he put it, when he loses. And he says, quote, "Losers are never graceful."

Police shot a man in his bedroom. We have just released body camera video. That video has his family calling for officers to be charged in his death.

And dramatic images of a volcano eruption on the Galapagos Islands. Get Charles Darwin on the phone.

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[08:11:39]

BOLDUAN: President Biden in a new interview is laying out what he sees as the stakes and also the warning signs of this election. It was a rare Oval Office sit down. And speaking with "The New Yorker's" Evan Osnos, Biden addressed many things, including the growing doubts in him from some in his own party, saying, quote, "I'm the only one who has ever beat him and I'll beat him again." Biden also says that he doesn't think Donald Trump is going to concede the election if he loses, saying that Trump will, quote, do anything to win. And also losers who are losers are never graceful.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House for us. Arlette, a very -- it was a long sit down. It's a very long profile about this sit down from Evan Osnos. What more is the president saying? What are you hearing?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, this interview really offers a window into President Biden thinking as the 2024 campaign is underway. It's very rare that he sits down for an interview in the Oval Office and rare that he sits down for an interview with print reporters, but he did so with "New Yorker's" Evan Osnos where he talked about the stakes of this election. The president really said that he is driven to run for reelection by two things. One, he believes that he has accomplishments that he can tout and has provided benefits for the American people. He argues that those benefits are just starting to kick in now and will need more time to come to fruition.

But also, the president believes that he can beat former President Donald Trump. He said that he did it once back in 2020, one of the only people to be Trump, and that he does believe he can do it again.

Now, this interview comes, these comments come as the president is facing very close polling in hypothetical head-to-head matchups with Trump. And also, there are voters, including some Democrats, harboring questions about the president's age and his ability to serve a second term.

But in this interview, the president also spoke about what's at stake if Trump -- if Biden wins and Trump were to not concede. He said that he fully expects that Trump would not concede again, just as he did back in 2020, saying in that interview, you read part of that quote where he said "Losers who are losers are never graceful. I just think that he'll do anything to try to win. If and when I win, I think he'll contest it no matter what the result is."

We have heard Biden use similar language in the past, calling -- referring to Trump as a loser, calling him an election denier in chief. And recent polling has found that the American public also believes that Trump would not concede if Biden were to win. A CNN, recent CNN poll released found that only 25 percent of Americans say they expect Trump will accept the results those of a loss if he were to lose to Biden. That is actually down from 37 percent in October. So the president really speaking to what is at stake here in this election, what would happen, once again, if Trump were not to concede if Biden were to win, as he is trying to make this case and present this contrast with the former president as voters are trying to make up their minds heading into November.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Arlette. Thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN political commentator and former Trump White House communications director, Alyssa Farah Griffin. I'm the only one who has ever beat him, and I will beat him again. I

know from my own reporting that that is something that President Biden firmly believes. Not only that, he firmly believes he's the only one who could have beaten him before and perhaps beat him again. What do you think of that?

[08:15:00]

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's actually a very Trumpian statement. It kind of reminds me of "I alone can fix it." I mean, it's demonstrably untrue.

Generic Democrats have performed better against Donald Trump head-to- head than Joe Biden has and in reading this piece, you can't tell if it's defiance or denial, or maybe a mix of both in the president.

I mean, even the strategic decision respectfully to sit down with "The New Yorker," love "The New Yorker," longtime subscriber, is this moving votes in Wayne County, Michigan or Bucks County, Pennsylvania? It seems like the target audience isn't even who he is reaching and giving this sweeping and longstanding interview that probably took hours out of the president's schedule.

BERMAN: The audience may be the media, as the State of the Union address approaches, Thursday night, in that context, maybe it does make sense.

You raise the curtain on this giant week and you perhaps raise expectations. Evan Osnos in the piece writes: "He often says of Biden, I feel so much younger than my age. In the early years of his presidency, when people asked him about his age, his stock response was, 'watch me.' He doesn't say that as much anymore. Grudgingly, painfully, he may be coming to terms with the reality that people don't see him the way he hopes they will."

Again, so addressing the age issue head on, put that in the context of this week with the State of the Union address. What does he have to do?

GRIFFIN: He has got to sell a forward-looking vision. So to give President Biden some credit, he has done remarkable progress on the economy. The economy is objectively doing better on most macro measures -- the stock market, unemployment -- but for a lot of Americans grocery prices. That is what is impacting them most directly and it is why people don't actually feel like the economy is as good as it is performing.

Immigration, Joe Biden was behind the eight ball on this. It is the number one issue for the vast majority of voters. He now does have a bill, but he needs to be able to call out Congress and specifically House Republicans for blocking it.

But he also needs to talk about the future, not just wait for my actions to kick in, it's going to get better. He's got to have some kind of forward looking vision.

BERMAN: What about the performance art insofar as it relates to his age?

GRIFFIN: It's -- I mean, listen, it's hard. I think the best line that he had to date was the one saying, you know, I would take old over old ideas, juxtapose some of the more backward looking ideas of the GOP, for example, this whole idea over IVF that's really come to the forefront, but even around reproductive health, that's something where I think you could get voters to say, yes, he might be old, but his ideas are closer to where I am.

BERMAN: So when it comes to age, obviously, the new polls that came out this weekend have a whole bunch of numbers that are not great for President Biden, the candidate is too old to be president.

I'm too old to be an effective president, 73 percent say that Biden is too old, only 42 percent say that Donald Trump is and or yet or but, over the weekend, Donald Trump in his public speeches continues to interchange or mix up President Biden and Barack Obama. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And Putin, you know, has so little respect for Obama that he's starting to throw around the nuclear word, you heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So he does that all the time, mixes them up in speeches.

Listen, you worked inside the White House, you saw Donald Trump firsthand when he is albeit four years or several years younger, at least. How much does he mix up facts and the like?

GRIFFIN: I have said this before, he is not as sharp as he was in 2016 and not even as sharp as he was in 2020. For some reason, that doesn't necessarily come across to voters the same way, but Donald Trump is not the strongest fighter that Republicans could have right now and it is remarkable how much voters don't see the age as also an issue because he is only three-and-a-half years younger than President Joe Biden.

But there is something about the way they carry themselves that is just seen very differently.

BERMAN: When you say he's not the same as he was --

GRIFFIN: Listen, he's never been a super articulate or eloquent person, but he is consistently mixing up names of heads of state. He is mixing up names like Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley. I mean, this is -- it has gotten worse, it hasn't gotten better. He is not nearly as sharp as he was.

BERMAN: I just wanted to circle back when you talked about reproductive rights, the new over-the-counter birth control pills becoming available for the first time this week. You have the IVF situation in Alabama. The environment here does seem to be shifting to an area where the

discussion is where Democrats would prefer it.

GRIFFIN: It absolutely is. I mean, this should be Democrats' race to lose, but I worry that especially in reading this piece that the president's headset is more focused on looking backward. 2020, we all saw that. We were horrified by January 6th. We were horrified by so much of Donald Trump, but you're not running against somebody in a global pandemic who tried to overthrow the government when the economy was in freefall.

It's a very different time when you are the incumbent and you own everything. That's wrong.

BERMAN: Alyssa Farah Griffin, great to have you here this morning. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, crews are struggling still to get control of a historic wildfires in Texas. Why these massive flames that have -- they're the biggest that the state has ever seen could impact your grocery bill.

Also crisis in Haiti, after thousands of prisoners escape, some of them threatening to overthrow the government. We will take you there.

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[08:24:37]

SIDNER: An Illinois family is demanding justice after police in a Chicago suburb released body camera footage showing officers shooting a man inside his own home. We want to warn you this is really disturbing video. It will be difficult to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER #1: Police.

OFFICER #2: Carol Stream Police.

(Gunshots)

OFFICER: Shots fired. Shots fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:18]

SIDNER: Isaac Goodlow's family want officers to be identified and charged in this case.

CNN's Whitney Wild is joining us now.

Things happened really quickly there. It was hard to tell kind of what happened. You heard one loud noise that sounded like maybe a gunshot, and then you definitely heard gunshots. What exactly were we looking at there?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, what Carol Stream Police have released so far is multiple views of this incident.

So they've released the body camera footage for all of the officers who arrived on scene, it's about five-minute clips, maybe a little less than five-minute clips from each of the six officers who arrived and what you see, Sara is you see that supervisor open the door to the apartment with a key.

You see four officers begin to work their way through the apartment clearing the apartment, and then you see an officer kick in the door. And then almost simultaneously, there's the sound of a gunshot.

There's just a very brief pause and then there's the sound of another gunshot. There's also the sound of a taser being deployed.

The body camera video from the first officer in that line is obscured by a ballistic shield. So it's very unclear what prompted them to open fire on Isaac Goodlow.

I've reviewed all of the angles of this, I cannot see what that first officer would have seen that would have prompted any one of those officers to open fire, that Sara, remains the open question.

The video that Carol Stream released begins with about a five-minute statement from the Carol Stream Police chief. He does not say, Sara, why police opened fire on Isaac Goodlow.

They do though give an explanation of what led up to this incident. They say February 3rd, 4:15 AM, they get a call of a domestic violence incident.

According to police, the girlfriend of Isaac Goodlow, who shared that apartment with him ran outside after an altercation with Isaac Goodlow. She was barefoot. She claimed to police that she had injuries.

She was checked out by paramedics. Police were there for about 45 to 50 minutes with her and in that time, she granted them permission to go inside that apartment.

Police say they spent 45 to 50 minutes trying to contact Isaac Goodlow. They tried to call his cell phone, they say they tried to knock on the door, they tried to knock on an exterior window. They didn't hear anything.

They made arrangements with the apartment company to get a key to get inside that apartment. And that's what you see at that beginning of that video which is the perspective of the supervising officer on scene.

This body camera video while answering some questions leaves many questions unanswered. The family spoke with CNN's Omar Jimenez over the weekend. Here's what they said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNETHA BARNES, SISTER OF ISAAC GOODLOW: We never got answers. We don't know anything.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. So then you see this video and to you everything is really a surprise to you.

BARNES: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: The family, Sara, has had the opportunity to review this video. A couple other things you see in the video, Isaac Goodlow after the shooting is handcrafted. Then he is rolled on to his back.

We're about a little less than two minutes after the shooting. Police begin CPR. About four-and-a-half minutes after that initial shot is fired, paramedics arrive on scene, Sara.

This federal lawsuit has been filed in the Northern District of Illinois federal court. We'll see what happens there.

Sara, at this point, those officers are on paid leave according to the police department and the police department is not involved in the investigation. They've handed it off to other officials in the area -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, I know you'll be watching this story and we'll see what happens there. Whitney Wild, thank you so much, live there from Chicago for us -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So Vice President Kamala Harris calling for an immediate ceasefire and the US airdrops food into Gaza for the first time.

Over seven feet of snow in several parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, that's feet more than one Kate Bolduan even when I can wear heels again.

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