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Millions Head to Polls Across U.S. for Super Tuesday Races; Texts Shed New Ligh on Fake Electors Plot After Jan. 6; Ukraine Says It Sank Russian Patrol Ship in Black Sea. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 05, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Who love him.

[07:00:01]

He thanked his coaches, teammates, fans, family, and notably his brother, Travis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON KELCE, 7X PRO BOWLER: There is no chance I'd be here without the bond Travis and I share. It's only too poetic. I found my career being fulfilled in the city of brotherly love. I knew that relationship all too well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie put it this way. Has there ever been a more perfect marriage between a player, a city, and a team? A quick shout out too to Kylie Kelsey who refused to wear any other team's jersey. Go Birds.

Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: It's a Super Tuesday. Really, it's Super Tuesday. Millions of Americans are going to go to the polls to cast their votes in primaries and caucuses. This will be a decisive day for Nikki Haley's campaign, as Donald Trump looks for sweeping wins to help him clinch the Republican nomination. And will today show any more signs of trouble for President Biden's re-election campaign?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: An Air Force employee accused of sharing classified information on a foreign dating site. That man now under arrest.

SIDNER: And CNN takes you to the capital of Haiti as violent gangs rule the city and residents live in fear.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan. John Berman is in Colorado for Super Tuesday. We'll see him in just a bit.

CNN News Central starts right now. BOLDUAN: There are Tuesdays. And then there are Super Tuesdays, friends, the Election Day energy filling the air. I know you can feel it this early in the morning. Right now, polls are open in seven states. Next hour, four more states will be joining them. And that continues throughout the day, throughout the morning, as millions of voters will be casting their Super Tuesday ballots.

So, while few things are certain in life these days, we well know one thing that does seem almost assured, is that by the end of the night, the needle will be moving closer to deciding the general election matchup.

865 Republican delegates are up for grabs today. And for all of those keeping track at home, right now Donald Trump has 276, meaning tonight he could get really, really, really, really quite close to securing the nomination, which requires 1,215 delegates.

For President Biden, today is less about the delegate math and more about his campaign learning a lot, learning a lot more about his ability to get Democratic voters excited for the potential of a second Biden term.

John Berman in Castle Rock, Colorado. Happy Super Tuesday to all of those who celebrate, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Super Tuesday, Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. The polls are open in Castle Rock, Colorado in a manner of speaking that's because, in essence, the polls are always open in Colorado. The major means of voting here is by mail or by drop box. You can see the drop box right there behind me, voter ballot drop box, it says which is a sign that it is a drop box.

And we actually did you see a car drive-in in a voter put a ballot right in there. Nearly a million people nearly 1 million people have already voted here in Colorado most of them drop their ballots off at boxes just like that one, you can also put them in the mail, although if you were going to mail them in, you would have had to have done it last week.

There are in-person polling places that will be open today but only a teeny tiny fraction of the people actually show up to vote in person here in Colorado.

And I actually have a sample ballot. Let me walk around here and show this to you. This is the sample ballot from Colorado and you will see that Donald Trump's name is on it. It has been on it even with that Supreme Court case up in the air until yesterday. Of course, the court ruled that Donald Trump's name will remain on the ballot, the states do not have the right to remove Donald Trump or an insurrectionist from the ballot unilaterally, but his name was on the ballot anyway because the court had stayed the earlier ruling here. This is what the ballot looks like. That's what Republicans will be able to vote on today that's what they're dropping off in that back box here behind me, 15 states plus American Samoa. That is why this Tuesday is so super.

Let's get to Virginia where the polls are open. Our Alayna Treene is there. Alayna, what are you seeing so far?

[07:05:00]

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, good morning. Yes, the polls opened here in Richmond, Virginia, at 6:00 A.M. It's still pretty quiet here. John. We've seen some people come in. I think those eager to get to work or vote and then get to work who have come by. But I do expect this will pick up throughout the day.

And, John, I do just want to share, you know, how some of the Trump campaign is viewing this today and specifically how they're viewing this state in particular here in Virginia.

First of all, his campaign is very confident about Super Tuesday. They are really hoping to sweep most, if not all, of the states we're going to see voting today.

But the other thing that they're also keeping an eye on is Nikki Haley, of course. They know that Nikki Haley has pledged to stay in through Super Tuesday, but it's still very unclear what she will do after today. And depending on her performance, if she will drop out, their goal or their hope, I should say, is that she will ultimately drop out.

I know that Donald Trump and his team want him to be able to get on that stage tonight in Mar-a-Lago, where he's going to be having a watch party and be able to declare victory and also declare himself the presumptive Republican nominee.

But as you all mentioned at the top here, regardless of how many states Donald Trump wins and his performance here today, he will be shy of the necessary delegates to declare him the presumptive nominee.

But their goal is to really keep building momentum here in Virginia and across the country in these different voting states and try to convince a lot of the people who want a Trump alternative to get behind him.

And that's not just Republican voters, but also Republican donors. They very much recognize that they want to have the infrastructure of the Republican Party behind him and the money that can come with that to really launch him into a better position for a general election rematch against Joe Biden.

Now, about Virginia here specifically, this is a state that Donald Trump lost both in 2016 and in 2020. But from my conversations with Trump senior advisers, they do see it as a battleground. That's how they've been describing it to me in our conversations.

And they do think they can make a good play here. And it's not just about the primary, but also, again, looking ahead to potential general election.

And one thing I know they're going to be doing a lot of here in the state is, of course, building up their ground game strategy, but also really targeting suburban voters. They tell me that they think the economy, one of the top issues I know that Donald Trump plans to run on this year, is something that a lot of Virginia voters care about specifically. So, you can expect that messaging as they look ahead.

BERMAN: Alayna Treene in Richmond, thank you so much, Alayna.

Now, as we said, this is Super Tuesday, but it may not be so super for some candidates, depending on how the results come in tonight.

Let's go to Eva McKend, who is in Washington. Eva has been covering the campaign of Nikki Haley. And we really don't know much about what happens with that campaign past today, Eva, do we?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: You know, John, she hasn't said what she's going to do past today. The big question is, can she decisively win any states tonight?

I think tonight really serves as the ultimate test of her message. She's such a disciplined campaigner, and she has really stuck to this electability argument that she would be the best person to go up against Joe Biden in the fall.

She's delivered that message in ten states in the past week. But she has been very vague about concrete expectations, only saying that she will continue to run this race as long as we remain competitive.

You know, with her -- I was with her during her New England swing, and she was attracting Democrats, independents and anti-Trump Republicans that said that they would rather vote for Joe Biden than vote for Trump in the fall.

Let's take a listen to her core argument here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At some point, maybe we should say the reason that America keeps losing is because of Donald Trump.

We can change all of that. But in order to change it, it's going to take a lot of courage. Courage from everybody here, courage for me to run, and courage for every one of you to know don't complain about what happens in a general election if you don't vote in this primary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So, the hard truth facing Haley is that with each passing contest dominated by Trump, her odds of amassing a sizable number of delegates shrink. A little more than a third of Republican delegates are up for grabs. And some of these states are winner-take-all states, where I was in Vermont over the weekend, Maine, Massachusetts. If she doesn't give above 50 percent, that means she loses the chance to get all of the delegates in that state completely.

Haley's team, though, they say that she will not address supporters tonight because the polls in some states close at a very late hour. But, John, she will be watching the results from her home state of South Carolina.

BERMAN: She will be watching, no doubt about that.

[07:10:01]

Eva McKend, thank you very much.

And we will be watching not just here in Colorado, where I'm going to report every piece of activity that happens at that ballot box all morning long here, Sara Sidner. But it's not just Colorado, as I said, 14 other states plus Colorado and American Samoa, a lot of activity today, Sara.

SIDNER: there is. I know you'll be watching and we'll get numbers as you love to give us numbers all day. Is that another person? No. All right, John Berman, great to see you out there.

All right, still ahead, a massive industrial file outside Detroit is sending debris flying more than a mile away. The flames now under control, but officials are still warning people this morning to stay away from the area.

And a new crew has just arrived at their new home hundreds of miles above Earth. We have their hug-filled welcome to the International Space Station.

Also, violence and chaos in the streets of Haiti's capital. CNN is there as gangs take control of most of the city. We'll have that ahead.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, the longer you wait to act on Haiti, the more migrants there will be on our southern border. It's that simple.

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SIDNER: This morning, newly released texts and emails are revealing how key Trump allies sought to keep him in office soon after the January 6th Capitol attack. Right wing attorney, Kenneth Cheseboro, helped come up with the fake electors plot.

This footage, which was taken by Cheseboro and has not been seen publicly, shows the fake electors casting their ballots in Wisconsin, and in one of the newly disclosed texts, talk of coordinating the plan with the Trump White House.

CNN's Marshall Cohen is joining me now. Marshall, we haven't seen this before. Why is that? Why is it coming out now?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Sara. There was a lawsuit in Wisconsin. The real electors from that state filed a civil case against the fake electors, and this came out as part of a settlement just yesterday, hundreds of new texts, emails, photos, videos. You just saw the clip of the fake electors voting in Wisconsin, but there is so much more. And it is revealing that this fake electors plan was deeper than we thought. We're still learning new things, Sara, almost four years later, three or four years later.

Let's go through -- I want to show you three things that we learned from this document dump. First is a text message exchange between Cheseboro and Trump's top attorney in Wisconsin, Jim Troupis. This is in December 2020. And he says, Jim, can you send my December 6th memo to Trump lawyer Justin Clark? The messaging on January 6th being the real day is key. That memo is where he spelled out the fake electors plan. Troupis says, I have sent it to the White House this afternoon, the real decision makers.

We didn't necessarily know that Troupis had sent that very detailed memo directly to the Trump White House. Now, he did not say in the messages who he sent it to, but that is notable, because just a few weeks later, they carried out the plan in seven states across the country, Trump electors cast their ballots, and then on January 6th, Trump tried to get Mike Pence to count those ballots. And who was in the crowd outside of the Capitol? None other than Kenneth Cheseboro himself.

Our K-file team broke that story last year, but we are now seeing brand new selfies, photos that he took that day. This is him outside of the Washington Monument, and the other photo you just saw with him in the red MAGA hat, that shows him in the front, and Alex Jones in the back, the noted conspiracy theorist.

But even after witnessing the carnage that day, Sara, even with Cheseboro in the crowd that day, he was still pushing to overturn the election. Look at this text from two days later, January 8th, 2021. He says to Troupis, the events of the last two days open up legal options in the states for winning rulings favorable to Trump. Sara, after all that, he was still scheming, still pushing the plot.

SIDNER: Marshall Cohen, it really paints the picture with the text and looking at the video and seeing these new pictures. Thank you so much for breaking that all down for us. Kate?

BOLDUAN: The jury selection is beginning this morning in the trial of the father of the Michigan school shooter. Now, the father who bought the gun, his teenage son used, in what became the worst school shooting in Michigan State history, he killed four classmates. And now his father, James Crumbley, is charged with involuntary manslaughter. His mother was already convicted of the same charge, marking the first time a parent has been found guilty of homicide for his school shooting committed by their child.

CNN's Jean Casarez has been following all of this from the very beginning and throughout Jennifer Crumbley's trial as well. And during that trial, folks will remember, Jean, that the actions of James Crumbley played a prominent part in that trial.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very much so. And that's why prosecutors are going to argue here that he should be convicted of homicide because that's what he is charged with, just like his wife, that he caused the death of those four students at Oxford High School even though his son independently pulled the trigger.

You know, it was a Thanksgiving 2021. Ethan had wanted a nine millimeter gun for a long time, kept asking his dad and he texted back and forth. Those texts will come in and his dad sort of blew him off, according to Jennifer Crumbley's testimony.

[07:20:04]

Now, the parents had no idea why he wanted a nine millimeter. They had a couple of other guns. They were locked up. They were smaller guns. He wanted a bigger gun. On Good Friday, his dad said, all right, let's go to the gun shop. Let's see if they have any sales. They did. They got a nine millimeter for him, and it was four days later he committed that mass shooting.

But I think a big issue today, it is the beginning of the trial. Now, they are going to select the jury, but under the Constitution, a defendant has a right to a fair and impartial jury. Jennifer was just convicted four weeks ago. It's the same courthouse, the same courtroom, and the defense tried to move this trial. They said, Your Honor, we can't get a fair jury. The emotions in this community are overtaken still by Jennifer Crumbley's trial. We need to go to another part of Michigan. She said no, so it's going to be right there with the same community that experienced that mass shooting.

BOLDUAN: Jury selection begins today.

CASAREZ: This morning.

BOLDUAN: This morning, just a little bit.

CASAREZ: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Good to see you, Jean. She's going to be following all of it for us. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. New, stunning video, Ukraine says this is video of it sinking another Russian warship in the Black Sea as Ukrainian soldiers make a desperate plea for U.S. aid from the battlefield.

Also, a small plane crashes right next to a Nashville highway. It bursts into flames, killing everyone on board ahead. What we know about the final moment before this deadly crash.

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[07:25:00]

SIDNER: New this morning, a naval attack in the Black Sea. Kyiv's military says Ukraine has destroyed a Russian patrol ship near the Kerch Strait, which separates Crimea from the coast of Russia. The attack comes as Ukraine is experiencing extreme pressure around the eastern city of Avdiivka. And an official says the Russians are increasing their personnel and operations there.

CNN's Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is in Eastern Ukraine with the very latest. What are you learning about this naval attack? We have seen some of this before from Ukraine.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's 5becoming an extraordinary refrain, frankly, of the third year of this war, Ukraine's ability to project attack power into parts of the Black Sea, where Russia were just a year ago, probably felt entirely safe with its fleet there.

The Sergei Kotov patrol ship, according to Ukraine's defense intelligence, who say they carried out the operation, worth $65 million. Ukraine saying that what they call a MAGURA V5 attack drone hit it.

Now, this has happened multiple times before, often to high priority, high value vessels. And it has, frankly, caused part of Russia's fleet, which would feel very comfortable in the ports of Crimea, that it annexed ten years ago to the day almost.

Now, they've had to move back closer towards Russia's mainland coast, an extraordinary development here. But this and other issues we've heard from Ukraine, where they've claimed extraordinary successes inside Russia, hitting a bridge 500 miles in this morning, a Russian official in Belgorod saying infrastructure appears to have been hit after a drone attack.

Very much success stories that are unexpected for Ukraine's strategic ability to project power, but in quite stark contradiction to how difficult things clearly are for Ukraine, on the most important thing, their frontlines inside the country itself.

Now, we hear repeated suggestions of difficulty around a key front line near where I'm standing, to the west of Avdiivka. Ukraine gave that up two weekends ago voluntarily, but they said they'd hold a defensive line to its west. They gave up a bit of villages between that, and now they seem to be under extraordinary pressure around three villages of minimal consequence themselves, Orlivka, Bedidzhia (ph), Tonenke. Ukraine says they're holding them. Some Ukrainian (INAUDIBLE) suggest there's intense pressure.

The point is not these villages themselves, the point is if Ukraine is unable to hold that defensive line, there could be a knock-on effect, because, frankly, we're not seeing extensive fortifications behind those areas on our trips around the frontline, and there are fears, I think, that Ukraine has been ill-prepared for a continued Russian advance here.

They're throwing everything at it, frankly, and that may be a very difficult few months ahead, because it comes exactly when western aid supplies and ammunition are running out. Sara?

SIDNER: And they have been asking the United States to help them. We will see what happens here. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for being there and reporting on this important story. Kate? BOLDUAN: Classified information about Ukraine shared on a dating website. Now, an Air Force employee is under arrest. We'll have more on that in a second.

And the COVID pandemic, it actually killed off a one strain of the flu. What that now means for the flu vaccine, ahead.

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