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Super Tuesday Primaries Underway in 16 States; Trump Leads in Republican Delegate Count; Biden Expected to Secure Democratic Delegates; Immigration a Top Concern for Texas Republican Voters; Economic Worries Persist Among Voters; Biden Launches Strike Force Against Price Gouging; Humanitarian Crisis Worsens in Gaza; Calls for Israel to Allow More Aid into Gaza; Uncommitted Votes Reflect Democratic Concerns; Harris Condemns Gaza Situation as Inhumane.. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 05, 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)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: It is a high-stakes Super Tuesday as millions of Americans are making their voices heard. I'm Brianna Keillor here in Washington alongside Boris Sanchez on this big day. And right now voters in 16 states and American Samoa are casting their ballots. They will decide if former President Trump, who enters the D.C. in the next few days, with a big delegate lead over Nikki Haley, takes a giant leap toward the Republican presidential nomination.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And on the Democratic side, President Biden is also poised for a massive delegate haul today. Heading into November, though, polls show he is struggling with two key issues, immigration and the economy. CNN's Ed Lavandera is live for us at a polling location in El Paso, Texas. We also have with us CNN business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich. Ed, let's start with you. What are you hearing from voters on how, the migrant issue is affecting how they cast their ballots?

ED LAVENDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, immigration, top of mind, especially for Republican voters here in Texas. And we've heard that from voters here this morning who are casting ballots in the Republican primary. We're at one of the polling locations in El Paso, Texas, one of many border communities who have been affected by the ongoing immigration debate. But, you know, the Republican Party in Texas also finds itself in the midst of a civil war.

And this election day will really kind of be, an interesting test of the influence that Donald Trump has on Texas Republicans. He's been very involved in actually some lower level races here in Texas. He's been endorsing candidates for statehouse races and that sort of thing. So, it is really interesting to see this tension that is going on between the Donald Trump wing of the Republican Party and what would kind of would have been the old Bush wing of the Republican Party. And both of those are really colliding. And they're, they're many races down ballot from the presidential election that we're really going to see that here in the coming hours. And that is what many people here in Texas will be paying close attention to.

And the other thing to pay close attention to, Boris, and as you mentioned, this immigration issue, especially down in the Rio Grande Valley and the Eagle Pass area, where that has been such an intense issue, just how many Latino voters begin switching from Democrat to Republican. That is something that many political operatives paying very close attention to. And especially in this election cycle, to really kind of get a sense of how that immigration issue is going to affect these races, especially in the general election in November.

KEILAR: All right, Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAVENDERA: Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden in November?

ARMANDO, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Yes.

LAVENDERA: Even with all of the troubles he has, even though even though Joe Biden won in 2020?

ARMANDO: Joe Biden has not nothing to help the country. Nothing. So yes, we want, I want Joe Biden out of the, of the White House.

LAVENDERA: Do you think Donald Trump won the 2020 election or do you think he lost it?

ARMANDO: I think he won. We won. We lost due to trickery.

LAVENDERA: But you believe the 2020 election was stolen just to be clear?

ARMANDO: Yes. Yes. Big time.

LAVENDERA: Even after several years of evidence proving otherwise, you still don't believe that?

ARMANDO: Well, nothing has been proven because everything is, uh, has been a cover up. So yes, but I do believe that it was stolen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVENDERA: So, Brianna and Boris, just, you know, you kind of get a sense of just that intense grip that Donald Trump has on Republican voters here in the state. That was a voter that we spoke with just moments ago.

KEILAR: All right, Ed, thank you so much. Let's go to Vanessa Yurkevich because the economy, Vanessa, I mean, not surprisingly, it's a top concern among voters. There are some strong economic indicators. The question is going to be if they're strong enough to counter some of the problems that are going on in the country. What are some of the negative experiences that people are having when it comes to their day-to-day economic life? VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the economy is a top issue for voters. It's always has been a top issue for voters, but there has been some progress for people on the economy. When we talk about the economy nowadays, we're really talking about prices inflation. We have come a long way when inflation was sitting at 9.1 percent in June of 2022.

[14:05:09]

Inflation in January has come down to about 3.1 percent. And also a way to kind of figure out how people are feeling is consumer sentiment. We saw that in the end of last year, beginning of this year, consumers were actually feeling pretty good about the economy. You can see that line ticking up in November. However, in February of this year, we saw consumer sentiment start to drop a little bit.

And that is because inflation has kind of been stuck around 3percent , above 3percent. And you started to see consumers pulling back on spending and then starting to feel not as great about the economy. This is the hurdle for Joe Biden. Things go up and down. The numbers do not lie. But it's really hard to tell people that their feelings about the economy are not right.

SANCHEZ: Vanessa, some of that frustration with key barometers of the economy is being felt in different places. I want to show a tweet now from a voice I've often gone to to get important perspective, a key American consumer of cookies, the cookie monster from Sesame Street. He tweeted, quote, me hate shrinkflation. Me cookies are getting smaller. This, Vanessa, comes as President Biden is launching a strike force aimed at price gouging ahead of the state of the economy. I'm going to ask you to tell us more about this.

YURKEVICH: Yeah, well, number one, do not mess with cookie monster and his cookies. That's for sure. But he's really expressing a lot of what Americans have been seeing, both with prices, but also for the amount of product that they've been getting. Corporations often will shrink the product to try to keep the prices down. But Americans are not fooled. And you see so many responses to cookie monsters tweet saying thank you for calling this out. You see Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey calling on corporations to do better. They have a bill in place to tackle this.

And just today, President Biden announcing this joint strike force between the DOJ and the FTC aimed at going after corporations that they believe are illegally, basically illegally causing prices to be higher for consumers. And so this is a way for President Biden to be able to put his stamp on the fact that he's trying to lower prices. President Biden doesn't have a lot of pull in terms of how to bring down prices, but this is a way that he can show Americans that he's trying to make prices more affordable for everyday Americans, guys.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, more cookies. Hard to argue with the politics of that. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much. We are keeping a close eye on several other key races as well, including in the swing state of North Carolina. KEILAR: That's right. CNN's Diane Gallagher is live outside of a

polling place in the Charlotte suburb of Cornelius. Dianne, what are you hearing from voters there about the race for president?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, we've talked before about this long down ballot after the presidential race. So, there are a lot of people coming here for different reasons. But in terms of issues that are inspiring them to come out here, I have heard pretty much unanimously abortion, education, immigration, and talking about just what they see for the future of the state and the country.

Now, I have spoken to people who have cast ballots for President Biden, former President Trump, and Ambassador Haley, all saying that they have their own reasons to do so. Now, in terms of votes for Nikki Haley, the majority of people who tell me they've cast their ballot for her did so because they were unaffiliated voters, registered unaffiliated. They can go in and choose whichever ballot they want to participate in, Republican, Democratic, Libertarian. And they did so and voted for Haley as a form of protest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAIN NELSON, VOTER: I just do not really agree with Trump's rhetoric and all of his, -- well, not all of his policies, but I just think that the Republicans deserve a better choice. And I think that's Nikki Haley.

GALLAGHER: Is Nikki Haley someone you feel like you could vote for in November?

NELSON: No, I will vote Democrat in November.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER : Now, North Carolina has a very robust early voting and absentee voting period here. And so we're looking at about 695,000 votes that have already been cast before we started voting here on primary day. They anticipate a nice, healthy turnout as well. Polls close at 730 p.m. And again, a lot of races on the ballot for people here in this state to choose from.

KEILAR: All right, Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much live for us from North Carolina. And on this Super Tuesday, former President Trump is on track to potentially win more primaries and caucuses than any previous Republican presidential candidate other than an incumbent.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, here with us now to discuss Republican strategist and partner at On Message Inc., Brad Todd. Also with us, CNN senior political commentator, Ana Navarro. Ana, we'll go to you because it's not just Super Tuesday. It's also a 305 day. Shout out to all our Miami people out there.

[14:10:09]

ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was very thankful that Pitbull told us this very early in the morning. SANCHEZ: Yeah, he posted something on social media. It has to surprise you that we're here right now, given everything that happened on January 6th, given the four years of Donald Trump, he's poised to become the Republican nominee in very short order. Are you surprised?

NAVARRO: I'm appalled. I guess I'm not that surprised because I live in Miami-Dade. And as you know, in Miami-Dade, there's a lot of those voters like Armando, who we heard interviewed by Ed Lavandera, who it turns out the Hispanics are conspiracy theorists too and believe in lies too. Look, it's appalling to me as somebody who grew up in the Republican Party that the Law-and-Order Party is scapegoating -- that Donald Trump, who's got 91 counts and at least four jurisdictions, who's been found liable of sexual assault to the tune of $83 million, who's been found liable of fraud to the tune of half a billion dollars, is skating to the nomination.

And so it's hurtful, it's shocking, it's appalling, but I'm also a realist. And I realized a long time ago that this was going to be a binary choice and that this is where we were going to end up. I'm glad Nikki Haley's still in the race. I think that anything that gets under Trump's skin, and she does, is good. I'm glad that people have an ability to issue, -- that her name being there gives them an ability to have a protest vote. But it's going to be Biden versus Trump.

KEILAR: Brad, what do you think? And what are you thinking about this moment in the race?

BRAD TODD, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think we need to look back a year ago. A year ago, Ron DeSantis was ahead of Donald Trump, 39 to 28, 11 points. For a former president of the United States, literally just barely above a quarter. Donald Trump ran against Ron DeSantis, he ran against Nikki Haley, he ran against Chris Christie. It's a fairly strong field, especially considering he's a former president. And I think you have to give the Trump campaign credit.

This is the best campaign he's run, technically, of the three. And he had started out in an electorate where maybe only a third were eager for him to be the nominee again. And he's won over enough that he's going to probably get pretty close to the delegate lead tonight. And I don't think we're spending enough time saying that they've run a pretty good campaign. And I think you have to give them credit for that.

SANCHEZ: Certainly, the most organized that we've seen from Trump world so far. Immigration, as we heard from Ed there, a key issue in this campaign. But I'm really curious to get your perspective on the rhetoric that Donald Trump has used. Let's play some of the sound from Donald Trump. I believe this is from Fox News earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our borders are an embarrassment all over the world. We have millions and millions of people coming in from jails, from mental institutions, nobody's ever seen it, nobody's ever seen a thing like this. They're coming in from jails and prisons and mental institutions, insane asylums. They're terrorists.

I mean, you have terrorists pouring in at a level that we have not seen maybe ever. And what they're doing to our country is incredible. They're poisoning our country. And we're going to close up our border and we're going to deport the people. We're going to get them out because no country can sustain what we're going through right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Fact checking. Fact checking. I think some of the details in there is just, it'll consume too much time, right? But what does it tell you, Brad, that that kind of xenophobia is a winning issue for Trump?

TODD: Oh, I don't think that's what it is. I think the fact that the border is out of control and the Biden administration has made the problem worse is what's a bigger problem. The key portion of this electorate are going to be people who may not always like the way Trump talks or his choice of words, but they don't like the way Joe Biden's policies are acted. And immigration is going to be number one on that. Immigration and prices both. And that's going to be the pull and push of this campaign.

Can the Biden campaign demonstrate that in fact they're going to take a new direction on the economy, they're going to move more towards the center or can Trump convince voters that to look past some of the rhetoric they don't like.

SANCHEZ: You could make the case that the immigration system is broken. I don't think many people argue about that. But talking about poisoning the blood of the country --

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: The numbers of illegal immigrants and encounters on the border, is what's going to drive this election. It's not going to end up being about Donald Trump's rhetoric; it's going to end up being about the numbers under Joe Biden and the reality American citizens are seeing in cities across the country.

NAVARRO: This is a golden oldie for Donald Trump, right? It worked for him in 2016. Let's remember the first thing he said was he went after Mexican immigrants, calling them rapists and criminals. So, he goes to this over and over again. It's funny because you know what he's talking about. There's zero evidence that countries are opening up their insane asylums and their jails and letting these people go to the border.

That did happen once; you and I remember that. It happened in Cuba when Castro opened up the insane asylums and the jails, and a lot of good people and a lot of crazy people came at the same time. And I actually think he's kind of taking a page from that historical occurrence, Maria, in 1980, and using it with zero evidence.

[14:15:09] And we do have a problem. And the problem is that there's countries like Cuba, like Venezuela, which you can't pronounce, like Nicaragua, and Haiti. Three of those are ruled by left-wing dictators who are anti-American. Haiti is a complete basket case right now and getting worse by the minute. And there's no controlling of that. And there's no cooperation from those countries. They don't even want to take deportees back. And so, it is a problem that's not one day in the making, one year in the making. It's been a decade or more in the making.

And Joe Biden needs to remind people, I hope he does so in the State of the Union, that the reason we don't have border policy right now, the border could be shut right now. The reason it's not is because Donald Trump ordered his minions in Congress not to pass the border bill.

TODD: If Joe Biden said, if you pass this bill, then I will shut it down. But he acknowledged that there are executive actions he could take. He could re-implement Mermaid (ph) in Mexico.

KEILAR: No, he can't, Brad, because Mexico won't go along. I mean, I just don't want to litigate that. Because Mexico says no, it's not going to uphold it. So, it's a moot point. I mean, we can go over that all we want.

TODD: No, it's the president's job to negotiate with foreign countries.

KEILAR: No, no, no --

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: It's the president's job.

KEILAR: They are talking to Mexico, Brad, and Mexico has said no. I mean, let's just be clear. But that's just a, -- that's, -- I get what you're saying, but that's a political talking point. That's not a policy reality. I just want to be clear about that.

TODD: It's not a political talking point. It's a policy difference between the administrations. And of course, it's on the burden of President, former President Trump's. It's on the burden of him to decide how he would get that policy back reinstated, how he could convince Mexico to play along. There is a reason independents currently choose President Trump, former President Trump, on his immigration policies versus President Biden. Many of these same people voted for President Biden, but they don't think what they got in the last four years is what they voted for.

NAVARRO: Well, it's not a political talking point. It's the very real legislation that was crafted in a bipartisan fashion with the help of people like Senator Lankford. Not exactly a liberal, right?

TODD: Not a liberal at all.

NAVARRO: Very much of a conservative. And that was squashed because of Donald Trump.

TODD: No, it was squashed because the Republican House wasn't even consulted. You can't just hatch a plan with five people in the U.S. Senate and decide that the house has to go along.

NAVARRO: It was squashed because Donald Trump gave the order and his minions said yes.

TODD: Speaker Johnson had already said it was dead because they hadn't consulted the House.

NAVARRO: Donald Trump says he squashed it. He does take credit for it. He says, give him, give me the credit.

SANCHEZ: I wish we had more time to continue the conversation. I've enjoyed it very much. Ana Navarro, Brad Todd, thank you both. Still to come, our coverage continues on this Super Tuesday. Plus, Palestinians running for aid in Gaza as a hunger crisis there worsens. The desperate conditions adding to the urgency for a ceasefire. We'll break down where negotiations stand right now as CNN News Central continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:09]

KEILAR: Warnings of a full-blown famine in Gaza are now giving way to graphic images, and we must warn you that you will likely find them disturbing. Palestinian children with emaciated bodies and sunken eyes being treated at a clinic in southern Gaza. You can hear them crying. A nurse at that clinic. Saying that children suffering from malnutrition and from a range of diseases are arriving now in unprecedented numbers.

U.N. experts are now accusing Israel of intentionally starving the Palestinian people. They say civilians seeking humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys are being targeted. Israel has denied these charges. CNN's Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi for us. Paula, increasingly urgent warnings about starvation in Gaza. From international. Agencies who make it into that war ravaged enclave. What can you tell us?

PAULA HANDCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, we have been hearing these warnings for months now. NGOs, humanitarian groups saying this is what would end up happening if there wasn't more humanitarian aid getting into Gaza. And this is what is happening. We have just heard from the W.H.O, as well as the World Health Organization that managed to get a team into northern Gaza said a growing number of children are dying in Gaza.

The health ministry in Gaza run by Hamas says some 15 children have died of malnutrition and dehydration at this point. We can't independently confirm those figures, though, as international journalists are not allowed into Gaza. But one thing that caught me as well was the W.H.O. Saying that one in six children under the age of two is acutely malnourished. And they have pointed out that that is back in January. So, the situation is likely to be far worse today. It is the worst case of child malnutrition anywhere in the world.

They're also pointing out that in the north, malnutrition is three times higher than it is in the south of Gaza, where some aid is getting through. Humanitarian groups, U.N. aid groups finding it increasingly difficult to get to the northern part. And we are hearing from Biden administration officials once again that one at least one of those crossings in the northern part of Gaza, which borders Israel, should be opened by Israel to allow the humanitarian aid to get through.

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We heard from U.S. president Joe Biden saying there are no excuses not to let more aid in. And we're hearing from humanitarian aid groups saying they warned that this was going to be the situation. Children are bearing the brunt of not getting enough humanitarian aid in, and it needs to change very quickly. Brianna.

KEILAR: Very clearly from the pictures. Paula Hancocks, thank you for that report.

SANCHEZ: Heading into today's primaries are at least seven states whose voters have the option to vote no preference or uncommitted. They include Battleground North Carolina, Minnesota, Colorado, and Massachusetts. Now, this may or may not present a problem for President Biden, given what happened last month in Michigan, where a sizable percentage of voters organized and cast an uncommitted protest vote over his handling of the crisis in Gaza.

Joining us now is Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. There is no deal yet for a pause in hostilities, and we're watching closely to see if one is finalized before Ramadan in just five days. That has been the target. If there is a deal, and it does hold, do you think that's enough to assuage concerns among Democrats who feel the White House isn't doing enough on this issue?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): So, I'm going to talk about this very specifically because I'm meeting with people that are concerned all the time, and I have family members, have many family members that live in my district or lived in a district that I used to represent who aren't sleeping at night. But I don't want to take the premise that people that are voting uncommitted are all about this. There was a campaign in Michigan called Listen to Michigan. There are Democrats that are concerned about that, but there are a lot of other issues that are uncommitted on both sides.

Nobody ever talks about those that are voting uncommitted for a Donald Trump or will never vote for Donald Trump either. But I am going to tell you that people are hurting in Michigan, and I don't think we should be talking about it from a political who you're voting for right now. This is a humanitarian issue. You just saw those pictures. I have family members who have lost 40 members, 20 members in their families, but now they have nieces, nephews, cousins who are in desperate shape. We have got to get humanitarian aid to Gaza. And I think many people believe what Hamas did was a terrorist act, what it was an act of evil. But what we are watching now is destroying the hearts and souls of people around the world.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman, some of the harshest criticism we have heard from the administration toward what's happening in the United States in Gaza came from Vice President Kamala Harris over the weekend. She called the situation in the enclave inhumane, a humanitarian catastrophe. She went further than President Biden has up until this point. Do you think that message would carry more weight with your constituents if it came directly from President Biden?

DINGELL: Look, I have had private conversations with both the president and the vice president. There is no room between them. She has felt very strongly -- know the president does. The president is the one that's talking directly to the prime minister. I know he is trying to get this temporary cease-fire, which I pray goes to a permanent cease-fire. I do not believe the vice president would have made such a strong statement if they were not together.

I hope the president is announcing a cease-fire very soon. I know he is putting pressure. And he's been very public about the humanitarian crisis. Nobody with a heart or soul can watch what is happening there and not be worried and know that we have to do something. More than 30,000 people have died, maybe up to 14,000 children. We have to do something. It's just not acceptable.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman, obviously, the State of the Union speech is on Thursday. It's going to be a huge opportunity for President Biden to get his re-election message out there. What are you hoping to hear from President Biden? Are you hoping that he says some of what you were saying, that he shares with you in private, publicly, during the State of the Union?

DINGELL: So, I think that the State of the Union is an opportunity for him to lay out his vision for the future, what he wants to do in his next term. He cannot not talk about this. This is on the hearts and minds of people across the country. And, you know, I keep thinking we're going to have that temporary cease-fire any minute. And I hope he's able to talk about this and address it. I would be very surprised if he did not directly, and I have no inside information, address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Anybody who cares and has compassion cannot ignore it.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thanks so much for the time.

DINGELL: Thank you.