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Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Says She Will Not Run For Reelection; Super Tuesday: Haley Hopes For Strong Showing In Utah; Satellite Offers Tool To Hold Methane Emitters Accountable; Former Governor Asa Hutchinson (R-MI) Discusses Defiant Nikki Haley Defending Her Campaign After Trump Comments. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired March 05, 2024 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Anybody who cares and has compassion cannot ignore it.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thanks so much for the time.
DINGELL: Thank you.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We have some breaking news. Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona says that she is not running for reelection. She says she's going to be leaving the Senate at the end of the year.
Let's get straight now to CNN chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, on Capitol Hill.
Manu, get us up to speed here.
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, this is very significant. Of course, Kyrsten Sinema has been a key player in the Senate for several years now, being the center of a number of negotiations here in the Senate.
Someone who has actually gotten a lot of push back, anger from the left flank of a party, ultimately drove her from the Democratic party, became an Independent Senator, caucusing with the Democrats.
But there has been a key question about the Senate race this year, the Senate map about what Kyrsten Sinema would do in this critical swing seat of Arizona.
She just announced she is going to step aside, will not run for reelection in November, which would change the dynamics in that very critical Senate race in Arizona.
She just put out a lengthy statement explaining her decision to step aside. She talked about the need to work together, how the need for civility and for compromise.
She said that she's she laments the fact, in her words, compromise is a dirty word. She said we have arrived at a crossroad we chose we choose anger and division. And ultimately, she says that it's time for her to step aside.
This will change how this Senate race could eventually turn out. If she were to run, it would be uncertain if -- whether she would pause support from Democratic side or the Republican side.
There's a Republican candidate who is running in that race, Kari Lake, the former gubernatorial candidate. There's a Democratic candidate, also, Ruben Gallego. He's a Democratic candidate as well.
I just talked to Steve Daines, who's the chairman of the Senate GOP campaign committee. He told me that he believes that Sinema's decision to step aside will ultimately boost Kari Lake's chance in this pivotal race.
But there's not a less impact on the map here, Brianna, but also on the Senate as well. Several of these dealmaker types, Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Mitt Romney, all saying that they will not run for reelection.
That will ultimately change the makeup of the Senate, whether they can cut deals and have implications, too, for the next president -- Brianna?
KEILAR: Yes. Huge, huge development here with Kyrsten Sinema saying she'll be leaving the Senate at the end of this year.
Manu Raju, live for us on the Hill, thank you.
And well be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:37:14]
KEILAR: Super Tuesday today, including in Utah, where it is caucus day.
SANCHEZ: Yes, it could be a great opportunity for Nikki Haley to score a win against Donald Trump, a win she has yet to come across except for here in D.C.
KEILAR: That's right.
SANCHEZ: Yes. The primary here.
CNN's Brian Todd is in Utah for us.
Brian, what are the chances that Haley can pull off an upset?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, most people don't predict her to pull off the upset tonight, but she could chip into Trump's delegate count.
She could conceivably pull off an upset only in that Donald Trump has kind of had a history of lukewarm political support in the caucuses, slash, primary season in the state. In 2016, Donald Trump lost the Utah caucuses, handily to Ted Cruz. So that's what kind of Nikki Haley and her camp are counting on.
They're also counting on a couple of other things. The fact that the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, the Republican governor, has said basically he doesn't like Donald Trump or Joe Biden as candidates. He likes Nikki Haley as a candidate.
He has not formally endorsed her, but the governor's wife, Abby Cox, has endorsed Nikki Haley, as has the Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson. She has endorsed Nikki Haley. So you've got that as a pool for Haley in the state.
Also, you've got the Mitt Romney factor. The popular U.S. Senator who's retiring, obviously, a very harsh critic of Donald Trump over the years. Will Mitt Romney's influence maybe influence some Republican voters here to swing to Nikki Haley?
Here's what I can show you about the caucus site. This is a very dynamic caucus site.
In about five-and-a-half hours, the caucus goers will arrive here at Alto High School, newly renovated, massive high school here at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains here, beautiful view of the mountains behind me. You can see.
But we've got hundreds of voters who will start to converge here at about five-and-a-half hours. They will caucus here. They'll hear speeches. Then they'll all vote at one time.
Now the one thing that could help Donald Trump here, that there will be a strong pull Donald Trump's way is that the caucus system here was adopted in 2016. It's run by the Republican Party, not the state. And that tends to draw more conservative voters.
That may favor Donald Trump. So that could be where he really picks up support here tonight. We'll know in a few hours -- guys?
KEILAR: Yes. The Beehive State, Beehive State going to be buzzing, right?
We know, with you, Brian Todd, there, in Utah, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Thanks, Brian.
KEILAR: You like that. You're entertained by that.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: All right, ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, we have much more of our Super Tuesday coverage.
And also a new satellite could be critical to the fight against climate change, giving scientists a chance to do something that they've never been able to do before.
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[14:44:22]
SANCHEZ: A new satellite promises to do something that's been tough when it comes to combating climate change. Actually hold someone accountable.
KEILAR: Yes. For the first time, a satellite will help track excess methane emissions. This is a key driver of the rise and global temperatures.
Here's CNN's Bill Weir.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 321, ignition and lift off, Falcon Nine.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paid for by the likes of billionaire, Jeff Bezos, and others their donors, the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund just launched a new kind of eye in the sky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
WEIR: Methane Sat is designed to circle the earth every 95 minutes or so. A with and cutting-edge detail spot plumes and leaks of planet- cooking pollution long associated with the production of natural gas.
[14:45:13]
If carbon dioxide is a blanket of average thickness overheating the earth for centuries, methane is like a blanket seven feet thick, with over 80 times the heat trapping power of CO2 for about two decades after its release.
Sometimes it leaks from old equipment or orphan wells. And sometimes when there's no one to buy it, companies just burn it and a practice known as flaring.
KELSEY ROBINSON, PROGRAM MANAGER, ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: What we found here in the Permian Basin is that operators are wasting enough gas to heat about two million homes a year.
WEIR: In 2021, EDF took us up over the oil and gas fields of Texas to sniff out methane leakers with a specially equipped airplane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is carbon dioxide down here.
WEIR (on camera): Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is methane.
WEIR (voice-over): But now they can fly over every oil and gas basin in the world, where 80 percent of global supplies are fracked and pumped. STEVEN HAMBURG, CHIEF SCIENTIST, ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: We can
basically create a movie of what's going on with respect to methane emissions.
Before we could just take snapshots when we had a plane in the air and we can get permission to fly.
This is a whole new game. It really creates an enormous leap forward in our ability to really understand greenhouse gas emissions.
WEIR: While other satellites can spot methane, what they find is often kept private. But EDF says that in about 18 months their data will be open and free on Google Earth Engine for anyone to see.
HAMBURG: You just have a real clarity now, a clarity we've never had before. And I think people realize you don't have to accept what somebody says, whether that's a government or accompany. You can actually directly look at it, see what it is.
And that is completely different than anything we've ever had for greenhouse gases. What I referred to as were going to have radical transparency.
WEIR (on camera): And what has been the response from the oil and gas companies that you're doing this?
HAMBURG: Well I think many of the companies see this as a real opportunity because they really do believe, and I suspected that they're doing a good job, but many of them aren't.
It gives countries and companies the tools to select who they buy gas from and where that gas comes from.
So for the first time. they'll have the ability to make really informed decisions. And those informed decisions will have enormous positive impact on the climate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Really a fascinating effort.
Our thanks to Bill Weir for that report.
KEILAR: Will today prove to be Nikki Haleys last-dance? Super Tuesday may be her last chance to show that she deserves to continue her shot at the Republican nomination. We're going to look at where her campaign stands now.
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[14:52:12]
KEILAR: Today, Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, is firing back after former President Trump says she has no path to the nomination.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is not personal. This is about the fact that we have to win. We can want to change the country all day long, but if we can't win an election, we can't do any of that."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Let's discuss this big day, Super Tuesday, with former Arkansas governor, Asa Hutchinson.
Sir, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today.
Do you see a path for Nikki Haley?
ASA HUTCHINSON, (R) FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: Well, it's certainly a narrow path that she has. And this election day, Super Tuesday, with 854 delegates at stake, is a critical day for her.
I think there's a couple of things that she needs to show. One, she needs to win at least one state. I think she asked to have an outright win. She won Washington, D.C. It'd be good to have another one.
Secondly, she needs to hold Donald Trump under the 60 percent threshold, which means there's over 40 percent of the electorate that's saying that we need to go a different direction.
That makes her a player as she moves on from Super Tuesday. It is a narrow path, but it is a path if she can achieve those objectives on this particular day.
KEILAR: If she doesn't do that, if she drops out, do you see her endorsing Trump?
HUTCHINSON: You know, of course. She indicated that she would endorse him even if he was a convicted felon in the debate. I believe she has retreated from that, which was a smart move. And so I think that remains up in the air.
Obviously, we all want to support the Republican nominee, but she's made it clear that Donald Trump will take our country and our party in the wrong direction. I second that motive. And so I'm hoping someone else will come out of the convention.
So I think it is unpredictable exactly what she will do after Super Tuesday. We will well see. There's a narrow path there and she's got to decide whether she wants to pull out or whether she wants to be a disruptor, or whether she thinks the cards can fall just right so that she can win.
But clearly, she's garnered a significant amount of support, as demonstrated by the fact that 40 percent is getting close to the number that says, we don't want to have Donald Trump as our nominee.
KEILAR: What are your concerns? What -- what do you think a Trump presidency would look like policy-wise? HUTCHINSON: Well, he has already redefined the Republican Party in his
own image, which means that it is a pro-Putin Donald Trump message that he conveys versus being for Ukraine, for freedom, supporting our allies.
[14:55:04]
He wants to engage in isolationism. That is a dramatic shift for the Republican Party.
He wants to pull back America's leadership and voluntarily withdrawing from the world stage. Then he wants to put a ring around America and recreate the tariff wars that -- even with our allies. So those are dramatic changes.
And the policy differences with Donald Trump needs to be magnified. People need to understand those.
Not just his temperament, not just his style, not just his grievances and the risks that he poses, but his policies are bad for a second administration and that needs to be emphasized.
KEILAR: Governor, you may have seen just here in this hour, Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema has just announced she is leaving the Senate at the end of the year. She's not seeking reelection.
And I wonder what you think of her explanation. She said, quote, "Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done. I will leave the Senate at the end of this this year."
And she pointed to her bipartisan victories. But she said, quote, "It's all or nothing. The outcome less important than beating the other guy. Compromise is a dirty word."
What do you think about that?
HUTCHINSON: Well, that's an important message. And I believe she's being honest in her comment that you have two political parties that want to fight, to a large extent, versus is trying to get things done.
There's clearly differences between the major parties. But whenever you look at the opportunities, whether it's border security, they've got to work together to get things done for America. And she's frustrated by that and rightfully so.
It also reflects that, in Arizona, it's a very difficult route to go an Independent. You have the two major parties carrying sway. There's just a loyalty there that makes it difficult for an Independent or a third-party effort.
And I think that's the lesson to be learned from what she's doing today.
KEILAR: Governor Hutchinson, we appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much. HUTCHINSON: Good to be with you. Thank you, Brianna.
KEILAR: And primaries are all about expectations. So what are the campaigns' expectations for Super Tuesday? We're going to break that all down after a quick break.
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