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Super Tuesday Numbers for Haley; Hearing in Georgia on Fani Willis; Haley to Exit Race; Michael Tyler is Interviewed about the Biden Campaign. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 06, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:31]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: In just 30 minutes now Nikki Haley is expected to end her presidential campaign, making remarks in South Carolina, which effectively moves this race into a general election rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

CNN's Harry Enten is back with us to talk about this road ahead.

Let's first talk about this moment that Nikki Haley finds herself in. What do you see in the numbers that shows that this is where the end of the road was for Nikki Haley?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, I mean, look, Kate, it comes down to numbers, it comes down to delegate math. And where we were before last night, look 1,215 delegates are needed to win the nomination. Donald Trump was ahead, but he was only at 276. Nikki Haley was at 43. So, you know, a relatively close race. One in which Trump was still a long way from the nomination.

But let's jump forward to where we were after last night. Look at that. What do we see? We see that Donald Trump was up to 1,040 delegates very, very close to that 1,215 needed. So, the fact of the matter was, Nikki Haley at just 86 delegates. The math was the story of last night. It just became math that I think Nikki Haley looked at and realized there really wasn't much of a road ahead with Donald Trump very close to clinching the nomination.

BOLDUAN: And that -- I mean that's what -- why Super Tuesday is called that.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I mean it's - that's -- because of the delegate math and because of what can happen and how the momentum can either be completely sucked out of your campaign or fueled depending on what happens.

So, effectively we look at a general election rematch.

ENTEN: Yes. BOLDUAN: Where do Joe Biden and Donald Trump start out?

ENTEN: So, let's go ahead and we're going to look at the race to 270, right, because at the end of the day it's all about delegates.

Here's the 2020 map, right? Joe Biden won with 306 electoral votes. Donald Trump got 232. But look at where our projections are right now, our race ratings right now, what do we see? We see something completely different. We see Donald Trump at 272, Joe Biden at just 225. So, if the election were held today, which it obviously isn't, we have months and months to go, Donald Trump would be a heavy favorite. And he is flipping states at this particular point, and we would expect that, like Georgia, that Joe Biden won, Nevada, that Joe Biden won, Arizona state, Joe Biden won, toss-up. Same in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest. Same with Pennsylvania. And Michigan, where we obviously held that primary last week, at this particular point leaning Republican.

So, folks, if you have it in your mind that Donald Trump is just popular enough to win the Republican nomination, lose that thought because at this particular point, when matched up against Joe Biden, Donald Trump is a favorite, which is something we couldn't say at any point in 2020 and really wasn't something that we could say at any point in 2016 when he was matched up against Hillary Clinton.

BOLDUAN: And a long general election ahead.

Thanks -

ENTEN: Very long.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Harry.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, happening right now, as we speak, a Georgia state senate committee is holding a hearing, and you're watching that live behind me, as the fight over DA Fani Willis, her fate intensifies. Right now a defense attorney for one of Donald Trump's co-defendants is in this Willis' election subversion case is testifying, you're seeing that happen, after being subpoenaed in the case.

CNN's Nick Valencia is joining us live.

Give us some sense, Nick, of what we are going to see today and what this is all about, and what she's saying at this hour.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hey there. Good morning, Sara.

This is day one in what will very likely be a long process for this Georgia committee as it begins its investigation into whether or not Fani Willis misused public funds and whether or not there was a conflict of interests. And I want to be clear about something. This committee does not have

the power to remove Fani Willis.

[09:35:02]

They can recommend Fani Willis be removed. They can draft new legislation and try to turn that into law. But what they can do in the immediate is they have the power to subpoena. And they've done exactly that. And they've subpoenaed defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney for Trump co-defendant Mike Roman, who was the first to launch these - or level these bombshell allegations. I talked to her last night, and she says she expects to be asked about the money surrounding this case, the money that changed hand, documents that she was able to obtain, invoices, contracts, the invoices that showed that discrepancy of the payment between Nathan Wade and his other special prosecutors on this case, John Floyd and Anna Cross. He was paid about $100 more than those individuals.

But we are not expecting to hear anything that we haven't heard in court already. Ashleigh Merchant was sworn in about 30 minutes ago. She's currently being questioned right now by this bipartisan committee, six Republicans, three Democrats, and they are expecting her to answer questions that they want to know about this potential misuse of public funds. We expect this to last several hours and afterwards, Sara, there will be a press conference held about any developments that we hear today.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. I know you'll be watching every detail.

Nick Valencia, thank you so much to you and your team.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And we are minutes away now from Nikki Haley set to speak in Charleston, South Carolina, where she is expected to end her presidential campaign.

This as the Biden campaign is casting Donald Trump as, quote, "wounded, dangerous, and unpopular" this morning. Why the Biden - why Biden's campaign manager says they now see a clear path to victory.

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[09:40:54]

SIDNER: Happening any moment now, Nikki Haley is expected to end her presidential campaign. She will make that announcement during a speech in Charleston, South Carolina. Hometown.

Joining us now, CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

Jeff, I understand you've learned some new information about the decision-making behind the scenes for Haley to make this announcement today. JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning,

Sara and Kate.

We did. I mean talking to a variety of Haley advisers, particularly in the aftermath of the decision, we learned actually that the former governor made this decision last night as the results were coming in. And one of the reasons I'm told is that they were sort of eyeing this threshold of what could be 40 percent in some of these states, like she did in New Hampshire, like she did in South Carolina. They were looking at the suburbs of Virginia. And she did, right outside Washington, she was over 50 percent. But overall she did not meet that sort of threshold that they had in their mind of what she would need to really make the case to go forward.

She did very well in some suburban areas, not quite as well in others. But never mind the fact that was not enough to overcome really the strength of the former president inside the party. So, she made the decision to step aside.

But she's suspending her campaign, I'm told. That language is always interesting because it leaves open the possibility should something happen. And she is not expected to endorse the former president at this point. She believes the burden is on him to sort of rally some of her supporters.

But if we think back to the last week, one thing that caught our attention was that she was not advertised in Virginia, not advertising in North Carolina, in Texas, in Minnesota, in any of the Super Tuesday states. So, this all happened organically. Her results last evening sort of came in. She was obviously getting a lot of news attention. But it became clear that she sort of knew that Super Tuesday would be the end of the road.

But, look, most presidential campaigns do not sort of end on this note. Most candidates do not leave in an elevated position. She certainly does leave in an elevated position, certainly from starting a year ago.

BOLDUAN: And, Jeff, I'm just looking down, Kylie Atwood has some great new reporting as well that -- that reinforces what you're getting at and hearing. Kylie Atwood reporting that top officials on Nikki Haley's campaign told major donors in recent weeks that Super Tuesday would dictate whether or not Haley stayed in the race. That according to two sources familiar. Because that gets to the one thing that Nikki Haley didn't have a problem with leading up to just yesterday, Jeff, which was money. And that was one of the -- one of the many ways and reasons why she was able to stay in the race.

ZELENY: Without a doubt. I mean it certainly sustained her from Iowa, where she finished third, to New Hampshire, which she was a pretty distant second. But it sustained her because there was a market for her candidacy. Her donors certainly were interested in her. And many would like her to keep going.

But the question here is, keep going to what? I mean the reality is, she is 52 years old. Does she have a future in this Republican Party? We shall see. Even at 52, I think the biggest question hanging over all of this, is she the future of the party or is she the past? And by sort of going on beyond her capacity or ability to win, I think, you know, perhaps could have been detrimental in the long run here.

But she always talked about how she's an accountant by trade. She said, I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a politician, she's an accountant. I'm told she did not want to end sort of in the red. So she, I would expect, has at least some money in her campaign coffers. She may have a significant amount. And that can be used for whatever comes next for her.

But again, it's hard to know if she's the future of the party for her ideas represent the past in at least this era of the Republican Party.

SIDNER: Jeff, we heard from Lindsey Graham. Senator Graham was speaking to Dana Bash yesterday about what he thought that she was going to do, and what he kind of expected her to do, which was come into the fold and eventually go ahead and endorse Donald Trump.

[09:45:00]

What are you hearing from the campaign on that note as to what is she going to do when it comes to Donald Trump, who is going to be the nominee, if you look at all the numbers?

ZELENY: Look, it's not going to happen immediately. It will definitely not happen in this speech. She's certainly leaving the door open for it to happen down the road. But she's been quite pointed in recent weeks about how she believes that the former president is not good for the Republican Party. She believes the former president cannot win a general election. So, it's hard to come back from that immediately. And it would not be good for her own brand, quite frankly, if she did. She would sort of look inauthentic.

But you can tell, you know, she knew, politically speaking, inside today's Republican Party, her saying those things was not going to help her necessarily. She sincerely believes them. So, we will see about an endorsement down the road. It certainly will not come anytime soon, and not, for sure, today.

Sara and Kate.

BOLDUAN: And that - you know, that's what we heard form - I heard from a fundraiser and donor to Haley last night that her -- she became -- she became more of a cause than a campaign for that segment of the party. And what - you know, is that the past? Is that the future? That's yet to be seen, as Jeff's just reporting.

It's great to see you, Jeff.

ZELENY: That's a cause Donald Trump will need if he wants to win.

BOLDUAN: Great point.

It's good to see you, Jeff. Thank you so much.

ZELENY: You bet.

BOLDUAN: And we are standing by right now for what is very likely the final remarks of Nikki Haley's presidential campaign. You see the podium right there. Charleston, South Carolina. We will take you to her announcement live.

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[09:51:12]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we have live pictures from Charleston, South Carolina, where any minute now former Governor Nikki Haley is going to announce she is suspending her presidential campaign.

We got word of that just a few hours ago. Even before, though, that news broke, the Biden campaign had sent around this strategy memo where they talked about the importance of Nikki Haley voters and how the fact that Donald Trump has had trouble with them is really an opportunity for the Biden campaign.

With me now is to communications director for the Biden/Harris 2024 campaign, Michael Tyler.

Michael, great to see you.

Who is, do you think, the Nikki Haley voter? Described to me who that person is.

MICHAEL TYLER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, BIDEN 2024 CAMPAIGN: Well, good morning and thanks so much for having me.

Yes, listen, I think Nikki Haley's voters have made it very clear exactly who they are. These are the voters who have agreed with Nikki Haley when she stood up to Trump for the chaos, the division, the extremism that he represents insofar as the modern Republican Party right now. They are the voters who rejected MAGA extremism in 2020, who've rejected MAGA extremism in 2022. And moving forward, even throughout the beginning of the Republican primary process, are now rejecting Donald Trump and MAGA extremism moving forward.

So, if you agreed with Nikki Haley when she stood up to Trump for things like election denialism, for the chaos and division that he represents, there is, in fact, going to be at home for them in Joe Biden's campaign. And so we're encouraging folks to go to joebiden.com and sign up if they agree.

BERMAN: How does the president plan to reach them and maybe how does he plan to reach them in the State of the Union Address tomorrow night?

TYLER: Yes, well, listen, I think the State of the Union Address is going to serve as another moment to further cement the choice in this election for the American electorate writ large. And, of course, for Nikki Haley supporters as well. You're going to have a president in Joe Biden who's going to lay out the historic record of accomplishment from the first three years. That's everything from creating over -- over -- almost 15 million new jobs, 800,000 manufacturing jobs, the work that he's done to lower costs for Americans.

But we'll continue to communicate the vision for the future, right? How we're going to continue to bring this country together. So, we'll talk about what we want to accomplish. Of course, starting with, you know, restoring Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. But on all of the work that we have achieved so far, there's still work to do, right? The work that he has done to lessen the burden of student loan debt, right, to the tune of $138 billion with billions left to go, getting the first bipartisan gun safety legislation done in a generation, but in a second term banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, capping the cost of insulin at $35 for our seniors. In a second term we're going to get the cap down to $35 for all Americans. So, the work continues moving forward and the contrast will be incredibly clear between a president who's fighting every single day to bring the American people together in search of solutions versus Donald Trump, who simply represents chaos, division, revenge and retribution and is only fighting this for himself.

And so that's going to be the fundamental contrast that we present to the American people in the State of the Union and moving forward. We think that's going to be something that resonates with the American electorate writ large and, obviously, some of the Haley supporters here who continued to reject the extremism represented by Donald Trump.

BERMAN: Michael Tyler, great to talk to you. We know it was hard. You had to brave a fire alarm in your building, so we appreciate the work from you getting in front of the camera. Thank you so much for being with us.

And, Kate, Sara, as we await this big announcement from Nikki Haley, it will be so interesting to see how she phrases it. How much does she lean into the work that Donald Trump will have to do to earn, not just her support, but the support of her voters.

SIDNER: He said it all, and we are waiting. That's going to happen in just a few minutes here.

Thank you so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

[09:55:00]

"CNN NEWSROOM" with Jim Acosta, up next.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Jim Acosta, joined by my colleague Wolf Blitzer.

Any moment now Nikki Haley will address the nation. Sources tell CNN that in minutes from now she is expected to suspend her presidential campaign. We are told she will not endorse her rival, former President Donald Trump, at least for now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go to our reporter who's over at Haley's campaign headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina.

[10:00:04]

Kylie Atwood is watching what's going on.

Do we have any sense, Kylie, what we can specifically expect her to say