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Warren Surges in Iowa; Rare Access to U.S. Drone Shot down by Iran; Trial for Ex-Cop show Killed Unarmed Black Neighbor Begins; Prince Harry Goes to South Africa. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 23, 2019 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Goers and we know because of the rules here, they have to go, they have to get up and go, say they prefer Warren versus 20 percent who prefer Bernie Sanders.

If you are Bernie Sanders right now or you are running his campaign and you are looking at these numbers, what are you thinking, what are you going to do?

ASMA KHALID, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, NPR: I mean that's a really tricky question for the Bernie Sanders campaign because they have been saying for months that they're -- that they don't intend to go after Elizabeth Warren, right, that there is this, for all accounts and purposes, a sort of non-aggression pact between them. And one of the arguments, though I'm curious, because I haven't always seen this play out, as they feel that some of their supporters will potentially pull away from Joe Biden, whereas Elizabeth Warren is often pulling from folks who like say Kamala Harris or Pete Buttigieg. They say that there's not always going to be overlap in terms of support of where folks are, where folks are with their second choice.

I will say, though, this poll seems to suggests that maybe that's not entirely true --

HARLOW: Yes.

KHALID: Because as we've seen Elizabeth Warren's momentum increase, we've certainly seen Sanders' decrease.

HARLOW: Yes.

Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Yes, I mean, I would just look at the numbers and take a look at how these people had voted in 2016. If you look at Sanders versus Clinton, 2016, and apply that to 2020, and what you see is that Elizabeth Warren has gone into Bernie Sanders' camp and leads among those caucus goers who have said that they were going -- that they went for Bernie Sanders in 2016.

But the interesting thing is, she's also pulling from that Clinton camp, while Sanders isn't pulling from that camp at all. HARLOW: Right.

ENTEN: And I think that's rather key because it shows that Elizabeth Warren is really relying on those Bernie Sanders' caucus goers back from 2016 to build her support. So I think that this poll indicates that the Bernie Sanders' camp perhaps made a miscalculation.

HARLOW: So if you ask the Biden camp, they're not worried about things like this, Asma. There's a great new podcast, David Plouffe, that just came out. It's called Campaign HQ. I was listening to it over the weekend. His first guest is Greg Schultz, who's running Biden's campaign.

Let me just read this to you. He said, quote, the actual path to a nomination is not necessarily to win states, although that's very important. He says, it's actually the path to delegates and it's earning delegates and there's a very prescribed way, it varies by congressional district by state.

My point is, he is playing down, it sounded to me, like the importance of these first states for Biden. Is that a smart strategy?

KHALID: I mean the Biden campaign -- I mean the Biden campaign has certainly done that, even on press calls with reporters. They certainly have played down the importance of both Iowa and New Hampshire. And part of that is the demographic makeup of those two early states. They are overwhelmingly white. And when you look at where Joe Biden's support comes from, part of why he remains so resiliently popular is because of the overwhelming support he gets from African-American voters.

And that's where Senator Warren has struggled. You know, as Biden seems to be very popular with some of those specifically older black voters, she doesn't seem to have those levels of support. It's why we see her do really well in Iowa, why we see her do really well in New Hampshire, and the Biden campaign strategy is that, hey, you know, they'll do really well in South Carolina, carry through to Super Tuesday.

HARLOW: Right.

All right, finally, Cory Booker, Harry Enten, Cory Booker raised a lot of money over the weekend, $500,000. The goal, though, is his team said, we have to raise $1.7 million by September 30th or we're done here.

ENTEN: Yes, I mean, look, part of that might be a campaign stump, but also part of it is, you -- it's not just about getting to Iowa, it's about winning Iowa. And you need to have an organization on the ground.

Remember, Elizabeth Warren spent a lot of money early on with the hopes that she'd be able to raise money to then basically back it up. The fact is, is if you don't have money to build an organization to get ads on the air, you're not going to win. And it seems to me that Booker recognizes that. He doesn't just want to limp in Iowa, he wants to win Iowa. And that most recent Iowa poll, he was below 5 percent. He's not there yet. Plenty of time, though. We'll have to see what happens.

HARLOW: Yes. And we know Kamala Harris is moving to Iowa.

ENTEN: She's moving to Iowa.

HARLOW: There you go.

ENTEN: And she was at only 6 percent.

HARLOW: There you go.

ENTEN: So, you know what, they're -- they're all moving to Iowa if they want to win.

HARLOW: It's a beautiful state. I'm telling you.

ENTEN: The trees are the right height.

HARLOW: All right, Harry Enten, Asma Khalid, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you.

HARLOW: Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Iran is showing off its military might as tension with the U.S. grows.

Plus, CNN gets rare access to the U.S. drone shot down by Iran that brought America to within minutes of a counter strike before the president pulled back. We're going to take you right on the ground in Tehran, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:38:50]

HARLOW: The Iranian president taunting the United States today, saying that President Trump's new sanctions shows that America is desperate and out of options.

Well, right now, Iran is holding its annual Holy Defense Week with a huge set of military parades. It is also showing off its ground forces and weapons, including the one that took out that U.S. drone back in June.

Our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's a fun day out for all the family, as long as the kids never get their hands on this, the new missile system Iran says downed a top American drone this June. That risked war as President Trump almost launched air strikes in retaliation but called them off at the last minute.

But after a week of U.S. bluster over military action, they're not worried here. And, instead, putting that drone, or really what they say is left of it, on display.

The RQ-4A global hawk can fly up to 400 miles an hour at 60,000 feet for 34 hours with a wingspan of a Boeing 737, but the U.S. said it was over international waters. Iran said over theirs. You wouldn't be able to tell that from the debris, just the message that Iran took it down anyway.

[09:40:02]

WALSH (on camera): Well, they say that it was destroyed over the Gulf and a lot of the wreckage went straight underwater. This is all they were able to salvage. Very conveniently, though, the American insignia remains intact.

WALSH (voice over): A fully intact U.S. predator drone is also here. We are told it was hacked as it flew over Iran. The knock-off Iranian version shown behind being launched. Older American models, Israeli, British, we can't touch them or verify independently what they are.

WALSH (on camera): It was no accident that a couple of days after the Saudi Arabian government displays devices that it said entered its territory, Iran puts on a substantial display of what it says it managed to capture over its lands or near it.

A very friendly welcome here from an Iranian pilot, whose face we can't show, said his name is Mike, talked about premier league soccer and describes in English how some of these drones were hacked as they flew over Iran. But the message here clearly one of confidence and a desire for Iran to show quite how much it's been able to salvage from the drones that have flown over its territory.

WALSH (voice over): Learning from, even stealing American technology is nothing new. But more and more are in on it. These drones are master class, Iranian officials have said, in reverse engineering. In Tehran, American sanctions may bite, but they want you to know Iran can too.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Thanks to Nick Paton Walsh on the ground in Iran for that report.

Joining me now to discuss the Iran crisis, Nicholas Burns. He's former U.S. undersecretary for political affairs and former U.S. ambassador to NATO.

Ambassador Burns, thanks so much for joining the broadcast this morning.

NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER U.S. UNDERSECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So let's begin with the president.

So Iran has now carried out really a series of provocative acts. You have the attacks on tankers. You have a shoot down of that U.S. drone. And now you have, the U.S. believes, an attack on Saudi oil facilities.

The president has not authorized a military response and, in fact, called one back minutes from it happening. Has he, in effect, emboldened Iran?

BURNS: Well, I think, Jim, the president's problem this week, especially going to the U.N., is that he appears weak in response to these actions by the Iranians over the last six months. And in the -- in the hard bitten world of Middle East politics, with both the Sunni Arabs and the Iranians, the president doesn't appear to be standing up to the challenge.

Now, he's got a little bit of time. He may want to use this week to see what kind of support he has out there. I think it's very little, frankly, with the Europeans, the Russians and Chinese. But he has to do something because Iran, Jim, is posing a major threat to the free flow of oil and gas in the Middle East.

For 45 years, the United States, working with Israel, working with the Arab states, has tried to keep the Gulf open. Iran is trying to shut it down, show that it can shut it down. There has to be a stronger response, whether it's covert, cyber or a military, in my judgment from the president.

SCIUTTO: So -- but then what happens next? So let's say he carries out a strike -- and you saw Lindsey Graham, to be clear, he says that the president needs to restore deterrence, as you've been saying there, so there's agreement.

So you -- let's say he were to retaliate, in effect impose some costs for the military action by Iran, what next, because the president has pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal, he's continually ramming up sanctions, which is biting with the Iranian regime, but he has not been able to get European allies on board for that. So what is the -- what is the next step? The president talks about speaking to the Iranians, but what would they speak about?

BURNS: I don't think there's much -- I mean there's always used to have a diplomatic channel to the Iranians just to pass tough messages and warnings and to establish that deterrent. The administration gave that away. John Kerry had established it with the Iranian foreign minister and Secretary Pompeo does not want to talk to them. So that's a problem.

I actually think, Jim, there has to be a tough American response. But what has to happen with it is a diplomatic effort by the administration to try to get the Europeans to support us, at least in sanctions. That's tough when we've walked out of the nuclear deal and we've threatened secondary sanctions against European countries. So I think the administration needs to build up this diplomatic option

and needs to keep the Russians and Chinese at bay if, in fact, we're going to try to re-establish deterrence and we have to against the Iranians.

SCIUTTO: But as you know, the president runs every one of those decisions, whether it be with Iran, China, Russia, you name it, Ukraine, through a political lens as to how it affects his own political fortunes as 2020 approaches here.

Given that drive from his perspective, but also, I imagine, a regime like Iran asking the question, will President Trump still be here in a little over a year, does that give you the conditions for some substantive resolution to this?

BURNS: No, I think this is a long-running problem that's going to fester. But you're exactly right, the problem in Iran right -- with Iran policy is the president appears to be putting his short-term political interests ahead of what many people think is our national interests.

[09:45:02]

The same thing may be happening on Ukraine, of course, where he asked the Ukrainian president essentially to investigate Joe Biden and interfere in our election. The president puts his presidential interests, his political interests over the national interests.

We have real interests in the Middle East. The president has to act on behalf of those interests and of all Americans. I don't think he's standing up to it right now.

SCIUTTO: Ambassador Nicholas Burns, nice being with us this morning.

BURNS: Thanks, Jim. Thank you.

HARLOW: All right, the murder trial starts today for a former police officer who shot a man sitting in his own apartment. We are live from Dallas, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:20]

SCIUTTO: The murder trial of a former Dallas police officer who killed an unarmed man who was sitting in his own apartment will begin today. Amber Guyger was returning home from work when she went inside the home of Botham Jean. She says she thought she was going into her own apartment.

Ed Lavandera is outside of the Dallas courthouse for us this morning.

And, Ed, I remember the moment after that happened and you reporting outside of that apartment and just how startling it all was. She says she believed that Jean was an intruder since she thought it was her apartment. What does the prosecution say about that defense? ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are pursuing this murder

charge, which mean she faces life in prison. And this was a charge that was originally -- was upgraded from the original charge of manslaughter that prosecutors filed. It was a grand jury that upgraded that charge. But prosecutors will have to prove that she knowingly carried out this shooting and this -- the murder of Botham Jean, who was sitting, as you mentioned, in his apartment complex here just south of Dallas. Ironically enough, just blocks away from the Dallas Police Department.

And the defense attorneys will have to try to convince this jury here in Dallas that this was a true mistake, that this was not something she intended to do. So all of this will have to play out in front of this jury here in Dallas.

SCIUTTO: Obviously a very divisive trial, understandably sparking outrage.

Are authorities worried about this sparking protest there?

LAVANDERA: There's always some concern with this type of case. It did spark a number of protests in the days after the shooting, just a little over a year ago. So there is, you know, some concern for that. But the protests that were done after the shooting, nothing really amounted from that. So, you know, we are, you know, days away from a verdict being rendered in this case but that is probably always a concern for law enforcement surrounding a case like this.

We should also point out that it was a little over a year ago as well that another police officer was convicted in the shooting death of a 15-year-old black teenager. So there is some history of juries here in Dallas dealing with cases like this.

SCIUTTO: A man shot in his own home.

Ed Lavandera, good to have you on the story.

HARLOW: Thank you so much, Ed.

OK, an emotional return to Africa for Prince Harry and his wife Meghan. Coming up, how their 10-day visit will pay tribute, of course, to Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:57:43]

HARLOW: A first today as Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, as well as their five-month-old son Archie are beginning their first overseas family trip.

SCIUTTO: The Duke And Duchess of Sussex are in Cape Town, South Africa, for the first leg of a 10-day visit to Africa.

CNN's Max Foster joins us now from Cape Town.

Max, of course, this is ground that his mother, the late Princess Diana, made sort of her own, to some degree.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: So it must be a very personal journey for him.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he's going to go on to Angola, look at the issue of land mines, which is obviously something that Diana pioneered. He's literally going to walk in her footsteps. And Harry's also going to Botswana to talk about HIV/AIDS. All about continuing her legacy. He's picked up many of her causes.

A pretty fast-moving tour already. They only arrived today. We've been (INAUDIBLE). This is the next location. Only opportunity really for members of the public to be able to meet the couple because the security here is a bit of a nightmare, it has to be said. But they wanted to meet the public and this is going to be their opportunity.

We're on the edge of what was district six, which was this area during apartheid when tens of thousands of people were forced out of their home and relocated to other areas. Race still a big issue in this country, of course.

And an interesting reference to her own race as well in the speech that she gave earlier on, the duchess, in a township. Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: May I just say that while I'm here, with my husband, as a member of the royal family, I want you to know that, for me, I am here with you as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, as a woman of color, and as your sister.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: So while she hasn't been here before to South Africa, actually she's connecting, I think, with a lot of people, from the people I've spoken to, simply because of her (INAUDIBLE). She's a member of the royal family they can relate to. And also Harry's got a long history of always coming to South Africa and this region of Africa. He's got a very deep connection to it for reasons other than Diana as well. He just likes the area. He talks about it a lot.

HARLOW: Yes. All right, Max Foster, it's beautiful to see. You can see the joy in her face watching those kids dance and come up and embrace her. I hope they have a wonderful, meaningful trip.

Max, thank you very much.

[10:00:04]

SCIUTTO: A very good morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

HARLOW: And I'm Poppy Harlow.

President Trump says he did it and. END