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Op-Ed: Bloomberg & Steyer Are Setting Dangerous Example; Source: Meghan Markle Did Not Call Into Queen's Crisis Meeting & What The Queen's Statement Meant; Indecisive Iowans Worry Other Democrats That 2020 Race Is "A Mess"; Lawyer For Giuliani Associate, Lev Parnas, Trolls Trump; Trump Under Fire For Re-tweeting Racist Photo Of Pelosi & Schumer. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired January 14, 2020 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: The real hazard is that less vain tycoons may learn from their example.

Eric's with me now.

Thank you so much for joining me here at CNN.

You point out, between Steyer and Bloomberg, they have spent $260 million for TV ad buy. If you take the rest of the Democratic field together, in context, they have collectively spent $222 million.

You do such a great job at just putting all this money in perspective for them, and you use this analogy of like buying a lottery ticket. Can you explain that?

ERIC LEVITZ, SENIOR WRITER, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Yes, sure. What you need to keep in mind with someone, especially like Michael Bloomberg, who -- Tom Steyer is worth about $1.8 billion, but Michael Bloomberg is worth $57 billion.

And so for someone like Michael Bloomberg to mount the most expensive presidential campaign in history is a minor indulgence, equivalent to an upper-middle-class family going on a ski vacation for a weekend. That's sort of what you need to think about here.

Bloomberg has so much wealth, but just to spend it as fast as he earns it, as in returns on capital, his assets appreciate and the stock market goes up, it's difficult for him to lose money.

And so he is in a position where -- you know, in the 2016 election, spending on both sides, on Clinton and Trump sides, including dark money, was about $1 billion. So that's like 1/57th of Michael Bloomberg's worth. So he could outspend everybody if he wanted to.

BALDWIN: As I was reading your piece, the takeaway isn't just that billionaires like these two are spending so much money as part of this whole process. It seemed to me that you were saying, why aren't others. LEVITZ: Right. So it's such a -- the value proposition at least

ostensibly, because it is such a small fraction of money, the fact that Jeff Bezos, for less than 1 percent of his net worth, could have outspent both Trump and Hillary Clinton, totally upended that race, you know, it raises the question of why aren't more uber billionaires spending more money than they are?

BALDWIN: Why do you think?

LEVITZ: I think right now the government's working pretty well for billionaires. They don't need to spend that much money, is my guess.

BALDWIN: Let me play this ad from Tom Steyer. He has this new ad out today comparing his wealth to President Trump's. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM STEYER (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When he calls himself a billionaire businessman who's good for the economy, I'll remind him, I'm an actual billionaire with a "B," and he's a fake billionaire with a capital "C," for conman, crook, and criminal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So he is about to stand on this stage tonight where certainly other candidates are going to try to attack him on all of the money that he has, on his wealth. But yet, he's there bragging about it in this ad. Do you think that's the right move?

LEVITZ: You know, I think that there's some appeal to it. Obviously, we elected the businessman president, so obviously there's a significant portion of the American public that admires that. And --

BALDWIN: Conservatives may feel different than Democrats and especially those farther on the left.

LEVITZ: That's true. I think it is the case that Tom Steyer is more of a self-made man than Donald Trump is. And I understand the impulse to point that out.

I have a hard time understanding -- Steyer is actually running as -- maybe didn't quite suggest but is running I as a populist and a climate-change person.

The idea that like there's a big segment of voters who are looking for a populist who's also a hedge fund manager, who invested in private prisons, is kind of dubious to me.

But apparently, just through sheer outspending his rivals, Steyer has, even with that resume, managed to get to second place in South Carolina, which is truly extraordinary.

BALDWIN: And managed to get on the debate stage tonight.

If you want to learn more about Tom Steyer, tune in tonight at 9:00.

Eric Levitz, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

We are also learning more about this royal family summit. Why Duchess Meghan did not dial in as planned. And reading between the lines of the queen's statement after the meeting. We'll talk to Richard Quest.

And Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just made a huge revelation on the impeachment trial. He says it is likely to begin next Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:58]

BALDWIN: Everyone was eagerly awaiting word of what happened in the queen's monumental crisis meeting with Prince Harry and the royal family. As it turns out, the duchess of Sussex was awaiting that same news.

Meghan notably absent from that meeting. She was expected to dial in to this crisis meeting from Canada where she's currently located with Baby Archie, but that call never happened.

CNN's Richard Quest is here.

And everyone wants to know, why didn't she call in.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE & CNN HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": There's some suggestion that she wasn't well or felt she wasn't well and, therefore, wasn't well enough to take place.

There are other suggestions that, at the end of the day, you know, she would need to be on a secure line. And --

BALDWIN: What were they worried about?

QUEST: Not just a secure line. You don't know who else is in the room listening to the conversation. You don't know who else has bugged the phone.

You can't just pick up the phone and sort of say, hey, Maj, yes, well, I agree with that. You just can't do that in the middle of it all, can you?

BALDWIN: Right.

QUEST: So we don't know the reason, But I suspect she would have had to have been on a secure line with a certain integrity of who else was in the room and could overhear.

BALDWIN: Could they not get her to a secure location --

(CROSSTALK)

QUEST: Well, she is.

BALDWIN: She's in Canada. QUEST: A big place.

I mean, yes, you'd have to get to -- you could get to -- the high commission or something like that.

BALDWIN: OK. OK.

We were chatting about this in makeup, as one does, and you were saying, you know, think back to just when the queen took the throne and how she's -- she has seen some things in her day?

QUEST: The queen is scarred by the fact that she came to the throne as a result of the abdication of King Edward VIII. And she saw the way that killed her father, King George VI.

So she has lived her entire life -- that's why she doesn't abdicate. That's why the talk of abdication is abhorrent. It is a solemn oath taken. It's between her and God.

So she's been through the abdication crisis, Suez, more than a dozen prime ministers. She has had the problems with Margaret. She's had all her children divorced. She had the Diana scandals happen on her watch.

BALDWIN: So you're saying this is small potatoes?

[14:40:06]

QUEST: No, no, no. I'm saying this is something the queen will take in her stride.

Look at the statement that she made. She calls them Harry and Meghan. Now, normally, the royals talk about each other in their formal terms. So even Harry will say my father, the prince of Wales. Wills will talk about Her Majesty, my mother.

BALDWIN: So why did she speak about them so informally?

QUEST: Because she wanted to connote that there's an element of humanity here. This is a family matter as well as a national state matter. And she is sending a message that -- remember, during Diana, she said to the nation, what I say to you now I say to you as a queen and a grandmother.

So every now and again, Her Majesty does show this humanity that this is Meghan and Harry. It's her grandson, who she's very fond of.

BALDWIN: I'm getting a wrap. You have to go up upstairs and do your show.

QUEST: Yes, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Thank you.

QUEST: Good to see you. BALDWIN: Thank you.

QUEST: My makeup's looking really good.

BALDWIN: You're looking really good, really good, Richard Quest. So good.

Thank you so much. Maj!

With tonight's debate in Iowa just hours away, there are reports that some people feel the Iowa caucuses have been, well, kind of a mess. That's a direct quote from someone. We'll take you back to Des Moines to talk about why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:49]

BALDWIN: We are back on this Tuesday afternoon. And here she is, Senator Elizabeth Warren on our CNN debate stage there in Des Moines.

We are just a couple of hours away before this big final debate before the Iowa caucus. In just 20 days, Iowa Democrats will gather to choose a candidate.

And for the past year-plus, the candidates have been campaigning all across the state, and Iowans have been analyzing those presidential hopefuls and their policies.

And it turns out, many Iowa Democrats are still undecided. There was even a story in today's "New York Times" that captured that insanity -- with that uncertainty. The headline is, "Iowans' Famously Indecisiveness Worry the 2020 Race Is a Mess."

With me now is a man who knows Iowa caucuses very well. Matt Paul ran Hillary Clinton's successful 2016 Iowa caucus campaign. He is also, as his Twitter page announces, a proud Iowan.

Matt, nice to have you on. Welcome.

MATT PAUL, STATE DIRECTOR FOR IOWA, HILLARY CLINTON'S 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Hi, Brooke. Glad to be here.

BALDWIN: Iowans are famously indecisive ahead of the caucus, of course, like very aware of their responsibility in this political process. But, you know when you look at the numbers, they're so much more indecisive this go-around.

Matt, why do you think that is?

PAUL: Well, there's more candidates, so I'm not terribly surprised by this.

I think there are two factors at play. We started out this cycle with 20-plus candidates in this race, all out there trying to connect with Iowa Democrats. So it's no surprise that Iowans take this role very seriously. They do their homework. You've all heard these talking points before.

And they know, as we approach this big debate tonight, they're going to be watching these remaining candidates tonight that are on the stage, considering the others that aren't, and getting ready to make a final decision in just about 20 days.

BALDWIN: Take us inside the brain of an Iowan. I mean, how do you weigh these, you know, various candidates? Who has more foreign policy experience, or who maybe is too far to the left? What are you working through?

PAUL: Well, it was very clear at the beginning of this cycle that Iowans were looking for who they thought was the strongest against President Trump, who they thought could beat Donald Trump.

We've seen a marrying since -- as this election has gone on, we've seen that married with who shares my values. Who do I believe is going to stand up for the values that I believe in, that are best for my family? And I think that's part of the push and pull that we're feeling right now in this race as Iowans decide.

The stakes for this debate tonight could not be any higher. I've tried to think of other ways to say the stakes could not be higher. They just flat-out couldn't be.

This is the last chance Iowans to get to size up these candidates, to see them on stage, to interact, the contrast each offers to the other as we approach the final run here up to February 3rd and those caucuses at 7:00 p.m. on February 3rd.

BALDWIN: Yes, the pressure is on, 20 days to go.

Matt, thank you very much.

And let me just remind all of you. Make sure you watch the CNN presidential debate live in partnership with the "Des Moines Register." It starts tonight at 9:00 only, here on CNN.

Now to this, Lev Parnas, one of the indicted associates of Rudy Giuliani, really wants to testify to Congress about Ukraine. How much so? Take a look for yourself what his lawyer posted on Twitter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I don't know about you, but I'm having flashbacks of 7th grade dance parties. Yes, that is actually "You Can't Touch This" by M.C. Hammer. The video is a grab bag of Parnas posing with Trump and Giuliani and holding the gavel in the House Rules Committee.

And CNN reporter, Kara Scannell, is here with me.

All right, we'll push past the M.C. Hammer. I really don't want to, but we're going to get to the meat of this.

[14:50:02]

So we know that Joseph Bondy, Parnas' lawyer, has been trolling Trump with this video obviously. What's he trying to achieve?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: I think there's two things going on here. He wants his client, Lev Parnas, to get an audience with the House and with the investigators in the impeachment inquiry because Parnas was Rudy Giuliani's associate. He was with him on the road. He introduced them to the Ukrainians. As we've seen in these photos, he's had access to Donald Trump and his family.

BALDWIN: Yes.

SCANNELL: The other underlying thing is that Parnas initially wasn't cooperating with the House, but when he was arrested -- he's been indicted on criminal charges for campaign finance, unrelated to this so far.

But when he was in prison awaiting bail, the president distanced himself from him saying he didn't know him.

What do we see today? Round two of this music video montage. He tweets another photo, this time to the song "We Are Family," showing a montage of photos with Parnas and Donald Trump's children, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka, Eric Trump, and Jared Kushner.

So he's showing that, you know, in fact, he does have access to this family. He has been at occasions with them. Maybe it's meet-and- greets. Maybe it's more substantive. But he wants to tell the world he is someone they should listen to, #letlovespeak.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Thank you for that. Who knows what he's turned over? Wouldn't a lot of people like to know, all the documents they've turned over to House impeachment investigators.

We'll talk more about that, Kara. We've got to go.

Thank you very much.

Fresh concerns today about President Trump's most recent racist tweet. We'll talk about new fears in America's Muslim community.

And new details about the next steps in the impeachment trial of President Trump. How the next few days are shaping up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:17]

BALDWIN: President Trump is coming under fire for re-tweeting this Photoshopped image of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that many are calling down-right racist. The original tweet shows the two lawmakers in traditional Islamic

clothing in front of the Iranian flag. The phrase, "Democrats 2020," is written underneath.

Critics immediately slammed the president's actions calling it a new low, but the White House defended the post.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE GRISHAM, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the president was making the point that the Democrats seem to hate him so much that they're willing to be on the side of countries and leadership of countries who want to kill Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Anushay Hossain, CNN political analyst and contributing writer for CNN.com joins me. She penned the CNN opinion page, "Trump's Outrageous Re-tweet of Hate."

Anushay, it's always nice to have you on.

We have seen the president tweet out highly offensive videos and images before. This is personal to you. Tell me why.

ANUSHAY HOSSAIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, this is a new low for even for an impeached president, infamous for making -- taking low shots and making low blows. But especially during this time, Brooke, with heightened and renewed heightened tensions with Iran, tensions in the Middle East.

He is putting -- Trump -- by putting out tweets like this, he's not only showing us that he thinks that being Muslim and having associations with Islam or believing in Islam is a slur, is an insult, but that he doesn't care that he could be putting the lives of millions of Americans at risk.

There are actually studies that show, especially from the Southern Poverty Law Center, that show every time Trump tweets or directs hate towards a specific group of people, immigrants, Muslims, women, that hate crimes towards that group goes up.

BALDWIN: If we take Stephanie Grisham at her word, the White House press secretary, who we just heard, you know, this was the president just being upset with officials opposing his foreign policy.

You posed exactly the right question, which is, is it ever OK to insult your opponents using Islamophobic slurs.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: It's a rhetorical question.

HOSSAIN: Exactly. You know what the answer to that is? No. No, across the board. If you ever want to insult your opponent, in general, political or not, why are you going to bring up their religion, their ethnicity?

This is -- for anybody that needed more proof that Trump is an anti- Muslim bigot, who is racist, here you go. We don't need to even talk about Trump's very clear and established anti-Islamophobic pattern that he has. Hello, the Muslim ban. It goes on and on.

BALDWIN: This is bigger than the president. I think how you point out, basically, in your piece, the challenge to the American people.

HOSSAIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: It's more than just pointing out Trump's bad behavior, but it's how we all respond to it.

HOSSAIN: Exactly. Thank you for so -- that is such an important point. I'm so glad you brought that up. That is also true.

If this was any other religion -- I was actually just speaking with Jake Tapper about this in the Green Room. If it was any other religion, it would be an uproar. But somehow, when the president targets Muslims, people almost think it's justified, which is why I write in my piece it's so important.

This isn't just about Iranian-Americans and Muslim-Americans it's about all Americans. And we have to unite and say this is unacceptable rhetoric coming from the highest levels of our government. It is unacceptable.

BALDWIN: Preach.

Anushay, thank you.

HOSSAIN: Brooke, thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

HOSSAIN: Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: All right, we continue on. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

[14:59:56]

A milestone in the presidency of Donald Trump is now one week away. Moments ago, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just announced that, with the House set to vote on transmitting those articles of impeachment against Trump tomorrow, his chamber can now take its next steps.