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Iowa Caucus 2020, Final Pitch for Democratic Candidates; Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is Interviewed About the Iowa Caucus, the Coronavirus, and the Impeachment; Elie Honig Answers Legal Questions on "Cross-Exam"; Super Bowl LIV Kickoff in Miami. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired February 02, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello on this Sunday. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. So glad you are with us. You are live in the "CNN Newsroom" and in just a few hours one state in this country will matter most for one special day in the race for the White House.

Voters across Iowa will finally show the men and women running for president if all of the fundraising, promising making, town halls and pancake breakfasts will pay off. The Iowa caucuses are tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If it is a low turn out election Trump will win.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everyone knows who Donald Trump is. We have to let him know who we are.

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D,-IN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Are you ready for that sunrise where we put this presidency behind us? Are you ready to tell your friends?

AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The heart of America is bigger than the heart of the guy in the White House.

ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must come together as a party and beat Donald Trump. That is our job. Yes!

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

CABRERA: Most of the Democratic hopefuls are crisscrossing Iowa all day every hour this weekend trying to excite the voters already on their side and trying to win over those still on the fence.

It is the Iowa caucuses. The votes are real. The votes matter. And the results could make-or-break the hopes of some of these Democratic candidates you see there. Let's get right to Iowa now, in the national spotlight tonight and my colleague John Berman. Hey, John

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Hey, Ana, great to see you. And I have to say in this caucus season there are more possible outcomes than I have ever seen before. It's a close race and anything could happen here. CNN has live team coverage spread throughout the state as we follow the candidates on their last full day of campaigning before people show up to vote.

Let's start with CNN's Ryan Nobles. He is on the ground here in Des Moines at a Bernie Sanders Super Bowl watch party and the Sanders campaign, Ryan, they have been going in with the wind they say at their back.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, John. Actually, we haven't quite made it to the Super Bowl party yet that's because one of the canvas locations that Sanders was at today ran a little bit long. Their effort right now is all about motivating their voters and motivating their canvas workers to get the caucus goers to the polling locations tomorrow night.

They believe that there are more people here in Iowa that support Bernie Sanders as a candidate than there are in any of the other campaigns. The question is can they get them out to caucus for Bernie Sanders on Monday night.

And Sanders really believes that the energy and the enthusiasm in the Democratic Party are behind his campaign. And that's because of the issues that he has championed, these issues that he brought to the forefront in 2016. Listen to what he said at one of these canvas launches earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: What this campaign in Iowa is about and what it is about nationally is voter turn out. It is reaching forth to our friends and neighbors who in many instances have given up on the political process. And what we are saying to those people, if you want to change this country, if we want to improve lives for working people, you must get involved in the political process. We cannot just allow big money interest to dominate what goes on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And there's no question that the Sanders campaign feels confident tonight. They are by no means guaranteeing victory, but they do believe that they are in a strong position to win. And John, we cannot understate enough how remarkable it is that Bernie Sanders is in this position.

Keep in mind that it was just a few months ago that he was recovering for a heart attack. Many people had written him off as a candidate. He stands here on the eve of the Iowa caucuses in a strong position to come out on top.

BERMAN: Yes, ironically, that might have been the very moment where the campaign started to tick upwards and gain a new sense of momentum. Ryan Nobles here in Des Moines, thanks very much. I want to go now to CNN's Arlette Saenz who is also in Des Moines. She is following Joe Biden.

And if the Sanders campaign is hyping the fact that are going here with a head of steam, Joe Biden himself in his campaign, they're trying to downplay expectations, Arlette.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. Over the past few days, Joe Biden has attempted to downplay expectations here in the state. In fact, he told me he sees it as a toss up and he thinks that the candidates are going to emerge out of here all bunched up together.

But in these final hours before those Iowa caucus goers head to make their decisions, Joe Biden has tried to frame this as a match up between himself and the president. That is a theme that he has carried on from the very start of his campaign as he squarely kept his focus on President Trump.

And he argues that the attacks from the president and Republicans show that they are most concerned about-facing Joe Biden in a general election match-up. Take a listen to the pitch he made to voters in Dubuque, Iowa earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[17:05:00]

BIDEN: Here's the great thing. The people of Iowa tomorrow, tomorrow night when they caucus, can hold Trump accountable, causing the candidate he's trying to destroy with his spears (ph) and his lies to get to say the word what Trump fears the most. We're going to caucus for Joe Biden. So folks, if you stand with me we'll end Donald Trump's reign of hatred and division and begin to unify this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, Joe Biden spoke on a training call with precinct leaders a little earlier today and he said that the person who wins Iowa it's going to be because they have a strong organization and Biden is really making these push in these final days as he's hoping to secure the support of caucus goers to win, John.

BERMAN: All right, Arlette Saenz in an event here in Des Moines. Now, we got to CNN's MJ Lee who is in Ames, Iowa following Elizabeth Warren there. Interesting that Elizabeth Warren is in Ames. She has been trying to reach out to students there and she's talking herself hoarse and really laying it all out there in these final minutes, MJ.

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. You know, every single Democratic candidate knows just how important Iowa is and Senator Warren is no exception. The stakes are incredibly high. And doing well here or badly here can really set the narrative for your candidacy for the rest of the campaign.

And I should note Iowa, of course, is the state where Senator Warren has spent the most time and the most resources and so, certainly this campaign is hoping for a strong finish tomorrow. And in terms of just what her final message has been this weekend, she's basically telling voters here do not settle, do not pick the candidate that is the safe choice. Vote for the candidate or caucus for the candidate that you in your

heart would like to see become the nominee. Take a listen to how she made that pitch at this event in Ames.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: I am running a campaign from the heart because I believe. I believe in the America that we can build together. I believe in what we can do when we choose hope over fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Now, this event that just wrapped up is expected to be her last event in Iowa before voting begins tomorrow because she will be flying back to Washington, D.C. tonight but returning tomorrow night for her caucus party. Just one more reminder that the impeachment proceedings still hang over these senators even as voting is about to get under way, John.

BERMAN: Yes, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren all taking that trip back to Washington. Unfortunately, you don't get frequent flyer miles from campaign charters. MJ Lee, thank you very much.

CNN's Abby Philip chasing Pete Buttigieg on the road here. And it is interesting, Abby, because Pete Buttigieg who chooses his words so carefully has chosen his closing message to be we can't take the risk of trying to fall back on the old playbook. Deliberate (ph), what's the message he's sending?

ABBY PHILIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, John. As you've noted that these candidates seem to be very reluctant to go after each other. But in the last week, Pete Buttigieg did sharpen his attacks making it very clear the contrast that he was trying to draw between his candidacy and Joe Biden's and also Bernie Sanders. That's what he's referring to when he says the old way of doing politics.

But today as he campaigned on two stops in Iowa here, he kind of really made this a little bit of a broader pitch to the voters. It's a more positive message aimed at really saying to Iowa voters that they have a chance to make history and to validate the work that he and his campaign have done for over a year.

I asked him about how high the stakes really are for him because this campaign has spent a ton of money in the last three or four months more than they spent in the entire campaign, investing it here in Iowa and then the three states that come after it. Is it do or die for him? Here's what he said to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTTIGIEG: These early states are absolutely critical. It's one thing to campaign for a year talking about why we believe we're the best campaign to go out there and beat Donald Trump. This is our first chance to begin to prove it and it all starts with the caucuses.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

PHILIP: So the answer to that question about electability, Pete Buttigieg is telling his supporters to make tomorrow night a big night for him so that he can prove to voters who come after this state he can actually win some races here, John.

BERMAN: All right, Abby Philip, also in Des Moines. Abby, thank you so much for your work. All the reporters out there, you're almost done here in Iowa, but then it just begins. Off to New Hampshire after this. Let's bring in CNN's senior political analyst, Mark Preston, national politics reporter from Yahoo! News Brittany Shepherd, Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen and national political reporter for "Politico" Laura Barron-Lopez.

And Laura, I want to start with you. We had four campaign reporters out of the trail of four candidates.

[17:10:01]

I saw an Amy Klobuchar's event last night. So let's bring her into this. And her message was we can't screw this up. We can't screw this up. And to me that encapsulated the arguments that all the Democrats are making out there right now, which is to say we need to pick the best candidate to beat Donald Trump that's why I'm that candidate.

And they are also beginning to say that's why these other people I'm running against may not be.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes, the key message from almost all of them. They've all come back to electability and making the argument that they are the ones that can beat Trump, that they are the ones that can make it all the way and win the nomination and that they have the coalition to do that.

I was also at a Klobuchar event yesterday, one maybe a little earlier in the day and she said that it is the one issue, beating Trump is the one issue that unites Democrats. And her argument for the caucus goers to choose her is that she's beaten -- that she has won Republican districts in her home state of Minnesota including Michele Bachmann's multiple times she said.

We all know Michele Bachmann the former Republican congresswoman. And so it's interesting to see whether or not someone like Klobuchar is gaining enough momentum. Really, the top are all fluid and honestly even though Sanders looks like he might be ahead of them, it could be anyone's game.

BERMAN: It's incredibly fluid. And Hillary, I don't know I've seen an Iowa caucus season with so many possible outcomes. It's not just that they are clumped to the top of the pools. It's that a win or fourth place showing which is possible for three of the four candidates there at least, I think, could mean wildly different things.

You could be coming at -- if you're Elizabeth Warren, you could win Iowa tomorrow reasonably, or if you finish third or fourth people are going to start to be asking you why are you still running? HILARY ROSEN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, on the other hand, if you

are in third or fourth with more than 15 percent of the vote, you're going to collect delegates. And we're in a position now where these next four states, you know, Iowa is 41 delegates tomorrow. The first four states are about 100 delegates and you need, you know, some 2,000 delegates to get there.

So, this is a slog. Tomorrow I think is kind of the first day of the slog for these folks. So, I don't think any one of the top tier will feel like tomorrow counts them out. Most of them have some money to keep going, you know, at least through Super Tuesday where that's a significant opportunity for delegates.

I don't think the Democrats have been in this position for as long as I can remember where any one of them has a legitimate claim on Tuesday that they can keep going and still win.

BERMAN: Right. Mark, in the arguments for electability, most of them have kept away from going negative. Is it a mistake? You're the meanest person up here that's why I'm going to you with this. Do you think these candidates are going to regret not taking --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So true.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's kind of true.

BERMAN: It is kind of true. Are they going regret not taking their arguments more directly to the other candidates here? It's about winning after all.

PRESTON: Yes. So let's Monday morning quarterback and pretend it's now Tuesday morning. I think so, but I think history will play out that its best that it hasn't gotten so personal. Now, what we've seen certainly in these closing days is a lot of talk about, okay, Democrats need to unify. They need to unify. It all goes back to who can defeat Donald Trump.

Now, for instance, if Amy Klobuchar does not do well and she very well could do very well here. But if she does not do well, will she have some thoughts about, man, I should have been a little bit more aggressive than I was against that candidate or should I, you know, put my strategy to maybe parallel another candidates where I could have at least if not outwardly criticize them. I could have done it in a way that still would have shown that I was "the better cane." We'll have some second guessing.

BERMAN: And the reason this comes up as often as it does is because people see Bernie Sanders doing very well here. He has a lot of support, a lot of people showing up at his rallies. There was this Super PAC that went up with an ad. Let me play a little bit of this ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I doubt if Bernie Sanders can beat Trump. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like Bernie. I think he has great ideas, but

Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa, they are just not going to vote for a socialist.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do have some concerns about Bernie Sanders' health considering the fact that he did have a heart attack. I don't feel as though Bernie Sanders would do well against Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just don't think Bernie can beat Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The reason I played that is because that's a Super PAC, not affiliated with any of the campaigns, but there are people wondering if other candidates should have been making that argument directly about Bernie Sanders here at Iowa voters.

BRITTANY SHEPHERD, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, YAHOO NEWS: Well, certainly Bernie Sanders biggest asset here in Iowa is turn out. Surprise, surprise, it might well come out and do turn out at the polls. And if you look at just the crowds at these Bernie Sanders events, it looks like it's a Bono concert, right.

So, he has the ability to not only put Joe Biden in a really tough position, but someone like Elizabeth Warren because this caucus doesn't happen like in a bubble, right. It's not just New Hampshire and Nevada, but South Carolina voters are thinking, okay, well maybe if something doesn't happen in Iowa he won't be viable there.

[17:15:01]

And someone like Elizabeth Warren who is also quite progressive or even a Joe Biden, if they are not polling well with these Black voters and Bernie Sanders is able to, you know, knock them out, then he presents a real big threat here, you know. So folks are tending to go negative to maybe because they see Bernie as a threat with turnout.

ROSEN: I think that might be true, but I think there's another reason why people are holding back from going too negative. It's because we -- and I say this as a Democrat -- we are punishing candidates who are attacking each other.

You know, the candidates in the debates as you recall who were the most aggressive against other candidates are actually the ones who are not still in this race -- Kamala Harris when going after Joe Biden; Julian Castro going after (inaudible) others.

We lived through this in 2016 where it got so poisonous and people felt like they carried through to the general. I think these candidates are scared to piss off the rest of the party's, you know, other people's voters by going after them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they should be scared.

ROSEN: And they should be scared. That's not what we want. BARRON-LOPEZ: Because you hear it on the trail. I mean, you hear it

in Iowa, you hear it in South Carolina. I've been there. I've been to Nevada. Voters there don't want to be hearing the Democrats attacking each other.

ROSEN: Right.

BARRON-LOPEZ: And so I think that lends to why they aren't attacking each other. We did see though a bit of a shift, a tiny one from Pete Buttigieg this week a few days ago. He did decide to directly attack Biden and to directly attack Sanders -- didn't feel the need to attack Warren because his campaign maybe views that she's been diminished a bit here, but there's been a little change there.

BERMAN: And the word attack, which you put in quotation marks here, because as far as campaign attacks go, this stuff is pretty tame.

BARRON-LOPEZ: It was mild.

BERMAN: It is mild, but he absolutely did when you do address by name. And Brittany and Mark, let's talks about Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren here because they are in a little bit of a different position than Biden and Sanders here.

The Sanders campaign is hyping, building expectations for tomorrow night. The Biden campaign is reducing. I think for Warren and Buttigieg they can't play the expectations game here because everyone knows they have to do really well.

SHEPHERD: Right. And then certainly, there's so much fluctuation for second and third place and that's so important. It's not just about winning Iowa. It's being able to say if we don't hit viability in precincts then, you know, we release someone second or third choice because if they, you know, come in fourth or fifth place, they are pretty much out of the -- they're Michael Bennet (ph) essentially, you know.

They might be in the race but they're not really being considered as someone serious. And I think Mayor Pete has a lot to lose tomorrow if he doesn't net. So maybe that's why he's going negative. He wants people to get the headlines that why he's on every single Sunday show possible this morning because he wants to be top of mind and hopefully for the caucus goers, you know, top of image.

PRESTON: You know, we're talking about here the Democratic Party unity and them attacking one another and, you know, democrats shouldn't be doing that because they're going to turn off voters. I do think in the minds of many of these voters, they do need to take a step back and realize they have to win the primary.

Oh, and by the way, in order to defeat Donald Trump in November you better be vicious because if you are not vicious then you're going to lose. So, I wonder if it's a better strategy to go all in negative right now and show that you can take somebody on and see where those dice roll for you. ROSEN: Well, particularly in Iowa when so much of the outcome with

the new caucus rules depends on that second collaboration. You're really careful about not pissing off other people's voters. You know, you want them to walk across the room and be on your side.

BERMAN: It'd be so exciting to have this exact same conversation about 48 hours from now to match up all we predicted what would actually happen. Laura, Hilary, Mark, Brittany, thank you all for being here. Ana, let's go back to you in New York.

CABRERA: All right, and I guess we're all very excited. It's going to be tough to sleep tonight for a lot of people there in Iowa with that anticipation building. John, thank you.

And then the bigger question and bigger picture is how does the outcome in Iowa translate into how candidates perform nationally? We're going to break down Iowa's impact on the rest of the campaign trail, next. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00]

CABRERA: A little more than 24 hours before Iowans begin to caucus. It is the first contest of the 2020 presidential election. And since 1972, the caucus winners from both parties have gone on to become their party's nominee, more than half the time, although only three of them went on to win the White House.

Harry Enten is CNN's senior political writer and analyst. He has been reading all the political tea leaves for us. That's a lot of tea leaves, Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER: That's a lot of tea leaves. My goodness gracious.

CABRERA: Where are we right now?

ENTEN: Look, take a look at the odds that I have and they're based upon the polls that we have and how accurate the polls have been at predicting the winner in the Iowa caucuses at this point. And what do we see? We see that Bernie Sanders is certainly the favorite in this situation, right?

But even so, he only wins I believe 7.5 out of 20 times. That's a little less than 40 percent of the time. Joe Biden is next, and then there is Buttigieg, Warren and Klobuchar.

But I think the key thing to take away from the slide, Ana, is that Bernie Sanders is the favorite but there's still actually a better than 50 percent chance that someone else takes the Iowa caucuses. We just don't know who.

CABRERA: So historically speaking, how -- I guess how accurate are these polls? ENTEN: You know, the fact is that they are not necessarily all that

predictive. So I've went back in time and looked at both the average error for candidates who were polling at 5 percent or better as well as the margin of error. And look at the margin of error if you look at the slide, plus or minus 14 percentage points.

That means that if you're looking at the polls right now, you know, if you look at Buttigieg, you look at Warren, you look at Biden, you look at Sanders, they are well within that margin of error. So, really shouldn't be too surprising if any of those top four won.

Even if Klobuchar win despite the fact that she's a little bit more in back of the pack. That wouldn't be the most shocking thing. We're really going to have to wait and see those votes come in tomorrow night to really have a good idea who's going to win.

CABRERA: And the caucus system is special. So even if the polls predict accurately the first preference of voters there or supporters there, doesn't necessarily translate into the final vote.

ENTEN: That's exactly right. You know the system. If you go to an individual caucus site, you know, you have to meet that viability threshold. That's about 15 percent at most individual caucus sites.

[17:25:04]

And if you look at the initial votes say from 2016, you might see that in fact Hillary Clinton won that initial preference vote by three points over Bernie Sanders. That was according to an Edison Research estimate.

But if you look at those final statewide delegate equivalence after you have that re-allocation, after you basically are determining all of that jazz and stuff, what do you see? You saw that three-point race back in 2016 turn in to much less than half a percentage point affair between Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

So the fact is, even if the polls nail that initial preference, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll nail the statewide delegate equivalence, which is how all the major networks are determining the winner.

CABRERA: And it's going to be so interesting to watch with so many candidates really potentially vying for that victory there in Iowa. Is Iowa though a good representation of all Democrats in how they maybe feeling?

ENTEN: Yet not necessarily. So, you know, if you look at the Iowa Democratic electorate and you essentially said, okay, let's take a look at the racial breakdown of that Iowa Democratic electorate. What do you see? You see it's really, really white compared to the nation. Its 30 points more white in fact.

And you know a candidate like Joe Biden tends to do particularly well among African-Americans who are very in limited supply in the Iowa Democratic caucuses. But what I should point out is if you look at how Iowa if say you win the Iowa caucuses and you look at the balance coming out of Iowa what do you see? You see big bounces coming out of Iowa.

You see it nationally and you see it -- look at this, a seven-point median bounce for the winner coming out of Iowa in their national polls pre and post. And expectations are also really important because if you say you outperform the Iowa polls, what do you see nationally? For every point you outperform the Iowa polls, you gain points, seven points nationally.

For every point you underperform, you lose points, seven points nationally. Someone like John Kerry in 2004 who outperformed the Iowa polls and also won the Iowa caucuses saw a huge bounce, but it's not just nationally. It's also New Hampshire, which is of course the next contest.

We see also bounces coming out of Iowa and then New Hampshire polls. You see the median person who wins the Iowa caucus gets a three-point bounce. If they beat expectations in Iowa for every point they beat expectations, they get half a percentage bounce.

And for every percentage that they underperform, they lose about half a percentage point. Again, John Kerry, 2004, did well in Iowa. Outperformed expectations, got a huge bounce, won New Hampshire and then of course, won the nominations.

CABRERA: That's why it can make-or-break a candidate's campaign.

ENTEN: You got it.

CABRERA: Harry Enten, good to have you here. Prediction for Super Bowl?

ENTEN: Kansas City Chiefs. That is my prediction. Maybe I'll be right. Maybe I'll be wrong, but the fact is, I'm going to enjoy it.

CABRERA: Okay. Well, enjoy it.

ENTEN: Shalom. Be well.

CABRERA: Regardless, enjoy it. Thank you. You too.

And get ready. It's a whole week of special political coverage here on CNN. We got the caucuses tomorrow, Tuesday, State of the Union and Wednesday and Thursday, tune in for back-to-back presidential town halls. Those will be live from New Hampshire.

Don't miss our special coverage on next week on CNN. And don't go away either here. We have much more of "CNN Newsroom" when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BIDEN: The old saying is that talk is cheap. On politics, talk is sometimes very expensive, especially when you don't tell people how you're going to pay for what you tell them you're going to do. Good people on our team have these incredibly good ideas. I wonder why they don't know how much it's going to cost.

(END VIDEI CLIP)

CABRERA: There you have Joe Biden touting his electability in Iowa while also taking a not so veiled swipe at more progressive competitor like Bernie Sanders and the price tag for his plan.

Joining us now is a surrogate for Joe Biden, Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. Senator, thank you very much for taking time with us today. Biden's argument has largely been about character and electability. On the latter, do you believe if Bernie Sanders were the nominee that he would cost the party the election?

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): Well, Ana, I think we've got a lot of great candidates. I support Vice President Biden for a couple of basic reasons. Number one is his character. I think he is a person who has demonstrated he has very strong character. He's got great experience both in the Senate as well as vice president, working with President Barack Obama.

And then his plans in this campaign, I think have been forward reaching and also the particular focus on health care and making sure that we preserve the health care that we have and make sure we don't allow President Trump and the Republicans to destroy the health care system which is what they are trying to do with a lawsuit and their budget cuts --

CABRERA: Well, I understand, but I'm asking you --

CASEY: -- and sabotage. So, I support him and I'll leave it to --

CABRERA: Forgive me. I wasn't asking you though why you support Joe Biden. My question was about whether you're concerned about the candidacy of Senator Sanders and whether you feel that if he were to win the nomination that would pose a risk for the party to win in the general election.

CASEY: Ana, here's the bottom line. The Democratic nominee is going to beat Donald Trump and that Democratic nominee is going to be Joe Biden. Simple as that.

CABRERA: All right. Let me ask you about the Biden campaign then because the "New York Times" reported this week that the Biden camp and a Super PAC supporting him are on track to spend $9 million on T.V. ads in Iowa ahead of the caucuses.

This obviously can be a point in which a candidate gets a lot of momentum or sees that momentum slow down or even fizzle out. I understand he hasn't spent much in the next three states that vote here in February.

[17:34:57]

Where does Biden need to finish in your mind in Iowa to keep the fundraising up through all of these contests to come?

CASEY: Well, Ana, I don't think there's a prediction that I ain't going to make about where he should finish. I'll leave that up to the campaign and pundits. But here's what I'm telling you.

In order to get elected president you have to win, for example my home state of Pennsylvania in a general election. I've done that six times. No one has ever done that. I know how to do it.

And I just believe that among several other reasons that I support Joe Biden, one of those reasons is he can carry Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan states like that. And that's the key.

But look, this is a long process. We don't know where things will stand after Tuesday, but I think he'll do well in Iowa. I think he's going to continue to do well, but this is a very long process which is just starting.

CABRERA: Senator, we have just some breaking news just in to CNN. The U.S. has now confirmed a ninth case of the coronavirus. You're on the committee that handles public health. Is the Senate planning to take action on the coronavirus?

CABRERA: Well, what we have to do is listen to the public health professionals starting with the CDC and make sure that if there is additional funding that's needed we should provide that.

The good news here in terms of our preparedness is Senator Burr and I, Senator Richard Burr from North Carolina and I worked together in a bipartisan fashion to get the pandemic all hazards legislation re- authorized.

That means more funding for existing programs, more by way of authority and help for states. So I think we have a good apparatus in place, a good infrastructure. But if there's more that folks on the ground need as this crisis develops and maybe grows, we got to be ready for immediate infusions of funding.

But I'm hoping that the existing structure that's in place as well as new funding that we provided should be enough, but we're going to be listening attentively to that.

CABRERA: Of course the last couple of weeks your focus has been largely on impeachment. I just wonder has all the focus on impeachment prevented any steps that might otherwise need to be taken to allocate money or resources to help protect the public.

CASEY: Well, I think when it comes to providing the resources, we're going to be ready and I don't think there's any question about that, at least the legislative branch. I can't speak to the -- where the administration is going in this.

I hope that they are prepared and they are meeting and they are engaging in briefings because that's the job the administration has. But I'm telling you, from the perspective of the Senate, we're going to be prepared to act if we need to.

CABRERA: Tuesday, the president delivers his state of the union. Wednesday the Senate is poised to acquit him in the impeachment trial. Here's what one of the president's top allies in the Senate, Senator Lindsey Graham has said about all of this coming to an end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I went to the school of hard knocks and you know what I believe about all this? It was a bunch of partisan (BLEEP) in the House. It continued in the Senate. It's going to end Wednesday. The president is going to get acquitted and it's going to blow up in their face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: What's your reaction to that?

CASEY: Well, I just don't think a member of the Senate should talk that way about something as grave and that serious as an impeachment trial. This is a critically important moment for the country. We're now seeing polling that shows half, more than half of the American people believe the president abused his power and the president obstructed Congress.

When more than half of the American people believe that, we ought to take it very seriously. And we should be more concerned no matter what the outcome of the trial and it looks like he will be acquitted, but no matter the outcome our focus should be on making sure that no president can abuse their power in this fashion.

But unfortunately, Republicans are in the tank. President Trump now runs the United States Senate, and that's not good for the country when you have one branch of government or at least one half of one branch of government, which is in the pocket of the president, that's a sad day for America.

What any senator should be saying and what the president should say in his state of the union would be to bring the country together, to bring the country together as presidents should do, to act like an adult instead of acting the way they have been acting.

The idea that they would completely ignore new witnesses that are relevant and new documents was a miscarriage of justice. They rigged the trial and we're seeing the results of that. That's not good for the country.

CABRERA: Senator Bob Casey, thank you for being here.

CASEY: Thanks Ana.

CABRERA: This week's President Trump's impeachment trial will wrap up with closing arguments and now we're hearing from one Republican senator who says maybe Trump handled Ukraine in the wrong manner. But will that have any impact on the acquittal vote on Wednesday?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:00]

CABRERA: There will be no new witnesses or evidence at President Trump's impeachment trial even though some Republicans conceded Democrats had proven their case and President Trump was in the wrong when it came to a quid pro quo with Ukraine. Listen to what Republican Senator Joni Ernst told our Jake Tapper just this morning after she voted against calling witnesses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): Generally speaking, going after corruption would be the right thing to do.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: No, but going after the Bidens.

ERNST: He did it maybe in the wrong manner. And the president has a lot of latitude to do what he wants to do. Again, not what I would have done, but certainly, again, going after corruption, Jake.

TAPPER: So you're saying it's not perfect. I get that, but if it's not something --

ERNST: Maybe not the perfect call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The acquittal vote won't come until Wednesday. A deal was struck after the witness vote to put the trial on hold over the weekend. So, closing arguments are now Monday. Tuesday night is the president's state of the union address and the final vote on the two articles of impeachment comes Wednesday afternoon.

And that brings us to our weekly "Cross-exam" segment with former federal prosecutor and legal analyst Elie Honig.

[17:45:01]

And Elie, one viewer pointed out a trial ordinarily does involve witnesses and evidence. What justification could there be for the Senate to return a verdict without hearing from any witnesses?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So yes, the viewer is exactly right. Of course, ordinary criminal trials, civil trials always have witnesses. In fact, there have been 15 prior Senate impeachment trials. All 15 of those have had witnesses.

So, this Senate has made history in a way of running the first-ever witness-free impeachment trial. What justification did Republicans offer for voting no? First of all, undue delay. They said it's going to take too long. This trial will end up taking about two weeks.

Prior impeachment trials have taken multiples of that. And when Adam Schiff said we can limit it to one week for witnesses, they still said no thanks. Second of all, there is this argument that the House should have called the witnesses. It's not the Senate's job to call the witnesses.

There's no law for that. There's No authority for that. And in those 15 prior trials witnesses have testified, many of them have not first testified in the House.

And then finally this idea we just heard from Senator Ernst. Even if it's all true, even if the allegations are true, it's not impeachable. I think that's where we get into really dangerous ground.

If the allegations are true, if the president used the power of the office to pressure a foreign country to interfere in our elections, if that's not impeachable, I don't know what is.

I think the risk here is that we're raising the bar on impeachment to almost impossible levels and really potentially putting the president above the law.

CABRERA: Here's another good question from a viewer. Why are there no standard rules and processes in place for impeachment? It seems like Congress is just figuring this out as it goes along.

HONIG: This is the question of the year. I love this because sometimes our viewers put their finger right on something a lot of people are feeling. And if it felt like the Senate was making this up to an extent as they went along. It's because they were.

The law really does not give us an exact prescription for how to do an impeachment trial. We have the Constitution but that only gives us the big picture. The Senate has its own rules, but again that only covers some of the issues.

And then we have precedent, but there are only two prior presidential impeachment trials. They went with this McConnell resolution, but the problem was they kind of forgot in the resolution to talk about how this ends. They had the no vote on witnesses Friday. And then there was this bizarre portion where nobody knew what to do next.

They ended up coming up with this plan where we'll have closing arguments tomorrow, then senators will have a chance to make statements from the floor and then the final vote Wednesday, but it took a little bit of improvisation to get there.

CABRERA: On the vote on Wednesday, one viewer asks, can the Senate decide to have that final impeachment vote in private.

HONIG: They can theoretically decide to do that, but they won't. That vote will be in public. The Senate rules that I just talked about do say that that final vote needs to be in public. The two prior presidential trials, Johnson and Clinton, but those votes were in public.

Now, the Senate can amend its rules, but takes a two-thirds vote. That's not going to happen. Expect to see each senator stand up and announce his or her verdict.

CABRERA: Okay. What are your questions this week?

HONIG: Oh boy. All right. Well first of all, what new revelations are going to come up? We keep seeing this drum beat, new e-mails, new witnesses. That's going to keep happening through the trial and after the trial and how is that going to play politically?

Second of all, will the House continue its investigations into the Ukraine scandal? Most importantly, will they subpoena John Bolton? That's still potentially in play.

And finally, what will President Trump say publicly in particular, state of the union's Tuesday night. The final vote is Wednesday. I guarantee you his lawyers are saying please just leave it alone. Is he going to be able to discipline himself and lay off of it? I guess we'll see.

CABRERA: You've been so disciplined throughout this trial and through every wee in, week out, bringing our viewers this answers. Thank you.

HONIG: Yes, thanks. Look, it's been history in the making. The viewers have asked fantastic questions so.

CABRERA: No doubt about it. We've been so lucky to have you walk us through the process. Thank you.

Well, it's a big night for football, but it's not all about the game tonight. You can expect a touching tribute to Kobe Bryant. We're in Miami next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:00]

CABRERA: The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs set to face off in Super Bowl LIV in Miami tonight. CNN's Coy Wires joining us from Miami where all the excitement is happening. Coy.

COY WIRES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Ana, welcome to Miami, the land of the ocean breeze and the tall palm trees. It's the perfect place for a Super Bowl. The Chiefs and Niners are meeting in the game's biggest stage for the first time ever and the hype is real.

Ticket prices for this Super Bowl had been higher than ever. Now the Chiefs, they are led by a dynamic quarterback, one of the most dynamic the league has ever seen. Patrick Mahomes is the league's reigning MVP. He has that cool hair.

He has the charisma, the uplifting personality and he has this jaw- dropping plays, sidearm passes and no-look passes, you name it. The 49ers have their hands full with him and he could make history today becoming the youngest player ever to be league MVP and a Super Bowl champ.

The 49ers, they are led by head coach Kyle Shanahan, and what a story. He was San Francisco's ball boy 25 years ago when they won their last Super Bowl. Mike Shanahan, his father was the team's offensive coordinator at the time. Could you imagine how sweet it would be for Kyle to help the Niners get their first Super Bowl win on the very field where he saw his dad win it a quarter century ago.

All right. The kickoff is just around the corner. I'm going to run in there so I can soak up all the sights and sounds. We'll see you after the game.

CABRERA: All right, thank you so much Cory. Now, tomorrow is a brand new contest and the stakes even higher. We get our first real results from voters in the race to the White House. The Iowa caucuses are now just one day way. Who will come out on top? Our live coverage continues here in the "CNN Newsroom." Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:55:05]

CABRERA: You're live in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Great to have you here. The 2020 presidential election season is about to get real.

[17:59:57]

The Iowa caucuses are tomorrow, the first major contest of every presidential election and a fairly reliable indicator who the American voting public really wants to see in the White House come November. For the field of Democratic candidates --