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Impeachment Hangs Over State of the Union Address; Iowa Results Delayed; Coronavirus Cases Top 20,000. Aired 9:30-10a
Aired February 04, 2020 - 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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[09:34:14]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, President Trump will deliver his State of the Union Address in front of a very divided Congress, face- to-face with the Democrats who impeached him, one day before the Senate is likely to acquit him.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And Nancy Pelosi's going to be right over his shoulder there.
Joining us now, CNN's John Harwood at the White House, Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill.
So, John, what do we know about the president's speech? Is it still accurate that he wants to deliver some sort of message of unity tonight?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's certainly what we expect, and the president has good reason to deliver the positive message that he previewed over the weekend on Super Bowl Sunday. He is presiding over the longest expansion in American economic history. Much of that inherited from President Obama. But of the last six immediate predecessors, every one who has avoided a recession in the last two years of his term has gotten re-elected.
[09:35:05]
Trump, right now, along with Bill Clinton, is the only one to have no recession at any point in his term. We've got wages up, unemployment down, markets up, all that is positive.
Now, we know that the economy does not, in 21st century America, does not drive all of the election results, certainly as much as it used to. Cultural issues and some of the behavioral issues that have undercut the president have been highlighted by impeachment have kept his approval ratings down.
But we -- it is notable that today Gallop has shown President Trump with his highest measured approval -- job approval yet at 49 percent. So he's got reason to be positive and we certainly have every expectation he will be in highlighting what he calls the great American comeback tonight.
HARLOW: Yes, we were just looking at those polling numbers and how remarkable that is in the midst of everything.
Lauren, what about Republican lawmakers, at least privately, saying the president should not bring up impeachment tonight?
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, it's not just private, Poppy, they are very publicly making the case that the president should be looking to the future. Instead of talking about impeachment, something that has been so divisive, something that has divided Republicans and Democrats, their argument is the president should be willing to turn the page tonight, to really talk about what he hope he can accomplish in the next few months ahead of his re-election. That's a message that Republican allies like Lindsey Graham, a close friend of the president, has been pushing on Capitol Hill.
Now, whether or not the president can stick to that, whether or not he can make sure that he will not go after Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, who's going to be seated right behind him, is another question entirely. But Republicans hoping that the president can control his message tonight and make sure it's a positive one for the country.
Poppy and Jim.
HARLOW: Lauren Fox, we'll all be watching. John Harwood at the White House. Thanks you both very much.
As for the former vice president, Joe Biden, he says he's feeling good this morning, even without the Iowa caucus results. His campaign is taking shots at the process.
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[09:41:30]
HARLOW: As we continue to wait for the results from the Iowa caucuses this morning, the Biden campaign is questioning the integrity of the entire process. The former vice president there arriving in New Hampshire very early this morning in the wee hours. He will host two events across the state today.
SCIUTTO: We're joined now by Biden campaign senior advisor Symone Sanders.
Symone, good to have you on the broadcast this morning.
Poppy mentioned there, Kate Bedingfield on this network a short time ago said they have real concerns about the integrity of the process, going on to say that vote -- that should give voters concern. Are you and the Biden campaign alleging here that the results of this, when they are posted, should be questioned?
SYMONE SANDERS, SENIOR ADVISER, JOE BIDEN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Well, Jim, first, thank you all for having me today. What we're alleging and, frankly, saying is that we have to protect
the integrity of this process. And from what we saw last night, from the app crashing, to phone calls not being answered, precinct captains -- pardon me, precinct chairs waiting on the line on the phone for two hours, precinct chairs from precincts who attempted to drive their results to the Iowa Democratic Party and were turned away. There are just some gross, gross, gross failures in the process last night.
And that's why we sent a letter to the Iowa Democratic Party asking that they check, check again, and triple check any results before they put anything out. And, frankly, ensure that they can prove what they're saying. Preference cards. Preference cards. Presidential preference cards are the foundation of this process, Jim and Poppy --
HARLOW: All right.
SANDERS: And we are just not sure if every single card has been counted.
HARLOW: So, Symone, we just got this statement in the last hour, I'm sure you've seen it, from the Iowa Democratic Party. Here's the important part. Quote, we determined with certainty that the underlying data collected via the app was sound. While the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data.
Again, to Jim's question, knowing what they're saying now, when the party releases the results of the caucus, will you trust them?
SANDERS: Well, Poppy, again, I'm just really not sure what that statement said. We know for a fact that there were issues with the app and that people were unable to report data in the app.
But the fact of the matter is this, Poppy, our own internal data shows that we did well. In Polk County, in a precinct, frankly, that Senator Sanders won by 66 percent in 2016, we were tracking well above and won in that precinct. We did well in some very rural areas. So we have internal data that shows kind of how we shook out in places across the state.
But the fact is that we have to be able to ensure the integrity of this process. And I just -- I -- we urge the Iowa Democratic Party to ensure that they are not rushing this and that they are checking their data and making sure that they can account for where the data is coming from.
SCIUTTO: Yes. You see --
SANDERS: Again, presidential preference cards. That is very important here.
SCIUTTO: You seem -- I'm sure a number of your competitors here have claimed victory. Pete Buttigieg. Others claim a strong showing. Amy Klobuchar among them.
What's your response from the Biden camp this morning? SANDERS: Well, look, again, our internal data shows that we did well
in a number of places across the state. Frankly, some places where we didn't think we would do well.
But, again, any campaign claiming victory is doing so inaccurately and it's just -- it's just irresponsible.
The reality is that a winner out of any of these primary and caucus states is determined by state delegate equivalents.
[09:45:00]
And we don't have any state delegate equivalents, Jim and Poppy, because the Iowa Democratic Party hasn't reported anything. So I think folks just need to pump their brakes.
But, again, we're moving forward. We're here in New Hampshire. We're excited about a full day of campaigning because Iowa, we are proud of the operation we ran there, but Iowa only accounts for 41 of the delegates in this process. You need a little over 2,000 delegates, almost 2,000 delegates --
SCIUTTO: Right.
SANDERS: To be the Democratic nominee. This is, obviously, just the beginning.
HARLOW: It sounds like you're saying Iowa doesn't matter that much for you guys. Let me just ask you this. Symone, do you believe that the --
SANDERS: Well, Poppy, what I'm -- well, I want to be clear.
HARLOW: Just let me finish my question and you can -- absolutely --
SANDERS: What I am saying is that the process has been compromised.
HARLOW: Do you believe that the former vice president, Joe Biden, finished in the top three in Iowa?
SANDERS: We believe it was close, and we think that we are tracking bunched up in the top four, frankly, Poppy. That's what our internal data is showing. And we believe that that's what will bore out in the Iowa Democratic Party data if we ever see it.
SCIUTTO: The president's sons are claiming -- his campaign manager claiming that the Iowa vote was rigged. Do you contest that at all?
SANDERS: You know what, Jim, I think it is a dangerous place in our democracy when we have members of the Trump family, the Trump re- election team, maybe even the Trump administration claiming that our process is -- our democracy is rigged.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
SANDERS: There were failures in the process last night and I think the Iowa Democratic Party needs to account for that. It owes the voters that.
But I think we just have to be careful and perhaps it is a foreshadowing of what we will see from the Trump campaign in this general election.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Fair point.
HARLOW: Symone Sanders, big day ahead for you guys. Thank you, as always, for taking the time this morning.
SCIUTTO: Thank you, Symone.
SANDERS: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Researchers are racing now to develop a vaccine as the number of coronavirus cases has hit more than 20,000 around the world.
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[09:51:20]
SCIUTTO: The spread of the coronavirus is showing no signs of slowing, maybe even signs of speeding up. This as China reported another major spike in both confirmed cases and confirmed deaths in the region at the heart of the outbreak. Around the world now, at least 427 people have died from the virus. There are now more than 20,000 cases around the world.
HARLOW: And CNN has learned that two additional evacuation flights for 550 American citizens are scheduled to leave Wuhan today to land at those military bases in California. All of this as China is building three new -- look at this -- OK, this is sped up images of China building three new hospitals in just weeks to tackle the threat. One of the dedicated facilities was completed in days and began admitting patients today.
Joining us now is Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist, expert at NYU School of Medicine.
So, so good to have you.
Put this in perspective for all of us. The magnitude, the spread of this, how deadly it is compared to, say, SARS, where are we?
DR. CELINE GOUNDER, INFECTIOUS DISEASES SPECIALIST, NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: So SARS, we didn't see these kinds of numbers of patients infected. Now, it was a more deadly disease, but you have to remember it's how deadly it is times the number of people infected.
And what's really scary about this coronavirus is it's behaving a bit more like influenza, where we see millions of people across the world, you know, over a typical flu season infected. And our big question right now is, will coronavirus spread in that same way?
HARLOW: Yes. SCIUTTO: OK. Are there concerns, based on China's track record, for sharing information like this? Even early on there were efforts inside China to silence people who were trying to sort of raise the red flag about this. Are we concerned now that China might be hiding the true extent of this, even at this stage?
GOUNDER: So, there's no questions we have concerns about this. This is exactly what happened with SARS. And we probably had a couple week delay in this outbreak making its way up the bureaucratic government communist party chain. You know, whenever you have a government where people act out of fear and not out of the best interests of the public, that's sort of what happens.
Now, since then, transparency has sort of depended on what you're talking about. So, in terms of the basic science, the scientists there sequenced the genome of the virus in record time, made it publicly available.
HARLOW: Right.
GOUNDER: But the epidemiology, which is more about the transmission of disease, how many cases, that's been a little less clear how transparent they are being.
HARLOW: Anthony Fauci at NIH said recently it could be a year before there is a cure for this. Obviously there's a race within big pharma companies too to try to help. I have been reading and hearing from people that antivirals actually may be a solution here.
GOUNDER: So there --
HARLOW: Is that true?
GOUNDER: Yes, so, you know, vaccines, you -- you -- even if you have a candidate, it takes time to test and make sure it's safe and effective. So, yes, we're looking at at least a year. But there are some drugs we're trying right now. So some of the HIV antivirals. Some of the influenzas antivirals. And there's another candidate out of Gilead that has not been approved for every -- anything yet, but that's also being tested. So --
HARLOW: Yes. That was used for Ebola, I believe.
GOUNDER: Yes. Yes. Yes. You know, so there are some things we're trying, but there's no slam dunk. And, you know, going back to Ebola, people were like, oh, you just need a vaccine or a drug and we have it under control.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GOUNDER: That was not how we controlled it. And we still don't have very good drugs for Ebola. The vaccine we have now, and yet you still have an outbreak sort of smoldering in the Congo. So that's not a slam dunk solution.
SCIUTTO: OK. So if this spreads like the flu, as simple as, you know, a cough, a sneeze, you know, shaking hands with someone, just for folks at home, the simplest, easiest thing to do, wash your hands.
GOUNDER: Wash your hands. And there's also evidence it might be transmitted what we call oral fecal spread. So if you don't wash your hands after you use the bathroom, that you could actually be transmitting that way too. So there is no question, washing your hands is number one in all of this.
[09:55:03]
HARLOW: Dr. Celine Gounder, thank you very much for your expertise on this. We're going to stay all over it. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Yes. We will. For sure.
HARLOW: We appreciate it.
Thanks to all of you for joining us. Stay tuned to see what happens in Iowa. I'm Poppy Harlow.
SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto.
CNN's special coverage of the 2020 race with all the latest from Iowa will continue right after a short break.
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[09:59:59]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer, and we're back here in the CNN election center.
