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Trump Attacks at National Prayer Breakfast; Sen. Jon Tester (D- MT) is Interviewed about the Impeachment Vote; Coronavirus Spreads Worldwide; CNN Team Quarantined after Leaving Wuhan. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired February 06, 2020 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Of the Prayer Breakfast and the question of religious faith.

JAMES SCHULTZ, CNN LEGAL COMMENTATOR: Look, this really doesn't come down to religious faith, at the end of the day, and I don't believe Mitt Romney made this decision based on his religious faith in any way, shape or form. I made -- I think he did this in complete self- interest. He's like the kid who didn't get his fire truck on Christmas morning and he's just lashing out at this point in time.

You know, Mitt Romney has been after this president from day one. He had his shot. He took it. And he didn't see that he had a lot of political downside. And he took and he made a selfish decision.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Doug, what's your read?

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I can't psychoanalyze Mitt Romney. I don't know the thought process he made other than what he talked about. And we know that Mitt Romney's faith is very important to him. And, you know, ultimately, questions like this, whether you agree with him or don't agree with him, you know, these are matters of individual conscience that members and senators have to vote on. I wouldn't question why he did it.

I'm proud that he stood up and -- stood up to his party in a way that we haven't seen very often, if ever, from Republicans. But also, if you look at Donald Trump's reaction this morning, it shouldn't surprise anyone. And it's one of the things that's, you know, Jim and Poppy, we've talked about as I've come on and have written for CNN.

HARLOW: Yes.

HEYE: This is what Donald Trump was going to do. This was not going to be a quiet exoneration. It was going to be a big, beautiful exoneration.

While I don't think it's appropriate to talk about at maybe a prayer breakfast, this is exactly what Donald Trump was going to do. And I think Democrats have actually handed him a really big win in going through impeachment knowing that it was going to end up in acquittal. SCIUTTO: John Harwood, the president desperately wanted to be able to

call this a partisan impeachment vote. And with Mitt Romney voting there, the first sitting U.S. senator to vote against a president of the same party on an impeachment proceeding going back 150 some-odd years, how big a blow is that to the president's response to this, if at all?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's a big blow to the president. And I think we have to step back and think about the two clips you played before as illustrating who those two men are. Mitt Romney, like Nancy Pelosi, for that matter, is a person of deep faith. By everything an outsider can see, President Trump is not a person of faith.

He transacts political business with people of faith. He does not show any indication that he even recognizes abstract principles, like the difference between right and wrong or morality or values. He is concerned about Donald Trump. And so, in his remarks at the Prayer Breakfast, while talking about stock market values and poll numbers, he goes after Pelosi and Romney in this way.

And online, he and his family are even more viciously going after Mitt Romney, casting, you know, questions about his masculinity and portraying him as shady. All of these things are -- they show Donald Trump for who he is. He called -- he calls Romney sanctimonious. The reason Donald Trump thinks people are sanctimonious is because the moral considerations that go into their decisions, he doesn't understand those. He doesn't -- that doesn't compute with him.

HARLOW: Doug, Chris Wallace did a really fascinating interview with Mitt Romney after all of this. And he said at one point, he said, you know, you realize this is war. And Romney responded by saying, I understand there are going to be enormous consequences. And I don't have a choice in that regard.

What do you expect, beyond the president lashing out at him as he did last night, and I think will continue to do and just did this morning, what are those enormous consequences for Senator Romney?

HEYE: Well, I think it's what we're seeing right now and people who like to make noise and get rewarded for making noise are going to do so. When it comes from somebody as important as the president of the United States, that's going to have even bigger reverberations.

But, ultimately, in the United States Senate, I don't think there are going to be massive consequences here for Mitt Romney. If you look at what Mitch McConnell said yesterday, he said he's more concerned about the next vote than the previous one. There's no appetite for Republicans in the Senate to expel Mitt Romney or anything, frankly, silly like that, despite the outside noise.

It means he may get booked less on certain TV shows on other networks. It may mean that he's not speaking at CPAC, which I don't think he's going to miss. But ultimately in the United States Senate, as it deals with his job as a legislator, you know, he's going to be here for another five years, regardless of who wins the presidential election. So this is where consequences won't matter in his day-to-day job. Obviously the larger question of what your legacy is, those are big consequences that he's (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCHULTZ: Doug is absolutely -- Doug is absolutely right here.

HARWOOD: (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO: James Schultz, question.

SCHULTZ: Yes, I agree with him. I agree --

SCIUTTO: If it can --

SCHULTZ: Yes, I want to say that I agree with Doug on this and I made the point earlier, there was no real political downside here at all for Mitt Romney except some -- from some attacks from the outside. Nothing is going to change in the Senate.

[09:35:00]

He's got a lot more years left in his term. And he probably says, look, I can ride this out.

SCIUTTO: OK. Question for you, though, because even Republicans senators who voted to acquit this president called his behavior, James Schultz, as you know, inappropriate, unacceptable, problematic. And then some went further, Susan Collins, Rob Portman, John Thune, some of them said that the president likely learned a lesson from this. And, by the way, Ted Cruz, according to our reporting, told the White House, in no uncertain terms, drop the no quid pro quo point because no Republican senators believed that point.

What's the importance of that, that Republicans rejected key elements of the president's defense?

SCHULTZ: Look, the bottom line, I don't know how they rejected the offense. They voted -- defense. They voted to acquit. That's the bottom line here. There was nothing impeachable. Not the conduct --

SCIUTTO: Is it inappropriate but did not reach that level? That's different. They did say the president's behavior was unacceptable.

SCHULTZ: No, but they -- did you see the newspapers today? It said acquitted. And that's precisely what happened. In a court of law or in the Senate of the United States, they acquitted the president of the United States. And it doesn't matter what they think in terms of whether it was right or wrong. The bottom line, it wasn't an impeachable offense, which is the defense that was put on by the president's team.

HARWOOD: Well, that is a perfect way of summarizing the situation if you don't care about the difference between right and wrong. But Mitt Romney does care about the difference between right and wrong. And one of the reasons so many Republicans are angry at Mitt Romney, not just the president's family, is that he has stripped naked the -- tortured --

SCHULTZ: Doesn't care about the (INAUDIBLE)?

HARWOOD: He has stripped naked the tortured explanations they gave for absolving the president of something that is -- our colleagues have reported. Ted Cruz said privately they know that he did.

HARLOW: It's an important point about Senator Cruz.

We have to leave it there. We have a -- we have a senator going to join us ahead. You'll all be back.

John Harwood, Doug Heye, James Schultz, thank you very much.

HEYE: Thank you.

HARLOW: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calls Democrats' impeachment efforts, quote, a colossal, political mistake. Do voters think he's right, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:41:22]

HARLOW: As 2020 Democrats battle is out in New Hampshire now, the president is declaring victory over his acquittal in the impeachment trial in the Senate. He's attacking Democrats and Republican Senator Mitt Romney in the process. This comes after bipartisan support to remove him from office with that vote from Senator Romney. Of course he was acquitted, though.

I'm joined now by Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana.

Senator, thank you for being here.

JON TESTER (D-MT): It's great to be with you. Thank you.

HARLOW: Can I just get your react to Senator Mitt Romney with that vote to convict the president, but also making history as the first sitting senator to vote to remove a president of their own party from office. What's your message to him this morning?

TESTER: Well, Mitt Romney is a deeply religious man. And I listened to his speech on the floor yesterday. And he literally, literally, I think, was guided by God. And he made a decision based on the facts and based on the gravity of the situation which was a very solemn and very important decision.

I think that he's probably catching a lot of heat for making the decision, but that's part of what leadership's about. You listen to the information and you make the best decision you can. And I think it's ironic that the president goes after him, a man who had an affair with a porn star while his wife was pregnant. That's the ultimate of ironies.

HARLOW: There's that.

Look, you have other Republican senators who called the president's actions inappropriate. They wouldn't have done it, like Susan Collins, Rob Portman, et cetera, who are now saying they think he learned a lesson, and also Majority Whip John Thune. They think the president learned and he won't do this again. He won't do something like he did on the call with the president of Ukraine.

But just this week, the president himself said to reporters in this off-the-record lunch that it was a perfect call. Are they right that the president has learned a lesson?

TESTER: Well, look, it will surprise me if he has. I mean I think you can look at his remarks this morning. There's not a lot of -- there's not a lot of asking for forgiveness for wrongdoing.

I think the president is the president. You take a look at what he's done in the past and it will teach you what he's going to do into the future. And, quite frankly, I don't think -- I do not believe that his activities will change one iota after getting acquitted.

HARLOW: Why do you think that the president is enjoying his highest approval rating of his presidency right now, that 49 percent of Americans in this new Gallup poll approve of the job he's doing, after all of this?

TESTER: Well, I mean, you know, I mean it -- polls ebb and flow and so I can't tell you why it would be high right now other than there were folks that tried to make this a very, very partisan impeachment over the last two or three weeks. And that may be the reason why.

I think what's important is to look at the actions and look at what's been done. Not only during the impeachment, but before the impeachment with our traditional allies and embracing dictators around the world.

Look, I think the country is in a difficult position right now. I think that the precedent, that this impeachment set is going to -- we're going to be living with this for years and years. And why his numbers are high, I don't know.

HARLOW: We're going to be living with what for years and years?

TESTER: The fact that there was no information, no witnesses put forth in this trial, that he was able to stonewall the entire trial and the fact that he was not held accountable.

HARLOW: Well, given that, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, a Democrat, said yesterday, the Democrats will likely subpoena John Bolton and that they're going to continue with all of these investigations into the president.

[09:45:08]

And he said we're talking about everything, quote. Do you think that that's the best use of Congress' time right now?

TESTER: Look, that's -- that's what Jerry's going to do and Congressman Nadler can do whatever he thinks the right thing to do is.

I'm really going to be focusing on policy to help move things forward in the Senate. And I hope we can get some policy measures on the floor rather than just doing judges day in and day out because I think there's a lot of needs out there, whether it's in infrastructure or for veterans or education, health, whatever it might be.

HARLOW: Yes.

TESTER: There's a lot of work to be done.

HARLOW: All right, well, it sounds like you don't agree with Jerry Nadler that if you had your druthers, that isn't where you'd spend the majority of your time.

TESTER: Well, I'm not the chair of the Judiciary Committee or the Intel Committee.

HARLOW: Yes.

TESTER: But I am ranking member on veterans. And I know the needs that are out there for our veterans.

HARLOW: Yes. Fair enough.

All right, let's end on 2020. See if we can make a little news with you this morning, sir.

Early on in this race you endorsed, of course, from Montana as well, Governor Steve Bullock for president.

TESTER: Yes.

HARLOW: He's no longer running.

TESTER: Yes.

HARLOW: Give us a sense of where your head it now. Who do you like for president now?

TESTER: Well, look, it's early on in this process. And there's going to be a lot of --

HARLOW: Oh, come on, we're in the middle of Iowa and New Hampshire. You've got to have some opinion.

TESTER: Well, that's -- it is absolutely early on in this process. And I've got more folks that I like running than I have fingers on my left hand, how's that?

HARLOW: OK, come back when you're ready to make the news.

Senator Jon Tester, thank you.

TESTER: Would be more than happy to. Thank you very much.

HARLOW: All right. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: That's the best non-answer I've seen to that question so far.

HARLOW: Yes, but he said he'll come back, so there's that.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes. We will wait.

Well, this morning, we're learning that some Americans quarantined on a cruise ship off the coast of Japan have tested positive now for the deadly coronavirus.

Plus, we get an inside look at just what it's like to live in quarantine.

That's coming next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:24]

HARLOW: This morning, three Americans are among a group of 20 people testing positive for coronavirus. They're on board a cruise ship that is quarantined off the coast of Japan. Around the world, 565 people are now dead and more than 28,000 have been infected. Twelve now in the United States infected in those states you see highlighted.

The latest victim has been isolated at home in Wisconsin after being exposed to the virus in China. Hundreds of Americans now quarantined at military bases in California after returning to the states from China on two flights chartered by the U.S. government. Two more flights carrying U.S. citizens will arrive at military bases in Texas and Nebraska sometime later today.

SCIUTTO: Yes, countries around the world taking very severe steps now to try to control the spread.

CNN's David Culver, he joins us now from Beijing, where he and his team, we should note, just wrapped up a 14-day quarantine.

Tell us, David, about your journey and about the broader measures being taken there.

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Well, Jim and Poppy, you know, you mentioned the Americans who are currently in quarantine. Well, I've been in touch with some who were on the flight leaving tonight out of Wuhan. Really it will be the early morning hours local time. They're preparing for those 14 days.

And we were in Wuhan two weeks ago. People on Instagram and FaceBook, they'd ask us, well, how is it that you're still reporting? Shouldn't you be in quarantine? Well, this helps explain our journey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CULVER (voice over): Fourteen days in, and we were headed out.

CULVER (on camera): Checking out after two weeks of quarantine. The whole team feeling good. Continuing on.

CULVER (voice over): How the three of us, CNN photojournalist Natalie Thomas, producer Yong Xiong and I ended up here is because of where we were two weeks earlier, a far more stressful hotel checkout.

This was our 3:30 a.m. scramble to the train station. We'd planned for a few days in Wuhan. But 29 hours in, the phone rang, the city was going on lockdown, and we needed to get out. In the moment, we really could not imagine how big this would get.

Millions under lockdown restrictions, rapidly rising death tolls, tens of thousands infected. And mainland China essentially isolated from the rest of the world. And we were at the epicenter.

CNN decided we should return to Beijing and immediately limit our exposure to others. But we still wanted to tell the story. And we have 350 square feet to do it.

CULVER (on camera): So not a bad commute from my bedroom to the living room, or our studios essentially. Can even do it in slippers.

This is the backdrop that we've got over here. Snowing today.

We, in between live reports, have been doing a lot of research. Yong, our producer, has been on the phone a lot working his sources in Wuhan and Hubei province in particular in between some of our reports. Natalie, behind the camera there, doing the same.

CULVER (voice over): When we weren't on air, we were consumed with getting the story right. But truthfully, we were still feeling a bit guilty that we had walked away from the people of Wuhan. It especially weighed on Yong and Natalie. Yong being Chinese and Natalie having called this country home for nearly a decade. For them it was personal.

So we worked all hours, either video chatting or calling dozens of people still in Wuhan. Yong focusing his efforts on a doctor who tried to sound the alarm early on. Natalie, learning from health care workers about the dire need for supplies.

Our meals? Room service. But just to be safe, for the entire stay, we didn't let hotel staff come into our rooms. And, well, they seemed good with that. As soon as they knocked, we opened and they bolted down the hall.

Even with just a few hours of sleep each night, we were fueled by adrenaline to keep on. To be honest, Natalie and Yong motivated me. Admittedly, we did take one night to relax.

[09:55:01]

It was Chinese new year eve and it was really important to Yong.

But then, back to work, until our time was up, day 14.

All right, everything back to the way it was. And we now head out into snowy Beijing. But masks on this time.

Stepping out into the frigid Beijing air, hopping in the car, and continuing our pursuit of this story.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CULVER: And, Jim and Poppy, that's what brings us back here in our Beijing bureau, where we're coming to you live right now. It is worth pointing out, I mean we weren't roughing it. We were in a hotel. The folks in Wuhan, who were actually dealing with quarantine even longer than 14 day quarantines as they're self-imposing them are dealing with depleting resources. That's a reality for those folks.

But I can tell you here, it wasn't mandatory at the time when we came back, but shortly into our stay it became mandatory.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: David, thank you for that and for highlighting the whole team. You know, we don't see them on camera, but your producers, your whole team doing amazing work. Thank you for that.

CULVER: Yes.

HARLOW: Two days later, I don't know, do you know who won the Iowa caucuses?

SCIUTTO: Not exactly at this point.

HARLOW: We still don't know. Right now it's a virtual tie between Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Bernie Sanders. When will we get the final numbers? Looks like today?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)