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Trump Attacks Democrats, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) At National Prayer Breakfast; Fmr. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-South Bend, IN) And Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) In Virtual Tie As Iowa Awaits Full Results. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired February 06, 2020 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: A very good Thursday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: And I'm Poppy Harlow.

No forgiveness from the president, not even at the national prayer breakfast after walking in a while ago, holding up an acquittal headline there, the president called impeachment a terrible ordeal.

SCIUTTO: Well, then at the prayer breakfast, of course, a religious moment or what is meant to be, he lashed out taking not veiled shots really at all at those who opposed him while one of them, that he was taking a shot at Speaker Pelosi, sat a few feet away, and Romney another target too. Have a listen.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They know what they are doing is wrong, but they put themselves far ahead of our great country. Weeks ago and again yesterday, courageous Republican politicians and leaders had the wisdom, fortitude and strength to do what everyone knows was right. I don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong, nor do I like people who say, I pray for you, when they know that that's not so. So many people have been hurt that we can't let that go on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: That's Nancy Pelosi looking on there as he referenced, we believe, her comments in the past to say she prays for him.

Let's begin at the White House. CNN White House Correspondent John Harwood, listen, political national prayer breakfasts have become political events, but this one particularly political, was it not, and bitingly political.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Exceptionally so, just like the State of the Union a couple of days ago. Look, a Democratic member of Congress, Tom Suozzi, took the microphone at the end and said, that whole love thine enemies thing, some people haven't gotten it yet. Donald Trump is not a person who feels himself subject to the dictates of the Christian faith, he did the opposite of what Bill Clinton did after he was acquitted in 1999. Bill Clinton came out in the rose garden and apologized to the country and to the Congress for putting them through the agony of an impeachment process.

Instead, what President Trump is doing is coming to the prayer breakfast and saying, I am the victim here, they have done wrong to me. That's simply the way Donald Trump is. It's not the way that Nancy Pelosi or Mitt Romney is, but that's the president that America elected in 2016.

HARLOW: Yes. I think, John Tester, Senator John Tester, said it pretty bluntly in our interview with him last hour about what having morals, et cetera, means, as you noted, John. Thanks very much from the White House.

Manu Raju is with us right now from Capitol Hill, Lanhee Chen, former Mitt Romney policy director, and Hilary Rosen, Democratic strategist. Hi, guys.

Let me begin with you, Manu. I don't think we -- I mean, we knew that the president was going to -- it's no surprise that he came in with that acquittal paper, et cetera. But what do you make of him taking those direct faith-based attacks on Romney and Nancy Pelosi?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, aside from this being particularly a bipartisan event, typically something that is apolitical, and the president going after his political foes, and which was a rather surprising move by the president, but it also sort of undercuts what some Republicans had been saying on Capitol Hill, is that they believe that the president may have learned some lessons about what happened through the course of this investigation, that the president has been impeached over his acts with Ukraine and that he perhaps won't do it again.

I talked to some top Republicans over the last couple of days about that, why they believe the president might believe that there are some lessons learned and listen to how they responded here.

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RAJU: Should he acknowledge he did something wrong here?

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): You know, I don't expect that he will. But I think in the -- it's a lot of it too, it's kind of in the eyes of the beholder. I think a lot of -- he doesn't think he did it.

For many of us who sort of have been around the conventions of this town a little bit longer, you know, look at that and say, perhaps maybe something that he shouldn't have done.

[10:05:07]

RAJU: Do you think the president is not going to ask an informed power to investigate a political rival again?

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): Well, I think the message has been delivered.

I think it's clear now what -- you know, where that line is and none of us want to see interference obviously in our elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So they're saying the message has been delivered to the president, but the president does not seem to be taking that message.

So last night, even Susan Collins of Maine, who voted to acquit the president, criticized his conduct, and said it was her aspiration that the president won't do it again, but he doesn't quite know. And the president clearly is showing no contrition whatsoever and we'll see if he doubles down and maybe asks again for investigation to the Bidens later today when I'm sure he'll be asked, when he addresses the press later, guys.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Hope's not a plan. I can say that with credibility.

I just -- Lanhee Chen, you, of course, worked with Mitt Romney as a policy director. I want to play that moment when he described why he came to this decision and then I want to get your thoughts on that. Have a quick listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): I am profoundly religious. My faith is at the heart of who I am. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the president, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong. The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a high crime and misdemeanor. Yes, he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Lanhee, you worked for him. That pause, I mean, almost it seemed moved to tears there. Tell us about how difficult a decision it was for him.

LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, I think, Jim, as he said, it was the most difficult decision he's had to make, certainly in public life. Look, I have known Mitt Romney for a long time. I've worked closely with him. I take with great pride my association with him. I think that he is someone and I know he is someone who is deeply moved by his faith, who acts on that faith sincerely and I have no doubt in my mind that this vote was based on what he sincerely believed he needed to do.

And I would -- I don't question that, I don't believe anybody else should question that. I think those who do don't know the man and are speaking from a place of not knowing him and understanding him. I know good people of good conscience who disagree with the final vote who came out very differently who are also people of faith. And I don't think by the way that senator Romney would say that those people were in the wrong for having made the decision that they made. But at the end of the day, you just can't question a man's conscience in that way when, you know, I know that he has acted in many times he's made tough decisions, this one was, though, I think, the toughest.

HARLOW: It was clear as you were noting in the pause. I mean, when he pauses for that long, you see how hard it is for him to get through that statement.

Hilary, sort of a twofold question to you, one, in the middle of all this, the president is now enjoying the highest approval rating of his presidency, 49 percent, and then you have Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler saying, this isn't stopping, we're going to continue, we're going investigate, everything is still on the table, we're going to subpoena Bolton. Is that prudent for Democrats as someone who advises them on what is politically wise?

HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, you know, this morning just proves that there is literally Donald Trump can't sink any lower in class. I think having said that, Democrats essentially have to accept that.

I don't -- you know, Nancy Pelosi came to this impeachment reluctantly. She didn't want to do it. She resisted members of her caucus, like Jerry Nadler, for months in giving the go ahead for impeachment. And it was only when he threatened national security and Adam Schiff had direct evidence of that that she finally gave the go ahead.

I think this idea of subpoenaing John Bolton, you know, is appealing but John Bolton has every incentive to speak out on his own. I honestly think that the Democrats at this point are better off talking to the country about jobs, about healthcare, about the issues that matter to their kitchen table. We were just in Iowa this week, voters are not talking about impeachment. Democrats shouldn't be either.

SCIUTTO: Manu, but it does seem, based on Jerry Nadler's comments, they won't back off, they'll issue that subpoena. Is this the kind of thing that John Bolton listens to? I mean, we know what happened during the House inquiry here, waiting in effect for judicial, you know, requirement.

[10:10:06]

RAJU: Yes, and that's a big question here. Adam Schiff revealed last night that he actually -- they approached John Bolton after the Senate voted to reject moving forward on subpoena for witnesses and they asked him to issue an affidavit explaining exactly what the president did as it related to Ukraine and Bolton resisted that.

So Bolton is showing no signs of cooperating with House Democrats, even though he said he would participate with the Senate trial if he got a subpoena. He didn't get a subpoena. So what does he do now if the House Democrats issue a subpoena? I think that's an issue they're still wrestling with. Schiff is saying he has not made any decisions yet. But Jerry Nadler did indicate to me that, likely, they plan to move forward. So it's an issue for debate how to deal with this still open question.

ROSEN: And remember, one quick thing, which is that this entire issue about whether or not Bolton would testify, whether other people would testify, is whether that Congress was willing to test this notion of executive privilege in court. Because he won't be -- he won't automatically answer a subpoena, this will go to court and that is a big gamble for Congress.

My view is that, you know, while the House can walk and chew gum at the same time, they can pass bills on healthcare and climate change, honestly, the media just can't. If the Democrats pursue subpoenas, that's all the media is going to focus on for the next few months instead of the very important things that Democrats are trying to do for the American people.

HARLOW: Lanhee, Mitt Romney said in that interview he did with Chris Wallace yesterday that he expected, quote, enormous consequences from this decision and this vote. What do you -- as someone who has worked with him, what do you expect he suspects those consequences will be and clearly he's accepted them?

CHEN: Well, I think you've seen some of those consequences already in the president's remarks this morning.

HARLOW: Well, beyond that, because I don't think he cares about a tongue lashing from the president. I really don't.

CHEN: No, yes, I don't -- I don't think he quite does either. You know, I think he expects that he won't just get it from the president, he'll get it from a lot of different people.

Look, I think that there are a lot of things over the coming months where the president and Senator Romney probably actually will agree on policy. And, you know, the question is, over these next several months, how many opportunities are there going to be for, even if he does support the president for supporters of the president to come out and attack Mitt Romney for whatever they want to attack him for. I think that's the kind of stuff that he's fully expecting.

But, look, Mitch McConnell said it best, right, the most important vote is the next vote. And so I think that a lot of Republicans, colleagues of his in the Senate will have relatively short memories on this.

HARLOW: Manu, thank you, Lanhee Chen, Hilary Rosen, good to have you all.

SCIUTTO: So it will be a photo finish in Iowa. Pete Buttigieg and Senator Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie as we still await the final results. We'll have a live report from the campaign trail.

HARLOW: And a battle between the Trump administration and the State of New York now has travelers caught in the middle. Ahead, how it could impact you.

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[10:15:00]

SCIUTTO: Photo finish, a tenth of a percentage point, that is all that is now separating Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders in Iowa, that's with 97 percent of the votes in. The final count could come this morning. But Sanders may be ahead in the fundraising race.

HARLOW: His team announced a $25 million haul just in January alone. The candidates now well into campaigning in New Hampshire, even as all of us, and they await the results in Iowa.

Jessica Dean is back with us this morning. She is in New Hampshire. What is the Sanders team, what is Mayor Buttigieg saying about how narrow the results are at this point?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wow. I mean, it is razor thin, isn't it? Let's start with Pete Buttigieg, who is leading by that tiny, tiny margin right now. He really took the opportunity though in the muddle of all of the Iowa results and the slowness of them coming out to really declare victory, to move ahead in a very pronounced positive way. He did tell his supporters though to ultimately to expect a tight race.

Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D-SOUTH BEND, IN): Iowa was our first chance to show that we have the ability to win. New Hampshire is a place where we demonstrate that we have sustained momentum. It's our chance to prove that we're in this race for the long haul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: All right. So that's Pete Buttigieg, again, pushing ahead, he had some fundraisers, he's been on the ground here in New Hampshire as we wait to see where these final results come in.

Now, if you look at Senator Bernie Sanders, that huge fundraising number that you all just mentioned, $25 million in one month, which is just -- it's incredible. And it shows a long-term durability, viability, that they have the money and the ability to keep going back to those donors and getting more and more money as this goes by. Because, guys, the average donation, $18, so not a lot of those donors have maxed out, so they can keep going back to the well on that, so positive news with the Sanders camp.

[10:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Yes. And he has long shown his ability to get a large number of supporters out there, even small donors.

Let's talk about Joe Biden. Because as you look at the final numbers here, I mean, it solidifies a disappointing fourth place finish in Iowa. How is he responding?

DEAN: Well, as you would imagine, they are very focused on New Hampshire, on moving ahead, on getting beyond and past Iowa. That campaign is very ready to get to Nevada and South Carolina. They keep coming back to the fact that Joe Biden is the candidate that can get support from a broad coalition, Latino voters, African-American voters.

But he did talk about what happened in Iowa. Take a listen to that.

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JOE BIDEN (D), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, let's put this in perspective. There are a total of 44 delegates that are going to come out of that. And it looks like it's going to break down somewhere between 7 and 15 among the top four of us. You need 1,900 delegates to become the president of the United States, or become a nominee.

So it's -- I expected to do better and I expected that our organization would perform better. But the fact is I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Poppy, Jim, we have heard that from Joe Biden since he's been here multiple times. He is happy to be in New Hampshire. He called it a gut punch in Iowa, but, again, he and his campaign looking ahead, ready to let the -- all the four early states play out. That's what you keep hearing from them. They want to see where all of this ends up by the time we get to South Carolina. We'll see how that is.

HARLOW: And he's right. Iowa not always predictive, often not predictive of what happens in New Hampshire. We'll see, Jess. Thanks for the reporting.

Joining us now, Melanie Zanona, Congressional Reporter for Politico, Brittany Shepherd, National Political Reporter for Yahoo News. Good morning, guys, gals, ladies.

Melanie, let me begin with you. Let's listen to this question that Senator Elizabeth Warren got and the response. Here it is.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that the men in this race have a better chance of beating Trump solely because of their gender?

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe they think so, but they would be wrong.

At the end of the day, when people start picking who they want for a president, it's got to be somebody they trust. And it can't just be somebody who looks like what presidents look like in the past. Sometimes we got to think differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: She elicited, Melanie, a chuckle there from everyone, made it sort of light hearted, but what does your reporting tell you in terms of does that create more of an uphill battle for her, the electability question?

MELANIE ZANONA, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes, of course. Warren is making this now a centerpiece of her campaign. There could be drawbacks to that. She has talked about these themes in the past in some of her old stump speeches, but she's really leaning into it. And women can win has now become a rallying cry, especially after the dust-up with Bernie Sanders.

I think it's really smart of her to try to draw that distinction with Bernie, try to appeal the progressives who don't want to see another white male in the White House. And also, she is trying to point out that, hey, in 2018, in the midterms, there was a record-breaking number of women elected to the House of Representatives, part of that was a revolt over Trump.

So to say that women aren't electable, she's making the argument, that's just not true.

SCIUTTO: Brittany, you saw some fireworks in those town halls yesterday, some attacks, friendly fire within the Democratic candidates. Listen to Joe Biden on Mayor Pete, seeming to indicate perhaps that he knows he's got a real challenge here. Have a listen and I want to get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Is he really saying that Obama/Biden administration was a failure? Pete, just say it out loud. I have great respect for Mayor Pete and his service to this nation. But I do believe it's a risk to be just straight up with you for this party to nominate someone who's never held an office higher than mayor of a town of 100,000 people in Indiana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Brittany, that, of course, a campaign event, not a town hall. But zing from Biden to Buttigieg there.

BRITTANY SHEPHERD, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, YAHOO NEWS: Well, you can tell that Biden's ego is a bit bruised that in Iowa, and, of course, these results are still coming in in the 11th hour. But the mayor of that small town of only 100,000 people essentially lapped him several times, right?

And you wonder if Joe Biden is not only speaking to those supporters in New Hampshire but to those supporters who are listening in Nevada and especially South Carolina. And then we talk Grandishly about South Carolina's firewall for Biden, but I have a very strong feeling in my reporting that those black voters are going to be peeling off if Joe Biden's viability keeps going down and down and down. Joe Biden, from the beginning is a bit -- he is the coalition-builder candidate. But if you look at the precincts in Iowa, those really specific Trump/Obama flip counties, Joe Biden did not perform well there at all. You have to wonder what he's trying to do on the downspin.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: What does, Melanie, Joe Biden have to do to recover fully from this?

ZANONA: He needs a strong performance in New Hampshire. There is no doubt about that. If he doesn't place in the top or at least above Pete Buttigieg and cement himself as the leading centrist, I think it's an open question of whether he can even make it to South Carolina.

[10:25:01]

They weren't expecting to do well in Iowa. His campaign had telegraphed that all along. But I don't think they were expecting him to perform this poorly.

It has been a huge wake-up call for Biden and he really needs to hit the reset button here in New Hampshire.

SCIUTTO: Question, Brittany, then, is it possible after in New Hampshire, you have another winnowing of the field, because you look at those Iowa results, Klobuchar, just behind Biden, but still behind Yang, Steyer, way down. Post-New Hampshire, and I know other candidates, like Bloomberg, who really hasn't even started yet, he's looking later in the game, but do we expect a winnowing after these first two races?

SHEPHERD: I absolutely feel that there will be a ton of people dropping out. We haven't even mentioned Tulsi Gabbard, who was essentially a non-factor in Iowa. She's still running. She's been putting all of her bets on New Hampshire. Michael Bennet too seems kind of absent in all of these campaign conversations. I can't see them being viable anyway towards South Carolina.

You wonder too about Andrew Yang, who is doing better than expected, but like is that worth spending all the money and time to just come in seventh or eighth. So I think even in two weeks, we're going to see a lot of people bottoming out.

HARLOW: Okay. Well, we'll know a lot more on Tuesday. And we'll know a lot more today about Iowa.

ZANONA: Hopefully.

SHEPHERD: We'll see.

HARLOW: Exactly.

SCIUTTO: Melanie and Brittany, thanks so much to both of you. ZANONA: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still have questions for the remaining Democratic candidates? CNN will host the last Democratic presidential town hall before the New Hampshire primary continues tonight live on CNN starting at 8:00 Eastern Time.

HARLOW: More than 7,000 people are quarantined right now on two cruise ships. This is, of course, over the deadly coronavirus and fears of that spreading. And we now know some Americans are on one of those ships that have tested positive for the disease.

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