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Buttigieg and Sanders on Top in Iowa After 100 Percent of Results were Counted; DNC Chair Calls on Iowa Democratic Party to Recanvass Votes; Seven Democratic Candidates to Debate in New Hampshire Tonight; January Jobs Report Stronger Than Expected; Passengers Assessed for Coronavirus on Ship Docked in New Jersey; 11 Americans Test Positive for Coronavirus on Quarantined Ship. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired February 07, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:05]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Very good Friday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. And we're following breaking news this morning.

The jobs report for January just in and it shows strong growth, perhaps bolstering President Trump's reelection message heading into the 2020 race.

Let's begin with CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans. These numbers higher than expected.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They are. 225,000 net new jobs. That's a strong showing for the economy in January. One of the reasons is you had some really good weather. So you had outdoor kinds of job activity that soared there.

And take a look at the unemployment rate. Really important to look at the trend here. It ticked up to 3.6 percent. But for the right reason, Jim. Because about a half a million people came off the sidelines and entered the labor market.

They started looking for work. So that pushed that up. That's called the labor force participation. More people participating in the economy. They've been hearing us talk for three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 years now about how the economy is healing and the jobs market is growing. So you still have this mighty jobs machine 10 years into this recovery.

The sectors here, you can see some of that weather at play. Construction doing well. Transportation and warehousing had another 28,000. Health care, this is a really strong part of the economy. Consistently one of the top performers every month in health care. All up and down the wage spectrum.

Leisure and hospitalities, bars and restaurants, they had another good showing. They added 36,000 jobs over the past six months. Bars and restaurants have added almost 300,000 jobs. So that's something to note there.

You saw manufacturing down again, though. Jim, I'm telling you, there are economists who say it feels like a recession in manufacturing. Trade wars still kind of hanging over that sector. So watching that very closely.

SCIUTTO: OK. Wages, because there's been some data consistently for a number of years that wages have stayed flat even as the job market has tightened. What do we see in these numbers?

ROMANS: You know, I've been expecting paychecks to get bigger for two or three years now and they just haven't. 3.1 percent. Just a little over 3 percent was what wage growth is. There's some economists who are telling me they are just expecting, if numbers stay like this you're going to start getting fatter paychecks heading into this year.

There has been some decent wage growth in the very low end of the spectrum. A couple of reasons there. There's a lot of demand for those bar and restaurant workers and retail workers, so they have a little bit of, I guess, bargaining power, for wages. But also because so many states, a record number of states have raised their minimum wages. So at the very low end of the income ladder, because states have acted, not the federal government, but states.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ROMANS: You're seeing wages rise there. I'd like to see hotter wage growth, quite frankly, no question. But maybe that will come this year.

SCIUTTO: Yes. That's of course not the market in that case. That's legislation.

Christine Romans, thanks very much.

ROMANS: Yes. Nice to see you.

SCIUTTO: Certainly political implications possibly in 2020.

ROMANS: Well, can I say -- the wage growth for the Trump administration just barely lags the wage growth for the Obama administration. So politically, this has been a decent labor market for some time now.

SCIUTTO: Yes. No question. Christine Romans, thanks very much. We're going to stay on top of it.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

SCIUTTO: Another breaking news story that we're following this morning. It is a new front in the battle against the coronavirus. And it is forming right here in the U.S. Doctors now assessing passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked in New Jersey, not far from Manhattan. Officials with the CDC say some of those on board had traveled to China. That's of course the epicenter of this outbreak.

CNN's Polo Sandoval live in Bayonne, New Jersey. What more do we know? Are there concerns that some on this ship are already infected?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you this, Jim. At this point, the Centers for Disease Control making it very clear that at this point this is simply a preliminary assessment out of an abundance of caution. That is after that report came in that some of the passengers aboard this trip had recent history, recent travel to China. So as a result CDC officials met the ship when it pulled into the Port of Bayonne early this morning, made their way on board to make that assessment.

I'll step out of the way here so you can see, off in the distance, the gangway where you can see some of these passengers are stepping off of this ship. Of course, that certainly would lead us to believe at this point as we wait to hear more from officials that they do not have any reason to believe, at this point, that anybody is actually infected with the coronavirus. But again that this is simply being done out of an abundance of caution.

We have noticed at least one individual that was taken away by paramedics, leading him to an ambulance. However it should be very clear here that it remains unclear exactly why that person was on that gurney and being brought off the ship and seeking medical attention, and what they're suffering from. But it certainly just speaks to a lot of uncertainty at this point for some passengers.

Don Silverman, one of the passengers aboard this ship telling CNN that he had no idea this was even happening. It wasn't until he turned on his TV before he disembarked that he saw the news on TV. But as for the cruise line itself, Royal Caribbean, saying that they do -- they are taking these precautions at this point, that they are clearly monitoring the situation, and that there are rigorous protocols, Jim, to try to ensure the well-being of not only their passengers but of their crew as well.

[09:05:12]

Close to 5,000 people would be expected to be on this ship during the cruise itself.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It shows the abundance of caution authorities really around the world are taking right now. I know Polo will continue to follow to see how serious it is there.

Eleven Americans are now among a group of 61 people to test positive for coronavirus aboard a cruise ship. This one quarantined off the coast of Japan. That's where we have our Will Ripley. He's in Yokohama, Japan.

Tell us what the latest is there because this is a case where we know there are infections on board.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And in fact, that cruise ship, the Diamond Princess here in Yokohama, is the largest concentration of coronavirus patients in the world right now outside of mainland China which, of course, has the huge number of cases. 31,000 plus, and, you know, around 600 deaths or more at this stage.

On the cruise ship, you have 61 people. There were just 20 people yesterday. So the number more than tripled overnight. And as you mentioned, 11 Americans on that list. Well, 428 Americans on the ship. So, obviously, a big group of people from the United States. And the majority of them are still on the boat right now under quarantine. So quarantine means you no longer get to enjoy the amenities on the cruise ship. No more all-night buffet. No more casino.

It is in your room 23 hours a day. One hour a day you might be let out. If you're under close supervision, you have to stand three feet from other people, you have to wear a face mask, and passengers simply don't know how long this is going to last.

I spoke with an American woman from Oregon as she found out that she tested positive for coronavirus. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REBECCA FRASURE, AMERICAN CORONAVIRUS PATIENT: A little bit scared. Hard to know what the future holds since I don't really feel sick right now. Like, is it going to get worse?

RIPLEY: What's the hardest part?

FRASURE: The unknown. Like I don't know what's going to happen an hour from now, tomorrow. Like for all we know, we could stay quarantined on the ship for a month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: So when she told us that, that was when health workers said that there might be a chance she could come become on the ship after a few days if her symptoms didn't get too serious. But shortly after she learned, Jim, that she is now going to have to be in a quarantine hospital, about an hour's a drive from here, for the next two weeks, possibly longer. So she and her husband who had been -- you know, basically been on their dream vacation, they are now separated.

He's sitting in their cabin alone wondering if he's going to test positive. He's been given a thermometer and told to check his temperature regularly and contact the health authorities. A really scary situation for these people and it's not over yet.

SCIUTTO: Twenty-three hours confinement. I mean, it sounds like floating prisons at this point. But may very well be a necessary precaution.

Will Ripley, in Japan, thanks very much.

Let's speak now to CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, just to get a sense of the seriousness.

And it's great to have you on, Sanjay, this morning. So first of all, as you look at the steps that countries around the world are taking from China, cutting off entire cities of tens of millions of people, cruise ships being stopped, they are being screened, based on what you know about this, are these steps smart? Are they necessary?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It is the critical question and, you know, one thing I'll say at the beginning is that this is a new virus. You know, we keep referring to it as a novel virus. And that means that there's still a lot about this virus that we don't know. We worry. People, public health officials worry that as it spreads more, could ultimately be mutating more. And I think that's what public health officials are keeping an eye on to see just how this virus behaves.

But to your question, Jim, you know, I think that if you look at some of the numbers, the official numbers, you know, the 30,000 people who now have this infection, 600 people who have confirmed to have died from this infection, there's other public health officials who say the numbers are probably much larger in terms of numbers of infected. And that's bad news when you hear that but also keep in mind that many of those people may have minimal or no symptoms as well. So therein lies potentially good news also.

Does the quarantine work, if this is spread that far? Probably not. Does it make sense not to go to China and visit these areas where we know it's spreading rapidly? Probably not. So I think both are true. These larger quarantines, and it's a bit of an uneven response. One cruise line versus another cruise line. One place versus another place. That uneven response is what I've seen having covered so many of these outbreaks over the years. We're still figuring this out to some extent -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Okay. So a big question here is, what category this outbreak, the virus ends up in. You know, is it more SARS-like that had a very high death rate, I believe around 10 percent?

GUPTA: That's right.

SCIUTTO: Though a lower spread, or like an h1n1 had more cases but a much lower death rate? What does the data show us right now?

[09:10:03]

GUPTA: Yes. So those are the two critical questions. How transmissible is this and how lethal is this. Let me put this box up on the screen for a second just to make this point. And you're absolutely right. When you looked at bird flu, example, h1n1, that seemed to be more in the B box over there, which is lethal, but not necessarily as transmissible.

Flu, you know, is going to be something that's more in the C box. So it's very transmissible but not necessarily very lethal. What public health officials worry about is obviously that D box. Something that is both spreading quickly and is very lethal.

This appears at this point, Jim, to be sort of more in the A box. It is contagious. But you have to be close -- in close quarters with somebody. Three to six feet, they say. To give you an example. In the United States there's been two human-to-human transmissions. They were both people who lived with the person who was infected. So the general risk to the population appears low.

As we hear about more and more cases, that fatality ratio, just how lethal this is, will go -- will continue to go down because you have, I think, around 600 deaths.

SCIUTTO: Right.

GUPTA: They say confirmed 30 infections. That places it around 2 percent or so. Let's say it's closer to 100,000 or 120,000 as you are hearing from some reports. That's going to drop it down below a percent in terms of fatality ratio. So again it's a little bit of good news in there. I know people are going to focus on the numbers and they're going to say this is outrageous. It's spreading quickly around the world. That may be true.

But I think the question that's starting to get asked, is this the next global pandemic or is this another new flu that happens to be a bad flu but is still a new flu. If you look at the numbers, it seems to be teetering toward that second sort of scenario, bad flu.

SCIUTTO: I see. OK. That's why we bring you on, Sanjay. You help give us a reality check. I know you're going to stay on top of it.

GUPTA: Yes, for sure.

SCIUTTO: Thanks very much.

GUPTA: You got it.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, all the votes are now in from the Iowa caucus, but we still do not have a clear winner there. I mean, it's certainly very close. We're going to be live in Des Moines next.

And could a major shake-up be under way inside the White House now that President Trump has been acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial? Who may be on the chopping block this time, coming up.

Plus, President Trump emboldened after his acquittal. Democrats in disarray, some say, amid confusion in Iowa. Is this a preview of what the months leading up to the 2020 election will look like? Lots going on today. Please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:00]

SCIUTTO: One hundred percent of the Iowa results are now in. But we still do not have a declared winner. We do have a leader, though, just barely. Pete Buttigieg still ahead of Bernie Sanders by a razor-thin margin there, one-tenth of a percentage point. And a new CNN analysis shows errors in the count reported by the Iowa Democratic Party, even all these days later. Now, after days to get the results in the first time, the Democratic

National Committee says it wants a recanvass of the votes, in effect a recount. Joining me now, senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny, and CNN senior political analyst, Mark Preston. So Jeffrey, key question here, CNN did this survey and found discrepancies district- by-district. I wonder because folks at home will be wondering this. How serious were those discrepancies, and does it call into question the key question, right, of who actually came out ahead here?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Jim, good morning. I mean, the reality is, there are some discrepancies, small discrepancies as we see them mainly in how the math is formulated for the state delegate equivalents. The -- you know, there is no sense that it would affect the overall outcome of this. But as you said, so close between Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders.

One-tenth of 1 percentage point. That is with a 100 percent of precincts counted. So, now we're waiting to see if the Iowa Democratic Party is going to recanvas. But that would only come if it's requested by a campaign. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez asked for one yesterday, but the rules only allow that to happen if it comes from a campaign.

And both Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg last night here on CNN, suggested that they were ready to move on. But this is what Chairman Perez said this morning on "NEW DAY".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM PEREZ, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: This was unacceptable. And that's why we had people -- we still have people on the ground there. We completed the counting last night, and we're going to continue not only to work in Iowa, but also to learn the lessons of Iowa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So there's no question that this begins this Democratic nominating process with a bit of an embarrassing opening. But we will find out around noon, Central Time today, 1:00 in the east, whether there is likely to be a request for a recanvass. And a recanvass would --

SCIUTTO: OK --

ZELENY: Is basically just going over the numbers to see if they all reconcile. We know they don't actually, but in a few hours, we'll know if they're going to do that here --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

ZELENY: Or not, Jim --

SCIUTTO: Yes, does that present yet more questions? Mark, I think folks at home might wonder, is this an Iowa only problem or is this indicative of a broader issues as we go forward in the primaries? MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, certainly when

we're talking about the counting and the situation that we're in right now. It appears that it is just in Iowa-only problem. But it certainly has put a bright spotlight on the idea that perhaps caucuses now are outdated. That they're not an actual smart way to try to find out who should be your nominee, whether it'd be for the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.

Now, where I sit here in New Hampshire, there's a bit of gloating from folks up here saying, we'll get the count right. And they're saying that because this is going to be a primary that's run by the state, not by the political party as we've seen in Iowa. So I do think this is an Iowa-only problem. I think I would be shocked if the Buttigieg or the Sanders campaign demanded a recanvass with the idea of using it to declare victory.

[09:20:00]

Last night on CNN, both of them declared victory.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

PRESTON: In fact, Pete Buttigieg learned that he had won on our air last night by that razor-thin margin. I think both men know, can come out of Iowa here into New Hampshire --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

PRESTON: Claiming victory.

SCIUTTO: Perhaps it can, OK. "Washington Post's" Jeff Zeleny has a story today, talking about Joe Biden saying that he's missing in action now in New Hampshire, there are just five days before the crucial primary, "Washington Post" writes here, "the candidate was nowhere to be found." What's happening, and how much of a warning sign is that?

ZELENY: Well, he's preparing for a crucial moment tonight for that debate. There is a debate tonight in New Hampshire, and that is a moment for Joe Biden to reset his candidacy. We've already seen him do that throughout the week, going directly after Pete Buttigieg's experience, going directly after Bernie Sanders, whether he is or not a Democrat. That was always a question if Joe Biden was going to actually go there and question Pete Buttigieg by name, his experience. He decided not to in Iowa.

Clearly, he needs to shake things up. So, that's why he's not --

SCIUTTO: OK --

ZELENY: Campaigning front and center. He is doing some practice. But, look --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

ZELENY: This is a key moment for the Biden campaign. They know they're not going to win New Hampshire, the question is, can he survive and get to those states later this month, Nevada and South Carolina. But certainly --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

ZELENY: Some tense moments in the Biden --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

ZELENY: Campaign over the coming days, no question, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Remarkable, even just to use that word "survive" for the period of front-runner for so many months in this. So, Mark Preston, before we go, I mean, effectively, given their strength in New Hampshire, Buttigieg and Sanders, are they the two front-runners now?

PRESTON: I think so. I mean, look, to say that they're not at this point would be kind of silly. But look, it's still early on when we're talking about this fight for the nomination, it's all about the accumulation of delegates, even though we on the media will talk about momentum, and that is true. The fact of the matter is, this could be a very long, drawn out process --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

PRESTON: Right now, you have some very strong Democratic candidates, and right now, it's interesting. You have Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, two gentlemen that you could never put in the same room and say, wow, you know, these two gentlemen are going to be the front- runners in 2020.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

PRESTON: It happens -- so happens that they are.

SCIUTTO: Don't forget surprises happen, and of course, Mike Bloomberg spending a lot of money --

PRESTON: Right --

SCIUTTO: With Super Tuesday strategy. Jeff Zeleny, Mark Preston, thanks very much, both of you. Let's speak now to CNN correspondent Jessica Dean, she's in Manchester, New Hampshire. So, Jessica, how are the campaigns reacting? One of the polling that we've been seeing here, but also final word from Iowa.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, so here we are. It's Friday now of the week. We really -- on Monday, you guys were just going over and the campaigns are in New Hampshire, still talking about Iowa which is kind of remarkable. And Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg both on the CNN town hall stage last night. I want you to listen for yourself, here's what both of them had to say in regards to Iowa and any recanvassing. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think they should have a recount in Iowa?

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG, SOUTH BEND, INDIANA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Whatever they need to do to make sure that the information is clear and verified.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you request one?

BUTTIGIEG: I'll leave it to the party to get into that.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got enough of Iowa --

(LAUGHTER)

I think we should move on to New Hampshire. It is really sad that the Democratic Party of Iowa, if I may say so, screwed up the counting process quite so badly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And Jim, look, these campaigns are ready to turn their focus to New Hampshire. That is what is next on the docket. That's what's important for momentum going forward in this nomination process. So, of course, they've got the debate tonight. They all have a number of events over the weekend. And Jim, if we know anything about New Hampshire, it likes to be a check on Iowa. It likes to provide some surprises sometimes so what might that be?

Well, we'll see what the next few days bring out, tease out for what we might see on Tuesday.

SCIUTTO: Yes, Iowans, folks from New Hampshire are very proud about their early role --

DEAN: OK --

SCIUTTO: In selecting the nominees --

DEAN: Yes --

SCIUTTO: Jessica Dean there, I'm jealous of your snow, it's just basically raining here in Washington --

DEAN: Yes, very nice --

SCIUTTO: Excessively.

DEAN: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Other news we're following this morning. A strong jobs report released just days after the president was acquitted. All this as the Democrats may recanvass votes after the count in Iowa. What does this all mean for 2020?Big picture going forward, we're going to discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:25:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. A very strong January jobs report this morning, just days after President Trump was acquitted in his impeachment trial. All this clearly emboldening the president as Democrats, I might say struggling with their campaign to win back the White House. What does this all mean for 2020? Let's talk big picture, CNN's Senior political analyst, David Gergen, Democratic strategist Robert Barnett.

Thanks to both of you, great to have you on this morning. David, if I could begin with you. So, these job numbers, good for the president, continuing a good economic story here, obviously, helps his case in 2020. What's the Democratic answer to that? Do they have one? Have they articulated one?

DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER TO NIXON, FORD, REAGAN & CLINTON: They don't have one yet, and they are struggling to find it. They've got to find a candidate, they've got to find a message and they've got to build excitement. That's not where they are. We do have a neck-and-neck race in New Hampshire, which I think will spice it up. The fact that Pete Buttigieg has drawn even statistically with Bernie Sanders is -- you know, provides excitement.

But I think the big story, the big story is the possible collapse of Joe Biden's campaign. He's got to come back from where he is. He's you know, disappearing now and he's running in fourth in the latest poll out of there, the "Boston Globe" poll. That's not a comfortable place to be. But I'd --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

GERGEN: Be interested in Bob's views.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I do -- I want to talk about Biden. Before we get to Biden, just if I can, Bob, on the question of Trump now, so he's got these economic numbers, he's been acquitted, he did have a Republican vote to remove him from office, no small thing.