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Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) is Interviewed about the Budget and Democratic Race; World Health Organization Announcement on Coronavirus; People to be Released from Quarantine Today in California; Voters Head to Polls in New Hampshire; Prison Time for Roger Stone. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired February 11, 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]

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): Vigilant. And that's why you just don't cut the very essence of these programs when you don't have a challenge so that you're ready when you do have one.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I mean, now that the death toll has crossed 1,000 people globally and fingers crossed here in the United States that it doesn't spread more.

Let's spend our remaining few minutes talking about the race. It's a big day in New Hampshire. Obviously, you had previously endorsed Senator Cory Booker before he dropped out of the race.

Are you ready to endorse someone now? Is there a candidate you like best?

MENENDEZ: No, not really. Not at this point in time. But, look, I just hope that, you know, we have a good process in New Hampshire. But I'm really looking for the races beyond New Hampshire.

You know, the first two states in the nation are not fully representative of what the American people are and what they look like.

HARLOW: Right. Right.

MENENDEZ: And who they represent. So I'm looking for the opportunities beyond.

For me, I think, you have, you have to have the ability, not only to get -- have big ideas but get those ideas done, and you have to have the ability to beat President Trump. And I'll be looking at those factors as I come to a conclusion on to who to endorse.

HARLOW: Yes.

Finally, what struck me about the statement that you put out, when Senator Booker decided to end his campaign, is you said you had genuine sadness that, quote, Cory's unwavering message of fairness, faith and coming together in common purpose is exactly the path our nation needs to heal. And you were so sad that with that message he wasn't able to go further.

Given that, do you have any concerns about, to use the words of former President Obama, what seems to be a circular firing squad among the Democratic candidates at this point?

MENENDEZ: Well, look, you know, in a competition, there's always going to be a vetting of the differences of positions and views. That's legitimate for the voter.

But at the end of the day, I believe the threat to this country is presented in Donald Trump. I believe that he has created harm to the country. And in my role as a senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, I believe he has created harm in our international standing. I don't think it's irrevocable harm. I do worry that if he gets re-elected, it will be irrevocable harm. And so, therefore, I'm very much looking for someone who can bring us together in common cause and defeat the president.

HARLOW: Senator Bob Menendez, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

MENENDEZ: Thank you.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Officials in China are reporting the deadliest day now since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. We're going to have a live report from China where crews are going street to street disinfecting entire neighborhoods.

HARLOW: Wow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:37:04]

HARLOW: A significant development overnight. China is now confirming its deadliest day since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. On Monday, 108 people died. Nearly 2,500 new cases there were confirmed. And that brings the number of cases in China to nearly 43,000.

SCIUTTO: Here in the U.S., of course, the number is much smaller but we did have the 13th case of coronavirus now confirmed. Health officials say the American who evacuated Wuhan, China, last week was in quarantine after mistakenly being released from the hospital.

Sara Sidner is standing by in southern California.

But let's begin with David Culver in Beijing.

So, David, the vast majority of the cases, of course, globally, they're in China, the vast majority of those in and around Wuhan, where this started, but this morning the World Health Organization said the virus holds a very grave threat for the world.

How do they explain that? DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and when you see these numbers,

you start to feel that as well. I think part of their reasoning behind that, Jim and Poppy, has to do with the concern that some of the folks who are becoming infected have actually not even traveled here to mainland China. So they're starting to question the transmission. And that's concerning in and of itself.

That aside, we're being thrown a lot of numbers and we're, in turn, putting those numbers out. So you have to put some of them in context here. And we should also point out the source of these numbers. It's the Chinese government, the national health commission. That's the only data we can rely on. So consider the source as we go forward with this.

But the death toll in and of itself, of course, quite alarming, especially when we have seen it either stay the same or increase over the past two weeks.

Now, another thing that was interesting today was out of one of the leading epidemiologists of all of this. His name is Jong Minshan (ph), and he was somebody who really made his name during the SARS epidemic back in 2003 and gained a lot of respect for his handling and assessment of that. He is looking at this as potentially coming to a peak with the total number of reported cases in mid-February, so in a few days from now, to late February.

That's his assessment of this. And he also evaluated how the government here was handling things. He criticized heavily the local government and we saw at least two health officials be fired today at the local level leading up in Hubei province. So it's not surprising the central government pushing it off to them and allowing them to take the fall for this.

But then he also stresses that the central government's extreme containment efforts are actually a positive. He thinks that this is going to help stem the growth of these numbers and potentially help stop the spread altogether, Jim and Poppy.

HARLOW: David, thank you very much.

Let's go to Sara now.

Sara, you're at March Air Force Base in California. Nearly 200 people have been quarantined there for two weeks. They're getting out today?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right. They will be bussed to airports in the Los Angeles area. Not a single person here has tested positive for coronavirus over that two-week period.

We do know there were a couple of children that had fevers, but they were the regular fevers that kids sometimes get.

[09:40:03]

Nothing to do with coronavirus. There is one disturbing sort of element here that has happened and

officials have been sending letters to residents in Riverside County, that is where the March Air Reserve Base is located, telling them to stop harassing workers here on the base who have been targeted both online and in person because they work here and people were concerned that they may have contracted coronavirus or were near people that had been in Wuhan that could potentially contract coronavirus.

So there's a missive, a warning to residents to stop doing that, that it's ridiculous. Nobody here should be targeted. No one anywhere should be targeted, but especially those people who are trying to make sure, to make sure that this base runs smoothly.

We're just seeing one of the buses now that we believe will be picking up some of these folks and taking them to airports so that they can get home.

There was an incident, though, in San Diego that is concerning as well. There were four people brought in who, you know, could potentially have been exposed to coronavirus. And they were all let out. They're saying, OK, they tested negative.

And then one of them, they discovered, actually the test turned out to be positive. That person was brought back to the hospital, to the health center there. He is -- or that person is under -- is being watched. But apparently the patient does have some symptoms. They are mild, according to health officials, but indeed that person did come back with a positive result for coronavirus and so that person is certainly being watched.

There is a second person we understand who is also being watched as well. And they are going to be testing that person as well who does have some mild symptoms. They're not sure exactly if that is coronavirus. But definitely the person who was let out who could potentially be infectious was brought back to get health care there.

SCIUTTO: OK.

SIDNER: That was very concerning for a lot of folks since this can spread very quickly.

Jim. Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Listen, it shows how seriously folks around the world are taking this.

HARLOW: Good.

SCIUTTO: That even one case --

HARLOW: Yes.

SIDNER: Yes.

SCIUTTO: They're on top of it to be sure.

David Culver, Sara Sidner, thanks very much.

HARLOW: All right, looking to leave New England with a decisive outcome today, a decisive win, if Bernie Sanders has his way. He spent the most on ads of the top tier candidates there. Will it get him to first place? We'll discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:46:44]

SCIUTTO: Twenty-four delegates up for grabs today in New Hampshire. Not big when you consider the number that necessary get the nomination, but, still, it's an important, early race. Today just isn't about winning Democratic voters. Undeclared voters make up the state's largest voting bloc.

HARLOW: That's right.

Let's go to our Evan McMorris-Santoro. He is in Nashua this morning.

We saw a lot of pictures of Mayor Buttigieg heading in there a few minutes ago. What are you hearing from voters?

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning from Amherst Street Elementary here in Nashua. The vote -- the polling place for Ward Three in this city.

Bernie won it last time. And, you know, voting has been steady this morning so far. About 600 votes cast as of 9:00.

Voters I've talked to here have been casting their ballots really based on who they think can beat the president in the fall. And I actually have one of these voters to talk to.

Janet Prince, good morning. Thanks for talking to us.

JANET PRINCE, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: Good morning.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: So, tell us, who did you vote for?

PRINCE: I did vote for Amy Klobuchar.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: And why do you think she can beat Trump?

PRINCE: I think she has good policy. She's a moderate. She's someone that can really speak and take on the divisive Trump speak.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Now, you're one of these famous, undeclared New Hampshire voters. You come in, you don't really have a party. I mean you voted in the Democratic Party. Then you went back to being undeclared again.

PRINCE: That's right.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Why is that important to you? PRINCE: It's important to me because I do vote Democrat sometimes.

Sometimes I vote Republican. I want to be able to vote who I think is the best person for the job. And at this present time I have to vote against our president because of his divisive nature.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Got it. So -- and I notice that you didn't mention that what happened in Iowa had any bearing on how you voted today.

PRINCE: No, I didn't, did I, because it makes no difference to me as a Democrat in the state of New Hampshire. New Hampshirites know what they want. They know who they -- in their heart feels the best person. We don't depend on Iowa or any other state. We know what we want.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Got it.

So, there you have it, New Hampshire making its own decision.

Thanks, Jim and Poppy.

HARLOW: You got it. Thanks to Janet for talking to us.

SCIUTTO: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Evan, appreciate the reporting.

Take a look at the amount of money that is already pouring into the primary today. Bernie Sanders has spent nearly $6 million on TV ads in New Hampshire. Compare that with the former vice president, Joe Biden, who didn't even lay out $100,000 across the state.

SCIUTTO: Even President Trump spent more than Biden leading up to today's Democratic primary. Will those numbers factor into the final count?

Joining us now, Steve Passwaiter, vice president of Kantar Media.

Steve, good to have you on this morning.

STEVE PASSWAITER, VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, KANTAR MEDIA: Well, thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Question here, because, again, I want to show the national numbers of spending at this point, too, because there's a whole nother galaxy of spending going on when you look at Michael Bloomberg. A third of a billion dollars. Tom Steyer. I mean Michael Bloomberg spent ten times as much as Bernie Sanders, who might win today in New Hampshire.

And, of course, Bloomberg is rising, though he skipped the first two big races.

I just want to -- wonder, can money up end this nomination process in a way that we haven't seen before given, you know the limits are basically off?

PASSWAITER: Yes, the way I look at it, Jim, Michael Bloomberg is one -- has run a completely contrarian campaign to this point. But it's also hard not to notice that as the money goes higher, he starts to come up even a little bit more every day in the polls.

[09:50:02]

So there's some thought that maybe what he is doing and the amounts of money that he's spending is actually having some kind of impact.

HARLOW: Let's talk about the kind of ads that are being run because you're certainly seeing the former president in a lot of them. I'm talking about former President Barack Obama, whether it's Bloomberg's ads of him complimenting the former New York City mayor --

PASSWAITER: Right.

HARLOW: Whether it's Vice President Joe Biden's ads highlighting Obamacare. Is that savvy to use the former president that way?

PASSWAITER: I would think so. President Obama's one figure that has universal name recognition, not to mention outstanding poll numbers amongst Democrats. So to the extent that you can, why not try to indicate that the former president has said some good things about you in the past, as an indication of what you're capable of moving forward?

SCIUTTO: So let's talk then about the split between TV and digital, right? I mean there's a lot of talk now about how Trump's operation really has a great digital portion of it here. And also we should note that ad money is important, but doesn't always translate to votes. I mean Tom Steyer has spent a tiny $178 million compared to Bloomberg's.

You know, where is the best bang for the buck in the digital age for candidates?

PASSWAITER: Digital is really awesome at doing a few things for organizing, for fundraising. These are really great dimensions that digital advertising has. It's also very good for get out the vote.

It. Obviously, is a much more targeted vehicle than broadcast TV, which is designed to reach people, you know, in the masses. So they're -- they both have to carry very different kinds of assignments in a campaign. And just like we see in the commercial world, the digital world keeps becoming a little bit more seductive for political campaigns. And it is a great, you know, it is a great tool. Is it going to pass television in this cycle? Certainly not.

HARLOW: Yes.

PASSWAITER: But you can't deny the trends.

HARLOW: Do you think it was a prudent move for the former vice president's campaign to put out those negative ads, blistering ads, about Mayor Pete Buttigieg just a few days before the New Hampshire primary, basically saying like he -- he made the river look a few different colors and that's like the majority of his accomplishments in South Bend? PASSWAITER: Yes, it was sort of interesting to see one candidate talk

about being part of the Iran deal and discussing the other candidate as picking out decorative designs for sidewalks in South Bend. It was kind of a nice little contrast there. But I think, if you're Vice President Biden, the poll numbers in New Hampshire haven't been very kind to you, he certainly wasn't the first one to take the gloves off. Tom Steyer had done that a day before when he went after Biden as an insider and went after Mayor Pete as someone who is too inexperienced to stand up to the president where the economy was concerned.

You know, I think we're all sort of used to negative ads because we see a lot of them during the political cycle. But the rules of engagement have clearly changed as the stakes have gotten higher. And I don't think that's unusual at all.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Steve Passwaiter, thanks for your expertise this morning. Good to have you.

PASSWAITER: Well, thank you so much. Take care.

HARLOW: Our special live coverage of the New Hampshire primary starts today. Special coverage, 4:00 Eastern, only right here on CNN.

SCIUTTO: Federal prosecutors want President Trump's former adviser, Roger Stone, to spend some significant time, years behind bars for lying. Will the president go along with that?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:57:53]

HARLOW: This morning, President Trump is defending his associate, Roger Stone, as prosecutors call for a hefty prison sentence. They're asking a federal judge to sentence Stone to seven to nine years in prison for lying to Congress and witness tampering in the Russia probe.

SCIUTTO: President Trump sounded off on the suggestion, tweeting, quote, cannot allow this miscarriage of justice.

CNN political correspondent Sara Murray joins us now.

So, Sara, what is the likelihood prosecutors get what they're asking here and, of course, I hate to ask the question, but I imagine a pardon is always on the table.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Jim, that's not an unreasonable question to be asking at this point. I think seven to nine years would be a pretty stiff sentence for Roger Stone. You know, he certainly doesn't have great relationship with the judge who is overseeing this and who will be overseeing his sentencing next week.

But prosecutors are asking, you know, for a stiff sentence here. That's certainly not what Roger Stone or his attorneys believed that he deserves. In their memo to the judge, they've asked that he serve no jail time, that he just get probation. So these are the two things the judge is going to have to weigh, as well as all of these letters that Roger Stone has received on his behalf.

And one of the interesting factors here is that prosecutors take this witness tampering charge very seriously. This is one of the reasons they've asked for such a stiff sentence. But the man at the center of this, the witness, Randy Credico, that Roger Stone was convicted of tampering with, has written a letter to the judge saying he doesn't think that Roger Stone should actually go to prison and that didn't ever believe that Roger Stone would actually hurt him. So that's going to be another factor the judge is considering when she sentences Roger Stone next week.

And, of course, Jim, you can't ignore that tweet. You can't ignore the decades of deep affection between President Trump and Roger Stone, even if they've disagreed at certain points. And so there's always the possibility that even if Stone faces some kind of sentence, some kind of jail time, we could see a presidential pardon perhaps via tweet.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

Well, it used to be unusual for a president to interfere in ongoing investigations or make public comments about them but that ship has long ago sailed.

Sara Murray, thanks very much.

SCIUTTO: A very good morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

[10:00:00]

HARLOW: And I'm Poppy Harlow.

One week after Iowa, let's try this again.