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In 2015 Audio Confirms Bloomberg Defended Stop and Frisk Tactics of Throwing Black and Latino Kids Against Walls; Trump to New Hampshire Supporters, Vote for Weakest Democratic Candidate; Trump Shares "Curb Your Enthusiasm" Video about Larry David's MAGA Hat; Prosecutor Quits Roger Stone Case as DOJ Backtracks on Sentencing. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 11, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- we reduced it by 95 percent, and I said I'm sorry, I was wrong and I'm sorry, after that I don't know what else to tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk about it, with me now is CNN politics and business correspondent Cristina Alesci and CNN political analyst Astead Herndon. He's also a national reporter for the "New York Times" and he's there in New

Hampshire

So Cristina let me just first turn to you, you've been covering the Bloomberg campaign, tell me just about this audio and why it's resurfacing now.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN POLITICS AND BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's resurfacing to your point because he is rising in the polls, and this is what happens when you start climbing. Other people try and take you down.

But that said, this audio is very bad for the Bloomberg campaign. His opponents will use this against him not because he's supporting the policy but he's using such harsh and insensitive words in the face of a policy that disrupted a lot of lives of New Yorkers.

And you know, it just kind of shows a tone deafness on his part about how the community really felt about it. We actually have some more of that sound you can listen to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLOOMBERG: We put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that's true. Why we do it? Because that's where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of kid's hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALESCI: So I think it's important to note that the sound was resurfaced and promoted by a prominent Bernie Sanders supporter on Twitter the day after a poll did show Bloomberg rising, particularly with the African-American community.

You saw the polling results from Quinnipiac, 22 percent support in the African-American community just behind Joe Biden who had 27 percent support. But this is an issue that is going to stay with Bloomberg throughout the campaign. He put out this statement saying, look, I apologize for this. But that's not going to make this go away, and he tried to deflect it because the President tweeted about it, right, and he tried to say, look, the President is dividing us. Let's come together.

BALDWIN: So he's apologized. He's apologized pretty recently, Astead, for stop and frisk. Do you foresee this audio that's now resurfaced as being a major obstacle for him going forward?

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's hard to know. I mean, let's note that Joe Biden has had similarly fraught moments, particularly on issues that affect black communities come up. Opponents tried to hit him on that, that has not necessarily been the thing that's taken him down. What has taken him down is bad electoral results once we got Iowa, maybe now New Hampshire. That's where we're seeing that polling erode.

Let's be clear, black voters know that white politicians in particular are not perfect. These are voters who are oftentimes making moral choices between two, what they would call lesser of two evils. And so while opponents will certainly hit Mike Bloomberg using these comments, the question is can they make their own affirmative case to black communities.

It won't just be enough to say, hey, he said these bad things in the past. It's why is your policy, why are you someone that black voters can trust? And so that's what we're going to have to see is, can they make that case.

Because right now, Bloomberg is rising because his advertisements are making a strong anti-Trump case that these folks are latching onto. I am not sure, just like the crime bill didn't sink Joe Biden with black voters if these stop and frisk comments will sink Mike Bloomberg.

BALDWIN: We know, Astead, and Cristina mentioned that Trump seized on this new audio, right. He tweeted that Bloomberg was a quote, total racist. That tweet was quickly deleted. His campaign manager though still has the #bloombergisaracist on his feed.

But we've heard the President praise stop and frisk. So let's just take a moment and listen to that and revisit that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, whether or not in a place like Chicago you do stop and frisk which worked very well, Mayor Giuliani is here, it worked very well in New York. It brought the crime rate way down.

Stop and frisk, it works, and it was meant for problems like Chicago. It was meant for it. Stop and frisk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Do you think, Astead, that attack line will work if he chooses to attack Bloomberg directly?

HERNDON: Look, the President's trying to run the playbook that we know he has used, one that tries to divide the Democratic Primary, cause chaos in the Democratic Primary, latch on to the weaknesses of who his potential opponent can be. And he has certainly found one with Mike Bloomberg.

Now we should note that not only has the President himself praised stop and frisk as we just saw. But he has also praised aggressive tactics on police to use in communities larger than that. He has advocated for police to be rough with criminals in ways that criminal justice advocates have really pushed back against. Trump himself also obviously has come under scrutiny for comments that folks think are racist.

[15:35:00]

So it's hard for me to believe that that # or these comments will be the thing that tips voters -- black voters to Trump. But we do know what the Trump campaign is doing is trying to win on the margins. They know they're not going to win black communities as a whole, but they think if they can keep some folks at home, if they can win back four or five percent that can be a really important thing. Let's remember in Wisconsins. Ohios and Pennsylvanias, black turnout and enthusiasm for the Democratic nominee is going to be vitally important.

So I think it's important to note that the Trump campaign is not trying to just win these people but maybe cause a seed of doubt about someone who could be the Democratic nominee, and those slight margins could help in the general election.

BALDWIN: OK. Astead, thank you. Cristina Alesci, thank you both very much.

Coming up next, President Trump is apparently making a habit of inserting himself in a Democratic Primary process. He's now telling his supporters in New Hampshire to vote for who he calls the weakest Democrat.

Plus, our breaking news, a prosecutor on the Roger Stone case resigns after the Department of Justice backtracks on Stone's recommended sentence, and it all happened after President Trump complains on Twitter.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: President Trump is all but guaranteed to win his party's nomination again. So with no big primary challenger of his own, President Trump is making a habit of inserting himself in the Democratic Primary process. Last night at that rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, he seized upon the fact that in New Hampshire independent voters can vote in either of the Democratic or the Republican primary. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We hear that there could be -- because you have crossovers in primaries, don't you? So I hear a lot of Republicans tomorrow will vote for the weakest candidate possible of the Democrats. Does that make sense? You people wouldn't do that. My only problem is I'm trying to figure out who is their weakest candidate? I think they're all weak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Jennifer Horn is former chairwoman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. She's also a founding member of the anti-Trump Super PAC, The Lincoln Project.

So, Jennifer, thank you for being with me. We just played that sound. What do you think of President Trump inserting himself in this Democratic campaign essentially and telling independent voters to vote for the weakest candidate?

JENNIFER HORN, FORMER CHAIRWOMAN, NEW HAMPSHIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY: Well, first of all, he's just wrong. In New Hampshire Republicans cannot cross over and vote in a Democratic primary. It's not allowed. Only independents or an undeclared voter could do that, so he's just factually incorrect again.

The President is simply trying to, you know, solidify his base and divide the opposition. He wants to play into this idea that Bernie Sanders is somehow being, you know, mistreated by the Democratic Party, that there's more division on one side than the other. This is clearly, you know, to advance his own purpose.

And very quickly, Brooke, just to add onto that, it's very obvious that the Trump campaign has made a strategic decision here. They're playing entirely to their base. They are making no attempt to try to reach out and build coalitions, reach out to other blocks of voters at all. They want to suppress any anti-Trump vote and just play entirely to their base.

BALDWIN: Well, maybe to their detriment. I want to play some sound. One of our correspondents, Kyung Lah, she talked to this couple that were Trump voters in 2016. They are now turning to Democratic moderate Amy Klobuchar as their pick. Listen to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLIFFORD SAMBLE, NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY VOTER: We voted for Trump last time, and we're seeing who we can choose this time. We may go with him, but we like Amy because she seems to be a strong candidate. She had many years in the Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I just thought that was really interesting. I know your paper, "The Union Leader" has endorsed her.

HORN: Right.

BALDWIN: Why are you, you know, a lifelong Republican, you're getting behind Amy Klobuchar. Why?

HORN: Well, listen, I want to get behind the candidate who's best positioned to defeat Donald Trump in November, and why I'm doing that is easy, and something I think millions of Americans understand. Donald Trump creates an existential threat to the Republican -- I'm sorry, to the Republic. It's not about the Republican Party.

It's about the country. You know, he has divided and damaged, he has turned the presidency into a corrupt crime enterprise. He has put the security of our nation at risk. You can go on and on. He is unqualified not just to be President but to in any way represent what the great principles and values that America was founded on.

Amy Klobuchar, I think is really interesting to watch right now. You know, Bernie Sanders is likely going to win tonight. We saw the big boost that Pete Buttigieg got coming out of Iowa. He's likely to be very close to Sanders, if it all kind of works out the way that the polling suggests. But Amy Klobuchar is the one that if she places ahead of Joe Biden and if she places ahead of Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, that's an extraordinary win for her going out of New Hampshire.

And I just think she's somebody who's well-positioned to build those coalitions that are necessary to win in November. Her ability to work across the aisle, to bring disaffected Republicans and right leaning independents together with the Democratic base that she needs to kind of push a win across the finish line.

[15:45:00]

BALDWIN: I am sure she appreciates your words. We wait to see how New Hampshire speaks and votes later this evening. For now, Jennifer Horn, thank you very much in Manchester for us.

Let's get back to our breaking news now. A prosecutor on the Roger Stone case is now withdrawing from this case after the Justice Department backtracks on Stone's sentencing guidance, and it all happens after President Trump complained about the recommended sentence on Twitter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A lot of "Curb" fans around here so this next story is as Larry David would say is pretty, pretty good.

[15:50:00]

President Trump not only tweeting out a video from HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" but for a time actually pinning the tweet to the top of his profile. The tweet included the words "tough guys for Trump." The President seemingly misinterpreting the show and understanding that the MAGA hat featured in the episode of this latest season was meant as an insult. The bootleg clip Trump tweeted out shows comedian Larry David the star of the show in an expletive filled road rage incident with this biker.

And in the clip, Larry David defuses the stand off by putting on his MAGA hat. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIKER: You little (BLEEP).

LARRY DAVID, COMEDIAN-ACTOR: I am sorry I didn't see you.

BIKER: Just be careful next time. OK.

DAVID: Will do. Will do. OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, so good. And what the clip doesn't show is the rest of the episode where Larry David makes fun of Trump, and only wears the MAGA hat as a way to repel people preventing others from sitting next to him at say a restaurant.

So Matt Wilstein is the host of the podcast "Last Laugh" he's a senior writer over at "The Daily Beast" and he wrote this piece called "Sorry Trump, Larry David could not give a "bleep" about MAGA fans."

So Matt, welcome back, nice to have you on.

MATT WILSTEIN, SENIOR WRITER, "THE DAILY BEAST": Thanks, I'll try to not be bleeped too much during this interview.

BALDWIN: We have more bleeping coming up, so stand by for that. Is this a case of President Trump just misinterpreting the show or do you think he's using it out of context to his advantage?

WILSTEIN: Well, I think there is a little bit of both. When I saw it, I laughed immediately, because I just thought he totally and completely misunderstood the point of the MAGA hat in the episode.

But then at the same time I think he is using it as one of his many, many distractions on Twitter from everything else that's going on, so that we'll be talk about this right now instead of maybe something else.

BALDWIN: Explain if people haven't seen the episode, can you just give a little bit more context? WILSTEIN: Yes, so Trump shared the very end of this sequence of clips

from the episode, but the idea is that Larry David is a curmudgeon living in LA. He's very liberal himself but he decides that if he is wears a MAGA hat around Hollywood, then he'll be able to get out of lunch with a friend. He'll be able to get a seat at the sushi bar without anybody next to him.

And then the final punch line kind of comes when he gets into this road rage incident with a biker who doesn't -- who ends up liking him because of the MAGA hat, so that's the punchline that Trump shared.

BALDWIN: And then we know that Larry David was doing a Q&A in New York at the 92nd Street Y and he was asked about this and this is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY TRAINA, 92Y: This is a little bit of a political question, but obviously a big part of the show as the MAGA hat.

DAVID: For the first show, yes.

TRAINA: Right. There are people that wear the MAGA hat and like what MAGA hat represents, are you afraid of alienating them, and they could be fans of the show?

DAVID: Alienate yourselves, yes. Go, go and alienate, you have my blessing. No, I could give a (BLEEP).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Matt, it's pretty clear that Larry David doesn't well, give a you know what.

WILSTEIN: I thought it was pretty funny that some of Trump's followers last night were tweeting, oh, this is actually a, you know, a joke on the liberals that the MAGA hat is used to repel liberals and that's what Larry David is going for.

But I think that really misunderstands who he is both in the show and in person, and you know, as real person. He has been a long supporter of liberal causes and he actually donated the max amount to Pete Buttigieg in this cycle we found out recently.

BALDWIN: Matt Wilstein, good to have you on, thank you.

WILSTEIN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: An extraordinary series of developments unfolding today. A prosecutor in the Roger Stone case is stepping off the case after the DOJ backtracks on the sentencing guidance for Roger Stone. Standby for new details there.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Let me just get you caught up on the breaking news we've been following this afternoon in the criminal case against President Trump's long-time confidant Roger Stone.

The top prosecutor in this case just quit in the wake of a stunning reversal from Department of Justice. This all started yesterday when these federal prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Stone from 7 to 9 years in prison for obstruction and witness tampering and making false statements to Congress.

But here's the thing, when the President got word of this he tweeted out, this was a, quote, unquote, miscarriage of justice and in the wake of that tweet, the DOJ is now backing down from its own sentencing recommendation.

CNN crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz is here with us. And so just clarify this for me because the prosecutor isn't just quitting altogether, he's withdrawing from the case?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: He's leaving the case. He's been with this case from the beginning. He was a Mueller prosecutor assigned to the Mueller team. He's been on the Roger Stone investigation, other Mueller investigations.

He then moved over to the Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney's Office to handle the case. Since all this developed, he notified the judge that he was leaving the case. He's done. He wants out of the case. He's technically assigned to the Baltimore, Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.

So, we're told by a spokeswoman there that he's going to go back there. He still has a job there. What happens next, we don't know. But for certain, he's no longer on the case, and that's a very big development in this case.

BALDWIN: OK. I'm sure that Jake is going to pick up where you left off, Shimon, thank you very much, and thank you. of course, for being with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin here in New York

CNN's special coverage of the New Hampshire Primary starts right now.