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Falsehoods, Lies, Conspiracies: Fact-Checking Trump's Tweets; Trump Congratulates A.G. Barr For "Taking Charge" In Roger Stone Case; Warren Struggles To Gain Traction In Democratic Race; Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) Discusses Democratic Race And Elizabeth Warren & Her Grilling Of Fed Chair On Attending Lavish Bezos Party; Trump Warns Senate Amid Debate Over Limits To War Powers. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 12, 2020 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Harry Enten, thank you.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR WRITER & ANALYST: Shalom. Thank you. We got it.

BALDWIN: We got it.

ENTEN: We got it. We did it.

BALDWIN: Third time is the charm, a charm with you.

Now to this. Senator Elizabeth Warren, what about her? She's been struggling to gain traction. Senator Sanders has been shinning. Can she get back in the race? We'll talk about her chances.

And new lies from the president as he defends his convicted friends. We'll have a fact check ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: As we talked about at the top of the show, this backlash grows over why the Justice Department intervened in the case of this long-time confidant of President Trump.

The president is applauding his attorney general today for effectively overruling his own prosecutors' sentencing guidelines for Roger Stone.

The president tweeting, quote, "Congratulations Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought. Evidence now clearly shows that the Mueller scam was improperly brought and tainted. Even Bob Mueller lied to Congress."

CNN's Daniel Dale is here.

And there's so much to run through. Just even in that tweet, so much that is misleading. Fact check that for me.

[14:35:10] DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: There is. There's a lot wrong with this whole tweet storm. There's no evidence that former special counsel Robert Mueller lied to Congress. Trump didn't specify what he meant there.

In the past, he's accused Mueller of being false when he testified that he was not seeking the job of FBI director when he spoke to Trump just after the firing of James Comey, just before he was appointed as special counsel.

But Steve Bannon, a former senior Trump adviser, told Mueller's team and said again on MSNBC that Mueller was not there to interview for the job, to seek the job, rather he had been asked to come to advise Trump on the qualities necessary to do the job because he'd done it before. So there's no evidence of that.

And then on the claim that this investigation was illegal, improper, should not have been brought, well, we have an inspector general report saying that the FBI had a legitimate basis to open this investigation.

And multiple judges have upheld the investigation and actions that Mueller took during it in various court proceedings. So no basis for any of this.

BALDWIN: The president, Daniel, also tweeted this, quote, "Who are the four prosecutors? Mueller people who cut and ran after being exposed for recommending a ridiculous nine-year prison sentence."

What do you have on that?

DALE: So, yes, four prosecutors who were working on the Roger Stone case did withdraw themselves from the case. Only two of them, however, not all four, had worked for the Mueller team.

Second, the claim that they were exposed is, I think, at least misleading. It's arguably subjective. But I think misleading because they weren't -- it wasn't some secret recommendation they had made that had been revealed to the public. Rather the initial recommendation was issued in a public court filing. Anyone could see it.

It was overturned, and they withdraw themselves from the case in apparent protest. But it wasn't like some wrongdoing was brought to light.

BALDWIN: And finally, Daniel, the president attacked the judge, Amy Berman Jackson, at the center of the Roger Stone case, claiming, "This is the judge that put Paul Manafort in solitary confinement, something that not even Capone had to endure? How did she treat Crooked Hillary Clinton? Just asking."

DALE: The judge did not put Paul Manafort in solitary confinement. This judge did revoke Manafort's bail because he broke the law while out on bail. He was convicted of witness tampering. He was sent to a jail in Virginia. And, yes, he was held by himself. He had his own bathroom, shower, laptop phone. He was transferred by another judge, not this judge, to a second jail where, again, he was held by himself.

But again, in that case, he was held in what they call protective custody. This wasn't the shoe, you know, the damp, dark conditions we associate with solitary. Yes, this was his own cell.

But you know, this was not punitive, not disciplinary. And it was not this judge who put him there.

BALDWIN: All right. Daniel Dale, thank you.

DALE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up, President Trump lashing out as Republicans and Democrats prepare to check his ability to take any future military action on Iran.

Plus, underway right now, Michael Bloomberg is holding a campaign rally in Tennessee after he gets an interesting endorsement amid new Stop-and-Frisk scrutiny.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:54]

BALDWIN: A significant stumble last night for the Senator Elizabeth Warren campaign, as fellow progressive, Bernie Sanders, ekes out first place, Pete Buttigieg taking second, and Amy Klobuchar takes third.

Warren came in a distant fourth. She's not throwing in the towel, of course, but she threw some definite shade last night as she addressed her supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The question for us Democrats is whether it will be a long, bitter rehash of the same old divides in our party or whether we can find another way.

Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg are both great people, and either one of them would be a far better president than Donald Trump. I respect them both.

But the fight between factions in our party has taken a sharp turn in recent weeks. With ads mocking other candidates, and with supporters of some candidates shouting curses at other Democratic candidates.

These harsh tactics might if you are willing to burn down the rest of the party in order to be the last man standing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: With me now, California Congresswoman Katie Porter. She's endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren for president. Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with me.

REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): Absolutely.

BALDWIN: So this was not the best showing for your candidate, for Senator Warren, especially considering she's from Massachusetts, New Hampshire is next door, what do you think happened?

PORTER: I'm really proud of the campaign that Elizabeth's built, and I've seen the enthusiasm on the ground. And while it's true that New Hampshire is her neighboring state, Iowa was a neighboring state for Senator Klobuchar where Senator Klobuchar came in a distant fifth.

So I think that we're seeing that people are making decisions based not just on geography but on a whole bunch of different factors. And I think Elizabeth picked up delegates in Iowa, a significant number of delegates in Iowa, and she's already moving on to other states.

This is a campaign that has folks on the ground already for months and month in over 30 states. She's made that long-term ground game. And to be clear, 98 percent of the delegates are up for grabs.

[14:45:02]

I'm very confident that Elizabeth's unifying message, talking about the importance of bringing the party together is one that, ultimately, is going to be really important as this field continues to narrow.

BALDWIN: Congresswoman Porter, as you look at the overall votes last night and you look at the more moderate candidates they had a nice chunk of the votes. Yes, granted they were divided among a few, but if one of the progressive candidates does get closer and closer to the nomination, do you see the Democratic Party establishment pushing back?

PORTER: I think what we should be focusing on as Democrats is on making sure that we're electing a leader who can bring the party together, who's willing to reach across the progressive side of the party, newly engaged people, people who got engaged for the first time because of 2018. And that's what I think Elizabeth has done by having folks like Ayanna Pressley and --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But, Congresswoman -- forgive me, I just need to jump in. If it does end up being a progressive candidate, do you think the party base will push back on that?

PORTER: Elizabeth said very clear about standing up for the most core progressive values, standing up to corruption, standing up to big corporations, holding CEOs accountable. And that's really at the core of what this progressive movement is about.

At the same time, she's made clear that she's a capitalist. She believes in our capitalist economy but hold to account for treating people fairly. I think she does really bridge that divide between progressives and

moderates. I also see her really talking day in, day out, rally after rally, in living rooms and big events about winning up and down the ticket.

And that is something, as someone who's going to be on the ballot again here in 2020 and 2022, hopefully, I'm really concerned about what the plan the president has for making sure that we win at all levels of government.

And I think she's outshining the competition in that regard, and that's something that should really matter, particularly in these battleground states.

BALDWIN: OK. Let's shift gears and talk a little bit more about you, Congresswoman Porter, and this exchange you had yesterday with the Fed chair, Jerome Powell. Here was just a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PORTER: Mr. Powell, I'm going to put off a picture up here so that the audience can see, but I'm also going to hold it up for you. Is this you, Mr. Powell?

JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: It is.

PORTER: Where are you?

POWELL: That's a party after the Alfalfa dinner, an after party I went to.

PORTER: Where was that party held?

POWELL: It was at Jeff Bezos' home.

PORTER: At Jeff Bezos' home.

Can you imagine how attending a lavish party at Jeff Bezos's $23 million home along with Jared and Ivanka and the CEO of MorganChase, Jamie Dimon, might give off the sense to the public that you are not, in fact, immune from external pressures?

POWELL: I would certainly hope not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK. So I want to get to his response in just a second.

But first, Congresswoman Porter, tell the rest of us, you know, what were you trying to get at?

PORTER: So we all really need to be committed to the independence of the Federal Reserve, particularly at a time when we have the president drawing into question how much partisanship direction he's putting in at some of our agencies like the Department of Justice. It's incredibly important to our economic growth, which is something

that Republicans and Democrats should both be committed to, that we all understand that the Fed is an independent institution, and Mr. Powell himself has pushed back and made clear that he is going to remain independent even as President Trump has taken to Twitter to try to pressure him.

So I was disappointed when Mr. Powell went in the completely other direction and attended a lavish party where he knew that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Kellyanne Conway, he knew they were going to be at this party.

You heard him say in the testimony, well, it was just an after party for the Alfalfa Club. I don't know what most Americans think, but I had no idea what the Alfalfa Club was. It turns out to be an ultra- elite 200-person invitation event, where he was mixing and mingling with folks like the CEO of JPMorganChase, Jamie Dimon, somebody BHO absolutely has a tremendous interest in what happens with interest rates and the thinking of Mr. Powell.

So I wish he would put his actions more consistent with the words that he's said, which is that the fed must be independent from partisanship.

BALDWIN: Here is what -- I'm listening to every word -- this is what the other side would say. You know, is it fair to assume that there was some sort of nefarious activity at this fancy party just because he was the

PORTER: Look, part of what we're trying to do is give people confidence in government. It's why we as elected officials have to make disclosures of our finances. There's nothing we're doing wrong. But those disclosures give people comfort.

So his actions, no matter what he says, the fact that he's standing out in front of Jeff Bezos's $23 million mansion sends a message to people that he is spending his time with the rich and powerful, that he's spending time having cocktails with Jared and Ivanka Trump rather than maintaining the independence of the Fed.

[14:50:06]

And so with public service comes a certain amount of public sacrifice. And that's what I expect of the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

BALDWIN: Congresswoman Katie Porter. Thank you very much.

PORTER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up, the president lashing out against prosecutors and judges and witnesses as he continues to defend his convicted friend and praise his attorney general for intervening in the sentencing of his good buddy, Roger Stone.

Plus, why Republican House members refuse to show up for an Intelligence Committee meeting today. That's ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:18]

BALDWIN: The Senate may be one step closer to curbing President Trump's war powers. As early as tomorrow, the Senate could advance a resolution that would restrain Trump's ability to use military action against Iran without congressional approval.

Debate over the resolution comes amid simmering tensions in the wake of that U.S. strike that killed a top Iranian general. But it has had bipartisan support, including from Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee, who said this just last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): One of the messages we received from the briefers was, do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran. And that if you do you'll be emboldening Iran.

The implication that somehow we would be making America less safe by having a debate or a discussion about the appropriateness of further military involvement against the government of Iran.

Now, I find this insulting and demeaning, not personally, but to the office that each of the 100 Senators in this building happens to hold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The president is already weighing in.

Manu Raju, back to you up on the Hill.

What are you hearing?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this was -- this vote just happened to advance this war powers measure, and it was approved. It was a procedural vote that was adopted just moments ago. It was approved by a 51-45 bipartisan majority.

And there were eight Republican Senators who broke ranks to join with Democrats in approving this bill, which would essentially constrain the president from moving forward on Iran by forcing him essentially to come to Congress before waging war with that country.

He said that the vote, the eight defectors included Lamar Alexander, of Tennessee, Susan Collins, of Maine, Mike Lee, of Utah, Jerry Moran, of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, Rand Paul, Kentucky, and Young of Indiana. But they're still short of what they would ultimately need for this to become law.

It will pass the Senate tomorrow. Then the House is expected to take up this version in the coming days. That would send it to the president's desk.

The president is already warning that he would veto this measure.

And you mentioned he tweeted that moving forward on this would essentially show weakness in his view, and so he would veto this. And then the House and the Senate lack a two-thirds majority at the moment to override a presidential veto.

So even though the president has a veto pen and probably enough support to sustain a veto, it shows there's bipartisan concern about the president moving forward with any -- any action towards Iran without coming to Congress first.

We'll see if that affects the president's decision to move ahead if he does move ahead in the coming days and weeks, even if he opposes legislation, and decides to move ahead.

That will be -- those same voices will raise concerns about the president doing so without the consent of Congress, even if they're unable ultimately here, Brooke, to get this signed into law -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Manu, thank you.

And just a programming note now. Just for this weekend, CNN presents the story of the world's most famous royal family, "THE WINDSORS: INSIDE THE ROYAL DYNASTY." That premieres this Sunday night, 10:00, only here on CNN.

All right, you are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

As we continue on top of the hour, the Senate may be one step closer to curbing President Trump's war powers, as we just discussed with Manu.

And now former Justice Department officials are sounding the alarm this Wednesday saying their agency is in crisis under the leadership of Attorney General Bill Barr and under threat from President Trump.

Their concerns are growing after all four federal prosecutors resigned from the Roger Stone case following a DOJ decision to overrule their sentencing request.

They wanted the president's friend and adviser to spend up to nine years behind bars related to charges from Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

But the president had a different view, publicly slamming both the trial and the sentencing guideline as a disgrace.

And now President Trump is hailing the DOJ decision, tweeting in part, quote, "Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have been brought."

And Kaitlan Collins is our CNN White House correspondent.

We know that the president is not only, you know, attacking the judge in the case, he also pulled a separate nomination for the former U.S. attorney who oversaw the sentencing. What can you tell me?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's a lot going on. And the president is even talking about this right now in the Oval Office as he's welcoming the Ecuadorian leader.

[15:00:06]

He is defending these tweets, saying that he doesn't believe they were political interference in this. But then he's going back to thanking the Justice Department and those top officials for getting involved in all of this.