Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Democrats Shift Focus to Nevada And South Carolina in Tight Race; Trump Attacks Democrats When Asked If He's Learned Any Lessons; Trump Essentially Affirms That Barr Put Thumb on Scale in Stone Case; GOP House Members Don't Show Up for Intelligence Committee Meeting. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 12, 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]

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- in the party then you'll have a real sense of where everyone stands. Look at the numbers right now when you consider all those. This is what we have in terms of the delegate count at this point, 23 for Buttigieg, 21 for Sanders, they're the leaders.

Warren eight, seven, six, the main thing to bear in mind here is not, yes, some momentum over here, yes, that matters. Some momentum that is not here that they would expect to be here or would like to have here, but that's what they need to win.

That gives you an idea of how much is ahead, in just the next two contests. If you look at those you can see that there are a fair number of delegates out there that can be scooped up. But the big question really is going to be as you head into the next month, who has the mojo, who has that energy going in there so they can start scooping up a lot of those March votes.

And, Brooke, that's where a lot of eyes are going to be on Mike Bloomberg because he really hasn't been playing so far. But when there's a lot on the table, suddenly he's going to open up his cards and say let's play. Will that work for him? We have no idea, but you know that every candidate is looking at that right now because right now it is still very, very early in the process.

BALDWIN: Yes, I like how you said that, the mojo, who has the mojo is right, Tom Foreman. So first in the nation caucus is done, first in the nation primary, and now we move on as you point out to Nevada and South Carolina.

With me now, yes, yes, with me now for more analysis on where we're going with regard to these Democratic candidates, CNN political director David Chalian. And David, so Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg, obviously they have pretty deep pockets. But do other candidates have the financial resources to really hang in there?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, let's be clear. Mike Bloomberg has much deeper pockets -- BALDWIN: Deep pockets.

CHALIAN: -- than Bernie Sanders does. They're not quite in the same category. But you are right, Bernie Sanders, he is just a money-making machine, money raising machine off of these small dollar donors. He raised his campaign said $25 million alone in the month of January, and in February so far, I think they have had 600,000 donations to their campaign. So they do know how to sort of print the money to keep going. There's no doubt about that.

But it is Michael Bloomberg who has put more than $300 million on the air, $350 million on the air, Brooke. Bernie Sanders has only spent a tenth of that on advertising.

So what you have now out of this is not some clear this is who the Democratic nominee is going to be the way we've seen in some past contests with Al Gore or John Kerry or, you know, and even in past contests like 2008, we saw, oh, this is now going to be a battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton all the way to June.

We don't even yet know who will be in the final battle, but we do know out of these first two contests, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg are the two to watch, and they each have mission critical now. Bernie Sanders needs to expand his coalition beyond just the consolidated progressive base that he clearly has done probably to Warren's detriment as well.

But at the same time Pete Buttigieg now and Amy Klobuchar as well have to prove they can run their coalition to non-white voters. And you note in Nevada and South Carolina will be that proving ground just ahead.

BALDWIN: What you have talked about -- I'm going to give you a ton of credit. What you have talked about for many months is we do know it will be a battle between a moderate and a progressive, right. And so if you do the rough math, and you look at New Hampshire, the moderate candidates, David, accounted for more than 50 percent of the vote last night, progressive candidates right around 35 percent. Do you read anything into that?

CHALIAN: So it's always tough to add up, you know, votes for candidates and think that voters would just behave that way. I don't think they're as rigidly in those lanes. But I do read something significant out of New Hampshire last night.

The Democratic primary electorate there was a bit more moderate than it was four years ago in the Sanders/Clinton battle. We saw fewer people identify themselves as very liberal, and what we see, you are right, that moderate vote is splitting, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Biden. We have to see, can one of those candidates emerge and consolidate that the way Bernie Sanders has really been consolidating the progressives?

If that happens, there will be a whole new dynamic in the race. If the moderates continue to split, Bernie Sanders even in close contests like last night or like in Iowa, he's going to be able to accumulate delegates still at a clip because of the way that they get awarded. They get awarded proportionally.

And if he's the only one out there winning the progressive piece of the pie and the moderates are splitting what may be a larger pie piece if you will, but they're splitting it among many candidates, Sanders is going to be able to accumulate delegates and once you get a pledge delegate lead, it's very hard for somebody to overtake it.

BALDWIN: And then you get to those winner take all states. And --

CHALIAN: No winner take all states in the Democratic race. It's all proportional.

BALDWIN: All proportional. David Chalian schooling all of us every single day. Thank you so much.

CHALIAN: Sure.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

[15:35:00]

President Trump doubling down on his criticisms of the DOJ and the impeachment process in the White House moments ago. Hear what he had to say when he was asked if he has, quote, learned any lessons in the wake of his acquittal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just into CNN, as his actions and department face intense scrutiny over whether he's bowing to political pressure from the White House. Attorney General Bill Barr has agreed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee next month. The hearing is set for March 31st.

[15:40:00]

This of course comes as the Department of Justice reversed itself on the sentencing recommendation of Roger Stone hours after the President attacked the decision.

Meantime, we just saw the President, right, at the White House addressing this whole question that Republicans are largely trying to ignore since his impeachment acquittal, and subsequent revenge tour. Has the President of the United States learned his lesson? Here's the President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Senator Murkowski earlier said that you shouldn't have gotten involved with the Roger Stone case. She said it's just bad. Some Republicans have said they hope you would learn a lesson from impeachment. What lesson did you learn from impeachment?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That the Democrats are crooked, they've got a lot of crooked things going, that they're vicious, that they shouldn't have brought impeachment. And that my poll numbers are ten points higher.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Gene Rossi was a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. Gene, nice to have you on.

GENE ROSSI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: So you just heard the President, what do you make of his reaction and also just all of these Republicans staying quiet?

ROSSI: Well, what's unsettling about the President's actions is we just went through a Senate trial, an impeachment process where the President was allegedly committing textbook bribery, extortion, and abusing his office under the Constitution. And we heard some pretty damning testimony in the Senate trial and what really unsettles me is as former prosecutor for almost 30 years, is when a person makes it through a storm, a criminal justice storm, and they learn nothing from the process.

And Brooke, you brought up a good point. He's on a revenge tour, and what also unsettles me, he's now trying to put his thumb on the scale regarding the Roger Stone sentencing. And I don't care what main Justice says and the Attorney General, his tweet to how many millions of people affected the main justice recommendation which --

BALDWIN: Even though the President says I didn't talk to them, the tweet said it all?

ROSSI: Well, Brooke, I believe the President when he says I did not talk directly to the Attorney General. But you can guarantee through his agents and his minions, he conveyed to the Attorney General and the politicals in main Justice that the seven to nine-year sentence recommended by four brilliant career prosecutors who were following the United States sentencing guidelines. Which is the bible of the Department of Justice. They were following the bible, and they were criticized, and to me they are four American heroes.

BALDWIN: Let me take you back and our viewers back to a tarmac in 2016 on a plane, right. Remember this. Republicans lost their minds when Bill Clinton, former President Bill Clinton met with the AG Loretta Lynch. Remember that, I mean you laugh, but like people went bananas over that. And yet, nothing to add here? How is this not just total and complete hypocrisy?

ROSSI: Brooke, when Bill Clinton had a 30-minute conversation with the Attorney General of the United States, I agree, that was improper. That appeared improper. He shouldn't have done it.

But that -- but the Republican reaction then to what Bill Clinton did, which was relatively innocuous, he shouldn't have done it, but compare that to what the President is doing.

And we have to tell the American people this, the President of the United States is treating Bill Barr like Nixon treated John Mitchell, and we know what happened to Nixon, and we know what happened to John Mitchell.

So I've got to tell you this, I've talked to many people in the Department of Justice who still work there, career people, and they are absolutely upset, unsettled and angry that the head of the department is basically afraid of his shadow and will do anything for the President of the United States. That makes me ill as a former career prosecutor.

BALDWIN: Yes. As far as Justice is concerned, let's talk about Roger Stone, and we just heard President Trump was asked about pardons and he said, quote, I don't want to say that yet, right. But there is this -- people are wondering about potential pardon, in fact, even some of Roger Stone's friends have started this public push for a pardon. It's the Pardon Roger Stone Group. Right. They've been organized to raise money and collect signatures in favor of a pardon and create an avenue for the White House to discuss clemency. Any thoughts on that?

ROSSI: Brooke, you're asking me if I have thoughts? Absolutely. Here's what the law is. The President of the United States has almost unfettered discretion to issue pardons. He can't do it as part of a quid pro quo that would be bribery.

[15:45:00]

But he has unfettered discretion to issue a pardon, and if he pardons Roger Stone, I don't see where there's an impeachable offense. What bothers me is he's downplaying what Roger Stone was convicted of. I think he was convicted of seven counts, roughly seven counts.

BALDWIN: Namely, lying to Congress, obstruction, witness tampering, right.

ROSSI: He threatened to kill a witness. Now, the witness says, oh, it was only a joke. Listen, I charged a federal prosecutor, I mean a state prosecutor, with witness tampering. When you tamper with a witness, that's a big deal. I indicted a state prosecutor for witness tampering. So what Roger Stone did wasn't some low-level drug case, it was the major leagues. This was whether the Russians infected our Democratic process. It doesn't get any bigger than that.

And Roger Stone did everything in his power to obstruct that investigation, which to me was right and just, and the Mueller report both volumes one and two are a treasure-trove, a treasure-trove of improper actions by the President.

BALDWIN: Gene, thank you, and as Kaitlan pointed out, standing in front of the White House, our correspondent, you know, the real question if President Trump does pardon him, is it after the sentencing, is it after the election? I know that may be a gamble for him. It's all up to him.

We're going to talk again Gene Rossi, hold your fire, we're going to have you back, all right. I can already tell. Thank you very much, Gene. I appreciate it.

ROSSI: All right. BALDWIN: Coming up next, President Trump says he'd rather run against Mike Bloomberg than Bernie Sanders. We'll take you live to Tennessee as the former New York City Mayor looks way ahead to Super Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a New Yorker, but I'm not afraid of Trump, and Trump is afraid of me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Michael Bloomberg's 2020 bid appears to be gaining momentum that could help him with a crucial voting bloc, African-Americans. He's just picked up endorsements from three members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The most notable of those Georgia Congresswoman Lucy McBath who championed Bloomberg's anti-gun violence record. She is a mother of the movement, having lost her own son. Jordan, to gun violence back in 2012.

But Bloomberg is in damage control after audio from 2015 surfaced of him defending New York City's controversial stop and frisk policy. At a rally just moments ago, Bloomberg says he is the best candidate to beat Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLOOMBERG: Even though Donald and I are both from New York, the truth is we could not be more different. In fact, I bill myself as the un- Trump, because this election is too important for our party to have the kind of the divisions that we have saw back in 2016.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And Cristina Alesci is there in Chattanooga. Cristina, what's his pitch for locking up the nomination after he skips the first four states?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN POLITICAL AND BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: His pitch is that he is going to defeat Trump and he's the candidate to do it. But this is Michael Bloomberg's first public appearance since that tape surfaced of him making very callous and insensitive comments about stop and frisk.

And he was asked about it today by members of the press really trying to get answers as to why he used the words specifically. He didn't have a direct answer to that, just reiterating the fact that he doesn't feel the same way today that he did five years ago.

But Michael Bloomberg and his team trying to counter this narrative that they are going to have a tough time winning over the African- American voters. As you mentioned, they scored three endorsements from the high-profile black members of Congress today. In addition to that here in Chattanooga, he was endorsed by the local chapter of the NAACP. So clearly, they are trying to fight that narrative. Also, notably, Michael Bloomberg stuck to pretty much his stump speech, but he did reiterate this promise to support whoever gets the nomination. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLOOMBERG: In this race, everybody is a good person and people that I am running against are good people. And if one of them wins the nomination, god forbid, I will support him or her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALESCI: Brooke, it's obvious that Michael Bloomberg is going to have a lot of work to do from here on out, Super Tuesday is going to be very competitive with the poor performance that we've seen from Joe Biden out of New Hampshire and Iowa, both of them need to do very well. They're both going to be competing in the same lane for those Super Tuesday voters, and we'll have to see how it plays out from here -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Cristina. Thank you.

Fast moving developments today as President Trump defends his convicted friend Roger Stone, attacks Stone's prosecutors and the judge who will be handing down the sentence. We have those details ahead.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The impeachment process may be over, but the partisan fallout as a result is definitely not. Today, the House Republicans led by Congressman Devin Nunes boycotted a subcommittee hearing of the Intelligence Committee even though it was totally unrelated to Ukraine or the Russia investigation.

They sent a letter to Chair of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff explaining the protest and accusing Chairman Schiff of not doing his job on oversight, because he hasn't called a hearing on the surveillance warrants taken out for Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

In response, let me show you what Adam Schiff just tweeted, Republicans boycotted the oversight hearing protesting the lack of "checks notes" oversight hearing. We have had fully 67 oversight events this session. We will keep doing our job.

I'm Brooke Baldwin, thanks for being with me here. Let's go to Washington. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Does this look like a President who has learned his lesson? I guess it depends on the lesson. THE LEAD starts right now.

Unchecked, punishing witness and now helping felon friends.