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Pelosi Defends Tearing Up Trump's State Of The Union Address; Barr's Public Rebuke Of Trump Sparks Debate Over Motives; Some South Carolina Republicans Urge Voters To Boost Sanders; Pro-Trump Group Accused Of Using Cash To Woo Black Voters; Americans To Be Evacuated From Cruise Ship Off Coast Of Japan; Kobe Bryant & Daughter To Be Honored At NBA All-Star Game; "The Windsors, Inside The Royal Dynasty" Premieres Tomorrow Night At 10:00 P.M. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 15, 2020 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:01:08]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

And we begin with an exclusive. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talking to CNN and defending that viral moment when she tore up President Trump's State of the Union speech, just hours before the Senate voted to acquit him in the impeachment saga.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I had no intention of doing that when we went to the State of the Union. That was well into past the first third of it. Now, I'm a speed reader, so I was reading ahead. I knew what was there.

And I got past like about a third of it and I thought this is terrible. (INAUDIBLE) and a couple of pages thinking, I ought to remember what's on this page, on this page, and then I realized that almost every page had something in it that was objectionable.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: What about though the fact that the president seems liberated? And this is about Democratic politics so I'm not asking you to criticize here. But he was acquitted, his polling ratings are high --

PELOSI: He was not -- there was no acquittal.

AMANPOUR: By the Senate.

PELOSI: You can't have an acquittal unless you have a trial. And you have a trial and you have witnesses and documents. So, he can say he's acquitted and the headlines can say acquitted but he's impeached forever, branded with that, and not vindicated.

And even the senators were saying, yes, it wasn't right. They didn't have the courage to act upon that. AMANPOUR: Except for?

PELOSI: Except for Mitt Romney, God bless him, and then the president criticized him for using his faith for something -- to do something he knew was wrong. How could you -- well, I don't know if the president is a person of faith. It's not for me to make that judgment.

AMANPOUR: He criticized you about saying that you pray for him as well.

PELOSI: He said I didn't pray for him, but I thought if he's a person of faith, he would recognize another person of faith and if he prayed, he would recognize that other people do, even for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Washington.

Jeremy, Pelosi continues to criticize the president who appears empowered by the outcome of the impeachment proceedings.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: She's certainly is, and that back and forth between those two powerful leaders is continuing. We know that the president certainly has been emboldened by his acquittal in the Senate, and despite what Pelosi is saying here, it certainly is an acquittal under the constitutional process of impeachment. She can argue whether or not it was a fair trial or not, but the president was indeed acquitted of those impeachment charges.

And in the wake of that, we've seen the president emboldened. He has been unapologetic about the behavior that even those Republicans who acquitted him on those impeachment charges have called improper. And the president is even exacting revenge, we've seen, on several of those administration officials who testified in that impeachment inquiry. Most notably, the Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman, as well as the former U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland.

CABRERA: And, Jeremy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also speaking out today with Christiane during the Munich security conference this weekend. He talked about the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship and the impact of President Trump's impeachment trial. What is he saying?

DIAMOND: That's right. Well, one of the things that he's pushing back on is this notion that Ukraine remains a corrupt country. This was one of the platforms on which he was elected to the presidency, was combating corruption, and Zelensky took issue with President Trump continuing to claim that Ukraine is a corrupt country.

But nonetheless, Zelensky said that he wants a fresh start with the U.S., including potentially a visit to the United States or for the president to visit him in Ukraine.

Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINE: I want to come and start it from scratch. Our relations to agree on some contracts, to sign some arrangements, to agree on strategic things, investments, let's prepare the package of the documents and arrange the meeting. So, the ball is in the courtyard of the United States of America, but we are always happy to see every one in Ukraine.

[16:05:02]

So, I (INAUDIBLE) President Trump come to Kiev and I rather welcome him to Kiev earlier than he is available.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And you see there, Zelensky eager to welcome President Trump to Kiev, to the Ukrainian capital. He also said that he would like to have a call with President Trump. Though I think Zelensky is probably hoping that call goes a little better than the last call they had back in July that started this whole impeachment saga -- Ana.

CABRERA: Jeremy, it's very interesting to hear his perspective in all this -- thank you.

And you can see Christiane's full interview with Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as the Ukrainian president on her show "AMANPOUR", Monday afternoon on CNN International.

Well, President Trump doesn't have to think much about impeachment anymore. There's new criticism that he's getting his attorney general to do his political bidding. And that's because there's now a second known incident of Attorney General Bill Barr inserting himself in case involving one of the president's close associates. This time, Michael Flynn.

"The New York Times" first reported and CNN has confirmed that Barr is ordering a, quote, re-examination of multiple high profile cases, including that of President Trump's former national security adviser. And this revelation comes just days after CNN learned that Barr had been pushing for Flynn to be spared prison time and after senior Justice Department officials undercut federal prosecutors and their sentencing recommendation for another Trump associate Roger Stone. That move actually caused four federal prosecutors to quit that case.

And even more are considering walking out over concerns about the Justice Department's independence.

With us now is former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi and CNN political commentator Joe Lockhart, a former White House press secretary under President Clinton.

Gene, as a former member of the Justice Department, I really want your perspective after everything that has happened this week. How much damage has been done to the DOJ as an institution in terms of credibility and morale?

GENE ROSSI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Ana, I've talked to several people who are working in the Justice Department in high level positions. I'm not going to mention their names because I'm fearful for their careers but the thing that is being hurt the most is the esprit de corps, the esprit de corps of the Justice Department.

I worked there almost 30 years. I trained a thousands baby prosecutors. And I told them the one thing you need as a prosecutor is a esprit de corps, a mission that you believe in.

And with Bill Barr at the helm and his minions and the influence of Donald Trump, that esprit de corps is being decimated and it actually breaks my heart.

CABRERA: Joe, so much was said though about Barr's interview in which he notably criticized the president's tweets and he insisted he was not acting under any pressure from the president. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERRE THOMAS, ABC NEWS: So, you're saying you have a problem with the tweets?

BILL BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes -- well, I have a problem with some of the tweets. I'm not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody. And said it, whether it's Congress, newspaper editorial boards, or the president. I'm going to do what I think is right and you know, the -- I think the -- I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: This was after the Roger Stone sentencing controversy but before this new revelation that Barr was ordering the re-opening of the Michael Flynn case, or reexamination of the Michael Flynn case among others. Do you see those comments, Joe, as a rebuke of the president or do you see other motivations?

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I think there's other motivations. I think the first prob -- the biggest problem Barr has right now is the, you know, simmering revolt with the Department of Justice. So, I think he made those remarks in the way that calm the DOJ.

But these DOJ lawyers, these prosecutors are not dumb. I think they saw right through this. So, my guess is that probably backfired a little bit.

And, you know, I've now listened to that quote like four or five times, and the idea of Bill Barr saying he won't be bullied by the president is comical. He's done everything the president wanted, starting with Mueller, starting to giving the, you know, the constitutional justification for stonewalling Congress. We have Flynn. We have the --

CABRERA: Roger Stone.

LOCKHART: Stone, sorry. I couldn't remember the name. CABRERA: There's a lot of them.

LOCKHART: And you have multiple cases where the president has used Barr to get what he wants politically. So, he's not being bullied. You can't bully a supplicant.

CABRERA: And while it doesn't seem like he was coming out and sort of laying down the law, especially when you consider person familiar tell CNN the president was actually given a heads up before that interview that Barr might say something along those lines.

[16:10:04]

And remember, this came amid reporting that other people inside the DOJ were thinking of jumping ship.

Gene, do you think Barr did enough in at least those comments to reassure Justice Department rank and file that all is well and the boss has their back?

ROSSI: If Bill Barr has said this about two weeks after he took the oath of office to be attorney general, I would give him credibility. But after he sanitized the Mueller report, after he said that Trump's campaign was being spied upon, his credibility is almost zero on a scale of 1 to 10.

So, he has not calmed the waters, the turbulent waters that exist among career, senior people in the department. And I got to say this, in his interview, he gave the impression that was wrong in two counts, at least.

One, that he did not know that the prosecutors were going to recommend 7 to 9 years. That is false.

And number two, because he said that --

CABRERA: How do you know that was false?

ROSSI: Because -- that's a good question, Ana.

Roger Stone is a high profile case. And when I worked at DOJ, any high profile case, they do weekly memos, if not daily memos to the powers that be, and tune it, including the attorney general. And that attorney general knew that they were going to recommend a guideline sentence. That's falsehood number one.

Falsehood number two is this: he said the tweet had no influence on him. Baloney. What he did in his press conference or his interview, it's -- I love basketball. It was a head fake. It absolutely is not calming the turbulent waters of the career prosecutors. That is a fact.

CABRERA: Joe, at this point, what could Barr do to prove he's operating independently?

LOCKHART: Well, I think the only thing he could do at this point is resign as a way of showing that he's been used here and he hasn't acted honorably. I don't expect that obviously.

But, you know, you get to the point where so many actions have been taken where he's had so many chances to enforce the rule of law, you know, at the expense of the president, he's taken a pass on every one.

And it's worst than taking a pass. He's providing the president a legal foundation to commit corrupt acts -- obstructing Congress, sanitizing Mueller, all of these things, intervening, going after intel officials like John Brennan for 2016 and the Russia case, continuing -- you know, having Andrew McCabe twist out in the wind for two years on something that could have wrapped up in a month.

This is -- the attorney general is acting as a political hack and, you know, a private lawyer for the president and the people losing are the United States of America who is supposed to have a lawyer looking after all of our interests.

CABRERA: Joe Lockhart, you're back with me in just a moment.

Gene Rossi, thank you. Great discussion, guys.

ROSSI: Thank you.

CABRERA: Up next, we have Operation Chaos. President Trump and his Republican allies orchestrating a plot to sabotage the Democratic primary process by pushing Republican voters to choose Bernie Sanders. The strategy behind that, next live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:17:30]

CABRERA: It's being called Operation Chaos. Republicans actively interfering with the Democratic Party primary process by voting for who they believe to be the weakest Democrat. It's actually mischief being encouraged by the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because you have crossovers in primaries, don't you. So, I hear a lot of Republicans tomorrow will vote for the weakness candidate possible of the Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: That's the president speaking in New Hampshire. But this effort appears bigger in South Carolina where they actually do have an open primary.

CNN's Lauren Fox reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAUREN FOX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Conservatives in South Carolina pushing for Republican voters to disrupt the upcoming Democratic primary.

CHRISTOPHER SULLIVAN, CONSERVATIVE DEFENSE FUND: You know, I guess you could call it meddling.

FOX: One grassroots organizers Christopher Sullivan calling it, quote, operation chaos. A nod to Rush Limbaugh's 2008 effort to encourage Republicans to vote in Democratic primaries and keep Hillary Clinton in the race longer to hurt Barack Obama.

SULLIVAN: I would love to see the Democrats, whoever, wins the South Carolina Democrat primary for everybody else to accuse him of having stolen the election because he was actually elected with Republican support and therefore prolong the chaos and the disruption.

FOX: It's also the latest obstacle for Joe Biden who needs a victory in South Carolina to bolster his campaign.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our votes count too.

KAREN MARTIN, CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZER: Biden was expected to win South Carolina. We wanted to disrupt what was expected.

FOX: South Carolina has an open primary, allowing eligible voters to cast ballots in either party's primary. Conservatives have complained for years it's resulted in Democrats boosting moderate Republicans in the state.

With South Carolina's Republican presidential primary cancelled this year, conservative leader Karen Martin says she saw an opportunity to finally give Democrats a dose of their own medicine.

MARTIN: We thought, aha, what would happen if we made a grassroots statewide effort to cross over and vote for one candidate in the Democratic primary.

FOX: Martin is pushing for voters to back one candidate, Bernie Sanders. Others say they're living it up to the voters.

MARTIN: Just for the sake of optics, it would be great to contrast the ideology of an avowed socialist against a capitalist.

FOX: The campaigns have caught the attention of Biden's team, including surrogate and State Senator Marlon Kimpson.

[16:20:05]

He says Republicans in the state fear Joe Biden in a one-on-one match up with Trump.

MARLON KIMPSON (D), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE SENATOR: They are trying to interfere with this election to choose the weakest candidate because they know without cheating, Donald Trump will not be re-elected.

FOX (on camera): Now, it's not clear how much Republican voters are going to participate and come out for the Democratic Party or if they'll be able to have an impact in this process. But the South Carolina Republican Party is arguing they are not endorsing this effort, writing, quote, we do not like Democrats meddling in our primaries and we certainly do not encourage the same thing from Republican voters.

Now, the South Carolina Democrats, they're arguing the turnout is going to be so high, their base is so energized that Republicans can't meddle in their primary.

For CNN, Lauren Fox.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: And Joe Lockhart is back with me, along with S.E. Cupp now, host of "S.E. CUPP: UNFILTERED" coming up at 6:00.

Joe, what kind of impact could this so-called Operation Chaos have?

LOCKHART: You know, my experience in working in politics over the decades is there's a lot of talk about this. It rarely comes together and has an impact. But, you know, if the Republicans are organized in South Carolina and they do turn out, you know, an extra 2 or 3 percent for Sanders, you know, that makes a difference. It suggests that that's what Donald Trump wants. And he wants to run against Bernie Sanders, that he does think he's the weakest candidate. But I'm a little skeptical that it's going to have a big impact.

CABRERA: S.E., some Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern about Sanders being the nominee, that it could impact down ballot races. And yet, I think back to 2016, wasn't that the argument against President Trump, and look what happened there, he went onto win the White House. Republicans gained the Senate and, of course, they held the House as well.

S.E. CUPP, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and I'm going to talk about this more on my show at 6:00 because there are a lot of parallels between 2020 and 2016, especially where Bernie and Trump are concerned. Additionally, just how many candidates there are and that sets certain conditions that Bernie Sanders could exploit in the way that Trump exploited them.

That said, Trump was a unique candidate. He's running against Hillary Clinton, another unique candidate. So, I would caution against going too far with that analogy, but I would say Democrats are right to be concerned about Bernie in the way he could affect the party long term. But in terms of the short term, he's definitely electable, and he could definitely, you know, surprise a lot of moderate Democrats the way Trump surprised a lot of moderate Republicans like me.

CABRERA: Biden has been trying to make the case for electable, and now, he's still trying to get back on track. He's fifth place in New Hampshire. He wasn't in the top three in Iowa either.

But when CNN's Christiane Amanpour sat down with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she said don't count Biden out yet. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PELOSI: Quite frankly, with all the respect in the world for Iowa and New Hampshire, I'm not counting Joe Biden out. There's still races ahead that are much more representative of the -- of the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And it's worth noting there, owe in the question before that answer. She wasn't asked directly about Joe Biden. Are you surprised she weighed in here?

LOCKHART: No, not necessarily. I mean, listen, the reality is, this thing is wide open. And I think we're the parallel to 2016 on Trump falls down a little bit is you're looking at the different set of rules. A Republican nominating in 2016 was winner-take-all. So, all Trump had to do was beat the person behind him and he would win in a very fractured field that meant he ran away with the nomination.

Democrats in 2020 changed the rules, went away for winner take it all, it's not proportional, which means, you know, which is the reason Bernie Sanders after two contests is virtually tied with Pete Buttigieg, because they both have the same number of delegates.

So, it is wide open and I think it's way too soon, and I think, you know, smart politicians know that because of the way this is set up, you just don't know. So, it makes no sense to try to count somebody out or talk somebody at this point because they all have, you know, of the top four or five candidates, they have all realistic chances of winning the nomination.

CABRERA: There's an interesting op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal" describing Amy Klobuchar as Hillary Clinton with the snark and baggage. And this article says, quote: Amy Jean Klobuchar is going to be the Democratic ticket in November, either as the top -- at the top or as the nominee for vice president.

[16:25:03]

S.E., they make the case she has debate chops, that she has won and can win and proven that she can win in states that have voted for President Trump in the past. And they talk about her momentum.

What do you think?

CUPP: Wow, that sentence packs a punch. Hillary Clinton without the snark and baggage. I didn't find Hillary Clinton snarky. I found her entitled which is a very different thing. Ands I don't know anyone that had the baggage that Hillary Clinton had. She had a lot of it.

It's funny. Amy Klobuchar is definitely ascending and she's got momentum. She's got a lot of things that moderates and centrists should like and should really pay attention to. She's also got some baggage. And this came up a little earlier in the primary, talking about the way she treated her staff. If she really gets momentum, expect a lot more of those stories to come out and having been on the Hill a long time, there's a lot of stories that haven't come out. So, she's still going to go through some vetting but at the same time,

I wouldn't -- I wouldn't look twice at her. I mean, I think she's got real potential. I wouldn't look sideways at her -- I think she's got real potential to get very far in this primary. I think when you have a Bernie and a warren pulling so far to the left, you're really looking for that moderate. I think a lot of people are looking for that moderate who could really make a play.

CABRERA: And speaking of Warren, she's getting some flak for this comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Young woman came up by herself and she said, I'm a broke college student with a lot of student loan debt. And she said, I checked and I have $6 in the bank. So, I just gave $3 to keep you in this fight.

That's what we've got to do. We got to stay in this fight with people who are counting on us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So, Joe, Warren was trying to make a point, of course, about her grassroots support but taking someone's last few dollars. That's the part she's taking heat for.

LOCKHART: Yes. You know, a lot of these stories are composites and a bit apocryphal. So, you know, my guess is that maybe she had more than $6 but, you know, who knows?

The thing on Warren and it goes back to my last answer, is this thing wide open for whatever reason I think she offended her base in some way by trying to move a little bit more to the middle and show she was more electable, because electability is so important. She seemed to lose her way at a critical time.

But she's still turning out big crowds. She's talking about ideas that Democrats respond to. And in a wide open race, you know, it's -- you don't -- we're not going to know until just before we get to Milwaukee I think who the nominee is.

And, you know, I don't count her out. I don't -- I think people who do that do it at their own risk.

CABRERA: S.E., quick final thought on Warren?

CUPP: That's a terrible story. She should stop telling it. She should never have told it in the first place. It makes me sad.

(LAUGHTER)

CUPP: Stop telling it.

CABRERA: OK, in a happy note.

S.E. Cupp, Joe Lockhart, thank you both.

And be sure to catch S.E. on "S.E. CUPP UNFILTERED" coming at 6:00 tonight, right here on CNN.

A pro-Trump nonprofit might be in some legal trouble for passing out cash prizes to black voters who support the president. Is a pro-Trump super PAC trying to buy votes. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Welcome back. A pro-Trump non-profit is coming under fire, accused of using envelopes of cash to try and boost the president's support among black voters.

CNN Political Correspondent, Sara Murray, has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on down --

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Was it savvy community outreach or political pandering?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to dinner with this money.

MURRAY: A non-profit founded by President Trump's allies is under fire after doling out cash prizes at a Cleveland event last Christmas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Four more years of President Trump.

MURRAY: While organizers pumped up President Trump.

KAREEN LANIER, CO-FOUNDER, URBAN REVITALIZATION COALITION: I am unapologetically a Donald Trump supporter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't see any other party giving us anything.

LANIER: I don't care who thinks it's insulting or condescending to bless people with cash money around Christmas time. We're doing it anyway.

(CHEERING)

MURRAY: At the center of the controversy is a new charity called the Urban Revitalization Coalition, led by Ohio Pastor Darrell Scott.

DARRELL SCOTT, CEO, URBAN REVITALIZATION COALITION: Cleveland, we're here to bless you tonight.

MURRAY: Tax experts contacted by CNN raised red flags, saying the cash events may violate tax laws that bar non-profits from engaging in political campaign activity and could jeopardize the group's tax- exempt status.

Though, in an interview with CNN, Scott says he's been careful to follow the law. Racial justice groups like the NAACP accused Scott's charity of trying

to buy support for Trump in the black community.

DERRICK JOHNSON, PRESIDENT & CEO, NAACP: It is both worrisome and very disingenuous. You know, we are in a political climate where elections are won by the margins, less than a fraction of a percentage, and people are using many tricks to encourage people to participate or persuade their political point of view.

MURRAY: Scott hit back at his critics, telling CNN, "I really think that's insulting to black people. They automatically think black people demean themselves so much that they will sell out a vote for $300."

Trump has struggled to build support among African-American voters. And 83 percent of African-Americans believe the president is racist, according to a recent poll.

And the organizers have touted the group as a link between the White House and urban communities.

[16:35:08]

LANIER: President Donald Trump, the one they say is a racist, is the first president in the history of this country to (INAUDIBLE) for people that have no money to put it into areas where it is needed.

(APPLAUSE)

MURRAY: The Trump campaign says the cash giveaway was not affiliated or sanctioned by the president's campaign.

But Scott has been a fixture in the Trump camp for years, playing a lead role in the president's diversity program for his 2016 campaign and attending White House meetings.

CNN also found Scott's organization has close ties to one of the main outside groups supporting Trump's reelection, America First Policies. It gave the Urban Revitalization Coalition a $238,000 grant in 2018, that quote, "helped get the organization off the ground," an America First spokeswoman said.

JA'RON SMITH, DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: Mr. President --

MURRAY: And a White House official, deputy assistant to the president, Ja'Ron Smith, even attended the Cleveland event, touting Trump's commitment to boosting urban communities.

SMITH: It was a goal from day one from the president to speak on behalf of the forgotten community.

LANIER: We've got two $300 gifts left.

MURRAY: Another planned giveaway slated for Martin Luther King Day at a historically black university in Virginia was cancelled amid backlash from students and alumni. It was set to honor Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with a $30,000 cash giveaway.

LANIER: We have a whole lot of money to give away.

MURRAY: Scott said the events helped the community and none of it was an endorsement for Trump.

But critics like Cleveland city councilman, Blaine Griffin, worry that people are being duped into attending pro-Trump events with the promise of cash prizes.

BLAINE GRIFFIN, CLEVELAND CITY COUNCILMAN: The first thing that came to my mind is that our community needs genuine, authentic relationships. We don't need a one-night stand in Cleveland.

MURRAY: Griffin says organizers said they wanted to honor him at the event. After learning more, he instead denounced it as condescending and insulting.

GRIFFIN: When I began to do the math and do two plus two, it just didn't smell right. I thought it was disingenuous.

MURRAY: Scott says the criticism isn't stopping him. His group has more cash giveaways scheduled with an even bigger pay-out.

"A lot of people don't stand up under pressure," he says, "but I'm not going to allow people to make me think my good is bad."

LANIER: Come back in February when we give you $50,000.

(APPLAUSE)

MURRAY (on camera): When I spoke to Darrell Scott by phone, he said his group has held all kinds of events. They gave away Turkeys around Thanksgiving. They gave away toys around Christmas. But it wasn't until they started giving away cash that people took notice and get offended by the events.

Obviously, that's not deterring them from holding more in the future.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Our thanks to Sara Murray.

Still ahead, this is not the cruise they signed up for. Americans stuck onboard a luxury ship quarantined for the coronavirus could finally start to make their way home, but not all of them. A live report, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:42:01]

CABRERA: The end may finally be in sight for hundreds of U.S. citizens stranded aboard a cruise ship off the coast of Japan. Roughly 400 Americans have been stuck on the "Diamond Princess" since February 4th amid an outbreak of the coronavirus that's affected more than 67,000 people globally and killed more than 1500.

There are reportedly 219 infected passengers making this cruise ship situation the largest outbreak of the virus outside of mainland China.

The U.S. State Department is sending a charter jet to rescue people from the ship and to bring home Americans who have not tested positive for the virus. But returning to the U.S. soil doesn't mean they get to go home. Those who do have the virus, have other hurdles ahead.

CNN's Will Ripley is in Yokohama, Japan.

Will, two categories here. Close to 400 Americans who aren't testing positive and about two dozen who are on that ship. In this video that we shot moments ago, the shot where we see the ship in the background there. What happens next?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the Americans who qualify to get on these flights, Ana, this is not necessarily welcome news for some because they had been told, up until yesterday, that once their quarantine period ended on Thursday that they would be free to go home.

Now, they are learning that, yes, they can get on these charter flights and get off the boat early but they still have to go through another 14-day quarantine either at a military base in California or a military base in Texas.

Some people, the retirees, who are on the boat who don't have jobs to go back to, say that's OK with them. Other people that have businesses and whatnot say this is just an extra added burden. And then there were people who wanted to get on the flight but found out they couldn't.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (voice-over): For Americans under quarantine on the "Diamond Princess," a knock on the door.

KENT FRASURE, CRUISES SHIP PASSENGER: Hi.

RIPLEY: A glimmer of hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our purpose is to come on and check on a couple of the passengers. We will be looking at all the Americans over the next couple of days.

RIPLEY: Infectious disease doctors checking every American on the ship.

Kent Frasure, from Oregon, has someone else on his mind.

KENT FRASURE: Are you guys also checking those Americans in the hospital?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

KENT FRASURE: OK. My wife is in one of the hospitals.

RIPLEY: Frasure's wife, Rebecca, tested positive for novel coronavirus last week. Each day apart feels like a week.

(on camera): We're back now at the quarantine hospital in Tokyo where Rebecca Frasure is.

There you are.

Hi.

REBECCA FRASURE, HOSPITALIZED WITH CORONAVIRUS: Hi.

RIPLEY (voice-over): She still has no symptoms of the virus. In fact, she's feeling great. The Frasures just learned of the plan to evacuate Americans on U.S. government charter flights.

REBECCA FRASURE: So I'm hopeful that myself and my husband can hopefully get on that plane.

RIPLEY: She's not bothered by the prospect of another 14-day quarantine in the U.S. At least she will be with her husband. At least, that's what she thought.

[16:45:06]

(on camera): What happened after we left the hospital?

REBECCA FRASURE: The doctor came in not even 10 minutes later. I also got my test results back and they were positive still.

RIPLEY (voice-over): A positive result means she cannot get on that flight.

(on camera): I'm so sorry.

REBECCA FRASURE: It's so devastating.

RIPLEY: I'm so sorry.

REBECCA FRASURE: It was like a punch in the gut. I was so sure this was going to come out negative. I was so sure.

RIPLEY: So then to get this kind of news that you're still going to be separated for the foreseeable.

REBECCA FRASURE: It was devastating. It really was. We had a pretty clear picture in our minds what was going to happen and it just got shot to hell.

RIPLEY (on camera): The Frasure's holiday from hell now has no end in sight.

KENT FRASURE: It makes things really tough. Today was looking really good. We were getting excited. We might be going home. Hours after that, it was just back down worse than what we were before. It's an unknown until she can test negative.

RIPLEY: When the other Americans board those charter flights home, the Frasures, like dozens of other U.S. citizens with the virus, and their families, have no choice to stay behind, waiting for the day their good news will finally come.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: Ana, I have some brand-new numbers about a significant jump in the number of coronavirus cases on the cruise ship behind me. It's up to 286 from 219. That's why the U.S. government is urging all Americans who can get on those flights to do so.

CABRERA: Oh, my gosh. I'd be running off that ship.

Will Ripley, our hearts go out to those folks who are dealing with this scary situation. Thank you.

Up next, an all-star tribute set to honor the late Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna. CNN's Andy Scholes is there with all the details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Ana, this NBA all-star weekend here in Chicago is all about honoring Kobe Bryant and his daughter, G.G.. And coming up, we'll hear from the team captains for Sunday's all-star game about what Kobe meant to them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:42]

CABRERA: This weekend is the NBA all-star game and it's taking on a somber tone this year with memorials to Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, and to former NBA commissioner, David Stern.

At the all-star newsmaker brunch, former President Obama called the deaths of Kobe and Gianna especially heartbreaking being a parent himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That loss is something that I know many are still grappling with, particularly Kobe, because he was with his daughter.

And those families and those children and those of us who have had the joy and privilege of being parents and taking kids the ball games and then rooting for our children and seeing our dreams and hopes passed onto them, nothing's more heartbreaking.

So I want to offer the NBA family Michelle and I's deepest condolences and obviously to the families and the Bryants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN'S Andy Scholes is in Chicago and has more on how the NBA is paying tribute - Andy?

SCHOLES: Ana, it's a frigid all-star weekend here in Chicago but, luckily, all of the events are in doors. This entire weekend is about honoring Kobe Bryant, his daughter and late NBA commissioner, David Stern.

They played a video tribute for them last night before the rising star's game.

Kobe's former teammate and good friend, Pau Gasol, along with (INAUDIBLE), came out to center court and they spoke about what Kobe meant to the game of basketball.

Now, the all-star players met with the media earlier today. I asked reigning MVP Giannis about what about Kobe meant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO, NBA MVP: He was a part of my generation. He gave back to the game so much. He gave back to the players. A lot of people when they're so great, they don't do that.

There's a quote that says talent is worthless if you're not willing to share it. He was one of those guys that was sharing his talent with us. He's going to be definitely missed.

LEBRON JAMES, PRO BASKETBALL PLAYER: For us to be able to honor Kobe Bryant and his legacy. And it's a beautiful time. Even in loss it's a beautiful time. So happy to be a part of this weekend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Lebron will be making his 16th appearance in the NBA all-star game.

The tributes for Kobe will continue during NBA all-star Saturday night. That gets started tonight on TNT, at 8:00 Eastern.

As for the game on Sunday, Jennifer Hudson will be performing a musical tribute before the game for Kobe, G.G. and the seven others who lost their lives in that helicopter crash.

Ana, as for the game, when it tips off, team Lebron will be wearing the number two to honor G.G. That was her basketball number. While team Giannis will be wearing Kobe's number 24.

CABRERA: Sounds like a very touching tribute.

Thank you, Andy.

If you think everything happening with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has been dramatic, you'll want to tune into our brand-new CNN series taking you behind the palace walls. CNN's Max Foster has a preview of "THE WINDSORS."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: St. Paul's Cathedral, the fairy tale setting for the marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer, an event televised around the world, capturing a generation. That was deliberate. An effort to renew and refresh the royal brand, to keep it relevant.

[16:55:13]

In our new series, we reveal how, unlike this magnificent church, this wasn't a marriage destined to last. Even before Charles and Diana walked down the aisle, the rot was setting in. And ultimately led to a crisis that gripped the British monarchy.

It would bounce back but only to be hit by another series of breakdowns and scandals.

Life is never dull at the very top of British society.

Max Foster, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: "THE WINDSORS, INSIDE THE ROYAL DYNASTY" premieres tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. only on CNN.

We'll be right back.

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