Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Democrats Swarm Nevada; Christiane Amanpour Interviews Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Bloomberg's Super Tuesday Splurge Dwarfs Competitors; Dozens Of Accusers Emerge After Andrew Yang's Wife Reveals Sexual Assault By Her OBGYN; Dr. Jennifer Caudle Discusses 83- Year-Old American Woman On Westerdam Cruise Ship Diagnosed With Coronavirus; Americans Being Evacuated From Cruise Ship Docked In Japan, First Coronavirus Death Outside Of Asia; 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 5-6p ET

Aired February 15, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Thanks so much for staying with me. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin this hour with the Democrat's next big fight in the race for the White House and a surprise today. The most powerful Democrat in the country, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, sending a message about one floundering campaign in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: 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 one of the places Biden is counting onto bounce back is Nevada. That's where early voting kicked off today in the state's caucuses which happen next weekend. Most of the Democratic candidates, including Biden, are there now, making their case with the main event, again, still a week away.

He talked with CNN's Arlette Saenz a short time ago, and she joins us now at one of his stops in north Las Vegas. Arlette, Biden is in the silver state, but he's turning to outsiders for help?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: that's right. Joe Biden is joined here in Nevada today by some of his surrogates from outside of the state. Los Angeles mayor among them. The former vice president is campaigning here as early voting has kicked off here in Nevada. You've seen several of the candidates on the ground, making their case to voters as they're hoping to get support ahead of those caucuses.

And I caught up with Joe Biden, very briefly, at his event earlier today. And he told me that he doesn't think he necessarily has to win in Nevada. But that he does think that they have a shot of pulling off a first-place finish here. That would certainly be welcome news for him, after those disappointing losses in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

And one thing that the Biden campaign is really banking on here in Nevada is the fact there is a diverse demographic in the state. They believe that Biden will perform better among African-American and Latino voters, compared to his first few contest.

And there's also a very strong union and labor presence here. They think that could work in Biden's advantage. And I caught up with Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti right after his event with Joe Biden a little earlier today in Las Vegas. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES: Just because he was the vice president. This campaign -- he's an underdog and a favorite at the same time. And we're going to campaign like we're underdog. People want their votes to be earned, not just to be given away. So, even where we're strong in the Latino community, the African-American community, Joe Biden is out there hustling, convincing people, you might have known me before, but let me tell you what I'm going to do for you today and tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So, the Biden campaign really hoping that Nevada can be a launching bad for him as he pursues this path to the Democratic nomination. They're hoping for a turn-around in this state so much so that a pastor, just inside this north Las Vegas event, he was leading attendees in a gospel song, where he talked about a turn-around coming for Joe wide Biden. That is something that they're hoping will occur in the coming week -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right. Arlette Saenz, keep us posted. Thank you.

By the way, we should mention that after we showed you that brief clip at the top of the show, you can hear Christiane's full interview with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on "AMANPOUR." That's on Monday afternoon at 1:00 Eastern on CNN International.

And now, I want to bring in Democratic Strategist Keith Boykin. He served in the Clinton White House. And Mark McKinnon. He advised both the Bush and McCain campaigns.

Gentlemen, there's a lot to discuss. Keith, what do you think of Pelosi weighing in, saying not to count Biden out yet?

KEITH BOYKIN, CNN DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think she speaks something that makes sense because the race is too early. We've only had two contests, Iowa and New Hampshire. Both states are not representative of the Democratic Party or the nation at large, overwhelmingly white states. They reward very few delegates as well. Will start to get more delegates when you get to Nevada which has a more Latino -- larger Latino population. And South Carolina which has a large black population.

And almost two-thirds in the Democratic primary in 2016 were African- American. We expect similar numbers in 2020. And that's Joe Biden's base. And we've seen some evaporation of that base in recent weeks because of the slippage in the -- in the performance in the first two faces.

But they're -- he's still in the lead, according to the latest polls, in South Carolina. And that has been his firewall all along. If he could win South Carolina -- and there's no guarantee that he will.

[17:05:00]

If he can win South Carolina, it changes the dynamics of the race.

CABRERA: Now, "Politico" interviewed two dozen South Carolina lawmakers, consultants and voters. And they are warning there are deep cracks emerging in what is supposed to be the firewall state for Biden. They said his campaign was outdated, that he was focused too much on older voters. I'm quoting here.

It says, some point Biden's message is as the problem -- some point to Biden's message as the problem. His soul of the nation rhetoric and electability argument, which are rooted in the idea of returning American back to its pre-Trump state, don't motivate voters, they say. And boasting support from the state's older, prominent black lawmakers, they argue, does not excite the young or infrequent voters needed to build a winning coalition in November.

Mark, do you see a problem with Biden's campaign messaging and should he be concerned about South Carolina?

MARK MCKINNON, FORMER BUSH CAMPAIGN MEDIA ADVISER: Well, the problem with firewalls is they can melt really fast when you lose. I went through that in 2000 when we lost New Hampshire, meaning George W. Bush, by 18 points. And we had been up double digits in South Carolina. The next day, we were down 10 points. So, that's what happens.

And all voters, it doesn't matter who they are, care about momentum. They want to see that you're -- if you can win somewhere, especially when you built your came -- your whole campaign on the fact that you can win. And you're supposed to be the front-runner.

So, listen, I -- but to Nancy Pelosi's point and Keith's point. American voters love a comeback. They supporting a comeback. But, man, you've really got to earn it. And we had a lot of cameras with. We went down the night -- Joe Biden went down to South Carolina with our cameras. And he's just got his important -- his performance has got to get better.

CABRERA: So, what's wrong with it now?

MCKINNON: It's very halting. He's just -- he's not getting his numbers out. He just look like a guy who's just lost a step, you know? And he's 77 and maybe he has. But, listen, you know, when he -- if he can, you know, build campaign and get a sense that he's getting back on track, then it's possible. But he's in trouble.

CABRERA: Keith.

MCKINNON: This is the point where good gets better and bad gets worse. It's hard to change the physics.

BOYKIN: I think Joe Biden is Joe Biden. I think Joe Biden is Joe Biden. I always thought he was weak candidate form the beginning. But I don't think he's any worse now than he was last year when people were more enthusiastic about him. The only difference is that he didn't win the first two contests and he came in very poorly. He didn't win, place or draw.

And so, if what he needs to do, really, is just to win. It's not about changing his message. It's too late in the game to do that. It's not about changing your staff or infrastructure. He has to win.

CABRERA: But why isn't he winning?

BOYKIN: Winning convinces people.

CABRERA: Why isn't he winning then?

BOYKIN: He was never going to win Iowa and New Hampshire anyway. I don't know. Anybody who ever thought anything otherwise was deceiving themselves.

There was never even a possibility that Joe Biden was going to win those two states. He had a possibility of winning in Nevada because of the support from a more diverse population there and his background and the union support. But that's starting to slip right now working with Sanders' comments.

CABRERA: But explain to me why he couldn't have won Iowa or New Hampshire? Was it because he didn't have the same ground game? And if that was the case, shouldn't he have had the kind of ground game needed there? I mean, it's not his first rodeo, right?

BOYKIN: Well, yes, he's run for president a couple of times before. This is his third time. He's never won a primary in any of these three races. So, you know, he's not exactly the most successful in running for president. But there are other candidates who have won before in those two state -- in those two states, including Bernie Sanders who won New Hampshire four years ago and won New Hampshire again this year. So, they -- he had an advantage.

Elizabeth Warren being a neighbor from Massachusetts had an advantage in New Hampshire. I don't think anybody from the Biden campaign expected he would win there. Iowa is a little different but it's caucus state. And a caucus state like Nevada. Caucus states reward a different kind of enthusiasm and activism.

And Joe Biden doesn't necessarily generate that type of enthusiasm and activism among that base of people. But South Carolina is a primary state. And it's a primary state with a heavy concentration of African- Americans. CABRERA: Right.

BOYKIN: And that is Joe Biden's base so he should be a -- if he can turn it around there, he has a chance. If he can't --

CABRERA: It sounds --

BOYKIN: -- turn it around there, I don't know what his options are.

CABRERA: Yes. It sounds like it's kind of due or die time for him. Let's look forward because Michael Bloomberg is also running but he hasn't been on any of the ballots yet. He won't be until Super Tuesday. But, according to polls, his support is rising. The CNN Poll of Polls, for instance, puts him ahead of Pete Buttigieg, who won in Iowa and was a close second in New Hampshire.

So, Mark, I keep thinking about how he's able to pull this off right now.

MCKINNON: Well, it --

CABRERA: But because of his 10s and -- 10s -- actually, hundreds of millions that's pumping into ads, right?

MCKINNON: It's looking -- it's like a very smart and strategic play, right? Because, as Keith said -- he was saying that, you know, Biden didn't expect to win Iowa and New Hampshire. Well, he set expectations that he was going to. Bloomberg did just the opposite. He said, you know what? I'm not going to win them, so I'm not even going play there.

CABRERA: And, in part, because he couldn't get filed in time to be even on the ballot.

MCKINNON: Well, but I also think that he probably wouldn't have won Iowa and New Hampshire. I don't think he would've. And he had the resources and time to put the money in places where he thought he could win which, as I said, now, giving the way this is playing out, it looks like a very strategic play for Bloomberg.

CABRERA: However, he hasn't been tested, right? He's able to get his message out all across the country with all the money he's pumping into his advertising. And so, he's controlling his message. He is controlling what people hear about him. How important, Mark, is it for him to be tested on the debate stage, for example?

[17:10:00]

MCKINNON: Yes. Well, he'll have to and he should be. And that's what primaries are all about. But he's avoided a lot of that, so far, by just -- by doing the stall game and playing late.

But, listen, I mean, he'll get tested and be in a debate, perhaps, before Super Tuesday. But Super Tuesday is, like, 10 -- you know, it's in multiple states.

CABRERA: Yes.

MCKINNON: And it's going to be, like, over after that.

CABRERA: And that's coming up on March Third. Keith, I --

MCKINNON: Not a lot of time to get tested.

CABRERA: No. Keith, I want to ask you about, you know, the fall-out since Rush Limbaugh's homophobic comments about Pete Buttigieg. And President Trump was actually asked about this by Geraldo Rivera this week, if he would ever vote for gay president. And here's his answer.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GERALDO RIVERA, "ROADKILL WITH GERALDO": Would Americans vote for a gay man to be president?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think so. I think there would be some that wouldn't. And, you know, I wouldn't be among that group, to be honest with you. But I think that -- yes, I think that it doesn't seem to be hurting Pete Buttigieg, as you say, as you would call him. It doesn't seem to be hurting him very much.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CABRERA: Keith, did you find the president's answer there to be genuine?

BOYKIN: I don't know. With Donald Trump, you can never tell. And even the way he pronounced Buttigieg was a little awkward to me. Trump has been all over the place on LGBTQ issues. And I don't really know that I believe him on that because he cancelled pride month celebrations several years in a row. He's rescinded Obama actions on LGBTQ inclusion. And he hasn't exactly shown a record of being the inclusive president he talks about. So, he talks differently from the way he acts.

So, I'm not sure I believe that. Not to mention the fact that he also engaged in a little homophobic rhetoric against one of the candidates who was in the race before, making allegations or insinuations that that person might be gay.

So, I don't know why Donald Trump gets a pass on these issues. I think that he's had some problematic history with those things. And I don't know that even if he does believe that that reflects the way the rest of the Republican Party is. Because the party is definitely not the same as the Democratic Party, in terms of inclusion on those issues.

CABRERA: Final thought on that, Mark.

MCKINNON: Well, the problem is that the president gave Rush Limbaugh the medal of freedom. And then, he came out and made those statements. So, he may not be homophobic. But, I'll tell you, the people who are homophobic thinks he's homophobic.

CABRERA: Oh, that speaks a lot. Thank you very much. BOYKIN: And people --

CABRERA: Sorry, Keith, do have one last sentiment you want to add there and then I've got to go?

BOYKIN: Oh, no, I just wanted to add to the Rush Limbaugh thing and also the people who think that he's a -- he's a racist actually support him, too, because the -- for the same reason. Because when you give an award to somebody like Rush Limbaugh, no matter how much -- how much positive and inclusive rhetoric you put out there, it kind of contradicts everything else you're saying. The message is very difficult to combine those two different things.

CABRERA: Keith Boykin and Mark McKinnon, I really appreciate the conversation. Thank you, gentlemen.

MCKINNON: Thank you.

CABRERA: Super Tuesday brings with it super spending. Michael Bloomberg is pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into his campaign but can money turn into votes?

And President Trump has money on his mind too, apparently. He's about to headline the most expensive fund-raiser of his presidency. Wait until you hear the dollar amounts. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:13:11]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says her fellow Democrats must work together to make sure President Trump is defeated. In an exclusive interview, she tells CNN's Christiane Amanpour a second Trump term would hurt both America's courts and our environment. But she predicts it won't happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You've been elected over and over and over again. And you said to me, before the midterms, as long as he's there, i.e. President Trump, I'm here. Do you still --

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Oh my God.

AMANPOUR: -- is that still the case for you?

PELOSI: Oh, I can't even envision a situation where he would be re- elected. But we are not -- we don't take anything for granted. As I say that he -- we have to have our own vision for the future. But everybody knows that we must be unified in making sure that he does not have a second term. Our country is great. The American people are wonderful. We're a resilient country. We can withstand one term.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: And CNN has learned President Trump is set to headline his most expensive fund-raiser yet. An exclusive dinner at the home of a Florida billionaire later tonight.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Washington. Jeremy, what do we know about this event?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president will be having dinner with just about 40 donors at the Palm Beach residence of billionaire Nelson Pelts tonight.

But despite having dinner with just a few dozen people, the president is expected to raise about $10 million for his re-election campaign as well as for the Republican National Committee, and 11 state party entities. That's because the price tag for anybody looking to attend this dinner is $580,600 per couple.

That is going to be how much they need to donate to that Trump Victory Joint Fund-Raising Committee in order to attend this dinner. And, obviously, this is going to be some exclusive access for those donors who are going to be sitting down with the president for a couple hours at dinner this evening.

And this comes on top of a $60 million fund-raising hall that the Trump campaign and the Republican Party pulled in last month, in January. All of this, of course, enthusiasm largely around impeachment that the president is facing here. The president isn't just fund- raising though.

He's also going out and campaigning, stepping up the number of rallies he's doing. He has three rallies this week, including one at the end of the week in Las Vegas just before Democratic voters head out to the Nevada caucuses -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right. Jeremy Diamond reporting for us. Thank you.

With everything that's happened with the Trump White House, it's easy to lose perspective on just how much crazy everything has been just since President Trump's impeachment trial ended. Let's go back to February fifth. President Trump is acquitted but not before Mitt Romney's shocking vote to convict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): The president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust.

[17:20:00]

What he did was not perfect. No, it was a flagrant assault under electoral right, our national security and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep one's self in office is, perhaps, the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: February sixth, President Trump holds a wild and rambling press conference at the White House where he went after people he perceives as his enemies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You have some that used religion as a crutch. They never used it before. It's a failed presidential candidate, so things can happen when you fail so badly running for president. Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person.

Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person. She said, I pray for the president. I pray for the president. She doesn't pray -- she may pray but she prays for the opposite. But I doubt she prays at all. If I didn't fire James Comey, we would have never found this stuff. Because when I fired that sleaze bag, all hell broke out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: February seventh, the administration cleans House at the National Security Council, firing two key House Impeachment witnesses. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman and the U.S. ambassador to the E.U., Gordon Sondland. Vindman's twin brother, by the way, also was fired and escorted off the White House grounds. A Trump adviser telling CNN, these firings were meant to sent a message that siding against the president would not be tolerated.

February eighth, President Trump goes on Twitter and he defends firing Vindman, a purple heart recipient, saying the media is talking, quote, "As though I should think only how wonderful he was. Actually, I don't know him, never spoke to him or met him, I don't believe." February ninth, CNN reports there will be a further staff purge and permanent cuts at the National Security Council.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT O'BRIEN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: So, it's bloated. We're going to bring it back to a size that's manageable and efficient. And, look, the folks who are there really need to want to serve the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: February 10th, the president attends a rally on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, encouraging Republicans to meddle in the Democratic primary despite the state's rules.

(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 weakest candidate possible of the Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: February 11th, President Trump tweets that his former associate, Roger Stone, should get a lighter sentence than that seven to nine years federal prosecutors recommended for crimes that include obstruction of justice, lying to Congress and witness tampering. And shortly thereafter, the DOG makes a similar recommendation, overruling its own prosecutors who eventually quit the case.

February 12th, the president faces accusations of influencing the DOJ and his attorney general, William Barr, denies it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, didn't speak to the judge. I'd be able to do it, if I wanted. I have the absolute right to do it. I stay out of things, to a degree that people wouldn't believe. But I didn't speak to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: February 13th, Attorney General Bill Barr speaks out against Trump, tweeting about criminal cases, while also defending the lighter sentence for Stone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I will make those decisions, based on what I think is the right thing to do. And I'm not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody. And I say whether it's Congress, a newspaper, editorial boards or the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: OK. And just yesterday, on February 14th, it's reported that Barr ordered reviews of other cases involving Trump allies, like former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, raising new questions about the attorney general less than day after he sought to exert independence. That same day the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office drops an investigation Trump had pushed into Andrew McCabe, a former FBI official and a CNN Contributor.

Coming up, money can buy a lot of things. But can it buy the momentum needed to win the Democratic nomination? Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is testing that question. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:24:24]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The 2020 presidential race now shifting gears with most Democratic candidates focusing on the next two contests, Nevada and South Carolina. But candidate Michael Bloomberg is skipping both of those races, just as he did the previous two. And he is betting big on the upcoming Super Tuesday primary when people in 14 states vote. That's on March third.

Bloomberg is spending hundreds of millions of his own money on television ads blanketing the air waves, especially in those crucial Super Tuesday states. And he is showing up in person as well. Bloomberg hosting rallies this week in North Carolina, Texas and Tennessee.

And I want to bring in CNN Senior Political Writer and Analyst, Harry Enten. So, OK, Harry, this 2020 race is already becoming one for the record books, --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: Yes.

CABRERA: -- in terms of ad spending, right? Break it down.

ENTEN: Oh, my goodness gracious. I mean, take a look at the Super Tuesday spending by Michael Bloomberg, 100 -- look at that number, $129 million.

CABRERA: Wow.

ENTEN: No one is even close to him. Tom Steyer, you know, at $25 million. I mean, most of that's in California.

[17:30:00]

How much is a hundred -- I could spend so much money. I could buy how much Popeyes and Wendy's with $129 million? No one else is even close to that. Sanders is just $7 million. Pretty much everyone is in the tens of thousands or nothing. This type of money we've just never seen before. Never seen.

CABRERA: What kind of difference does it make? He's experiencing a little bump in the polls, isn't he?

ENTEN: He is most definitely experiencing a bump in the polls. When he entered in November, he was at 3 percent. About a few weeks ago, he jumped up to 9 percent. Now he's at 15 percent

At the same time, Joe Biden has been falling down. He's at 18 percent in the average of polls. Bernie Sanders, despite the fact he came in tie for first place in Iowa and obviously won in New Hampshire, the bounce that you would expect the frontrunner like that to see has gone to Michael Bloomberg. And you have to think it's in part because of the spending he's doing.

CABRERA: Joe Biden got a key endorsement today. It came from Nevada Congressman Steven Horsford. He's a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Pete Buttigieg is expected to pick up an endorsement from actor, Keegan Michael Key.

Let's talk about the impact do those endorsements. Who is winning in that area? And how much of an impact do they have?

ENTEN: The latter part is the harder question to answer. We know that Joe Biden is clearly leading in endorsements right now overall, from members of Congress, governors and major city mayors.

The other thing that's so important to point out is that Michael Bloomberg, despite the money he's spending, people saying, oh, that's just money, he's buying his way to the nomination, he's getting a lot of endorsements from the members of Congress, governors.

And what we see, if not just that he's second overall to Joe Biden, but take a look at the numbers for this month. He's actually leading Joe Biden. He's leading the entire field. This may indicate a real sign of momentum.

It backs up the polling data that suggests that Bloomberg's money is moving this race. Something is going on here.

Of course, Bernie Sanders is not anywhere close to the endorsement leader. And he's done well so far. So it's not one-to-one relationship.

But clearly, having endorsements is a sign of strength, a sign that Joe Biden has shown so far in the primary season, and a sign that Michael Bloomberg is emerging as a potential frontrunner.

CABRERA: It's one thing to get endorsements. It's another thing to get the polls moving in the right direction. It's another thing to actually win votes.

ENTEN: Yes.

CABRERA: and Bernie Sanders has a lot to tout there. He did well in Iowa. Close to winning there. He won in New Hampshire. It's given him a huge boost in fundraising. His campaign reports they're raising an estimated $1.24 million per day in February.

But you say his New Hampshire victory also has some signs that should give them pause.

ENTEN: Yes, essentially, if you look at the national polls, we have seen that Sanders has moved into being a frontrunner. But if you look back at 1992, that's an important demarcation point because that's the first year in which Democrats allocated all of their delegates with a 15 percent threshold.

If you look at the number, he's at 26 percent if you allocate the undecideds. That is the weakest for any frontrunner on the Democratic side since 1992.

That tells me, if you combine that with the Iowa, essentially four candidates at 15 percent or above, even though he won in New Hampshire, it was the lowest percentage for a New Hampshire winner in a Democratic or Republican primary, it seems to suggest, even though we might have a frontrunner, it's not clear. It's not a dominating frontrunner.

And we may, in fact, be heading toward a land in which no one receives the majority of delegates, as we were discussing last week.

CABRERA: That means a contested convention.

ENTEN: Exactly. Exactly. CABRERA: So interesting.

Harry, always good to have you here.

ENTEN: Thank you.

CABRERA: Thank you.

Next week, join CNN for a series of town halls with the top 2020 Democratic candidates live from Las Vegas. Tuesday and Thursday night at 8:00 Eastern only here at CNN.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:37:43]

CABRERA: More than 35 new accusers have come forward since Evelyn Yang, the wife of former presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, revealed in an exclusive CNN interview, that she was assaulted by her OB/Gyn.

In all now, nearly 70 women say they, too, were assault bid this same doctor. But he never spent a day in prison after prosecutors cut him a sweetheart deal in 2016.

Evelyn Yang tweeted a short time ago saying, "The doctor practiced for decades. I believe there are many more women still."

CNN's Drew Griffin reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An attorney now representing dozens of former patients say this man, Dr. Robert Hadden, could be one of the most prolific sexual predators in New York City's history.

All the more stunning to his accusers that this former OB/GYN has never spent a day behind bars.

EMILIA HECKMAN, HADDEN VICTIM: He's retired. He raped, molested all these women and nothing's been done. And that makes me furious. How can that be?

GRIFFIN: Emilia Heckman, the latest to come forward, said she trusted Hadden, even believed he was doing her a favor, squeezing her in to being his last patient of the day back in 2012. She was told to completely undress and says, while naked on an exam table, he assaulted her.

HECKMAN: The exam went from a rubber-glove examination to a tongue and beard. And I recoiled, tensed up. He just abruptly got up. And I put my clothes on really fast because I didn't know -- we were the last ones in the office. And I didn't know if he was going to rape me or --

GRIFFIN (on camera): You didn't know if the attack was over.

HECKMAN: Yes. Yes. Yes, I didn't. I ran out.

GRIFFIN: And you never saw him again?

HECKMAN: Never saw him again.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Heckman was a young model at the time. She says she didn't tell anyone about the assault, worried no one would believe her. Years later, she learned there were many others.

In 2012, New York police first arrested Hadden for allegedly licking another patient's vagina. But prosecutors didn't file charges. And Hadden returned to work at Columbia University's medical clinic for more than a month.

That's when he allegedly assaulted at least two more women, including Evelyn Yang, wife of former presidential candidate, Andrew Yang.

[17:40:03]

EVELYN YANG, WIFE OF ANDREW YANG: What happened to me should have never happened. He was arrested in his office and he was let back to work.

GRIFFIN: Two years later, Hadden was arrested again. This time, indicted on nine counts involving six of his patients.

But even though the office of Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, knew of 19 potential victims, prosecutors cut a deal. Dr. Hadden pleaded guilty to two charges, gave up his medical license and walked away. No prison time, no probation, not even community service.

YANG: It's like getting, you know, slapped in the face and punched in the gut. The DA's office is meant to protect us, is meant to serve justice. And there was no justice here.

GRIFFIN: Since Evelyn Yang told her story on CNN last month, her attorney says dozens more former patients have come forward, saying they, too, were assaulted.

Emilia Heckman and 40 others, who were not included in the plea deal, want the DA's office to reopen the case.

HECKMAN: I want this district attorney to revisit some of these cases. I want to be included. I wasn't included before.

GRIFFIN: Heckman and Yang, along with dozens of other women, are suing Dr. Hadden and Columbia University, his former employer, saying Columbia did nothing to stop the serial sexual abuse on countless occasions.

In legal filings, Columbia says it did nothing wrong. Hadden has admitted guilt involving just two of his patients.

Heckman, listed in her lawsuit as Jane Doe number 23, says, after Evelyn Yang came forward, her husband, James Heckman, a media company executive, encouraged her to go public.

HECKMAN: I think the more victims come out and show their face, like, hey, I'm a real person, you know, I'm not just Jane Doe, you know, maybe the district attorney will listen to that.

GRIFFIN: Emilia Heckman says she plans to present her complaint directly to the district attorney.

(on camera): Manhattan district attorney, Cy Vance, has not spoken publicly about the Hadden case and has refused CNN's request for interviews.

But in a statement, the DA told us that, "While we stand by our disposition of this difficult case, we regret that the resolution has caused survivors pain."

Those alleged survivors of Dr. Robert Hadden say that's just not good enough.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Hundreds of Americans are now under quarantine on a cruise ship off the coast of Japan. They could soon be back on U.S. soil and forced to face another two-week quarantine. Details next, live, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:47:10]

CABRERA: An 83-year-old American woman is the first person aboard the Westerdam cruise ship to be diagnosed with coronavirus. More than 2200 passengers and crew finally left that ship in Cambodia on Friday after it had been turned away from five other parts.

And another cruise ship, the "Diamond Princess," is still docked in Yokohama, Japan. The U.S. State Department have offered charter flights home for Americans who don't test positive for that virus. The catch is anyone who has taken this offer has to spend two weeks in quarantine once back on U.S. soil.

There's new concern after the first coronavirus death was reported outside of Asia. A Chinese tourist from Hubei Province has now died weeks after being hospitalized in Paris in late January.

Let me bring in Dr. Jennifer Caudle. She's a board-certified family medicine physician.

There's so much here to talk about, Jennifer. Let's start with the latest development, the first reported death outside Asia. How significant is that?

DR. JENNIFER CAUDLE, FAMILY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN & ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, ROWAN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE: I think it's very significant. It's sort of representative of what we're seeing.

Every day that we wake up, we wake up in morning and we wake up to new reports of deaths every single morning that have happened overnight or the last 24 hours as well as cases. I think that's representative of what we're seeing.

But this is still happening. This is still spreading. And it's sort of spreading wider in many cases.

CABRERA: Now there's an effort to go in and try to gather more information to really wrap our arms around, what's happening with the World Health Organization --

CAUDLE: That's right.

CABRERA: -- and their team.

CAUDLE: That's right.

CABRERA: We have been told they will review data, conduct workshops and make some field visits. What might we learn in?

CAUDLE: I'm hoping that we'll learn a lot. You're right. The World Health Organization is having a press conference. They had a press conference yesterday where they announced this.

They are sending 12 international scientists. They are going over there to work with Chinese officials to learn more about exactly what's happening on the ground, to try to learn more about the virus, about really anything we can learn.

Because right now, one of the problems with this -- we keep calling it a novel virus. We say novel because it's new. That's the problem here. It's the reason why, every day, we wake up and are finding new information is because this is a brand-new virus that we are just, every day, learning more and more information about.

CABRERA: What about this idea that the CDC has not been allowed into China. The CDC says it's offered resources, its experts to go in and help with trying to figure out what's going on here but that offer hasn't been accepted by the Chinese.

CAUDLE: That seems to be the case. As a physician literally on the ground and seeing patients yesterday, the day before, they are asking me about these questions. They're asking. People want to know. We need to know as a society.

My hope, as a physician, is that all organizations are working with China and we're working together internationally. That's really the only way we'll get this taken care of and get this squelched.

[17:50:02]

Because as I mentioned, and your first question was, what's the significance of the first death outside of China, we're seeing this spread. There have been some reports or claims that the coronavirus may die down as the weather gets warmer. By the way, we don't know if that's the case.

There's so much we don't know. We need literally all-hands-on-deck. I am glad the World Health Organization researchers are heading over there. But I want as much manpower that we can get.

CABRERA: One of the concerns is there's not a vaccine --

(CROSSTALK)

CAUDLE: Right. There's no medication to treat it, either.

CABRERA: Do you have an idea of when we might have a vaccine for this?

CAUDLE: The good thing is that there seems to be a race to find a cure or preventive measures such as a vaccine. Scientists -- and there have been reports in the "New York Times" and other publications talking about scientists who were looking at other patterns of viruses and vaccines and to come up with things that, like we looked at for Ebola and other viruses in the past, to see if can we utilize information we have to find a vaccine?

Vaccines don't happen overnight, though. It takes a while. We have to do trials. We have to do testing.

But the hope, however, is if scientists are able to use existing information that we have from other viruses that we've worked on vaccines for before, maybe it will put us out front a little bit faster and a little bit ahead than we would be. But we're starting from scratch.

CABRERA: And I want to make sure we have perspective.

CAUDLE: That's right.

CABRERA: It's important to remind us about the flu and what's happening with that.

CAUDLE: You're right.

CABRERA: This country has 26 million people who have had the flu and 14,000 people have died from it this flu season. And many of it are kids.

How worried should the average American be, given the flu numbers, when it comes to coronavirus?

CAUDLE: The risk in the country is still low. That is the risk. That's one of the reasons why the CDC does not recommend wearing masks, for example. By the way, wearing masks in this country is not recommended. So everyone who is going out there and buying masks from Amazon and other places, we need to save them for those who need them. Right now, that's not the case.

The risk is low. The risk, however, for the flu is through the roof. Honestly, I diagnosed two cases of the flu last week and I'm only in the office a couple of days a week. Not only is this a flu season that we're still in. It's a bad flu

season. Scientists are saying that this flu season mimics some of the bad flu seasons we've had in the last few years.

Guy, it's still not too late to get the flu shots. Use the hand hygiene, washing hands, staying home when we're sick and not being around others that are sick.

CABRERA: Yes.

CAUDLE: And by the way, those preventative tips are also important for coronavirus prevention as well.

CABRERA: Good information.

Thank you very much, Dr. Caudle, for being here.

CAUDLE: Thank you.

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

At the all-star weekend newsmaker brunch, Former President Obama called 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: The tributes to Bryant began last night during the rising stars challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: You can hear the crowd chanting, "Kobe".

During the speech by one of his former teammates, Pau Gasol, said there will be more tributes all weekend long. Bryant was also named as a finalist for the basketball Hall of Fame.

It's the first year he's eligible for this honor. Kobe won five championships with the Lakers.

And anyone hoping to go to Kobe Bryant's celebration of life next week in L.A. will now need to buy tickets. It's being held at the Staples Center. Capacity 20,000. That's how much demand is expected.

I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York. Thank you for being here. I'll be back in an hour from now.

S.E. Cupp is next.

But first, we leave you with a preview of the new CNN original series "THE WINDSORS."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEEN ELIZABETH II: We're at the making history.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-seven million people watched this ceremony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that I'm in love with this girl and I hope she's in love with me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The public totally in love with this ideal couple, and yet the public can't see everything.

[17:55:01]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Edward leaves and he throws the monarchy into chaos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throughout much of Diana's marriage to Charles, there was a third figure hovering around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She called herself the queen of hearts, which really stuck a knife in the queen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a woman of color who married into the royal family, and within two years of the marriage, she wants out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is this terrible balance they've got to strike between being extraordinary and being ordinary.

ANNOUNCER: "THE WINDSORS, INSIDE THE ROYAL DYNASTY," tomorrow at 10:00 on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)