Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Long Lines, 3.5 Hour Wait At Nevada Precinct For Early Voting; House Speaker Pelosi Opens Up On Dem Presidential Battle; Operation Chaos Targets Democratic Primary Elections; Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, Is Speaking Out About Infamous Call; Prince Harry And Meghan Markle Are Closing Up Shop At Buckingham Palace. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired February 15, 2020 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York and new tonight, 3.5 hour long waits are being reported at one precinct in Nevada as the early voting gets under way, ahead of next week's caucuses there.

This is a repeat of what happened in Iowa when that badly designed app spun the whole thing into chaos. Now what is happening here in Nevada this time is that so many people are showing up to vote. There aren't enough volunteers to process then.

Let's get right out to CNN's Arlette Saenz in North Las Vegas for us. Arlette, what more do you know?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Ana, early voting kicked off here in Nevada today and at least at one precinct's location, a high school in Las Vegas, some voters were waiting in line for up to 3.5 hours. There were about six volunteers on site at that location and one of the volunteers saying that they needed more people there to help process these voters.

Now a spokeswoman for the Nevada state Democratic Party said that they were unaware exactly of those long lines at that location but that turnout has been high across the state and they are going to try to dispatch additional volunteers to try to speed up some of those wait times.

They said that if you are in line, when closing time comes for voting, you will get to vote today. Now there are about 80 locations across the state where Nevadans can go, take half their early vote between today and Tuesday.

This is the first time that early voting has been featured in the caucuses and so looks certainly the party will be keeping a close eye on those early voting lines and wait times in the coming days as they're trying to avoid a repeat of any problems as occurred in the Iowa caucuses.

That's certainly with the apps and not necessarily turn out.

CABRERA: And on that note, there's been a lot of questioning still about the state issued iPads, sort of the solution in place of the app that went you know, everything went wrong within Iowa. What more can you tell us about concerns regarding this new technology, Nevada's going to give a try?

SAENZ: Well, here in Nevada, they won't be using that same app that the Iowa caucus used. Instead they're deploying something that they're calling a Caucus Calculator that will be used on the state party issued iPads, that calculator will help tabulate both the early votes and adding it in with what happens on caucus day and it'll be processed through a secure Google web form.

Now some volunteers that we've spoken to who will be working on Nevada caucus day say that they haven't yet gotten their hands on these iPads to see what the Caucus Calculator will look like. That they've been trained a lot on the process but haven't actually had that hands on experience.

So that is something that's going to - we're going to be keeping an eye on over the coming week because the party - the Democratic Party and the state Democratic party here really want to avoid having any problems like they did during the Iowa caucuses and on - about a week from now is when Nevadans will be going to make their final decisions about Democratic primary and caucus.

CABRERA: Arlette Saenz, thank you for that reporting. Meantime, the most powerful Democrat in the United States is opening up about this year's race for the White House. In an exclusive interview with CNN today, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi says, she can't even envision President Trump winning a second term this fall and she feels that any of the remaining Democratic candidates would be an improvement over the President.

Here's Speaker Pelosi talking exclusively with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We're just what the Democratic Party is, a party of vitality, differences of opinion which we will resolve. I have trust in the American people. We - let's see what the elections put forth. Isn't up to me to decide. It's up to the people and I'm excited about it. I think everyone of our candidates, all 25 with Michael Bloomberg, candidates are 25.

But Michael Bloomberg too have made a very valuable contribution to the debate, putting forth their vision, their knowledge, their judgment, their strategic thinking about how to connect with the American people about a better future for our country.

Easy to say, any one of them would be a better President than the current occupant of the White House but we want to do - be very positive about how we go forward and this is - this is how you make those decisions. So I'm grateful to all of them for putting themselves on the line,

putting forth their ideas and now we come down to the winnowing process but I see everything as an opportunity and I see - and I quite frankly with all the respect in the world for Iowa and New Hampshire, I'm not counting Joe Biden out. There are still races ahead that are much more representative of the - of the country and I'm long time - I was a state party Chair.

[19:05:00]

Then Chair of the Platform Committee. I've been Chair of the Delegate Selection Committee, all of these things before I ever went to Congress, the platform was when I was in Congress. And again the differences of opinion are what we are about. We're not a lockstep, take it from the top down, this is what it's going to be.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You've been selected over and over and over again and you said to me before the midterms, as long as he's there, President Trump, I am here. Do you still - 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 had - we have to have our own visions for the future but everybody knows that we must be unified in making sure that he does not have a second term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Also today, an announcement from the White House that the President will hold a campaign rally next week in Las Vegas, the day before the caucuses there. It'll be the third time President Trump will hold a rally just ahead of the state's Democratic contests and Jeremy Diamond joins us from Washington. Jeremy, what do we know about this event?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Ana, as you said, just as Democrats prepare to head to the caucuses next Saturday, the President on the eve of those caucuses will be rallying his supporters in Nevada, in Las Vegas specifically, on Friday night.

So little bit of counter programming from the President, something that as you mentioned, he's done most recently just before the primary contests the Democrats have held in Iowa and then in New Hampshire. It will also not be his only rally this week. In fact it'll be the third one that he hosts.

Also attending - he'll also be holding a rally in Phoenix as well as in Colorado Springs. But the President is doing a lot more than just rallying. He's also building out a massive campaign operation through fundraising.

His campaign and the Republican National Committee announced that they have more than $200 million cash on hand at the end of January and the President is adding to that whole tonight in fact. The President is hosting a dinner with campaign donors. Just 40 donors

but this is going to be a high price events and the President is expected to raise more than $10 million for his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee.

CABRERA: Yes, I heard a ticket for that event tonight, was over $500,000 to attend that dinner. I also have learned President Trump is going to be taking a literal victory lap tomorrow. The President set to attend the Daytona 500 and a source telling us, there's a possibility he and part of his motorcade may take a lap on the racetrack?

DIAMOND: Yes right. Nothing firm as of yet but one source is telling CNN that the President may indeed take a lap on the inner edge of that race track at the Daytona 500 tomorrow.

The President is set to attend that event and he will be the grand marshal of that race and so regardless, whether or not the President does do that lap, he will utter those famous words. Drivers, start your engines.

CABRERA: OK, Jeremy Diamond, thank you for that. I want to bring in Democratic strategist, Nayyera Haq. She is a former Obama White House Senior Director and former State department spokesperson and also with us CNN political commentator and USA Today columnist, Scott Jennings. He was a special assistant to President George W. Bush.

Nayyera, let's start with Speaker Pelosi's comments on Joe Biden as part of that clip we showed with Christiane. Last May she said she wouldn't endorse a candidate in the primary.

If that wasn't an endorsement what was it?

NAYYERA HAQ, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE SENIOR DIRECTOR: I think it was a reality check. Listen, everybody was surprised that Biden came in as low as he did and certainly, we forget that Elizabeth Warren came ahead of Biden which in and of itself should have been news.

But it's a reflection of where the Democratic Party is in recognizing that Iowa and New Hampshire not reflective of America writ large but in particular Democratic Party. Nevada has only been moved up in the calendar of primaries and caucuses in 2008.

It's 30 percent Latino, 10 percent African-American. It is far more appealing, I think to a representative of what Democrats and America writ large looks like now and Joe Biden has done very well with African-American voters and with voters of color.

That is what he is relying on his relying on. He's relying on a firewall in South Carolina as well so after that I think we get a better sense of where he stands and whether or not Democrats are looking to have a change election and really change policy and the structure of the system or they're looking to be very pragmatic and focus on electability and who can beat Donald Trump.

CABRERA: And Scott, as Jeremy just reported, President Trump and part of his motorcade may take a lap at the Daytona 500 this week and as well as the possibility of doing Airforce One flyovers. He's also had lining this huge expensive fund raiser, the most expensive of his presidency at a billionaire's home tonight.

With so much attention on the Democratic field, is just him trying to take some of that spotlight back?

[19:10:00]

SCOTT JENNINGS, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH & CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, look this is Trump, the showman. He understands new cycles. He understands how to counter program and he understands that you know, there's ways for him to get attention.

I mean, I think this idea to take a lap at the Daytona 500 is pretty freaking epic. I mean how many people are sitting out there like man, if I were President, what would I do? Well, I'd probably put that on my list and so Trump's going to, I imagine get a huge ovation if he actually pulls off this stunt because it's a cool idea.

And by the way, that is you know, it is - this is what incumbent Presidents can do. I mean, you mentioned the fund raiser. They're putting money in the bank. They have you know, these huge rallies, they're doing this big political organization.

He's using the power of the presidency to get attention. This is the advantage that incumbent Presidents have. Obama did it in 12. Bush- Cheney did in 2004. That's what makes incumbents hard to beat.

CABRERA: Sure, but the Democrats now have a chance to make their votes count another time in this new election and we have those pictures we showed Nayyera from the Nevada caucus and the early voting under way showing a long line, at least at this one precinct in Las Vegas.

The wait time was at one point, 3.5 hours. They didn't have enough volunteers to process all the votes quickly so that's why you have that gridlock. What's your reaction to seeing that?

HAQ: Well, Nevada typically doesn't have huge voter turnout in primary or caucus elections and separate from the fact that caucuses are an outdated form and really an undemocratic form of getting votes collated. It does show that there is an enthusiasm out there.

That folks all ready for an official caucus, it's not until February 22, are already waiting in line. You have votes. At least 15 million ballots already out in the early, the March 3 Super Tuesday state. So people - Democrats are turning out. They're very excited. They're interested.

The question is going to be again, how are they looking at this election? 60 percent of Democrats who believe the candidate needs to be able to beat Donald Trump, does that translate to a Bloomberg and or a Biden or Mayor Pete like that more centrist foil to Donald Trump or is going to end up being somebody on the more progressive side who is promising big structural change like a Bernie or Elizabeth Warren? CABRERA: And Scott, with Nevada, Democrats clearly passionate about

turnout today. We also saw record turnout in the New Hampshire primary. Should that enthusiasm make Republicans nervous.

JENNINGS: Well, Donald Trump got quite a few votes in that New Hampshire and Iowa as well and I think we're going to see massive turnout on both sides. I think the last election we had 60 percent turnout. We're probably looking at 65 plus percent turnout.

So millions of people who didn't participate last time will. That's a good thing. Regarding this caucus system, I tend to agree that the caucuses - look, I don't like anything that makes it structurally difficult for people who want to participate to participate.

So if you're somebody who does have a lot of time and you're having to go, wait a long line, it might dissuade you from participating and so I come from Kentucky, where we have a closed primary system and that - that's the system to me that works best.

It allows party members to vote quickly and to choose their party's nominee without too much hassle. So I tend to lean against caucuses, more towards the closed primaries. I think that works best.

CABRERA: The President's been going hard at one candidate, who's not on the ballot in Nevada, Michael Bloomberg and while a lot of Democrats have criticized the President for his rhetoric, Bloomberg is dishing it back.

He's calling the President, a carnival barking clown on Twitter. Nayyera, is that a smart move for Bloomberg to win over voters or is that a mistake?

HAQ: Well, he's certainly trying to play the same online game that President Trump has been doing on Twitter, not just in the campaign but also as President United States. Bloomberg has invested $320 million already in this campaign and $6 million, a day. Heavy digital. He's trying to take the fight to Donald Trump.

And otherwise Democrats are lagging behind in the digital space so that's going to be a key arena for getting a message out and Bloomberg's only poll away from being on that Nevada stage. Now he's not yet necessarily offered an alternative vision of what he thinks America should look like.

He's on the defense for his own record in New York but it seems that the President Trump had said even just a couple days ago, that Bloomberg and Sanders are the two people that he's looking out for.

CABRERA: Speaking of Sanders, we've seen President Trump seemingly defend Bernie Sanders and implying the Democratic establishment is trying to stop his momentum. Scott, why is Trump doing that?

Is Bernie Sanders the candidate that the President wants to take on in November?

JENNINGS: Yes. I think that he offers such a stark change, a stark movement to the left. You know this whole socialism idea that he doesn't really shy away from but I imagine, the Trump people think that that would scare off a lot of the voters that the Democrats need to win back in order to take back the White House.

I also think that there are a lot of people out, I mean, I think in Trump and in Sanders, you have similar kinds of voters, right? People who are sort of anti-establishment voters. They don't like the idea of the big structural institutions.

You know coming down and taking things away from them which is how a lot of the Trump folks you know, feel about some institutions. I'm sure it's how some of the Bernie people feel.

[19:15:00]

I wonder if they don't have a kinship over that but the bottom line is if Bernie Sanders is the nominee, you're talking about somebody who's going to run a socialist banner against a President presiding over the best economy we've had in at least half a century.

Low unemployment, higher wages, more jobs than people who are looking for jobs and I really do think the Trump people think that is exactly the kind of contrast that would help a President with lower approval ratings get re-elected.

CABRERA: Nayyera, final thought.

HAQ: Here the counter point to that argument. Sanders has a loyal following that will turn out. He is himself a boomer who actually is able to draw in millennial voters and there will be more millennial and zillenial voters in this election than the boomers.

So he closes that generation gap. He brings out the enthusiasm and he offers an alternative vision which is that the economy by the numbers may look like it's working for people but it doesn't feel like that to majority of Americans who are struggling under either student loans or not being fully employed, right?

You can have a job as potentially a lift driver, delivering food, when you have a college degree or you're a public school teacher and not making enough to make ends meet. So that's the economic vision that Bernie Sanders offers and frankly, let's be honest. At this point, President Trump will call any Democrat even Mayor Pete Buttigieg, he'll call him a socialist because it sounds scary enough.

You need somebody who has - who is strong enough in emotion and strong enough in their policy to be able to cut through that rhetoric.

CABRERA: Both of you, thank you so much for being here. Nayyera Haq and Scott Jennings. I appreciate it.

JENNINGS: Thanks Ana.

CABRERA: Tonight Michael Bloomberg's treatment of women in the 1980s and 1990s is in the spotlight. Plus new details about the operation, President Trump and his allies are undertaking to sabotage the Democratic Primary process.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Presidential candidate, Michael Bloomberg is vowing to always be a champion for women in the workplace as new details emerge about degrading and harassing comments, he allegedly made, regarding women at the company, he co-founded and owned during the 80s and 90s.

The details of these allegations are flushed out in a new and exhaustive piece from The Washington Post. The paper interviewed former employees and witnesses to the alleged incidents and reviewed thousands of pages of legal documents and depositions.

And I want to read you just a couple of quotes from this Post article. "The lawsuit said Bloomberg berated a female employee who had trouble finding a nanny. It's an (bleep) baby. All you need is some black who doesn't have to speak English to rescue it from a burning building."

And this. "Bloomberg also allegedly said that his company's financial information computers will do everything including give you oral sex. I guess that puts a lot of you girls out of business."

Now these are just two of several quotes attributed to Bloomberg in lawsuits and documents reviewed by the Post. In a statement provided to CNN, the Bloomberg campaign denied Bloomberg made any of these statements saying, "Virtually all of this has been reported over the past two decades. In any large organization, there are going to be complaints but Mike simply does not tolerate any kind of discrimination or harassment and he's created cultures that are all about equality and inclusion."

With us now is the reporter behind this Washington Post piece, Michael Kranish and I encourage everybody to read it because it is an extensive report. I read off just a couple of remarks, Bloomberg is accused of making here but there are many more in your reporting.

Would you say the other alleged comments are similar in nature?

MICHAEL KRANISH, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes there are a lot of comments. There's two things particularly, we wrote about in this story. One is from a booklet that was called 'The Wit and Wisdom of Michael Bloomberg' compiled by one of his top aides, a woman who sat next to him for about seven years.

And this is presented to him at his 48th birthday party in 1990. There have been quotes from this booklet over the years. The booklet itself has not been out there, I did obtain the full booklet from a source and we decided in the interest of transparency to put the entire booklet online.

So you can go on the washingtonpost.com website and read that for yourself. Over the years Bloomberg has said, he doesn't recall some of these comments or he has said, if people were offended that he apologized to them. He said, he didn't say certain other things. Recently well, when we told him, we put the booklet online, they basically said, he didn't say any of those things.

Separately there is a lawsuit as you referenced, several lawsuits, one in particular we cite extensively in the story and Bloomberg's folks have denied entirely the allegations and statements from that lawsuit. Mr. Bloomberg would not talk to us for this story so these are denials from his spokesperson.

CABRERA: I think I have here the lawsuit you are referencing. This is one of the high profile accusations from a female sales woman who sued him as well as his company. She alleged that Bloomberg told her to "kill it," when he learned she was pregnant.

Bloomberg denied this under oath and he reached a confidential settlement with the sales woman but you talk to a former Bloomberg employee who claims to have witnessed this conversation or heard about it? What did you find out?

KRANISH: Right, so in your intro, you referenced the question of whether there's something new. Well, this is an individual who's never been interviewed before about this. He said that he was there, that he overheard a conversation. The sales woman in the lawsuit said that Bloomberg had told her "kill it." This individual says he recalls Bloomberg said, "Are you going to kill it?" And this witness who I interviewed said he also found that to be outrageous.

He said he never talk with the sales woman about this, was not part of her lawsuit and simply had never been contacted before. So I interviewed him and we put the audio excerpt from the interview that's relevant to what you're asking about online.

So again, you can go online, you can hear the audio, hear this gentleman give his recollection of what he remembers happening so that seems significant because this lawsuit ad this allegation that Bloomberg said "kill it" has been something that has been written about quite a bit over the years.

[19:25:00]

There was a confidential settlement. I report in the story that three sources tell me, the settlement was in the six figures but Bloomberg gave a deposition in the case that's never been made public and he also - there was a confidentiality agreement and he has declined to release that woman from the agreement.

So having a new witness come forward is an interesting thing that certainly I spent time reporting on and his story is there for readers to read in the story and also hear the audio.

CABRERA: And these allegations we're discussing have to do with very vulgar, degrading language. Are there accusations of sexual misconduct at all?

KRANISH: There are no accusations as there have been for example, with President Trump, of sexual misconduct. This is all about things that Bloomberg said that people thought constituted harassment, degradation and so forth and also the workplace culture that he fostered.

So other people at the company saying things, doing things because the people allege that this was a culture that came from the top. One lawsuit specifically says for Michael Bloomberg on down.

CABRERA: Again, Bloomberg is denying he made statements, at least through his campaign. They're denying it.

KRANISH: He has said Ana just to be clear.

CABRERA: Go ahead.

KRANISH: Just to be clear. I'm sorry to talk over you. Just to be clear, they've denied certain things but also they said in a statement on the record which we quote in the story that Bloomberg has said things that don't align with his values and that he has said things that are "wrong and disrespectful."

They were not specific so I asked of course, what he said that was wrong. What did he say that was disrespectful and they don't give specifics. So they make this broad statement. We don't know exactly what he's referring to but they do acknowledge he's said things that by their words, were wrong and disrespectful.

CABRERA: And that's similar to what we received as well from the campaign telling CNN, "Mike openly admits that his words have not always aligned with his values in the way that he has led his life and some of what he has said is disrespectful and wrong."

Again, you know Michael, these alleged incidents are from three and four decades ago. Is Bloomberg a different man today?

KRANISH: Well, I do quote a gentleman in the story who knew him back then and he said this was very common for Bloomberg and other people to speak this way and he said that Bloomberg has changed. He ran for Mayor of New York City in 2001, served three terms and that he you know changed over time.

And in fact one of the company officials told me their policies regarding for example, leave for pregnant woman for mothers with newborns has been extended. They now offer 26 weeks which is a very generous policy in the industry certainly.

So yes, they do say that he has changed but he doesn't knowledge exactly what he said before so presumably on the campaign trail he'd be asked you know, can you be more specific, what did you say that was wrong.

He hasn't apologized in the same way if he needs to apologize for what he said about stop and frisk for example so he's in a situation where he's acknowledged saying things that are wrong, hasn't said what those things are and so therefore, you may wonder exactly where he is today and how he's changed.

CABRERA: Michael Kranish, really great reporting. Thank you very much for sharing with us.

KRANISH: Thanks for me.

CABRERA: New details tonight about Republican plans to actively interfere with the Democratic Party Primary process and get this, the President is encouraging it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because you have trust over us 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)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:00]

CABRERA: It is being called Operation Chaos. Republicans actively interfering with the Democratic Party primary process by voting for who they believe to be the weakest Democrat. The President himself is encouraging this mischief.

(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: That was the President speaking in New Hampshire, but this idea is gathering steam in South Carolina where they actually do have an open primary, just listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER SULLIVAN, CONSERVATIVE DEFENSE FUND: I would love to see the Democrat -- whoever wins the South Carolina Democratic 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 disruption in the Republican primaries.

KAREN MARTIN, CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZER: Just for the sake of optics, it would be great to be able to contrast the ideology of an avowed socialist against capitalism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Now, I spoke about this with CNN political commentator, Joe Lockhart, former White House press secretary under President Clinton and S.E. Cupp host of "S.E. CUPP UNFILTERED."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: My experience in working in politics over the decades is there's a lot of talk about this, it rarely comes together and it has an impact.

But you know, if the Republicans are organized in South Carolina, and they do turn out, you know, an extra two or three percent for Sanders, you know, that makes a difference.

And you know, it suggests that, that's what Donald Trump wants. That he wants to run against Bernie Sanders, that he does think he is the weakest candidate, but I'm a little skeptical that it's going to have a big impact.

CABRERA: S.E. see some Democratic lawmakers have actually concerns about Sanders being the nominee that hit could impact down ballot races. And yet, I think back to 2016 and wasn't that the argument against President Trump? And look what happened there?

He went on to win the White House. Republicans gained seats in the Senate. And of course, they held the House as well.

[19:35:16]

S.E. CUPP, CNN HOST: There are a lot of parallels I'm starting to see 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, look, Trump was a unique candidate. He was 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 electability and now he is still trying to get back on track. He took 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)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Quite frankly, with all the respect in the world for Iowa and New Hampshire, I am not counting Joe Biden out. There are still races ahead that are much more representative of the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: And it's worth noting there, Joe, in the question before that

answer. She wasn't even 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 where the parallel to 2016 on Trump falls down a little bit is in you looking at the different set of rules.

Republican nominating in 2016 was winner take all. So all Trump had to do was beat the person, you know, behind him and he would win in a very fractured field that meant he ran away with the nomination.

Democrats in 2020 changed their rules. It went away from winner take 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 down at this point.

Because they all -- you know of the top four or five candidates, they all have realistic chances of winning the nomination.

CABRERA: There's an interesting op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal" describing Amy Klobuchar as Hillary Clinton without the snark and baggage, and this article says, "Amy Jean Klobuchar is going to be on the Democratic ticket in November either at the top or as the nominee for Vice President."

S.E., they make the case that, you know, she has debate stage 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: Well, 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.

And I don't know anyone that didn't have 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 has got a lot of things that moderates and centrists should like and should really pay attention to.

She has also got some baggage and this came up a little earlier in the primary, talking about the way she has treated her staff. If she really gets momentum, expect a lot more of those stories to come out and having been on the whole long time. There's a lot of stories that haven't come out.

So she is still going to go through some vetting, but at the same time, I wouldn't look twice at her. I mean, I think she's got real potential. I would look sideways at her. I think she's got real potential to get very far in this primary because I think when you've got 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 is getting some flak for this comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A 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 $6.00 in the bank. So I just gave $3.00 to keep you in this fight. That's what we've got to do. We've got to stay in this fight with people who are counting on us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:40:07]

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 $6.00, but you know, who knows?

The thing on Warren and it goes back to my last answer, is this thing is still 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 that she was more electable, because electability is so important.

And she seemed to lose her way at a critical time, but she is still turning out big crowds. She is still 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 think people who do that do it at their own risk.

CABRERA: S.E., a 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. Stop telling it.

CABRERA: OK. On that happy note. S.E. Cupp, Joe Lockhart, thank you both.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CABRERA: He was the man on the other end of that perfect call, the

President of Ukraine talks to CNN about his role in the American President's impeachment, and how this isn't the way he wanted to become popular in the United States. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:45:43]

CABRERA: Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky is speaking out about that infamous phone call with President Trump, the one Mr. Trump termed perfect.

In his first one on one interview since President Trump's impeachment trial, Zelensky tells CNN's Christiane Amanpour, he is ready to try another call, but he also strongly rejects President Trump's claim that Ukraine is corrupt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: That's not true. When had meeting with Mr. President Trump and he said about that -- he said that previous years, it was so corrupted country, Ukraine. I told him very honestly, and I was very open with him. I told him that we fight this corruption. We fight with this, fight each day, but please, please stop to say that Ukraine is corrupted country.

But because from now it's not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: That brings us to your weekend presidential brief with CNN national security analyst, Sam Vinograd. This is a segment we bring you every weekend with the most pressing national security issues the President will face this week.

And Sam helped prepared the daily presidential brief for President Obama. Sam, tell us, what is important about Zelensky's appearance at this Munich Security Conference. What's the big takeaway there?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think President Zelensky was really trying to address a PR problem, being labeled as a corrupt country can discourage foreign investment and foreign assistance. And that's why Zelensky used part of his interview to try to rehabilitate Ukraine's image.

Ukraine does suffer from corruption. They are ranked 126th out of 180 countries on a Global Corruption Index. But he is right that Ukraine is making progress on anti-corruption measures.

The IMF, an actual U.S. expert, only President Trump aside, agree on that point. In addition to trying to rehabilitate Ukraine's image as a safe place to do business, Zelensky was also publicly grappling with the peace problem.

Later in his interview, he spoke with Christiane about his Ukraine's ongoing armed conflict with Russia. Zelensky campaigned on ending that conflict with Russia. He has not been successful and the wavering in U.S. support, namely, the withholding of U.S. security assistance will make it harder for Ukraine to defend itself and decrease Zelensky's leverage in negotiations with Vladimir Putin.

CABRERA: Again, the phone call that he had with President Trump was really the start of this whole impeachment process that happened in House and that played out in the Senate just earlier this month.

This week though, the President has said -- President Trump that is -- he said that he may not allow aides to now listen into foreign calls or calls with foreign leaders. Can you do that? And if so, what security implications might that have?

VINOGRAD: He can, but it's really dangerous. Aides are on calls for a number of reasons, including to put together an accurate readout of what happened for the presidential record.

You often compare notes after a call, so less ears on a call, the less likely it is there will be an accurate readout. But that may be President Trump's intent.

As you mentioned, the whistleblower complaint included firsthand accounts of President Trump's call so Trump may be trying to limit witnesses to potential future crimes.

If he does, so. That will be a major win for foreign governments. While he limits American ears on the call, he can't control who is on the other end of the line in a foreign country.

Anytime a foreign government knows more about an American than the U.S. government, that's a counterintelligence risk and President Trump would be making himself a counterintelligence risk if he takes that approach.

CABRERA: Speaking of calls, according to the Turkish government, President Trump spoke with President Erdogan earlier today. How could that shape policy making this week?

VINOGRAD: Well, we don't have a U.S. read out, but the Turks said the two leaders discussed trade, Libya and Syria.

On trade -- trade talks have been put on hold after Turkey invaded Syria and targeted our allies, the Kurds. Trump may be open to reopening those talks because he wants another trade win ahead of the campaign and because he wants to incentivize Erdogan to keep at it in Libya and in Syria.

In both countries, Erdogan is directly keeping Russian troops at bay. They're backing a rebel leader in Libya, as well as the Assad regime in Syria. So we should expect to see President Trump tried to placate Turkish President Erdogan because we're sitting on the sidelines of these conflicts while Turkey is directly engaged.

CABRERA: Sam Vinograd, thank you very much.

VINOGRAD: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: We're back in just a moment.

[19:54:31]

CABRERA: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are closing up shop at Buckingham Palace. The couple is shutting down their office and letting some staffers go after their decision to step back from their roles as senior Royals.

But if you think everything that's been happening with Harry and Meghan is dramatic, you'll want to tune in to our brand new CNN original series and CNN's Max Foster has a preview of "The Windsors."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Windsor Castle, the ancient Royal seat that gave the world's best famous family its name. William the Conqueror started building here in 1070 and it has remained in the family ever since right down to Elizabeth II and Prince Harry who both made their homes here.

[19:55:13]

FOSTER: Watch our new series, "The Windsors" as we follow the ups and the downs of this age-old monarchy as they try to remain relevant in this fast moving media driven age.

Max Foster, CNN, in the shadows of Windsor Castle in England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Be sure to tune in tomorrow night when the all new CNN original series "The Windsors: Inside the Royal Dynasty" premieres at 10 Eastern and Pacific here on CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:00:00]