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Biden Looks for Nevada Win; Civilians Flee Syrian's War; Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) is Interviewed about Biden. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired February 17, 2020 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Should not expect to get full and final results on Saturday.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Buckle up once again. At least -- at least you've warned us at this point, Errol.

As we look at what's going to happen in Nevada, as we know, former Vice President Biden has put so much of his attention and his efforts in South Carolina, of course, heading there the day of the New Hampshire primary late in the day. But Nevada is going to be really important here, Susan. So if he does not finish well in Nevada, does South Carolina even matter?

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": Well, South Carolina still matters. It's the first state that has a really sizable African- American population in the electorate. But Nevada would be one more blow, I think, to Joe Biden, who has said at one point he might possibly win in Nevada, who has touted Nevada as a state with the kind of more diverse population, with a lot of Latino voters, that he says he'll do better in. You know, if -- it will just be one more wound for Joe Biden heading into South Carolina, raising questions about his viability.

And you see the attention now really focused on Sanders, who see -- you've got -- is getting huge crowds in Nevada, who benefited from the decision by the Culinary Workers Union not to endorse and who seems to be headed possibly towards another big win there.

HILL: It will be interesting to see how that all plays out.

It's fascinating, too, as we watch this because there is more and more talk, of course, about Michael Bloomberg, who has spent $400 million at this point.

But, Errol, can we really have a sense of the race until he's actually part of it?

LOUIS: No is the short answer. I mean I'm down here in Florida, Erica, where Michael Bloomberg recently polled first. One point past Joe Biden in a poll. Because he's doing things all over the country. He's advertising heavily in Texas, in California, in North Carolina. And while we've got, you know, 22, 23 delegates apiece for Sanders and Buttigieg at this point, there are going to be 1300 -- over 1300 at stake on March 3rd in states where many of these candidates have barely begun to advertise, but Michael Bloomberg has been advertising heavily.

So I wouldn't anoint a frontrunner just yet, in part because there is a half billion dollars out there floating around, hundreds and hundreds of volunteers on the ground in all of these different states. And it -- the polls are suggesting that. It's starting to take effect.

HILL: Susan, Michael Bloomberg is also having to deal with his record and things coming back that he's got to deal with. His comments on stop and frisk. His comments on redlining. And also these comments that have been out there, we should point out, floating around for some time, but coming back up again in this "Washington Post" article about the culture at his company, at Bloomberg, how he allegedly treated pregnant women, how he dealt with women and this toxic culture. All of this is over the weekend he said we vowed we would always be a champion for women in the workplace.

What does he need to do in terms of really addressing that head on?

PAGE: You know, in a typical year you would think that this would be disqualifying for a Democratic presidential candidate, who, by the way, used to be a Republican. But this is a year kind of like no other. And the thing that is, I think, helping Bloomberg as he goes through this very predictable stage of scrutiny for things he's said and done in the past, especially as mayor of New York, the thing that is sustaining him is the idea of some Democrats is maybe he's the guy who can defeat Donald Trump. And that is a concern that is overriding some of the traditional factors that might have made it impossible to imagine that Michael Bloomberg could win the nomination this year.

HILL: Susan Page, Errol Louis, good to talk with you both. Thank you.

LOUIS: Thank you.

HILL: It is a big night on CNN. Five presidential town halls. Sanders, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Biden, and Warren, all live in Los Vegas ahead of the next critical vote. And you can watch five back-to-back town halls starting tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern only on CNN.

There is a dire warning from Syria where nearly a million refugees are facing freezing weather, escalating violence. And we have a closer look at this humanitarian crisis, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:38:37]

HILL: Turning to the crisis in Syria. Thousands of families are trapped as Syrian government forces intensify their attacks on rebels. Since December, the fighting has forced more than 850,000 people, mostly women and children, to leave their homes in the dead of winter.

Arwa Damon is the only western journalist reporting from inside Syria and she brings us this heartbreaking story. I do want to warn you, this report contains disturbing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There is barely enough light to see as we head towards Samia's (ph) tent, in one of Idlib's sprawling camps. A couple nights ago, temperatures dropped well below zero and the family didn't have enough to burn.

I fed my baby and he went to sleep, Samia tells us, still in shock. At 6:36, the children woke me up screening. I touched him and he was icy. The doctors told them he froze to death.

Her husband walks out before he breaks down. She doesn't have a photograph of Abdel Wahab (ph) alive, just this image as they said their final good-byes.

She can't forgive herself. She can't understand how life can be so cruel. Few people here can.

We have made multiple trips into Idlib province. None like this.

[09:40:04]

Roads throughout the province are clogged with the traffic of those on the run. Unending waves.

Many have been displaced multiple times before, but this time it's different. They feel like no matter what they do, they won't be able to outrun the war.

These children walked for seven hours in the middle of the night to get away from the bombing near their village. But it's not far enough.

DAMON (on camera): They want to leave from here, but they -- they need to try to figure out transport or something, because if they try to go walk, it would just be impossible.

DAMON (voice over): Down the road, Deema (ph) and Butulic (ph) clutch their stuffed animal for the last time. For theirs is a world where toys are not considered essential. Survival is. They don't cry or complain as they are loaded into the truck.

There is a sense of finality, claustrophobia, compounded by the collective misery of those trapped here, with their regime rapidly closing in and emptying out entire areas.

One village settled down among these third century ruins two weeks ago. A little boy shows us a picture in his father's phone of the bombing overnight.

DAMON (on camera): This is Muhan Ned (ph) and he's 10 and he said that he was very scared the last night because this entire area, the hillsides, all around it were being bombed.

DAMON (voice over): They almost took off walking in the dark.

I would rather die than not be able to protect my children, Safed Dem (ph) vows.

He used to be the village's elementary school director. His tent is considered a palace by this wretched existence's standards.

DAMON (on camera): Two of his kids have fallen over into the stove. Oh, and her face -- her face was burned.

DAMON (voice over): His children are too young to know anything but war and hardship.

Let Trump get a bit angry and send a couple tomahawks, Safed Dem says, half joking. For those here know too well that in the world's view they are dispensable. The last nine years have taught them that.

Obet's (ph) tent is perched on a hilltop away from the countless other makeshift camps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator); Warning! Russian fighter jets in the air.

DAMON: Our conversation is broken up by warnings from an app he has on his phone about where the planes are flying and bombing.

His elderly mother lies in the corner. She's been that way ever since they found out that his brother died in a regime prison. And the regime is getting closer.

DAMON (on camera): Yes, you can hear that.

This is his brother who was detained in 2012 when he was part of the protests. And then, in 2015, they got notification that he was dead.

This is the photograph they got of him dead in prison.

DAMON (voice over): All I have is this photo. Just this memory, he says, haunted by his pain. Even if the regime tried to reconcile, it's impossible, he swears. You can't trust them.

Nothing in this forsaken place in guaranteed. Gone is the schoolyard laughter and crowded classrooms. They have been converted into shelters and smoke-filled living spaces. But even as new families arrive, some of those here are getting ready to flee again.

Safed Dem, who we met at the camp in the ruins, sends me a distressing voice message.

DAMON (on camera): He's saying that the bombing was all around them overnight and that the aircraft are flying over the camps.

DAMON (voice over): When we arrive, the sounds of the violence closing in echo through the hills. Safed Dem's children are playing in the mud, seemingly oblivious to the encroaching danger, or just used to it.

DAMON (on camera): They've called for a truck, but they're being told that there's no one who can come here that quickly because it's so -- the roads are so crowded and clogged up with other people fleeing.

DAMON (voice over): Those who manage to get transport are packing up. They still cling to a hope that someone, something will save them. That the world will realize it can no longer turn away. That they won't be abandoned to desperately search for a lifeline that doesn't exist.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Idlib province, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[09:45:02]

HILL: Our thanks again to Arwa for that report and her team.

And we will continue to follow the situation in Syria.

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: The Biden campaign has put a ton of chips in, of course, on South Carolina. Without a successful showing in Nevada, though, there are questions about the former vice president's run for the White House and whether it could be in jeopardy.

Joining me now is Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada, who has endorsed the former vice president. She also serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congresswoman, good to have you with us this morning.

REP. DINA TITUS (D-NV): Thank you.

HILL: We know there's been a little bit of a struggle -- a little bit of a struggle for the former vice president in early states.

[09:50:00]

Here's what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Now, as someone who has endorsed Joe Biden, I know that you believe in his candidacy. That being said, is Nevada make or break at this point in terms of a showing?

TITUS: Well, we're very excited about what's happening here in Nevada. We've had really high turnout in the early voting days leading up to our caucus. I've been going around with the vice president. He got a standing ovation yesterday at a forum on infrastructure. He was crowded by culinary workers when we did a back of the House tour, one of the big hotels. And he stole the show at the event we had first in the west dinner here in Clark County.

HILL: So you're feeling good about it. I know you actually campaigned for him as well in Iowa and in New Hampshire. You've said that you believe it's the diversity of your state that will really help the former vice president. What's different for you in the voters that you talked to in your home state versus folks in Iowa and New Hampshire, as you were trying to get them out there for Joe Biden?

TITUS: Well, Nevada is much more like the face of the nation. I represent one of the most diverse districts in the country. You have a large Hispanic population, large and fast growing Asian Pacific island population. We've got veterans here and military families. We've got old and young people who have retired here, people at the university, African-American population, that's the broad coalition that Joe Biden can put together. And that's what the Democratic Party needs to win. And that's why Nevada's key. And we should probably go first and not third.

HILL: So you would like to go first. Listen, there are a lot of questions and I know that you said, and I am quoting you directly here, I'm worried, calling Iowa a disaster. You told -- you told the Nevada independent you were worried just last week. And you said specifically that you were concerned that there were not enough people to ensure the caucuses would function as intended and also you were concerned that voters may be getting confused by the outreach efforts.

Do you still feel that way?

TITUS: Well, I'm encouraged by the fact that the party has tried to be more transparent. They have had several meetings with the different campaigns. It went smoothly at early voting. I visited several sites. People had to stand in line a couple of hours some places, but they didn't mind because they know so much is at stake they want to participate.

I am still encouraging people to vote early. Then there will be several days to count that vote.

We learned from Iowa. We're not using that app and we put more people in place. So I think it's going to be a record year.

HILL: So in terms of not using the app, as you point out, instead, volunteers are being trained on what's called a caucus calculator. Seth Morrison, who's a site lead for multiple precincts in the state, told CNN, quote, there was no training on the tool, because they're still working on it. We've had a lot of training in how the process works, but no training on the tool, how we get the voting data, how we get results to the party Saturday night. All they have said on the tool and calculation site is, trust us, we've got it well in hand.

Are iPads and Google forums you feel the best way to handle this caucus? TITUS: Well, some of them are doing it by hand and signing people in

using the old-fashioned pencil. That may be the best way to go.

But we are confident that people are going to be counted. They are turning out. If they didn't think this was going to be transparent or fair, they would be staying home. So we feel like we'll make it work.

And transparency is really the key. And so we've expanded our caucus with these early days to bring more people into the process. And if it takes a little more work and a little extra time, I think it's worth it to provide that accessibility.

HILL: In terms of the folks that you met, even in just the last few days, when you were out there with the former vice president, how many of them brought up concerns about the caucus process, about what they saw in Iowa, and whether their votes would in fact be counted in this caucus in their state?

TITUS: Well, people in Nevada don't care much about what happened in Iowa. They think that they can do it better.

And we handed out doughnuts, handed out water to people who were standing in line and they are so determined to get rid of Donald Trump, they are willing to stand in line. I think the enthusiasm shown by Democrats that this president has got to go is reflective in that patience.

HILL: And do you feel that that is the number one criteria from people that you spoke with, that it's not about the candidate themself in terms of what they stand for, but it's whether or not the candidates that they are backing can beat President Trump?

TITUS: Well, that's certainly a number one factor and that's one of the reasons that I'm supporting Joe Biden.

[09:55:03]

I think he's best positioned to beat Trump. He can draw the greatest contrast with his intellect and his experience and he can put together that broad coalition that the Democratic Party needs to bring it home in November.

HILL: Congressman Dina Titus, I appreciate you joining us today. Thank you.

TITUS: Thank you.

More than a dozen Americans infected with the coronavirus have now returned to the United States, along with 300 other passengers. They all came from the same ship where they'd been quarantined. And now they're all going to spend another two weeks in quarantine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Good morning. I'm Erica Hill, in for Poppy and Jim. Welcome to this special edition of CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin this hour with breaking news.

Fourteen Americans have now tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

[10:00:02]

That is after they were evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. Those passengers were part of a larger group of more than -