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Democrats Take Aim At Bloomberg As He Rises In National Poll; 14 American Evacuees Test Positive For Coronavirus After Leaving Ship; More Than 1,000 Former Justice Department Officials Now Calling On Attorney General Bill Barr To Resign. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 17, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:24]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are watching CNN. Thank you for being with me on this President's Day in Nevada. Your next -- the third contest in the 2020 Democratic primary.

The Nevada Caucus may not officially take place until this Saturday, but the early voting is in full swing. More than 18,000 people showed up on day one as officials say there could be a record turnout.

Making the rounds in the state today, Senator Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

The last minute pushes coming as these candidates recognizing the high stakes ahead of this weekend sharpened attacks on one another, including Mike Bloomberg and his massive campaign war chest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: $60 billion can buy you a lot of advertising. But it can't erase your record.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've got to answer questions like I just did on my record and he has to do the same thing. I don't think he should be able to hide behind airwaves and huge ad buys.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mike Bloomberg or anybody else that have hundreds of millions of dollars trying to buy an election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: For his part, the former New York City Mayor isn't just targeting President Trump anymore in his new $400 million and counting ad buy, he is going after a fellow Democrat for the first time, targeting the supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: It is vitally important for those of us who hold different views to be able to engage in a civil discourse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's Arlette Saenz is traveling with the Biden campaign. She is in Reno, Nevada and Arlette, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is not counting Joe Biden out despite his poor performances both in Iowa and New Hampshire. So how has Joe Biden tweaked his strategy?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Brooke, Joe Biden is certainly hoping for a bit of a turnaround here in Nevada. You know, he just kicked off his remarks here in Reno, telling voters that it's time that African-American and Latino and diverse voices have their voices heard pointing to both Nevada and South Carolina.

And over the weekend, Biden has really spent a lot of time courting both Latino and African-American voters saying that he believes that he will have stronger support among diverse demographics.

Now, Biden has also been pressing hard on the issue of healthcare. Just a little while ago, he talked about how under his plan, workers will be able to keep their negotiated healthcare plans that they've worked out through their unions. Nevada has a very large labor presence, particularly in Las Vegas.

And you know, the Culinary Workers Union, they declined to endorse a candidate before the caucuses, but they have been quite vocal in their disapproval of Medicare-for-All, saying that they don't think that that is the right approach.

Now, all of the candidates have fans out here over the weekend pushing their supporters to get out an early vote. That early voting started on Saturday, and it extends through Tuesday.

There's been more than 26,000 people who have voted over the weekend in that early voting period and you have Biden here in Reno, Pete Buttigieg was also in here in Reno this morning. Elizabeth Warren was here last night, but someone who is not in the state right now is Bernie Sanders.

He is actually over in California where he'll be holding a rally. He's going to be heading up to Washington State later on, showing just how important the states that come after Nevada and South Carolina and Super Tuesday and beyond, how important that is to candidates as they are certainly making their pushes there as well as here in Nevada.

BALDWIN: Arlette, thank you. Harry Enten is CNN's Senior political writer and analyst who I was channeling --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER AND ANALYST: Top of the afternoon, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Channeling Honest Abe for me. I mean, there's Presidents Day and then there's Harry Enten Presidents Day. What -- you're ditching it?

ENTEN: I'm ditching it.

BALDWIN: Nevada. ENTEN: I've got my thing in.

BALDWIN: Forty eight delegates.

ENTEN: Forty eight delegates.

BALDWIN: Early voting ends tomorrow. Caucus day is Saturday. Talk to me.

ENTEN: Yes, look, you know -- it was spoken about in that last package by Arlette, just how different Nevada is from New Hampshire. We can see this racially, right, so electorate by race, right?

Nationally, Democrats are about 57 percent white, 20 percent African- American, 15 percent Latino. New Hampshire didn't look anything like that, right? Overwhelmingly white, but look at Nevada. Look how much more diverse it is, right?

BALDWIN: It's more of a microcosm of America.

ENTEN: Exactly right. It's not just more of a microcosm of America, it's much more a microcosm of the Democratic Party. So if the prior states really didn't look like the Democratic Party at all, and Joe Biden is hoping to make inroads in with more diverse voters, this is the state in which you could potentially do that.

BALDWIN: Okay. What else you have?

ENTEN: Here. I think this is also important. So let me just give you a sort of an underlying of the land that we sort of have at this point, right?

So these are my odds. It's based off of polling predictiveness in the past and plus the betting markets, and what do we see here?

Bernie Sanders is certainly a favorite in Nevada, right? He has about a 12 in 20 shot of winning, that's about 60 percent. Biden is in second at 3.5 in 20. But I think the key thing here is this 12 in 20 lends you to believe that in fact, a lot of things could still happen in Nevada, right?

This is not an overwhelming favorite. Bernie Sanders is favored, but I would just say that it's not necessarily a dominant favorite.

BALDWIN: Okay.

ENTEN: And, you know, I would just point out that the polling errors in the past, you know, if you were to basically look at the past and you were basically trying to figure out how accurate the polls are, you would say that each person is about plus or minus seven percentage points based upon the polling, so that is a wide margin of error.

So these polls are not perfect in Nevada. It's a caucus. It's very, very difficult to figure out what's exactly going on.

BALDWIN: Your mother let you out of the house with that handwriting? ENTEN: You know what? The fact of the matter is, you can tell it's

seven. But you know what --

BALDWIN: Like, are we playing Hangman? What's happening here?

ENTEN: We're playing hangman. You know, look, it's Presidents Day. I just want to point out that there are a lot of things that can get screwed up.

How the heck do you spell Presidents Day? Look at this.

BALDWIN: I don't know. It's something.

ENTEN: So in Nebraska, look at this, you have the apostrophe here; in Maryland, the apostrophe is at the end. In New Jersey, there is no apostrophe What the heck is going on?

BALDWIN: What's the answer? I would go with option number one.

ENTEN: Maybe, maybe or maybe like there. But you know what? I'm a New Jersey guy. My friend, Vindy Anthones in Jersey, I don't want to mess around with him. So I would go with no apostrophe.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Thank you for schooling us in all of those things Nevada.

ENTEN: I try my best.

BALDWIN: I appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Okay, we are following breaking news on the coronavirus outbreak. Fourteen Americans evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan have tested positive and have now returned to the U.S.

Those passengers were in a larger group of more than 300 U.S. citizens taken off the ship and flown to military bases here in the United States, and so now, they'll be kept in isolation.

So after two weeks of being trapped on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, mixed emotions for these passengers heading back to the states for another two weeks of quarantine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREY MANISCAICO, CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER: They have sent over a dozen e-mails assuring us that there would not be an additional quarantine and they just told us that we'd be re-quarantined for 14 more days. We've just lost a whole month of my life.

GAY COURTER, CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER: I want to go somewhere where I can feel safe, and I just want to thank President Trump and the U.S. government. There's been a lot of silence on this, and now we know silence has been putting together a brilliant plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go to Will Ripley. He is in Yokohama, Japan where more than 99 more people on that cruise ship have tested positive for the coronavirus and Will, at least one American has chosen to remain on the cruise ship rather than evacuate. Tell me some of the stories you're hearing.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it is so interesting, Brooke, to hear different people in the similar situation of the quarantine and yet they have a totally different impression of it. You just heard it in the sound that we played.

Some people feel like they were on the ship that was a floating petri dish. You know, the number of infections has continued to rise every single day. Over the weekend, 67 cases on Saturday; 70 on Sunday, then 99 confirmed overnight, the largest single day jump to date.

And yet, you know, there are others who are on the ship who actually feel perfectly safe. We think that those cases that are being detected now, it's only because the Japanese government has finally decided to test everybody on the ship because before, they were just testing people with a fever.

So Matthew Smith, who we spoke to earlier, says you know, he is staying put.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW SMITH, U.S. PASSENGER ON DIAMOND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP: It is nothing short of a completely surreal experience and I told someone the other day, I thought it was like an episode of "The Twilight Zone" inside an episode of "Outer Limits" in a painting by Salvador Dali because you can't ever imagine anything like this, and you feel light years away from two weeks ago when you were here on a luxury cruise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: And you know, Brooke, as much as people were complaining about being stuck in their cramped cabins, Matthew Smith might be watching the journey that the Americans took and some of them shared the video exclusively with CNN and maybe feeling thankful that he is still there on the ship because it took 10 hours almost just to get people off the boat onto a convoy of buses, and then onto those planes.

And the planes were not a luxury trip home, they were converted cargo 747s with portable toilets and temporary seating, and it was a rough ride for people who now will have to ride out a 14-day additional quarantine period in the United States in military bases either in California or in Texas.

But look, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is saying that if you're on that ship, you do have a higher risk of infection. The data shows that.

And so for the Americans who've chosen to remain either because they're in the hospital being treated or by choice, it's still uncertain what's going to happen next for them.

[14:10:10]

BALDWIN: I cannot even begin to imagine thinking of all of those Americans, non-Americans who have been stuck and are now going to continue to be stuck for some time, but I'm betting that the C.D.C. knows exactly what they're doing and perhaps China will finally actually take their help.

Will Ripley in Japan. Will, thank you.

The epic backlash is growing. More than 1,000 former Justice Department officials now calling on Attorney General Bill Barr to resign after the D.O.J. interferes with Roger Stone's sentencing. We will talk to one of the men who says it's time for Barr to go.

And as Bill Barr takes a closer look at Rudy Giuliani's dirt from Ukraine, Federal prosecutors are now considering new charges for Giuliani's indicted associate, Lev Parnas. We have those new details.

And President Trump's campaign manager tweets this picture of Air Force One over the Daytona 500. Have you seen this? So then, he deletes it. We have the whole backstory on why.

You're watching CNN on this Presidents Day Monday. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:26]

BALDWIN: Condemnation of the U.S. Attorney General is coming from some of those who know the Department of Justice best. Hundreds of its former prosecutors and staffers, including one who worked at the D.O.J. for 44 years.

At latest count, these 1,142 alumni as they've been calling themselves have signed this letter calling for Bill Barr's resignation for his interference and the sentencing of the President's friend, Roger Stone which the signers their names scrolling here on your screen, say it's just the latest example of Bill Barr doing "the President's personal bidding."

And you remember last week, four career prosecutors withdrew from Stone's case after senior Justice officials revised that sentencing recommendation initially calling for seven to nine years. They then revised it for less time than was proposed.

The Stone sentencing is later this week and tomorrow the judge has set a scheduling conference call and Gene Rossi is a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Gene, you signed that later; I told you we'd have you back, and here we are.

I mean, you flat out admit that it's not very likely that Bill Barr is just going to resign. So what are you hoping to achieve here?

GENE ROSSI, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA: History, history, history and to send a message to the American people that the Department of Justice -- you had a segment on the coronavirus -- the Department of Justice -- and I'm being somewhat facetious -- has a virus of its own called EBTD, Everything Barr Touches Dies.

And the Stone sentencing is one symptom of that virus. I've got to tell you this, I've never been more proud than when I signed that letter in May of last year after the Mueller report with about a thousand prosecutors, and I'm equally proud to sign this letter. And here's why, Brooke.

I just met Don Ayer. Don Ayer also signed that letter and why is he important? John Ayer was a U.S. Attorney, a Deputy Solicitor General, and the Deputy Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan and under President George Herbert Walker Bush. He supervised Bill Barr.

And he wrote an article in "The Atlantic" I think about a week ago or a couple of days ago, and these are his words, Brooke, not mine. He said it is not too strong to say that Bill Barr is un-American.

Now, here is the reason why he said that and I agree with his thinking and his logic. Bill Barr has decimated the esprit de corps and the rule of law in a Department of Justice and it's not just the Stone backtracking which was disgraceful, because he reacted to a tweet by the President, it's what he did whitewashing the Mueller report. It's what he did that there was spying by the F.B.I. and the C.I.A.

He is now opening up a reevaluation of the Michael Flynn guilty plea. Come on. He is destroying the esprit de corps and the fabric of the Justice Department, which is this -- to look at a case fairly and impartially and regardless of whether you are an R, a D or an Independent, if you have broken the law, no one is above the law, including the President of the United States.

BALDWIN: I hear you, Gene. Let me go through some of the specifics for people who aren't as familiar with this letter. I hear your reasoning, but it also includes specific asks for those within the Department of Justice to report abuses to the I.G., to refuse to carry directives inconsistent with their oaths of office, to withdraw from cases involved in such directives, to resign and to report publicly the reasons for the resignation.

I'm curious, Gene, do you feel -- do you think prosecutors feel more empowered? You know, especially given your signature and these thousand plus signatures here, you know, they have the strength of their backs or are they less prone to speak out in light of everything that's been happening over the last week and even months?

ROSSI: I've got two parts to my answer, Brooke, that's a great question. One, they are still fearful of retribution. But two, I do think, and I'm not powerful, but I feel empowered that I signed the letter, there are much more powerful people.

But here's what that letter does, and you had a good point on that letter. It encourages people to speak out.

In July of 1997, I voted for Bill Clinton twice. But there were two high level political appointees that I thought did wrong -- did very wrong, and I reported them to the Office of Professional Responsibility, which was started by Ed Levi, the Attorney General under Gerald Ford, and I took wholly H.E. double hockey sticks for doing that and I hope that letter encourages line and career prosecutors not to be afraid and call out what they think is political and undue pressure in the administration of justice.

[14:20:23]

BALDWIN: So if you are a prosecutor, let's say currently at D.O.J. and you're being asked to listen to say, Giuliani on Ukraine or reexamining Flynn to your point, and you want to keep your job, but you also believe in a sense of justice. I mean, I hear you laugh, but what do you do?

ROSSI: Well, I'm not I'm not laughing at your question. What you have to do is -- if you feel strongly about a case; one, you have to make a memo to the file. You have to memorialize your thoughts and what you're thinking.

Number two, you have to send a sealed confidential complaint to the Office of Inspector General or to the Office of Professional Responsibility.

And three, you have to send it to your supervisors. But you have to make a record.

Because if you make an allegation and you don't have it in writing, you're going to be in trouble.

And the fourth thing is, if you sense that anybody is retaliating against you, you have to get a lawyer. Frankly, you have to get a lawyer and enforce the whistleblower protections and the civil service firms to protect your life and your career.

BALDWIN: Gene Rossi, thank you for coming back on and for explaining why you are one of so many wanting to sign that letter. Appreciate you.

ROSSI: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Back to 2020, all eyes on Nevada as the candidates prepare for the next big contest this upcoming weekend.

Former Vice President Joe Biden hoping for a strong showing after less than stellar results in Iowa and New Hampshire, one of his biggest supporters in Nevada joins me next, live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:39]

BALDWIN: The Nevada Democratic Caucus is a mere five days away and the party leadership is hoping Saturday's strong early voter turnout is a great sign, and so does former Vice President Joe Biden.

He is banking on the state's diverse base to deliver the campaign boost he needs. But will it be enough?

Going into this Saturday's caucus, Biden is running second to Senator Bernie Sanders nationally in this new Quinnipiac University poll, local polling data also suggests Sanders is leading Biden 25 to 18 percent.

Just over the weekend, the former Vice President making a big push to Nevada's African-American voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: The racists are now no longer wearing police overall -- you, know, they are not the Bull Connors. They are not in overalls. They are wearing fine suits and they are living in the White House.

This is a chance for African-Americans in the United States to make history again in a way we haven't made before.

The power to determine who the next President of the United States is going to be is in your hands, and it's going to mean you're going to have a great deal of influence no matter who you pick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Selena Torres is a Nevada Democratic State Assemblywoman and she is with me. Assemblywoman Torres, welcome.

SELENA TORRES (D), NEVADA STATE ASSEMBLYWOMAN: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Not just black voters, Latino voters that comprise 19 percent of the electorate. You tell me why do you think Joe Biden is the best candidate?

TORRES: You know, I think that Vice President Joe Biden is the best candidate for President in this election because Vice President Joe Biden has consistently stood with communities like mine to ensure that our voices are heard.

It's not something new. It's not something that started in the 2016 election or back in 2012. Vice President Joe Biden, as a senator stood with communities of color like mine, and continues to stand with communities of color and ensure that we have strong educational proposals, health proposals and immigration proposals.

BALDWIN: You know, better than anyone though, you know, the union effect. Nevada has this powerful culinary and heavily Latino union. They've had this long standing relationship with the former Vice President, but this union opted this go around not to endorse any of the candidates, which is a blow to Joe Biden. How does he overcome that?

TORRES: You know, I think that the Vice President Biden's campaign is committed to ensuring that all communities have a voice, and I don't think that this endorsement is going to hurt our campaign.

In fact, I think it just reminds our union members that then we have to get out and vote.

When I'm on the ground, and I'm talking to my union brothers and sisters, I'm hearing positive things about Vice President Biden and his campaign and the work he has done.

We all know as union members that Vice President Biden has consistently stood with us, and we are not -- we are going to be loud in supporting him this election when we look at Saturday.

BALDWIN: But you would have liked that endorsement had they endorsed your candidate?

TORRES: I'm sorry?

BALDWIN: You would have liked that endorsement, though, had the culinary union, you know, said yes to Joe Biden.

TORRES: Of course.

BALDWIN: Yes, of course.

TORRES: We have a lot of other strong leaders supporting him.

BALDWIN: We saw the former Vice President's disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire and I know Nevada and South Carolina ahead look very different in terms of diversity which Biden is sort of banking on, but if he doesn't come in first or second in Nevada and South Carolina, how does his candidacy survive?

[14:30:09]