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Ex-Bloomberg Aide Says He Should Skip Nevada Debate; Bloomberg Qualifies for Debate and Will Face Off with Rivals; Bolton Accuses White House of Censoring His Upcoming Book; Amazon's CEO Commits $10 Billion to Fight Climate Crisis; 500,000 Plus Children Displaced Since December Are in a Humanitarian Horror in Syria. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 18, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

ARICK WIERSON, CNN OPINION COLUMNIST: Well, he's obviously going to do the debate so I think that's something of the past, but I think that I would have recommended that he stay off the debate stage. He's going to have a big target on his back. Everybody is going to be gunning for Mike Bloomberg. Expect to see a lot of fireworks. But I think that Mike's going to be well-prepared. I think he's going to hold his own.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Why is it fair that Bloomberg gets to stay off the national stage -- I mean, he won't, but had he, you know, why would it be fair for him to pass and avoid tough questions until after the votes?

WIERSON: Well, I don't think it would be -- I think my argument was that, you know, this is really a debate for the Democrats that are voting in Nevada, and since he's not really going to be part of the caucuses in Nevada that that might be confusing. So I thought that might be the rationale. But he's decided he's going to face his competitors. He's going to face the opposition, mano a mano, and I think he's going to be ready.

BALDWIN: You also point out though, and I'm quoting you, Bloomberg is not exactly a warm and fuzzy guy. He has a good sense of humor, but it's dry and a bit racy meaning it rarely comes out in a public forum. So that in the back of my head, let me play this clip from his 2005 mayoral race against Fernando Ferrer. This is when Bloomberg was running for re-election as a Republican and the President at the time was George W. Bush. Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FERNANDO FERRER (D), FORMER CANDIDATE FOR NEW YORK MAYOR: Let's talk about Michael Bloomberg's support of the party and the President, whose policies have hurt this city?

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R) FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: Not on this policy, I didn't. FERRER: Well, you know, you have supported right wing politicians

including the chairman of your own campaign, Mike, who voted for that disgraceful piece of legislation. You gave them money.

BLOOMBERG: I couldn't agree more, Freddie.

FERRER: You gave them money. Excuse me a second. You gave them money, Mike. And you can't have it both ways. You can't disclaim responsibilities for the policies you politically and financially support.

BLOOMBERG: I am good to go and fight for the city, Freddy, and I can't have everybody in Washington vote for everything I'd like. I wish they would, but they don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What did you make of that clip, and to your point about his dry, you know, drier wit. How is he on style in your opinion?

WIERSON: Well, look, here's the thing. You know, Michael Bloomberg, he's been fully vetted by the people of New York. He was Mayor for 12 years of the world's most important city. There's really not a Republican or a Democratic way to run New York City. Everyone has to pick up the garbage whether you're a Republican or Democrat.

I think that the clip you played there shows that Mike can get a little bit irritated. He can be a little bit hot under the collar. I think if he's able to keep that in check, he's able to get in some good jabs, I think he's going to come out OK. I mean, at the end of the day about a million people are going to watch this debate but tens of millions are going probably see the highlight reel.

I think that as far -- as long as he's able to sort of defend himself, get in a few jabs here or there, he's going to come out OK.

BALDWIN: Arick, you were his chief media adviser at city hall, what is his biggest weakness in these debate settings specifically?

WIERSON: I think that he's the most cerebral of the candidates. He's obviously the smartest guy. He's been the most successful, and I think that sometimes it's hard talking about yourself. You know, when you've accomplished as much as Michael Bloomberg has accomplished, we tend to downplay that.

You want to come across as humble. But at the end of the day, I really think that this -- you know, Michael Bloomberg represents the Democratic Party's best chance to take out Donald Trump in 2020. I think that it's really a two-man race as far as I'm concerned.

BALDWIN: Outside of attacking President Trump on that debate stage, though, if you were advising him ahead of tomorrow, which Democratic candidate do you think he should focus his attacks on?

WIERSON: I think he needs to contrast himself with Bernie Sanders. As far as I'm concerned, it's a two-person race. It's Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg. I think there's going to be a lot of noise. There's going to be the Bidens and the Klobuchars and the Pete Buttigiegs, they're going to try and get their shots in. But I really think that Mike needs to stay above the fray.

I think he doesn't need to lower himself to the mayor of Mayberry. I don't think he needs to sort of talk about the differences between Joe Biden who's been running for President for thirty years. I think he just needs to take on the real differences between him and Bernie Sanders.

BALDWIN: Arick Wierson, thank you, again. That is tomorrow night. But tune in this evening on CNN, the first of five CNN Town Halls. Sanders, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar take the stage this evening with one hour each, and then Thursday it's Biden and Warren. That starts at 8:00 Eastern live from Las Vegas.

Back to our breaking news today, President Trump is granting pardons and commutations to some of the most notorious political figures of the past few decades, including former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

And the President's former National Security Adviser John Bolton refusing to release any new details about his upcoming tell-all in a speaking appearance, but he is accusing the White House of trying to censor his book. Stand by.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Former National Security Adviser John Bolton is speaking out publicly for the first time since President Trump's impeachment trial ended. Passages of Bolton's book leaked during the trial in which he alleges the President directed him to help with his pressure campaign against Ukraine to dig up dirt on Democrats.

And so during his speech a Duke University, Bolton talked about his book but said that he worries it will be censored by the White House, and now there are calls from the public to boycott Bolton's book if and when it is released. CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood is with me. And Kylie, was he just giving the speech to sell his book?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, he definitely didn't hide the fact that he has a book to sell, right.

[15:40:03]

He talked specifically about the fact that he hopes his book is not suppressed. He said that there are parts that have to do with Ukraine, obviously. That is the main question here. What does he know about President Trump's policy decisions on Ukraine that others don't know?

And he said that the parts on Ukraine are essentially sprinkles on an ice cream sundae, but also said we'll have to see what happens with censorship. So as you said there, Brooke, indicating that the White House is censoring what Bolton has to say.

Now, of course the White House has said actually, there's classified material in the manuscript as it stands now, and they fired back today saying it is ridiculous to assert that the White House is trying to censor John Bolton's book and that they are just going through with traditional protocol here. Making sure that there's not classified material that leaks out. But Bolton made it very clear that he wants it to be released as soon as possible.

BALDWIN: What's the White House saying?

ATWOOD: Yes, the White House said today, no, we are not censoring it. We are going through this protocol. We are reviewing all elements of it, because they said, essentially, if this classified material gets out it could harm Americans. So this is something that they traditionally do with all former officials who write about their time when they were in the U.S. government. Especially when they were in the White House dealing with the decisions of the President.

Now, the other thing that Bolton did was reiterate some of his criticisms of President Trump and his foreign policy agenda on Iran and North Korea. Specifically on North Korea saying that the past two years were two years that were wasted. And that North Korea was able to continue working on its nuclear program while the U.S. got nothing out of it because there was no indication that North Korea was ever going to give up its nuclear weapons.

BALDWIN: All right, Kylie, thank you.

Coming up next, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos shelling out $10 billion from his own pocket to fight the climate crisis, where the money for his New Earth Fund will go.

And CNN is on the ground in Syria where the U.N. says the greatest humanitarian horror story of the century is currently playing out. Please don't miss this. We'll show you the dire conditions that a half a million children are enduring right now.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Amazon chief Jeff Bezos is investing his own money to the fight of climate change. He just committed on Instagram to a whopping $10 billion to address the crisis with creation of the Bezos Earth Fund. His Amazon employees have been publicly pressuring him to do something proactive. Bezos said that the fund will back scientists, activists and organizations working to preserve the planet.

With me now, Bill Weir, CNN's chief climate correspondent is with me and 10 billion. That's a lot of zeros.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: That's a lot to you and me.

BALDWIN: It's a great cause. What made him do this? WEIR: Pressure from his own employees and from the rest of the world

and from consumers who are realizing that this is the biggest story in the world and we won't be ordering toothbrushes from China through Amazon unless we have a goldilocks climate at the end of this century.

It's interesting, there is a group called the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice. And hundreds of them walked out last fall on one of the climate strikes. And to get in front of that the day before, Bezos said, well, we are going to adhere to the climate -- Paris Climate Accord goals, but that is a pittance compared to what this company really could do.

Just to put it in perspective, he's worth 130 billion, what he is promising is about less than 8 percent, that's the equivalent of a median American of his age giving about $14,000.

Meanwhile, somebody like Bill Gates who is number two on the list worth 30 billion less has given 40 billion into causes like this, not just disease eradication but new energy solutions, and that's the big question, is it's very nebulous, where will the money go?

BALDWIN: That's my next question. Where does $10 billion get you in this fight, and what kind of impact would it have?

WEIR: Well, that's -- I mean there are plenty of NGOs out there planting trees and trying to get clean cook stoves for families of India, and they could use every cent they could get, absolutely.

But planting trees is not going to get us out of this. It's all about getting off of carbon yesterday, and many of his employees point out that Amazon Web Services, their cloud computing, they work with fossil fuel industries to find new pockets of oil and gas faster at a time when science is saying we can't afford to burn the stuff we already know about. And that's not to mention all the ships and trucks, and planes it takes to get our toothbrushes onto our doorstep.

So if he was able to harness the power of that company, Amazon is the only retail company that doesn't participate in what's called the carbon disclosure project, and this is, you know, how you get A's, B's, and C's at restaurants.

BALDWIN: Sure, sure.

WEIR: They give these grades to companies based on damage they're doing to the planet.

BALDWIN: And they can't even grade Amazon because they're not --

WEIR: They're not even playing ball. They give A's to Walmart and Microsoft, again, Bill Gates' company, which not only vows to be carbon negative by 2030 but by 2050 they vow to remove all the carbon they've ever burned since 1975 since the company you know -- because they're going to come up with machines to suck this stuff out of the sky. Because that's the race, stopping the stuff we're putting up there and pulling down what's already there.

[15:50:00]

And a company like this to whom much is given, much is expected.

BALDWIN: Got two more minutes with you.

WEIR: Yes.

BALDWIN: You've travelled the world and you know in terms of, you know, no carbon footprint other than planting the trees. Where else is the need the greatest?

WEIR: This is the space, right. So we all think about, well, maybe I should change the lightbulbs or take the bus or take the train instead of flying, and that's good. Everybody should, and all of the experts say that we should all be conscious of the fact that our little decisions add up in big ways.

But if you look at their financial disclosures, there investing about one or 2 percent into those low impact ideas. 90 percent is chasing more or I guess, that's the way our economy is set up. So it is the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced is to get off of that.

But the conversation among citizens and consumers is driving these sorts of things. You are seeing almost an airline a day is saying we promise to figure out a new path forward.

BALDWIN: Yes.

WEIR: And so it's -- and politics is always lags the popular culture in that way. But I think that this is another sort of crack in the wall. And it's interesting even the companies that do get A's on their disclosure and their efforts and oftentimes, they're lobbying against any sort of carbon tax. Which would put a cost on how much you burn, and who knows how this election might change that conversation.

BALDWIN: Sure, it might. I think that my takeaway is $10 billion is a lot of money.

WEIR: It is, yes.

BALDWIN: But he's got some work to do. Bill Weir, thank you very much.

WEIR: My pleasure, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

We of course keeping on our breaking news this afternoon. Out of the White House where President Trump has granted the string of pardons and commutations just two days before his longtime adviser Roger Stone is about to be sentenced for obstructing justice among other things. So, is today's announcement a signal to his old friend?

We'll be right back.

[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: U.N. officials are sounding the alarm on what they call the biggest humanitarian horror story of the 21st century. It comes as the Syrian regime has unleashed a brutal escalation of violence over the past few months leaving 900,000 people displaces and more than half of them are children.

CNN's Arwa Damon is one of the few Western journalists who has been in Idlib province in recent days. And she now reports from just across the border in Turkey that many of the Syrians are afraid of a widespread massacre by their own government.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The numbers of those displace, those trying to outrun the encroaching war and violence are jumping dramatically by the day and 60 percent of them are children. Right now, we are talking about more than half a million children who have been displaced since December. There is not enough humanitarian assistance. The scale of this crisis is by far greater than what humanitarian organizations are able to supply. Temperatures are freezing.

And every day the Assad regime is gaining even more ground despite statements being made by Turkey warning Bashar al-Assad's forces to move back to that previously agreed upon demarcation line, that was meant in theory some two days ago to create what was supposed to be a de-escalation zone inside of Idlib.

Listen to words of what the UN's Humanitarian Emergency Coordinator said talking about what's happening inside. He called it the biggest humanitarian horror story of the 21st century.

It's not just the violence that the people are fleeing from, they are also deathly afraid of being surrounded by the regime's forces. They are afraid of a widespread massacre. They are afraid of being detained by the regime forces and disappearing into the regime's prison system.

They are afraid of the regime moving in and cutting off the roads that lead to the border crossings with Turkey, not because the Turkish border is empty, but because they know that what humanitarian supplies are able to move in, are moving in from the two vital border crossings.

They're afraid of the cold, of the children getting sick. There's not enough hospitals. There's not enough medical facilities. They, too, are being bombed, are under fire and are being forced to shut down as this regime is continuing with this ground offensive. And of course being backed by the Russians, especially by the Russian air power.

People inside asked us time and time again where are we supposed to run, now that there is nowhere truly safe to go to.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Hatay, Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Arwa, thank you for shining the light on all of these, you know, children. If you'd like to help people in Syria, CNN has a list of vetted organizations working on the ground there. You can find that list, just go to CNN.com/impact.

I'm Brooke Baldwin and thank you for being here.