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Allegations Of Misogynistic And Sexist Comments Loom Over Bloomberg's First Debate; Source Says, Barr Considered Resigning Over Trump's Tweets. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired February 19, 2020 - 10:00   ET

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

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: All right, top of the hour. Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

Just hours ahead of the first debate, his first debate in the 2020 race, we're learning more about Michael Bloomberg's alleged history of misogynistic sexist comments. We have stunning new details, but this isn't the only controversy to hit the former New York City mayor.

HARLOW: And while Bloomberg is expected to take a lot of heat tonight on the debate stage, Senator Bernie Sanders is on fire in new national polls with just three days until the Nevada caucuses. Sanders now leads by double digits in CNN's poll of polls.

But, first, let's begin with new important reporting from our colleague M.J. Lee.

And, M.J., you have taken a deep dive into these lawsuits and complaints against the former mayor.

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. And we know that tonight, Michael Bloomberg is about to face one of the biggest political tests of his career. The fact that he is going to be taking the stage with the other 2020 Democratic rivals for the first time and likely to get tough questions from the moderators and criticism from his Democratic rivals on stage as well, and we know from our reporting that the campaign is expecting that, right? They know that he is going to be questioned on a wide range of policy positions, his record as former New York City mayor.

But another thing they are preparing for as well, according to conversations we've had, are the allegations that have been leveled against him over the decades that he has been a public figure, a businessman and mayor of making sexist and misogynistic remarks. And there are two lawsuits in Particular from the 1990s that CNN examined, and these are two lawsuits that have garnered the attention of other media outlets as well that paint a picture of what the work environment was like at Bloomberg L.P. This is the company, of course, that Michael Bloomberg founded.

And one lawsuit in particular, I want to discuss in detail, it was brought by a woman named Sekiko Garrison. She is a former Bloomberg L.P. employee. And she describes in her complaint in this lawsuit a culture of misogyny and sexism in the workplace. And this is a detail from when she said she informed Bloomberg herself that she was pregnant.

This is what the complaint says about that exchange. It says that the plaintiff, so this is Garrison, asked Bloomberg to repeat himself and again he said kill it and muttered great, number 16, suggesting to plaintiff his unhappiness that 16 women in the company had maternity- related status, and then the complaint says that he then walked away.

And I want to be very clear that the Bloomberg campaign says with regard to this specific lawsuit that Bloomberg never said anything that is detailed in this lawsuit. So, again, I just want to be clear that that is the campaign's official response.

Now, in addition to this Garrison lawsuit, there is another lawsuit that CNN examined as well brought by a woman named Mary Ann Olszewski. And together, these two lawsuits paint a picture of a workplace environment at Bloomberg L.P. where there were crude and crass remarks that were frequently made by male employees, including Bloomberg himself. And they describe sort of a culture where this kind of environment was fostered by many of the men in the office, but, again, Bloomberg himself.

And I want to note that CNN also spoke with a former Bloomberg L.P. employee, and they also described the sexism and misogyny and that kind of sort of environment that are described in these two lawsuits that we're talking about. And I just want to read a part of that interview that we had with that former Bloomberg L.P. employee. They said when you're a woman who worked at Bloomberg, you have to look beautiful, you have to be gorgeous. If you were overweight, they would call you horrible names. It's mean stuff.

Now, I think it's very important for us to reflect what the campaign's response has been to these kinds of allegations. So I want to read a statement -- a part of a statement that was given to us by the campaign chairwoman, Patti Harris.

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She says, in any large organization, there are going to be complaints. But Mike has never tolerated any kind of discrimination or harassment, and he has created cultures that are all about equality and inclusion. Anyone who works hard and performs well is going to be rewarded regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation or anything else.

So a lot to digest here, guys. But the point is that when Michael Bloomberg, again, takes the 2020 debate stage for the first time tonight here in Las Vegas, he is expected to get a lot of incoming and one of those issues could very likely be these kinds of allegations that have been leveled against him over the decades of making sexist and misogynistic remarks. Guys? HARLOW: Yes. M.J., thank you for doing the reporting and the deep dive. Stay right there.

These allegations were surfacing just hours ahead of his first presidential debate. How is he going to respond to the questions?

SCIUTTO: CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Las Vegas this morning.

As we know, Michael Bloomberg, he prepares, he knows he's been preparing for these debates. How are they prepared to answer these questions?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael Bloomberg's team is aware that he will become the focus of tonight's debate. This is a moment that a lot of those Democrats have been waiting for, to be able to take on Michael Bloomberg face-to-face and directly issue some potential criticism against him.

Michael Bloomberg has essentially been running parallel to the Democratic field and hasn't been engaging in those one-on-one fights with many of the Democrats, but that could change tonight. As M.J. outlined, there's allegations about misogynistic and sexist remarks that Bloomberg allegedly made. That could be a topic. Also issues relating to race and particularly his past offense of the stop-and- frisk policy.

And last night on our CNN town halls, a few of the candidates also took aim at Michael Bloomberg when it came to money. Take a listen to what they had to say.

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SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think you should just be able to buy your way to the presidency.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): But I do think it's a bit obscene that we have somebody who, by the way, chose not to contest in Iowa, in Nevada, or in South Carolina, in New Hampshire. He said, I don't have to do that. I'm worth $60 billion.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think Michael Bloomberg is trying to buy the Democratic nomination for president?

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. What else do you call it when you dip into your endless reserves of millions and billions and don't go through the process of campaigning?

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SAENZ: Now, Michael Bloomberg isn't even competing here in Nevada or South Carolina, instead focusing on those Super Tuesday contests. But those other Democrats are competing here with the caucuses just three days away. And tonight's Debate could be one of their last chances to leave an impression on Nevada voters. Jim and Poppy?

SCIUTTO: All right. Arlette Saenz, Please stay with us, M.J. Lee back as well along with Laura Barron-Lopez. She's National Political Reporter for Politico.

Laura, if we could begin with you, of course, one of the principal Democratic arguments against Donald Trump as president has been that he does not treat women well both personally in his policies as well, for instance, on the issue of a woman's right to choose. Do these -- and we should be clear, these are not allegations of sexual assault here, these are allegations of misogynistic comments, sexist comments, et cetera, still serious. Does that undermine potentially that argument, and all the Democrats are making arguments that I'm the person who can beat Trump?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we're still waiting to get more details about those accusations against Bloomberg. A lot has come to light. But, again, some of those women are under NDAs, which also raises an issue, which -- it leaves people like Elizabeth Warren, gives her an opportunity to attack Bloomberg, which he has done. She said that those women should be allowed to speak and that they should be able to come forward and share their stories and their accusations against Bloomberg. It certainly leaves him exposed on the debate stage, and I expect that a number of candidates are going to bring that up tonight.

HARLOW: Well, M.J., one move that could be made is to lift those NDAs, right? I mean --

LEE: That's right. I think that is a fair thing that a rival could bring up, and this is sort of the gist and sort of at the core of this kind of reporting. You know, you look back over the last few years or so on the various kinds of stories and reports that have come out related to Me Too or men behaving in ways that are inappropriate, and especially when there are these kinds of lawsuits, yes. What often ends up happening is that the alleged victims who are often women, do end up signing these agreements to not be able to publicly speak about what they are alleging.

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And so it is very much possible, and you're right that some of his rivals have already gone, there raising the question of allowing any alleged victims to speak.

And I think it's one thing when you are obviously a former New York City mayor and a businessman, but it is completely another thing when you are seeking the highest office in the land. So there is, I expect, going to be a lot of pressure for him on the debate stage.

SCIUTTO: President Trump, of course, has been a big utilizer of the NDA as well.

You brought this up, Arlette Saenz, the question of money. We certainly saw the criticism from Democratic candidates on the stage of the personal fortune that Michael Bloomberg is putting in this race. But when candidates were asked if they would accept Michael Bloomberg's money if they would be the nominee, and Bloomberg, by the way, has said he would put his funding behind any Democratic candidate against Trump, Pete Buttigieg said he would, except Michael Bloomberg's money, and Bernie Sanders has been one of the biggest critics, he would not commit to an answer on that. Does that undermine those Democratic candidate attacks on Bloomberg?

SAENZ: Well, Pete Buttigieg's stance on that issue kind of tracks with what he's been arguing for quite some time, when Elizabeth Warren was criticizing him over holding fundraisers in a wine cave. He essentially was arguing that it's always helpful to have money from all corners, but it could potentially undermine their argument as they're going after Michael Bloomberg.

He's spending millions of his own personal fortune, pouring that into this race, and it's caused some concern among the Democratic contenders about whether he is simply trying to buy the election, buy his way on to the debate stage. And that's something that you could hear from the candidates tonight as they prepare to take him on.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, that kind of gets to the heart of a lot of their arguments, that they've been running this campaign through a grass roots fundraising technique. And so that could be a major point that these candidates could try to take in the debate this evening.

HARLOW: Okay. Thank you, Arlette, for that reporting. I know you've got to jump. M.J., Laura, stay here, because I want to talk about something I think it's going to come up on the debate stage tonight, and that is the candidate's health and releasing medical records.

I want everyone to listen to what just happened on CNN last hour. This is on an interview on New Day with a Bernie Sanders press secretary. Listen to this, a claim about Michael Bloomberg that is unfounded. Here it was.

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BRIAHNA JOY GRAY, NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY FOR BERNIE SANDERS: I think the American people deserve to know exactly as much as every other candidate has released in this race currently and historically.

It's really telling given that none of the same concern is being given for Michael Bloomberg, who's the same age as Bernie Sanders, who has suffered heart attacks in the past. And what we're seeing is a kind of a smear campaign.

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HARLOW: Okay. So, M.J., she just claimed that Michael Bloomberg has had multiple heart attacks in the past. That is not based in fact. That is not factual. The Bloomberg campaign put out a statement saying, it is such a Trumpy lie, M.J., from the Sanders' camp. He has had a stent put in, et cetera, is on blood thinners but has not had a heart attack. Where do we go from here?

LEE: This is just such an unfortunate development in this race and I think should be seen as an unfortunate development by all American voters. The fact that this kind of misinformation and information that is simply not correct to be spread by whether it's the candidate or people close to the candidate or even supporters of the candidate.

And I think we've seen particularly over the last few weeks and months the very powerful role that social media is playing in perpetuating this kind of information, right, Information that might not be correct, information that might be outright lies. And I think it is extremely sort of the responsibility of the candidates to continue to say to anybody that might be affiliated with their campaign and their candidacy, any of their supporters, that there is simply no room for this kind of behavior.

And I think we're seeing that kind of pressure ratcheting up because, again, in the age of social media, this kind of information can spread very, very quickly.

SCIUTTO: Well, let's say it clearly. It's false. It's a false claim. No proof that he has had multiple heart attacks.

We should note this, Laura, that Bernie Sanders, of course, he did have a heart attack a number of weeks ago. That's widely reported. And his position on releasing health records, because now he's saying he will release no more, at least he's hesitating. Prior earlier in the campaign, he said the following, the right thing to do is to release such health records, and, quote, the American people have the right to know, whether the person they're going to be voting for for president is healthy.

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Where is the Sanders campaign's credibility on this issue given that change in position on health records?

BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, it's certainly a question that I expect Senator Sanders will continue to get given the fact that, as you mentioned, he did have a heart attack around October. He released some health records initially after that. But as they said on this network, they said that they don't want to continue releasing more. They make the claim that they have released about as much as the other candidates.

To be clear, health is certainly a factor that voters think about when they're casting their vote. The age not only of Sanders but of Biden and of Warren and I expect of Bloomberg will continue to come up, because it's something that voters think about when they're deciding in a president. It's also partially why Pete Buttigieg did so well in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Again, I expect that we as reporters are going to continue to push on these issues of receiving more information as well as making sure that, again, not factual claims like the one made by Sanders' press secretary are held to account.

SCIUTTO: Call it like it is. That's our job. If they're false, they're false.

HARLOW: It's not a smear campaign to ask about health, especially when a candidate has had a heart attack. Thank you, ladies, very much. A source tells CNN that Bill Barr, the attorney general, has told multiple people that he has actually considered in the last few days resigning, largely over the president's tweets, which he calls interfering with his work at the Justice Department. So what has stopped him?

SCIUTTO: Plus, for a president who has repeatedly claimed he cares about fighting corruption, Mr. Trump has pardoned several people convicted for corruption.

And the Chinese government expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters in the middle of this coronavirus outbreak. Why? Are they trying to hide the truth?

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SCIUTTO: Sources told CNN that Attorney General Bill Barr has told people at least that he's considered resigning over President Trump's interference in ongoing cases by the Justice Department.

HARLOW: this comes as the president boasts that he is the nation's top law enforcement officer, and meddles in a number of DOJ cases including that of his ally, Roger Stone.

Joining us for the big picture, John Harwood is back from the White House, and Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor. Hello to you both.

Renato, let's talk about Bill Barr and how seriously you take this reporting that he is considering resigning. Our reporting is he's thinking about it. How seriously do you believe he's thinking about it given how aligned they are on some many things?

RENATO MARIOTTI, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I'll believe it when I see it. Barr has really furthered Trump's interest in a pretty extreme way. And don't forget, he misled the public regarding the Mueller report. He did that repeatedly. He also, for example, on the conduct that led to the president's impeachment, he gave him a pass there, didn't even have the Justice Department look at that. He interfered in a pretty unprecedented way in the Stone sentencing process.

So I see him as somebody who is a close ally and backer of the president. And until Bill Barr moves his lips and says I'm resigning or submits a letter, I'm just not going to believe it's happening.

SCIUTTO: Okay. John Harwood, in addition to this intervention in ongoing cases, you have the president's pardons and commutations yesterday. Let's look at some of them because there're some interesting potential patterns.

First, let's look at the pardons, commutations given to those who were contributors, big contributors, to President Trump's campaign. Paul Pogue, family members gave more than $200,000 to the Trump Victory Committee, nearly $150,000 RNC, this in the last several months. Michael Milken, he is backed by Nelson Peltz, who hosted the most expensive fundraiser of Trump's presidency so far.

So you've got that side, and then you have the other side of pardons and commutations which were people who either the president heard about on Fox News, his wife even said it referenced hearing on Fox News or personal friends of the president reached out. Do you see the president currying favor, particularly in an election year with some of these decisions?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I see, Jim, the president reveling in the constitutional power that he possesses to pardon people. The most revealing thing that we've seen about President Trump since he was acquitted by the Senate in that impeachment trial is his tweet quoting our colleague, Peter Baker's story, saying, if you shoot at the king, you best not miss. That showed that the president was likening himself to a king. They missed, and he is going to speak out and act where he can. And the question is is anybody going to restrain him?

And as Renato accurately pointed out, Bill Barr, other than complaining about public remarks, has not shown any evidence of wanting to restrain him. And, in fact, to add to the list that Renato was cited, remember that before he became attorney general, he was writing about the -- raising questions about the legitimacy of the Mueller probe.

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So I think we've got two members of a team right now, and there's a little bit of choreography about what the public posture, the public facing remarks are going to be, but not the fundamental places of these two men in alliance with one another.

HARLOW: And, John, to Jim's point on the president's method of this big group of pardons and commutations coming yesterday, especially for those who have fundraised, big donors, et cetera, it's not the first time there's been a controversial pardon, right? Marc Rich, a whole host of things that he did, including wire fraud and racketeering and trading with Iran against embargo restrictions, et cetera, but that was at the end of President Clinton's presidency. I guess if you can just talk about the difference here that you see.

HARWOOD: Well, the question is -- presidents use their pardon power, and they take some risk in doing that, because they're essentially saying, the criminal justice system has adjudicated this person guilty, but I am going to grant them clemency. And, therefore, you associate yourself with things that they did.

Look at what happened to Matt Bevin, the outgoing governor of Kentucky after he was defeated, pardoned a bunch of significant criminals who had ties to him personally. Bill Clinton got a tremendous amount of backlash for the Marc Rich pardon. This president is doing it in the middle of his election campaign. That is someone who is unconstrained.

SCIUTTO: Renato, because I'm a hopeful person, we're looking for signs of hope here. We should note this, right, that, yes, Barr has made decisions that seem to be in the president's interest or even perhaps under the president's interest, but there have been investigations that the president publicly pushed for that Barr did not then charge. I mean, for instance, Andrew McCabe was not charged. The reopening of Hillary Clinton email investigations, et cetera, led nowhere in effect. Should we look at that as signs of genuine independence by Barr?

MARIOTTI: I don't view it that way. I mean, first of all, reportedly, Trump was very upset at McCabe not getting prosecuted. He lashed out at Jessie Liu, the respected Prosecutor who led that.

I will just say, what I've seen is Barr is putting additional resources, unwarranted resources into investigations. McCabe is somebody that's a case on its face the OIG reports. It seemed like there was not enough evidence. He's putting extra resources to those cases.

And then if you do investigate somebody that Trump perceives as an ally, you're going to get somebody looking over your shoulder half a country away to review your work. That's what I see.

SCIUTTO: Understood.

HARLOW: Gentlemen, thank you, John, Renato. I appreciate it.

So a big night tonight in Nevada. After back-to-back losses, Joe Biden is betting big on this state. Are the odds in his favor? One of his surrogates will join us to talk about it, next.

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