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Candidates Brave Subzero Temperatures To Make Closing Arguments; Blizzard Freezes GOP Field In Final Sprint To Iowa Caucuses; Congressional Leaders Reach Deal To Keep Government Funded Into March; Demonstrators Protest Outside White House, Call For Ceasefire In Gaza; U.S. Carries Out Additional Strikes Against Houthis In Yemen; Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) Discusses About U.S.-Mexico Border Situation; Dem Congresswoman Blasts GOP On Hunter Biden Hearings. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 13, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

KARA SWISHER, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES" OPINION: And I'm going to get one and I'm going to wear it here on set.

CHRIS WALLACE, CNN HOST: But not with the Stanley Cup.

SWISHER: Not with a Stanley Cup.

WALLACE: Is it as revolutionary as the iPhone?

SWISHER: It's different. It's going to change the way we work and use entertainment, and it is just the first step towards heads up computing.

WALLACE: I must say, the videos are really interesting.

SWISHER: They are astonishing. Would you like a demo? I can get you.

WALLACE: I would love it.

All right, thank you all for being here. Fascinating, as always.

Thank you for spending part of your day with us. And we'll see you right back here next week.

[18:00:32]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Welcome to the Saturday night edition of the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

Tonight, the Iowa caucuses are nearly 48 hours away, and the Republican candidates and their supporters are about to face a cold hard reality. The state is in a deep freeze as dangerous winter weather is forcing the contenders to cancel events with Iowa's capital, Des Moines experiencing it snowiest week since 1942.

Today, the candidates are battling the cold to make their closing arguments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now Monday, it's going to be cold.

(LAUGHTER)

HALEY: It is [bleep] cold. But what I'm asking you is if you will take the time to not just go to the polls, take people with you. Wear layers because you might be standing in line, take your ID, but think of the fact that you might be making history in this moment.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a Florida boy, born and bred, and yet here I am in negative temperatures. I am not going to be canceled. If people are willing to come out and hear from me, I'm going to show up all the way until the end of this caucus. You're going to see me everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now Donald Trump is still hoping to win big after spending much of last week in court. Today, he canceled both of his in-person rallies scheduling a virtual townhall for tonight instead. He's now on his way to Iowa but that did not stop his rivals from taking jabs for depending on MAGA surrogates this past week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESANTIS: We're showing up. I mean, Donald Trump, I guess has phoned it in. He's just going to be hanging out down in Mar-a-Lago. I'm sure it's probably 75 degrees there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: It is set to be the coldest Iowa caucuses in history with wind chills reaching life-threatening levels, as low as 40 degrees below zero. The frigid forecast has the Trump campaign downplaying expectations, saying, while weather could affect turnout, "... a win is still a win." But Trump is arguing that severe weather could still be an advantage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And you have the worst weather, I guess, in recorded history, but maybe that's good, because our people are more committed than anybody else, so maybe it's actually a good thing for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And our Kristen Holmes is braving the elements in Des Moines tonight.

Kristen, you look cold out there, but the candidates, they're trying to heat things up and they're in the homestretch now. How are you holding up? How are they holding up?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, so first of all, I will tell you, I talked to a source in Palm Beach earlier today and it's actually 80, not 75 as DeSantis said, and I really maybe wish that Donald Trump had stayed there because maybe they would have sent me there instead. But instead, we are outside in Iowa. We're waiting for Donald Trump to give his telly-rally in just about 30 minutes.

What they are waiting for, Trump's team right now is looking forward towards that Des Moines Register poll. This is likely the last poll that's going to come out before those caucuses on Monday and they are looking to see what the momentum looks like, particularly for Nikki Haley.

They did have some internal polling that showed her rising. They want to see if that is continuing going into the caucuses on Monday. Now something very interesting, Donald Trump just lashed out at Vivek Ramaswamy on Truth Social.

The reason this is interesting is that as we have seen, Ramaswamy has done everything to not go after Donald Trump. He has done everything to actually praise Donald Trump and Donald Trump, in his own way has said "thank you," essentially, at one point that he's probably going to drop out, but he'll endorse me.

I do know from senior advisers that they've actually met several times, but clearly, there is something going on here that we're not seeing that has led to Donald Trump now attacking Vivek Ramaswamy, essentially saying that vote for me not Vivek Ramaswamy, he is just trying to copy me. That was the essential gist of the note there.

Now, the other thing to point out is that Donald Trump's team, as you said they are trying to temper expectations. We have seen polls that have him leading by about 30 points. They do not believe, at least they didn't as of a week ago, that he was going to actually win by 30 points.

You are hearing these advisers say over and over again that any win above 12 points, that would be historic and that will be something that they would be happy with.

But remember what they're trying to do here, this isn't just about Iowa, obviously a win is a win. They are also trying to stop any momentum that Nikki Haley has going into New Hampshire. There are concerns about New Hampshire as we had been reporting, Donald Trump's campaign and the super PAC are already spending $4.5 million on advertising.

[18:05:06]

They are hitting Nikki Haley. Obviously, they see some tight margins there in the second round of this, Iowa could help them build their momentum and stop Nikki Haley's -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, and Kristen, so I guess what might be the logic behind Trump going after Ramaswamy? Is he worried about his margin of victory, potentially. And so he thinks, okay, if I go after Ramaswamy, that might pull some of his support over to me. I hate to make you stand out longer than you are. HOLMES: Well, no, no, no, it's okay. So we do know that there are a lot of people who are looking for an outsider. Again, what is Donald Trump's specialty? Why did he win in 2016? He billed himself as an outsider outside of Washington.

There has been some correlation between people who were interested in Ramaswamy and Donald Trump, and I'm going to be honest with you, I started making calls the second I saw this post, I have not talked to anyone yet. It was about one minute before we went on air. So I am trying to get an understanding of what exactly Donald Trump is seeing that might lead to this.

Now, I had heard that they believed he was doing well in New Hampshire, but that was still two weeks ago, before Chris Christie dropped out, before we started seeing even more of a surge by Nikki Haley.

But clearly they are seeing something just days out from the caucuses, that is causing Donald Trump to lash out. This has not been someone that he has been hitting, even though it seems like someone he would because of the fact that you see this kind of correlation between people who are interested in Donald Trump also being interested in Vivek Ramaswamy.

But I will be making calls on that as soon as we are done here. So I can try to get a better understanding of what actually caused that and what they've seen just days out from those caucuses.

ACOSTA: Alright, we will let you get inside. Kristen Holmes, thank you very much.

In the meantime, Nikki Haley, spent the day delivering stump speeches and pushing her supporters to the finish line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY: You have a choice to make? This is go time. All eyes are on Iowa, and you get it. You know the responsibility that comes with being first. You know that you're setting the tone for where the country is going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And CNN's Kylie Atwood is covering the Haley campaign in Iowa for us.

Kylie, Nikki Haley is still trying to recover from her comments that New Hampshire voters would correct Iowa. She was sort of saying that a little bit there. It sounded like, is she still taking some heat for that? And I suppose when it's five degrees, you do want to take a little heat. So maybe that's part of it.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, everyone that I spoke with at the event today didn't bring that up. I think it's important to note that Nikki Haley is no surprise complimenting Iowans now that she's in Iowa in that soundbite you just played there, Jim. She talks about Iowa going first, Iowans knowing the responsibility that they have, talking about more than 150 events that she's had across the state, really engaging with the voters here and complimenting them for being committed to that process.

And also, of course, talking to them about if they're committed, the fact that they need to show up on Monday. You can't ignore the fact that it is frigid here. It's three degrees right now, it feels like negative 10. On Monday, it is set to be the coldest caucus day ever recorded in history.

Temperatures could be, you know, negative 10, negative 15 degrees, that is going to have a chilling effect whether you like it or not. Now, if it has a chilling effect on the turnout or not, that's the question here.

And as you guys have been discussing, the former president, President Trump was saying that he thinks that it could actually help his campaign because his supporters are enthusiastic. Haley's camp and DeSantis' camp for their parts are saying that they are confident in their operations, but of course, they need to get all of their supporters out there on Monday, it is the first time that the American people are going to cast their ballots as part of this Republican primary process.

ACOSTA: And Kylie, what are the voters saying? Are caucus goers saying well, I might not go because of the cold? Are you hearing any of that?

ATWOOD: I'm not hearing a lot of that. I mean, when you talk to folks here in Iowa, they kind of laugh it off to a degree. They say this is par for the course. Of course, you know, the coldest caucus in history is significant, but they are not all that concerned. What they say is that if there's not a huge snowstorm, they've just got to bundle up and get out there.

Now, one of the interesting things I found when talking to voters at this event here in Iowa City with Nikki Haley today was that there's a very broad range of Nikki Haley supporters. One of them I spoke with, supported Trump in 2016 and 2020. Now, she is leaning towards Nikki Haley. Listen to her describe why she is looking towards Nikki Haley right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY WOODBURN, IOWA VOTER: I think that she's to the point I like that, not too much nonsense, not too over your head, because I'm not a politician, right?

And so, I think that she knows how to speak very, very well to just people that aren't politicians and that's a very, very important thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:10:10]

ATWOOD: Now, there are also Democrats in the room who were thinking of changing, registering as Republicans so they can go out and support Haley. They're also first time caucus goers, so really a range of voices in that room today. Of course, the question is, how many of them will show up and make their voices heard for Nikki Haley on Monday night -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Kylie Atwood, they're all going to have to tough it out together, I think. Thanks very much.

Ninety-nine Iowa counties under his belt or the Full Grassley as Iowa insiders call it and Ron DeSantis has invested many, many hours, according to caucus goers will pay off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESANTIS: I'm a Florida boy, born and bred, and yet here I am in negative temperatures. I am not going to be cancelled -- if people are willing to come out and hear from me, I'm going to show up all the way until the end of this caucus. You're going to see me everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: DeSantis, who is locked into a battle for second place alongside Nikki Haley says voter turnout is the major wildcard. But the comedy duo, "The Good Liars," made some sport of his standing by and offering him an early consolation prize.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVRAM STIEFLER, "THE GOOD LIARS": Governor DeSantis I want to present to you this participation trophy. Now, it is probably not going to win the election right, but we're proud of you trying. There you go.

DESANTIS: I don't need a participation theory, sorry.

STIEFLER: Yes, but I mean.

DESANTIS: Sorry, buddy. Sorry.

STIEFLER: He is special. He is unique and he is our little snowflake. Here you go, if you want the award.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: All right, in the meantime, will the sub-zero temperatures make the difference in Iowa? Let's go now to CNN meteorologist, Elisa Raffa who is live for us from the CNN Weather Center with the latest on this winter blast.

Elisa, what are we seeing over the next couple of days? It looks rough out there.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I mean, we're talking about wind chills minus 30, minus 35 up to minus 45. We are already looking at wind chills at 32 degrees below zero right now in Des Moines nearing 50 degrees below zero up in the northwest corner of the state where we still have blizzard warnings in effect, not because it's still snowing, but because the fresh snow that fell yesterday is still whipping around in 45 mile per hour gusts, dropping visibility.

Here is a look at that wind chill warning that is in effect where it's going to drop wind chills as cold as 45 degrees below zero on the overnight tonight across Iowa. Frostbite in 10 minutes or less.

As we head towards Monday evening, you're looking at those wind chills at 30 degrees below zero with frostbite conditions in 20 to 25 degree minutes or less.

Look at all of these caucus temperatures, most of them in the 30s and 40s. in 2004, sixteen degrees. It looks like we might not even break zero on Monday in Des Moines with a high temperature of minus two, the highest temperature.

In the evening as people might be out caucusing, you're looking at air temperatures at 10 degrees below zero. Factor in the wind chill, you have wind chills at 31 degrees below zero in Des Moines. So again frostbite conditions in 20 minutes or less.

You're looking at the scope of the cold diving south as we go through the rest of the week. Eighty percent of the US will be below freezing by Tuesday where multiple records could fall, we're talking 250 record cold highs or lows could happen by Tuesday as we have this arctic blast, though we are in the warmest winter on record for a lot of those places -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Elisa Raffa, thank you very much

CNN's Jeff Zeleny joins us from Des Moines right now. Jeff. I mean, obviously, this is all going to come down to turnout and which candidate is doing the best job of that at this point. But you know, the weather, I wonder if it's a wild card. You've covered so many of these. I mean, what do you think?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jim, it is definitely a wild card. I mean, for all of the advertising, for all of the messages, the campaign stops, they are all so strategic.

This is something that the campaigns have zero control over. That is not where presidential candidates like to be, so it is absolutely the biggest wildcard. I've been talking to advisers in all of the campaigns and to a person, that's what they say, this is just an unknown factor.

Some of the supporters of these candidates are older, and that is a challenge perhaps to get them to the polls to the caucus sites on Monday night. Some of them have to drive long distances. That is a challenge to get them to the caucuses on Monday night.

So for all the spinning going on about oh, it may benefit the former president since supporters are more committed. A lot of his supporters also have to drive a lot farther over roads that are not yet plowed. It's still blowing here, as you've heard there in the weather report. So a huge wildcard for all of them, so it helps perhaps on the margins for Nikki Haley who has a lot of suburban support, but she does not have as much organization, she started much later.

So however you slice this, Jim, it really sort of throws up in the air a lot of planning that has gone into this for much of the last year.

[18:15:01]

ACOSTA: Yes, and Jeff, I mean, Iowa also has such a knack for throwing a curveball at us right at the last second and I just wonder could we see a situation where maybe we'll find out a good indicator later tonight with this Des Moines Register poll, but could we see a situation where Trump doesn't pull off a big win here? They're already starting to try to manage expectations it sounds like, and he goes on to struggle a little bit New Hampshire against Nikki Haley, does that have the potential to shake up this race?

ZELENY: It absolutely could. And of course, that is Nikki Haley's best case scenario, that she gets a second place showing here, and she goes on with some, really a bounce in her step to New Hampshire.

But look, the Trump campaign is absolutely managing its expectations now saying that 12 points will be a win. No candidate has ever won by more than that. They're thinking back to 1996. That's when Bob Dole won with 12 percent.

But Jim, I'm not sure that history is our guide here. There has never been at a former incumbent president as a candidate. So he has been ahead by leaps and bounds in every poll. So whatever that number is tonight in the Des Moines Register Iowa poll that comes out in just a couple hours, that is going to be his expectation margin going forward on Monday night.

It is hard pressed to find Republicans who like Trump and don't like Trump, it's hard pressed to find any of them who think he won't win. The question is by how much and a bigger question is that second place slot? Will it be Ron DeSantis, who's put all his eggs here in this Iowa basket? Or will it be Nikki Haley? And those are the calculations that's why they were out campaigning all day today.

The former president has been AWOL from the campaign trail. He's been absent. He flew in or is flying in this afternoon. He will be out at one rally tomorrow. But the behind the scenes activity, Jim at this point is the most important thing. But as you said, all eyes on that Des Moines Register poll coming up tonight in just a few hours -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, time to get out the vote and brave the cold. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.

ZELENY: Sure.

ACOSTA: Still ahead, the insults are flying. A PAC supporting Nikki Haley putting out a scathing new ad, calling DeSantis a suck up as the race for second place continues and we're breaking it down with our political panel in just a few moments from now. Stick with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:21:25]

ACOSTA: Some breaking news out of Capitol Hill this evening. Congressional leaders have come to a short-term agreement to keep the government funded at least through March. Let's go straight to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez.

Priscilla, what more are you learning about this deal?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, this is a way for them to continue funding the government on these new deadlines. And of course, it comes just before the January 19th date.

So according to this new agreement, this two-tranche continuing resolution would have two dates. The new CR would fund through March 1st and March 8th, respectively. And again, this is a change from what the previous deadlines were. That was January 19th, with the second on February 2nd.

But this is also a bit of a switch for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who since taking the gavel has said that he would stop short term or stopgap funding bills, but instead now appearing to take that approach. Now there is still a call with the House Republican conference that is expected to take place on Sunday evening, where he will likely get push back from the right flank of his party.

But of course, all of this intended to try to keep the government open, which is always of concern for the administration and still separate Jim from that supplemental request that the White House sent to Congress in October, that is billions of dollars in aid for Israel, Ukraine, and border security that is still at a standstill in Congress -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Priscilla Alvarez at the White House for us. Thank you very much.

In Iowa, it is negative seven degrees right now. Unbelievable how cold it is. It's only about to get worse ahead of Monday's caucuses. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump believes that this weather will benefit him over his challengers.

And joining me now to talk about this is Iowa Republican strategist, David Kochel and CNN political commentator, Bakari Sellers.

Guys, great to see you.

David. It's been a long time hope all as well where you are. Hope you're staying warm.

What about this weather? I was just talking about this with Jeff Zeleny. Do we know how this is going to break? Does it favor one candidate or over another? What do you think?

DAVID KOCHEL, IOWA REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You know, I really don't know if it's going to favor one over the other. I know that Trump has very passionate supporters who would go through fire for him, but also people who don't like Trump can be very motivated as well.

So we don't know. If whoever over indexes with seniors probably is going to be worried about this. But it's not just cold, it is almost dangerous at this point, Jim. It's terrible out here.

ACOSTA: Yes, Bakari, I mean, one of the things that has been keeping folks warm in Iowa is this race where they're calling it a race for second place. I mean, we shouldn't really call it that and so the caucus goers go out and do their thing.

But I mean, the way Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis have been going at one another has been something else. I do want to play, this week, one of the PACs supporting Nikki Haley slammed DeSantis as a suck up. Let's, if we can play that clip. It's of the ad from the PAC supporting Nikki Haley, if we can play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(PEOPLE chanting.)

DESANTIS: Big leagues. So good.

(PEOPLE chanting.)

DESANTIS: Make America Great Again.

(PEOPLE chanting.)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now Bakari, you are familiar with Nikki Haley being from South Carolina. I mean, she is an effective campaigner.

BAKAR SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She is.

ACOSTA: I mean you cannot take that away from her. Obviously, this is from a PAC, but your sense of how things are playing out between these two?

SELLERS: No, she is very be effective and I've said this to anyone who will listen, I think she's one of the most talented politicians in the country right now. She gets into trouble when she tries to fence and try to have it both ways, depending on the audience --

[18:25:10]

ACOSTA: The Civil War question.

SELLERS: Yes, I mean, she tries to get too cute by half, I think is what they say.

But this is not just a race for second place. I think it's a race between DeSantis and Haley, and as you said earlier, you always get a surprise in Iowa.

ACOSTA: Yes. SELLERS: I think Ramaswamy has a chance to, if he sneaks up in third, one of those two, it's going to be an early exit from the race. And I think that Nikki Haley has the momentum, but the question is whether or not with this, whether her caucus goers are going to be there.

Ramaswamy's voters tend to be younger. We know younger voters don't caucus, is there some reason for them to brave the weather? And with DeSantis having supported the governor, he does have a network that kind of outweighs everyone else. So you would think he would come in second.

I mean, I think the question for both campaigns is if they come into a distant second from Trump or distant third from second, then what do you do next? I mean, do you have any momentum if Nikki Haley is in the single digits? Do you have any momentum going into New Hampshire or DeSantis is in the single digit?

So this is going to be fun to watch, but Donald Trump is going to be the nominee. He just happens to start tomorrow, Martin Luther King Day.

ACOSTA: Yes, and --

SELLERS: Not tomorrow. When is the -- Monday.

ACOSTA: Monday.

SELLERS: Monday.

ACOSTA: Well, it almost is tomorrow. You're close. It's very close. It's within a couple of days.

And David, let me go to you because our Kristen Holmes was saying something very interesting at the top of the hour, and that is Donald Trump is going after Vivek Ramaswamy, and I don't know how neutral you're trying to play things, you know. I know David, you've got be friends with everybody there in Iowa. But what is going on there? Do you get some sense that maybe Trump is worried about his margin on Monday? And so he thinks, okay, if I could peel away some support for Ramaswamy, what do you make of all that?

Oh, David, we lost your audio. David, we lost your audio, see if you can fix that. Is he there?

The weather is freezing everything.

SELLERS: No, it froze.

ACOSTA: The weather is freezing everything in Iowa.

Now, but Bakari, I mean, that was something that Kristen Holmes said at the top of the hour that I thought was very -- why would trump be going after Ramaswamy?

SELLERS: I mean, I think that that he has run an earn media campaign in Iowa. It has been decently successful. The question is, does that translate to Iowa caucus goers? He is an interesting candidate in the Republican primary. And you know, regardless of how I feel about the anti-democratic nature of primaries, I mean, of caucus, excuse me, we have to see how his type of campaign is going to translate.

Again, if Ramaswamy comes in third place on Monday night, then everything shifts, then the entire array shifts. And if either one of DeSantis or Haley comes in a distant third, then the race shifts again, and it becomes a two-person race going into New Hampshire and we'll see what happens.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, there's a lot of different ways this could play out. I mean, you could have a convincing, decisive Donald Trump victory on Monday, and that will be one narrative, one storyline coming out of Iowa. But if it's close at all, and Nikki Haley is still holding on to some kind of strong second place finish in New Hampshire or threatening to beat Donald Trump in New Hampshire, this really could be a different race.

SELLERS: Well, you and I both know this, regardless of the margin, Donald Trump is going to say it was a mandate and a landslide.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SELLERS: Okay.

ACOSTA: That's right.

SELLERS: So, let's -- we can set that aside for now.

ACOSTA: Or he doesn't do well, he might call it rigged.

SELLERS: Yes, he might -- he might actually call it rigged.

But it's -- this, whether it's just something I mean, look, I don't know how they are playing football tonight in Kansas City or on Monday night in Buffalo with this weather. I don't know how you expect people to go vote in this weather.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SELLERS: I mean, we all know caucuses, you have to be willing to be there. If we have our Iowa expert back now.

ACOSTA: Yes, David, what do you say. David, are you still there? Can we get your one last -- one last thought if you're able to hear any of what we were saying.

KOCHEL: Yes, I'm here. I just used a blow dryer to warm up my phone here. It's unfrozen now, so we're good to go. We're good to go.

ACOSTA: I mean, you know, Trump going after Ramaswamy, the bitter cold settling in, it is shaping up to be one of those crazy unpredictable Iowa finishes. We may not get that kind of a result, but at this point, maybe it feels a little bit like that.

KOCHEL: Yes, I think Ramaswamy has faded so much, he is not going to do anything on Monday night. He does -- every vote he gets is coming right out of Trump though, so that's probably why Trump has gone after him a little bit.

You've got two races right now. It is Trump against expectations. Can he get over 50 and significantly over 50? If he's under 50, that means over half of Iowans said no. And then you've got DeSantis and Haley really trying to go for -- you know, they're trying to get out of the semifinals into the finals, and you know, that's really what this race is all about.

We'll find out on Monday you know who met that bar and who gets the right to go on in New Hampshire and beyond, and hopefully get to a one-on-one race.

ACOSTA: Yes, and they say there are three tickets out of Iowa. Is that what they say, David?

KOCHEL: That's what they say. I don't think there are three tickets out of Iowa. I think there needs to be two. Just because Trump runs as a quasi-incumbent he -- you know, he is the dominant frontrunner. We can't go through four or five states to sort of sort this out. That's not going to work. We've got to get this race winnowed down quickly.

Iowa has already done a good job of that Pence, Scott, you know, Burgum -- all of these guys are gone from the race now.

ACOSTA: Yes.

KOCHEL: And I think this is the time to pull one into that final with Trump and I think we'll learn a lot more on Monday night.

[18:30:29]

ACOSTA: Three tickets out of Iowa and hopefully no frostbite. David Kochel ...

KOCHEL: Yes.

ACOSTA: ... Bakari Sellers ...

KOCHEL: Thanks.

ACOSTA: ... gentlemen, thanks very much. Appreciate it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:34:47]

ACOSTA: This just in, a large protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza has now reached the White House. They a look at some of this video that just came in a few moments ago, thousands participated in a march for Gaza. Earlier today here in the nation's capital, a large group continuing that protest right now in Lafayette Square right outside the White House.

[18:35:07]

We're going to stay on top of this, monitor this video for any other developments. We'll bring that to you as any of that comes in.

In the meantime, tensions are continuing to rise in the Middle East. The U.S. carried out additional strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

And with me now is CNN's Military Analyst and retired Air Force colonel, Cedric Leighton.

Col. Leighton, I mean, this certainly seems like a ramp up by the U.S. and its allies. We saw what took place on Thursday, and now we're seeing even more ...

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That's right, Jim. Yes.

ACOSTA: ... attacks and more targets. What can you show us here?

LEIGHTON: So the big thing here is these are the latest attacks. So what we used was the platform of the USS Carney, which is a cruiser that has Tomahawk missiles on board. So they fired the Tomahawk land attack missiles, as they're called or TLAMs, to go after a radar facility, which is actually near the capital of Sana'a.

This was different from Thursday's attacks, which had a multi-nation coalition that was basically part of it. From a military perspective, it was the U.S. and the U.K. The rest of these countries supported this effort. Everyone from Australia to Bahrain, the only Arab nation, plus Canada, the Netherlands, supported this effort as part of the operation that is protecting assets in the Red Sea.

ACOSTA: Yes. And what about the map? Let's look at this map. Because one of the - I mean, a lot of folks at home might be wondering, okay, how many targets might you have when it comes to going after the Houthis? And when we heard 60 targets in that initial round. I mean, just judging by that, I would find it surprising that there would be additional targets after that, but we shouldn't take this lightly.

I mean, this is a quasi-state almost that you're talking about here with the Houthi rebels.

LEIGHTON: It is.

ACOSTA: Yes.

LEIGHTON: The Houthis are actually really a government in this part of Yemen. And from a targeting perspective, what's interesting is you have military bases in places like the capital, Sana'a. You have air bases near there. You have a drone launch site, which can be really important, especially as it points down into the Red Sea area.

This area right here is critical. That's the Bab el-Mandeb. This is the Gate of Sorrows, as it's actually called. This is where all that traffic, all that sea traffic goes through from the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean all the way up toward the Suez Canal. All of these military bases that are in all of these areas, those are all legitimate targets because what they do, Jim, is they provide a place for the Houthis to launch the kinds of attacks that they can using these kinds of weapons, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and long- range drones and those are pretty potent weapons.

ACOSTA: Yes. And this is why they have been such a menace to shipping, I guess, vessels in the Red Sea.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely.

ACOSTA: It's been going on for weeks.

LEIGHTON: So it has and one of the key things that's - that is part of this is that 20 percent - there's been a 20 percent reduction in shipping activity. Major shipping firms like Maersk, for example, have actually moved their shipments from the Red Sea to go around Africa because those re-routing actually forces them to add about 3,000 nautical miles and extra days, about eight to 10 days longer in a journey that otherwise would be a lot shorter going through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

So this is really important from an economic standpoint. And it's also important from a military and geopolitical standpoint.

ACOSTA: Yes, it's obviously a lot more expensive to go all the way around as opposed to straight through the Red Sea.

All right. Col. Leighton, very important, very insightful, as always. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

In the meantime, President Biden says, "Major change is needed at the border." We're speaking with Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas in just a moment about the current situation, what needs to change and more with the Congresswoman in just a few moments. Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:43:11]

ACOSTA: On the U.S.-Mexico border, the standoff between Texas and the White House is heating up. Biden telling reporters today that "major change is needed at the border" and he is prepared to take significant alterations there. All of this coming as the Biden administration has complained to the Supreme Court that the state of Texas has effectively blocked agents' access to a key part of the U.S.-Mexico border. You're seeing some of the fencing right there.

Here with us to talk about this is Democratic congresswoman, Jasmine Crockett, of Texas. We're going to talk about lots of other stuff.

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): Yes.

ACOSTA: Besides that, Congressman, but thanks very much for being here. One of your colleagues, Democratic congressman, Henry Cuellar, posted today on X that three migrants, including a female adult and two children, drowned in the Rio Grande River earlier today. And this is just after Texas was blocking border patrol agents from accessing parts of the border. Are you hearing anything about this? What's your reaction?

CROCKETT: My reaction is that we knew this was going to happen, and I'd argue that my governor, who continues to promulgate heartless policies, knew this was going to happen as well. As far as I'm concerned, this was very intentional. I mean, it's one of the reasons that Texas Democrats have urged DOJ to get involved on more than one occasion with the razor wire and the various kind of death traps that our governor set.

We knew this, right? But for some reason, there is a belief that is somehow permeating through the Republican Party that if you're a migrant, your life doesn't matter. And this is coming from the pro- life folk, where they're not recognizing that this is illegal and it's inhumane.

These people are presumably coming over to seek asylum.

[18:45:00]

That means that they're trying to flee the possibility of losing their lives and to only get this far and to lose your life as you are seeking freedom is just - it's heartbreaking.

ACOSTA: And the President has said in response to a lot of the criticism that the border has been not secure enough, he says he's now prepared to take action to tighten things up and lock things down a bit more at the border. What would you like to see? What do you think needs to happen to make sure it is more secure?

CROCKETT: So I think part of this is just the fact that the Republicans have no other rhetoric but the border. Obviously, they are continually talking about the fact that they've not passed bills. They don't have anything to run on. And so it's easy enough to run on this group of people.

I will tell you, as someone who is a Texan, who does have communications with Border Patrol, they're doing their jobs. I mean, the big issue is why do we have so many people that are coming over here to insinuate that there is a security issue in the realm of there's so much crime that's going on that we're not able to catch.

I actually have to tip my hat off to Border Patrol. And Border Patrol has asked us to make sure that we can improve the technology so that they can have better detection of those bad guys that are trying to get over and trying to bring things over.

So to me, it's a matter of listening to the people on the ground and the people on the ground don't include my governor, but they include the people that show up every single day, work really hard and also stop being so immature as it relates to funding the government. These are people that have come and talked to me every time. We're going through a government shutdown, concerned about whether or not they're going to be paid. And so many of our Border Patrol officers, because we don't have enough, they are sent on TDY and are leaving their families so that they can go down here. And then the federal government wants to play games on whether or not they're going to pay them.

So I say listen to them and give them the resources that they need, which includes additional technology.

ACOSTA: Let's talk about what's happening on Capitol Hill. Next Friday, the House will vote on whether to hold Hunter Biden, President's son, in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas this week. You went off on Republicans saying they're only doing this to please Donald Trump. Let's listen to a little bit of what you said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROCKETT: Let me tell you why nobody wants to talk to y'all behind closed doors, because y'all lie. That's just the bottom line. Y'all spin, spin, spin. I don't know how y'all are still standing right now, because you should be quite dizzy from all the spinning that you're constantly doing when it comes to spinning the truth. You want to play games because you found out that it was your leader that decided, that he wanted to propagate an insurrection on our country. So don't tell me that you care about the Constitution, because you don't. All you care about is Trump getting reelected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What was it like being in that hearing with all of that going on?

CROCKETT: It ...

ACOSTA: There was a lot going back and forth.

CROCKETT: It was wild. It was wild. I - as I was walking into the committee room, Hunter was actually in the hall walking in as well, and I didn't realize that it was him. I just saw a ton of cameras. I had no idea what was going on, and then finally I realized, oh, goodness, he's here. So I didn't know what was about to happen. And so I walked in, and he sat there, and we were just supposed to be marking up the bill. This wasn't an actual committee hearing per se. We didn't have any witnesses.

And just the anger that came over them that he showed up. I mean, we were having a markup about the fact that they're trying to ...

ACOSTA: Congresswoman Nancy Mace said she would like to see Hunter Biden behind bars.

CROCKETT: Yes. I'm sure she would. Listen, that's just so that ...

ACOSTA: What was your ... CROCKETT: ... they can campaign on that, right? Again, they continue to say that they don't have anything to campaign on. If you want to see Hunter behind bars, you should want to see your colleagues, half of them that were voting to hold him in contempt, who still have subpoenas out.

And here's the deal, as someone who has been an officer of the court, I am very respectful to court proceedings and court-like proceedings, which is what this is. I think that we all should respect it.

But once you have a group that just blatantly ignores it, then it tears down your ability to enforce it with another group. And that's when they claim about two-tier systems, that's when we see it actually playing out.

ACOSTA: But do you want to see Hunter Biden testify, either ...

CROCKETT: I - listen ...

ACOSTA: ... in front of the cameras, behind closed doors?

CROCKETT: To be perfect ...

ACOSTA: Wouldn't he make life easier on himself to just do all that?

CROCKETT: ... to be perfectly honest, I don't really care. I'm going to be honest. Because this is supposed to be about impeaching the president. But when you have idiots - And I am intentionally calling her an idiot, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who wants to flash nude pictures - I don't - I wouldn't take these people seriously, right?

Like, so are you wanting me behind closed doors because you want to dig into my personal sexual life? Does that have anything to do with the president of the United States and him being impeached? If we had serious people, then I probably would care because I would say, this is a serious body of people that are looking for something because they have something.

[18:50:07]

But they have been investigating Hunter for years. It started under the Trump administration. If you had something, I promise you, they wouldn't have held back. And so it's a bunch of games. What his lawyers think is best for him, then so be it. But to say that he's spitting in the face of Congress is just false. He has tried to present himself. He has tried to present himself under the parameters that were laid out by our chairman and, again, they just changed their minds. They do what they want to do. They're just kind of blowing by the wind, so ...

ACOSTA: All right.

CROCKETT: ... who knows?

ACOSTA: Congresswoman, thank you very much. Appreciate your time.

CROCKETT: Absolutely.

ACOSTA: Thanks for coming in. We'll be right back.

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[18:55:08]

ACOSTA: All right. We're continuing to monitor a large demonstration outside the White House.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins me on the phone.

Priscilla, this is part of the protests that were taking place across D.C. today in support of Gaza. What can you tell us?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. This is the march on Washington for Gaza. They started earlier today and earlier this afternoon they arrived to the White House. It's hard to tell. I don't know how big it is. I'm in the White House complex only looking through the fence. But it does look like potentially hundreds.

I will tell you, Jim, that we are now evacuating. Nonessential personnel from the White House have been asked to leave. The President, though, is not here. President Joe Biden left to Camp David this morning. So he is not here, but the protests have intensified enough for Secret Service to evacuate nonessential personnel and we are waiting for additional guidance.

But as of now, the protests, you might hear them over the phone. They have gotten bigger. They are chanting and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. This, of course, has been an issue that the President has confronted not only here in Washington, but also as he hits the road across the country.

We see police, see flashing sirens and helicopters. But again, President Joe Biden is not at the White House. He is at Camp David.

ACOSTA: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, keep us posted on any new developments. We appreciate it. We'll be right back.

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