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Trump's Closing Message Includes Insults, Mockery And Lies; Candidates Make Final Campaign Push On The Eve Of The Iowa Caucuses; Biden Prepares For Likely Rematch With Trump After Iowa Caucus; Ron DeSantis Slams FOX News For Failing To Hold Trump Accountable. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 14, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:27]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

Tonight on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Donald Trump is delivering his closing arguments to the people of the Hawkeye State with a heavy dose of insults, mockery and more lies including hateful remarks about immigrants, making strange comments about Jimmy Carter, insisting that a president has absolute immunity from prosecution and are having some choice words about the city he hopes to once again call home in 2025.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're taking in murderers and drug lords. We're taking in people that are very, very sick. With diseases that will be spread all over our nation. We're doing the wrong thing for our country. It's going to be very hard to recover from that, but we're going to start on day one with deportation. I always say Jimmy Carter is the happiest man alive right now, and it's good because he's somewhat elderly, right? Somewhat. My wife went to the funeral of Rosalynn two months ago. It's a beautiful funeral.

A president has to have immunity. Otherwise a president isn't going to be able to function. You can't be worrying about something where you're doing the right thing but if it doesn't work out you're going to end up in prison. They indict you because they're still fighting by 2016 win. People in Congress that are fighting here. He challenged the election, Billy, right? He challenged the election. How dare -- we have to indict him.

We have a Capitol that we all love. Right now it's a rat infested, graffiti infested (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And despite those comments, Trump maintains an iron grip over the Republican Party with a nearly 30-point lead over his closest competitor. You can see this in the latest "Des Moines Register" poll. If that margin of victory materializes tomorrow night, Trump will make history winning the highest ever share of Iowa Republicans for a non- incumbent. Our Kristen Holmes is on the campaign trail with the former president

in Iowa, just south of Des Moines.

Kristen, Monday's caucuses are set to be the coldest in history. We've talked a lot about all these dangerous temperatures out there. What do we think? Is it going to affect turnout? Might it change these numbers that we saw in this poll last night?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, Donald Trump certainly thinks it might. He's concerned about it. I am told by people who have spoken to him recently that privately he is worried the weather will affect the outcome. He has been encouraging people please do go out and caucus. And remember, a big part of their ground game was trying to recruit people who had never caucused before.

So now whether or not that strategy will work particularly when there's an added deterrent of the weather, that remains a big question, but Donald Trump's closing message continued to hammer home why people need to go out into caucus. Telling people don't believe the polls. Pretend we are one point down. You have to show up on Monday. Listen to just part of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You can't sit home. If you're sick as a dog, you say, darling, I've got to -- even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it, remember? If you're sick, if you're just so sick you can't, darling, I don't think -- get up. Get up. You get up. You're voting. Yes, darling. It's ultimately we know who calls the shots, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now obviously there was a little bit of a joke in there, but Donald Trump is concerned about that. Here's what his team is thinking. They are looking at this. They do not believe that Donald Trump is going to lose in any way. They don't believe the margin is going to shrink so low that he doesn't come out victorious on Monday.

[18:05:05]

However, they are trying to win with as big as a margin as possible, not just because they want to set a new record but because they want to set the tone and the momentum going into the primary season. They also want to stop any momentum from his GOP rivals, particularly Nikki Haley ahead of New Hampshire. We know that they have been watching her rise there very carefully. They are already spending millions advertising against her in that state.

So this is all part of that strategy, trying to turn on as many people here in Iowa to set the tone to continue for the rest of the caucus and primary season -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you very much.

CNN's Jessica Dean is in Des Moines for us right now, with the DeSantis campaign. Jessica, not great news for Ron DeSantis in this latest Iowa polling.

He slipped to third behind Nikki Haley. What are they saying?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, his campaign will make the argument, Jim, that that is not where they see things landing tomorrow, and the reason they will give you, there's a couple of things. Number one, the ground game that they have built here and the organization that they have built here with that super PAC that's aligned with Ron DeSantis, Never Back Down.

They tell me they've knocked on 940,000 doors in Iowa over the last several months. Millions of dollars poured in here. They have precincts captains in all the 99 counties. They feel very confident in that. They think that is going to really make a difference for Ron DeSantis tomorrow night especially when you come to the unpredictability around caucusing just generally because remember, you're not just going in and checking the ballot all day. You can go anytime.

It's a specific meeting time. You have to get there. There is some organization to it that campaigns rely on to do well. So that's part of it. And the other part of it is they believe that their supporters are more enthusiastic, they argue, the most enthusiastic versus Trump. Trump would tell you and his campaign that theirs are the most enthusiastic. But really with Nikki Haley, they believe that the numbers that are coming out in this polling are a little bit softer than they might suggest.

So that is kind of where they are now. We have seen DeSantis going all across the state really trying to touch as many and be in as many places as he possibly can before the caucuses tomorrow. Here's what he said about that organization just a little bit ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've built a great army here. Tomorrow is going to be fun for us. And I love when, you know, the media and stuff, I would much rather be an underdog. That's how I've done every race that I've ever been in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, listen. Nobody -- Jim, nobody has more to lose here than Ron DeSantis. He's put so much into this state and if he cannot come in at least a very strong second, there's a lot of questions about where does he go from here. So there's a lot of pressure on that campaign and on this candidate to do well. And the question is, will that ground game, will that organization that they have talked about for months and months come through for Ron DeSantis tomorrow -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes. They say there are three tickets out of Iowa. Might only be two this time. We'll have to wait and see.

Jessica Dean, thank you very much.

Here with us now to discuss what they expect to play out in Iowa tomorrow, Republican strategist Doug Heye and Shermichael Singleton.

Guy, thanks for being in here. Appreciate it.

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Here we are. Iowa's upon us.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Warmer here, Jim, than in Iowa.

ACOSTA: Yes -- a lot warmer here. No question about it.

Doug, you know, your sense of it. This poll that came out last night, this "Des Moines Register" poll showing Trump way out in front. I mean, Ron DeSantis went to all 99 counties. He did the full Grassley or whatever they call it, and it didn't pay off.

HEYE: No.

ACOSTA: And Nikki Haley is showing some momentum here. Maybe that is going to carry her maybe slightly ahead where she is right now. What's your sense of it?

HEYE: I think the big question is whether or not Donald Trump gets to 50 percent or not. They're right to try and downplay expectations, but clearly he's not only in the driver's seat, he's in the fastest car in that driver seat. If I'm the Trump campaign, my confidence comes from two things. It's one, the basis of support that Trump has from Iowa caucus-goers is more intense than it is for Ron DeSantis, certainly more than Nikki Haley.

The other is, when we talk about turnout for the Iowa caucus, let's remember that Iowa caucus-goers can handle cold weather a lot more than the Buffalo Bills can. They're used to this, they go to these cold events and they're go to caucus day like they always do. They've had cold caucuses in '16, certainly 2012. It was almost as cold as today. So it's a concern but I think it's more of a concern if you're DeSantis or Haley.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, I've been out doing those live shots on those bridges in Des Moines and it can get very cold. It is chilly. No question about it. But they can handle it better than we can.

Shermichael, you know, Trump -- you know, Doug, all respect to Doug here, whether he's at 50 percent or 48 percent, it looks like he's just going to blow the doors off the competition in Iowa and he's been making these kinds of comments all day long today about immigrants, about his opponents, and so on. But let's listen to some and talk on the other side.

[18:10:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're taking in people from prisons. We're taking in people from mental institutions. We're taking in murderers and drug lords. We're taking in people that are very, very sick. With diseases that will be spread all over our nation. We're doing the wrong thing for our country. It's going to be very hard to recover from that, but we're going to start on day one with deportation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, Shermichael, this is not exactly a warm and fuzzy closing message.

SINGLETON: Message, yes.

ACOSTA: I mean, what has happened to the party of Reagan? You're both Republican strategists. This is not shining city on the hill material here.

SINGLETON: I mean, this is certainly ideologically different. Doug and I were just talking about that in your last segment. But it's fascinating when you look at the recent CBS poll that just came out. Eight in 10 Republicans say they don't like the language, though. They agree with the language, yet they agree with Trump that there's an immigration crisis in the country. And it's fascinating when you have this conversation about the border because you look at even some Democratic strongholds and a lot of outlets have reported on this including CNN.

You're seeing communities of color even use some very interesting colorful language at best. Some individuals talking about immigration and the impact that they perceive it's having on them and their individual communities. And so while the language may be colorful, I think Trump is tapping into something that may supersede even many of his ardent supporters in the Republican Party including some independents that may say, you know, I don't like the language, I wish he would use different words, but he has a point on immigration being a crisis that the current president isn't handling properly.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, Doug, I mean, I don't know if colorful quite covers it. I mean, he is, he is saying that immigrants are poisoning the blood of this country. And if I'm not mistaken, there's a new CBS poll out there, it shows a lot of Republicans agree with using that kind of language. What is your sense of it? Why -- and Iowa, you know Iowa. Evangelical voters. Very important.

And here's the poll here from CBS. 81 percent of GOP primary voters agree with Trump's claim that immigrants are poisoning the blood of the U.S. Can you wrap your head around that?

HEYE: Yes, it's very easy. We've heard this language for, you know, six, eight years now from Donald Trump. This is not new language. When you say something over and over again, it seeps into voters' consciousness. So you take a Republican primary voter or a caucus- goer, they're inclined to be pro-Trump to some degree, well, say back in 2016 whether they really liked him or not.

So it's easy to go along with. It's why we've seen, you know, there's sort of three types of Republicans. The ones that are all in for Donald Trump. The ones who said that Donald Trump was terrible but then went to work in the administration or endorsed his campaign or continue to acquiesce to him. And then the folks like me who are out in the hinterlands who said no, don't do this and continue to say no, don't do this. We're in a very small minority there.

SINGLETON: But you know what's fascinating, Jim? 47 percent of all voters, Doug, agree with that. I mean, so we're not talking about just Republican voters alone. You're talking about a significant percent of Americans, they say, yes, it's not a big deal. Now I don't know if it's because they agree with the language or if they see it through the lens of we do have an immigration problem. But I think that speaks to a far larger problem that we're having in this country particularly as it pertains to how we treat people who weren't born here.

ACOSTA: Doug, how do you explain Trump's sway over evangelical voters?

HEYE: Look, he --

ACOSTA: He's not very evangelical.

HEYE: He's not. He's not at all, but if you look at the counties that Ted Cruz won in Iowa, especially in the northwestern part of the state. Where he did -- Cruz did extremely well, very evangelical heavy. And Donald Trump can say that he's the ultimate deliverer for them. You know, and if you look at the Dobbs decision, it's sort of hard to say that's not true in that case.

Now his language is the least Christian language that we've ever heard from any candidate, but I think we've seen a lot of how the rhetoric has been absorbed and how evangelicals use the church and religion as a means of politics in a way they didn't six years ago, certainly 10, 20 years ago.

ACOSTA: And Shermichael, I mean, one of the other things that's going on is -- Stewart Stevens was on last night and he expressed this point that Trump is really just almost running like an incumbent president. And we can show this poll. I mean, let's talk about what's taking place on the national level. A new ABC News poll found that 69 percent of Republican-leaning adults say they believe Trump has the best chance of winning in November. Nikki Haley got just 12 percent.

SINGLETON: He's increasing his margin.

ACOSTA: Ron DeSantis is 11 percent.

SINGLETON: Yes. I mean, this goes to Doug's point about, you know, you have that sliver of Republicans who will say I don't like the language. I don't like the behavior. He certainly isn't a Republican or a conservative in the traditional sense, but there are certain things that I'm concerned with. Maybe it's the economy. Maybe it's foreign conflicts. Whatever the case may be, there are reasons voters will find, and you've seen the data, to justify the support. And I think we're seeing that in these numbers.

HEYE: It's also basic wish casting. What candidate is the most likely to win? The one I support.

SINGLETON: Yes.

[18:15:04]

HEYE: What team is most likely to win the Super Bowl? My team. It happens in sort of every facet of life.

SINGLETON: And I think people have -- I hate to say this, Jim, but I think a lot of Americans have become desensitized in many ways, Doug, to Trump. I mean, Doug mentioned this. We've had years of the rhetoric. And over time, people say, you know what, I'm just kind of used to it, this is who he is. But there are some other things that --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: But is not dealing with the reality of the situation in that, I mean, Donald Trump lost the popular vote by three million votes in 2016. Lost by seven million votes in 2020. And, you know, to show that CBS poll again, yes, 47 percent of Americans may agree with that kind of language, but 53 percent don't. And you know, Trump plays to his base. Doesn't play to a general election audience.

HEYE: Right. I think it's also -- always important to remember that the conversation that we have in Washington and in New York is not the conversation that's had outside of those two places. And that's true whether you're talking about Iowa or any of the real swing states. It's a very different conversation and it starts really with what things cost and inflation.

ACOSTA: Yes. But are they -- and Shermichael, are they seeing what's coming down the pike?

SINGLETON: I mean, I think they are --

ACOSTA: By Republican voters by and large?

SINGLETON: I mean, I think the Trump campaign probably is but when you look at the battleground states, I mean, you're talking about less than 100,000 votes of difference in terms of that electoral count. And so from Trump's perspective, if you can try to regain a state like Georgia or a state like Arizona, if you're hoping that the support from black voters, younger voters for Biden will decrease, then that is a potential path where Trump could win. He has to maintain every single voter from 2020, but if Biden sees a 3 percent, 4 percent dip, then that is a path for Trump to return to the White House. Maybe a little bit of wishful hoping here, Jim, but it's possible.

HEYE: Biden's numbers are the lowest that they've been for any president in the last 20 years. That's pretty significant.

ACOSTA: Yes. Well, and it's certainly going to be a tall order for the president and his re-election team. No question about it. All right, but it comes down to a choice. Polls are one thing. Going into that ballot booth and casting a vote, that's quite another.

All right, Doug, Shermichael, thank you very much. Really appreciate it. HEYE: Thank you.

ACOSTA: And still ahead, as Republicans prepare to caucus in Iowa, allies for President Biden are also there tonight spreading the president's message. President Biden's message, that is. We're speaking with Biden communications director Michael Tyler coming up in just a few moments. Stay with us.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:21:43]

ACOSTA: We are just over 24 hours from the start of the Iowa caucuses and while Donald Trump is making sure to go after his primary rivals, the Republican frontrunner is also looking ahead to the general election. During a rally today in Iowa, Trump brought up former President Jimmy Carter and his late wife Rosalynn Carter taking a jab at President Biden at the same time. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I always say Jimmy Carter is the happiest man alive right now and it's good because he's somewhat elderly, right? Somewhat. My wife went to the funeral of Rosalynn two months ago. It's a beautiful funeral, but Jimmy Carter is a happy man right now because people are considering him compared to Biden his presidency to be a brilliant presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining me now is the communications director for the Biden campaign, Michael Tyler.

Michael, thanks very much for joining us. Hope you're braving the cold temperatures out there in Iowa OK. Your reaction to that comment --

MICHAEL TYLER, BIDEN CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I'm trying to stay warm. Thanks for having me.

ACOSTA: Yes. I'm sure you are. I'm sure. Your reaction there to that comment from Trump.

TYLER: Well, listen. I think it's emblematic of everything that we've come to expect from Donald Trump who's far more interested in waging personal attacks and doing anything to (INAUDIBLE) on behalf of the American people. I think it's emblematic of the sort of MAGA extremism that's come to define the modern Republican Party. And I think frankly that that's going to be the split screen that we see tomorrow night.

Not between any of the Republican candidates who are here in Iowa but between this entire field of MAGA Republican candidates and President Biden who kicked off this campaign in 2024 with speeches in Valley Forge and in Charleston, speaking to the fundamental threats of facing American democracy, and that's the looming threat of MAGA extremism that is frankly only grown stronger since 2020.

ACOSTA: And, Michael, when you look at that "Des Moines Register" poll that came out last night at 9:00 showing Trump way out in front of Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, did the Biden campaign essentially say at that point, OK, it looks like we're going to be facing Donald Trump in this upcoming general election or have you thought that all along?

TYLER: Well, we're certainly prepared to wage this campaign against Donald Trump. He's certainly leading in the polls right now, but I'll leave the punditry to others here. What we are focused on is drawing the sharp contrast between this entire field because no matter who emerges, whether it's Donald Trump as folks are expecting after Iowa, or anybody else, they will have done so by running on the most extreme and harmful agenda in modern presidential politics.

These are all candidates who are talking about banning abortion nationwide. They're talking about ripping away healthcare for millions of Americans who need it. They're talking about slashing taxes for millionaires and corporations at the expense of the middle class. And they're doing all that, by the way, while not talking about tearing down the fabric of our democracy. And so the contrast is going to be abundantly clear whether it's Trump or anybody else who emerges coming out of the caucus tomorrow night.

ACOSTA: And, Michael, I do want to show you and our viewers this poll number from an ABC News poll that came out today. I'm sure you're aware of it. It shows the president with a job approval rating of 33 percent at this point. And I know polls come and polls go and things go up and things go down and Joe Biden in particular has been underestimated in a lot of these polls over the years. He likes that. But your reaction to that. That is a low number.

[18:25:05]

TYLER: Well, sure. There's a lot of polling that's flying around right now. There's also a recent polling that shows Biden up in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania last week, but frankly, we're not too focused on any polling at this stage in the race. We're focused on doing what we're doing here today, right, drawing the sharp contrast, making sure that the American people understand the stark choice that's going to be presented in front of them come this November.

We have 10 months to do that. This campaign hit the ground running back when the president launched his re-election campaign in April. We are scaling up now so that we can communicate this stark choice across the airwaves, on the ground, over the course of the next 10 months, so that when folks make that choice, they understand that the one candidate who's been fighting for them and will continue to do so for another four years is Joe Biden.

ACOSTA: And Michael, I do want to show you another poll number and then I'll move on to couple other topics but this CBS News poll that came out today that shows that 81 percent of Republicans, we were just talking about in the previous segment, 81 percent of Republicans approve of the language that Donald Trump has been using talking about immigrants poisoning the blood of the United States. But in that same poll and I don't know if our control room has it

available to show to our viewers, but in that same poll, it shows 47 percent of all voters agree with Trump's claim that immigrants are poisoning the blood of this country. Is it time for the president to go out there and more forcefully defend immigrants, the immigration experience in this country, so Americans by and large don't have these kinds of attitudes?

TYLER: Well, yes. Donald Trump's language is not the language of a leader who actually cares about people. That's the language of somebody who is parroting the rhetoric that we've seen from dictators in the past and frankly he's doing that because he only cares about himself. He doesn't actually care about solving the crisis.

President Biden is actually focused on improving people's lives and so regardless of what the polling says, regardless of what folks like Donald Trump says, he's going to continue to present solutions. He's going to continue to try to bring people together to actually solve the crisis. He's not going to use inflammatory language or frankly do what Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are doing, which is fanning the flames and doing nothing to actually solve it because they want to take advantage of tragedy, they want to take advantage of crisis.

They don't want to actually solve the issue, and that's the stark contrast that we're going to continue to present to the American people. The president has done so by kicking off this campaign in January of 2024, making that choice very, very clear on all the issues that matter to the American people and that's what we'll be focused on for the next 10 months.

ACOSTA: All right. Communications director for the Biden campaign, Michael Tyler, thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.

TYLER: Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it.

ACOSTA: All right. Still ahead, Ron DeSantis slams FOX News for what he says the network is doing to help Trump. We'll talk about that next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:32:03]

ACOSTA: On the campaign trail in Iowa this week, Ron DeSantis slammed FOX News suggesting that conservative media has stacked the deck against him while giving Trump an easy ride.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESANTIS: He's got basically a Pretorian guard of the conservative media, FOX News, you know, the Web sites. All the stuff. They just don't -- they don't hold him accountable because they're worried about losing viewers and they don't want to have the ratings go down. And that's just the reality. That's just the truth. And I'm not complaining about it. I'd rather that it not be the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And CNN's senior media reporter Oliver Darcy joins us now.

Oliver, I mean, I didn't say this. You didn't say this. Ron DeSantis said this.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: He sounds like me and you, right? I mean, it sounds like something you would hear on this network and it's quite remarkable to see, Jim. You know, when you see Republican candidates start losing to Trump in the polls and they know they're losing, it's like truth serum or something. They get very honest about the right-wing media apparatus that protects Trump at any cost, does not honestly cover him and shields him from criticism.

And that's what you're seeing from DeSantis. As his poll numbers are not doing so well against the former president, he's now very honest about FOX News and the right-wing media. It's actually quite a turn for him. You know, DeSantis is someone we're used to seeing being very critical of the mainstream media and now instead of being critical of mainstream media, you're seeing him go on channels like CNN, MSNBC, while criticizing FOX.

ACOSTA: Yes.

DARCY: Quite the turn there for DeSantis.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, did he wait too long to say this? Do you think, Oliver? I mean, and the other question I have is he does have a point. When you look at the Trump town hall that took place the other night on FOX, it was basically like an infomercial. And it was enabling Trump skipping these Republican debates, which he's been doing this whole time. How does that serve the voters? How does that serve anybody in terms of figuring out who should be the next president?

DARCY: Yes, DeSantis is 100 percent right. FOX News is not honest when it covers Trump. It's actually largely a propaganda outlet for Donald Trump and it has been like that since the 2016 election. And so he has -- he certainly has a point. It's again rich coming from him given that he's contributed to the power of right-wing media by -- you know, in the past relentlessly attacking mainstream institutions.

You know, going after those outlets, only giving interviews to outlets like FOX. You know, DeSantis for a long time hung out in a safe space over there on FOX News before this primary really got heated and now he wants to complain about how dishonest they are when, you know, he has used that to his advantage in the past.

And it's of course, you know, DeSantis himself has not been really criticizing Trump in any real way. I mean, he kind of needles him here and there, but for the most part, he had largely during his campaign refrained from attacking the former president, sided with him on a number of issues, those legal issues, those political issues.

[18:35:12] And so now seeing him complain that, you know, FOX News is not basically doing his dirty work is really remarkable.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, it's kind of rich, but, Oliver, maybe you can help us out here because there was -- and I think you just alluded to this. There was a moment there where it seemed as though FOX had had enough of Donald Trump, especially after the Dominion lawsuit was settled to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. And Ron DeSantis for a while there was kind of a darling of the network. I remember he was doing all kinds of live segments on FOX.

It's kind of switched back to Trump. When you look at that town hall the other night, it seems like they've gotten back with Trump in terms of being in league with one another to a large extent.

DARCY: Yes, I think the writing is on the wall here, and, you know, there was a period where Ron DeSantis received honeymoon like coverage on FOX News and maybe he wishes that were the case right now. And at that time, the network was largely just kind of ignoring Donald Trump. But at this point, they can't ignore him. You know, he's likely going to be the GOP nominee. So the writing is on the wall.

And so they're obviously going to give him that positive coverage. Revert back to the propaganda outlet that they were during his administration. And, you know, DeSantis obviously sees this. He's frustrated.

But, Jim, I would bet good money that when, you know, a year from now, when this primary is over, Ron DeSantis is going to be back on FOX. He's going to be back to criticizing the, you know, supposed liberal media, and this criticism of FOX, this criticism of the right-wing media is going to be, you know, in the rear-view mirror, in the history books for Ron DeSantis.

ACOSTA: All right, we'll be watching for that. You might be on to something there.

Oliver, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

DARCY: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Still ahead, much of the country is grappling with severe winter storm conditions including snow squalls and bone-chilling cold. Wait until you see how Buffalo is preparing for its playoff game tomorrow. They've got a lot of digging to do there. They've got their snow shovels and then some. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:35]

ACOSTA: One hundred million Americans are under windchill alerts right now as bitter cold stretches from Canada all the way down to the Mexico border. In Oregon, more than 160,000 people have no power after a powerful winter storm yesterday. Windchill temperatures there were well below zero. Another storm is closing in. Let's go to Elisa Raffa in the CNN Weather Center.

A lot of light and dark purple there, Elisa. I know that that is not a good sign during the winter. It may look pretty, but it's not good.

ELISA RAFFA, AMC METEOROLOGIST: No, we've got temperatures that are below zero and the windchills are even colder than that. These are current look at temperatures right now. 11 degrees below zero in Minot, 10 degrees below zero in Bismarck there and the Dakotas, and you've got windchills as cold as 40 degrees below zero.

This morning, they bottomed out at 60 to 70 degrees below zero. So incredibly dangerous cold. That's why the windchill warnings are really diving into the Central Plains here. You have the alerts from border to border. From Canada there to Mexico as the Arctic air invades. And like you just saw, the windchills could be as cold as 40 degrees below zero. And we have the caucus Monday evening in Iowa. Temperatures at that time look like they'll be 10 degrees below zero.

And those windchills, as cold as 30 degrees below zero. When you put the clock on that for frostbite, you can get frostbite in 20 minutes or less with conditions like that across Iowa Monday evening. The Arctic air continues to spill south, 20 percent of us with temperatures below zero. 80 percent of us below freezing. By Tuesday with 200 plus records that could fall. Daily highs and lows as we go through the next couple of days. All this happening in the midst of their warmest winters on record. So just incredible.

As the cold air punches in, it also will drop some snow across the south. Parts of Arkansas and Tennessee with winter storm warnings for three to six inches of snow as this Arctic front comes in, and can dump some snow in places that typically don't get it. So that will be interesting to see over the next 24 to 48 hours -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Elisa Raffa, we're going to be keeping our eyes on it. We know you as well. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Still ahead, the Dolphins Chiefs game made some history and Patrick Mahomes' helmet. You see this. It got cracked in the cold. There's a chunk of it missing right there. We're talking with Rachel Nichols about the game and how the sport is holding up against all these cold temperatures. That's coming up.

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[18:48:23]

ACOSTA: The Chiefs-Dolphins game was so cold it made some history. The temperature at kickoff was negative four degrees Fahrenheit with a windchill of negative 20, making it the fourth coldest NFL game ever. The brutal cold likely contributed to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes' helmet cracking after a hit in the third quarter. Did you catch that? You can see an entire chunk missing from it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PATRICK MAHOMES, QUARTERBACK, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: I'm sure it had to do with it being really cold, but, yes, I didn't know what happened in the moment but I got in the huddle and everybody was tell me, I was, like, I got you all but I'm just not coming out the game. We've got to talk about where we store the backup because it was like frozen. So when I tried to put it on, it was completely frozen. I couldn't get it on.

I don't know if anyone got a picture of it, didn't look great, but we were able to adjust it on the sideline, get it kind of warmed up a little bit and get rolling from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: All right. Despite the cold, the Chiefs iced out the Dolphins in a 26-7 victory, and with me now is Rachel Nichols, host of "Headliners with Rachel Nichols" on Showtime.

Rachel, great to see you. I guess in Kansas City, they were serving up frozen fish last night, but you know --

RACHEL NICHOLS, HOST, "HEADLINERS WITH RACHEL NICHOLS" ON SHOWTIME: Yes.

ACOSTA: I have to say, and the Chiefs have been sort of all over the place this season. They looked very good last night.

NICHOLS: Yes. Absolutely. And especially in those temperatures. Not a shock that the team from Miami did not perform as well.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NICHOLS: And you can see fans there in goggles. I mean, it was crazy. And look, we've had the Ice Bowl, right. Nearly 60 years ago, the Packers played the Cowboys in Lambeau Field. There, the windchill temperatures were minus 48 degrees.

ACOSTA: Wow.

NICHOLS: So we learned back then that the NFL is never going to cancel a game because of the cold and they certainly haven't since then.

[18:50:04]

You know, it was minus four at kickoff as you said. I actually covered the NFC championship game at Lambeau Field where it was also minus four at kickoff. I was on the sidelines there. And I have to tell you, I wore ice fishing overalls. The layers that you put on.

ACOSTA: Wow.

NICHOLS: The Chiefs allowed fans have electric blankets last night. They allowed them to bring cardboard into the game because if you put the cardboard on the seat, you're not sitting on a frozen seat. So they did have --

ACOSTA: Yes, we heard this from fans last night.

NICHOLS: Yes. You did have some taking precautions. I can tell you from being on the sideline at a minus four game that things happen to your body. The snot in your nostrils freezes entirely, which is a whole exciting sensation. Last night we saw Andy Reid's mustache have icicles on it. So, you know, it's special, but this is what the NFL does. It appreciates the toughness of the players, and certainly the toughness of the fans who are tailgating for 12 hours before the game.

ACOSTA: Yes. It reminds me of that announcer from NFL Films, the frozen tundra. Remember those days?

NICHOLS: Yes. Absolutely.

ACOSTA: And I guess the control room is taking over here. They're showing us, I mean, this is not my fault, Rachel. They are showing -- there's Andy Reid's mustache.

NICHOLS: There's the icicles.

ACOSTA: He went full walrus last night. But no, we were also showing Taylor Swift up in the stands, up in the skybox there I guess. And she had the 87 Travis Kelce -- was she wearing a coat there? I don't know. What is she wearing?

NICHOLS: Yes. I can tell you, it's a specially made parka for her. It's actually made for her, also Brittany Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes' wife had one made as well. It was made by a designer who is the wife of a San Francisco 49ers player. So keeping it all in the family there. That coat got a lot of attention last night. And certainly Taylor Swift as always did, too.

Now I don't know this for sure, but I don't think she had to bring cardboard for her seat. I think it was pretty warm in that box there.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NICHOLS: But certainly a great statement of support for her to be, you know, out with the fans. Obviously very friendly. And apparently, her hands were kept warm with those mittens, too, because she left the stadium hand in hand with Travis Kelce after the game.

ACOSTA: Very nice. All right. They're keeping things warm indeed. And, you know, Rachel, I do want to talk about this, the league's decision to put the game on a streaming service, NBC's Peacock. We've seen some of this with Amazon. Amazon Prime football games. I guess this is the direction where things are headed. And I can just say that there are going to be some folks at home saying, wait a minute, I don't want to sign up for all these streaming services to watch football. What's a fan to do?

NICHOLS: Yes. I mean, look, the fact that this is a play-off game sort of sets it apart. Football games have been on ESPN. That's paid cable TV. We saw them now on Amazon Prime the last few seasons. But the fact that a play-off game was not available on free television drew a lot of anger from a lot of fans. You had a congressman from New York writing an open letter to the NFL. You had Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate, tweet, "If I was president, you would not have to pay to watch an NFL play-off game."

I mean, we definitely have had people chime in from all quarters.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NICHOLS: But you're right, it is absolutely the future. And unfortunately, I think fans can expect more of this. The truth is people still tune in to games. No one is being hurt in the wallet on the NFL side. So they will continue trying to pad that wallet.

ACOSTA: Yes. And it's just going to force folks to try to hack into these games. You know, I don't want to get into how you can do that, but there are ways. And the Buffalo Bills-Steelers game was postponed until tomorrow. You were saying a few moments ago, Rachel, these are supposed to be tough guys out there. What's going on?

We should show the images from Buffalo. I'm just kidding a little bit here. The snow was pretty intense. I mean, the stadium looked like -- there it is. It's filled with snow. And here is a guy, a true Buffalonian, how do you say it? Buffalonian? Luging down the -- something there. I don't know what that is.

NICHOLS: Yes. Yes.

ACOSTA: With their shirt on.

NICHOLS: They set up those snow slides basically so when you're shoveling, you can put the snow there and it gets funneled down to the bottom.

ACOSTA: Ah.

NICHOLS: But I got to tell you, look, first of all, an NFL game has never been canceled or postpone because of cold. It certainly has been moved because of snow. And in fact, the Steelers couldn't get into Buffalo on schedule for the game. The state also put in a travel ban so fans wouldn't have been able to drive to the game. They did offer local fans $20 each to come in and help shovel. Now the issue there is the travel ban on driving was still in effect.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NICHOLS: So it's really fans that just live around the Orchard Park area. And as you can see, the Buffalo Bills have one of the, I don't know, let's call it one of the most enthusiastic fan bases in the NFL.

ACOSTA: Dedicated.

NICHOLS: We have seen them half naked in all kinds of temperatures. And we see it now with this video. They're having fun.

ACOSTA: I'm in pain just watching that. All right. I'm glad you were able to explain the luge there. It does serve a purpose.

Rachel Nichols, thanks a lot. Really appreciate it.

NICHOLS: Always great to see you.

ACOSTA: We'll see you in that Kelce coat the next time you're on. All right, thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

[18:55:00]

Still ahead, some dramatic new video just in to CNN of another volcanic eruption in Iceland. Yes, it is happening again. Residents being evacuated for the second time in less than a month. We'll show you the images next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Finally tonight, take a look at this wild video from Iceland, where another volcanic eruption is under way. Molten lava setting homes on fire. It's flowing out of a massive ground fissure and into a nearby town. Fortunately all residents had already been evacuated. Local authorities are closely monitoring the lava and worried about how much it may damage the town's infrastructure.

We'll of course stay on top of that. Keep our eyes on it, bring you any new developments as they come in.

In the meantime, thank you very much for joining me this evening. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. See you again next weekend.