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CNN International: New Hampshire Voters Speak to CNN Ahead of Tuesday's Primary; Concern Over Rising Tensions on Korean Peninsula; Russia: Intercepted Drones Near Moscow and St. Petersburg; David Cameron Compares Putin's War to Hitler in the 1930s. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 19, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And if you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.
Donald Trump filed a new brief, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse Colorado's decision, kicking him off the ballot. He warned the justices, quote, chaos and bedlam would be unleashed if states exclude him from the ballot.
Plus, with New Hampshire's primary now just four days away, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley made her case to voters at a CNN Town Hall Thursday night. Haley said her goal next week is to do better than she did in Iowa's Republican primary, where she placed third.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny caught up with some New Hampshire voters to find out how they feel heading into Tuesday's primary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NANCY PROTZMANN, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: I will do anything in my power to make sure that Trump does not become our next president.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nancy Protzmann has long wanted to vote against Donald Trump. But after seeing Nikki Haley today, she said she finally found someone to vote for.
PROTZMANN: I liked what she said, and I don't want Biden either.
ZELENY (voice-over): Protzmann is a voter stuck in the middle, a critical piece the New Hampshire electorate.
ZELENY: Have you voted in the past for Republicans and Democrats?
PROTZMANN: Yes. Yes, I have. I voted for both.
NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks for being here. So good to see you. ZELENY (voice-over): To keep the Republican race alive, Haley is trying to stitch together a coalition of independents and moderates in New Hampshire, a state Trump lost in the 2016 and 2020 general elections.
Danielle Brown has voted for candidates of both parties over the years. On Tuesday, she intends to back Haley to send a message to Republicans.
DANIELLE BROWN, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: They don't have to be you fearful and just simply jump on the Trump bandwagon. He's a bully. But in some people feel that they have to go with him.
ZELENY (voice-over): Trump is trying to keep Republicans in line, hoping to blunt Haley's rise.
DONAL TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nikki Haley, in particular, is counting on the Democrats and liberals to infiltrate your Republican primary.
ZELENY (voice-over): His rallying cry is false. Democrats are not allowed to vote in the Republican primary.
In New Hampshire, more than 343,000 voters are undeclared. Those voters make up nearly 40 percent of the electorate, more than registered Republicans or Democrats.
What Trump may not know is that Haley's rallies are filled with plenty of voters like Susan Rice, who once supported the former president.
SU.S.AN RICE, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: I will be upfront and honest with you. I supported Trump in 2016. I voted for him in 2020.
ZELENY (voice-over): Rice is exhausted by Trump and excited by Haley's potential to rebuild the Republican Party.
RICE: I don't necessarily sorry about the court cases. But it's the baggage and honestly, sometimes what comes out of his mouth.
MELINDA TOURANGEAU, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: Thank you for coming. Do you like what you heard?
ZELENY: But Melinda Tourangeau is a lifelong Republican. She first saw Haley a year ago and has supported her ever since.
[04:35:03]
TOURANGEAU: I'm very glad I had someone else to choose from.
ZELENY: Meaning someone other than Donald Trump?
TOURANGEAU: Exactly. He was a good president for the time, but this is not the time. We need unification.
ZELENY (voice-over): Haley is targeting undeclared voters from the suburbs to the sea coast, where Trump underperformed other Republicans, like Governor Chris Sununu.
MARY HOELL, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: I was going to vote for her to try to knock out Trump. I don't know if that's a good strategy or not, but -- but I do like her, I do.
ZELENY (voice-over): Mary Hoell and her friend Colleen Smead don't always agree on politics, but they found common ground in Haley.
COLLEEN SMEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: Isn't that what democracy is?
ZELENY (voice-over): Hoell said Trump's criticism against Haley could backfire in New Hampshire, which she believes maybe one of the last places to slow his rush to the nomination.
HOELL: I don't think she's trying to infiltrate. Of course, she's trying to get votes, but that's what she's supposed to be doing. And we have a ton of independents in this state.
ZELENY: And for the next four days before the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, Haley is aggressively targeting those undeclared voters, as well as some Republicans eager to turn a page from Donald Trump. Of course, the former president also returning here to New Hampshire.
The outcome of the primary on Tuesday could well determine not only the fate of Haley's candidacy, but how long this primary goes on.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Lawmakers in Washington have avoided a partial government shutdown by passing a short-term funding extension. Both the U.S. House and Senate overwhelmingly approved the so-called stopgap measure, which will give them more time to negotiate full-year appropriations bills.
The first of two deadlines was today. The new funding deadlines are March 1st and 8th. The stopgap bill is now headed to President Biden's desk for his signature.
And when we come back, North Korea says it no longer wants reunification with the South. And that's raising alarm bells and fears that the North may be prepared to take advantage of global chaos and distraction.
We'll bring you the latest developments also in the assassination of an Ecuadorian prosecutor as the country attempts to crack down on the recent surge of gang violence.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:40:04]
NOBILO: North Korea claims it has carried out a successful test of an underwater nuclear-capable drone. The test came after joint U.S., South Korean and Japanese naval drills earlier on this week, which Pyongyang described as a serious threat to national security. There are now growing concerns over comments by North Korea that it's no longer pursuing reconciliation with the South. And that is raising fears that the North may be planning to take advantage of conflicts in other parts of the world and the distraction of key players to launch a war of its own.
CNN's Will Ripley has the latest for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Korean peninsula staring down the barrel of a catastrophic conflict.
That warning from one of America's leading nuclear scientists, one of two long-time North Korea observers who say Kim Jong-un is sending signals in state media. He may be prepared to take advantage of global chaos to exploit what he sees as weakness and vulnerability between the U.S. and close allies, South Korea and Japan.
SIEGFRIED S. HECKER, PROFESSOR, MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: They're talking about war. They're talking about war preparations for their country. And so, we're quite concerned.
RIPLEY (voice-over): For years, former Los Alamos director Siegfried Hecker had unparalleled access to North Korea's highly secretive nuclear program, seeing more than almost any American.
What he's seeing now, he says, reminiscent of the lead-up to the catastrophic Korean War more than 70 years ago, a chilling shift in leader Kim Jong-un's strategy, far more than the usual saber-rattling.
HECKER: I think this time it's different. He may have decided that it is time to actually take some actions.
RIPLEY (voice-over): For the past 30 years, North Korea's goal was normalizing ties with the U.S. Hecker says that ended in 2019 when summit talks in Hanoi, Vietnam, collapsed. Former President Donald Trump and Kim walked out, humiliating and infuriating the North Korean leader, riding his armored private train back to Pyongyang empty- handed, perhaps giving up on U.S. diplomacy, making a strategic turn towards conflict.
HECKER: HE may believe that there actually is some way, sort of what one would say, what's a path to victory, that he may be thinking very differently than what our conventional thinking is.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Kim's confidence may be bolstered, he says, by closer ties with China and a deepening military alliance with Russia. North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui visiting Moscow just this week, also labeling South Korea a hostile country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a political provocation.
RIPLEY (voice-over): And not just political. North Korea testing a new hypersonic missile, potentially nuclear-capable, adding to Kim's growing arsenal. Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Russia says its air defenses intercepted a number of drones hundreds of miles from the Ukrainian border early on Thursday. The Russian defense ministry says the drones were heading for Moscow and St. Petersburg, causing all flights to be suspended at one of Moscow's airports. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the details for you from Dnipro, Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Drones are increasingly having an impact in this war and the Ukrainians have now apparently managed to fly a combat drone all the way to the area around St. Petersburg. Now that's hundreds of miles away from Ukrainian-held territory and the Ukrainians would also have had to fly that drone through the western part of Russia where the Russians have some pretty capable air defenses.
It's unclear what exactly happened with this drone. The Ukrainians are saying that it managed to hit its target, that the mission was successful. The Russians, for their part, however, are saying that they managed to take the drone down and that it crashed in the area of an oil terminal near the city of St. Petersburg.
All this, of course, happening as the war here in Ukraine is continuing to heat up and as the Russians are pressing with offensives in several areas along the southeastern and eastern front lines.
All this a big concern for the Ukrainians and one of the things that the defense minister of this country has said is that the Ukrainians are suffering from a shortage of ammunition. He said that that's both real and pressing. A big concern for the Ukrainians.
Of course, in general, the fact that the Ukrainians are struggling also a huge concern for NATO as well. And NATO has now started its largest exercise since the end of the Cold War. It's going on in areas in North America, across the Atlantic and in Europe as well with some 90,000 troops that are involved.
[04:45:00]
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Dnipro, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: British Foreign Secretary David Cameron compared Russian leader Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. He made the remarks during an interview with Politico at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and he explained what he meant to CNN's Richard Quest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Now, you used an analogy that it was like the 1930s, like being a minister in the 1930s or a government in Europe in the 1930s. At the same time, the Prime Minister has said this is the most unstable time in decades.
So how do we, you, navigate in the 1930s style?
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: The reason I made that analogy is in the 1930s we didn't sufficiently stand up to a bullying dictator who was taking parts of other people's countries. And I think what we've seen with Putin's invasion of Ukraine is the most naked, the most flagrant breach of another country's sovereignty and territorial borders.
And so, I think it's a challenge for our generation. How do we respond to that? Do we back the Ukrainians with all that we've got? Do we stay in for as long as it takes? I say yes.
QUEST: The latest reports suggest that the Ukrainians are finding it much more difficult and that Russia, if not exactly prevailing, is certainly seeming to be on a stronger footing. It's got armor production and all of this.
CAMERON: I would challenge that because look at the Black Sea. There you've seen the Ukrainians push the Russian navy right back across the Black Sea. They've opened a grain corridor, they're exporting grain. 600 ships have been through that corridor and they've sunk about 20 percent of the Russian navy.
So, you know, there is a different narrative here, that Putin's, he's lost 300,000 people, he's lost half of the territory that he took. He's seen NATO get bigger and stronger. This has been a strategic catastrophe for Putin.
QUEST: But now he's got longer and he has to keep going and from the Ukrainians' point of view, they look at the EU, who can't decide on whether to -- well, they've decided to provide the aid, but they can't find the mechanism.
And in the U.S., the Republicans are holding it up in Congress. And before you said, I'm aware of what the Prime Minister has offered, these other two big groupings are not giving that same full-throated.
CAMERON: But that will happen. The EU money will be taken through. And I'm pretty confident the U.S. money will too. There is a majority in Congress to support Ukraine because ultimately America knows that Ukrainian security, European security, is also American security.
If you allowed Putin to win in Ukraine, he'd be back for more. And we know from our history that when that happens, America ends up paying a bigger price in treasure and also in lives lost. I mean, right now, the Americans, for the use of 10 percent of their defense budget, have destroyed about 50 percent of Russia's military capacity without the loss of a single American life.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NOBILO: British Foreign Secretary David Cameron is speaking there with CNN's Richard Quest.
In Ecuador, two suspects have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder of prosecutor Cesar Suarez. He was assassinated on Wednesday while driving to a drug-related hearing in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, a source at the Attorney General's office told CNN.
Suarez had been overseeing the investigation into an attack by armed men on an Ecuadorian TV network. It's just one of a slew of violent incidents in the country that have prompted a 60-day state of emergency. A government crackdown on the violence has led to the detention of about 2,000 people.
Still to come, the Buffalo Bills are calling on their fans to help get them ready for game day this weekend. And what they're asking for just ahead.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: The Buffalo Bills are calling on their fans once again to help get rid of some snow. That's ahead of their divisional playoff game Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
According to the Bills, those interested will be paid $20 an hour to help shovel snow inside Heimark Stadium. The team is asking people 18 or older to show up with shovels in hand starting this afternoon. Buffalo had a series of lake effect snow storms this week dumping feet of snow on the area.
And things are heating up down under as the Australian Open enters its sixth day of play. U.S. Open women's champ Coco Gauff is aiming for a second Grand Slam title after defeating fellow American Alycia Parks in two sets earlier on today. It's Gauff's 10th straight Grand Slam match victory.
And Novak Djokovic's bid for a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title is underway right now. The world number one is up by two sets to love against Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Now to some stories in the spotlight.
The National Football League has announced that three acclaimed artists will perform at the Super Bowl pregame show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REBA MCENTIRE, SINGER: Let's not drag this on. Consider me gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Catchy. Country music Hall of Famer Reba McEntire, Post Malone and Andra Day will take to the stage before Super Bowl 58 kicks off in Las Vegas on February 11th. McEntire will sing the U.S. national anthem. Malone will perform America the Beautiful. And Day will perform Lift Every Voice and sing.
Singer-songwriter Usher headlines the halftime show. Both the pregame and halftime shows will feature American Sign Language performance too.
And we have liftoff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Ignition. Engines full power. And liftoff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Just hours ago, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It's a mission organized by the private space company Axiom Space that looks like a mini?nited Nations.
[04:55:02]
Four astronauts are on board, including the first Turkish citizen visit to outer space on a ticket paid for by his government. There's also an Italian astronaut and a Swedish test pilot. And American who also has Spanish citizenship is the mission commander. They'll conduct experiments at the International Space Station for two weeks.
And Japan could be hours away from making its mark on the moon. It's smart lander for investigating the moon. The Slim spacecraft is expected to touch down on the moon's surface just over five hours from now. The mission of the Moon Sniper, as it's known, is to help scientists uncover the origins of the moon. And if successful, Slim will mark Japan's first time putting a robotic explorer on the moon's surface and making it the third country to achieve such a feat in the 21st century.
The U.S.'s Peregrine Lunar Lander has likely burned up over a remote area of the South Pacific Ocean after a failed mission to land on the moon. It launched just over a week ago from Cape Canaveral, Florida, but hours after liftoff, it developed a fuel leak. It's the first U.S. spacecraft to attempt a lunar landing in decades and a big setback for NASA and Astrobotic Technology, whose goal was to eventually transport a crew to the moon.
Astrobotic posted one of the last images captured by Peregrine, showing a stunning view of Earth with a sliver of sunlight around it.
And the producer of the show's favorite story today, what started as an April Fool's joke on Instagram has turned into an unlikely brand collaboration.
Burt's Bees, which makes skincare products, and Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing are doing a collab. They're making a limited-edition lip balm variety pack. It supposedly tastes like a basket of chicken wings -- if you're into that. The pack has four flavors, buffalo sauce, crunchy celery, fresh carrot, and, of course, the trademarked Hidden Valley Ranch flavor. And it is so popular, inexplicably to me, that it's sold out in two days. But they advise don't actually eat the lip balm -- if that needed to be said. Don't eat your lip balms.
And that does it here on CNN. With that advice, I bid you a very good weekend. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. "EARLY START" is next.
