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Millions of Americans Head to Polls on Super Tuesday; Trump Argues Presidents Have to be Given Total Immunity. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired March 05, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Right now, voting is underway in nearly all 16 Super Tuesday states of what effectively could be the beginning of the end of the 2024 presidential primaries. The American people will make their voices heard, and barring a major upset, the country will be one step closer to the prospect of former President Donald Trump being the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party.

For the GOP, more than one-third of the total nominating delegates are at stake. Trump maintains a commanding lead, on track to win more primaries and caucuses than any non-incumbent candidate in history.

All of that raising the question, could this be the last stand for Nikki Haley, who clings to a single primary victory?

CNN has correspondents coast-to-coast on what voters are saying as they head to the polls. CNN's Stephanie Elam is live in St. Ana, California, and CNN's Alayna Treene is live in Richmond, Virginia.

Stephanie, I want to remind our viewers, brand-new show out on the West Coast starts at 7:00 A.M., please tune in, pardon me for putting in that plug, but there's also an election going on today, Stephanie. I saw Taylor Swift in the last several minutes has put out a statement encouraging people to vote in her state of Tennessee. What's standing out to you out in California right now?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the other thing that's happening at 7:00 A.M. local time, congratulations on the show, is the polls just now open and someone back there yelled, the polls are now open. That just happened. So, while the polls are open, people here have been dropping off ballots at that box there, because in California, you can vote by mail for a few weeks now.

But what's really consequential here today is the Senate election. And what's happening here in this primary, there are three U.S. representatives and one Republican who are going after Senator Dianne Feinstein's seat, remember, she passed away in September.

So, Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, Barbara Lee, all going for that position as well as Steve Garvey as well. He is best known for being a baseball player, played for the L.A. Dodgers and the San Diego Padres here. Adam Schiff, far and ahead, winning as far as money and support from his party as well. He's really hoping to make this about Democrats versus Republicans because, in November, what they do here, the top two people who win this primary vote today will go on to that main ballot in November.

So, he's trying to make this contest about Democrats versus Republicans because in California, Democrats outweigh Republicans two to one here. So, that would ease his chances for likely winning come November.

But that's what happens here is we see a few voters are making their way in here now, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Stephanie Elam, thank you very much.

Let me go to Alayna Treene out in Virginia. Alayna, what's happening on your end?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: While, Jim, polls opened here in Richmond at 7:00 A.M., we've seen a lot of people come through so far, steady stream of folks heading into the polling location behind me.

And, look, this is a state that is important for both Donald Trump and Nikki Haley in the Republican primary. Of course, Biden is also in the ballot in this state.

But from my conversations with the Trump campaign, they really do view this as a battleground, even though he lost this state in 2016 and 2020, they do think in a potential general election rematch with Joe Biden that this state is in play.

Now, we also know that, for Nikki Haley, this is one of few states where it's an open primary. That means Republicans, Democrats, independents. They can vote for whichever candidate they want. And we heard from some voters who gave us some interesting color and insight into what decision they made today. Take a listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I voted for Donald Trump. I'm really excited about what he's doing with the economy. I think it's really going to benefit our country in the next four years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's disappointing, it's a sort of a repeat of 2020.

[10:05:03]

I would love to have had some different candidates. I had hoped that Trump would go away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Jim, that first voter was a first time voter very eager to cast his vote for Donald Trump. The second was a Democratic voter. He said he voted for Biden. But as you could hear, he doesn't want a general election rematch between the two, between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

And I heard that from a lot of people here today. So, we'll chat with more and give you more insights as we get them. Jim?

ACOSTA: Yes, they may not want that, but that's -- it looks like that's what they're going to get.

All right, Stephanie Elam, Alayna Treene, thank you to both of you. I really appreciate it.

Let's discuss all of this now, CNN Political Commentator, Democratic Strategist Paul Begala, former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois, and former Communications Director for Vice President Kamala Harris Ashley Etienne.

Paul, let me start with you this morning. I'm not sure if you saw this. Donald Trump started off the day by insisting that fascists and communists are really in charge over at the White House. Let's listen.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think he knows what to say about many subjects actually. It's really the people that surround him. It's the fascists and the communists that surround him. They're making the calls. They're calling the shots. He's not calling the shots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Paul, it's a continuation of what you hear on the right, that Biden is out of it, he's slipping and all of this stuff, and that the fascists and the communists at the White House are in charge.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. Well, we all remember when Joe Biden confused Barack Obama with Donald Trump. Oh, wait, no, that was Trump. We all remember when Joe Biden was under oath and he mistook a woman he raped for his wife. Oh, no, that was Donald Trump.

In other words, I think the coverage of this has frankly not been very accurate, right? Biden's gaffes have always been built in. He's always had his verbal slips, as we all do. I've known him 35 years. I haven't seen it really get worse. Trump is getting worse. He's melting down.

ACOSTA: Paula, I'm so glad you said that because let's watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And Putin, you know, has so little respect for Obama that he's starting to throw around the nuclear war to him. You heard that, nuclear. The Biden border -- well, you know this, right? The Biden border bill.

Did you just see Maduro? Venezuela, it's unbelievable. We are a nation that just recently heard that Saudi Arabia and Russia will be reducing --

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ACOSTA: Paul, to your point, to your point, it's not covered --

BEGALA: If Biden any of that it'd be front page New York Times four- inch wood, okay? But Trump does it and he gets a pass. And I just think we ought to be fair.

ACOSTA: Joe?

FMR. REP. JOE WALSH (R-IL): Right. But the -- you're right. It's not fair, but it is the reality. The polling shows that most Americans, most Democrats, think Joe Biden is too old. Joe Biden is the old that most Americans can see. Trump is such -- he's so nuts, he's so bad, he's such a psychopath, he's so anti-American, we overlook the fact that he's old. But Biden just looks old.

But it's an opportunity, I think, Jim, for the president, he and he alone can show he's up to the job.

ACOSTA: And, Ashley, I mean, you worked over at the White House. This must have been a constant source of frustration over there.

ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR V.P. HARRIS: The narrative that Joe Biden is old?

ACOSTA: That isn't really covered evenly, that Trump says all this stuff at these rallies and --

ETIENNE: The campaign now is meeting with the New York Times and other outlets to talk about this issue, how the coverage is imbalanced. But what I find very interesting about Donald Trump is when his back is against the wall, when he feels threatened, that's when his rhetoric becomes even more intense, even more bigoted, even more extreme. And that's what we're seeing right now.

So, I think you're absolutely right. But the way in which we should cover this is Donald Trump's vulnerabilities. That's what he's exposing to us right now, that he feels very threatened by Nikki Haley's peeling off 250,000 voters in Michigan. I mean, that's a sizable number that could really tank his general election.

So, that's sort of how I see it. But you're right, the campaign and the White House is frustrated by this issue. They're reaching out to news media to really drive this point home and to really -- to make the case that, listen, we've got to do this fairly.

WALSH: Jim, we can't gloss over your lead. You said that Trump will lock down the Republican Party nomination.

ACOSTA: Pretty much. He may not get the number of delegates to clinch but he's going to be on the cusp. WALSH: And so I think it was always his. But think about that, the man who tried to overthrow an American election three years ago is going to be the Republican Party nominee. I mean, just think about that every now and then.

ACOSTA: Yes. Well, we have Adam Kinzinger coming up in a few minutes. We're going to talk about just that.

And, Paul, I mean, Nikki Haley spent her last public event ahead of Tuesday's contest, today's contest, arguing about Trump's electability, some of these issues that we're talking about that Joe just mentioned. Let's listen to that.

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NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At some point, maybe we should say the reason that America keeps losing is because of Donald Trump.

In order to change it, it's going to take a lot of courage, courage from everybody here, courage for me to run, and courage for every one of you to know. Don't complain about what happens in a general election if you don't vote in this primary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Paul, we've talked about, compared this to, you know, Thelma and Louise, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I mean, they are ride or die with Donald Trump. I mean, Nikki Haley can make that argument. It's a compelling argument. A lot of Republicans agree with it, but they're going with Trump.

BEGALA: That base is, and God bless her. Nikki Haley is creating a permission structure though for a lot of good Republicans, Joe Walsh Republicans, to say I could be a Republican and a good Republican, and separate myself from this guy who -- my old man was a Republican. He believed in lowered taxes, strong defense, family values, I mean, the Reagan, Joe Walsh Republican Party.

And what Haley's doing is very important. 10, 20, 30, 40 percent sometimes are Republicans are saying, no, I don't want this. This creates a huge opportunity for Joe Biden, right? If the other side abandons the center, capture the center.

ACOSTA: What do you think?

ETIENNE: I think the question is whether or not Nikki Haley has the courage, to use her word, to stay in the race, to continue to drive home the point about Donald Trump's vulnerabilities, because with each contest, it becomes clear and clear that he's got a general election problem.

Joe Walsh and I were talking about this backstage, whether or not she'll have the courage. Okay, the question is whether not she will hold that number, but whether she should fold after today. But I think the questions is whether you should have courage to stay in it.

Does she run as a third party candidate? I'm talking to all my Republican friends who are feeling totally dismayed by what's happening right now.

ACOSTA: But does Joe Biden want that? I mean, if Nikki Haley does that, I mean she could peel some of those Republicans who might vote for a Joe Biden in the November election.

ETIENNE: Sure. But the point is what's in the best interest of the Republican Party and the best interests of democracy. And to some degree, her staying in the race is in the best interest of those two things.

WALSH: Jim, I worry that she's already crossed the Rubicon. I mean, Paul, what happens? I still expect her when she gets out to endorse Trump.

And so then what does that mean for everything she has been saying for the past month-and-a-half? I just -- I don't understand it.

BEGALA: Well, the miracle of videotape, right? The Democratic Party, the Biden campaign can, should and must, they'll use it, take those comments and send them back to those voters. Because she endorsing Trump doesn't mean all of those people will.

Now a great many will, because they're Republicans and I respect that, I really do. But a whole lot of those folks are being given permission to break with Trump. And guess what? The sun still rose in the east, the earth still spun in its axis, those of us who believe in around Earth.

So, I think this is a huge vulnerability. I think Trump has shown more softness, more weakness in these primaries than I expected. And I think that Biden has showed more strength, frankly. What if Biden had lost the D.C. primary? We do -- we need special coverage. Trump just lost it and nobody cares.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, Ashley, there is something to be said for that. I mean, Joe Biden has captured just about every Democratic vote that you can throw a dead cat at during this primary process. with the exception of Michigan. There was a little bit of that uncommitted vote. But in Hampshire, a lot of these other states, he's done pretty well, a lot better than expected. There was no Bernie Sanders candidate this time around. There wasn't anything like that.

ETIENNE: Absolutely. And I think that's a fact that has been lost. But in addition to that, his fundraising numbers are up. He's outfundraising Donald Trump, outfundraising the RNC. That is also a fact we're not talking about.

I mean, Joe Biden is in an incredibly strong position, and then you add on top of that the fact that his record is incredibly powerful, the bipartisan infrastructure bill to the economy doing better now. So, he's in a really solid position. I think, to your point, that's a narrative that's not being talked about. WALSH: All of that, except he is in the dead heat right now with a man who has got 91 felony counts against him and he has a psychopath.

ETIENNE: But, you know, polls don't matter at this point.

WALSH: Joe Biden has to show he up to the task.

ACOSTA: I do want to mention because at the top of the hour, Stephanie Elam mentioned that Adam Schiff is running in one of those down-ballot races in California. Today, the GOP is also voting for some of its next party leaders.

Down in North Carolina, Republican Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is running for governor, according to a CNN review of past old social media posts talking about Mark Robinson down in North Carolina.

He has downplayed the atrocities of Nazi Germany. He's described homosexuality as filth. He's mocked school shooting survivors. He has referred to abortion as, quote, genocide. Joe, your sense of this next field, this next wave of Republican candidates coming up?

WALSH: Trumpism has moved beyond Trump. And there are a lot of Trumps in this party. There's a lot of responsible Republican money in these races trying to defeat some of these real extreme candidates.

[10:15:02]

We'll see if it succeeds.

ACOSTA: All right. Well, guys, happy primary day, Happy Super Tuesday. It's kind of a weird Super Tuesday, but we're going to go with it. You know, that's what we do here.

All right, guys, thanks very much. I appreciate it.

Stay with CNN. We follow all the races on the Super Tuesday. We have special coverage beginning tonight at 6:00 P.M. Eastern. Stay tuned to that.

Still to come this morning, while the Supreme Court allowed Trump to remain on the ballot, the pressure he is now putting on the nation's highest court. He wants immunity. That's what he said yesterday. And we'll talk about that in just a few moments with former Congressman Adam Kinzinger. He's next.

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ACOSTA: After prevailing in his challenge to stay on the ballot, Donald Trump now wants total immunity for his actions as president.

[10:20:04]

He's asking the Supreme Court to give it to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I hope that the justices, because they'll be working on some other cases, but one in particular, presidents have to be given total immunity. They have to be allowed to do their job. If they're not allowed to do their job, it's not what the founders wanted, but perhaps, even more importantly, it will be terrible for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining us now to discuss, CNN Senior Political Commentator, former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger. Adam, good morning. Welcome to the new show, and thanks a lot, as always, for coming on.

Let's just dive right into this. What would happen if Donald Trump got his way and presidents had total immunity?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's good to be on with you, by the way, and I'm excited. But, look, it would be total chaos, total and utter chaos. It would be -- I mean, that's the definition of authoritarianism. It's not even -- we wouldn't even have to really go two or three iterations deep into what this means.

What he's saying, and I wish next time somebody interviewed the former president, I wish I would ask him, so do you agree that now Joe Biden has total immunity for anything he can do, and I'm sure he would hem haw around that?

What he's saying, and, again, in the arguments to the, I think it was the appellate court, yes, they ask, so if he -- you know, if the former president, or if a president hired SEAL Team 6 to take out his political opponent, would that be okay? And, basically, they were saying, yes. You think about the implications of that, and it's nonsensical.

I'm disappointed the Supreme Court took up the case, because it delays what I think is a very important case for the American people to see, but I think this one comes back pretty much just as one-sided as the Colorado decision. It will either be 9-0 or potentially 8-1 saying no immunity.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Adam, I mean, you served on the January 6th Committee. We were kind of talking about this in the previous panel. And when you think back to that day, and we're showing some of the footage now, and all the work that you did on that committee, uncovering how Trump lied about the 2020 election, how he tried a strong-arm state and federal officials to overturn the election, how he endangered the life of his own vice president, did you ever think in those days after January 6th that Trump would be on the verge of becoming the Republican nominee like he is today?

KINZINGER: No, not a chance. And for 187 minutes, Jim, for the first time in his life, he resisted peer pressure to act because he wanted to see if his insurrectionist would actually succeed. And only when law enforcement seemed to turn the tide did he then begrudgingly, 187 minutes of silence, did he then begrudgingly put out a slight statement. Now, after January 6th, there was about three weeks in the House caucus where we were all kind of -- everybody was quiet, trying to figure out what would happen next. Fred Upton, who's sometimes on the network, we call him the Upton prophecies, he said, I think Donald Trump runs again. And I'm like, dude, you're nuts. You're nuts. There's no way he runs again.

And it was when Kevin McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago that literally within the House caucus, you all of a sudden saw people kind of drop their head and say, I guess we're going with Trump again, and the dominoes fell. I never expected that in the face of that we'd be where we are because I thought, Jim, that people had red lines that they were unwilling to cross when they ran for public office, that they were willing to play politics, as we all have to, but that there was a here but no further.

And, unfortunately, almost all of my colleagues crossed what I thought was a substantial red line that was inherent in the oath you take for office.

ACOSTA: And we are talking about the horse race a little bit today. And I think we were also talking about the stakes. And you were just talking about that a few moments ago. But a horse race kind of requires horses. And Trump is on the verge of becoming the GOP presumptive nominee, I mean, on Super Tuesdays, so early in the process. What do you think about this GOP field just falling apart as it did, unable to stop Trump's rise?

I mean, I guess I kind of think back to that one Republican debate when they were all asked to raise their hand and vote for Trump, kind of no matter what he does, and yet here we are.

KINZINGER: Yes, and that's exactly why we're where we are. I mean, if you think of a base voter, right, and, you know, Donald Trump gets indicted and stuff, and Donald Trump says he's a victim, you know, all these base voters, they looked at Trump, obviously, he's their main influencer, but then they looked at everybody on that debate stage and say, but I wonder what these men and women are saying.

And when all but one or two say, he's a victim of the DOJ, he's a victim of the deep state, Donald Trump did nothing wrong, and, in fact, even if he has found guilty of these, I will support him, we can't blame the base then for saying, oh, okay, well, all the tier two folks running for office think that Donald Trump is a victim. Now, I think he's a victim, and if he's a victim, I want him to win again to push back against the deep state.

This is a failure -- yes, this is a failure of leaders in the GOP that aren't named Donald Trump because they all collapsed.

[10:25:03]

And now you're seeing the result of that. I mean, even Nikki Haley, and I hope she does well tonight, but even she raised her hand and said she'd support him, and I think a lot of people expect that when she drops out she will. I hope she doesn't. But that's the expectation.

ACOSTA: Yes. And I do want to take a look at the legal challenges for Trump on the calendar. We showed this to our viewers a little bit. I mean, it's kind of incredible, Adam. He has been very successful at delaying a lot of these proceedings. You were just mentioning a few moments ago the immunity issue, which may push the Jack Smith trial and case beyond the November election, depending on how that plays out.

What does all of this say about our checks and balances? I mean, you served in Congress. What does it say about checks and balances and how our judicial system has dealt with Trump? Does it allow for too many delays? Does it allow for too many -- I can hear there are probably some folks on the right at home right now just bristling at that question and say, well, that's how the system is supposed to work. It's supposed to protect everybody. What do you think?

KINZINGER: Yes, they still also won't be screaming. That's how the system is supposed to work when Donald Trump gets indicted, but, yes, I agree.

I mean, look, here is the big point. The January 6th committee spent a year getting information. When we presented it to the American people, that's when the DOJ actually started their investigation because they -- against Trump particularly, because they were like, oh my goodness, there's real information here. I wish we could take a time machine and have DOJ actually pursuing this simultaneous with us because we'd be a year ahead of schedule.

That said, look, I mean, I want Donald Trump to be afforded every legal opportunity to defend himself because it needs to be fair, but if he -- if the election happens and he wins before these trials take place, rest assured America, rest assured, he will demand the DOJ, he'll compel the DOJ to drop these cases. And even if he's convicted and win, he will certainly test the constitutional limits of whether he can pardon himself.

And you're going to have a really hard time. Checks and balances are strong as long as people that take the oath take their oath seriously because their oath, individual oaths, are the only thing that holds checks and balances in the guardrails of democracy in place.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, you make a good point. I mean, I suppose if there are the folks out there are saying, yes, he should have every opportunity to delay things and appeal things and so on. But to your point, what will they say if he becomes president of the United States and just says to the Department of Justice, get rid of these cases? Is that also in keeping with our constitutional process? Is that also how this country is supposed to work? I wonder what they'll say then.

All right, Adam Kinzinger, great to see you as always. Thanks so much.

KINZINGER: Yes.

ACOSTA: I appreciate it. Voters across 16 states are casting their ballots. This is a live look at voters in Massachusetts. The impact the IVF fight could have in the November election, we'll talk about that in just a few moments.

Stay with us. That's ahead.

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