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CNN This Morning
Struggling DeSantis Campaign Bets It All On Iowa; Top 10 Crime And Justice Stories Of 2023; Winter Storm Hits The Plains, Widespread Travel Disruptions. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired December 26, 2023 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Much likelier to return something you buy online than in stores.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Or maybe people just aren't giving as good gifts anymore.
MEYERSOHN: That could be it.
MATTINGLY: That's on us --
MEYERSOHN: That could be it.
MATTINGLY: -- not necessarily on --
MEYERSOHN: (INAUDIBLE).
MATTINGLY: Nathaniel Meyersohn, we appreciate it, my friend. Thank you.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: The Grinch over here.
Ahead, reporting from The New York Times suggesting Ron DeSantis' campaign may be on its last leg. We'll talk about it.
(COMMERCIAL)
MATTINGLY: We are now less than three weeks away from the Iowa caucuses. We even have the clock up for you. It could be do-or-die time for Ron DeSantis who has staked his entire campaign on the state of Iowa, investing a significant amount of time and resources there.
A New York Times report released on Sunday examining, quote, "What Went Wrong for Ron DeSantis in 2023" -- not a great headline three weeks out -- suggests that the Florida governor's once-promising campaign is close to life support.
The Times reporting that one of DeSantis' closest advisers, Ryan Tyson, has privately said that they are now at the point of the campaign where they need to quote "make the patient comfortable," suggesting the DeSantis campaign could be on its last legs. Now, Tyson denied making those comments and the DeSantis campaign dismissed the story.
This comes just days after a pro-DeSantis super PAC canceled TV ad buys in Iowa and New Hampshire to focus on what they say will be the ground game, underscoring the challenges facing the DeSantis campaign and aligned groups.
Back with us now, CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons; former Republican strategist and pollster Lee Carter; and politics reporter for Semafor, Shelby Talcott.
Shelby, this is a like premortem, sort of, from The New York Times. It's not great. When you talk to people in the campaign world, do they see any path right now forward for the DeSantis campaign?
[07:35:00]
SHELBY TALCOTT, POLITICS REPORTER, SEMAFOR: Yeah. I mean, obviously, the DeSantis campaign publicly is going to be really positive heading into Iowa where he's staked virtually his entire campaign on. But when I talk to people close to the Florida governor -- people involved in the campaign, people close to the super PAC, there's this overwhelming sense of resignation and sort of well, we're going to just go down with the ship mentality.
And I think that's a really bad sign for people close to you. When donors are saying that when some of your most ardent supporters are sort of privately saying that, that's a warning sign when we haven't even reached the state where you're supposed to do your best in.
And as The New York Times reported, it is not just one or two issues that Ron DeSantis has struggled with. It's a multitude of things from when he launched his campaign, he launched a very online campaign and he tried to bypass much of the media. That ended up being a mistake. He launched his presidential campaign by hiring 100-plus staffers. That ended up being a mistake. He spent a lot of money on private jets and now he's relying on his super PAC.
So it's all of these different things. And if you talk to one person they'll blame the super PAC. If you talk to another person they'll blame the presidential campaign. It's a multitude of issues combined with the fact that he's also running against Donald Trump.
HARLOW: Is it the candidate or the campaign?
LEE CARTER, FORMER REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND POLLSTER, PARTNER, MASLANSKY+PARTNERS: I think it's the candidate and I don't think he -- he didn't run a campaign that was based on anything that people cared about instead of doing what he could have done.
When he was really ahead in the polls it was when he was focused on being Florida's governor, and he was focused on freedom. He was focused on creating opportunities for people in the state. He stayed open, getting government out of us -- you know out of decision-making.
And then when he ran for president he decided to focus on woke wars. The war on Disney and Mickey Mouse and then putting a six-week abortion ban. And a lot of people say that's antithetical to who he was and what made him so popular. What made him so popular was that he was all about freedom. Getting government out of our decision-making, keeping businesses open, creating a thriving economy. And yet, he focused on something totally different as soon as he ran.
And I think it was a little bit of hubris. Maybe it was arrogance. And maybe it was just a lack of understanding was what really drove the American people.
He promised to be Trump without the chaos and I think it was absolutely the opposite. I think he created a whole lot of chaos with some of the positions that he made. And I think it made Republicans ultimately less popular.
So I think big mistakes and those -- and those decisions rest with him.
HARLOW: You say he was supposed to be Trump without the chaos. One Republican strategist told the Times reporters he was just Ted Cruz without the personality.
(LAUGHTER)
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Stabs to the heart. It's just brutal.
LEE: You think?
SIMMONS: I mean, listen, I've been on these campaigns before when you're like cratering and you're going into these primaries and you just know that you're not going to make it. And it's a very -- my heart goes out to the campaign workers who are giving everything for this.
Listen, at the end of the day, it's like the old advertising sauce. Sometimes you can change the packaging but the dogs just don't like the food. And it appears -- and it appears that -- it appears that Ron DeSantis, as a candidate, just isn't working for people.
And I think about what he did -- what he's done as a candidate. Donald Trump's PAC spent $15 million defining Ron DeSantis in the very beginning and DeSantis didn't respond to it. And basically, everything that we think about him as being uncharismatic. We kind of know from that $15 million that was spent.
Number two, why was he debating Gov. Newsom on Fox News? Like, what's that about? It's like I want to be a heavyweight champ. I'm not going to fight Ali, I'm going to fight Bundini Brown. Like, no. Ron DeSantis -- I mean, Newsom is not running for president. Why are you going after him?
And now we hear he's attacking staff. And I've got to tell you. Every campaign I've ever seen when the candidate has a chance of the future is when the candidate knows they have to get their own stuff together and then they can go back down -- LEE: Right.
SIMMONS: -- and get their staff focused and win.
Barack Obama -- for the record, Barack Obama gave the same speech in 2004 at the John Kerry convention that he basically gave his entire rest of his presidency. He knew who he was, he knew why he was running, and that tends to work over time.
And frankly, Donald Trump's the same guy. He's the same guy from "THE APPRENTICE" that he is now.
(LAUGHTER)
HARLOW: You're fired.
SIMMONS: He hasn't changed.
MATTINGLY: But I will say the contrast between the Trump campaign and the DeSantis campaign is what's so striking. Because the Trump campaign -- not Trump, but the message -- the Truth Social posts -- the Trump campaign is locked in and is a very different campaign apparatus than it was in '16, than it was even in '20.
And I heard from Sen. Lindsey Graham -- I think we have the sound -- from over the weekend talking about the message that Trump needs to follow. Take a listen
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I'm worried about 2024. If President Trump puts a vision out improving security and prosperity for Americans he will win. If he looks back I think he will lose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Is that something that Trump's advisers can get through to him as they start to move towards a potential general election fight?
TALCOTT: I think that's the ultimate question. And certainly, they see the benefit of moving past it. But at the same time, they have to support their candidate. And so, when their candidate continues to harp on the 2020 election you'll see them publicly back him up even though it makes their job more difficult.
[07:40:13]
And so, I think if you talk to people close to Trump they would argue -- many of them would argue that yeah, we should move on from the 2020 election. He does have people who would argue that no, we should not.
And so, it -- I think it -- the overwhelming evidence shows that voters are ready to move on from the 2020 election. When I talk to people on the ground the general thing is OK, we're tired of hearing about that. We want to hear about what's going forward. But what Trump's team has managed to do also is take the 2020 election
and even as they're continuing to harp on that, they try to relate it back to 2024. And I think that's been sort of their strategy and it's been fairly effective.
HARLOW: He's replacing Jack Smith for Mueller, right, and things like that.
LEE: And I think people might be tired of the rhetoric but there is something about him that is tapping into this idea there's something underneath all of this, which is that there's this unfairness in this country that people aren't treated the same way. That the system is rigged. He's gotten to this two-tier system of justice.
And as much as we're tired of hearing the message, he's tapping into something where a lot of Americans agree with him and say we want someone who's going to fight that. And so, no matter what it is -- that you might say I'm tired of hearing all of this, it's -- he's got something very emotional, very visceral that no one else has. There's no one else tapping into the sort of cord that is getting so many people rallied.
And Nikki Haley's running a really great campaign right now. She's got the momentum. But you don't have that same feeling of she's going to address one of the things that's most concerning to a huge voter bloc, and that's what Trump has.
SIMMONS: You're right. You're right about this and it's true on the left as well, right? You see particularly with African American voters. A lot of African American men who feel like they've been sort of left out of the economy. They've got high unemployment rates and education is tough. They want somebody who is going to, like, buck the system a little bit.
And so, this is one of the challenges of Democrats. We've seen this on the left with the labor unions. One of the most popular people right now is Shawn Fain who is the head of the UAW who really called the UAW -- the auto workers to task. And he fought for his union and he got them benefits. We've seen this in a few different unions now lately.
HARLOW: Yeah.
SIMMONS: So I think people want the elites in the country -- the people who are sort of in charge of everything to respond to the needs of the folks --
HARLOW: Yeah.
SIMMONS: -- who feel like they're being left out of the bounty that we're all experiencing.
HARLOW: Look, he got Biden to the picket line.
SIMMONS: He did.
HARLOW: I mean, big deal. Thank you, guys, very much. Good to have you. Appreciate it.
LEE: Thank you.
MATTINGLY: Well, up next, we're going to be breaking down the 10 biggest crime stories that captured America in 2023.
HARLOW: Also, Putin critic Alexey Navalny has been found after his lawyers lost contact with him several weeks ago. Where the jailed activist is now and what he's saying this morning.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:46:30]
HARLOW: Welcome back.
Some truly hair-raising moments highlighting the lion's share of notable crime and justice stories over the past year.
MATTINGLY: From a kidnapping in broad daylight to new twists in some high-profile cold cases to an epidemic showing no signs of ending.
CNN's Jean Casarez takes a look at the top 10.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hundreds dead in mass shootings, cold case arrests, and murders on the run all part of the top 10 crime and justice stories from communities around the country in 2023.
Number 10. A young girl kidnapped and found alive.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: They have found her and we are told she's in good health.
CASAREZ (voice-over): The Upstate New York elementary school student on a camping trip with her family, taken while riding her bicycle at the campground.
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (R) NEW YORK: We are leaving no stone, no branch, no table, no cabin unturned.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Fingerprints on a ransom note left in her family's mailbox led to her and the arrest of 46-year-old Craig Nelson Ross Jr. He has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and other charges.
CASAREZ (on camera): Number nine. A daring escape leads to a weekslong manhunt.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Thirty-four-year-old convicted murderer Danilo Cavalcante got out of his Pennsylvania prison by climbing sideways up the walls in the exercise yard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to reiterate this man is very dangerous. CASAREZ (voice-over): Hundreds of law enforcement searched by land
and by air while local communities lived in fear.
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Danilo Cavalcante now armed but still on the loose.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Cavalcante on the run, spotted on trail cameras and allegedly breaking into homes before being captured and returned to prison.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our nightmare is finally over and the good guys won.
CASAREZ (voice-over): He now faces 20 new charges
CASAREZ (on camera): Number eight. A 17-year-old Las Vegas high school student beaten to death by his classmates.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Authorities call it senseless -- 10 students against one. This video is very graphic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you see in the video, though, is approximately 10 subjects kicking, stomping, and punching.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Police think it started as an afterschool fight over stolen headphones.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is on the ground not defending himself until the point where he becomes unconscious.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Eight students arrested, ranging in age from 13 to 17, facing murder charges.
CASAREZ (on camera): Number seven, an arrest.
CASAREZ (voice-over): After more than a decade, unsolved killings on Long Island, New York. Nearly a dozen sets of remains found, including four on Gilgo Beach. Authorities long suspected a serial killer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Heuermann is facing multiple murder counts involving three women. He has pleaded not guilty.
CASAREZ (on camera): Number six, a confession in the death of Natalie Holloway.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Eighteen years after she disappeared on a high school graduation trip to Aruba, the prime suspect in her death, Joran van der Sloot, admits to killing her. Van der Sloot flown by FBI agents to Holloway's home state of Alabama to face federal extortion and wire fraud charges.
[07:50:07]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Despite their grief, the Holloway family kept fighting for justice for Natalie.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Van der Sloot pleaded guilty -- sentenced to 20 years for his financial crimes. He will serve his sentence while back in Peru where he is already serving a murder sentence for killing a Peruvian woman.
BETH HOLLOWAY, NATALIE HOLLOWAY'S MOTHER: It's been a very long and painful journey but we finally got the answers we've been searching for for all these years.
CASAREZ (on camera): Number five, an arrest in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur.
CASAREZ (voice-over): The prominent rapper was shot while leaving a boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and died six days later.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For 27 years, the family of Tupac Shakur has been waiting for justice. Duane Keith Davis, AKA Keffe D, arrested. He is not accused of pulling the trigger but handing the gun to someone else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Duane Davis was the shot caller for this group of individuals.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Police say Shakur had been in a feud with Davis and a gang he was affiliated with. Police say no other suspects in the shooting are still alive. Davis pleaded not guilty.
CASAREZ (on camera): Number four. From billionaire cryptocurrency whiz kid to convicted felon.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Thirty-one-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty in November of stealing billions of dollars from customers of this crypto exchange company FTX.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This kind of fraud, this kind of corruption is as old as time.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Before the company imploded, Bankman-Fried lived the high life. He could go to prison for life when sentenced. His lawyer says he maintains his innocence.
CASAREZ (on camera): Number three. A disgraced attorney, descendant of southern prestige, found guilty of murdering his wife and son.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Alex Murdaugh practicing law in the Low Country of South Carolina. Wealthy, a beautiful family, but secretly stealing clients' settlements and plotting the murder and coverup of those he should have loved the most.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't bring them back but we can bring them justice.
CASAREZ (voice-over): He has filed a motion for a new trial.
CASAREZ (on camera): Number two. Tyre Nichols violently beaten by police.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Caught on camera, the 29-year-old repeatedly kicked by five Memphis police officers after a traffic stop and short foot chase. He died three days later -- his death ruled a homicide.
ROWVAUGN WELLS, TYRE NICHOLS MOTHER: I know I'll never see him again but we have to start this process of justice right now.
CASAREZ (voice-over): The five officers were charged in state and federal court. All initially pleaded not guilty -- however, one later agreed to a plea deal.
CASAREZ (on camera): Number one. Mass shootings kills hundreds of Americans.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So much loss in this community.
CASAREZ (voice-over): From the Lewiston, Maine mass shooting where 18 were killed in a bowling alley and a restaurant --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is such a deep sadness here.
CASAREZ (voice-over): -- to the Covenant school in Nashville where three children and three adults died.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have an active shooter in our building.
CASAREZ (voice-over): A bank employee in Louisville killing five of his colleagues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clearly, this community completely shaken.
CASAREZ (voice-over): And Asian-Americans celebrating Lunar New Year in January. Eleven shot dead.
Twenty twenty-three was a year of more than 600 mass shootings in this country, according the to Gun Violence Archive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Our thanks to Jean Casarez for that reporting.
And ahead, our breaking news coverage of the Biden administration directing airstrikes against an Iranian-backed group in Iraq after three U.S. military service members were wounded in an attack. Those details next.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:58:18]
HARLOW: Welcome back.
Heavy snow, freezing rain, and powerful winds all hitting the Northern and Central Plains today.
MATTINGLY: That winter storm creating dangerous conditions on the road and in the sky as it could impact travel plans.
CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now to break it all down. What are you looking at, Derek?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, Poppy, Phil. We had overturned trucks, we had jack-knifed 18-wheelers, and we had cars in ditches yesterday on Christmas Day just when everybody wants to have safe travel conditions heading home from their loved ones. That is not the case. This is all part of a larger, very expansive storm system stretching from the Southeast all the way to the Northern and Central Plains.
Let's focus in on the winter weather that is driving the difficult travel conditions. An ice storm for parts of North Dakota and northwestern sections of Minnesota. And then, the snow that is being blinded by strong winds drifting that snow over the roadways and making it very difficult to see. Reducing visibilities.
Check this out in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Just over a mile visibility. Limon, Colorado -- this is across the Eastern Plains along I-80. Very difficult conditions. In fact, the National Weather Service out of Denver saying that travel is discouraged along portions of I-25, I-70, I-80. Stay home.
A band of heavier snow now moving through the Denver metropolitan area as well. That could impact travel conditions at the airport.
Winds will not relax until the second half of this week as this system pulls away.
The other factor of this large, expansive storm is the heavy rainfall, particularly across the Appalachians, western sections of North Carolina. That's where we have flood watches that are in place through the course of the day today. Rainfall totals could exceed four inches for that area.
And notice the heavy rain that's going to move along the I-95 corridor. D.C., New York, Boston, you're next. This is not a snowmaker; this is a rainmaker. And that will be just in time for Wednesday as people try to head home or make their way for their New Year's Eve plans coming up later on.
