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CNN This Morning
Christie Scorches Rivals; Iowa Voters Split on Winner; CNN Embeds with IDF; Nick Saban Announces Retirement. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired January 11, 2024 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again. Imagine just for a moment, if 9/11 had happened with Donald Trump behind the desk. The first thing he would have done was run to the bunker to protect himself. He would have put himself first before this country. And anyone who is unwilling to say that he is unfit to be president of the United States is unfit themselves.
And let me tell you, if Donald Trump becomes the nominee of this party, the moment that it happened was when Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott and Mike Pence and Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy stood on that stage in Milwaukee in August, and when we were asked, would you support someone who is a convicted felon to be president of the United States, they raised their hands. I'm out here saying what I'm saying for the last eight months because I didn't want to take the chance that you might not get it. I wanted to be the voice that was telling you, this is unacceptable. We deserve better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Let's bring back in Errol Louis, Adam Kinzinger and Lee Carter.
I wonder specifically for you, as a Republican who decided to leave, who led the January 6th inquiry, and who has also been so outspoken against Trump, what did last night mean hearing that? He talked about the soul of our country, restoring it.
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
HARLOW: He talked about bravery. And he talked about the character of the candidate being the most critical issue.
KINZINGER: It was a bit of a - it was a bit of an emotional speech for me to watch because it's like --
HARLOW: I bet.
KINZINGER: He's been the one that's been speaking to the heart of the part of the party that I would consider myself, which is like this, I don't know, whatever it is, 15, 20 percent, you probably have the better numbers, of people that feel like we don't have a home anymore. We're homeless politically. And - and he's the one -- you know, with everything that Liz and I went through, and we're not asking for sympathy on this, but it's amazing to me the number of Republicans that in quiet, in silence, and he talked about this in his speech, would say, yes, Donald Trump is completely unfit for office, or, I'm so glad you're out there saying what you're saying, Adam. I can't do it because my district wouldn't re-elect me. I'm like, well, OK.
But it -- I think the thing that confuses me most is just how people have no red line. And he had a red line and he talked about that. And so, for me, it was sad to watch him get out, but it was one of the most powerful speeches I've seen.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: What's interesting, Errol, is - is the red line makes me wonder, OK, well who, if anyone, does he end up getting behind. And before that speech, you got to -- the memory that he's a pretty good poll with a very candid opinion on things and a hot mic moment to his New Hampshire campaign chair.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's going to get smoked, and you and I both know it. She's not up to this. DeSantis calling me, petrified that I would --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Yes, that wasn't supposed to be out loud.
ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean - yes, I -- he's been around a lot of mics. I don't know if this was inadvertent. But he certainly - he certainly meant it.
MATTINGLY: He's talking about Nikki Haley (INAUDIBLE) Ron DeSantis.
LOUIS: He's not going to disavow any - right, he's not going to disavow any of it. The polls suggest that much of his support is going to go to Nikki Haley, and that's probably not going to sit well with him, but that's the reality of it.
He, you know, he's a man out of time. He -- you know, we keep hearing that. The Republican Party's been captured by this fever. The fever's going to break. I've been hearing this for, you know, six years now. The fever doesn't seem to be breaking. In fact, the organism seems to be evolving so that it always has a fever.
I think what's going to probably happen is the question will be put again and again and again, are we ready for a post-Trump Republican Party? I think we're getting an answer that this is not going to be the year where that happens. That's what Chris Christie wanted to try and believe was going to happen. It just didn't - the cards just didn't fall his way. HARLOW: So, you could see his - and he talked about this internal sort
of battle he had in his heart, in his mind, and what he talked to his wife, Mary Pat, a lot about making this decision. You could see it as a man who ran out of time. He did. Polls show that. But also as man who thought, well, if there's any shot at anyone beating Trump, we got to consolidate this thing.
LEE CARTER, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Yes, I mean that's what his whole campaign was based on. And look -
HARLOW: But consolidate without him.
CARTER: Right. But when you look at - you look at this, he's got 11.6 percent of the vote in New Hampshire right now. Now, that's up for grabs, and that's the striking distance that you have between Nikki Haley and Donald Trump. If it does go over to Nikki Haley, there's a chance that Nikki Haley then takes over Donald Trump and we have an interesting thing on our hands because she'll have won New Hampshire, have some momentum going on, and the race goes on.
[06:35:01]
If that doesn't happen, then we're just looking at Donald Trump going from here on out.
Now, I think what we're looking at with Chris Christie, and as much as I respect the man for taking a stand, this is what happens when you run against and not for. And what I mean is his whole campaign was based on taking down Donald Trump. It wasn't based on anything to say what are you for? What is Chris Christie all about? When I stand with Chris Christie it means this.
And so everybody keeps saying, why don't people take down Donald Trump? You want to understand why you don't take down Donald Trump, look at this as a case study. If your whole focus is taking down Donald Trump and not giving us a reason to say, you are the person that I want to vote for because you're going to do something differently, this is the result. And, unfortunately, it's not going to win an election.
KINZINGER: I don't disagree. I just think the reason you only think of him as going after Donald Trump is because he's the only one who did it. He's like - he's like this unicorn who actually took on Donald Trump.
And I get it, like, he didn't win. Maybe if everybody else on that stage would have taken him on, they actually could have taken down Donald Trump.
But I do think he talked a lot, if you'd watch his town halls, he talked a lot about education, he talked a lot about what he did as a blue state Republican governor. But, yes, when he would go after Trump, nobody else did, so that's what kind of hogged the message and it became all about that.
I have a ton of respect for him making the effort. Now we'll see if people can consolidate behind Haley. This is the only chance for the Republican Party to not be completely taken over officially by Donald Trump, which may be too late already.
MATTINGLY: Yes, I was going to subtly hint at that.
Adam Kinzinger, Lee Carter, Errol Louis, thank you, guys, as always. Appreciate it.
CARTER: Thank you.
HARLOW: So, CNN was with a group of Iowa voters during the debate last night and during Trump's town hall. You'll hear exactly who they think won the night, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:40:19]
HARLOW: It is just four days away when Iowa voters will caucus, cast the first votes in the 2024 Republican race for the White House. Last night's CNN debate between Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, one of the last chances -- first time they got to see them really head-to-head on the debate stage.
MATTINGLY: Important night with a lot of contrast. But as he's done throughout the election cycle, CNN's Gary Tuchman watched the debate with Iowa voters and has some of their immediate takeaways.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The people you see applauding are the people we have been with for all five Republican presidential debates. We watched this one in person. We watched the other four with them on TV where they live. Story County, Iowa, the center of the state. When this final debate ended, we asked the ten people in our group -
TUCHMAN: Who thinks DeSantis won this debate?
One, two, three, four.
Who thinks Haley won this debate?
One, two, three, four. That's eight. Looks like some people -- who did not vote? Why didn't you vote?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, STORY COUNTY, IOWA, REPUBLICAN: I - I thought Donald Trump won the debate. I thought it was kind of --
TUCHMAN: Well, he wasn't here, but you're saying he won by not being here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, STORY COUNTY, IOWA, REPUBLICAN: Exactly. Yes.
TUCHMAN: And, Jim, I think you think the same thing.
JIM, STORY COUNTY, IOWA, REPUBLICAN: Yes, I do.
TUCHMAN: So, four, four, two. So, we have a draw.
TUCHMAN (voice over): Haley had won the last two debates among this group. DeSantis won the second. Ramaswamy, the first. Brett Barker (ph) liked Haley this time.
BRETT BARKER, STORY COUNTY, IOWA, REPUBLICAN: We expected them to go at each other. And, obviously, that's a little bit uncomfortable. But I think she did a good job defending some of the attacks that we've been seeing in this state and really explaining why they were not true.
TUCHMAN (voice over): Beth Engels liked DeSantis.
BETH ENGELS, STORY COUNTY, IOWA, REPUBLICAN: I actually think just the opposite. I felt like Haley didn't stand up for herself as much as I'd seen her do in the past. I felt like she was weak. And when she couldn't come up with some answers, she kept deferring to how DeSantis isn't a good leader because he can't manage his campaign finances.
TUCHMAN (voice over): So, after watching all the debates, who are these Story County Republicans going to caucus for?
TUCHMAN: Raise your hand if you are ready to caucus for Ron DeSantis. One.
Raise your hand if you're ready to caucus for Nikki Haley. One, two.
Raise your hand if you're ready to caucus for Donald Trump. One, two, three, four.
Is there anyone -- any other candidate who anyone else here is going to caucus for?
Who did not raise their hand? Three of you. Well, why didn't you raise your hand? You're not -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, STORY COUNTY, IOWA, REPUBLICAN: Because I'm not decided yet.
TUCHMAN: So, who are you thinking between?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Between Trump and DeSantis.
TUCHMAN: And how do you make your decision between now and Monday?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.
TUCHMAN: You don't know.
What about you, Cody?
CODY, STORY COUNTY, IOWA, REPUBLICAN: I'm also stuck between Trump and DeSantis. And we'll - I -- we'll just see how it goes, I guess, the feeling that I get on Monday. TUCHMAN: You're going to wait for the feeling?
CODY: The feeling better strike because I don't have an answer now.
TUCHMAN: And who else hasn't decided? You haven't -
TOM, STORY COUNTY, IOWA, REPUBLICAN: Yes, same - same thing.
TUCHMAN: Who are your - who are the candidates you haven't decided between?
TOM: Trump and DeSantis.
TUCHMAN: And how are you going to decide, Tom?
TOM: Just keep watching and I -
TUCHMAN: Keep watching what?
TOM: I know, I -
TUCHMAN: You've watched the preeminent debate.
TOM: I know. I'm looking for a sign.
TUCHMAN: A sign?
TOM: Yes.
TUCHMAN: OK. Well, if it happens while we're talking for the next minute, let me know.
TUCHMAN (voice over): So not everyone has made a final decision, but they are unanimous about this.
TUCHMAN: Are you confident the Republican Party is going to win this presidential election?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heck, yes.
TUCHMAN: Any of you have any doubts?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope.
TUCHMAN: Phil and Poppy, on caucus Monday it will be unusually frigid, even by January Iowa standards. And it certainly could affect turnout. But among all the people in our group, no one is telling us they will miss it.
Phil. Poppy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: So interesting. They always are. The same voters every time. MATTINGLY: I know. And they got to go to the debate.
HARLOW: Yes, in person.
Next up, our Nic Robertson got just remarkable access inside the tunnels below Khan Yunis in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: This tunnel we're going in here is one where some of the hostages were held. That first round of hostage releases. Some of them came out from down here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:48:35]
HARLOW: Happening right now at The Hague, the International Court of Justice is hearing a high stakes case that could determine the course of the war in Gaza. South Africa presenting its case today, accusing the Israeli government of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel calls the allegations preposterous and will make its case tomorrow.
Meantime, our Nic Robertson got just remarkable access inside of the Gaza tunnels where the Israeli military says hostages were actually held. It is important to note here, after agreeing to IDF guidelines, CNN did not submit this report for security reviews. That's what it's called before air. Here is Nic Robertson embedded with Israeli soldiers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): Khan Yunis, a gunner's view, driving in, scouring the landscape for threats. Problem for these IDF troops, their enemy is mostly hiding in tunnels, they say.
DAN GOLDFUS, IDF DIVISION COMMANDER: The biggest issue is the fact that we're actually maneuvering aboveground, underground.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Goldfus, who commands Israel's biggest military division ever, is adapting.
GOLDFUS: So, you use all your senses that you have. You use your vision sensor, you use your feel sensor, your smell sensor.
ROBERTSON (voice over): He has invited CNN to go deep into the tunnels. We are told this is the heart of Khan Yunis, and that hostages are likely underground nearby, and that some were held here.
[06:50:08]
ROBERTSON: This tunnel we're going in here is one where some of the hostages were held. That first round of hostage releases, some of them came out from down here.
So how deep does this tunnel go?
ROBERTSON (voice over): Our first time to get up close to what's shaping this war.
GOLDFUS: We are moving underground. We're maneuvering underground. We're going to reach every -- each and every militant or agent, every terrorist underground here.
ROBERTSON: No modern army has had to fight aboveground and underground like this before. How - how is that to do it?
GOLDFUS: It's difficult. And it's just going to be a very, very hard, long fight.
ROBERTSON (voice over): To see just how hard, he takes us deeper.
ROBERTSON: So, we came down a metal ladder. We've come down one flight of stairs. We're going down a second flight of stairs here. A double flight it looks like. And down here command and control wires running all the way down. It's a deep, deep system. How deep are we underground, do you think, right now?
GOLDFUS: At the moment we are more or less between 10 to 15 meters underground.
ROBERTSON: 10 to 15 meters.
GOLDFUS: Yes.
ROBERTSON: And now we're going down another level, down more steps.
We're about to go down again another level. It is so low. My head keeps banging off the roof.
What are we looking at here?
GOLDFUS: This is a small room, OK.
ROBERTSON: With some kind of air ventilation system over here.
GOLDFUS: Yes. So, air ventilation system. This goes up and (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTSON: You have metal frame around the door.
GOLDFUS: These metal frames. This can be -- as much as this is a small room, this is how the different cages that they put the - the kidnapped --
ROBERTSON: So, they were held in cages?
GOLDFUS: In cages, yes.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Hidden and utterly cut off. ROBERTSON: And down here you really can't hear anything what's going
on in the outside world. Now we must be 20 or 30 meters down?
GOLDFUS: We're almost 20, yes.
ROBERTSON: Almost 20.
GOLDFUS: Yes.
ROBERTSON: So they have tunnels three times as deep as this.
GOLDFUS: Three times as deep.
ROBERTSON: Oh.
ROBERTSON (voice over): What's clear here, the money, planning, and preparation invested for a long siege.
ROBERTSON: We're 20 meters underground here, 20 meters, and there's a fully flush toilet, and it's even painted. There's a place for a light bulb and light switches. Tiled.
ROBERTSON (voice over): The labyrinth keeps going.
ROBERTSON: OK, now it's so low, we're getting down on our knees to get through.
GOLDFUS: All right.
ROBERTSON: Yes.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Goldfus pauses, lays out his path to victory.
GOLDFUS: Underground, it's Hamas. And we have to reach this Hamas core to finish them off.
ROBERTSON: But those Palestinian people aboveground are also dying still.
GOLDFUS: Well, I understand that. I understand. That's why we're trying to do it as fast as we can. Yesterday there were mortars and rockets fired from north of Gaza into the state of Israel.
ROBERTSON: So, those civilians come (INAUDIBLE).
GOLDFUS: Into the civilian part of Israel.
ROBERTSON: So, as long as those rockets are coming out of northern Gaza, the people of the south -- who have moved to the south can't go back to the north.
GOLDFUS: As long as we haven't carried out our mission all the way, as long as we haven't finished this mission, I don't think we'll leave here.
ROBERTSON (voice over): We head back half an hour underground. we've seen only a fraction of this war changing labyrinth. Goldfus' challenge, find all the others.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (on camera): And I think the takeaway from that has to be that there is really no fast when you're fighting what he described - Goldfus described as fighting a war that's like a Rubik's cube, where at - you know, you can shift it at every dimension and pieces move. How to figure out how to force Hamas to come out of a tunnel in one place, how to know that they're not going to come out of a tunnel behind you somewhere else. How deep do you go in those tunnels. How dangerous it is for the troops when you put them in those tunnels. All of that makes it complex.
So, when Secretary Blinken was here over the past few days, and he spoke about this U.N. commission coming into Gaza to figure out when the conditions for Palestinians to be able to mauve back to the north of Gaza, back to their homes from where they're condensed in the south of Gaza right now, you really understand that that -- actually the conditions from that, from the IDF's perspective, that is going to take some considerable time more. It's very clear fighting and winning this for Israel is not going to be quick.
HARLOW: Yes. This phase even longer, right, they're saying.
Nic Robertson, what a report. Thank you very much.
MATTINGLY: Well, happening soon, Donald Trump will be in yet another courtroom, this time for his New York civil fraud trial. Ahead, what the judge said Trump could not say if he wanted to speak during closing arguments.
[06:55:02]
And the tide is done rolling for Nick Saban. Check on Kaitlan Collins, friends. The legendary coach announcing his retirement. A look back at an illustrious career, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MATTINGLY: It is the end of an era in college football. Best known as Ohio State's secondary coach in 1980.
HARLOW: Give it up, Mattingly.
MATTINGLY: He became legendary Alabama coach. Nick Saban announcing his retirement yesterday in a 17-year run of success with the Crimson Tide.
HARLOW: Andy Scholes, good morning.
We have checked on Kaitlan. She is OK-ish, but sad.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, I'm saying it - yes, a lot of students having a rough day yesterday there on campus in Tuscaloosa.
You know, it's safe to say, there's never going to be another college football coach as great as Nick Saban. Seven national titles. Six of them won there at Alabama.
And, you know, Saban had the Crimson Tide ranked first at least once during all but one of his two seasons -- or at least all but two of his seasons there in Alabama. Every player recruited by Saban that played at least four years won a title. That's just incredible. And while announcing his retirement yesterday, Saban said in a statement, "it's not just about how many games we won and lost, but it's about the legacy and how we went about it. We always tried to do it the right way."
[07:00:09]
