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U.S. and U.K. Carry Out Strikes Against Iran-Backed Houthis in Yemen; Snow, Extreme Temps Could Wreak Havoc on Iowa Caucuses. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired January 12, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK SABAN, FORMER UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA FOOTBALL COACH: -- be there the next day and be filled with energy and go for it. But when you get a little older, that gets a little tougher. And I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that.

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[06:00:12]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Yes, Kasie, I'm only 40, and I can relate to that. So props, Nick Saban and congrats on an amazing career. He certainly will be missed.

KASIE HUNT CNN ANCHOR: I still have not yet hit 40 and, yes, I mean -- I guess it just gets worse. But here we are.

Andy Scholes, thank you very much. Have a great weekend.

And thanks to all of you for joining us. Have a wonderful weekend. I'm Kasie Hunt. I will see you live from Iowa in negative temperatures coming up on Monday. But don't go anywhere. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning, everyone. I'm Phil Mattingly with Erica Hill in New York. Poppy is off today.

And we are following the major breaking news out of the Middle East this morning. The U.S. And U.K. carrying out multiple strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Overnight, we heard why President Biden decided to order these strikes, and the concerns that U.S. direct involvement could lead to a much wider conflict.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, there is strong response globally and here at home. Iran condemning the attack overnight as a group of Democrats fiercely criticized the president for launching that attack without congressional approval.

Donald Trump also finding a way to be heard in court and outside court. What Trump said that made a judge ask his lawyer to, quote, "control your client."

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MATTINGLY: And that breaking news on this Friday morning, growing concerns about an escalating conflict in the Middle East after the U.S. and British militaries launched retaliatory strikes against multiple Houthi targets in Yemen.

We're going to show you new video just released by the U.K. defense ministry. Over the course of the last several hours, five people were killed and six were injured, according to a Houthi military spokesperson.

A U.S. military official says a significant percentage of Houthi assets were destroyed. Sixteen locations were hit, including a command center, weapons depots, and launching systems that were targeted.

HILL: So these strikes, of course, come after weeks of repeated drone strikes and missile attacks by those Iran-backed Houthis on commercial ships in the Red Sea, attacks that have forced more than 2,000 ships to divert thousands of miles around the Red Sea.

That, of course, is causing major delays and directly impacting the global economy.

And the U.S. for weeks has tried to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spreading conflict in the region, repeatedly warning the Houthis about possible retaliation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: If it doesn't stop, there will have to be consequences, and unfortunately, it hasn't stopped. But we want to make sure that it does, and we're prepared to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Those warnings have now turned to action, and President Biden is not ruling out more military action, saying in a statement, quote, "I will not hesitate to direct further members to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary."

We have team coverage on this very important morning. Our experts are standing by, and CNN's Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon, where we begin.

There have been warnings, Natasha, for weeks from top U.S. officials that this could happen. It now has happened. What are the expectations going forward?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Houthis are already responding. And they are saying that they are going to retaliate. The extent to which they actually can after those strikes last night remains unclear. The Houthi deputy foreign minister released a statement saying, quote,

"Our country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack. America and Britain will undoubtedly have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression."

Now of course, as you mentioned, the Houthis had been warned for several weeks and months that, if they did not stop, then the U.S. would not hesitate to strike back, and would not hesitate to take action to make them stop.

And of course, the U.S. was able to pull together this coalition of countries to support a response, a very controversial one, a very -- one that was actively debated within the Biden administration for quite some time, because they were hesitant about escalating the war any further and hesitant about upsetting a very delicate truce that has been brokered by the U.S. and the U.N. inside Yemen over the last several years.

Now, just to remind viewers, the Houthis are an Iran-backed group that emerged in the '90s out of the Yemen civil war. And the members belong to a branch of Shia Islam. And the group currently controls most of Northern Yemen. They are a very powerful group.

And over the course of several years of a war with Saudi Arabia, the Saudis were not really able to degrade them to the point where they no longer were able to control a significant portion of Yemen.

So the question now is, will these massive strikes really over 60 locations were targeted; over 60 targets were hit across 16 locations by the U.S. and the U.K.

Is that going to be enough to degrade the Houthis' capabilities to continue these strikes on Red Sea shipping. That remains an open question.

As you said, a senior military official did say last night that the percentage of this -- the targets that were hit is, quote, "significant" -- Phil.

[06:05:05]

MATTINGLY: All right. Natasha Bertrand, live from the Pentagon. Thank you.

HILL: Let's bring in now CNN political and national security analyst and White House and national security correspondent for the "New York Times," David Sanger; and CNN military analyst, and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Good to see both of you this morning. You know, David, just sort of picking up where Natasha left off there, our colleague Steven Collinson with, as always, brilliant analysis this morning. One of the things he wrote that stood out to me was the real need here.

That the credibility of U.S. power was on the line, he wrote. And it was imperative to reestablish some form of deterrence, because those calls for deterrence were not working.

David, when will the U.S. know whether that was actually effective and that goal was achieved?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Erica, it's a really good question, because the fine line here is between actual reestablishing deterrence and the provocation of a continuing war. And that's been the debate that's been taking place within the White House for weeks now.

They could have done these strikes two weeks ago. They could have done them two months ago. The reason they didn't want to was that they were concerned about opening, essentially, a third front in the war.

Obviously, Gaza's one; increasingly Lebanon and that -- the Hezbollah attacks there are second. And here they wanted to do something that would basically quiet this problem. And of course it's the Red Sea problem that is going to most affect consumer prices. It's the Red Sea problem that's going to most affect whether shipping resumes.

We now have seen a wide variety of companies say they can't get parts or can't get parts on time, because they've had to close off the Red Sea.

MATTINGLY: Yes, it's a hugely consequential geopolitical issue right now. Colonel Leighton, when you take a step back and look at the scale of the operation that was conducted last night, a joint operation with the U.S. and its allies.

What does it tell you about the intent here?

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The intent, I think, Phil -- and good morning to you -- is to make sure that the Houthis really can't cut trade in the Red Sea, as it transits through the Red Sea.

And so as a result of that, the way that they did this was really designed to hit the Houthis hard, hit them once or maybe twice, and then hopefully, that will be it.

But I think we have to be prepared for more actions to happen, for the Houthis to respond one way or the other, because they will have ways, in spite of these very substantial strikes, they will have ways to try to reach out and attack shipping in the Red Sea and in other areas, as well.

HILL: Colonel, to that point, what are you watching for, then, in the coming days? And where are you watching?

LEIGHTON: So what I'm looking at, Erica, are, you know, some of the movements that the Houthis are going to undertake. They are -- you know, are they going to be able to repair some of their damaged radars, to some of their airfields? Are they going to be able to launch drone strikes?

That's probably one of the most important aspects of this. Are they going to be launching cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against the targets in the Red Sea?

And will they also try to go after targets in Saudi Arabia or even Israel as a result of this? And will others join them? Will the Iranians show their hand? I don't think they will at this point in time, but it's definitely something to watch.

And will other Iranian proxies also join in this? Those Iranian proxies extending all the way from Iraq to Lebanon to Gaza, they could potentially do something.

Hamas, of course, in Gaza is going to be occupied with the Israelis, but others are going to be able to do something that could upset the balance perhaps in Iraq, perhaps in Syria, and perhaps in other parts of the Middle East.

MATTINGLY: David, we know White House officials informed congressional leadership in advance of these strikes that they were going to be happening.

However, you did hear from some Democrats, House Democrats in particular who are raising serious concerns about the legal authority behind this. Using the words "retaliatory" and "defensive" were very intentional. We'll see the legal rationale soon from the administration.

Take a listen to what Ro Khanna, a congressman from California, had to say.

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REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): The Constitution requires that, if there's not an imminent threat of self-defense, that he has to come to Congress. And here we know, by your own reporting, that this has been going on since December. He's assembled an entire international coalition. He certainly should have come to Congress so that we can discuss whether this actually could put more American troops at risk.

I'm concerned about retaliation in Iraq, and whether it could draw us into a Middle East war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: David, we could have a six-hour discussion about war powers --

SANGER: Yes.

MATTINGLY: -- and how this has been operated over the course of several decades, moving away from Congress. But do you think those concerns have merit?

[06:10:01]

SANGER: There is some merit to them, but the fact of the matter is the War Powers Act has very rarely been used in advance of these things. What you'll see is the president issues a notification, probably in the next few hours, about why he engaged here.

I don't think the president is going to have a hard time making the case, because it was just a week ago that we saw some of the Houthis open fire on U.S. Navy helicopters, and they responded by sinking those three ships.

And there there were a barrage of 21 missiles and drones that came in the direction of American forces.

But I think the president is going to be able to establish a pretty good case for why he took these out on the ground. The fact of the matter is, the lesson we learned from dealing with the Somali pirates and the other cases is you have to actually get at their onshore facilities.

And I think the question that Cedric raised, correctly, is have they gotten enough of those now to really hobble the ability of the Houthis to come back?

And then there's the bigger question of Iran, which is, you know, obviously that we are not striking inside Iran, but it's Iran that is at least coordinating, if not controlling these groups.

HILL: David Sanger, Cedric Leighton, appreciate your insight, as always. Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, after bringing the campaign trail to two courthouses this week, Donald Trump will actually be on the campaign trail this weekend. His plans in Iowa, that's next.

HILL: Plus, a new poll shows President Biden narrowly beating Trump in a key swing state. Those numbers just ahead.

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[06:15:18]

HILL: It is brutal in Iowa, the state facing life-threatening winter weather this morning, with just three days to go, of course, before the Republican caucus, candidates cancelling events.

Some Republicans are also concerned that it could -- the weather, that is -- impact turnout. Monday's caucuses are set to be the coldest on record.

Frontrunner Donald Trump is returning to the state this weekend after wrapping his civil fraud trial in New York, speaking both in the courtroom and, of course, outside.

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DONAL TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a political witch hunt, the likes of which nobody's ever seen before. They owe me damages for what they've done.

We didn't have a jury. We had no rights to a jury.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN's Eva McKend is live in Des Moines, braving the elements this morning. Eva, so, so much focus on the weather and how it could impact turnout, ultimately.

EVA MCKEND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, Iowans are used to the cold, but these blizzard conditions are tough. I can tell you from being out here this morning, the roads are treacherous. It's very, very windy.

Nikki Haley forced to cancel her events. Excuse me, not cancel her events this morning, shift them. They're going to be tele-town halls. That means that Iowans can call in to find out more about her vision for America.

Meanwhile, Governor Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, they are staying the course for now, but that, of course, could change in the hours ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCKEND (voice-over): Blizzard conditions hitting Iowa, bringing the campaign trail to a halt on the eve of former President Trump's return to the state.

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have got to tell you, y'all, it is cold outside.

MCKEND (voice-over): The National Weather Service says life- threatening winter weather is expected to hit the Hawkeye State, with windchills bringing temperatures as low as 45 degrees below zero.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Temperatures are dropping. You know, my Florida blood is adapting.

MCKEND (voice-over): Nikki Haley cancelling all her campaign stops Friday, opting for telephone town halls.

HALEY: We are a country in disarray, and the world is on fire. And the only way we get out of this is if we elect a new conservative leader to carry us forward and leave the negativity and baggage behind.

MCKEND (voice-over): DeSantis continuing to slam Haley, likening her performance at a CNN debate to Hillary Clinton.

DESANTIS: It was me versus Hillary, I mean, Nikki.

MCKEND (voice-over): And criticizing the large campaign donors supporting her.

DESANTIS: She has not gone to all 99 counties, doesn't like to interact with the voters. They just spend, spend, spend, and somehow, that's going to do the trick. You know, that's not the way it works.

MCKEND (voice-over): At one event in Iowa, DeSantis battled not just frigid temperatures, but climate protesters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much money have you taken from oil companies?

DESANTIS: This is what's wrong with the college system right there. That's Exhibit A.

MCKEND (voice-over): Trump will hold his final events in Iowa this weekend after spending Thursday in a New York courtroom, speaking during closing arguments in his civil fraud trial.

TRUMP: This is a political witch hunt, the likes of which nobody has ever seen before. They owe me damages for what they've done.

MCKEND (voice-over): The former president making the legal cases against him his central campaign pitch, falsely claiming they're orchestrated by his political opponents to interfere with the election.

TRUMP: Every time somebody sees me in court, remember, Joe Biden and his thugs that surround him did it. They're trying to get a man in office that can't put two sentences together.

MCKEND (voice-over): Next week, Trump says he'll attend the start of the defamation case brought against him by E. Jean Carroll.

TRUMP: I want to go to all of my trials.

MCKEND (voice-over): The judge in that case has already found Trump guilty of defamation. This trial is just to determine damages.

Last year Trump was found liable of sexually abusing Carroll after she accused him of raping her in the mid-1990s, an accusation Trump denies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKEND (on camera): And Iowans are really showing their resolve despite this weather. At a campaign event last night, voters asking Governor DeSantis about his policy positions on Social Security and Ukraine.

So with just three days left, Iowans, still -- some of them still making up their minds here, still vetting these candidates, not letting the weather and these frigid conditions deter them from getting out and caucusing on Monday -- Poppy, excuse me, Erica.

HILL: No worries, Eva. Thank you. Now go get warm, you and your team.

MATTINGLY: Let's go ahead and bring in CNN political analyst and historian Leah Rigueur; former Republican strategist and pollster Lee Carter; and CNN political analyst and anchor, John Avlon.

[06:20:07]

Look, they're Iowans. Are they really going to be that -- But do we really think the weather's going to have some massive effect on Iowans?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST/ANCHOR: The coldest I've ever been in my life and the hottest I've been in my life are both covering the campaigns in Iowa. So now, I think they're used to it. But it will be a gauge of intensity. Right? If you don't -- if you're not really into caucusing for a candidate, you're going to stay home. So it will be interesting to see how that ball bounces.

HILL: It's also fascinating to see, as we're seeing these. You know, this final push, this message, this race for second place. How much of an impact this well-worn message from Donald Trump will have at this point. I mean, I've lost count of the number of times, right? We talk about the grievances and the witch hunt. And yet, here we are again.

LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND HISTORIAN: I thought it was spot on to say that the centerpiece of the campaign right now is that this is a political witch hunt against me, that this is the spectacle, the circus of everybody look at me. Look at me.

And, you know, I think it's actually a smart strategy for Republicans, because that is what Donald Trump's base likes. It's what motivates them. We know that the Trumps have been campaigning in Iowa, even though it doesn't look like they've been campaigning. Donald Trump has not been in Iowa, but his sons have been in Iowa.

One of the things that they have said over and over again is you need to come out. You need to show your political force. You need to show your loyalty to prove that I'm the leader. I know, John, you find that funny. To show that I'm the leader of this country, but also so that we can take revenge on my enemies.

However, that is not a smart play for the general election. One, because the American public have very strong feelings about the idea of putting somebody who is under multiple indictments in office.

And so the same thing that he's using to propel him to the front of the primary, of the Republican primary may be the same thing that is his downfall in the general election.

LEE CARTER, FORMER REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND POLLSTER: I think there's -- I think there's a nuance, though, in what he's trying to say. In one way, it is all about him. There's no way, there's a lot of that.

But there's also this other message he's getting out there, saying that they're coming after us. There's been a big shift in his language that I've noticed that it is no longer, it's about me. It's about us. They're coming out all of us, and I'm going to be the one that's going to fight for us. Because they're coming after Republicans. They're trying to silence us. They're trying to force us. They're trying to force their opinions down our throat.

All of that is something -- and it really resonates. The Republicans are saying that's true. They feel like they're being forced to believe certain things, whether it's through ESG, MDEI (ph), the "Woke Wars," whatever, they all feel like they're being forced to believe whatever it is the other side wants them to believe. And they want a fighter. And more than 70 percent of Americans say

they want a fighter in office. And I think Donald Trump is trying to play into that.

MATTINGLY: Can we dig in on that?

AVLON: Sure.

MATTINGLY: Because what Lee's pointing out is what you see in the numbers, very clearly. The genesis of it, whether or not those people are being attacked; whether or not they feel like, as Trump says, that they're going after our religion, which there's multiples. I'm not sure which one he's referring to specifically.

Is there validity to it? Like, why does it land? Because it's true; it shows in the numbers.

AVLON: It's a huge mistake to deny what people feel. But it's important to unpack why they feel it. Right?

If you've got a grievance culture, or feelings of prosecution. Right? Donald Trump is basically trying to say, I'm not being prosecuted. I'm being persecuted.

I was smiling, because you know, rarely is Donald Trump accused of nuance. But he certainly is saying that, you know, this is about -- my Trump-centric world is a proxy for your victimization.

I do think there are places where the left has a blind spot about how frustrated people feel about what they perceive as being indoctrinated in cultural ways. Right?

The DEI, the tiptoeing around work, and things that are measures of a society that's evolving but people are kicking back on. In many cases because they feel it's illiberal.

But this is -- this is not the level at which most people are saying that that's why I support Donald Trump. Right? Instead, it's, you know, he's going to punish his enemies. It's a visceral reaction in many cases.

And this goes back to the deepest parts of American history. This is part of a larger cycle we sometimes see about resistance to multiracial democracy, and that's what he's an avatar of.

HILL: We could keep drilling down on this all day. But I do want to ask about Nikki Haley, too. Because I think what's fascinating is what we're seeing in Iowa.

As Eva just pointed out, she's not canceling these events. She is shifting them so that you can call in. "The Washington Post" pointing out in her events, she has actually cut down the length of her speeches yesterday. It went from 45 minutes to about 20. And she wasn't taking questions.

Could that be to minimize gaffes? Is it a smart move? Shouldn't you be taking questions at this point?

CARTER: What's interesting is a lot of the people who I have talked to on the ground say she's finally found her voice and found her confidence. Something -- sometimes they say, you know, if I had more time, I'd write a shorter memo. So maybe she's getting her points across in a -- in a stronger way.

But a lot of people say that she's finally, you know, found her groove. And I think that --

HILL: But not taking questions? It's different to cut down your speech to be more succinct and to the point. Absolutely.

[06:25:03]

AVLON: I think it is about minimizing gaffes.

CARTER: You do?

AVLON: Yes. Why open yourself to that distraction? You're making a closing argument. It's your argument. She's been taking questions the whole time. I do think she's hitting her stride as a candidate in many respects.

HILL: Yes.

AVLON: I do.

RIGUEUR: And I think it's -- it's also a moment to -- again, this is a race for second. Right? We all know who's winning the outcome in Iowa, but in part, in having this, John, I know you're not a true believer. But we --

AVLON: No, I just --

(CROSSTALK)

RIGUEUR: Got to give everyone a chance.

MATTINGLY: Don't react to his reactions.

RIGUEUR: But his reactions are the best.

CARTER: They are good.

RIGUEUR: But I think part of the -- part of what's going on with Nikki Haley's strategy is, again, minimizing gaffes, but also saying DeSantis is not worth her time, and I think that's important.

And it's part of this kind of larger idea of, you know, for those voters who are kind of iffy on Trump, those Republicans voters who are iffy on Trump, they want someone who projects strength and stability. Right now, DeSantis does not do that. And so Nikki Haley is trying to step into the space for that No. 2 spot, in case anything goes wrong.

MATTINGLY: All right. We've got a lot more to get to. Guys, stay with us.

HILL: We also have some newsmakers coming up this morning you're likely going to want to hear from. So be sure to stick with us. In the next hour, Senator Joe Manchin is here, weighing of course, that possible third party run.

And ahead in our 8 a.m. hour, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will join us.

We'll get their takes, of course, on the state of the 2024 race and a lot more on this busy Friday morning.

MATTINGLY: This morning -- you might have thoughts on this -- a group of Republicans pressuring Speaker Mike Johnson to walk away from a bipartisan spending deal that was struck with top Democrats. Why and what exactly comes next as a partial government shutdown looms.

HILL: One of those, yet again.

Plus, a class action lawsuit filed against Boeing after a chunk of the plane -- it's tough to forget -- ripped off mid-flight last week. We have more on that class action lawsuit. Also, the quality control investigation that is now underway.

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