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Ecuador Prosecutor Assassinated; Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) is Interviewed about Haley and Trump; Supreme Court Takes Challenge Regarding January 6th; Princess of Wales Hospitalized and King Set for Surgery. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 18, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:31:42]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: A prosecutor in Ecuador assassinated while leading an investigation into an attack on a local television network earlier this month. The focus of prosecutor Cesar Suarez's work was on organized crime.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Now, Suarez was investigating the storming of a local network, TC Television, by armed men while it was broadcasting live on January 9th.

David Culver joins us from Ecuador with the latest.

David, it was remarkable, very unsettling to watch happen live. What do we know about this prosecutor's assassination and can you explain to people the broader context of what's happening right now?

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you first that that takeover of the television station, Phil, it happened on live TV. You're right, it was remarkable. And that really woke up this country and you can -- fair to say the rest of the world as to what was happening right now with this latest outbreak and violence. And it's something that, as you point out now, involves the prosecutor who was investigating that TV takeover.

And we went, by the way, to that station just a couple of days ago to get a rare tour of what it looks like now. There are bullet holes riddling a lot of the infrastructure inside still. A lot of damage was done. The folks there are terrified.

The prosecutor investigating that, shot and killed yesterday on the way to a court hearing. Now, we know two people have just been arrested. We confirmed that in the past couple of hours.

But the question remains, why didn't he have security? I mean this is an incredibly sensitive topic to be investigating. This is a very dangerous place at this time with organized crime. And so we put that question to officials. The attorney general's office has said that there was security provided to this prosecutor, Cesar Suarez. The national police are supposed to provide that security. However, according to Suarez himself, the day before he was killed he said, I don't have any security. So, there's a lot of conflicting information. Something that we're trying to clarify with national police, Phil and Poppy.

But it speaks to the dysfunction right now and really the concern as to anyone connected to these cases, their lives may be at risk.

HARLOW: That's right, David. And I think it's so -- looking at the broader context of what is happening in Ecuador right now, the president of Ecuador spoke with our Christiane Amanpour and talked about the problem in Ecuador being much larger. An international problem. Can you speak to that as well?

CULVER: I think this is really crucial. President Noboa telling Christiane, it's an international problem because of the drug flow. He cites some 35 to 40 percent of drugs that would leave from the organized crime units here in Ecuador, would eventually make their way to the U.S. Outflow of drugs, sure, that's an issue.

But, Poppy, you've got to think about what you were just talking about with Kaitlan in the last hour, with Rosa, and that is the border. This was known as an island of peace. This country was very calm, was at ease amidst a lot of other turmoil in Latin America.

What you happen - what you - what you see now is, if this happens to continue to unfold, you've got folks here who happen to think, well, it's not safe. At some point, I'm going to up and go. Where are they going to go, Poppy? They're going to go north. They're going to continue adding to the migrant influx.

And you also have a place now where, if you look at how spread thin the U.S. is with resources, this is a country that needs resources. Yet another conflict zone added to the Middle East, to Ukraine, where the U.S. is being asked to step in.

HARLOW: This goes to the point of, you've got to address it also at the root, right, and at the border.

CULVER: Right.

HARLOW: David, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, Donald Trump ramping up his attacks against Nikki Haley, claiming he is more electable than Haley and that Democrats actually want her to win Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.

[08:35:06]

Is there any truth to that? I'm going to predict the answer here, but we're going to ask New Hampshire Governor, and Nikki Haley supporter, Chris Sununu, up next.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nikki Haley is counting on Democrats.

The radical left Democrats are supporting Nikki Haley because they know she's much easier to beat than Trump.

In Iowa, nearly 50 percent of Haley voters said they plan to vote for Biden in November. Now, that means that she's like a Democrat. I actually think she might go to the Democrat Party.

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HARLOW: That was Donald Trump last night. The former president really escalating his attacks on Nikki Haley as he seeks to deliver a blow, a knockout blow he wants in New Hampshire on primary just five days away.

Trump this week making clear that he views Haley as a serious threat. He did dial up his attacks on her on social media. He went after Haley while referring to her first name, Nimarata. Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa and her -- took her husband's last name Haley when they got married.

Trump also recently amplified a post that falsely claimed that Haley was ineligible to run for president because her parents were not U.S. citizens at the time of birth. Haley was born in South Carolina. She is a U.S. citizen. And this is a playbook we've seen from Trump time and time again using racist dog whistles, like referring to former President Obama but his full name, Barack Hussein Obama, promoting that baseless birther conspiracy theory.

Haley responded last night to some of Trump's attacks. She pitched herself as the best alternative.

Watch.

[08:40:01]

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NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, I know Trump threw a temper tantrum about me last night.

We have to win in November. But if you look at these head-to-head matchups, that's a hard truth. Head-to-head, Trump and Biden, it's going to be another nail-biter of an election. On a good day --

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HARLOW: With us now, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu. He is set to do an event, as you see, with Nikki Haley in just a couple of minutes.

What do you think Trump is doing here with those specific attacks that I laid out on Haley?

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): Yes, so - yes, so, look, he's scared. There's no question about it. He wouldn't be giving -- paying Nikki any - any mind if he didn't realize this was now a one-on-one race. He didn't think that was going to happen. She's challenging him actually to beat -- potentially beat him here, which would be an amazing feat. Nikki's already kind of exceeded expectations. Now it's just a matter of how close we can bring the gap in the next few days. Her numbers are going to keep rising.

But what he's doing is riling up his base. He's afraid his base isn't going to come out for him. He's - so all he's doing there - it's - that's his very bizarre way of getting out the vote, if you will, with his core voters. I mean, obviously, he knows - I mean he -- he preys on Nikki Haley for years as being so great and so tough and so wonderful. And now that she's finally saying, look, thank you for your service, Mr. President, we're moving on from you, you know, he - he takes everything a little personally. He's - he's a little sensitive, that guy. He's a little sensitive.

HARLOW: Yes. Is he using, Governor, racist dog whistles to go after her? Is that what you're seeing now?

SUNUNU: Look, he's going to keep - he's going to keep trolling her. He's going to keep trolling anybody who supports Nikki Haley. He's going to ignore DeSantis (INAUDIBLE) effectively out of the race, but -

HARLOW: No, but - but, Governor - Governor, please - specifically - specifically on what he's doing, because we've seen the playbook. I just laid it out. We saw it with Obama. We saw it with Elizabeth Warren. You're nodding your head.

SUNUNU: Yes.

HARLOW: Is that what he's doing to Nikki Haley now?

SUNUNU: Yes. Look, I - I - yes. I mean it's just his playbook. It's his way of trolling. But those things are really just to rile his base up. He knows he's not going to convince anyone to come to his side with comments like that. He's just riling his base up because in - in Iowa alone, what did he get - he did well, but 56,000 votes. That's it out of a state of 3 million. All right, that's not a lot. Voter turnout was actually very low for him.

So, at the end of the day, as we drive voter turnout here, that all goes -- those are new voters. That all goes to Nikki Haley. He's scared that his voters are going to be apathetic and stay at home. So, that's what he's really doing is trying to rile up his base.

HARLOW: So, just a couple of days ago Nikki Haley was asked about this country and if it's a racist country. I want you -- to get your response to this exchange with her on Fox.

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BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST: Are you a racist party? Are you involved in a racist party?

NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No. We're - we're not a racist country, Brian. We've never been a racist country. Our goal is to make sure that today is better than yesterday. Are we perfect? No. But our goal is to always make sure we try and be more perfect every day that we can.

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HARLOW: Was that the right answer to that question?

SUNUNU: Well, look, I -- you - you have to acknowledge, again, this is not a -- this is not a racist country. You have to acknowledge, there's racism and elements of racism and implicit bias over this country.

HARLOW: She said we've never been a racist - we've never -

SUNUNU: We - we - we've seen - but again, it's all of -

HARLOW: Just the words, she's never -

SUNUNU: Yes.

HARLOW: She said it's never been a racist country.

SUNUNU: Yes. Look, I think what she's doing is she's trying to say, we have to find those elements of racism, we have to be vigilant on them, we have to put spotlights on them, we have to learn from them and we have to be better about it. And it's all about moving forward in the future.

I mean I think her approach, she's a -- the first female woman of color to be a governor in this country, a strong tea party conservative candidate in conservative South Carolina. So, she carries great conservative credentials. Folks across the spectrum are - are kind of loving what she's bringing to the table. There's no doubt about it.

But when you talk about the - the issue of racism, it's all about, what are we tackling today? How do we learn from this today? And how do we make sure this country is better tomorrow?

HARLOW: Sure. For -

SUNUNU: She appreciates that more than anybody.

HARLOW: For sure. But history informs -- accurate history informs how we address the issues that we face today. And the point you make is an important one. And I bring it up because this -- there's a broader context here. I mean it was just, you know, a couple of weeks ago that she didn't say slavery in an answer to what caused the Civil War.

So, my question to you, Governor, is, I think it's confounding to some voters why she didn't say that. Why those answers were both the way they were. What do you say to voters who are skeptical?

SUNUNU: Yes. Yes. Look, it's not affecting the voters. She acknowledged, you know, when it come to the - the - the question she took a couple weeks ago, she said well of course slavery was at the crux of it. That's obvious to everybody. I mean she acknowledged that right away.

So, again, I know the media likes to make - try to make that she used this word and that phrase and all this. At the end of the day, her numbers just go up. It doesn't affect the vote.

Voters are worried about inflation. Voters are worried about the cost of their fuel. Voters are worried about how they're going to make sure they can pay their bills and not have massive credit card debt. That's driving the vote to move this country forward. That's why Joe Biden is actually in trouble.

I mean six months ago I told you directly, I don't think Trump can win this thing at all. Joe Biden would beat him.

HARLOW: So -

SUNUNU: In the last six months it's actually -- Biden is this bad, this bad, that Trump may even have a chance.

[08:45:06]

But this is the most important thing for Republicans. Nikki wins by ten. Nikki carries a full ticket. Nikki wins Senate seats and governor seats and all these other things up and down the ticket. So, her electability so far exceeds anybody else's.

Trump is the weakest candidate. Nikki has strength. It's a one-on-one race and Trump is scared.

HARLOW: So - so - so, Governor, OK, just put a button on that, words do matter. Inflation matters. All these things matter. Words matter too.

Finally, though, you told Kaitlan, our friend Kaitlan Collins, a couple days ago that you would vote for Trump if he's the nominee, even if he's convicted. How does that not hurt your -- the candidate you're arm in arm with right now, Nikki Haley, saying that?

SUNUNU: No. Yes, so, look, that's a - that's a hypothetical. That is not going to happen. My point I made - I was trying to make a point in saying that. That if you are waiting for an external factor to --

HARLOW: You don't know that that's not going to happen.

SUNUNU: It's not going to happen. That's a complete hypothetical. These cases are going on for years, Poppy.

If you're waiting -- my point is, is a very important one. If you're waiting for a court case or something to defeat Donald Trump, you can't do it. You've got to come out and vote. He gets defeated at the ballot box. That's democracy. We want everyone to engage in the process the right way. That's how Trump gets defeated. He's never beaten by these external things.

And I just see so many people saying, well, this -- this court case will - will make him go away and then he can -- don't wait for that kind of nonsense. It's very hypothetical. You got to get out and vote. You've got to be part of that democratic process here, in South Carolina, wherever it is. And the more people that come and vote, the - the more likely it is that we can defeat Donald Trump and put somebody that galvanizes this country together. That's a very, very important point.

HARLOW: You've got a packed house behind you. I'll let you go.

Governor Sununu, always appreciate the exchange. Thank you.

SUNUNU: You bet. Thank you.

HARLOW: Be sure to watch Nikki Haley one-on-one with our Jake Tapper tonight answering voter questions at a town hall in New Hampshire, right here at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

MATTINGLY: Well, the Supreme Court agreeing to take a look at a case that could potentially wipe away felony convictions for dozens of January 6th rioters and could significantly impact Jack Smith's case against Trump. We'll tell you more, next.

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[08:51:19]

HARLOW: So, this just in, Donald Trump just posted on his Truth Social account that all presidents should have full immunity. He argues that, quote, "even events that cross the line must fall under total immunity or it will be years of trauma trying to determine good from bad."

After what his lawyer said in court, that's a big deal.

MATTINGLY: Trump is making this argument. He Truthed it, as he asked a the federal appeals court to use presidential immunity to shield him from some charges in his federal election subversion case, and dozens of January 6th rioters are asking judges to halt their upcoming trials after the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to how the Justice Department prosecutes them. The case raises the question of whether the rioters committed a felony by obstructing a federal proceeding. The Supreme Court's ruling will likely (INAUDIBLE) greatest impact on defendants who weren't violent during the riot and for former President Trump.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz joins us now.

To that point, what is the argument that is actually being made here to have the cases thrown out for these rioters?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these rioters are going to the Supreme Court now and they're going to have oral arguments on this to say that this law has not been used correctly by the Justice Department. It's a felony charge of obstruction that there wasn't a clean fit for how to charge these January 6th rioters. So, instead of charging them with misdemeanors, people who were non-violent but did serious things inside the Capitol, people like Jacob Chansley, the QAnon shaman with the spear, people like Kevin Seefried, this drywaller from Delaware who carried the confederate flag inside the Capitol, they were charged with these felony counts of obstruction. And they're saying that law shouldn't apply to what happened on January 6th. That it's not the type of proceeding - it's not a trial, it's not something with evidence where you can use this sort of charge.

And so not just those people, but lots of defendants are now very hopeful that the Supreme Court will overturn the Justice Department's ability to use this law in these cases and dozens have asked to delay their sentencings. Some have been successful.

There's one person who's going to be let out of jail early and may have to go back to jail if the Supreme Court upholds the law.

HARLOW: And if the Supreme Court goes in the way that the rioters are petitioning it to go, this could affect Jack Smith, the special counsel's, work.

POLANTZ: Very much so.

So, Donald Trump, in his case related to January 6th, the 2020 election, he faces four charges. Two of them are based around this - this charge, this obstruction charge that the Supreme Court is looking at, a conspiracy and an obstruction. And Trump's team, according to my sources, are seeing an opening here. That when this case goes back to the trial judge, they can challenge the fact that he is charged on these two sort of - these two things.

Now, Jack Smith has already tried to get ahead of this and in court papers has written, Trump's different than those rioters because those fake election certificates that were sent to Congress makes it a little different for obstruction. But it's going to be a really big question. A lot to watch here with the Supreme Court.

MATTINGLY: No question at all.

Katelyn Polantz, thank you, as always.

HARLOW: Thanks.

While the princess of Wales recovers from surgery, King Charles is actually getting ready for his own hospital stay. We do have an update on the British royals, next.

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[08:58:09]

HARLOW: So, we do have new pictures of Prince William leaving the hospital after visiting his wife, the Princess of Wales. She has been recovering from her abdominal surgery. She was last seen in public at church on Christmas Day with the prince and their children. King Charles is also set to be hospitalized next week for an enlarged prostate.

And Max Foster is following all of it from London. Obviously, the confluence of these things all at once has a lot of

people paying a lot of attention.

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR AND ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, obviously, Charles is older. We also heard from Camila today, the Queen, who is now the only member of the top four in the royal family and now out and about representing the monarchy. So, it's a big sort of moment for her as well in terms of public attention. She said Charles was fine. So, people are feeling quite confident about Charles. He's got this procedure next week he has to go through. But the - you know, the condition he's got is benign, so people aren't concerned that he'll be out of the picture for too long.

The story about Kate that we talked about yesterday was interesting because initially people were interested, and then they got more concerned as they learned that she's got this very long recuperation period. Up to more than three months potentially. So, some concern as to why that is. We're not getting the detail. But all the tabloids have to say, being quite well behaved on this. They're not speculating at all. Here we got one of them, "The Mirror," talking about Prince William, who has actually taken time off work as well in order to support his family. We're not going to be seeing much of him. We just saw him, obviously, visiting the hospital there.

"Daily Mail" saying, let's pray that they're both OK. This is the sense of shock I was talking about. Kate, such a vibrant, youthful figure. No one ever thought that she would end up in a hospital for - you know, the only other time she's been in hospital as far as we're aware was when she had the kids. And "The Sun" talking about the "royals rocked by Kate op."

[09:00:05]

The queen having to step up, represent the family. She'll also have the support of Edward and Anne and Sophie as well. But they don't have the heft of the top four.

So, I think quite a lot of pressure on Camila right now to represent the family and represent continuity, which is what the monarchy's all about.

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: No, absolutely. And we know you'll keep us posted on this.

Max Foster, thank you, as always.

That's it for us this morning. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.