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CNN This Morning
Democrats Flip Santos' Seat as GOP Majority Shrinks; Ukraine Destroys Russian Warship in the Black Sea; House Impeaches Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas; Powerful Nor'easter Pelts States with Snow. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired February 14, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:21]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. So glad you're with us. I'm Poppy Harlow with Phil Mattingly in New York.
It was a local election with potentially big national stakes. Republicans' slim majority in the House just got a little bit thinner after Tom Suozzi won the seat left open by ousted New York Congressman George Santos.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Now, Republicans didn't lose control of the House, but the latest vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas proved just how big of a loss this race was for the GOP, the vote to impeach: 214-213. One single vote.
What happens next as things move to the Democratic-controlled Senate? And a U.S. official says Israeli hostage and ceasefire talks are, quote, "productive and serious."
But how close does that mean they are? It's actually ending the conflict in Gaza. We'll have more. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
HARLOW: As you just heard from Phil, a single vote matters --
MATTINGLY: Yes.
HARLOW: -- a lot.
MATTINGLY: Margins
HARLOW: Margins. Republicans' grip on the House just got weaker. Democrats flipping the House seat once held by George Santos. This is a major early election-year victory with significant implications on Capitol Hill.
MATTINGLY: Well, Tom Suozzi says his win is a reflection on Americans being sick and tired of Republicans bowing to Donald Trump and refusing to work together on immigration and other urgent problems the nation is facing right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM SUOZZI (D), NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN-ELECT: It's time to move beyond the petty partisan bickering and the finger-pointing. It's time to focus on how to solve the problems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
SUOZZI: It's time to get to work on immigration. Let's send a message to our friends running the Congress these days. Stop running around for Trump and start running the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Now, there's a lot to unpack, but the near-term effect is this. Republicans had a razor-thin majority in the House to begin with. Now, once Suozzi is seated, Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose two GOP votes if he wants to pass anything without Democratic support.
Miguel Marquez is live in Glen Cove, New York, starting it off for us this morning.
Miguel, we've been talking about this over the course of the last seven or eight days. I've been trying to pick your brain for what you're hearing on the ground. How big of a surprise was the final margin here?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shocker. It was not only -- you know, look, there was a massive snowstorm, so everybody thought turnout would be even lower than they were expecting.
But turnout, it appears from my back of the book calculation, it was about 32 percent, which really exceeds all expectations for this race.
Also, the spread. Suozzi, he -- we were hearing early in the night that there was confidence in the Suozzi camps. So I think that was really shocking, that he wants so handily she she came out and conceded fairly early, and then he came out and made his speech.
Look, Suozzi is a longtime centrist, and during his speech to his -- to his voters, he talked about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUOZZI: We addressed the issues, and we found a way to bind our divisions. So now we have to carry the message of this campaign to the United States Congress and across our entire country.
either get on board or get out of the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: And that was very much the way he ran his campaign. And what he said last night. You know, look, there were even a couple of protesters there protesting his stand on Israeli. He's very, very pro- Israel. And from he shut them down by saying, Look, this is America. I love America and just how -- how everybody can have a voice. And sort of shut it all down, and people cheered for him. And he just rolled with it.
And that's the sort of thing that he says he wants to bring back to Congress because this will be now his fourth time representing this district.
HARLOW: Talk about when he will be sworn in, what the impact will be. Obviously, his challenger. So she's going to run again in November.
MARQUEZ: Yes. He says he'd like to be sworn in today. It is not clear that that vote is going to be certified, and that will be possible.
What's today? Wednesday. Tomorrow is Thursday. Congress apparently is going on break on Friday. So if he doesn't get sworn in in the next couple of days, they'll have to wait till Congress gets back in March.
And then it will happen. And then -- and then that razor-thin margin, then we'll see the real impact of this. This district may be redistricted by the time November rolls round. He will likely run again.
And he said he's going to run again. And it may be a somewhat easier race for him and a much more difficult race for Republicans in November. But we'll have to see what redistricting in New York looks like then.
HARLOW: Yes, interesting. Miguel, thanks for being on this the whole way through. Appreciate it.
MATTINGLY: And joining us this morning to discuss, CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp; CNN political commentator Scott Jennings; and former Democratic congressman from New York, Max Rose.
All right, former Democratic congressman from New York. I am very aware, since relocating up here that Staten Island and Long Island are two different places.
HARLOW: Thank you, Mattingly. That is progress.
MAX ROSE, FORMER DEMOCRATIC NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN: Thanks. Appreciate it.
MATTINGLY: However, you are in this delegation. You know this seat of Tom Suozzi. Why do you think an eight-point margin, which I don't think any of the polling was showing if there would be a lot tighter.
ROSE: So that returned back to the margin in 2020, the Biden margin, right? Which is harrowing for the Republicans, because keep in mind there are two other seats in New York that are currently held by Republicans that Biden won by more. And there's a very slim margin.
But what Suozzi did, which was so interesting for the country at large, is he really defied political -- traditional political logic. Normally, what politicians do is when they're hit on a weakness, on a vulnerability, and one would say the border is a weakness for Democrats. This, you know, I know you are, but what am I, or they change the subject to something else that's deemed their strength.
Suozzi went right to the camera and did multiple commercials that said, no, this is a strength, because I want to compromise. I want to govern, and the Republicans do not, at the very same time that the House Republican majority was rejecting a Senate bipartisan compromise on that very issue.
HARLOW: I saw that ad so many times, so many iterations. Phil, it was on repeat in Phil's house. I mean, that ad, Scott, where he played clips from him on FOX News, talking about immigration.
It said something like 18 times Tom Suozzi broke with Democrats on this issue. He leaned into what we're hearing from more Democrats now. Chris Murphy in the last couple of days called it a real weakness of Democrats. Essentially, he leaned into it.
Apparently, that was the right play and other factors helped him out.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. If you didn't know which party he was in, you might have assumed he was a Republican. He's running as an immigration and border hawk, shows himself on FOX News in his TV ads. And he's running on tax cuts for the rich.
I mean, this, this guy -- and never mentioned Joe Biden and never mentioned Joe Biden.
HARLOW: And said don't come to the district.
JENNINGS: And so, you know, I think it was a smart campaign that they ran. Also, look, he's a de facto incumbent here. Their functional incumbent, I should say, outspent the untested Republican two-to-one.
They had a lot of things going for then. I try not to overread these special elections too much, but clearly suburbs, still a little bit of a soft spot.
HARLOW: And he had that Queens component that was --
JENNINGS: The biggest pig chunk in his district is Nassau, which he overperformed in, based on what you would have imagined. And obviously, got some votes there that Republicans -- Republicans expected to get.
And one other issue. He did well in the early voting. Obviously crushed in the early. Republicans are still struggling with the concept of turning out your people whenever you can, however you can.
MATTINGLY: That's strange. Do we know why?
JENNINGS: You're always just one snowstorm away from a problem, you know? And we had a little snow yesterday.
MATTINGLY: The sarcasm based on a vote -- vote by mail is something thing that, I don't know, the former president --
HARLOW: Slighted.
MATTINGLY: Now currently Republican nominee, was really opposed to for some bizarre reason.
See, Scott makes great points, other than we definitely need to over- read everything. That's what were here for today.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Obviously.
MATTINGLY: But name I.D. Guy ran a great campaign. Clearly understood the dynamics of his district. He served it before.
CUPP: Yes.
MATTINGLY: I think what happened on the Hill with Republican -- House Republicans shooting down a bipartisan compromise certainly didn't help.
What should Democrats -- what should the Biden campaign be looking at this suburban district and say, This is our takeaway from this. This is what we're learning.
CUPP: It's not good. In fact, as you mentioned, Poppy, he told Biden not to come and was critical of Biden on the trail, saying, look, his age is a problem, and I don't even know if he'll stick it out.
I mean, that's sacrilege for Democrats in some parts of the country. He said that in New York.
And he ran as a centrist, and he even said, I've been running against my party for a long time. I'm a moderate. We need centrism. When Democrats swing too far to the left, they get too extreme, we run into problems.
He was pro-Israel. He was, as you said, an immigration -- he talked about crime. He said Democrats need to acknowledge those problems.
That's how you win with an unpopular president. And that's not great news for Biden. That's maybe not great news for some progressives.
Again, special election, you know, unique circumstances. But that's a playbook.
And for the Republicans, I think Mitch McConnell -- McConnell coined this term a while ago: candidate quality matters. Now Pilip wasn't a kook, but she wasn't a household name. But she had some very confusing policies that you struggled to explain.
[06:10:11]
HARLOW: Abortion.
CUPP: She was -- especially abortion. She was running kind of in defense of Trump, but not as much as he would have wanted. Not the best candidate, I think. You could have picked someone stronger.
ROSE: This is crazy. I mean, look, this was a tremendous, tremendous win for the Democrats. It's great news. Keep in mind the Republicans --
HARLOW: Well, you don't think S.E.'s point about --
ROSE: No, no, no.
HARLOW: -- in terms of saying it was --
CUPP: Tell that to Tom Suozzi. That's why he thinks he won.
ROSE: The Republicans -- the Republican Party kicked out George Santos. They didn't just do that for moral, ethical reasons. They kicked out George Santos, because they thought they had this seat in the bag. And they were going to get another Republican in that could be there over the long time.
CUPP: Not true.
JENNINGS: No. Come on.
ROSE: My God, you think that for once, any part of the party --
JENNINGS: In the bag? You think -- you think a suburban seat in New York --
CUPP: That had just been flipped one way.
JENNINGS: -- that Biden won by eight points was in the bag?
ROSE: He had won by double-digits nearly double digits.
CUPP: Listen --
ROSE: They became so --
CUPP: Listen, he won. You don't need to spin it in a weird way. He won. Why don't you take him at his word as to why he won. He's saying it.
HARLOW: They want you to take the "W."
CUPP: Take the "W."
ROSE: All I am saying -- I'm trying -- I'm just trying to spike the football a little bit here. All -- all --
HARLOW: I'm here for this Wednesday morning.
ROSE: All I'm saying here is that this was a monumental shift back from '22. OK? Back to where Joe Biden was in '20.
It is a very good sign for the Democrats taking back the House. But on an even more important note, it is a very important sign for the strength of the Biden agenda as it pertains to swing voters.
CUPP: He explicitly went after the Biden agenda.
ROSE: You cannot run away from an incumbent president no matter what you do, no matter what you say.
JENNINGS: That's a good point. You can do what Suozzi did in a special election. Harder to do when the president's at the top of the ballot.
MATTINGLY: Yes. This is something, actually, I wanted to get into, and that's why I'm not going to let you guys leave, whether you like it or not. We do have a lot more to get to, guys. Stay with us.
Breaking overnight, Ukraine says it has taken out a Russian warship. There's the breaking news, taken out a Russian warship in the Black Sea.
This new video, just released by the Ukrainian military, shows a sea drone approaching the ship, and then we see the explosion you just saw there.
This is the latest in a series of drone strikes against the Russian navy in recent weeks.
CNN's Melissa Bell is live for us with the latest.
Melissa, what more do we know about how this all happened or what it means for Russia's Black Sea fleet?
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a Black Sea fleet, that according to Ukrainian authorities, has now lost a third of its capability, which is an extraordinary figure when you consider it.
And this, the latest win for Ukrainian forces, specifically this special forces it to carried out this overnight raid.
Now, what's interesting about this, beyond the fact that they took out this extra Russian landing ship is, of course, the way they went about it.
These are Magura sea drones that were used. They were basically powered by Jet Ski. They're Ukrainian made. And of course that's significant, Phil, because we know that Ukrainian armed forces have been trying to ramp up their production of their own weapons and using much more effectively than they had before.
Drones, not only along the land, the front lines on land. But of course, in the Black Sea, we saw another big guided missile ship taken out earlier this month. Again and by these very same Ukrainian drones.
They have this really long capability, about 800 kilometers, just under 500 miles, and are extremely agile at getting around and in ships.
And what they did is break a hole in the side of that ship, taking it down.
Now, it's also important, because what we've seen is while that front line has been so static over the course of the last few months, Ukrainian forces have really been focusing their efforts on the Black Sea with that degree of success.
It's important, not only symbolically, because of course, what Crimea represents in terms of the 2014 invasion. But it's important strategically, as well.
What the Ukrainians are working on is the assumption that they -- if they can cut off the Russian ability in the Black Sea to continue bringing troops to their front lines from the Crimean Peninsula that they'll have a big win strategically.
So an important hit for them today. The Kremlin so far denying or refusing rather to comment on what has happened overnight.
MATTINGLY: The latest in a series of remarkable successes there with that kind of ingenious technology.
Melissa Bell, thanks so much.
Well, a fast-moving, but very powerful Nor'easter blanketed several states in snow. How just a few hours of snowfall brought several cities to a halt.
HARLOW: And it took them two tries, but the Republican-led House has impeached Alejandro Mayorkas. Not all Republicans, though, were on board.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEN BUCK (R-CO): You can try to put lipstick on this pig. It is still a pig, and this is a terrible impeachment. It sets a terrible precedent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): The yeas are 214, and the nays are 213. The resolution is adopted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: The second time's the charm. New overnight, the House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.
This is the first time a cabinet secretary has been impeached in nearly 150 years.
Now, the Republican-led House claims Mayorkas refused to comply with the law and breached public trust. This was the House's second attempt to impeach the secretary. They fell short by a vote last week.
Now the decision on removing Mayorkas now moves to the Democratic-led Senate, which make vote to dismiss the case altogether.
Joining us now is CNN national politics correspondent, Eva McKend. Eva, that's kind of where I get stuck on. I'm not totally sure what the point is, since we know the Senate's not going to vote to convict. How are House Republicans explaining why they needed to do this?
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Phil, it will have no material impact. You are correct. It's symbolically significant.
This is the first cabinet secretary to be impeached in almost 150 years. Alejandro Mayorkas, also the first Latino to run homeland security.
But Republicans achieved this only one vote, with Congressman Steve Scalise returning to the Capitol after receiving cancer treatment, to give Republicans the numbers necessary to achieve this.
The resolution itself, though, non-binding. And you have three Republican congressmen actually join with Democrats: Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, Ken Buck of Colorado, Tom McClintock of California opposing the impeachment, arguing a polity -- policy dispute over immigration doesn't amount to an impeachable offense like public corruption.
Because House Republicans, they're arguing that he has not done his job, that he isn't adequately enforcing immigration law. But those opposed to this say he's -- didn't abuse the power of his office for personal gain in any way. He didn't engage in corruption, and that's really what impeachment should be reserved for.
But I'll let you hear for yourself how lawmakers are explaining how they voted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARK GREEN (R-TN): This guy essentially subverted the laws passed by this body. And that can't stand. A cabinet secretary doesn't get to pick and choose which laws they're going to enforce.
BUCK: This is a policy difference. You can try to put lipstick on this pig. It is still a pig, and this is a terrible impeachment. It sets a terrible precedent. If there's a Republican president in the next Congress, you better expect an impeachment of a cabinet official.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKEND: So Senate sources tell us that they don't expect to spend much time on this trial and DHS is out defending Mayorkas. They're saying House Republicans, they "will be remembered by history for trampling on the Constitution, for political gain, rather than working to solve the serious challenges at our border" -- Phil.
MATTINGLY: All right. Eva McKend with the latest from the Hill. Thank you.
HARLOW: And it is the morning after the nation's airports and for much of the Northeast, it was rough going at the airports, I'll tell you yesterday.
The region is digging out from some of its heaviest snow in years, knocking out power and snarling travel. There are reports of at least 15 inches of snow on parts of Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Right here in New York City, the highest daily snowfall in over two years.
Our meteorologist, Derek van Dam, is in from the snow -- Shocker. We usually see him in tough weather -- and with us.
So nice to have you in the studio.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Much warmer in here.
HARLOW: Much warmer. Was it as bad as we thought it was going to be?
VAN DAM: You know, I feel bad saying this for the people who were the thousands of flights that were canceled yesterday. But of course, some people got more snow than others here in New York city, the most snow in two years. But yes, some areas topped a foot.
Check out what this Nor'easter brought to the East Coast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAN DAM (voice-over): A Nor'easter hammered the East Coast on Tuesday, providing the largest single-day snowfall in New York City in two years. Central Park recorded 3.2 inches of snow.
VAN DAM: What do you think about all the snow in New York?
VAN DAM (voice-over): The winter wonderland allowed New Yorkers to build snowmen, sled, and even cross-country ski through the park.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's beautiful. It's -- it's so -- it's so peaceful, and everybody looks very happy and walking around, and kids having a blast.
VAN DAM (voice-over): Sadly, there was one death. CNN affiliate WABC reports a 74-year-old woman was killed after a loose brick fell from a brownstone while she was shoveling.
The National Weather Service reports that parts of Connecticut and New Jersey received 15 inches of snow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm excited. It's crazy out here.
VAN DAM (voice-over): From Massachusetts to Rhode Island, many were left shoveling throughout the day, trying to dig out from the biggest snowstorm in recent memory. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's heart attack snow, so be careful, everybody,
because it's just wet.
VAN DAM (voice-over): Parts of Pennsylvania saw the highest snow totals in three years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm 71 years old, so this, I'm about at the end of my shoveling days. It's like shoveling water. It's very heavy.
VAN DAM (voice-over): And in Boston, a heavy wet snow left some without power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard a branch break, and then it looked like a lightning bolt as the transformer blew on top of the power lines right behind our house.
VAN DAM (voice-over): Despite the Nor'easter, snow totals for the season are well below average throughout much of the Northeast, with places like Syracuse in New York and Erie, Pennsylvania, running upwards of 50 inches behind their averages.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAN DAM (on camera): I think I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that today is Valentines Day, so we've got a custom Valentines Day forecast along the West Coast.
Stay indoors. It's cuddle weather today.
But along the East Coast --
HARLOW: Aww!
VAN DAM: -- things are getting a lot better. And, you know, Poppy, I'm never on set with you.
HARLOW: Never.
VAN DAM: So I thought maybe -- it is Valentines Day.
HARLOW: Oh, my gosh!
VAN DAM: You know, it's got a cute, adorable puppy (ph), but chocolates for your Valentines.
HARLOW: You are the sweetest.
VAN DAM: And really, really nice to be here with you. Phil, sorry.
MATTINGLY: Leave. Immediately.
Why you got to do anything? Don't make me look bad.
VAN DAM: Maybe a 49er --
MATTINGLY: I'm so happy to see you, Derek Van Dam. So excited to see you live and in person. And now you just made me --
HARLOW: Two men in my life, you know, my husband and Phil. No one gave me chocolate.
MATTINGLY: Where are my chocolates?
VAN DAM: You see, I've got a box or roches (ph) there for you.
MATTINGLY: We're good now. We're back.
HARLOW: Thank you.
VAN DAM: After the show.
MATTINGLY: Good to see you, buddy. Thank you.
HARLOW: Nice to have you. With Cupid. Cupid on the forecast.
[06:25:05]
MATTINGLY: Well, also this morning, a U.S. official says hostage talks between Israel and Hamas are, quote, "productive and serious." Hamas calling the last 24 hours of negotiations critical. More on all that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:29:09]
HARLOW: Welcome back.
So this morning talks between key negotiators in Cairo over a potential ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza are being described as serious and productive. Still, though, without a breakthrough. This is according to a U.S. official.
The discussions include the release of imprisoned Palestinians in exchange for hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Israel's prime minister has dismissed Hamas's demands. Meantime, the IDF says it has new video footage. This is from October. It shows Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar inside a tunnel in Gaza in Khan Yunis with his wife, children, and also with an unidentified man. CNN has not yet been able to verify the authenticity of this video.
CNN has live team coverage with Nada Bashir in Cairo, Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv.
Nada, let me begin with you. To have a U.S. official described these talks in that way, is it your sense that it is different than before, when things have fallen apart or not gotten as far as was hoped?
NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, it is certainly the hope for many in the international community.
