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Soon: Voters Head To Polls In Michigan Primary; Today: Biden Meeting With Top Congressional Leaders; Today: Prosecutor's Divorce Lawyer Could Be Back On Stand. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 27, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a live look at the Washington Monument here on this Tuesday morning at the bottom of the hour. Good morning to you. Thanks so much for waking up with us. I'm Kasie Hunt.

Just 90 minutes from now polls are going to open in Michigan where the key test is actually going to be on the Democratic side today, and that's around the president's support for Israel.

The only Palestinian in Congress, Rashida Tlaib, who represents part of the most significant Arab-American population in the United States, has led a charge to get her community to vote uncommitted when they go to the polls today.

There are also progressives and young voters who have been upset with President Biden for backing Israel in the face of mounting civilian deaths in Gaza.

Biden expressing optimism about a temporary ceasefire in the region by next Monday, and also offering this warning to Israel -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Israel has had the overwhelming support of the vast majority of nations. If it keeps this up without this incredibly conservative government they have they're going to lose support from around the world, and that is not in Israel's interest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, let's bring in Jackie Kucinich. She's a CNN political analyst and the Washington bureau chief of the Boston Globe. And Mica Soellner, congressional reporter for Punchbowl News. Ladies, it's wonderful to have you here in the studio today.

Jackie, let me start with you. I mean, what are you watching for in Michigan? They've set this -- well, actually, let me -- let me show you what -- how Gretchen Whitmer responded to this bar that the community has set --

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE: Yeah.

HUNT: -- which is that they're trying to get these 10,000 votes for this uncommitted movement. Take a look at what the governor had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): There will be a sizable number of votes for uncommitted. I think that it is every person's right to make their statement about what's important to them. And we know that the Arab community, the Palestinian community, the Muslim community -- those are not all one and the same. There's a lot of pain. There's a lot of pain in our Jewish community, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The uncommitted organizers have said that they want to get at least 10,000 votes. Do you think they'll reach that?

WHITMER: I think that that's possible, yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So she acknowledges -- and, you know, she told Dana Bash over the weekend that she's not sure how many people are going to vote for this.

I mean, where's the bar for Biden?

KUCINICH: I mean, there can -- they're obviously going to be closely watching this because they know that it'll show how much of a problem this is, right, because Michigan is a must-win state. And these protesters have been -- I mean, it's not just Michigan, right?

HUNT: Um-hum.

KUCINICH: He's been encountering people all over the country who are very upset with how he particularly, initially, has positioned himself in this particular conflict. And I think if they do get 10,000-plus it's a warning sign for -- and he has -- he has shifted his position. However, it's not enough for a lot of people out there.

HUNT: Yeah. Well, I mean, and even the way that you heard him talk about this very conservative Israeli government, right? I mean, that's more criticism than he had been offering at the start of this conflict.

Mica, you are on the Hill every day. You are talking to a lot of these members. What do you hear in terms of how this issue is shifting there because obviously, most of the Democratic Party has still been very much with Israel? But this has been a very significant issue on the progressive side.

MICA SOELLNER, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Yeah, absolutely. So, I would say that there's definitely been a shift within a lot of members -- not a lot, but a handful of members within the House Democratic caucus that have really moved away from this issue -- particularly, progressives, as you mentioned. And it also splits members in terms of who are really pro-Israel. We

saw Congressman Ritchie Torres leave the progressive caucus last week because of his opposition to some of its stances on this issue.

So it's definitely splitting the caucus in ways that I think hasn't been the case this Congress (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: It's been pretty emotional, right?

SOELLNER: Extremely emotional -- I think especially for members like Rashida Tlaib that you just mentioned, and Ilhan Omar, and some of these members that have -- really have personal stories as well related to the issue.

HUNT: Yeah.

Jackie, let's touch briefly on the Republican primary in Michigan as well.

KUCINICH: Right.

HUNT: It is a bit of a mess --

KUCINICH: Indeed.

HUNT: -- when you dig into the -- basically, there's like two people that claim to be in charge of the Michigan GOP. They're going to have conventions that are going to formally award the delegates. But there is going to be a vote on Tuesday on the Republican side.

What are you watching for in terms of who shows up and the potential tally for Nikki Haley?

KUCINICH: Yeah. I think it'll be interesting to see if Nikki Haley continues to pull who she's been polling, which are college-educated, higher-income voters in the Republican Party. We've seen that throughout several states. And is that still going to be where she -- where her -- and Independents -- where the base is?

Now, because there is this Democratic primary, we'll see if Democrats are going to cross over and vote with Republicans like they -- like they have in some other states.

But really, she doesn't -- she doesn't necessarily have a path to the nomination but how much she nibbles at the margins I think is going to be interesting today.

HUNT: Yeah.

[05:35:00]

Mica, what's your sense -- we -- there was some interesting reporting yesterday from The New York Times about a potential thaw between the Mitch McConnell camp -- embodied by Josh Holmes, who -- you know, former McConnell chief of staff and longtime political adviser -- and the Trump camp and Chris LaCivita, who is their senior adviser. And this obviously comes as now, all -- we call them the three Johns, right? They're the three people that are in waiting to potentially leave the Senate Republicans once Mitch McConnell -- you know, he's expected to at some point step aside. John Thune came out, finally, and endorsed Donald Trump.

Is there a feeling, and what is the feeling around people who are still holding out? You've got the Thune endorsement, the McConnell thought, and you've also got Todd Young, senator from Indiana who is basically saying no, I'm never doing it and come at me, please.

What is kind of -- what's the vibe check on the Hill right now?

SOELLNER: Yeah. I would say that these members that are still not coming out for Trump are under an increasing amount of pressure from not just their colleagues but the major Republican political movement, especially right now in an election year where Trump is pretty much going to be the presumed nominee.

I think that a lot of -- a lot of these moderates are going to fold and have already started, and we're seeing this. And I think that there's a big push in the party to really get behind Trump whether they want to or not, despite the fact that privately, a lot of members are very critical of him and skeptical of whether he can win the general election.

HUNT: All right, ladies, stick with us for a second.

I do want to switch to the other big story that we are covering here in Washington. Tell me if you've heard this one before. We're on shutdown watch on the Hill again. This has become a pretty regular occurrence. There are just days until a key funding deadline and President Biden is set to meet with the big four congressional leaders today as they try to avert this partial shutdown. It's, again, set for Friday.

There are, of course, major disagreements about policy and spending levels. House Speaker Mike Johnson continue to grapple as every House Speaker has with increasing negative consequences to them. Fight with his right flank, which is push -- pressuring him on this.

And as this clock ticks down to the deadline, Senate Democrats are starting to let their frustration show just a little bit -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): You know, I just don't understand this. The Republicans have agreed on a number for the budget. They have dawdled and they have dawdled and finally, we thought we had everything together. We knew what the dates were. And they still just can't get the basic job of government done.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): It is sinful what's going on and the games that are being played right now with the American people and all of the people that are depending on services of the federal government and we can't even get our act together. It's a shame. This is a -- this will go down in history as the least productive -- the absolutely least productive Congress in the history of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: OK. So here we are again, Jackie. What's next? Like, are we shutting down on Friday?

KUCINICH: I mean, it seems -- it seems more likely than it was the last time this happened but we'll have to see.

The one thing that is sure is that Johnson has a smaller margin than he did the last time this happened. He's never been a very powerful speaker but that power is going down the drain as the -- as the days tick by.

And what is he willing to do? When is he going to break and go to Democrats? Because we know this will pass. It's just he -- it's just how much he cares about his right flank. And you can say that for several issues that are currently in the cooler in the House.

HUNT: Mica, I've been noticing a little bit of chatter on the right from some things that Congressman Chip Roy has been out there saying about -- you know, he's been praising there was this framework that was set up with Kevin McCarthy back when he was speaker. He cut a deal with President Biden that was going to limit spending levels. This is a big part of what caused the right to throw him out. But now, Chip Roy seems to be saying some nice things about that.

How does that fit into this debate?

SOELLNER: Yeah. I mean, I think that a lot of this is that the Freedom Caucus has given Speaker Johnson much more leverage than they did to Kevin McCarthy. And they're still demanding a lot of things that just aren't going to pass -- the same things that they demanded under McCarthy. And I think they are coming to the realization that it's probably not going to happen.

And I think that there's a lot of disappointment seeing that Johnson was a conservative ally and now he's basically learning to -- try and learning to lead -- you know, how it is to govern.

HUNT: Playing games is why you have to govern.

SOELLNER: Yeah.

HUNT: Governing is hard.

SOELLNER: Yeah.

HUNT: Yeah -- no, it's a good point. I mean -- and look, actually, I should bring this up. Unfortunately, we don't have sound of this. But, like, I do feel, Jackie, we're sort of -- the language in our -- in -- that we've got going from our politicians in public is a little crass. It's always been crass in private --

KUCINICH: Right.

HUNT: -- let's be real.

But Jon Tester talked to Manu yesterday on the Hill and he said this. Quote, "We're doing this every six months. This is bull. It's just bull. And so we need to do what we were elected to do, fund the government, not shut it down."

[05:40:10]

Where -- I mean, where -- what does that -- the fact that he's willing to say this like this, what does it say about where we are?

KUCINICH: It's just -- it -- they're -- they are just at loggerheads. I mean, you have -- you have a House that cannot function and part of it is because it is such a small margin. I mean, I've never covered anything this close before.

HUNT: Yeah.

KUCINICH: And it is -- and you also have, again, a speaker -- a relatively inexperienced leader, particularly on the House side. They have been able to pass things in the Senate. I know there's also this House-Senate divide and the other always thinks -- one always thinks the other is trash. However, it feels like right now the logjam is in the House and they just can't get out of their own way.

They can't even pass rules, which there is when you're supposed to be able if you're a Republican and you're in charge be able to get your --

HUNT: Yeah.

KUCINICH: -- rules on the floor. And they can't even do that.

HUNT: Right -- no. The rules are literally the thing that give you power --

KUCINICH: Yes.

HUNT: -- in the House, and if you can't get them done you cannot execute on the power that you have.

KUCINICH: Precisely.

HUNT: Mica, what are you watching for as the House members come back today?

SOELLNER: Yeah. I think we're going to watch really to see where these House conservatives are in terms of a shutdown. I mean, they're openly floating. We saw House Freedom Caucus chairman Bob Good say this isn't the worst thing that's going to happen yesterday, publicly. So I think that we're going to watch for that.

We're going to watch for tensions. We're going to see if House Democrats get on board to potentially try and work with Johnson in passing a short-term CR and just watching the speaker -- every move that he makes this week.

HUNT: Yeah, for sure. He's learning on the job, Mike Johnson.

KUCINICH: Indeed.

HUNT: All right, Jackie Kucinich and Mica Soellner. Thank you both very much for being with us this morning.

All right. A key figure in Trump's efforts to dismiss his Georgia election subversion case is ordered to return to the stand. Plus, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow joins us live on Michigan primary day. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:41:26]

HUNT: All right. A key witness in the Trump team's effort to get the Georgia election subversion case dismissed could be back on the stand today. An emergency hearing is expected after the judge in the case determined that Fulton County prosecutor Nathan Wade's divorce attorney must testify about the relationship between Wade and Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.

Attorney Terrence Bradley has been billed as the star witness for defense attorneys trying to disqualify Willis' office and get the case dismissed. But he previously declined to answer certain questions, citing privilege concerns, during hearings two weeks ago.

And joining me now is race and politics reporter for the Associated Press, Matt Brown. Matt, good morning. It's wonderful to have you here in studio.

So this emergency hearing expected to happen this afternoon. Should we expect Bradley to take the stand? I mean, what are you listening for here?

MATTHEW BROWN, RACE AND POLITICS REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yes. So, given what happened earlier this week, just yesterday Bradley met in closed-door hearings with Judge Scott McAfee about the potential protections that he has under attorney-client privilege.

HUNT: OK.

BROWN: It is -- it was determined then that some of the statements that Bradley may have made on the stand in the last -- in last -- two weeks ago -- this hearing was February 15 and 16 -- that he did not have to testify may have overstated the case, shall we say.

So in this situation, I'm -- we're going --

HUNT: What do you mean by overstated the case? I'm sorry.

BROWN: Overstated the case that attorney-client privilege may not have covered all of the comments --

HUNT: I see. I see.

BROWN: -- that Bradley had made in communication with Nathan Wade.

HUNT: OK.

BROWN: I mean, these guys were business partners together. They had worked together for a long time. Bradley was literally Nathan Wade's divorce attorney at a certain point.

So given the number of text messages and communications that they had and the number of communication that they had engaged with over the years of knowing each other, the judge had determined that not all of that was necessarily covered.

And that is especially important to Trump's case in this alleging that Bradley knows about non-personal -- about personal relationships, potentially, between Wade and Willis, which, potentially, could disqualify her from the case.

HUNT: Right. And forgive me and point me in the right direction as you have been covering this so, so closely. But there does seem to have been this issue about the timing of when Fani Willis' relationship began and how relevant that is or isn't. Is it -- is there a question about whether he might contradict Willis' testimony around that?

BROWN: Yes. So, on the stand two weeks ago, as we saw, Fani Willis and Nathan Wade both said that they had begun a relationship with each other or -- in February or in the spring of 2022 and it ended at sometime in summer of 2023.

HUNT: OK.

BROWN: The --

HUNT: And that's relevant because it means that she would have appointed him to the case before anything started, right?

BROWN: Yes.

HUNT: OK.

BROWN: She would have appointed him to the case after -- no, after.

HUNT: I'm sorry, excuse me -- after.

BROWN: After these things began. So, that she only began a personal relationship with him after she would have appointed him into the job.

HUNT: Right.

BROWN: What Trump and his associates are alleging in -- that this case actually would -- that this relationship would have actually begun many, many months prior to that -- beginning as early as sometime in 2021. And they have presented cellphone data to show that Nathan Wade had been -- at least conservatively estimating using the technology -- between two cellphone towers near Fani Willis' house and had visited her apartment for at least, they claim, 35 times in 2021. Alleging that there had been a relationship in that period. Willis and Wade obviously deny that.

But the contradiction here needs some clarification and Terrence Bradley might be able to -- might be able to offer that.

HUNT: So, big picture, bottom line here in terms of whether or not this may disqualify her. I mean, what information might we learn that would lead the judge to say OK, Fani Willis does actually have a conflict and should be taken off the case?

[05:50:00

BROWN: Well, legally speaking, the question here is pretty cut and dry, which is whether or not Fani Willis benefited financially from appointing Nathan Wade as the top prosecutor on both the Fulton County special investigation into this and then also the lead prosecutor on this trial.

That question is muddied by whether or not Willis was -- the timeline of when she was engaged in this personal relationship, as well as whether or not she's disproportionately paying him for the services that he's providing to the office. And whether there was any improper trips that were taken, for instance, or if she actually -- there was a mechanism, for instance, for her to actually benefit financially from this.

All of those facts are in contested -- are in contention here with Trump's lawyers proposing certain filings claiming a certain timeline for when the relationship began and the significance of where Willis and Wade were, according to cellphone filings. Whereas, Willis and Wade had been denying, for instance, the significance of any of this data, for instance, or any of the timeline here.

HUNT: So how do they explain it -- I mean, if there's cellphone data that shows he was near her apartment before this timing? What was he -- what does he say he was doing?

BROWN: Well, it's a -- well, Hapeville is a -- is a -- is a crowded area. I mean, it's near the airport. It's near -- it's near many bars and clubs, restaurants, and commercial areas. Basically, they're alleging that even if the data is accurate, which they still stipulate it might not be, that this is a situation where it doesn't necessarily prove that they were even together in that period, given that while it's a conservatively geofenced area that Trump's lawyers are arguing with this data, it could still show that you're not saying that she -- he was literally at her house necessarily.

HUNT: Right. I mean, fair enough. It's -- I mean, the things that our cellphones know about us these days, it's so much. But also, it's really hard to understand just exactly how accurate it is, for sure.

Matt Brown of the Associated Press. So glad you're now D.C.-based. I hope you'll come back soon.

BROWN: Thank you.

HUNT: I really appreciate your reporting.

All right, time now for sports.

Pistons coach Monty Williams rips the officials after a controversial no-call cost his team a win against the Knicks.

Andy Scholes has this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, good morning, Kasie.

Two weeks ago, the Knicks were on the wrong end of a call that the officials admitted that they messed up. They lost that game to the Rockets because of it.

But last night the controversial call went their way and it was a frantic closing seconds with the Knicks down by one. Donte DiVincenzo, right here, is going to turn the ball over, but then he's just going to plow right into Ausar Thompson who was trying to go up the court. No whistle -- they play on. Brunson gets it to Josh Hart who gets the layup plus the foul with a second left.

The Knicks would then win 113-111.

And afterwards, head coach -- or head official James Williams, who was standing right over the play -- he admitted there should have been a foul.

The Pistons and their coach, Monty Williams -- they just could not believe no foul was called.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONTY WILLIAMS, HEAD COACH, DETROIT PISTONS: The absolute worst call of the season -- no-call -- and enough is enough. We've done it the right way. We've called the league. We've sent in clips. We're sick of hearing the same stuff over and over again.

We had a chance to win the game and it got dove into Ausar's legs and there was a no-call. That's an abomination. You cannot miss that in an NBA game, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah, and Monty will likely be getting a fine for those comments.

Now, elsewhere, for the first time this season, the Raptors are on a 3-game winning streak. All-Star Scottie Barnes had 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists for this fourth triple-double of the season and the 130-122 win over the Pacers.

And afterwards, the team -- well, they chanted "Pizza" following a promise by head coach Darko Rajakovic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARKO RAJAKOVIC, HEAD COACH, TORONTO RAPTORS: Uh, yeah. I promised our guys early in the season that once we get three wins in the (INAUDIBLE) I would treat them to a nice dinner. But since we have such a group of humble guys, they are just like we don't need any festive place. We can go for the pizza. But we're going to negotiate and we're going to go, but I'll treat them to dinner for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah, everybody loves a pizza party.

All right. Elsewhere, for just the second time ever, Mexico shocks the U.S. Women's national soccer team. The Americans -- they went into the game with a record of 40 wins, one loss, and one tie against the neighbors from the south of the border. And they only lost coming during the Women's World Cup qualifying back in 2010.

But Mexico scored that only goal right there and they needed it in the first half. They added another in the second half during stoppage time.

Both teams, however, despite the results, still advanced to the knockout round of the inaugural Concacaf Women's Gold Cup.

All right, finally, four-time Major champion Rory McIlroy can add another achievement to his long list of accolades -- winner of the match. The event on our sister channel TNT featured female golfers for the very first time -- Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang, along with Rory and Max Homa.

Thompson held the lead through the first four holes before giving way to Rory. And things were all tied up by the 12th hole, forcing a chip- off. And Rory would hit his wedge to inside five feet right there, winning $1.6 million for charity.

[05:55:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RORY MCILROY, 4-TIME MAJOR CHAMPION: It is pretty cool. I didn't -- I didn't put my best -- my -- I guess my best effort the previous match that I played. So I wanted to come here and redeem myself a little bit. And yeah, it's nice to walk away with the win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah. Now we wait and see what's next for The Match, Kasie. You know, last summer we had Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce take on Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Mahomes and Kelce won that, and then they won the Super Bowl again. We'll see if they come back for another round of The Match. It would be pretty cool if they could come up with something. And hey, who knows? Maybe Taylor Swift at The Match then.

HUNT: I mean, what could she do for another sport, right -- golf? I have to say, Andy, I am interested to the extent you have reporting

on the see-through pants in the MLB. I realize we're on day five or six of that story but you got any updates?

SCHOLES: Yeah, we talked about it last week. They're going to have to solve that, right? You can't be having see-through pants when the season comes around.

HUNT: I mean, I'm seeing a lot of my O's -- more of my O's than I normally see on my social media feed.

All right, Andy, thank you very much.

SCHOLES: All right.

HUNT: I'll see you later this week.

All right, up next here, it is primary day in Michigan. President Biden is hoping to overcome the backlash over his support for Israel. There, you're looking live at a ballot box. The polls are about to open here in just a few -- just an hour or so.

Plus, next hour, two prominent senators, Amy Klobuchar and Debbie Stabenow, both join me live on CNN THIS MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL)