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Biden And Trump Easily Win Michigan Primaries; Star Witness Fails To Deliver Damaging Testimony; Shohei Ohtani Homers In Spring Training Debut. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 28, 2024 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:19]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We've got a live look at the still-sleeping White House, it looks like, after a late primary night in Michigan. Maybe we'll see them wake up here in the next couple of minutes.
Good morning to all of you. Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Kasie Hunt.
Voters in Michigan moved the country one step closer to a Biden-Trump rematch last night delivering President Biden and former President Trump decisive victories in their respective party primaries.
President Biden winning 81 percent of the vote but notably losing about 13 percent to the box called uncommitted, a campaign coordinated by the state's large Arab-American population in an effort to rebuke the president's handling of the war in Gaza. The leader of the campaign telling CNN last night that as votes were coming in, even 30,000 votes was a major win. Waking up today, that uncommitted vote stands over 100,000.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAYLA ELABED, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, LISTEN TO MICHIGAN: We are just overwhelmed by the fact that we were able to triple our margin of victory of the original 10,000 votes that we were hoping to leverage to send a clear and strong message to President Joe Biden, his administration, and the Democratic Party that we needed a permanent ceasefire now to save as many Palestinian lives as possible. We are appealing to Joe Biden as our president to act now before he risks losing his core constituency come November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Biden isn't the only one though who has cause for concern in the results. Nikki Haley -- excuse me, Trump, who defeated Nikki Haley by a 41-point margin continues his vote -- his march toward the GOP nomination. But his Michigan victory still showcases the former president's vulnerabilities amid some key voting blocs -- namely, suburban and college-educated voters who will likely determine which way the state will lean -- or they will help determine which way the state leans in November.
Let's bring in Semafor reporter Shelby Talcott, and senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News, Andrew Desiderio. Good morning to you both.
ANDREW DESIDERIO, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Good morning.
HUNT: Thank you for being here.
Shelby, let me start with you. This is a big number, 100,000. I mean, they had originally set -- I mean, I think we can put the margins for 2016 and 2020 up on the screen in Michigan. President Trump then -- or former President Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 10,000 votes, right? Like, that's the margin this campaign was looking at to try to make it -- you know, demonstrate hey, we could actually sway a general election.
Look at it. They're closer to the margin in 2020 when Biden won with a 154,000-vote margin. I mean, it's -- this is not a small thing.
SHELBY TALCOTT, REPORTER, SEMAFOR: Yeah -- no, it certainly isn't a small thing. And I think the big thing here is when you talk to Democrats it's sort of split -- the thinking in terms of these results. You have a number of Democrats who argue well, this was a coordinated effort in a primary. And so, when general election time comes and it is most likely Donald Trump versus Joe Biden, people will inevitably vote for Joe Biden, especially given why this movement -- like, the core of this movement.
At the same time, it is a problem because the question is do these voters stay home in a general election? And the other question is how does this movement go forward? What are we going to see in some of these other states in the next few days and weeks? Is it going to also -- are we going to see a large number of uncommitted voters?
I think the last thing on this is young voters. If you look at the results from last night in some of these college towns, the uncommitted vote was fairly high. I think 19 percent in one and 16 percent in another major college town. And so that's a red flag for Team Biden when it comes to young voters --
HUNT: Right.
TALCOTT: -- which he's been struggling with.
HUNT: It's also worth noting both Michigan and Michigan State -- those two big college towns -- were actually on break.
TALCOTT: Um-hum.
HUNT: So we may not even have, like, the full look --
TALCOTT: Exactly.
HUNT: -- at where young voters will land. Andrew, let's talk briefly about the Republican side. I want to show you what -- Nikki Haley had a pretty -- you know a sharp warning. She's, honestly, sharpening her messaging all the way through here, right, even as her campaign kind of heads towards it -- what seems to be it's inevitable. And here she was talking about the Republican Party going down with the ship that is Donald Trump -- watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are telling you, for all the Republican Party, we are in a ship with a hole in it. You can either ignore the hole and go down with the ship or you can acknowledge that we've got to look for a life raft.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Andrew -- I mean, this has been a message that there were some Republicans delivering on Capitol Hill regularly. Now, Nikki Haley seems to be basically the only one that's out there saying it. But there is some truth in those words.
[05:35:00]
DESIDERIO: She definitely is the only one at this point. And you see how many of her boosters in Congress, even people who didn't cross the line to endorse her in the first place, have now since endorsed Donald Trump in the presidential contest.
I'm thinking, first and foremost, of Senate Minority Whip John Thune --
HUNT: Yeah.
DESIDERIO: -- the number two Senate Republican who has been a longtime critic of Donald Trump and has openly said he worries about Donald Trump's viability in a general election versus Joe Biden now coming out and endorsing the former president. Again, this is someone who said after January 6 that the party needs to move on from Donald Trump.
I think it's just another example of how the party is really coalescing around him and how Donald Trump is able to sort of consolidate support even among those who have been holding out for so long -- for really years at this point, ever since he left the White House, trying to say hey, we need to move on.
That's not the case and this is an example of people like John Thune and other Senate Republican leaders acknowledging the reality, which is that voters want him to be their nominee.
HUNT: Yeah.
All right, guys, stand by for me for a second. We've got this other big story that we're also following here in Washington, and that is the countdown to the government shutdown. Congress has its back against the wall again. Time is running out to prevent this partial shutdown.
And top congressional leaders met at the White House on Tuesday to talk about that and about, of course, aid to Ukraine, which is kind of wrapped up in all of this.
I think it's fair to say this morning that yesterday was not a laid- back affair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We made it so clear that we can't have the shutdown because it hurts so many people in so many different ways -- even for a short period of time. It was very apparent in the room and the speaker did not reject that. He said he wants to avoid a government shutdown, so that was very heartening.
The meeting on Ukraine was one of the most intense I have ever encountered in my many meetings in the Oval Office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Wow. He's been in a lot of them.
Addressing Ukraine is going to be another story. But when it comes to preventing the shutdown, the speaker, Mike Johnson, tried to sound glass half full.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We have been working in good faith around the clock every single day for months and weeks -- and over the last several days, quite literally, around the clock to get that job done. We're very optimistic. I hope that the other leaders came out here and told you the same. We believe that we can get to agreement on these issues and prevent a government shutdown.
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HUNT: So, that's Johnson by himself at the microphones because he was held back with the president -- stayed late at the meeting. Went and talked to reporters by himself. Walked out -- walked off by himself. That says a lot about kind of where the speaker is.
I mean, Andrew, how would you -- talk a little bit about the job that Mike Johnson has been doing and what this means for all these stories that we are seeing swirl right now.
DESIDERIO: The big criticism of Mike Johnson right now you hear from Republicans, even those who are traditional allies of his in leadership, is that he dithers when it comes to big decisions. Every single speaker in history has made strategically flawed decisions but they've had to embrace them and they've had to lean in. That's the way you sort of do this job. And Mike Johnson seems either unwilling or unable to do that.
You look at the government shutdown deadline coming up in two days. He hasn't decided officially what path they're going to take. We reported last night that they might go for a stop-gap to punt this for another two weeks. But again, we're running up to the deadline.
And then on Ukraine aid, for example, a lot of people are frustrated, both supporters and opponents of Ukraine aid, that he has yet to actually make a decision and spell out how he is going to specifically handle the Senate-passed bill that provides all of this money to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
And what you're seeing is Mitch McConnell, especially, get frustrated with his posture here. Mitch McConnell has been through a lot of these processes. He's sat through a lot of these Oval Office meetings over the years. He knows how this works.
And what we've reported yesterday is that he, and Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, were essentially ganging up on Johnson when it comes to the issue of the Ukraine aid. Because, again, it goes back to this central point -- this central point of contention with Johnson, which is just make a decision, right?
Obviously, McConnell wants him to make the decision of taking up the Senate bill and passing it, and passing this much-needed money for Ukraine. But again, this is something that frustrates Mike Johnson's allies and detractors on this issue alike.
HUNT: I mean, it's the fundamental definition of leadership.
DESIDERIO: Yeah.
HUNT: You have to be able to make a hard decision and then move forward with it.
DESIDERIO: Yeah.
HUNT: It's so interesting how you put it that the main criticism is that he can't.
Let's -- I want to show everyone -- you mentioned Mitch McConnell. He talked a little bit, too, yesterday about all this. Watch him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I think we're getting close on the first four bills. Hopefully, that won't require another short-term CR -- and hope springs eternal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That's a little bit of the old McConnell, Shelby.
TALCOTT: Yeah.
HUNT: I mean, he's like -- and hope springs eternal, by the way. That sort of -- that sort of rionous (PH) underneath there is -- it's very telling.
[05:40:00]
TALCOTT: Yeah -- yes, certainly. And again, I think it just underscores how divided Republicans are on this issue, particularly when it comes to Speaker Johnson sort of, in a way, holding things up because, as you said, he just can't make a decision, right? And you have a number of lawmakers who are pressuring him to do exactly that.
And so I think McConnell's comments here just represent people just want him to decide something either way, and they're hopeful that he's going to decide. And Semafor has been told that it is likely that they're working towards passing something but it could result in a short shutdown -- you know what I mean -- but it's very -- it's a very tumultuous situation that seems like it could go either way and change at the -- at the -- you know, in a second.
HUNT: Right.
Well, Andrew -- I mean, when McConnell says "hope springs eternal," I think he's really saying I have no hope for them to get this together.
DESIDERIO: Nobody hates shutdowns more than Mitch McConnell. His line over the years has been this is bad policy and bad politics because he knows --
HUNT: And he's right.
DESIDERIO: -- that Republicans always get blamed for them. In this situation, if there were to be a shutdown, Republicans would obviously get the blame for that, and McConnell recognizes that.
TALCOTT: And that's a really big thing, too, is Republicans have taken the heat for so many of these failed policies that they have not been able to pass over the past several months. And so this sort of just adds onto that in a presidential election year. That matters.
DESIDERIO: Yeah.
HUNT: Yeah.
Andrew, on Ukraine aid, specifically -- I mean, there's sort of this push in the House to create another bill from Congressman Fitzpatrick and get that out with a discharge petition. Then, of course, you had mentioned that McConnell wants them to pass the Senate bill.
How do you think this plays out ultimately?
DESIDERIO: Well, look -- I mean, that's the million-dollar question, right? At this point, what seems to be the best way to get Ukraine aid out the door is to have a discharge petition, which is a very sad state of affairs because a discharge position, of course, is extremely rare and has not been successful historically --
HUNT: Yeah, it's next to impossible.
DESIDERIO: -- over the years.
HUNT: Yeah.
DESIDERIO: Exactly. So if you're saying that is the best way to do this, you're saying the chances are pretty dim for passage.
And I think that message was also relayed to foreign leaders at the Munich Security Conference. I traveled with a group of lawmakers there who basically said that they were being asked about the discharge petition so many times. Because even foreign leaders recognize that hey, this might be the extreme lever -- 'break glass if emergency' type of move that might need to be taken in the United States with regard to Ukraine aid given this epic dysfunction we're seeing in Congress -- specifically, in the House of Representatives.
And --
HUNT: Yeah.
DESIDERIO: -- lawmakers -- you know, they talk about their meetings with foreign leaders all the time. One thing that almost never comes up is the minutia of congressional procedure.
HUNT: I mean, I try not to even --
DESIDERIO: So --
HUNT: -- put it on TV because --
DESIDERIO: Yeah.
HUNT: -- North Americans -- you know, like, a discharge petition, what?
DESIDERIO: So --
HUNT: The fact that it's over there --
DESIDERIO: Right.
HUNT: -- across the pond.
DESIDERIO: So we're -- so we're in a position right now where a discharge petition is actually probably the best out of many bad options in terms of getting this aid done.
HUNT: Super fun. I mean, look, we're joking about it but the complete dysfunction of one major branch of the U.S. government is a really -- is having really significant impacts that, honestly, are going to sort of -- I forget exactly who it was who put it this way, but it could bend history, right? Mike Johnson has a chance to bend history for one way or the other.
DESIDERIO: Yeah.
HUNT: Shelby Talcott, Andrew Desiderio, thank you guys both very much for being with us this morning. Up next here, the star witness fizzles in the attempt to get Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis kicked off of the Trump case. We'll bring you that.
Plus, Shohei Ohtani making a memorable spring training debut with the Dodgers.
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[05:48:03]
HUNT: Welcome back.
What was supposed to be a big day for Team Trump in the Georgia election subversion case didn't quite live up to the hype. The lawyer who was billed as a star witness in the effort to disqualify Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis did not seem to deliver the damaging testimony that the defense was hoping for.
Instead of spilling it all on Willis' romantic relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade, Terrence Bradley said that he didn't recall when asked a number of key questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRENCE BRADLEY, NATHAN WADE'S FORMER ATTORNEY AND LAW PARTNER: I do not have knowledge of it starting or when it started. I don't recall any specific dates.
ASHLEIGH MERCHANT, ATTORNEY FOR TRUMP CO-DEFENDANT MICHAEL ROMAN: Judge, he doesn't remember much of anything right now. And so I'm trying to create a timeline to hopefully piece this together.
BRADLEY: This was however many years ago. I mean, I don't recall but -- no, I don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining me now to discuss this, CNN political commentator and former Georgia lieutenant governor, Geoff Duncan. Geoff, thank you very much for being here. It's always good to have you.
GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (R) FORMER GEORGIA LT. GOVERNOR: Absolutely.
HUNT: So what did you make of this yesterday?
I mean, just to kind of remind everyone, this guy comes to the stand because he maybe has knowledge about the timeline of when the relationship between Fani Willis, the D.A., and the prosecutor she hired, Nathan Wade, started. The idea being that if it started before she hired Wade to be the prosecutor in this case there is potentially a conflict of interest. If it didn't happen until after, it's less likely that would be proven.
What did you see unfold yesterday with this guy saying I don't remember?
DUNCAN: Yeah. There was a lot of anticipation that this was going to be the big aha moment that was going to kind of prove that testimony that had been given by Fani Willis and Nathan Wade was not accurate. And certainly, I felt like they were walking around the edges of that -- of that answer but never actually got to it. They were very technical answers that he gave in response to it.
[05:50:00]
And the big takeaway for me is it just continues to just cast doubt. And I think at the end of the day, that's a big problem here. With Trump and his cast of characters you give them an inch, they take a mile. And so even if this doesn't prove to be a technical default or disqualify her or Nathan Wade it just continues to cast doubt on the process.
HUNT: What do you think Fani Willis should have done differently here?
DUNCAN: Well, I don't think she should have had a relationship with somebody like Nathan Wade throughout this entire process.
I mean, whenever you run for elected office you know you're held to a higher standard, and she ran for elected office. And then, in addition to that, when you take on a former president and put a number of indictments on the table you raise it to an even higher bar. So that would have simplified the case and certainly made it easier.
I mean, this whole thing is playing out a lot like two teenagers that were running around and getting caught by their parents, and being asked uncomfortable questions. I mean, to hear her dad in the courtroom answering some questions and Nathan Wade having to talk about the last time they had sex -- I mean, this is just hard, difficult stuff and it's just a sideshow as to what we should be talking about, and that is a group of individuals that tried to usurp democracy and attack the actual -- the validity of the election.
HUNT: I mean, I also think it's worth noting that we're sitting here in 2024. This is four years after all of this unfolded. We've got another election staring us in the face.
How much of this is just about delaying it until we get to that point?
DUNCAN: Yeah, certainly. I'm sure Donald Trump's team want to delay this as long as possible. I mean, none of these facts or figures are helpful to him, right? I mean, the reality is the election wasn't rigged in Georgia and that's going to be seen. The reality is there was a fake -- a group of fake electors that showed up, that did the wrong thing. And it continues on and on and on, and the same with the other cases that are out there.
Of course, they want a delay. But the reality is America needs to hear these verdicts now. Guilty, not guilty, whatever they end up being, we need to hear them now so that we can walk into this -- into this general election in '24 and make a decision. HUNT: Yeah, for sure.
All right, Geoff, we all know you as the former lieutenant governor of Georgia -- but you're also, I just realized this morning, a former minor league ballplayer. Can we talk about Shohei Ohtani for a second? Is Andy with us yet?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah.
HUNT: Shohei Ohtani is giving Dodgers -- hey, Andy.
SCHOLES: Yeah.
HUNT: So he's giving Dodgers fans huge hope for this season after this first spring training game.
SCHOLES: Yeah.
HUNT: You've got the Bleacher Report. What did -- what did you see from him?
SCHOLES: Well, this is the first time we got to see that new one-two- three punch that the Dodgers have at the top of the lineup with Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman -- arguably, the best one- two-three now in all of baseball.
And everyone was waiting to see Shohei Ohtani in that Dodger blue for the very first time yesterday as he made his debut against the White Sox. And I'll tell you what, Kasie, he did not disappoint after signing that record 10-year, $700 million deal. He gave fans something to cheer about right away.
And you could tell he was trying to make a good impression from the start. In his first at-bat, he swung so hard his helmet flew off. Check this out right here. He was definitely swinging for the fences on that one.
And then in the fifth inning, though, he would come up to the plate and he would find the fences. Shohei launching a 2-run home run here, giving those fans in blue lots to cheer about.
Now, Ohtani is not going to be able to pitch until next season after undergoing elbow surgery, so he's going to be focusing solely on hitting this season -- which he, as you can see, is also quite good at.
HUNT: He --
SCHOLES: All right. When it comes to basketball -- oh, go ahead, Kasie.
HUNT: No, I'm sorry. I just -- Geoff, you've played this game. I mean, the level that Shohei Ohtani can play baseball -- it's -- I just -- it's astonishing.
DUNCAN: Well, first of all, just seeing scenes of spring training are just glorious, right? That's like the greatest time of the year as a baseball player.
HUNT: When pitchers and catchers report, man, it's like --
DUNCAN: But to watch Shohei Ohtani -- I mean, to technically break this down -- I mean, first game of the year he lets the ball travel. He goes the other way and he hits a monstrous home run. I mean, this guy is in game shape right out of the gate.
HUNT: Of course, he is.
All right, Geoff, thank you. You're coming back in the hour.
Andy, what else you got for us?
SCHOLES: Well, we had some exciting finishes in the basketball world last night, guys. I mean, I'm not sure there's anything more exciting than a half-court game-winning buzzer-beater. And the fans in Cleveland -- they got a good one last night.
Pick it up -- eight seconds left against the Mavs. The Cavs were up by one. Luka Doncic is going to get the ball here. He's going to drive the lane and get it to P.J. Washington. He lays it in with two seconds left to give the Mavs a one-point lead.
Max Strus is then going to inbound the ball. He gets it right back and then nails a 59-footer -- nothing but net -- to win it at the buzzer. The Cavs all run to tackle Strus. This was his seventh three of the game; fifth in the final four minutes. All the fans just going nuts.
The Cavs won that one 121-119.
We also had a fantastic finish in college basketball. Colorado State's Isaiah Stevens -- he ties the game against Nevada with just two seconds left on the clock. The Rams -- they call a timeout to set up a nice little play and Jarod Lucas comes through banking this one home from half-court to win it. Lucas coming through after missing three free throws in the final 20 seconds.
Nevada winning the thriller there 77-74.
[05:55:00]
All right. And finally, tempers were flaring in Lubbock, Texas last night between Texas and Texas Tech. In the second half, Longhorns up big. The players are going to go for the loose ball here after this rebound. And Brock Cunningham just going to check Darrion Williams into the announcers' table. Players had to be separated after that. Cunningham was ejected for a flagrant two.
Well, then the Red Raiders students started getting out of control, throwing things onto the floor. And head coach Grant McCasland actually had to get on the mic and tell them to stop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRANT MCCASLAND, HEAD COACH, TEXAS TECH: Everybody listen. Everything that gets thrown on the floor we're going to get a technical foul. Listen to me. It's got to stop. It's got to stop. Nothing else on the floor. Am I clear?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Yeah. One guy actually had to get carried out by security during that stoppage.
This game extra heated because it was Texas' last game in Lubbock before heading to the SEC next season.
And Kasie, I'll tell you what. I worked in Lubbock for three years. I can tell you what. Those Texas Tech students quite rowdy and --
HUNT: Yikes.
SCHOLES: -- and that was definitely an example.
HUNT: All right. Well, let's focus on those half-court shots. Wow -- amazing. Although I will say to our college -- our college guys, hit your free throws, man.
SCHOLES: Right.
HUNT: You know? They're easier than a half-court shot.
SCHOLES: Paying for it -- yeah.
HUNT: All right, Andy. Thank you very much.
SCHOLES: All right.
HUNT: And we'll see you tomorrow.
Coming up next hour here, inside the numbers. Biden and Trump are both winning big in Michigan but you can see cracks in the armor.
And this breaking story from the Texas Panhandle. Evacuations underway as wildfires in Texas burn out of control.
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