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Biden, Trump Win Michigan Primaries; Raging Wildfires in Texas, Storms in the East; Hunter Biden to Testify Before Congress. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired February 28, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It is Wednesday, February 28. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

[06:01:12]

President Biden winning the Michigan primary, but it's the second- place finisher making his campaign a little nervous this morning.

Here in Washington, four congressional leaders face to face with the president yesterday, one senator calling it the most intense Oval Office meeting, one of them, that he's ever attended.

And breaking news right now. The growing threat from Texas wildfires. They're spreading so quickly that a nuclear facility had to be shut down.

All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. That is a live look at Capitol Hill this morning.

Good morning to you. I'm Kasie Hunt. I'm very grateful to have you with us this morning.

The Biden-Trump rematch that 70 percent of Americans say that they don't want in November is one step closer to reality this morning after big wins for both candidates in the Michigan primary.

President Biden easily capturing the Democratic race with over 80 percent of the vote. But look at this number on the "uncommitted" line. More than 100,000 Michigan Democrats. That is a loud statement about the president's support for Israel.

They voted uncommitted. That of course, is a critical issue the Biden team knows they're going to have to confront.

Over on the Republican side, Donald Trump continues to sweep GOP primaries. He easily defeated Nikki Haley by over 40 points. In a call with supporters, Trump looked ahead to the general election, saying, quote, "We win Michigan, we win the whole thing."

But the former president also faces that formidable challenge. You can still see it in these numbers. Too many Republicans say they won't support him. And for that reason alone, Nikki Haley insists she's staying in. Here's what she told CNN's Dana Bash last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: You're committing that you are going to be in this race through Super Tuesday?

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean, we are in all the Super Tuesday states now. That's what this is all about, is making sure that we hit every state and let them know --

BASH: So yes?

HALEY: -- look, there is a voice out there for you. There is a way out. Yes, we are fighting through. Yes.

BASH: Yes. Unequivocally, you're in through Super Tuesday?

HALEY: Absolutely. We have a country to save. Absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Let's bring in former Michigan Republican Congressman Fred Upton. He is with us this morning.

Congressman, good morning to you. As a -- since you're a former Republican and congressman, let's start there, in terms of what you saw with Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.

But I also -- I'm also very curious what your read is on those hundred thousand people that voted uncommitted for President Biden and what they might do in a general election, if in fact, this Biden-Trump rematch materializes.

FRED UPTON (R), FORMER MICHIGAN CONGRESSMAN: Well, you know, they were only expecting -- they were hoping for 10,000 people to vote uncommitted. And they got ten times that, more than 100,000. And it shows how weak both of these candidates are in the general.

As you said, 70 percent of America doesn't want a rematch between these two. You look at the numbers from South Carolina two or three weeks ago, and the Biden win there. Yes, he got 96 percent of the vote, but less than 5 percent of the voters actually turned out.

You look at Nevada. Yes, Trump won big. But the "none of the above" was a strong second. That's what we're seeing, really, across the country, which is why No Labels, which is looking at a unity ticket, a Republican and a Democrat, and ballot access in all 50 states, has a real pathway to get 270 votes come November.

HUNT: I mean, I think that would require a candidate first, which you know, they sort of struggled to come up with. But can we dig into the reality here for these -- this is a huge Arab American Muslim community. Many of them are very upset with how things are playing out in Gaza. And specifically, the president's support for Israel in the context of that war. [06:05:03]

In the general election, they're going to face a choice, most likely, at this stage, between someone who called for a Muslim ban and someone who, as president, has been supporting this war.

They obviously wanted to send the message. They did that. But what, when the rubber meets the road in November, what is this going to mean for that community? How do you think that they are going to act?

Because really, Michigan could be the entire ball game here when we start counting electoral votes in November.

UPTON: Well, you're right. It's a purple state. Remember, 2016, it went for Trump; 2021 for Biden. And my sense is that a good number, that 100,000, and it will be -- of course, there'll be even more voters that turn out in the general election versus the primary.

I think they'll stay at home. I think they'll sit at hands, which is real trouble for the Biden administration. Because you've got that. You've got the UAW and the knocking on Biden and electric vehicles and how it's going to cost jobs in manufacturing in Michigan.

And you have the African American vote, too, that they don't, in many cases feel that they've not done enough for them.

So you've got three major voting segments on the Democratic side that are not happy. And as a consequence sitting at home really does help Trump.

And then you've got, of course, on the Trump side of things, you've got a lot of people that are upset with him, which is why that number 70 percent breaks. All records. It's -- it's never been that high for not wanting to participate in that happy with the candidates of the two strongest respective party.

HUNT: Sitting here today, do you think Trump wins Michigan in November if the elections held today right now, I think he does. I think it's -- and recent poll shows that he's a couple of points ahead. There's going to be a lot of effort paid in.

But if it's these two, I think Trump wins Michigan.

HUNT: Yes. All right. Congressman Fred Upton kicking us off this morning. Congressman, thanks very much.

Let's bring in our panel: Audie Cornish, a CNN anchor and host of "THE ASSIGNMENT WITH AUDIE CORNISH"; Ron Brownstein is senior editor of "The Atlantic"; Kate Bedingfield, former White House communications director; Geoff Duncan, former Georgia lieutenant governor, rejoins us, as well. Welcome all. Great to have you today.

Ron, you're, like, shaking your head as you're watching Congressman Upton. What's up with that?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, so I think his analysis of Michigan was spot on. His -- his argument that No Labels has a path to 270 Electoral College vote was a little optimistic.

So look, you know, I think most Democrats agree that the shortest path to 270 Electoral College votes for Trump -- excuse me, for Biden -- is to rebuild the Blue Wall and to hold the three states that Trump took away in 2016, which is Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

And of those three, Michigan has looked -- since Trump's victory, has looked the best for Democrats. I mean, Democrats have done very well in Michigan. Whitmer won in '18 and '22. He won it by 150,000 votes. They've won the legislature. They've done a lot of things.

But I think that Fred Upton is right that, if the election was held today, Biden would probably lose Michigan.

And this 100,000 the votes is so important, because -- precisely because there are so many other challenges that he is facing in Michigan.

Economy is the perfect storm and it's -- it's not hard to imagine a world where, in a close election, it's hard for Biden to hold Arizona and Georgia. He can tough out Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. And Michigan does, in fact, become the tipping point state.

HUNT: So Kate, I want you to jump in, but first I want to get this news from our colleague, Jeff Zeleny, because the Biden team -- and we noted this earlier this morning -- they put out a statement last night, right, saying you know, thanking Michigan voters, they didn't mention this uncommitted vote.

So our Jeff Zeleny reports that unprompted, you know, he sent this in before 6 a.m., a White House advisor says, President Biden shares the goal of many of the folks who voted uncommitted, which is an end to the violence and a just and lasting peace. That is what he is working towards.

Clearly, they felt, well, man, we've got to say something. I mean, 100,000 people.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Yes. I mean, look, I they should absolutely take this as a sign of something that they need to address. I mean, I think there's no question in an election that is going to be incredibly close, that is going to turn likely on probably tens of thousands of votes in a few key states, this kind of outpouring is something you'd have to address. Absolutely.

Well, one thing I would say, though, I mean, there's been a lot of discussion of, you know, this was a choice for these voters between Biden and uncommitted. That's very different than a choice between Biden and Donald Trump. And the things that Donald Trump has actively done to the Muslim community, says he would do again.

But also don't forget this was a tailored and organized campaign designed to encourage people who wanted to express their frustration here to turn out and vote, specifically on this issue.

There are going to be a lot of issues facing voters in the general election in November. Absolutely, people who felt motivated to come out for this, on this issue. I think probably will in November.

[06:10:09]

But, you know, people who want to see their reproductive rights protected, people who don't want to see, you know, a president who is all about hateful rhetoric. You know, that's going to be a factor, too.

And so don't forget how -- you know, how tailored this was. And so I think we've got to put that in context, too.

HUNT: I mean, Audie, how are you looking at this? I mean, yesterday we were sitting here, and they -- we were hearing them say, well, we want 10,000 votes. They got ten times that.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Well, they set the bar low.

BROWNSTEIN: It was 120,000 for Obama. Right? Yes, yes.

CORNISH: -- there are write-ins all the time when people just want to write in "Donald Duck", or they're just annoyed in general.

I think I feel a little different in my analysis here in that these people actually turned out. They're still interested in what's going on. And in fact, they want to send a message to their eventual nominee to pay attention to something they care about.

I feel like that's very different from, like, what Nikki Haleys doing, what's happening on the Republican side, where there are people who are just fundamentally dissatisfied and don't know where to go.

I mean, the fact that Fred Upton was there talking about how everything is terrible and what about No Labels when there's no candidate, no plan, and no -- I don't know what is going on with No Labels. I found completely baffling.

And there is still this strange question mark that Nikki Haley really was trying to exploit last night. A very pointed interview with CNN of saying, like, we can get out. There's a life raft. Like she was very sort of the -- I mean, am I crazy? Like the language she was using was one of, let me help you. Help me help you, America.

GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think Michigan was a really good snap poll for, like, kind of the pent-up heartburn in both parties, right?

Donald Trump has a character problem, and that translates to Nikki Haley and Joe Biden has a policy problem and I think built into that 100,000 number. We -- certainly, they did overshoot the 10,000 estimate.

I think there's other policies probably stacked up into that, where folks are just realizing, Hey, I'm going to vote for this "uncommitted" guy. Because I'm -- I'm not aligned on some of these policies. That's going to follow the Democratic Party. That's going to follow Joe Biden. CORNISH: Policies can be addressed. I mean, there is now going to be a State of the Union. Trump's character goes nowhere.

DUNCAN: That's exactly right. That's the quicker fix for the Democratic Party for Joe Biden. If he can get these policies right and start to measure and talk about immigration in a way that makes sense with the majority of Americans and inflation, then he's got a chance to unwrite (ph) it.

But Donald Trump has no way to fix his character. I mean, the suburbs are done.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, that's it. Haley is leaving a trail of breadcrumbs about where Biden is most likely to go if he is going to recover.

Last night, Trump was only around 60 percent in Oakland County and Kent County, two big white-collar suburban counties. It's what we've seen. He walked -- while winning big in South Carolina and New Hampshire, he lost college graduates. He's only won about 40 percent of independents.

A lot of people living at or below the median income are going to be -- it's going to be hard for Biden to win them back because of how scarring inflation has been.

His pathway is improving on even what he did in 2020 in white-collar suburbs, where you've got voters who really haven't been as inconvenienced by inflation, are more receptive to the arguments on abortion, more receptive to the arguments on democracy.

And Haley really is showing the trail of what the pathway will be for Biden if he can recover.

HUNT: Very interesting. All right. Our panel is going to stick around. We'll be back later.

Up next here, though, we have breaking news. Farmers and ranchers in Texas facing credible loss and destruction as wildfires there burn out of control.

Plus, Hunter Biden is going to be on Capitol Hill today to testify behind closed doors.

And a shocking comment about Alec Baldwin from the "Rust" armorer, who's now on trial for manslaughter. We'll tell you about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:18:06]

HUNT: All right. Breaking news right now. Hundreds of Texas wildfires are raging this morning.

Officials say high winds are creating dangerous conditions and fanning flames across several regions with little containment so far. The Greenville Fire Department shot this stunning video as they drove through the heat on a barely visible road in the Panhandle this morning.

Hundreds of thousands of acres have already been burned, and evacuations in many areas are ongoing. It's not over yet.

In other parts of the U.S., we've got storms, tornadoes, wind, and rain. Our Weatherman Van Dam is here to break it all down for us.

Derek, good morning. Really awful situation for these folks in the Texas Panhandle.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Kasie. So the video you showed just a moment ago, you saw that kind of a fire whirl. That is extreme fire growth and very erratic behavior.

Look at this video of the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle jumping over the highway. I mean, this is just really incredible to watch that unfold.

These are the difficult conditions that not only residents and firefighters are dealing with on the ground, but so was the agriculture and the cattle.

Look at these cattle just fleeing for their lives, moving away from this billowing smoke that, by the way, is being fueled and moved by 50-mile-per-hour winds. That was late in the day yesterday.

This still has zero percent containment. This is a significant fire, but there are other -- several fires ranging from 20 to 60 percent containment at the moment.

But the Smokehouse Creek Fire, that is the big one. This is the fifth largest wildfire in Texas history, really saying something.

And so was this. This is satellite imagery. The moment a cold front passed through. There it is with that shading of blue. The orange spots here are actually fire. And I want you to see the direction change as that cold front comes through. The wind s were from the West to the East before the cold front moved through.

And then you see the flames moving in a North to South direction because of that abrupt shift in the wind, taking advantage of the dry vegetation on the other side of the cold front, making it very difficult to battle this particular round of forest fires and wildfires that are ongoing.

[06:20:16]

The other threats, the tornadoes striking in the middle of the night when people are sleeping across the Western suburbs of Chicago into Southeastern Michigan.

A confirmed tornado now near the Grand Blanc region. That was about 1 a.m. in the morning. Larger storm system, very active, lots of lightning, thousands of lightning strikes occurring right now.

We focus in on the ongoing tornado watches covering five U.S. states, much across the Ohio River Valley.

Let's focus in on the Columbus region, because Columbus was under a tornado warning roughly an hour ago, that line of radar-indicated tornado-warmed storms has moved Eastward. It is showing some weakening in the signatures. We're monitoring that very closely here within the CNN Weather Center.

But a very dynamic morning unfolding across the country, from wildfires in the Texas Panhandle to a roller coaster. And our temperatures could drop 40 degrees for some areas across the East Coast today.

HUNT: Yikes. All right. Our Weatherman Van Dam, Derek, thank you very much for that.

VAN DAM: All right.

HUNT: Also here today, Hunter Biden heading to Capitol Hill to face off against his Republican adversaries. He's going to be testifying behind closed doors after months of wrangling and negotiating with the two committees that have been spearheading the impeachment inquiry against his father.

The deposition will not be recorded, but a transcript will be released. Republicans were threatening the president's son with criminal contempt if he did not sit for questions. And he is by far the most consequential witness to testify so far.

Joining us now, CNN senior crime and justice reporter Katelyn Polantz.

Katelyn, welcome. Thank you so much for being here. So how can you help me understand how this all came to be, because they were adamant like he's not going to testify behind closed doors. How did it unfold, and what do you expect from today?

[06:22:01]

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This is something House Republicans have wanted for a very long time to get Hunter Biden under oath, talking to them, answering questions about his business ventures, his business in Ukraine where he was on the -- on the board of Burisma, this energy company. And then also some business ventures he had in China.

The sort of things that the Justice Department looked at for a long time and ended up investigating, ultimately charging him with tax crimes.

The House Republicans have wanted him to sit for this, because -- not just because they want answers to this, but also because of the spectacle. He's the president's son.

And Hunter Biden has delivered on that front in a lot of ways. Previously, his lawyers marched him to Capitol Hill twice to have this show --

HUNT: In very dramatic fashion.

POLANTZ: In very dramatic fashion. Yes. We are ready for him to testify.

And finally, they did negotiate, reach these terms so that he's going to be sitting before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees today. It's going to be behind closed doors. It's not going to be videotaped, like others in this impeachment inquiry around Joe Biden and the Biden family have been. And there will be a quick release of the transcript, we are told.

HUNT: Which is something that they've been demanding, right? Because they didn't want Republicans to, like, selectively leak pieces of what happened.

POLANTZ: And that happens a lot. Typically, if somebody gets subpoenaed, they're not going to ultimately avoid it. But one thing that you can do is negotiate Jim Comey, his attorneys. He also negotiated this whenever he was in an adversarial situation with Congress, not wanting to testify.

HUNT: Very interesting.

How does this Smirnov, the guy who has been accused of lying, you know, the feds have now said, well, he lied to the FBI about a lot of this.

How do the things that he provided this inquiry with, like, with them kind of falling apart, how does that impact the Hunter situation, specifically?

POLANTZ: Well, there are going to be questions that the House Republicans are going to have specifically for Hunter Biden. But what they're trying to do in this impeachment inquiry is tie Joe Biden to money coming from overseas. They haven't been able to do that at all.

And there's nothing in the Hunter Biden situation that ties him directly to funneling money from overseas to his father, because Alexander Smirnov, this FBI informant, was lying about the accusations around that.

Now, Republicans have said, you know, Don't look behind the curtain there.

HUNT: Right.

POLANTZ: Pay no attention.

HUNT: Pay no attention.

POLANTZ: Look over here. Look over here. We're going to keep doing this inquiry. Hunter Biden may not be the last witness.

And they are also trying to call into question the Justice Department, put doubt on that investigation that has this FBI informant, but he's going to be going to trial. That's going to be looked at by not just a judge but a jury, as well.

HUNT: Yes. All right. Katelyn Polantz for us. Katelyn, thank you. Always really happy to have you here.

All right. This just in this morning. Pope Francis has gone to a Rome hospital, according to a source at the Vatican. We don't know yet why he did that.

The pope has been in and out of the hospital over the course of the last year. The last week, he's canceled several audiences due to his health. We're going to be tracking this closely, and we'll bring you any updates as warranted.

[06:25:10]

Right up next here, President Biden and Donald Trump both cruising to victory in the Michigan primaries. But of course, both campaigns have reason to be concerned.

Plus, how lawmakers are hoping to avoid a government shutdown, again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: A live look right now at Capitol Hill as the sun is just starting to come up, just before 6:30 here on the East Coast.

Good morning. Thanks for being up with us. I'm Kasie Hunt.

President Biden and Donald Trump emerging as the big winners in last night's Michigan primary. But that's not the whole story.

Biden captured roughly 81 percent of the vote.

[06:30:00]