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U.S. Supreme Court to Issue Ruling As Trump Colorado Ballot Case Looms; Speaker Mike Johnson Gets Squeezed from Republicans on Ukraine Aid; Nikki Haley Wins Washington D.C. Republican Primary. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 04, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

KASIE HUNT, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING: It's Monday, March 4th right now on CNN THIS MORNING. The Supreme Court expected to hand down at least one opinion today, it could impact Donald Trump's bid for a second term in the White House.

And House Speaker Mike Johnson squeezed. Can he get a spending bill passed and stave off a government shutdown again this week without backlash from conservatives? And here's a win for Nikki Haley, Donald Trump's last remaining rival for the Republican nomination picked up her first primary win, first for a woman in a Republican primary.

All right, look at that. A live look at the U.S. Supreme Court at 05:00 a.m. here in Washington could see critical news coming out of there today. Good morning, I'm Kasie Hunt, it's great to have you with us on this Monday morning on what is going to be an incredibly significant week here in Washington with Super Tuesday and then the State of the Union on Thursday.

And overnight, Nikki Haley had her first primary win right here in the District of Columbia. She did become the first woman to win a Republican primary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: First of all, when 70 percent of Americans say they don't want Donald Trump or Joe Biden, yes, I'm going to keep on fighting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The Trump campaign wasting no time calling Haley, quote, "the queen of the swamp", end quote. And as we noted at the top, in just hours, the Supreme Court could weigh in on whether Donald Trump can appear on state primary ballots or if he's barred under the 14th Amendment, which prevents insurrectionists from holding office.

The court announced Sunday night on its website that they may rule in a case today. What's with the smoke here? Colorado, one of the 15 states set to vote on Super Tuesday. During oral arguments last month, a majority of justices, conservative and liberal, seemed to reject the idea of stripping him off the ballots. But Colorado Secretary of State hopes that the court comes down against Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENA GRISWOLD, COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE: From my perspective, section 3 of the 14th Amendment is clear, and its intention in the constitution is a realization that insurrectionists in office can try to destroy democracy from within. But at the end of the day, Jim, whether Trump is disqualified, qualified, whether he's on ballots across the United States or not, Americans will be able to save our democracy at the ballot box in November.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, "Axios" national politics reporter Sophia Cai joins us. Sophia, good morning. Great to see you.

SOPHIA CAI, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, AXIOS: Good morning!

HUNT: Why don't we start with the insurrectionist ban question, right? Because this again, just an incredibly consequential week in politics. The rematch between Joe Biden-Donald Trump is going to be all but set. But first, we do have to answer this question -- and again, the court operates in this bizarre way where they put this ruling, you know, this notice out on their website, just say well, we might rule in a case tomorrow, not going to tell you which one.

But of course, the speculation is, this is the one that has the most urgency before them in no small part because voters are going to have their say in Colorado on Tuesday. What do you expect from the court today?

CAI: Yes, I mean, look, they never say which opinion they're going to issue, but they're very aware of the political calendar. And I think this will really impact Super Tuesday when Colorado voters will come out and vote. And to be very clear, Trump's name will still be on the ballot, because the ballots have been printed weeks ago.

HUNT: Right.

CAI: But the question is, really, will those votes for Trump in Colorado count?

HUNT: Right, and that of course, a critical question. When we did hear these arguments, when we touched on this a little bit in the introduction, but it really did seem like the liberal justices and the conservative justices were on the same page.

Now, obviously, sometimes, the court sends misleading signals during arguments, but you know, I think that there would be a lot of shock if in fact they were going to strip Donald Trump off the ballot. I think the expectation is they're going to leave him. What is your sense?

CAI: Yes, I mean, just to give you a sense of what Donald Trump thought about the oral arguments he called a beautiful thing to watch.

(LAUGHTER) HUNT: Really says it all, that's a very good point --

CAI: Right, I think that tells you all you need to know about what he thinks about how those oral arguments went for him, and what their expectations are now.

[05:05:00]

I mean, it would be a real shock to the entire country and have ramifications for other states that have challenged in the same way. And so, you know, with this case, there is an expectation of where it could go. But if it went the other way, it would be a real surprise --

HUNT: A real shock to the system --

CAI: Yes --

HUNT: Yes. All right, so, let's talk about Nikki Haley. I mean, obviously Super Tuesday is likely to be the moment where Donald Trump really solidifies his path to the nomination --

CAI: Yes --

HUNT: But she did not just win --

CAI: Yes --

HUNT: Here in D.C., and they cast it as well. Republicans in Washington or as close to the dysfunction is convenient --

CAI: Yes --

HUNT: So, that's why they backed me. Obviously, the Trump team trying to make this a punch-line and basically saying, well, of course, the swamp loves Nikki Haley --

CAI: Right --

HUNT: What's your take-away from this?

CAI: Look, so D.C. is the -- is, you know, the first place where Nikki Haley has a win. I mean, for them, it's great news. And I think as you look ahead to Super Tuesday, you have 15 states that will vote. Their argument is that in 11 of those 15 states, there are open primaries or semi-open, but her issue is that most of those states are winner-take-all after 50 percent, which means if Donald Trump wins more than 50 percent of those votes, it doesn't really matter if she gets 30 percent, 40 percent, 45 percent.

She's still not getting any math. But there are states like Minnesota where, you know, she could likely become closer. Another state of course, like Colorado, I mean, there are a couple of states we're talking about on Tuesday where she is expected to pick up some candidates.

HUNT: Right, some delegates. CAI: Some delegates.

HUNT: Yes, what is your sense -- I mean, she has said repeatedly, I'm staying in through Super Tuesday. It does seem like this week could be a moment where she decides that she's going to hang it up. There was some -- you know, is the way it is for a reason, right? Which is that candidates rarely run out of ambition to run for an office.

CAI: Yes --

HUNT: They run out of money before they get that far. But having listened closely to the way Haley talks about this, do you think this is kind of the moment where she decides to step back or is there an argument for her to stay in until the convention for reasons that -- I know when I talk to my Republican sources, they're all speculating, well, maybe something unknown will happen --

CAI: Right --

HUNT: To --

CAI: Right --

HUNT: Donald Trump and will need someone like Nikki Haley. I'm skeptical, but what's your latest report there?

CAI: Yes, I think you're right. Like the same could be said of the other side, but the reality is for her argument of staying in has been, you know, for the longest time, she wants more of the country, if not most of the country, to be given the choice of somebody else to vote for.

And she'll talk about being on the trail and having voters come up to her to say, thank you for giving me an option. Super Tuesday will have more than 800 delegates up for grabs, 15 states. You know, the other side of that argument is that after Super Tuesday, a lot of the Republican electorate who have voted already, and she has not talked about any plans to campaign after that.

She has not really talked about, you know, spending money to campaign after that, even though she does have that capacity. And so, you know, that will be a big call that we're going to be waiting for her to make after tomorrow.

HUNT: All right, Sophia Cai, national politics reporter for "Axios", Sophia, thanks for getting us started today --

CAI: Thanks --

HUNT: I really appreciate it. Up next here, Gaza ceasefire talks taking place in Cairo. Hamas is there, the Israelis are not. Plus, why House Speaker Mike Johnson is taking so much heat from members of his own party. It's a theme. And blizzard conditions battering northern California, the snow not done falling yet, we'll bring you the weather.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:10:00]

HUNT: Welcome back. The table is set in Cairo, Egypt, this morning for Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks. But at the moment, one of the two key parties is absent. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided not to send a delegation.

An Israeli official tells CNN, it's because Hamas has not responded to two Israeli demands. They want a list of hostages specifying which ones are alive and which ones are dead, and confirming the ratio of Palestinian prisoners, Israel must release in exchange for hostages.

CNN's Max Foster joins us live from London. Now, Max, good morning, always good to see you. I mean, what do you make of Israel's explanation here at why are they basically bailing on these talks? Are they looking for a reason? I mean, what's going on?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, isn't it? You know, without sitting in the room, you know exactly how these conversations play out, and why they decided not to go. We have to sort of look at the reasons that they're giving, and is this list of hostages -- they want a list of hostages, they're not getting it.

So, therefore, they're not going to the talks. Also talking there about the Palestinian prisoners. On the other side of it, you've got people suggesting that Hamas cannot give this list, because they don't know where all the hostages are, not even whether they're all alive or dead, because different groups may be involved, but also just communicating across this absolutely devastated landscape.

They're struggling to put the list together. But again, Israel pointed out that not even communicating right now, but that might be for similar reasons. So, some of the key Hamas players aren't communicating at the moment. So, it's became -- it's become this sort of crunch point.

There has been a suggestion that Hamas wants to push it into Ramadan, which would work in their favor or push this deal further down the line. We just don't know the point -- this point, but it is of course, very negative that Israel isn't part of these talks because it means a deal just isn't lightly.

HUNT: Well, and of course, this is the day that President Biden last week have said, hey, we might have something by today.

[05:15:00]

That of course, you know, you had -- you and I had talked about how Israel kind of immediately pushed back on that.

FOSTER: Yes --

HUNT: But here we are on Monday with no deal. Max, I want to show you a little bit of what the Vice President Kamala Harris had to say about the situation in Gaza over the weekend because it was pretty striking, honestly, how direct she was. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What we are seeing every day in Gaza is devastating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes --

HARRIS: We have seen reports of families eating leaves or animal feed. Women giving birth to malnourished babies with little or no medical care, and children dying from malnutrition and dehydration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: She's being a lot more descriptive than her boss often is when he talks about this. What do you make of that?

FOSTER: Well, you know, cynics will point of all those poll numbers about their handling of the Gaza conflict, the conflict in Gaza. They -- you know, we saw recently, didn't we? How there was this protest vote from Arab-Americans, so perhaps responding to that, perhaps realizing that, you know, people are seeing these pictures coming from Gaza, and it's very difficult to stomach.

Of course, you've got to always remember what started all of this, which was the October 7th attacks. But the stream of pictures we're currently getting, you know, the live pictures are of what's happening in Gaza and people are looking at that, and there -- you know, there's a lot of sympathy for what's going on for regular civilians there and what they're having to live through -- but so many people dying.

So, I think you know, you cannot deny what people in Gaza are suffering. You can't deny what happened in Israel. But you know, what happened on October the 7th is perhaps drifting backwards in people's memories, and we're seeing what's happening in Gaza right now and debates about what's proportional, what isn't proportional.

But what we -- you know, we have to agree is that there's a huge amount of suffering there right now. She's recognizing that, and I think that's been heard --

HUNT: Yes --

FOSTER: Hasn't it? If you look at the polling numbers.

HUNT: Yes, it has, absolutely. All right, Max Foster for us in London. Max, thank you very much. I'll see you tomorrow.

FOSTER: Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: All right, coming up next here --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(WOMAN SCREAMING)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: A shootout with police at a crowded amusement park. Plus, why Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is causing so much bad blood in Singapore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:20:00]

HUNT: All right, just about 21 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning round-up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(WOMAN SCREAMING)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Yes, it's gunfire at the Six Flags Amusement Park near Atlanta. You're watching video taken by a woman running from the scene after police exchanged shots with members of an unruly crowd leaving the amusement park. A 15-year-old shot by police is now in critical condition.

Right now, in King City, California, police are searching for three men who they say shot and killed four people at a house party last night. Police say the men drove up to the home, shot at people who were in the front yard and then drove off. Three other people were hospitalized.

And Haiti has imposed a state of emergency and a curfew after more than 3,500 inmates escaped from a national prison during a wave of gang violence over the weekend. And the Supreme Court has until Saturday to intervene before a controversial immigration law, allowing police to arrest illegal immigrants goes into effect in Texas.

All right, time now for weather, more snow and rain on the way for California this morning after gusty winds and blizzard conditions pummeled the state, making travel difficult, if not impossible. This snow slide shut down Tahoe roads leaving drivers trapped for hours.

Despite all the turmoil at Yosemite National Park -- and it sure looks beautiful after record-setting snow. And check out the real -- Real Salt Lake soccer team taking the pitch despite the white stuff. Our weatherman, Derek Van Dam joins us this morning. Derek, good morning to you. This is -- this is wild!

DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: I played soccer my entire life, and I can't even tell you how many times I played in the snow. You can't see the soccer lines, you can't see the boundaries, that's any given Tuesday in Michigan, you know, you know --

HUNT: Oh, yes, that's fair. (LAUGHTER)

VAN DAM: But look, in California, it's a whole different level because the snowstorm here has been measured in feet. We warned about it all last week, and really our forecast materialized. I mean, look at the difficult conditions that people have had to contend with, people who brave the roads which we did not recommend.

But of course, we know that's still going to happen. Measuring this with 7 feet plus Sugar Bowl, Donner Peak, and it is still snowing. So, we're not done with this storm. The other factor is the zero visibility almost disorienting visibility and conditions on the ground because of this, we're talking about Category 4 Atlantic hurricane equivalent wind-gusts.

That is significant, that takes any amount of snow and blows it around and makes it almost impossible to see. We still have blizzard conditions for central Sierra Nevada mountain range, the radar still very busy, although it has led up somewhat from what we experienced through the course of the weekend when we peaked with this particular storm.

Still additional snowfall anticipated through Tuesday. You can see several more inches across the Sierra Crest and more rain along the coastal regions of central and northern California. The other big story for us has also been the wildfires. There have been new spot fires that have popped up.

This is in Hutchinson County, again, the Roughneck Fire, which began on Sunday, been fueled by winds associated with this monster storm that's entered the western parts of the U.S. The good news is that the winds are going to relax as a storm system moves eastward.

We don't have the critical fire conditions today, but still elevated. So, something we want to be concerned about or at least, aware of strong winds above average temperatures and dry air -- all factors.

[05:25:00]

Here's the latest containments, 15 percent for the Smokehouse Creek Fire, that is the largest fire, and of course, we've got our Super Tuesday outlook, lots of wet weather along the east coast could impact a few different battlegrounds. Kasie?

HUNT: Shortcut, and we have to keep an eye on that. And I have to say that, first slide --

VAN DAM: Right --

HUNT: You had to have the numbers on it for how tough things were, that 89 inches in that first one. I was wondering how tall is that? It's taller than Shaquille O'Neal, OK? Who is 85 --

VAN DAM: Oh --

HUNT: Inches tall, the snow will be above his head -- VAN DAM: There we go --

HUNT: So --

VAN DAM: OK, so roughly about the same height as --

HUNT: Just some context --

(CROSSTALK)

VAN DAM: So, we're good.

HUNT: Exactly. All right, our weatherman, Van Dam, Derek, thank you, I'll see you later on in the show --

VAN DAM: Take care, all right --

HUNT: Coming up next here, CNN on Supreme Court watch. A critical ruling involving Donald Trump could be announced in just hours, we're going to watch that. Plus, allowing a vote on aid for Ukraine. Why some House Republicans are warning their speaker it is the dumbest thing he could do.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)