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Today Is Super Tuesday: Decisive Day For Nikki Haley Campaign; Ukraine Says It Sank Russian Patrol Ship; U.N. Team: "Convincing" Signs Of Sexual Violence Against Hostages; Rain Southeast, Snow In California On Super Tuesday. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 05, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:39]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Super Tuesday, March 5th.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:

Donald Trump hoping for a Super Tuesday sweep, and he's asking the Supreme Court for more help after the justices ruled that states like Colorado can't kick him off the ballot.

President Biden preparing for his State of the Union Address. His campaign hoping Super Tuesday doesn't reveal more vulnerabilities.

And will Super Tuesday be Nikki Haley's last stand or is she going to try a different path to the presidency?

(MUSIC)

HUNT: All right. Five a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the Washington Monument -- a little bit foggy this morning here.

Good morning.

I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to be with you.

Welcome to Super Tuesday.

It's maybe the last day that Nikki Haley can really make a credible claim of any kind to the Republican presidential nomination. Voters in 15 states with about a third of it delegates at stake head to the polls this morning. All signs point to a tough day for Haley. Donald Trump likely to take an overwhelming share of the vote and of the delegates.

The contest comes just a day after the Supreme Court issued that unanimous decision that Trump should not be disqualified from Colorado's 2024 ballot under the 14th Amendment's insurrectionist ban.

Yesterday, Haley held two rallies in Texas and she underscored Trump's role in a series of Republican losses and said again that he cannot win a general election against Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We lost in 2018, we lost in 2020, we lost in 2022. But look, two weeks ago, Republicans lost the vote on Mayorkas. They lost a vote on Israel. The RNC chair lost her job, and Donald Trump's fingerprints were on all of it.

How much more losing do we have to do before we realized maybe Donald Trump is the problem?

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So Haley has said that shell stay in the race as long as she's competitive.

Joining me now, "Semafor" reporter Shelby Talcott.

Shelby, good morning. Wonderful to you.

SHELBY TALCOTT, REPORTER, SEMAFOR: Good morning.

HUNT: It seems pretty clear that we're going to learn today that Nikki Haley is not going to be competitive anymore.

What do we expect? How do we expect the state of play out and what to expect her to do?

TALCOTT: Well, I think it's pretty obvious that as you said, this is likely to be a good day for Donald Trump, as most of the early primary states have been. But it's really interesting because last week, I sat down with her at a small roundtable here in D.C., and that was the question I asked, was -- what does being competitive mean? Because she's talked a lot about -- well, as long as were competitive, what does that mean for your campaign? And then her -- she sort of give a non-answer of -- well, the media determines what competitive means.

And so, it doesn't really offer too much insight into what exactly her campaign is thinking. But what's interesting is she has the money to go on through Super Tuesday. The question is, will she, right? Because as you said, she hasn't been doing particularly --

HUNT: I mean, this is Super Tuesday. So she is coming through here. You're saying she has money to go pass it.

TALCOTT: To go past it, correct.

HUNT: Yeah.

TALCOTT: And, you know, she raised $12 in February alone, that she announced just a few days ago, so that presumably could take her past Super Tuesday. Will she though? Right?

HUNT: Right.

TALCOTT: We don't know what competitive means for her team, and we also really haven't gotten the answer to the question of -- well, if you believe you are being competitive, then how do you -- what is your path of winning? Because ultimately, she talks a lot about in the general election, but you have to win the Republican primary first.

HUNT: Yeah. No, of course. And, you know, we can throw up a map to the kind of illustrates some of these hurdles because one of the biggest problems facing her is that she -- the winner take all delegate system in many of these states, it's half -- nearly half of the delegates that are at stake are going to be winner-take-all. So there have been places where she's been able to accumulate delegates despite the fact that but she hasn't won the state outright. And that's going to be much, much tougher ahead here.

How much money I mean, actually, let's move away from the money because I think you're absolutely right that candidates don't run out of ambition. They run out of money. But there is also like a political preservation question here for her, right? Like at what point -- she's clearly a very ambitious person. She's young. She has a future, somehow, right, on the national stage.

[05:05:04]

What does the calculation in terms of how to preserve that?

TALCOTT: Well, a lot of people argued that she should have gotten out before her home state of South Carolina, right? Because when you look at candidates who have stayed in and lost their home state, that's a really big blow politically, just in general.

She has not done that. She stayed in through South Carolina. So the question has become, what does she do after all of this? And she said, in South Carolina when she had that defiant speech, where he talked about how she was going to stay in through Super Tuesday period, no matter what, she talked about, how for her this isn't political, and she's not thinking about her political future.

HUNT: Yeah.

TALCOTT: And so my question is, though, is there a place for her in this Republican Party anymore.

When I've talked to Trump's team, they've -- his aides have said there's not a place for her anymore in this Republican Party. And so, I think that's notable, right?

Is there a place for a Nikki Haley sort of traditional Republican in what has become Donald Trump's party?

HUNT: Right. No, entirely.

All right. Shelby Talcott, "Semafor", Shelby -- thank you so much for being up early with us. I really appreciate it, kicked off a big day here.

All right. Just ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING -- explosions and fire shaking suburban Detroit. People warned to stay inside because of falling shrapnel.

Plus, what President Biden hopes to accomplish in the most consequential State of the Union Address of his presidency.

And a late night meeting between Rick Scott and Donald Trump. The new job that the Florida senator may be coveting. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:11:07]

HUNT: All right. Developing this morning, Ukraine says they sank a Russian patrol ship overnight in the Black Sea.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live in eastern Ukraine for us.

Nick, what's the significance about where this attack happened?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, in the Kerch Strait off Crimea, another sign of the extended range of Ukraine's maritime drones. Now they say a Marga V5 drone was able to hit the Sergei Kotov, sorry, Magura V5 drone, was able to hit the Sergei cut off Russian patrol ship, which they claim was worth about $65 million. Now in their words, it appears to have sunk.

This is another instance in which Russia's Black Sea fleet has been successfully targeted by Ukraine. An unexpected development, frankly, in the war, because after the annexing of Crimea in nearly 10 years ago, now, in fact, 10 years ago now, Russia felt it essentially they had dominance in the Black Sea, that has since been altered. A strategic change in the war and is forced basically, many of those ships back towards the Russian inner coastline.

A number of longer range successes that Ukraine has touted over the past days. They said they hit a bridge 500 miles in side of Russia and, two, President Zelenskyy in his address yesterday said that in February alone, they'd hit 15 jets, Russian jets take him out of the skies and just seven in the past week. Unclear if that's from some new capability or whether they're simply exploiting the fact that they appear to be more use of Russian airpower along the front lines here.

But all of these events showing different trends in the war, showing unexpected strategic success by Ukraine deeper inside Russia, shouldn't detract from the fact that Ukraine is having a very bad time here along the more earthy, difficult front lines we're seeing in the east here.

They pulled out of Avdiivka, a town they've been fighting over for months, two weeks ago. They said they would hold the defensive line and the reporting were hearing around those areas as the new line they're trying to hold is heavily contested by Russia. Airstrikes an almost inexhaustible supply of Russian military personnel and a huge tolerance to pain, frankly, by Moscow as to who they're willing to lose.

And at the same time, a shortage in Ukraine ammunition, it's a very perilous time indeed. And while we talk about headlines have sunk Russian ships, it's frankly near where I'm standing here on the front lines that it feels like the war is changing in Russia's favor -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Nick Paton Walsh for us in eastern Ukraine -- Nick, thank you very much.

Now this, the United Nations team says they found, quote, clear and convincing information that hostages in Gaza were sexually abused and that there are reasonable grounds to believe but the sexual violence is ongoing. A U.N. official says her team found evidence of sexual violence, including rape and gang raped during the October 7 Hamas terror attack.

Max Foster joins us live now from London on this.

Max, good morning to you.

This was really, really tough stuff. It's the most definitive findings so far by the U.N. on allegations of sexual assault during and after October 7 and Hamas has denied the allegations, but the U.N. special envoy on conflict says sexual violence is listed a range of challenges that her team faced trying to get evidenced, trying to get that testimony.

Is this report going to settle anything here?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, is from a U.N. It is the most in the independent body we have in these sorts of situations, unless it's going to end up in one of the international courts, there will be those who want to punch holes in it and discredited. But it's very stark. It's really difficult to read and it is a real reminder of what happened on that day in October and brings it to even more reality and what the people of Israel suffered there.

They had 33 meetings, this group, in looking into this, with Israeli representatives and more than 5,000 photographic images were examined and 50 hours of video footage.

[05:15:05]

So they really had been through it and investigated. But, you know, I think there will be Palestinians and other groups who point out they haven't spoken to Hamas and that's -- obviously that's for obvious reasons.

But the U.N. report also did describe reports of sexual violence against Palestinians in Israeli custody. So there are lots of elements to it. But if you just look at what they found in terms of the attacks on those Israelis, it is stark and obviously from the people publishing it, they're pretty convinced by it.

HUNT: Yeah. I mean, I think it's just important that we shine a light on it because obviously the Israelis have their own trust issues with the United Nations. But I don't want to talk to Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, for example, represents a heavily Muslim American community, or has ties to that in Michigan and she received so much blowback from people when she talked about the sexual violence and said, hey, this actually happened, that she's honestly gets emotional talking about it.

So I do think it's important that we outlined that, hey, the U.N. has said this happened.

Max, let's also talk about the hostage question broadly. I mean, you and I have been talking about the talks, to try to find a solution for a temporary ceasefire and hostage exchange. There are going to be family members of American hostages that are going to be in attendance at the State of the Union on Thursday.

What kind of message do you think that sends?

FOSTER: I think what the group politicians have invited them have asked members of Congress to wear yellow ribbons and dog tags. I think if we see a lot of that is going to be a very poignant reminder that there are hostages in Gaza still all these months later and if you look at some of the elements of that U.N. report, there were suggestions as well that there's still suffering some sexual violence, has suggestion that they are. So it's a big reminder of what those people are suffering.

I don't know if it causes any wider issues. I mean, everything around this is so sensitive. Does that show more sympathy for the Israeli side or not? I don't think it does. It just highlights what hostages are going through and the families of hostages are going through in this moment. Hopefully adding some momentum really to anything that America can do towards a ceasefire, which is obviously what the Biden administration is pushing harder and harder for, but its struggling to convince Israeli, the Israelis to do.

HUNT: Yeah, plus, some layered, layered politicking going on here with Benny Gantz, a political rival of Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting and meeting with vice president the United States yesterday.

Lots going on here. Max Foster for us in London -- Max, thank you. As always, I really appreciate it.

Coming up next, she might not survive Super Tuesday, but what's with all this speculation that Nikki Haley might try to find a different third party path to the White House.

Plus -- there's no crying in football know, unless you're a Kelce, I loved this. We'll bring you that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:35]

HUNT: All right. Twenty-two minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

Kenneth Chesebro, the attorney who helped devised the Trump campaign's fake electors plot continued proposing ways to overturn the 2020 election, even after the January 6 attack. That was revealed in text messages and emails that were just made public.

France is now the world's first country to make abortion a constitutional right. The amendment states that there is a, quote, guaranteed freedom to an abortion. The Eiffel Tower was lit up with the words: my body, my choice.

Plus --

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HUNT: Yikes! An industrial fire in Clinton Township, Michigan, causing large late night explosions. Officials say debris rained down as far as a mile away. It's not clear this morning if anyone was hurt and the good news is the fire has been contained.

All right. In just about half an hour, polls are going to open in several states. Some Super Tuesday voters may need an umbrella, others maybe grabbed the warmest coat you got in your closet.

Let's get straight to our weatherman Van Dam.

Derek, good morning.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I love that intro. It's great.

HUNT: Americans are going to -- look, there's going to be lots of elements today. What -- if you're going to vote in Super Tuesday, what are you looking for?

VAN DAM: The big day, it's here, right? We've got 16 contests.

HUNT: Finally.

VAN DAM: Yeah, exactly. And so impactful weather across the across the country and we can't forget about Alaska as well. But let's talk about the lower 48 because we've got California been impacted at least about the central and northern parts of the state with yet another system. The potential for severe weather for the eastern sections of Texas, who's going to the polls today, as well, some heavier rainfall across the Deep South and a storm system impacting the East Coast.

Right now, of course, we've got Virginia all the way to Massachusetts experiencing some rain and they're heading to the polls today as well.

So, let's get right to it. This is the current radar, and what is happening right now. And you can see this a little bit of a spin to a storm system just off the Delmarva peninsula. This is bringing rainfall to D.C., Philadelphia, and soon and to be New York City this morning, that I-95 corridor will be soggy.

But along the Deep South, this is the area were more concerned with big bulk of moisture moving into the Florida panhandle. We think that'll increase in intensity across Alabama today. So, heavier rainfall, flash flood threat there, and then even some severe weather potentially for the eastern sections of Texas.

[05:25:02]

So, east of Dallas, all the way to Shreveport, Louisiana, large hail, damaging winds and that marginal risk -- that's a level one of five from the storm prediction center extends all the way to Little Rock, Arkansas, as well.

So in terms of heavier rainfall, check it out, Birmingham. Yeah. You could get two to four inches of rain locally. So some pounding on the roadways, maybe you're heading to the ballots today. The voting stations and yeah, that could impact your travel weather.

Atlanta to Macon, you're not voting today, but you'll still see the potential for some flash flooding, but better chances as you head a little west into the state of Alabama, even southern Tennessee as well.

And I can't forget about this. We officially measured over 10 feet of snow with the blizzard that lasted five days in California, that is monumental. They're going to the polls today, too, Kasie.

HUNT: That is a lot of snow. All right.

VAN DAM: Ain't that wild?

HUNT: It's crazy.

Derek Van Dam, our weatherman, Derek, thank you very much. I'll see you tomorrow.

VAN DAM: Have a great day.

HUNT: All right. Coming up next, Donald Trump, hoping for a Super Tuesday sweep to sew up the Republican nomination. If that happens, does Nikki Haley go quietly into the night or does she have another option?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)