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Trump Hopes To Clinch Nomination With Super Tuesday Sweep; Sen. Rick Scott Visits Trump, May Be Eyeing Leadership Role; Eagles' Jason Kelce Offers Emotional Farewell. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired March 05, 2024 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:30:47]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a live look at the Oakland Bay Bridge. Polls are going to be opening later on this morning out there in California. It's basically the middle of the night -- let's be real -- right now. The largest of the delegate counts up for grabs today is there.
Good morning. Thanks for being up with us. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's great to have you.
The biggest voting day of the 2024 presidential primary is here. Pretty soon voters are going to be voting in 15 states. They head to the polls this morning with more than one-third of all the delegates up for grabs.
Donald Trump hoping to sweep Nikki Haley out of the race following a favorable decision from the Supreme Court. The justices ruling unanimously states like Colorado cannot kick him off the ballot. Trump urging the high court to also help him out with a favorable ruling on presidential immunity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you make a decision you don't want to have your opposing party, or opponent, or even somebody that just thinks you're wrong bring a criminal suit against you or any kind of a suit when you leave office. I have that right now at a level that nobody's ever seen before. I have rogue prosecutors and I have rogue judges. I have judges that are out of control and it's a very unfair thing for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Nikki Haley did agree with the Supreme Court decision to keep Trump on every state ballot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, I'll defeat Donald Trump fair and square, but I want him on that ballot. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, let's bring in CNN political commentator and former South Carolina state representative Bakari Sellers. And Matt Gorman, former Tim Scott presidential campaign senior adviser. Good morning to you both.
MATT GORMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Morning.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (D) FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Good morning.
HUNT: Thank you for being here. I know it's going to be a long day, Bakari. I think we're going to be back at this late in the evening --
SELLERS: Yes, we will.
HUNT: -- so I really appreciate IT.
SELLERS: But thank you for having it 32 degrees in here so we can --
GORMAN: It's great.
HUNT: So we can all stay awake.
So, Bakari -- I mean, let's start with -- I want to start with Nikki Haley -- kind of her path forward today. I mean, she said she's going to stay in this as long as she's competitive. At the same time, she's not going to be in a victory party. She's privately watching the results.
What's next for her after today?
SELLERS: That's an interesting question. I'm not sure what's next for Nikki Haley after today. I think it will be the same thing that was next for Nikki Haley after Iowa, after New Hampshire, after South Carolina. She doesn't have a path to win this race. She's running kind of a wait-and-see type of campaign -- maybe wait and see if something happens to Donald Trump. A conviction happens before the -- before the convention.
But I think everybody who is of sound mind realizes that Donald Trump will be the nominee. And I -- if the general election has not started, I do expect it to start officially tonight, especially in Donald Trump's mind.
HUNT: Yeah.
Matt, what do you think?
GORMAN: Yeah. She's essentially a protest candidate right now. I mean, there is -- as Bakari is right, there is no real path for her.
And I think -- look, even if there was some deus ex machina, right, where something happens it's not going to be Nikki Haley. If they reopen that chest they can play with a lot of other different toys so to speak. You know what I mean?
And I think -- you talked about this a little bit earlier in the show where I think in the age of Trump it's not where it was, say, for Mitt Romney or John McCain where that second person who came up short is that next one --
HUNT: Right.
GORMAN: -- to go around.
And I think --
HUNT: Because that really was a pattern --
GORMAN: It was.
HUNT: -- right? It was like the person who came in second in the nomination contest four years earlier was kind of the standard bearer the next time.
GORMAN: Yes, absolutely. You saw it with Mitt Romney. He was primed after his 2008 run to go be the standard bearer in '12 and he had a leg up on that. I think in the age of Trump we saw this. What happened to Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio. They didn't even run this time.
And you -- so there is a difference in the age of Trump how you go past a certain point your image becomes really decimated among the Republican base. You're starting to see that now a little with Nikki.
HUNT: Yeah.
Let's look -- take a little -- a look at a little bit more of what Haley had to say about the Supreme Court decision that came down yesterday with the ballots -- watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY: We don't want the chaos of certain states of secretaries of state saying that they like someone or don't like someone and want to take them off the ballot. I trust the American people. So I was very happy with the Supreme Court ruling.
Look, I'm going to -- I'm trying to defeat Donald Trump fair and square. I don't need them taking him off the ballot to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Bakari, there obviously were Democrats who were disappointed in this decision. But I also talked -- I -- you know, over the last few months, have talked to a lot of Democrats who --
[05:35:00]
BAKARI: Yeah. I mean --
HUNT: -- are relieved about this. BAKARI: Yeah. This isn't the decision that most Democrats are watching. I mean, it's a very slippery slope when you have states enforcing Section 3. I mean, when you -- when you have states who can decide whether or not somebody is on the ballot in Texas versus New York, it just gets to be the legal -- what they teach you in law school about a slippery slope. It's the definition thereof.
And so, no. But I think the presidential immunity question is the largest question and the court didn't give us any hint into the way -- into the way they were going to decide that yesterday. The ruling -- I thought, particularly, the concurrent ruling by the more liberal justices spoke a lot and was loud. The fact the unanimity of the decision spoke loudly.
And you're not going to see Democrats clamoring too much for him to be kicked off the ballot per se. There will be some fringes that say OK, kick him off the ballot. But I believe that Joe Biden has said it and everybody else has said it -- if you're going to beat Donald Trump and the cancer that is Donald Trump you have to beat him at the ballot box.
HUNT: What did you take away from this decision, Matt, and from the -- the Supreme Court has decided -- I mean, this immunity question, which Trump talked a ton about.
GORMAN: Um-hum.
HUNT: They did agree to actually hear it. I mean, they could have denied it and they could have just said nope, he's not immune. They could have stuck with the D.C. Circuit Court ruling. And instead, this potentially pushes the trial out, like, perhaps on top of the election. Like, certainly, on top of the time in the late summer and fall when voters are deciding.
GORMAN: Absolutely. I think -- look, on a very tactical level the biggest winners were the low-dollar Democratic fundraisers who were able to fundraise off this, right? Jena Griswold out in Colorado. I didn't even know who the heck the Colorado Secretary of State was before this.
HUNT: Lots of people do now.
GORMAN: And they do now, right?
And so, I think the tough part about this is if -- and this happens kind of with both parties. If you have, say, it might be cases, it might be votes, it might be certain things, you try and tailor your best ones to get the most attention. The ones you can win, et cetera.
But then when you have certain people start glomming on for certain attention, right -- the Secretary of State in Colorado files a ballot to -- files a case to do this. You have Alvin Bragg, which I think most Republicans feel that this is kind of the weakest of the cases brought against Donald Trump with the hush money up in New York State.
It allows Trump -- I think what he's tried to do is try to just glom them all together. And so, he can portray a win in this as leading to a win in immunity or with the January 6 trial, which obviously isn't the case. But in the PR where people aren't paying attention day to day as -- like we all are, it can make it hard to follow and understand.
HUNT: In the attention economy, it's all the same thing.
GORMAN: Absolutely.
HUNT: Yeah, it's really tough. It's a really good point.
OK, Bakari and Matt are going to stay with us for a second.
But I do want to turn to another headline out of Mar-a-Lago. The race to replace Mitch McConnell as the Senate Republican leader is heating up with more senators considering the position.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago and he posted this photo of the two to the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Scott is weighing a run for Republican leadership after losing a bid to challenge McConnell after the 2022 midterms. He is holding a news conference today, although we think it's unlikely that he's going to announce his intentions.
Matt Gorman, let me -- let me put this to you since -- so you worked for Tim Scott's --
GORMAN: Um-hum.
HUNT: -- campaign. You're aware of a lot of these kind of dynamics in the Senate. This is a seismic shift, obviously, to have --
GORMAN: The other bald Scott -- the senator -- yeah.
HUNT: Yeah. Yes, sorry. Fair enough. No, it's funny. And you are -- it's OK for you to say that --
GORMAN: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
HUNT: -- not me.
GORMAN: Yeah.
HUNT: But -- so what do you make of this? Because look, Rick Scott -- it's clear that there is this emerging -- you've got two men named John -- sort of establishment in the Senate -- John Thune and John Cornyn.
And then Scott is down here courting Donald Trump. He's been basically antagonizing Mitch McConnell, which very few people were willing to do for many, many years. But suddenly, here he was willing to kind of stick thorns in McConnell's side.
And now he is bringing the former president, who half the party has decided OK -- in the Senate anyway -- has decided OK, we're going to kind of roll over and do what he wants. There's still a significant faction in the Senate that doesn't like Donald Trump.
GORMAN: Um-hum.
HUNT: What is Rick Scott doing here?
GORMAN: I think, actually, he might be playing -- to actually quote Mitch McConnell -- playing the long game a little bit.
Look, you have the two Johns, Cornyn and Thune, already in the race. They've been playing this for a while. You have a third John, John Barrasso, who is expected to possibly get in the race, but there's also talk lately he might actually just try and play for second place -- play for the whip. So whoever emerges out of that top fight can't get that second role.
I think what Rick Scott likely is doing is making a bet that the Senate with Mitch McConnell gone will turn into a little bit more like House leadership where he can be that kind of antagonizing force close to Trump. Whether he's president or not, there will still be a power base there and he can kind of chirp from the sidelines and play that person who is in Trump's ear who can be the Trump advocate in the Senate.
And again -- we saw this happen in the House quite a bit -- maybe he's not the next leader but the one after that.
HUNT: Yeah.
Bakari, what do you see here? I mean, you've served in the legislature.
SELLERS: But, I mean, nobody likes Rick Scott. I mean, he is -- he is the second-most --
HUNT: Oh, gosh.
SELLERS: -- least liked United States senator behind Ted Cruz and Ted Cruz only.
I'm not sure what Rick Scott thinks he's doing. But there are a lot of McConnell loyalists who will take a great deal of just joy out of pummeling Rick Scott throughout this process.
[05:40:02]
This is a race between three Johns. One John may not decide to do it, as you -- as you eloquently put. And so I think it's Thune and Cornyn, and they both actually bring some of the gravitas that Mitch McConnell brought to the United States Senate with them.
Rick Scott is a wild card. Nobody really cares for Rick Scott that much. And so I'm not sure what exactly --
HUNT: Why is that? Why don't people like him?
SELLERS: I think it has a lot to do with his personality. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that he kind of marches to his own drum. He sings off his own sheet of music as they say. And he does things like this.
I mean, Donald Trump won't have a major role in electing who will be the next leader of the Republicans in the Senate. That is where his influence is actually the least. I think that there are enough people who will box him out of this institution. This is probably the only institution in the United States where his fingerprints will not be all on it.
HUNT: Yeah.
Do you agree with that?
GORMAN: I think to a point. I think there will -- there will be a block of people that will look for input or at least not want to get crosswise.
SELLERS: The block is named J.D. Vance.
GORMAN: I think that also probably Hawley, Cruz. I think that there will be somebody who will give deference to that.
And let's also -- let's also face it. I don't think Trump can help himself. He will want that loyalty --
SELLERS: Oh, sure. But I do -- I mean, the number is like --
GORMAN: -- as he thinks about it.
SELLERS: -- four.
GORMAN: You know, it could be 25, like, that could win this, right -- 25-26. I think it could -- it could be a block and at the very least, they'll be loud. So that's --
SELLERS: Well, that's true.
HUNT: Yeah. I mean, I think at the end of the day, I do think there are enough senators that recognize that picking someone that they choose themselves without outside influence, there's a lot to be said for that, too, especially in this environment in which we live.
All right, Bakari, Matt. Thank you, guys. You're going to be back --
GORMAN: Yeah.
HUNT: -- with us later on next hour.
Up next here, what could be next for Nikki Haley if Donald Trump likely dominates this Super Tuesday? Plus, wait until you hear the excuse from an NBA superstar who arrived too late to start in last night's game.
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[05:46:23]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER": You have said that you're -- previously, that you're definitely staying in the race through Super Tuesday. That's tomorrow. What would keep you in the race?
HALEY: I mean, I long as we're competitive. Look, 70 percent of Americans say they don't want Donald Trump or Joe Biden. That's not a small number. They want to know that at some point we're going to have somebody that can put in eight years, day and night, and focus on the solutions. Not the negativity, not the baggage, but just real solutions for the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. With Nikki Haley facing an uphill battle for the Republican nomination for president, speculation is swirling that she might be eyeing a third-party candidacy. The rumors picked up after she said she might go back on her pledge to endorse the Republican nominee -- in this case, likely Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY: The RNC pledge -- I mean, at the time of the debate, we had to take it to where would you support the nominee. And you had to -- in order to get on that debate stage, you said yes. The RNC is now not the same RNC. Now, it's Trump's daughter-in-law.
KRISTEN WELKER, MODERATOR, "MEET THE PRESS": So you're not longer bound by that pledge?
HALEY: No. I think I'll make what decision I want to make, but that's not something I'm thinking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Very interesting.
Haley is putting an end to the idea that she might join the No Labels ticket, telling reporters she wouldn't want to run on the group's proposed unity ticket with a Democrat.
Joining me is Julia Manchester, staff writer for The Hill. You just say her byline on that piece. Julia, good morning. It's great to have you here.
JULIA MANCHESTER, STAFF WRITER, THE HILL: Good morning, Kasie.
HUNT: So there is more, sort of, third-party speculation and discussion than there has been in many, many --
MANCHESTER: Right.
HUNT: -- presidential cycles with so many people basically unhappy. They're telling our pollsters they are unhappy with the choices that they have.
For Nikki Haley, though, there is all of this speculation around it. I see her as someone who is clearly very ambitious and I -- the big question to me is how does she channel that ambition. Because if she leaves the Republican Party it is very difficult to see any path to the presidency outside of that two-party system that we have.
What do you see as her path forward?
MANCHESTER: You know, it's hard to say. I think of this in two ways.
First of all, I think for Nikki Haley, it's difficult to see a place for her in today's Republican Party, which is essentially the party of Trump. It is the America First party. So even if Trump were to be elected again, four years from now we see it as the America First party. It seems like Nikki Haley has essentially been pushed out of that mold.
Now, at the other end of this, I think there's also the question of what is her end game. Is she thinking of 2028? Is she thinking of something this year after the primaries? Would she do some sort of a third party? It's hard to see how she would do a third-party win at this point, logistically. Remember, RFK Jr. is still trying to get on the ballot in a number of these states. So it's going to be difficult.
And also, look, if she were to go that -- you know, that direction and not honor the RNC pledge, it's hard to see how she would be forgiven in the Republican Party and do any future run. So it's really hard to see what the end game is here.
HUNT: You know what? And, I mean, that's even a different question, right? Because whether she -- I mean, if she were to run on a third- party ticket that would be a particularly strident kind of way --
MANCHESTER: Right.
HUNT: -- of going about it.
There is, although, also this question of whether or not she endorses Donald Trump. I mean -- and she's sort of -- the campaign that she's run now -- turning around and endorsing Trump out of that -- I think you open yourself up to charges of hypocrisy. But on the other hand, if you don't endorse him how do you stay in the party?
I mean, how do you think about that?
MANCHESTER: Yeah, absolutely.
You know, someone -- I was talking to them about this very topic and they said Nikki Haley is essentially throwing everything in the kitchen sink at the wall at this point. So it's hard to see what her end game is in terms of endorsing Trump.
[05:50:03]
Look, she was very -- you know, in 2016, during the primary, I think she endorsed Marco Rubio. She was speaking out against Trump, especially when Marco Rubio, at the time, was being extremely critical and had some pretty outlandish rhetoric against then-candidate Trump. But Marco Rubio eventually came around. And Nikki Haley eventually came around and served in the Trump administration.
So -- but this time, though, she has really needled Trump and I think she has done something that Trump really doesn't like. She's been disloyal to him. So I'm wondering how that works for her --
HUNT: Yeah.
MANCHESTER: -- down the line.
HUNT: I mean, it does -- it seems like there's -- that whatever relationship was there, at least from Trump's perspective --
MANCHESTER: Right.
HUNT: -- is done. It's going to be more up to her to decide it.
We should also note Ted Cruz, who -- Trump attacked his wife --
MANCHESTER: Yes.
HUNT: -- now one of Trump's biggest supporters.
Julia, you mentioned RFK Jr. He has gotten on some critical battleground state ballots. And the DNC just filed a complaint with the FEC. They accuse this pro-RFK Jr. super PAC of campaign finance violations. I believe this is a super PAC that aired an ad during the Super Bowl --
MANCHESTER: Right.
HUNT: -- just using the name Kennedy.
I mean, to me, that's the big danger for -- I think most of the polling shows that a lot of these voters would come from Biden and some may come from Trump in the case of RFK, but that it could really hurt Biden in some of these key states just because the man's name is Kennedy.
What should they be doing about that -- about that?
MANCHESTER: Yeah. Look, absolutely, in states like Arizona and Georgia, that's going to really put a dent into Biden's potential lead there or his support base there.
But I will say going to RFK Jr. events and talking to his supporters, he does pull a really big tent of supporters -- Biden supporters, but also Trump supporters. So there's a real wild card. We hear a lot about the DNC pushing back against him. I think you're also hearing the RNC very much changing their tone because he is such a wild card going forward.
So in terms of how Biden approaches RFK Jr., it's hard to tell whether he's even going to pay much attention to him. I think he wants to make this a Biden versus Trump race, which makes sense.
HUNT: Of course.
MANCHESTER: But RFK Jr. is still that unknown variable here.
HUNT: Yeah. It might be a mistake not to, you know --
MANCHESTER: Right.
HUNT: I mean, clearly, the DNC at least is focused on it a little bit.
MANCHESTER: Um-hum.
HUNT: All right. Julia Manchester, staff writer for The Hill. Thank you so much for coming out.
MANCHESTER: Thank you.
HUNT: It's great to have you.
All right, it's the end of an era in Philadelphia. After 13 seasons, Jason Kelce, the heartbeat of so many of my bird's teams, has retired.
Andy Scholes has this morning's Bleacher Report. Andy, good morning.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, good morning, Kasie.
You know, Jason Kelce may be the most popular offensive lineman to ever play the game -- certainly, in Philadelphia. He's universally loved for not only his play on the field but just how good of a dude he is.
And Kelce -- he was just in tears from the start of his retirement press conference yesterday. His brother Travis, his parents, his wife Kylie -- they were all sitting in the front row. They were also fighting back tears the whole time.
Kelce played for 13 seasons making seven Pro Bowls and winning the 2018 Super Bowl over the Patriots. And he said he wouldn't be where he is today without his brother Travis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON KELCE, 7-TIME PRO BOWLER: There is no chance I'd be here without the bond Travis and I share. It made me stronger, tougher, smarter, and taught me values of cooperation, loyalty, patience, and understanding. It's only too poetic that I found my career being fulfilled in the City of Brotherly Love. I knew that relationship all too well.
Thank you, Philadelphia, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for letting me represent this city and allowing me into your homes every Sunday.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SCHOLES: Yeah. I bet we see Kelce on TV with one of the networks next season.
The Broncos, meanwhile, cutting ties with Russell Wilson, and they're taking the biggest dead cap hit ever in order to do it. Denver is going to be paying Russ $85 million to go away. He will never play a snap under the five-year, $245 million extension that he had signed. The Broncos trading for Russ arguably going to go down as one of the worst trades in NFL history.
All right, to the NBA where LeBron was fresh off scoring his 40,000th point this past Saturday, and he helped the Lakers pull off the upset against the Thunder last night. LeBron had 19 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists.
And D'Angelo Russell -- he just caught fire in the fourth quarter. He hit a three on three straight possessions. He finished with five for the game and scored 26 points.
The Lakers would win for the 10th time in 14 games, beating the Thunder now 116-104.
And finally, we've all lost track of time and been late at some point. Well, T-wolves star Anthony Edwards -- he lost track of time last night and was late for the opening tipoff against the Blazers. He made it to the scorer's table right before the start of the game but he had to wait and sub in after.
[05:55:04]
Minnesota head coach Chris Finch was even a little confused at what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS FINCH, HEAD COACH, MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES: Sometimes, maybe -- it was a weird game for him with the missed start. I don't know exactly what that was about.
MIKE CONLEY, GUARD, MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES: I can't disclose (INAUDIBLE). You get the -- he just had a baby so -- or his wife did -- his girlfriend did. So, you know, who knows? He probably -- he probably didn't sleep much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Yeah, Minnesota would win, Kasie, 119-114 over the Blazers. So, you know, not the biggest of deals but maybe he was stretching too long in the back. But it's kind of odd for an NBA player to miss the tipoff.
HUNT: It is awkward. Although now that I've heard that he has a new baby at home I am much more willing to forgive that. Because let me tell you --
SCHOLES: His clock is all off, yeah. HUNT: -- everything goes to hell, frankly. They're wonderful but, man, do they make it hard for you to show up on time for anything.
SCHOLES: Yeah.
HUNT: Andy Scholes, thank you --
SCHOLES: All right.
HUNT: -- very much.
All right. Up next here on this Super Tuesday, Donald Trump is hoping to knock Nikki Haley out of the race. Plus, what President Biden needs to do in his State of the Union address this week.
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