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Inside Politics

Female 2020 Dems Share Questions They Get Asked That Men Don't; Court Docs: Coast Guard Officer Planned Mass Shooting; Pompeo On 2020 Senate Run: It's Ruled Out; Sen. Cornyn Fundraises Off A Possible O'Rourke; House Dems Take On Trump's National Emergency Declaration. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired February 21, 2019 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00] JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Maybe redefine again as it plays out, which is a good thing.

One of the great things about the campaign so far is the historically diverse Democratic field. That's not taking sides for the Democrats, it's just nice to see the diversity out there running, including a handful of women who did this photo spread and an interview spread with Marie Claire Magazine. And they were asked, the candidates were asked, what questions do you get asked as a woman candidate for president that the men don't get asked?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The question I get asked, that I've never heard a man asked, can a woman win? But I never heard anyone ask guy, can a man win?

REP.TULSI GABBARD (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Are you tough enough and can you handle the heat?

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Speak to us about women's issues. And my response is usually, I am so glad you'd like to talk about women's issues, so let's talk about the economy.

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D), LAUNCHED PRESIDENTIAL EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE: How do you balance your family life and your work life?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It is interesting to watch after -- you know, there is a lot of criticism of the media, a lot of questions last time when you had Hillary Clinton running. And one candidate, one woman candidate against Donald Trump, in this field, this is going to be fascinating to watch it play out.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And I think it's different for that exact reason. Last time around, it was Hillary Clinton. And she became the repository for all of these various concerns about female candidates, some of which are actually very real, that if you talk to pollsters, there is something out there about why some voters don't want to vote for women candidates. But this time around there is so many of them. And so they can all

talk about these issues and it doesn't get focused on any one of them. And in some ways it actually diminishes -- it can diminish their importance which I think many of them would actually appreciate that.

What you're hearing from these candidates is, let's not talk about necessarily the fact that I'm a woman. Let's talk about what I'm running on which is the economy or healthcare or whatever. And some of those issues like paid family leave for Kirsten Gillibrand and sexual assault in the military are issues that they've championed themselves, but that's not the entirety of their candidacy.

And I think in some ways Hillary Clinton may have helped them with that by being that person who took all the, you know, the arrows the last time around, and now they can kind of share it and they don't all get to be weighed down by it.

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: And also seeing a lot because partly there are so many women and, as Abby said, it isn't the first time around. You're seeing women make some different choices about how they run which I think is really interesting. Both -- I mean, there's a range of issues obviously that they're talking about but even just some of the tactics we had one of our reporters went to dinner at Kirsten Gillibrand's house, and she talked about hearse of family-friendly agenda and paid leave. And that's something you might not have seen in the past from a male candidate running.

So, I think, they are also trying to experiment, or do try different tactics what I think is really interesting. I think, we'll see more of that as this race goes on.

(CROSSTALK)

LISA LERER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: And this is just very good for the country, right? Objectively to have these many women running because what you're showing the country is that women can run in all different ways. And as you pointed out, we just haven't seen that before. For a very long time, Hillary Clinton, was the one and only woman that made it to the level of really a presidential, a serious presidential candidate and she had one way of doing things.

So this is by showing that diversity of styles and of campaigning, you are sort of getting, you know, the country, getting voters more and more accustomed to this idea that women can break this -- the highest hardest class of (INAUDIBLE). And I'm sorry of that (ph) --

(CROSSTALK)

LUCEY: Perhaps also it means that this discussion of -- I'm sorry, (INAUDIBLE) I feel like there's sort of set pieces about like candidates hobbies or interest.

KING: Right.

LERER: Right, yes.

LUCEY: So these stories that come every time and maybe we will see some different things this time. I think Hillary Clinton struggle with people being like, "Oh, your hobbies are yoga and you talk about your grand kids," and like maybe we're moving past some of that being unusual.

SAHIL KAPUR, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: And another question women have to deal with all time that men don't is the likability one. Men never get asked this question. Women do. It's often sexist. It has to do with the fact that ambitious women make a lot of men uncomfortable. And if you're talking presidential candidates, you're probably very ambitious.

KING: Yes. Yes that's insult too.

LERER: Right. And there's lot of academic research backing that idea up too. That definitely is a real thing and so, you know, to have unlikable women, yes that's a good thing, right?

KING: It would be nice to put that one away. Maybe this campaign will help do that.

[12:34:10] Next, feds arrest the would be domestic terrorist to prosecutors say had plans to assassinate Democratic lawmakers and journalists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Federal prosecutors accusing a coast guard officer of domestic terrorism. Police arrested 49-year-old Lieutenant Christopher Paul Hasson last Friday on gun and drug charges. Court documents alleged he was planning a mass killing, stockpiled guns, ammunition and steroids.

CNN's Jessica Schneider, joins me now live with the details. Jessica, explain this case and where it's headed?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes John, you know, prosecutors say that this suspect, this coast guard lieutenant, had a hit list and he was targeting some prominent politicians. You know, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as well as some Democratic candidates for the 2020 race like Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand. And they say that he was also targeting some media personalities including several at CNN, Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon and Van Jones.

And they say that the most disturbing part about this is that he seemed potentially ready to strike. They say that he did Google searches looking for these people's addresses. He also searched in Google asking where members of Congress live in Washington, D.C. and the suspect allegedly also invoked the President's name. He did several searches involving President Trump, including one where he asked civil war if Trump impeached?

[12:39:58] You know what was quite stunning about this is in their detention memo, the prosecutors did not mince any words. They are currently charging him with drug and gun possession. But they say that those charges are just the tip of the iceberg and they put this right at the top of the sentencing memo to show you how stark these terms are.

They said the defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country. And that's exactly the argument the prosecutors will make inside this Federal Courthouse in just minutes here. They are asking this judge to detain this suspect, saying that he is a real threat, John, because of they say what he's plotted potentially mass murder here. John.

KING: Jessica Schneider, appreciate the live report. The chilling case will stay with you throughout the day as we get new developments. Jessica, thank you.

And topping our political radar today, Chicago police lashing out at actor Jussie Smollett saying his fake report took advantage of pain and anger, and racism. Smollett charged with disorderly conduct now for allegedly filing a false report. Police say he paid two men to stage an attack on him because he was dissatisfied with his salary. The actor is denying the charge.

Chicago Police Superintendent says he's angry that Smollett received so much sympathy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUPERINTENDENT EDDIE T. JOHNSON, CHICAGO POLICE: I'm offended by what's happened and I'm also angry. To make things worse, accusations within this phony attack received national attention for weeks. Celebrities, news commentators and even presidential candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Every New Jersey Democrat in Congress throwing his or her support behind Senator Cory Booker who's running for president. All New Jersey Democrats in the House, there's 11 of them and also the State Senior Senator Bob Menendez say they will all formally endorse Booker. Governor Phil Murphy, also behind the senator.

The Trump administration dramatically up in the odds of illegal showdown with California today. The White House says it's cutting off tax with the Golden State over vehicle emission standards. California wants to sets its own stricter standards. The Trump administration now says, it's no longer willing to negotiate but the California Air Resources Board says, they never ever any real good faith negotiation anyway.

Up next, it's recruiting season for the Senate in 2020. Why some 2018th -- 2018ers who lost, they find some new homes in 2020.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:27] KING: (Inaudible) CNN, Michael Cohen up on Capitol Hill today, the President's long-time lawyer there, for as of right now, unexplained meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Cohen met with committee staff behind closed doors for several hours. He did not answer shouted questions as he left. We do know that Cohen scheduled to testify before the Full Committee next week.

Some news today about a big 2020 fight that is not about the White House. Control of the House and Senate is also up for grabs in the presidential year. And today, the man many Republicans think would be their strongest candidate in an open Kansas Senate race says, no thanks. That would be Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a former Republican Congressman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: I love Kansas. I'm going to be the Secretary of State as long as President Trump gives me the opportunity to serve as America's Senior Diplomat

CRAIG MELVIN, NBC NEWS AND MSNBC ANCHOR: No interest in being a Senator from Kansas?

POMPEO: I love doing what I'm doing and I have 75,000 great warriors around the world trying to deliver for the American people.

MELVIN: It sounds like you're not ruling it out?

POMPEO: It's ruled out. I'm here. I'm loving it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, if that answer doesn't change that would be a loss for the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who has lobbied Pompeo to go back home and run.

It's also an interesting recruiting season for the Democrats. Several Democrats who lost big 2018 races but made favorable impressions along the way are being nudge to consider challenging Republican incumbents, Beto O'Rourke in Texas, Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Amy McGrath in Kentucky among them.

We focused mostly on the presidential race but the early recruiting for the Senate and House race is fascinating too. Was that it for Mike Pompeo? Was that you're going to ask, is he out?

KAPUR: No, no. Marco Rubio also ruled it out before he unruled it out. I mean, if he's going to be stepping down from that job, sometime next year you can bet that the Republican Committee will go to him and say, please reconsider and he might well do that. Now, what's so --

KING: That's not fair to anybody else who's thinking about getting in. It's going to be an open sit. Everyone will say, oh it's a presidential year, Kansas will be red. Democrats have proven they can be competitive in Kansas.

So if you're another Republican and, you know, Pompeo would be the guy. You kind of need a clue, don't you?

KAPUR: If you're a Republican, you don't Chris go back on the top of that ticket after what happened in Kansas.

PHILLIP: Yes. But it is interesting to see Pompeo basically say I'd rather be here working for Donald Trump than take that opportunity. It makes you wonder what his long game is for his own political ambitions. This is his second job in the Trump administration which many people would not really survive at this point. It has only been two years but he's basically, you know, suggesting that he has some more in him.

And I think he's making a calculation that many people do, that if you stick with Trump just long enough, do some big things, you might have an even bigger platform.

KING: Let's flip to the Democrats. Two tough states to win in a presidential year would be Texas and Georgia. Beto O'Rourke just lost to Ted Cruz, Stacey Abrams lost in the government race, but both made favorable impressions, built national fund raising list, both have not ruled out even jumping into the race for president. If you're Chuck Schumer, you rather there run for Senate. Here's what they say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETO O'ROURKE (D), FORMER TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm trying to figure out how I can best serve this country, where I can do the greatest good for the United States of America. So yes, I'm thinking through that and it may, you know, may involve running for the presidency, it may involve something else.

STACEY ABRAMS (D), FORMER GEORGIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: I understand the opportunity to run for Senate is a critical one and I think 2021 is going to be a key pivotal year as Democrats start to take more control in D.C. and my job is to decide that I'm the right person to join the fray.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LERER: Look, those are bold states that Democrats have felt that they could eventually have a chance in for a long time. The Obama campaign though about running in Georgia, realized they didn't need to do it to get -- to win the presidency.

[12:50:08] The Hillary campaign thought about running in Georgia. So these are places where Democrats think the demographics are changing in such a way that if they had, I can a say, a star candidate like those who are and show them helps to be in the 2018 midterms, they could potentially, you know, flip a seat and win in those places.

Also, of course, presidential years are generally better for Democrats turnout as higher that helps them with Senate and House races. So, this should be a much -- this should be a better year for them in the Senate than the midterms. But, you know, there's still a lot of red states in play. KING: One of my favorite e-mails this week was my test I guess, we knew Beto O'Rourke can raise a lot of money, he prove that in the Senate race not just inside Texas but nationally. Can Republicans use him to raise money?

John Cornyn, who is the incumbent Republican senator in Texas, put out an e-mail saying, "2018 Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke is talking about whether to run in 2020 and this time he's collaborating with Chuck Schumer to paint a target on my back". It goes on which I -- So yes, we know Beto can raise money himself, can Republicans raise money off Beto?

LUCEY: I mean, Beto is a national name. So it's him is like a completely reasonable play. I mean, it's a -- both of those are such big stars in some ways that Schumer really have to lock them down.

PHILLIP: It's hard to convince big stars, though, that want to go into the Senate.

LUCEY: Yes.

PHILLIP: I mean, even though we have many senators running for president, a lot of people would want to skip over that particular place and go somewhere else, maybe go to the governor's mansion or run for president.

KAPUR: Running against Cruz would be an easier fundraising pet for Beto O'Rourke than running against John Cornyn. It's a very different type of politics.

LUCEY: Yes.

PHILLIP: Yes.

KING: That's a great point. Ted Cruz was the flip side of that. There a lot of Democrats wanting to see Ted Cruz go audio.

Up next, House Democrats about to make their first big move against President Trump's national emergency.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:56:26] KING: House Democrats serving notice they will aggressively challenge the President's National Emergency declaration and look to put Republicans on the spot in the process. The first step comes tomorrow.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will move to trigger a vote on a resolution to block the White House effort to redirect federal funds to border wall construction. More than a hundred congressmen and women have signed on to the proposal, made initially by the Texas Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro.

CNN's Phil Mattingly live on Capitol Hill. Phil, where does this go from here? PHIL MATTINGLY, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. John, it's going to move and it's going to move fast. And I think I can associate myself with Sawhill on the panel who's somebody been looking through the US code. And you find out that there's actually a regulations that guide how a determination whether or not to block a declaration exist and that is over the course of the next month or so, you're going to see the start to move through the process.

Within -- once it is introduced within 15 days, the committee and the House must either consider and then move through the resolution. After they do that, there is a three day deadline to actually have a House floor vote.

Now, it's widely expected and assumed the House will pass rather easily considering Democrats control the chamber. More than a hundred have already signed on the expectation I'm told is most, if not all, Democrats will sign on to this resolution before it's all set and done.

The big question has long been in the United States Senate. Obviously, Republicans control the Senate, 53-47 majority. But, because of the way that this resolution move forward it will only take a simple majority to pass the United State Senate.

We have already seen between five and six Republicans come out say that they are opposed to what the President did on the national emergency, likely will support moving forward on an effort to block that national emergency. You've saw the expectation right now is they will be able to martial 51 votes in the United States Senate to block the resolution.

The next big question then becomes what the President does. Well, you got a hint of it from Steven Miller over the course of the weekend when he said on Sunday, the President will do pretty much anything in his power to protect the national emergency declaration. What that means to translate is he will likely veto that.

So the big question becomes, one, kind of where Senate Republicans actually hold up, how many of them actually cross party lines and support Democrats. What I'm being told right now, John, is the expectation among Senate leadership aides, probably about five to eight. What does that mean? It means they're short of a veto proof majority, likely going to be sure of a veto proof majority in the House as well which means the President will win in terms of keeping the national emergency alive.

The bigger question as you noted and what's been the biggest concern for Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, the fact the Republicans will have to take a very difficult vote that might put some of them against their president.

KING: Phil Mattingly, I appreciate that. I thought you're on Capitol Hill, you're here on the office today. You must be in trouble with the boss or something?

Let's bring in the studio. Yes, I'm just kidding -- Congress is out of session. That's why Phil is here.

So it's the Democrats think this is important but they understand they probably won't get to the finish line because of the veto.

KAPUR: Right. There are many Republicans in the Senate who have expressed concerns about this, who are worried about the legality, worried about the President, it would set for a future Democrat to, you know, declare a climate emergency and pass a Green New Deal or health emergency and do single pair by (inaudible).

But those concerns will not necessarily translate to vote against the President when it really comes down to. I spoke to Republicans like, Roy Blunt, Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio who were not comfortable with this but they did not commit to voting against the President on resolution now disapproval.

KING: And, yet a Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, tough re- election battle in 2020 in a state that's much more purplish. She says she probably will vote for it if it's clean. So we have the 2020 calculations there.

PHILLIP: Yes.

LUCEY: Right. And part of what's happening here is Democrats are trying to squeeze these Republicans who are up in 2020, particularly those in border states and those in battleground states.

PHILLIP: And it'll be one vote but potentially two votes. They might have to do the first round and then if the president vetoes it, they have to go back to the drawing board again. He may win, but this is going to be a painful couple of months for the Republicans in the House.

KAPUR: And if it holds this Congress surrendering one power after another after another. First giving up more powers than surrendering trade powers

LUCEY: Which is wise.

KAPUR: Now the most sacred power of all, the spending power. What is the point of having a Congress?

[12:30:00]