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New Day

Clashes Rock Venezuela; Man Charged in Deadly Shooting at UNC Charlotte; Tornadoes Rip Through Midwestern U.S.; New Polls for 2020 Democratic Party. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 01, 2019 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:54] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, there's a fierce battle for power in Venezuela. Opposition leader Juan Guaido is calling on Venezuelans to march in the streets today. This a day after demonstrators clashed with police in Caracas. Guaido is pushing for a military uprising to oust embattled President Nicolas Maduro, but so far Maduro is claiming victory.

Our chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward has the very latest for us.

Clarissa.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, that's right, Guaido is calling for people to take to the streets in what he hopes will be, quote, the largest march in history. And this is an important day for the opposition leader after he staked a lot of political capital yesterday on essentially trying to mount support from the military to topple the embattled president, Nicolas Maduro.

I should say that President Maduro has also been calling for people to take to the streets in support of the government today. But there's no question that after yesterday's protests, there is a heightened sense of tension. There is a heightened risk or possibility of violence. Yesterday we saw armored personnel carriers careening into crowds of protesters, injuring them. We saw rubber bullets being fired, reports of live ammunition being used, tear gas being used.

And there's a sense really that the crisis in Venezuela could be reaching an inflection point. Last night we heard President Maduro come out in a televised address. He said that the coup attempt, as he called it, had been defeated and called upon his supporters to come out in the streets today. But there is no question that this is a very tense time and we have yet to see -- Guaido says that the military does not support Maduro, that he does have support from them.

But what we haven't seen yet, John and Alisyn, is that critical mass of senior generals from the military coming out and saying forcefully and publicly that they are defecting against the government of Nicolas Maduro. We haven't seen it yet. And the question is, will we see it in the near future and what will happen with those protests today? ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So, Clarissa, the U.S. State Department

says that Maduro was ready to flee. The plane was on the tarmac. And then Russia called and told him to stay.

What do we know about that?

WARD: So this is basically a sort of he said/she said, if you like. We heard yesterday indeed, as you just said, Secretary of State Pompeo saying that Maduro had been ready to leave, that a plane was on the tarmac, that it was supposed to be taking him to Cuba and that the Russians were the ones who intervened. Maduro basically scoffed at this claim, calling it nonsense. The Russians have labeled it as fake as well. And it's difficult to know exactly what the source of this information ultimately was.

Let's take a quick listen to what exactly Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: It's been a long time since anyone has seen Maduro. He had an airplane on the tarmac. He was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it, and the Russians indicated he should stay. We think the situation remains incredibly fluid. We know that there were senior leaders inside the Maduro government that were prepared to leave. They told us as much over the past few weeks. And we're convinced that the Venezuelan people are going to get their democracy back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:35:12] WARD: It's important for our viewers to understand that beyond the conflict that we see going on inside Venezuela, between Guaido and his supporters and President Maduro, there is a broader proxy conflict going on here between Russia, which supports the Maduro government very strongly, and between the U.S., which supports Guaido, has recognized him as president of Venezuela, along with dozens of other countries.

And the question now becomes, how much political capital is the U.S. willing to expend on supporting Guaido, because as we've seen in Syria, the Russians are often willing to take it very far.

John and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Clarissa, thank you very much for the update. Obviously, you will follow it throughout the morning and we will check back with you.

So ahead on NEW DAY, we will ask National Security Adviser John Bolton about this crisis in Venezuela and what happens next.

BERMAN: All right, 19 tornadoes tearing across the Midwest. Is the threat of dangerous weather over? We'll tell you what you need to know, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Overnight, a man is charged with murder in a deadly shooting at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. Two people were killed and three others remain in critical condition this morning.

[06:40:02] CNN's Dianne Gallagher is live in Charlotte with the latest.

What happened, Dianne?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Alisyn, it was the last day of classes. It's a big deal here at UNC-Charlotte. It is at every campus. But I actually went to school here. One of my degrees is from UNC-Charlotte. And they try to do it up really big.

They were having a concert at 6:00. About 15 minutes before that concert began, police say that a 22-year-old man went into a building, into a classroom, and opened fire. He killed two people. He shot four others. Three of these people are still in critical condition.

And they say that because the police officers were doing roll call at that moment for that Waka Focka concert to celebrate the last day of school, they were there, they were in position when they got that call and were able to disarm that man as soon as they got that call, within minutes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JEFFREY BAKER, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE POLICE: Our officers are highly trained. And we train for this type of an incident. And we were able to get to the building and our officers immediately -- one officer immediately went to the suspect to take him down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now that suspect, 22-year-old Trystan Terrell. We know at least at some point he was a student here at UNC-Charlotte. It seems at this right now it's a little murky on what his current status was as a student.

He is in custody with police. He is facing murder charges, attempted murder charges and various weapons charges.

John, back here at UNC-Charlotte, they're kind of trying to process this. This is supposed to be a day that was stressful because they were preparing for exams. And, instead, they're going to be coming back here together to pray for a vigil. They're talking about what needs to be done. And it's a community that really is just still in shock at this moment that something like this happened.

BERMAN: A difficult morning indeed.

All right, Dianne Gallagher, thank you for being there for us. We know this is emotional for you as well. A tornado outbreak ripped through the Midwest Tuesday. Nineteen reported twisters carved their way through five states, including this one, look at that, in Oklahoma. Entire communities demolished, houses destroyed, cars smashed, trees snapped.

So is the threat of severe weather in the region over?

Want to get right to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Definitely not, John. We talked about this yesterday, how yesterday was going to be a big day. And now the updated number, 25 tornadoes. We had six more in the overnight hours. Wind and hail now still coming down in some of these storms.

This weather is brought to you by Jared, dare to be devoted.

So let's get to today. What are we going to see today? A little farther to the south, maybe more into Texas. Here's the latest radar. All the lightning's in Oklahoma, especially eastern Oklahoma, somewhere between Hugo and Talimena State Park.

There it is right now. As we move ahead, though, we see severe weather through St. Louis and then more developing today along the Red River around Dallas, around Hugo. Somewhere around McAllister could see very big weather today. I don't suspect 25 tornadoes today. Maybe more like ten. But it only takes one.

There's the bull's-eye today. It was here yesterday, right where the storms were. For tomorrow, slightly farther to the east. Another round of storms, though, with three to five inches of rain could even cause more flooding as we go ahead all the way through tomorrow. A pleasant weekend for most of the northeast. Look at D.C. tomorrow, almost 90 degrees

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh, that's a little too soon -- a little too soon for the 90.

MYERS: Yes.

BERMAN: It is never right for you. It's either too hot, it's too cold. I mean, what is it?

CAMEROTA: I'm goldilocks. I'm a little goldilocks at the moment.

Thank you very much, Chad.

So there's this new CNN poll and it has Joe Biden far ahead of the 2020 Democratic field. Our Harry Enten says he knows the secret behind Biden's big numbers. He's going to share it with us, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:48:15] BERMAN: A new CNN poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden with a commanding lead over the other Democratic primary candidates.

What exactly is Biden doing? Why is he ahead right now?

There is something about Harry. So let's get right to CNN's senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten.

Harry, you have been calling this for a long time. You said that Joe Biden might have the secret sauce here for the Democrats in the primary in ways that people don't know.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITE AND ANALYST: Yes, and let me point out that I'm coming -- getting over a cold. So if I sound like Phoebe from "Friends," that's the reason why.

So let's take a look. And the one thing I always want to point out is to say that something's not an outlier. So take a look at this. We had this CNN poll that came out yesterday morning that showed Biden well ahead at 39 percent, Bernie Sanders, 15. But then Quinnipiac University came out later in the day, look at that, same exact thing. Biden with 38 percent. Everyone else in a second tier column (ph).

CAMEROTA: But Elizabeth Warren doing better in the Quinnipiac.

ENTEN: She is. I should point out though, look at this margin of error up here. These are pretty wide margins of error. And that's why it's important that we saw two separate polls showing basically the same thing. It clearly indicates that Joe Biden saw a bump from his announcement.

But let's take a look at why. And this, I think, is something that I have been pointing out over and over and over again. I think there's this sort of hidden Democratic Party that doesn't get spoken about so much in the press.

BERMAN: Because they're not on Twitter.

ENTEN: Because they're not on Twitter. They're not on social media. They're not sort of who the party necessarily -- or who the media necessarily thinks is the base.

Look, 53 percent are age 50 and older, 57 percent have no college degree. And I think this is also key and important, the ideology of the party, about 50 percent of the party is either moderate, self- described moderate or conservative, 30 percent is somewhat liberal and only 20 percent is this very liberal sort of, you know, hip, woke type of lane.

CAMEROTA: Except, I have a question about that.

ENTEN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: That's how they self-describe. But if you look at what they want in their policies, for instance, Medicare for all, where do you put that on the spectrum?

ENTEN: I --

[06:50:06] CAMEROTA: In other words, are they more liberal than they say they are?

ENTEN: I think, obviously, the people who are self-described conservative Democrats are more liberal than the self-described conservative Republicans. But within the party, I would say that those, generally speaking, who are self-described moderate or conservative are, in fact, more moderate conservative than those at least on a slew of issues than those --

CAMEROTA: Even in policy.

ENTEN: Right, even on policy, yes. I would say that's definitely the case.

But let's take a look here. Look, this is one of the big things. I averaged both the CNN and Quinnipiac polls because, gain, cross tabs have wider margins of error, so this kind of tells us that this is real.

Take a look at this. Those under 50, Biden is ahead, but it's not overwhelmingly, right? He's at 28 percent. Sanders is kind of close. And if you were to shrink that down, unfortunately we can't get down that subgroup level, if we were to look at 18 to 29-year-olds, for example, this would probably be flipped. Bernie Sanders would at least be tied with Joe Biden, probably actually be ahead.

But, look at this, the over 50 crowd, this is a huge -- a huge lead. Look, he's nearly 40 points ahead of his nearest competitor. And old people -- not old people -- older people come out and vote in much larger numbers than those necessarily who are younger. And that is part of the reason why, despite the fact that they may be equal sides of the population, they're actually slightly larger in the voting electorate (ph).

CAMEROTA: Did you hear what Harry just said?

BERMAN: Yes, he said old -- he said old -- old people.

CAMEROTA: I can't get past that.

BERMAN: We almost ended the segment right there.

Keep going.

ENTEN: Look at this. Education. Non-college grads. This is another key part of it. Look at that. Over a 30-point advantage. Joe Biden crushing the field, well ahead. Bernie Sanders is the only one who's even breaking double digits, versus college graduates, who I think, you know, college grads are a larger part of the party than they used to be. But, despite that fact, these -- this is still the majority. This is still about 57, 60 percent of the party. And so he is using this group as well to overwhelmingly crush the field versus the college grads where it would be a much closer race.

BERMAN: OK, keep going.

ENTEN: Keep going, keep going, keep going. Ideology.

BERMAN: Right.

ENTEN: I think this is very, very key. Look, if we were to look at this very liberal lane, which I think is over -- is definitely overrepresented on Twitter, Joe Biden is basically in a near three-way tie with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, but he is getting the center of the Democratic Party.

BERMAN: Wow.

ENTEN: It's not just the moderates and conservatives, where he is very much well ahead, leading by over 30 points. It's also in this somewhat liberal lane, right, where he is getting the center of the party and he's also getting the more conservative part of the party. He's up by over -- he's up by nearly 30 points in this particular lane.

And you also see this. Look at like the Buttigieg, who say basically everyone falls off as you go from liberal to conservative with the exception of O'Rourke versus Biden actually gets stronger.

BERMAN: It's interesting, he's playing to a draw, though, in all of his areas of weakness, a draw or better, and then crushing it in his areas of strength.

ENTEN: That's exactly right. And this is -- this is a key thing in politics, you do well where your strengths are and then you hold your own in your weaknesses.

CAMEROTA: All right, you have one minute left.

ENTEN: I have -- I have one minute left, but I want to just point this out. This is also key. It's not just about demographics. It's also what Democrats are looking for. What matters more.

You keep hearing Elizabeth Warren's fan base basically say, hey, she has the great policies, but it also matters -- remember, we're not electing a policy book here, we're also electing a leader. And Joe Biden's the former vice president. And right now according to Quinnipiac, voters prefer a great leader to the great policy ideas. And, more than that, has a good chance of beating Trump.

And then look at this. Who do Democrats think are best on these different things. Democrats think Joe Biden is electable overwhelmingly. Democrats think that Joe Biden is a better -- is the one who's the best leader on policy ideas. It's much more split. But this is far less important to a Democratic vote choice, this particular point. Democrats are much more focused than on these two and that's why Joe Biden's ahead.

BERMAN: What I can't tell yet is if people are picking Biden and then shaping their views on the attributes through him. ENTEN: That could be the case. That could very well be the case.

I just want to get to this.

BERMAN: All right.

CAMEROTA: What's that?

ENTEN: Because I made this. "Game of Thrones." Everyone has been talking about this show. I've watched zero episodes.

CAMEROTA: Right. Me, too.

ENTEN: You've watched zero. John's watched more than 30.

CAMEROTA: Is it -- is it good?

BERMAN: It's very -- it's very good. It's very good.

CAMEROTA: Do you think it will catch on?

BERMAN: I -- I think it may turn into something. It may do OK. We should pick it up. HBO should pick it up.

CAMEROTA: What's wrong with us?

ENTEN: I have no idea. And I -- sometimes, you know, I'll be with someone who is watching it on the computer and say, oh, my God, amazing. You go girl. Uh-huh. And I'm just going to myself, what the heck are you talking about.

CAMEROTA: I mean you could watch it to see.

ENTEN: I -- you know what, to be honest, I'd rather watch the American experience of Harry Truman.

CAMEROTA: Wow. That says a lot about you, Harry.

BERMAN: That's a -- it's a cry for help.

ENTEN: Harry and Harry.

CAMEROTA: Thank you -- thank you.

BERMAN: A cray for Harry.

Harry Enten, thank you very much for being with us.

ENTEN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

All right, it is 19 wins in a row for the reigning "Jeopardy!" champ James Holzhauer.

ENTEN: Close. CAMEROTA: Holzhauer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX TREBEK: Oh, I thank you for making an even bet. It helps my math. You now have $96,726 earned today and a new total of $1,426,330.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: He looks happy.

BERMAN: The smile says, I crushed you.

CAMEROTA: Holzhauer is now tied for the third longest winning streak in show history. Last night's final Jeopardy clue was about a former capital about halfway between Paris and Berlin. The answer was Bonn (ph). Holzhauer was the only one with the correct answer. But one of the other contestants did something very clever and said the answer is -- congratulations James.

[06:55:11] BERMAN: I know. Well done.

Look, what he is doing now is as impressive is like half the feats in sports. This is -- this is like bigger than what the Bulls did with Michael Jordan right now, his run.

CAMEROTA: Really?

BERMAN: He's an athlete. A mental athlete.

CAMEROTA: Well, he is a mental athlete for sure.

BERMAN: All right, the stakes raised considerably for Attorney General William Barr's Senate testimony this morning. Now that we know Robert Mueller objected to Barr's spin on his findings, we're going to speak to a senator who's asking some of the questions today to find out what he has in store. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don't know whether Mueller supported my conclusion.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Mueller sent this letter to the attorney general expressing dissatisfaction that four- page letter did not capture the nuance in the Mueller report.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barr needs to resign. He took an oath to the Constitution not to Trump.

[07:00:01] SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Barr is supposed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The attorney general is going to have to accept our terms. We will control the hearing that we have.

END