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New Day Sunday
Iran Pressured By Protesters After Admitting It Shot Down Jet; Trump Tweets Support To Outraged Iranian Protesters; CNN Gains Rare Access To Air Base Targeted By Iran; At Least Nine Deaths Blamed On Triple-Threat Storm; Suspects On The Run After Shooting Five People At Colorado Party; CNN Poll: Iowa Voters Split Over Impeachment; Giuliani: President Trump's Impeachment Is Unconstitutional; More Than A Dozen Saudi Servicemen To Be Expelled After Review Of Deadly Shooting At Naval Air Station; Dozens Of Women Protest Sexual Assault Outside Courtroom. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired January 12, 2020 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:12]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Protesters in Iran calling on the supreme leader to step down over the downing of that Ukrainian jet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are seeing the president expressing solidarity with protesters in Iran saying to the brave long suffering people of Iran, my administration will continue to stand with you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are talking about a deeply authoritarian regime. So they're going to repress these protests.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A look at the air base in Iraq where U.S. troops rode out two hours of missile strikes and explosions this past week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The troops that live here lost everything. There is the sense that, while this phase of what is unfolding has concluded, everyone here is still very much on high alert.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of Iranians want their supreme leader out. Good morning to you on this Sunday.
Right now the Iranian regime feeling growing pressure as more protests are expected and thousands of Iranians in the streets of Tehran yesterday several of them chanting death to the dictator.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Their anger is fueled them most part by the downing of that Ukrainian Airlines passenger jet.
Now back in Washington, President Trump is sending a message of support to the Iranian people. He sent it a tweet in English and in Farsi calling the Iranian protesters brave. Saying he has stood with them since the beginning of his presidency.
Let's start there with CNN Kristen Holmes. She's in Washington. Kristen, why is the president now inserting himself into these protests?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Christi.
Well, look, there's a lot going on here. Let's remember where we were just one week ago after the U.S. launched these drone strikes that took out Soleimani. We saw Iranians united in the street calling for death to America. Clearly here, Iranians having a 180 and for obvious reasons. This is a better narrative for the Trump administration.
The second thing here, with President Trump focusing on these protests, is it really shifts the focus off of this justification for the killing of Soleimani, something that the administration has really struggled with explaining to the American people and has felt a lot of pressure from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
We've seen President Trump capitalizing on this. He sent out multiple tweets last night in both English and in Farsi, which of course is the predominant language spoken in Iran. And here's one of the things he said. He said, "To the brave, long suffering people of Iran: I've stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency, and my Administration will continue to stand with you. We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage."
And he goes on to say, "The government of Iran must allow human rights groups to monitor and report facts from the ground on the ongoing protests," and continues there. Saying, essentially, blaming the Iranian government here, lashing out at them. But I want to note, it's not just the Iranians here who have done a complete 180.
President Trump himself in these tweets while he does say that he has stood with the Iranian people since the beginning of his presidency this is the same president who essentially banned Iranians from coming to the U.S. within a month of taking office. He campaigned on this Muslim band and this is also the same president who just a week ago was talking about bombing Iranian culture sites, Victor.
PAUL: So, is there a sense, Kristen, that if the president reaches out to Iranians, even if it's via Twitter to make his case, he will then in turn better solidify his case with the American people who may have questions about the killing of Qasem Soleimani?
HOLMES: While that might be his goal, this is not going away. This questioning of why exactly the U.S. chose to launch these air strikes at this time, was there an imminent threat, that's not going away. We have seen pressure growing on both sides of the aisle. And it's just going to continue particularly as we enter into this impeachment phase. There's looking at two very distinct paths here. Congress who has a lot of questions about both of them.
PAUL: All right. Kristen Holmes, appreciate it so much. Thank you.
I want to give you some new video that we're getting in this morning of this protest in Iran. Take a look.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
PAUL: What they're chanting there is, death to the liar, supreme leader. To get more on the protests in Iran, CNN's Nic Robertson is in Abu Dhabi. So, Nic, help us understand the significance of what we're seeing on the streets in Iran this morning.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think very simply, what the Iranian people have seen from their leadership over the past few days is that the leadership does not care about them.
[06:05:08]
And their interpretation, it comes directly from the fact that one of the military commanders in charge of the -- in charge of part of the IRGC, the sort of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the main military force in Iran suggested that civilian passenger jet should be grounded on the night that Iran was launching the missiles at the United States and it has taken several days for Iran to admit that it made a mistake shooting down this aircraft.
And so many people in Tehran already suspicious and already know that the leadership does not really care about what they think because so many protests have been put down, hundreds of people being killed as recently as a few months ago. The people have come out on the streets because there is a sense now, a very clear sense that the leadership is not taking their interests into account because the leadership could have grounded civilian aircraft, remembering that the vast majority of people on that plane were civilians.
We've heard chants of, death to the dictator, one of the most interesting things that people have shouted is, you don't have the right to make a mistake. They're shouting that at the supreme leader. They're quoting back to him what he said to the United States in 1991 about the downing of an Iranian passenger mistakenly by a U.S. naval ship in 1988. They are saying that back to him.
BLACKWELL: Wow. Let's talk about the response to these protesters because the protests in November and December over the fuel prices, the security forces, there were 1,500 or so protesters killed, a very harsh response. How is the regime handling this protest?
ROBERTSON: This was a protest that appeared to be of several thousand people from the best we could estimate. It was a lot of young people around one of the universities in Tehran. The police could be seen -- one part of the demonstration throwing tear gas and coming in with tear gas. But if you want to get a sense of just, if you will, how sort of big the police were sort of swamping on this and rounding people up, the British ambassador to Iran was arrested at that protest, accused of being part of the protest by the Iranians and held for several hours.
The British foreign secretary has called this a flagrant violation of international law. They rounded up an international ambassador and arrested him. Imagine if you're an Iranian on the streets there. BLACKWELL: All right. Nic Robertson, helping us understand that. Nic, thank you so much.
Now the plane that was shot down, it was hit hours after Iran fired several missiles striking al Asad air base in Iraq in response for the killing of Qasem Soleimani.
PAUL: CNN Senior International Correspondent, Arwa Damon got exclusive access to that base and she actually spoke with U.S. airmen about the moments leading up to that attack.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These were living quarters, sleeping quarters. The troops that lived here lost everything. There was very little, if anything, that was salvageable because there was also a fire that ended up raging here for a few hours after the missile impacted in this particular area.
The reason why no one was killed, not here, not in any of the other locations of impact, is because there was advanced warning. We don't know what, we don't know how. That is very sensitive information.
But we are told that hours before the attack even began, they knew something was happening. They just did not know specifically what it was going to be. So precautions were taken.
By 11:00 p.m., troops who could hunker down were hunkered down in bunkers, some of them in Saddam era bunkers. Others who had to man their posts because of the security situation. They were still out there. And then the strikes began at about 1:34 in the morning. This is the crater left behind by one of them.
There are so many stories that we're hearing of heroics. So many stories that we're hearing of really extraordinary close calls. Those who lived through this say that it's clear that Iran wasn't that concerned with trying to save U.S. lives. A lot of these impacts did happen in places where they could potentially have caused significant U.S. casualties.
And this is Lieutenant Colonel Staci Coleman. We've been speaking all day. I mean, you were telling us. What was that night like? How do you even begin to describe it?
LT. COL. STACI COLEMAN, U.S. AIR FORCE: It's very hard to describe it. I will tell you, it was extremely scary.
[06:10:02]
Some of my team and myself were hunkered down in one of those bunkers. And when the first wave started hitting, you could feel the shockwave and even inside the bunker, the pressure was so strong that we watched our bunker doors sink in towards the inside of the bunker and then escape back out. About seven of the impacts were in very close proximity to where we were hunkered down. And like I said, you could feel every last one of the shockwaves. It was extremely scary. DAMON: And very lucky or was it the training, the precautions that were taken that there were no U.S. casualties?
COLEMAN: I would say it was all -- I would say it was a combination of God looking out for us, it was a combination of the little bit of intel and advanced warning that we got, and then it was the smart commanders on the ground making on spot decisions to get people out of harm's way.
DAMON: And how do you begin to describe, I mean, what this was like and then, of course, what kind security precautions you're having to take now given the situation?
COLEMAN: This was, like I said, we knew something was happening, but we didn't know exactly what. As the time grew closer, we kind of thought we had an indication of what it might be. But we still weren't certain.
So we had advanced warning that there may be some rockets followed by a base incursion. And so we had to keep our security forces out to make sure that we were safe from that. So there were a good number of folks out along the perimeter and within the airfield keeping it secure.
DAMON: Out there on the perimeter keeping it secure while these missiles are coming in?
COLEMAN: Yes. They were outside during every last one of the missile strikes.
DAMON: Wow. It would seem that it was very fortunate and also, as we've been saying, because of this advanced warning that exists, because of these precaution that were taken, there is the sense that, while this phase of what is unfolding has concluded, everyone here is still very much on high alert.
Arwa Damon, CNN, al Asad air base, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: Arwa, thank you so much for that exclusive reporting there.
The death of a man in Oklahoma is the latest to be blamed on this line of severe storms that tore through a good chunk of the south and Midwest so far this weekend. Officials in Oklahoma say he was swept away by floodwaters.
BLACKWELL: Now his death is at least the ninth storm related death across the country -- heavy rain. It's just part of this triple- threat storm that included ice and tornadoes. Here's CNN's Natasha Chen with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across the country, especially throughout the south, homes, commercial buildings and lives have been ruined in a matter of minutes by severe storms and tornadoes responsible for at least eight deaths, including two people who are being called heroes in Lubbock, Texas.
CHIEF FLOYD MITCHELL, LUBBOCK POLICE: This is a tragic day for our family. This is a tragic day for both police and fire and the men and women of both of our departments.
CHEN: Lubbock police officers and firefighters were responding to a car accident on an icy interstate Saturday morning. While they were there two more cars slid across the median, one of them hitting the first responders. Lubbock officials say speed on icy roads had everything to do with the fatal accident.
CHIEF SHAUN FOGERSON, LUBBOCK FIRE DEPARTMENT: It was very unnecessary. If people would respect road conditions, things like this wouldn't have to happen.
CHEN: The National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama had a similar message to please take these warnings seriously, when they shared the news of three people killed in Pickens County, Alabama.
Another three people died near Shreveport, Louisiana. One when a tree fell on his house and the other two, an elderly couple who were found near their demolished home. Into the Midwest, strong wind gusts, snow and ice caused the cancellation of 900 flights in and out of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. More than a quarter million customers across nine states lost power. And it's still not over. The storms are expected to reach the northeast early next week.
Natasha Chen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: Coming up, police officers are looking for multiple suspects after five people were shot at a party in Colorado overnight.
BLACKWELL: We'll have that, of course and we're closing in on the national championship game between Clemson and LSU in New Orleans and Coy Wire, he is there asking the tough questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Very serious question. Red beans and rice or gumbo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gumbo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do love gumbo but I'm a red beans and rice guy all the way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely gumbo. But you could never go wrong with either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:18:50]
BLACKWELL: Breaking overnight, police in Aurora, Colorado, are looking for suspects after five people were shot at an apartment complex.
PAUL: Now police say all of the victims are expected to survive, thankfully. But moments ago we got an update on the situation from Officer Matthew Longshore of the Aurora Police Department. Here's what he told us.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
OFFICER MATTHEW LONGSHORE, AURORA POLICE SPOKESMAN (on the phone): So about 10:55 last night, patrol officers responded to an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, about Iliff and Buckley on reports of a shooting. We got reports that there were people who were having a party in an apartment where a suspect came and shot five people, unfortunately.
Three of them were juveniles, two of them were adults. Luckily, none of the injuries are life-threatening and all are expected to survive. Any time, obviously, you have multiple people shot like this, it's a very scary situation. So luckily, we got there pretty quickly.
Unfortunately, we are still looking for suspects. Right now, we have a description on one. We're just hoping for, through our interview process and through our investigation work, we can find the ones that are responsible for this.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
[06:20:08]
PAUL: And we'll keep you updated as we get more on that.
Meanwhile, three weeks away from the Iowa caucuses --
BLACKWELL: Just three weeks.
PAUL: -- which means the official start of the primary season and off we go.
BLACKWELL: Yes, off we go. Although it feels like we've been going since 2016. There really has not been a break.
The CNN poll shows that registered voters in the state are closely following the impeachment of President Trump and that they are split. CNN Political Director, David Chalian has more from Des Moines.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Critical brand new CNN/Des Moines Register poll numbers about how folks in the heartland here in Iowa are responding to impeachment. Take a look at this. Forty-eight percent of registered Iowa voters say President Trump should not be removed from office. Forty percent say he should. That is certainly welcome news to the White House.
Take a look across party lines. Obviously, all the Democrats basically are in favor of removing the president from office. All the Republicans are opposed. Look at that critical middle line. Independents. A slim majority of independents here in Iowa, 51 percent, believe the president should stay in office. Only about a third of independents say he should be removed.
Watch those numbers over the course of the Senate trial if that 34 goes up and that 51 comes down, not just here in Iowa but nationally, that will have political ramifications for things like witnesses and other matters that come up in the trial. But even though people here in Iowa do not think the president should be removed from office, take a look at this.
Majorities across every party say what the president is accused of doing here is not OK. They do not believe even 59 percent of Republicans say it's not OK for a presidential candidate to ask a foreign country to interfere in the election, dig up dirt on a rival. That is not OK.
In terms of the president's re-election effort here in Iowa, a state he won by more than nine points in 2016, look at these brand new poll numbers. He's got work to do here. Forty-four percent of registered Iowa voters say they will not be voting for the president. They are not going to consider him for re-election. They're definitely voting for someone else.
And take a look when you look by gender. Fifty percent of female registered voters here in Iowa are definitely voting for someone other than the president. He is clearly has work to do here in a state that was very much in his corner just three years ago. And look at the suburban women specifically. Key demographic, fueled the Democratic Party rise in 2018. Delivered the House majority of the Democrats. Donald Trump does worse with them. Suburban women, 56 percent of them here in Iowa say definitely not voting for the president.
President Trump is clearly going to want to try to win back some of those suburban women if he has any intention of keeping Iowa red in 2020.
David Chalian, CNN, Des Moines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: So, Rudy Giuliani says the impeachment of his main client, President Trump, is unconstitutional. The president's personal lawyer making that claim last night on Fox News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: The general theory is, of course, that impeachment is in the hands of the House. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
GIULIANI: With unlimited power. Wrong. No such thing as unlimited power on the constitution.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
GIULIANI: Every constitutional power has limits.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Michael Zeldin, Robert Mueller's former special assistant at the Department of Justice with us now. Michael, good morning to you.
MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
PAUL: Let's listen together here as Mr. Giuliani further explains what he was talking about.
ZELDIN: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIULIANI: It's written right in Article 2, Section 4. It has to be treason, bribery, high crime, misdemeanor. Abuse of power and the other ridiculous, obstruction of Congress, you can't find it anywhere in 18 USC. You can't find it on the common law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: OK. So if we're -- if we're breaking this down, we're to understand that the point he's making is that abuse of power and obstruction of Congress are not impeachable crimes and they do not fit into the category or under the umbrella of bribery, of misdemeanors, of high crimes.
First of all is that accurate? And second of all, if it is accurate how would articles of impeachment have gotten this far?
ZELDIN: So, it's not accurate. The phrase high crimes and misdemeanors is a phrase that relates to conduct which can be criminal but need not be criminal.
Alexander Hamilton explained it quite explicitly in the federalist papers. And he said, it is violations of public trust by office holders. And so that has been the standard since the constitution was adopted. So with respect to Giuliani's claim that it must violate some U.S. criminal code, he's just flat-out wrong,
[06:25:01]
Secondly, with respect to obstruction of Congress, well, that actually happens to be a U.S. crime. It's found in the crime books. The U.S. code. I don't know why he can't find it. But as to that article, it is a crime. And the behavior here is not that the president is challenging in court the breadth of subpoenas it's rather the president just flat out said, nobody shall cooperate period, full stop. That is what gives rise to the obstruction of Congress. So I think Giuliani is wrong on both fronts.
PAUL: OK. So, you think he's wrong on that. His remedy, I want to point out for this, he said yesterday is to go before, I'm quoting here, go before the Supreme Court of the U.S. and have it declared unconstitutional. Meaning the whole impeachment, the articles of impeachment.
Reconcile the reality of that for us. Is the Supreme Court going to take this up if it gets to them?
ZELDIN: No and in fact --
PAUL: Will it get to them?
ZELDIN: Well, no and no. So there was a case United States versus Walter Nixon, not related to Richard. He was a judge. And in that they've challenged some of the constitutionality of the impeachment proceedings that were used in his impeachment. This judge who was impeached. And the Supreme Court ruled on this question and it said, this case is not a case that we will hear, that the rules of impeachment are set by the Senate and that the Senate determines them and we don't review them.
And so Giuliani is asking for a remedy that the Supreme Court has already said does not exist. So I don't know when it was that he last looked at the law around impeachment or in the United States code. But I think on all three points that's making, he's incorrect.
PAUL: Michael Zeldin, always appreciate your insight.
ZELDIN: Thank you.
PAUL: And stick around we're going to be talking to you again. Thank you.
ZELDIN: OK.
BLACKWELL: More than a dozen Saudi servicemen will be expelled from the U.S. after a review of that deadly shooting at a naval air station last month. The findings that review -- that put DOD security measures in question. We'll talk about these. These are startling.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:30:00]
BLACKWELL: More than a dozen Saudi servicemen who were training at U.S. military bases will be expelled from the U.S. This is coming after a review of that deadly shooting last month at a naval air base in Florida.
PAUL: The 21-year-old Saudi Air Force second lieutenant opened fire killing three American sailors. That was in that incident. And the servicemen aren't being accused of assisting the suspect but they are said to have connections to extremist movements.
With us now, CNN Military Analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, thank you so much for being with us. It's always good to have you.
CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thanks so much, Christi. Good morning. It's good to be with you as well.
PAUL: All right. So I want to ask you if as we understand it that some of these Saudi trainees that are being looked at had extremist views or connections extremist views, as well as being in possession of child pornography. Help us understand how -- what is the vetting process? Let's put it that way. How do people, if they have that kind of a background, make it as far into the military, as they did?
LEIGHTON: Well, what happens is the United States is often dependent on the vetting process in the host country. So these people received, in this case, commissions from their country to be officers. The Saudis have had a history of sending people to this country for a very long time for military training purposes. And, quite frankly, the vetting process always leaves something to be desired. I have known a lot of trainees of this type over my years of service in the military and most of them are completely decent people.
However, sometimes the vetting process does fall short. And if we rely too heavily on solely the host government's vetting process, we may not always catch people with extremist views or people with other undesirable tendencies that may very well end up with the U.S. military in a training environment.
BLACKWELL: Colonel, what I remember because I know we had this conversation after this happened, there in Florida, the reason that was given for there having been no extensive vetting on the U.S. side was that it would take so long and it would be expensive. That was, what, three weeks ago, a month? So it really doesn't take that long, obviously. Do you expect there will be changes and what changes need to be made?
LEIGHTON: Well, Victor, I think there do need to be changes. First of all, with everybody's social media presence being something that can be looked at, the vetting process needs to take a look at not only people's social media presence but their social connections and it might seem intrusive, but we're asking people to come in to our military installations to gain access to installations that most U.S. citizens don't have access to on a normal everyday basis.
So the vetting process must include thorough background check. It must include not only what the host government says about these people, which will almost always be positive, but also it needs to be an independent U.S. verification, not only of what the original government says, but also what we find through our law enforcement and intelligence agencies. At the very least, the intelligence agencies need to be asked if they have any information on these people or if they have any information on any close family or social connections that these people might have.
BLACKWELL: All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, always good to have your insight, sir.
PAUL: Thank you, Colonel.
LEIGHTON: You bet. Thank you so much, guys.
PAUL: So three weeks from the first contest in the 2020 presidential race.
[06:35:01]
I know you can't wait. Iowa is front and center. How important will the Hawkeye State be in this year's election really at the end of the day? The state of that race coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Twenty-two days now until the Iowa caucuses. There's a new CNN poll shows a four-way race for first in Iowa.
Now, in the past, a strong showing in Iowa or New Hampshire could set the tone for the remainder of the campaign.
[06:40:01]
But there are several campaigns that are looking past the first two contests, on to South Carolina, Nevada, and then, of course, Super Tuesday.
Joining me now, Historian and Professor at Princeton University, CNN Political Analyst, Julian Zelizer. It's been a couple of weeks. Happy New Year and all of the things, Julian. Welcome back.
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Happy New Year and thanks for having me.
BLACKWELL: So let start here. You've got a new piece up on cnn.com. It's telling everyone not to overblow, especially this cycle, Iowa. Why this cycle especially?
ZELIZER: Well, two things have happened that are important. First, just a cluster of states for Super Tuesday, I think, will ultimately make that a much bigger factor in who can gather the delegates. So it's easy to imagine a surprise performance in Iowa being totally put aside when Super Tuesday comes.
And second, we now have constant coverage of the campaign long before Iowa. So some of the momentum shifts have already happened and I think it's going to diminish some of the sudden impact that Iowa has had since 1976.
BLACKWELL: So you write that, if anyone other than Joe Biden wins the caucuses, and I'm paraphrasing here, that could be a game changer. But let's put up -- this is a graph of his polling since, I guess, December of 2018. He hasn't led a poll since June and he's now showing at 15 percent, the lowest point, matching where he was in November. So explain why he's still expected to win or could be a frontrunner considering his poll slide.
ZELIZER: Well, he's looked beyond Iowa for much of his campaign. He hasn't invested the same kind of resources in the state nor has he actually gone to the state in the same manner as some other candidates. So he's putting all his bets later in the campaign where he's doing very well. He's doing very well with African-American voters, who are a much smaller portion of the Iowa contest.
So he hasn't written it off and obviously a victory there would be important. But I think he has a long game strategy. And he's willing to concede this and then come on strong a few weeks later.
BLACKWELL: So let me ask you about that. Let's say, right now, Sanders is leading the latest poll. It's very tight, so within the margin of error. If he takes Iowa and Buttigieg, who is leading in New Hampshire, takes New Hampshire, and Biden, who has consistently led in South Carolina, takes that state, does anyone get the de facto momentum heading into Super Tuesday? Is it still Vice President Biden considering he's ahead in the national polls?
ZELIZER: Well, I think Sanders is the biggest threat. Not only is he doing well in the polls, he's doing well in polls later on as well. He has a formidable campaign infrastructure at the grassroots and in terms of the money he's raised. So if the split that you just talked about happened, we very well might see this going close to the convention, if not, into the convention.
BLACKWELL: Julian Zelizer, thanks so much.
ZELIZER: Thanks for having me.
BLACKWELL: Okay. So this is the last debate before the first vote, only on CNN. The top Democrats head to Iowa for a live CNN presidential debate, in partnership with the Des Moines Register. It is Tuesday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
PAUL: Well, the Baltimore Ravens have the best player in the NFL, wasn't enough to win last night. Who out shined Lamar Jackson? This was a stunning upset.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:45:00]
PAUL: Listen, it was a shocker in the NFL Playoffs. The Tennessee Titans upsetting the Baltimore Ravens and their superstar, Lamar Jackson.
BLACKWELL: Coy is in New Orleans for the college football championship game, but this game, let's start with this one. Hey, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you. The Ravens, they were the Vegas favorite to win the Super Bowl. Quarterback Lamar Jackson had a historic record-breaking season. Just 23 years old, he'll win the league MVP, but now the Ravens' season is over. The night belonged to Derrick Henry and the Tennessee Titans. The former Alabama Back beat Baltimore down, 195 yards rushing, including this demoralizing 66-yard run in the third quarter.
And then the Titans got tricky. Henry takes the snap and throws a touchdown to Corey Davis, the first running back in a quarter century with a passing touchdown in the playoffs. The Ravens hadn't lost since September. But none of that matters now. They're sitting at home watching the playoffs like us.
Titans pull off the upset, beating Baltimore 28-12. They get the winner of the Chiefs/Texans game later today.
Now, over at the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers are making their first trip back to the NFC title game since 2013. Niner's defense, dominant, historic performance. They sacked Kirk Cousins six times, held the Vikings to seven first downs the entire game. They roll 27-10. They'll host the winner of the Packer/Seahawks game in Green Bay this evening.
Congratulations to Serena Williams for winning her 73rd career singles title in Auckland overnight. It's her first in three years and first since becoming a mom. She's ranked 10th in the world and has the Australian Open later this month.
Now, we are here in New Orleans for the college football playoff national game between Clemson and LSU. The defending champs, Clemson, they're led by coach Dabo Swinney. He is building a dynasty there. I spent a lot of time with him.
[06:45:01]
He leads with ceaseless energy, the power of positivity. Clemson is hoping to win a third title in four years.
LSU, quite the leader as well. We asked their team yesterday about their very intense head coach, Ed Orgeron.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any time anyone sees him like fired up, like everyone gets fired up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He brings fire and energy. It radiates to the team.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He always said, take it one day at a time. So we just follow his footsteps. That's why we're here today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's (INAUDIBLE) tooth out before. Yes. He sets his jaw and will knock his teeth out. Yes, I saw it. It's crazy.
WIRE: what did he do with the tooth?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just left it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Yes, so setting the jaw before every game. Imagine that, your head coach punching himself on the face so hard that he knocks a tooth out. LSU and their Heisman-winning quarterback, Joe Burrow, are favored to win this game. Their last title was won back in 2007 in this very building. Going to be a good one.
BLACKWELL: Coy Wire, enjoy it.
WIRE: Yes, sir.
PAUL: Thanks. There you go.
All right, we're going to take a serious turn here because Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial starts week two tomorrow.
There has already been so much drama in this, the defense is making demands that include a new judge and dozens of potential jurors have already been dismissed because they say they can't be impartial. How is this going to play out? Joey Jackson with us next.
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PAUL: Dozens of women you see, they are protesting sexual assault, staging a flash mob outside movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's trial last week, chanting there, it's not my fault, not where I was, not how I dress.
This trial is set to resume jury selection tomorrow. Over 100 potential jurors were called in. By the end of the week, 30 to 40 people were prospects, 47 people were dismissed because they outright said they couldn't be impartial.
Weinstein is facing charges for allegedly raping a woman in 2013 and sexually assaulting another woman back in 2006. He's pleaded not guilty to all counts and now is facing new sex crime charges in Los Angeles.
We've got Joey Jackson with us here, because it was a crazy week, Joey. Monday, those sex crime charges in L.A. were filed. Tuesday, the judge scolded Weinstein for using his cell phone in court. And then Wednesday, Weinstein, his team tried to get the judge to recuse himself and bar Attorney Gloria Allred from the courtroom. By Friday, there was a battle with the judge and Weinstein's attorney about the process of choosing the jury.
Is what we've seen so far this week, and let's make a point of this, it hasn't even really started yet. This is just jury selection. Is this common aggression from a defense team that just wants to make sure they're protecting their client, or is this an expectation of what we're going to see?
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Christi, good morning to you. Wow, what a week, huh, a week of drama and we haven't heard testimony, nor has there been any opening statement yet, and so a number of things. I think, first, it's important to keep in mind that this trial is not like a typical trial, right? The stakes are enormous. It's in light of certainly a movement, a national movement concerning MeToo, concerning TimesUp, concerning a new era of accountability. And so we have to keep that in mind as we look at the fireworks of the week.
And so, therefore, given the dynamics of this case, given the publicity in this case, no, it's not normal. But certainly, the defense wanted to do everything they could do to preserve their client's ability to get a fair trial.
And that's why you saw the fireworks there with respect to the judge saying, hey, look, recuse yourself, how dare you, judge, tell my client that is this the way you want to spend your life in jail because he's on a cell phone? So they had to do that.
And then you saw more motions that were predicated upon. Look, let's talk to jurors individually, let's not have them give these statements in front of an international media. Let's make motions so that we can preserve our client's right. And the other thing that does, even though you might anticipate the judge would deny those motions, as the judge did, it lays a foundation for appeal in the event he's convicted.
So much more to come, right, as we proceed further with jury selection. But certainly, these are different times so there's nothing normal about this case.
PAUL: There has been a lot made about the fact that he's using a walker to get into the courtroom. We do need to point out, as I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong here, he did have back surgery. So it's necessary at the moment. But how strategic was that for him to have that surgery at this time so he could walk into a courtroom as some people say and look less dangerous?
JACKSON: Yes, and more sympathetic, right? And so that's the point. And so it depends who you ask, obviously. And so there are two sides to it. The one side, hey, he needed the back surgery now. As a result of that, he got it and he is suffering from whatever debilitating conditions he was, so therefore, the walker, et cetera.
To your point though about timing, understand this, Christi. Everything in a courtroom is designed to ensure that your client appears in a way that they should, right? You want people to have empathy. You want people to have sympathy.
And you certainly are looking as a defense attorney and monitoring everything. It's about demeanor, it's about comportment, it's about what you do in a courtroom, what you do on your way into that courtroom. It's about, look, don't speak to me now, don't smile at me now. Just have sort of your game face on so that the jury can know and understand you're taking it seriously and perhaps be empathetic to you as they're rendering their ruling if we ever get there, because we're just during jury selection now.
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