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New Day Sunday

Four-Hundred-Plus Americans Evacuating Ship Quarantined Due To Coronavirus; Iowa Democratic Party Begins Partial Recanvass Of Caucus Results; Early Voting Underway In Nevada Democratic Caucuses; Joe Biden Touts His Health Care Plan During Nevada Rally; President Trump To Attend NASCAR's Daytona 500 Today; Pro-Trump Group Accused Of Using Cash To Woo Black Voters; All-Star MVP Award Named After Kobe Bryant. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired February 16, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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


[06:00:13]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think we're just what the Democratic Party is. A party of vitality, differences of opinion, which we will resolve.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will not create the energy and excitement we need to defeat Donald Trump. That candidate pursued, advocated for and enacted racist policies --

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Families in New York City were losing their children to gun violence at alarming rates. I wanted to save lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a historic event, unprecedented in the last 35 years. We haven't seen flood levels like this in the area since 1983.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to affect a lot of people. It is certainly something that you should not take for granted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This entire weekend is really about paying tribute to Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi, and late NBA commissioner David Stern.

LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD: To be able to honor Kobe Bryant and his legacy, it's a beautiful time, it's a beautiful time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara Walker in for Christi Paul.

We begin with breaking news. Hundreds of Americans who have been stuck aboard a cruise ship quarantined in Japan for nearly two weeks because of coronavirus are about to finally get off. BLACKWELL: Now very soon, they're going to be bused from the Diamond Princess to the airport in Tokyo and then they'll board charter planes back to the U.S. More than 400 Americans have been on board the ship for the past 12 days now. At least 46 of them have tested positive for coronavirus.

CNN's Matt Rivers is at the airport in Tokyo where evacuees will be boarding their flights pretty soon. We're going to start though with Will Ripley. He is in Yokohama where the buses are standing by to take the passengers. Walk us through it. What do we know and what's going to happen?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Victor.

Within the next hour we expect to see a massive evacuation operation begin here in Yokohama. We now count 12 buses and three military vehicles lined up outside the quarantined Diamond Princess. And within the next hour, Americans are expected to get off the ship and get on to those buses.

All day, they have been told to pack their belongings, to dress warm, to dress in layers, to bring water and snacks for a long and potentially uncomfortable journey ahead. But this is certainly welcome news for a lot of people who have been wanting to get off this ship. The CDC acknowledging that people who remain on the Diamond Princess face a higher risk of becoming infected with coronavirus which is why the U.S. government has been advising people to take the offer and to get on those charter flights.

However, some people are staying behind, including the Americans, 46 that you mentioned who tested positive for coronavirus. They're being treated in Japanese hospitals. Many of their relatives are also staying behind here in Yokohama. And right now, there is no plan for what will happen with them and when they will be able to go home.

WALKER: OK. Will, thank you for that. Let's turn it over now to Matt in Tokyo.

Give us a status on the charter flights right now. I mean, this obviously has to be a huge relief, especially for these 300-plus Americans who will be able to get on the flights and go back home.

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. For the people who want to get on these flights here, Amara, it's certainly going to be a relief. There are Americans though who are not going to get on the flight as Will just mentioned.

In terms of when these two planes are arriving, we're tracking them using flight tracking websites. We're expecting the first plane to arrive here about 9:15 p.m. local. The second plane arriving around -- about an hour or so after that. The buses are going to come here. And the expectation is these Americans are going to be taken directly from the ship to the plane. They get off the bus, they get right on the planes and then they go home.

The first plane expected to take off right around midnight here local time and the next plane about two hours after that. And then, of course, they're going to either Travis Air Force Base -- they're all going to Travis Air Force Base in California to start, some will then go on to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. That's where they're going to have to carry out an additional two weeks of quarantine.

I can tell you some of these Americans happy to be going home. None of them are going to be happy about another two weeks in quarantine after what they've gone through so far.

BLACKWELL: Matt Rivers, Will Ripley for us there. Thank you so much. We'll check back.

WALKER: Today the Iowa Democratic Party will begin a partial recanvass of the caucus results following the disastrous failure of their caucus app. Meanwhile, the second caucus of 2020 is Saturday in Nevada. And nearly every Democratic candidate is campaigning throughout the state today.

[06:05:00]

BLACKWELL: And early voting got off to a rough start there. People going to their precincts to early vote. This is at one precinct. Look at this line. People stood in line for more than three hours. The problems are coming from this large voter turnout and not enough volunteers to process them. CNN spoke with some early voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you anticipate to wait that long?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not quite that long.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you confident that the party -- that the caucus is going to be successful? Are you confident that your vote is going to --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. Nevada Dems has got it going on today. They really did a great job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just saw you leave the caucus site here in Coronado High School in Henderson. And why is that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because the line is too long.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you're 100 percent confident that this is going to be no repeat of Iowa. You guys --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope not. They said it wouldn't be. They're not going to use the app. So I'm hoping that there's going to be smooth sailing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm upset in one way. But I'm happy in another way that there's a lot of Democrats coming out to beat Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even though you didn't get to vote today --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will be voting. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think the caucus system should be all (INAUDIBLE) together --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have faith in that? In what is going on right now and the early voting. Everything is going to happen without --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope and pray.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got in line at 10:30 this morning. It is 2:30. I just hope for next Saturday when the caucus occurs that they have more people and that they learn from this. That there are people that are committed. But I've seen people walk away. Hopefully they'll go someplace else to vote. It's just too important.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right. We talked a lot about the app and the app that will not be used. Let's talk about this early voting in Nevada. We have with us David Daley. He wrote the book "Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back To Save Democracy." He's also a senior fellow at FairVote.

Good morning to you, David.

DAVID DALEY, SENIOR FELLOW, FAIRVOTE: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

BLACKWELL: So let's start here. Because this is the first time that Nevada is incorporating this rank choice voting early ballot into their caucus. Is there another state that has ever included this early voting, this style of voting with an in-person caucus?

DALEY: This is actually the first time that a state has used rank choice voting in the middle of its early voting process. It's actually a wonderful process, yes.

BLACKWELL: OK. You called it a wonderful process. This is the first in the country then. Let me get to some of the questions about the -- this new process. Because it's new for Nevadans and it's new for the country after watching Iowa.

Let me start with the ballot here. Because you support this process, you support the ballot. We got a sample ballot. Let's put it up. There are 10 candidates on this ballot, David. Seven are still in the race. This was printed when Michael Bennet and Andrew Yang were still in the race -- others. But the ballot limits early voter preferences to ranking their top five. Why?

DALEY: Well, essentially what that does is it evens out the ability of early voters to have the same powerful ballot as someone who shows up at the caucus. You shouldn't have to spend all day at the caucus in order to vote for your second or third or fourth choice candidate. This is how Nevada works. They don't hand out every delegate to the winner of the overall vote. Delegates are awarded proportionally. You have to reach a 15 percent viability level in every precinct in order to be eligible to receive a delegate. So if you show up in person, you are able to realign if your favorite candidate doesn't reach 15 percent.

But as you see from all of these lines across Nevada yesterday, there are lots and lots of people who want to vote early. They ought to have the same power to mark their second and third preference and also have a powerful vote. That's what rank choice voting does.

BLACKWELL: Well, David, let me challenge that because you say that this ballot gives the early voter the same power as a person who is caucusing in person. But let's say I fill out an early ballot and I rank five of those candidates and not one of them is viable, has the support in the first alignment. Right? My ballot --

DALEY: Sure.

BLACKWELL: -- is then set aside and it doesn't count toward any of the candidates toward delegates. But if I take that same list, write it down in order, put it in my pocket and walk into a caucus location and those five are not valid or not viable in the first ballot, then I have the option, because I'm in the room, to then choose a viable candidate.

[06:10:02]

So doesn't just limiting the ballot to five choices disadvantage the person who is not in the room?

DALEY: Well, that's a decision by the Nevada Democrats. What this does, however, is if you're not in the room you have five more chances --

BLACKWELL: But the question is -- yes, they made the decision which is the wrong decision.

DALEY: -- in order to be viable. I think what this --

BLACKWELL: Is the voter outside of the room of the early voter, are they weighted the same as a person in the room? Because if my five aren't viable, I'm out of the mix. But if I'm in the room, then I get to choose one of the viable candidates. Doesn't this ballot disadvantage someone who's not there?

DALEY: Well, that's right. But I also think -- no. I think that the chance that one of those five candidates is not going to be viable seems to be fairly low.

BLACKWELL: No. We watched it in Iowa where there were 11 at that time who were in the process and --

DALEY: And there's two candidates now.

BLACKWELL: Yes, that's true.

DALEY: But, I mean, I think I would turn your candidate -- I think I would turn question around. If this were the other way, you would only have one chance and what the ranking does is it allows people, if their first choice is not viable, there's a little bit of voter insurance here. They can mark a second, a third, a fourth and a fifth choice. They don't have to spend all day --

BLACKWELL: But they do not get the option that the people --

DALEY: -- in line --

BLACKWELL: Yes, but they do not get the same options that people in the room get. Let me ask you about those caucuses and the impact of this ballot.

DALEY: Sure.

BLACKWELL: So according to the Nevada rules that in-person caucusers they have to align first. They have to pick their candidate, right?

DALEY: Right.

BLACKWELL: Not until everyone in the room has chosen a candidate does the chairperson there of that caucus site read the results or the first choices of any of those early ballots. If my job is to get my candidate to viability, right, let's say at this location, it's 20 supporters to get to viability. Get some delegates.

And I have 10. In a traditional caucus, I know that everybody is in the room. I need to find 10 people in this room. But if I'm not told how many early voters my candidate has, I don't know, do I need five people more, do I need another seven people? So doesn't this taking some of the voters out of the room also disadvantage people in the room who are trying to get their candidates to viability?

DALEY: I think you could look at it that way. But I think, again, I would turn this around and I would say that there are 60 percent of Democrats in Nevada who are interested in voting early. These are people who don't want to have to spend all day at a caucus. Perhaps they have to work, perhaps they have child care.

They deserve the same ability to make their voice heard and this rank choice ballot gives them the opportunity to have a much more powerful voice than they would have. Perhaps they might not have had any voice at all if they weren't able to show up at a caucus site on that day. This way they get the ability --

BLACKWELL: But they do not get the advantage that people who are inside the room get of the dynamics of a caucus, the conversation, the persuasion to see who is viable and who is not if they give a static ballot and hand it over. Listen, we'll see if this works, the first in the country on Saturday.

David Daley, thanks so much for being with us.

DALEY: Thank you. I appreciate it.

WALKER: Sanders and Biden both took to the streets to lead their supporters to voting locations Saturday. More on the candidates' ground game in Nevada is next.

BLACKWELL: Plus, how the president could quite literally be taking his post acquittal victory lap at the Daytona 500 track.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:18:09]

BLACKWELL: Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden both led groups of their supporters to voting locations Saturday as the early voting started in Nevada.

WALKER: CNN's Arlette Saenz has been following the campaigns and has more now on the third contest in the nation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With a week to go to the caucuses, early voting kicked off here in Nevada as the candidates were out in full force, trying to bring their supporters on board. Bernie Sanders led a march of his supporters over to an early voting site on Saturday. Joe Biden even took a bus full of his own supporters to go vote early for him.

Now Nevada will be the first contest, the first nominating contest that features a more diverse electorate. So you're going to see a lot of the candidates over this next week, trying to appeal to a diverse coalition here of Latino and African American voters.

Also, unions have a very strong presence here in Nevada. And one issue that is of particular importance to them is health care, since many of those unions have negotiated health care plans. Some are not so fond of Medicare for all. And Joe Biden tried to make that pitch during an event here in North Las Vegas. Take a listen to have he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We're not going to tell all of you who have broken your neck and given up wages and given up salaries in order to be able to have health care through your employer and you've worked like the devil for it.

You're not going to be required to give it up like the other things do. Medicare for all requires you to give it up. My plan allows you to keep what you've negotiated. If you want to do it and if you don't want, you can buy in cheaply. And if you don't have the money you can automatically get Medicare in my proposal if you want it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now the Biden campaign is hoping for a bit of a turnaround here in Nevada after disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, Biden telling me he thinks he has a good shot at winning here in Nevada.

[06:20:01]

Arlette Saenz, CNN, North Las Vegas, Nevada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's talk now with CNN Political Commentator, Errol Louis.

Errol, good morning to you.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor.

BLACKWELL: So I just had a conversation about this early voting and the Nevada process. And I know that sometimes this gets in the weeds. But the weeds are what clog and kill machines as we saw in Iowa. After the Iowa debacle, how consequential is it that Nevada gets it right?

LOUIS: Well, it will be important that it gets it right. I mean, look, one thing we should keep in mind though, Victor, is in Iowa, we knew pretty much within one or two of the delegate count that Buttigieg and Sanders were going to pretty much split all of the delegates and there wasn't a lot more to it.

You know, big fights over the process can illustrate some of the problems as you I think brilliantly did in your interview. Sort of suggesting that some of these reforms are not necessarily compatible. If you have got rank choice voting and you've got early voting and you got a caucus system, and frankly Nevada also has a convention system. They're going to fight this out again in a couple of months at the county level and again at the state level.

When you put those all together, it can create a lot of confusion. It would be great if they could just kind of settle on one or two reforms and find their way to a system that will let us know the delegate count right away. But it doesn't look like that's in the cards at least this time around.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And some of the leaders of this process, the site leaders haven't seen this new technology, much less have been trained on it. Let's switch here to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi though. She's talking about the 2020 Democratic primary. This is what she told CNN Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: I think every one of our candidates, all 25 -- with Michael Bloomberg as candidate at 25, but Michael Bloomberg too have made a very valuable contribution to the debate, putting forth their vision, their knowledge, their judgment, their strategic thinking about how to connect with the American people, a better future for our country. Easy to say any one of them would be better president than the current occupant of the White House but we want to do -- be very positive about how we go forward. And this is how you make those decisions. So I'm grateful to all of them for putting themselves on the line, putting forth their ideas and now we come down to the winnowing process. But I see everything as an opportunity. And I see -- quite frankly, with all the respect in the world for Iowa and New Hampshire, I'm not counting Joe Biden out. There are still races ahead. There are much more representative of the country.

The differences of opinion of what we are about, we're not a lock step, take it from the top down, this is what it's going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And the last comment comes from a woman who knows who is trying to navigate such a broad caucus here. What do you think about that last-minute shout-out to Joe Biden?

LOUIS: Well, yes, it's too early to count out Joe Biden. There's some alarming news. I mean, I'm coming to you from Florida where there's a recent poll showing Mike Bloomberg actually beating Biden in Florida where there are hundreds of delegates at stake in just a few weeks from now.

So Joe Biden has got a lot on the line. He himself has set expectations very high for his performance in South Carolina and the polls show him slipping in South Carolina, still in first place, but slipping. So he's -- you know, Nevada, South Carolina, by the time he gets to Super Tuesday and Florida, he's up against quite a lot. But this is the way the system is supposed to work. And I think Speaker Pelosi really sort of gets to that, Victor. Because, this is the closest thing we have to a real kind of acid test for all of these candidates.

How will you handle a crisis in this campaign? A slipping in the polls, an ability to speak across broad constituencies, try and offer solutions to really thorny problems like health care reform, that is how we test you to figure out if you should be president. Joe Biden is now being put to the test.

BLACKWELL: Next test Saturday and then the Saturday after that. Errol Louis, thanks so much.

LOUIS: Thank you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And be sure to watch "STATE OF THE UNION." Dana Bash is hosting. 2020 presidential hopefuls Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar are on the show. Dana will also be joined by Marc Short, chief of staff to the vice president, and Congressman James Clyburn. "STATE OF THE UNION" airs today at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

WALKER: President Trump is going to the Daytona 500. The question now, will he take a lap around the track?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:28:45] WALKER: Drivers, start your engines. NASCAR super bowl starts today as the Daytona 500 kicks off the 2020 season and President Trump will be there.

BLACKWELL: Yes. He's scheduled to speak before the race. This is a real question. Really, this is a question. I'm not just going to -- will he take a lap around the track? CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood in West Palm Beach. Is there an up or down, a yes or no on that if he's going around that track?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Victor, that is something that is under consideration. CNN has reported that the White House is considering having the president take at least a partial lap around that track in the presidential limo known as the Beast. That would be similar to something Vice President Mike Pence did in 2017 at the Indianapolis 500.

The president is serving as the grand marshal of this event. So as the grand marshal, he'll be giving that famous command, drivers, start your engines. And as you mentioned, he'll also be speaking before the race. Now the Trump campaign is also taking the opportunity of a friendly viewership of this race to run an ad that has a racing theme. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): America is great. Better than ever.

[06:30:00]

Under President Trump's leadership, we are raising to new heights, millions of new jobs, rising wages, record low unemployment, securing our border, protecting our country and respecting our veterans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now, the president is likely to get warm welcome from this crowd at the Daytona 500. It continues, this tradition, over the past few months that the president has been going to sporting events where he does get a friendly reception where the crowd is warm to him when he went to the college Football National Championships, also to a regular season game in Alabama, to big cheers at those events.

And his attendance at the Daytona 500 comes after he attended the most expensive fundraiser of the campaign so far last night here in Florida. Couples had to pay more than half a million dollars to attend that fundraiser. It was expected to raise upwards of $10 million for the president's campaign just in that one night.

WALKER: Sarah Westwood, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

President Trump is still angry at the Justice Department, but he isn't planning to fire Attorney General Bill Barr. Sources tell The Washington Post, he has been asking for advice over who he should fire. President Trump may be angry about the prosecution of long-time friend Roger Stone or the dropped prosecution of Andrew McCabe, but there could be a larger strategy at work.

I spoke to Steven Levistky, Professor of Government at Harvard University. He is the author of How Democracies Die. And I began by asking him what warning signs we should be looking for.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVEN LEVITSKY, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Well, I think we're well past those warning signs. The warning signs we wrote up which are willingness to break with -- or violate democratic rules of the game, unwillingness -- or unwillingness to accept the legitimacy of one's rival, toleration of violence on the part of one's supporters and a willingness to violate the civil liberties of one's of opponents, including the media.

Trump exhibited all four of those signs during the campaign. So voters could have prevented this, prevented the election of an authoritarian leading president in 2016. Unfortunately, we didn't do it.

WALKER: Yes. You also talk about the fact that President Trump, in your view, has employed the three strategies that you point out of what authoritarians use around the world. So, knowing that, what is the state of American democracy today?

LEVITSKY: Every autocrat that I've ever studied goes after what we call the referees first. That's the law, the law enforcement agencies, courts, intelligence agencies, FBI and law enforcement bodies. And what that does is it allows an autocrat to -- by controlling the referees, to use it as a shield, to prevent investigations against abuse in his government or against his friends, and, secondly, to use the kaw as a weapon, to investigate and to punish rivals and critics.

And Trump has, since day one of his presidency, been trying to do that. He's faced pushback. It's not been easy. But that's been, I think, the most consistently authoritarian thing he's done.

WALKER: You also write about presidents violating norms and that it's actually quite common and maybe even healthy. But you say that when there's a serial norm-breaker, that's when our democracy becomes threatened. So my question is this. If President Trump gets another four years, continues on this trajectory of using his powers for possible personal or political gain, what happens to democracy then in another four years?

LEVITSKY: It's hard to say. I mean, we have not had in our lifetimes too many situations in which we've had presidents really hacking away at our democratic norms and, I would say, our democratic rules as well. The most comparable case is, of course, the Nixon administration. And Nixon -- the system worked. Nixon was forced out of office. Whether -- just how much more damage Trump will do in four years is really hard to say.

But it looks bad. I mean, the degree to which the president is hollowing out some of our most important institutions and agencies, whether the State Department, whether it's the Justice Department, it's pretty serious. He has, over the course of three years, purged and begun to pack really important institutions with loyalists, such as that the machinery of government, which, in a democracy, ought to be independent from the president.

The president should be roped off from using the powerful machinery of government, from using the law as a weapon against his political rival. And he's begun to chip away at that independence. And I think four more years, we can't say for sure how much damage, but I think it's safe to say, a lot of damage.

WALKER: What can people do about what's going on and who feel like our democracy is in crisis?

LEVITSKY: So it's a dangerous moment. As you pointed out, our system of checks and balances has largely failed. The institution of impeachment, which is a really powerful institution, failed us. Impeachment process was fundamentally about whether this president can wield the powers of the state, of the government, against his political rivals or whether he would be roped off. And Republicans in the Senate, with the exception of Mitt Romney, said it's okay. It essentially enabled him.

And so that means that our institutions are key institutions of checks and balances, of oversight are not going to be there as they were in the Nixon case to stop an abusive president. That leaves us one really important institution. That's elections. We have to -- citizens who are concerned have to get out and vote in November 2020.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Our thanks to Steven Levitsky. You have to see this.

Yes, pro-Trump organization is accused of passing out cash prizes to black voters to try and buy their votes. Coming up, why this group could face some legal trouble.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: 20 minutes until the top of the hour.

So there is a pro-Trump non-profit that is getting a lot of attention because it's accused of using envelopes full of cash to try and boost the president's support among African-American voters.

WALKER: Wow. CNN Political Correspondent, Sara Murray has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on down, April (ph).

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Was it savvy community outreach or political pandering.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to dinner with this money. MURRAY: A non-profit founded by President Trump's allies is under fire after dolling out cash prizes at a Cleveland event last Christmas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Four more years of President Trump.

MURRAY: While organizers pumped up president Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am unapologetically a Donald Trump supporter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't see any other party giving us anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't care who thinks it's insulting on condescending to bless people with cash money around Christmas time. We're doing it anyway.

MURRAY: At the center of the controversy is a new charity called the Urban Revitalization Coalition led by Ohio Pastor Darrell Scott.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cleveland, we're here to bless you tonight.

MURRAY: Tax experts contacted by CNN raised red flags saying the cash events may violate tax laws that bar non-profits from engaging in political campaign activity And could jeopardize the group's tax exempt status.

Though in an interview with CNN, Scott says he's been careful to follow the law. Racial justice groups, like the NAACP, accused Scott's charity of trying to buy support for Trump in the black community.

DERRICK JOHNSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NNACP: People are worrisome and it is very disingenuous. We are in a political climate where elections are won by the margins, less than a fraction of a percentage. And people are using many tricks to encourage people to participate or persuade their political point of view.

MURRAY: Scott hit back at critics telling CNN, I really think that's insulting to black people. They automatically think black people demean themselves so much that they'll sell out a vote for $300.

Trump has struggled to build support among African-American voters, and 83 percent of African-Americans believe the president is racist, according to a recent poll. And the organizers have touted the group as a link between the White House and urban communities.

KAREEM LANIER, CO-CHAIRMAN, URBAN REVITALIZAION COALITION: President Donald Trump, the one they say the racist, is the first president in the history of this country to incentivize the people that have the money to put it into areas where it's needed.

MURRAY: The Trump campaign says the cash giveaway was not affiliated or sanctioned by the president's campaign. But Scott has been a fixture in the Trump camp for years, playing a lead role for in the president's diversity program for his 2016 campaign and attending White House meetings. CNN also found that Scott's organization had close ties to one of the main outside group supporting Trump's re-election, America first policies. It gave the Urban Revitalization Coalition $238,000 grant in 2018 that, quote, helps get the organization off the ground, an America first spokeswoman said.

And a White House official, deputy assistant to the president, Ja'Ron Smith, even attended the Cleveland event, touting Trump's commitment to boosting urban communities.

JA'RON SMITH, DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: It was a goal from day one from the president to speak on behalf of the forgotten communities.

We've got two --

MURRAY: Another planned giveaway slated for Martin Luther King Day at a historically black university in Virginia was canceled amid backlash from students and alumni. It was set to honor Trump and his son-in- law, Jared Kushner, with a $30,000 cash giveaway.

Scott says the events help the community and none was an endorsement for Trump. But critics, like Cleveland City Councilman Blaine Griffin, worry that people are being duped into attempting pro-Trump events with the promise of cash prizes.

BLAIN GRIFFIN, CLEVELAND CITY COUNCILMAN: The first thing that came to my mind is that our community needs genuine, authentic relationships. We don't need a one nightstand in Cleveland.

MURRAY: Griffin says, organizers said they wanted honor him at the event. After learning more, he, instead, denounced it as condescending and insulting.

GRIFFIN: When I began to do the math and to do two plus two, it just didn't smell right.

[06:45:02]

I thought it was disingenuous.

MURRAY: Scott says the criticism isn't stopping him. His group has more cash giveaways scheduled with an even bigger payout. A lot of people don't stand up under pressure, he says. But I'm not going to allow people to make me think my good is bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come back in February when we give you $50,000.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: When I spoke to Darrell Scott by phone, he said his group has held all kinds of events. He said they gave away turkeys around Thanksgiving, they gave away toys around Christmas, but it wasn't until they started giving away cash that all of a sudden people took notice and started to get offended by the events. Obviously that's not deterring them from holding more in the future. Back to you. BLACKWELL: Sara Murray.

WALKER: Cash for votes.

BLACKWELL: That really doesn't require comment. You know what that is.

WALKER: Exactly.

All right, so NBA All-Star Weekend, you see it there, someone dunked over a guy who is 7'5 tall, but did not win. We'll show you who won that dunk-off.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Well, NBA hands out tonight's All-Star MVP trophy, it will be named after Kobe Bryant.

WALKER: Andy Scholes is in Chicago for the game. And, Andy, it's just one of a number of ways they're honoring Kobe.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. Good morning, guys. You know, Adam Silver announcing that the MVP award for tonight's game is going to be named after Kobe. He made that announcement just last night.

As for tonight's game, Team Giannis, all of the players are going to be wearing Kobe's number 24 when they step on the court, while Team Lebron, they will all be wearing Kobe's daughter, Gigi's number two. And this game, it's going to have a completely different format in order to honor Kobe. The teams are going to be competing each quarter to raise money for Chicago-based community organizations.

Then the fourth quarter will be untimed with the teams trying to reach a target score. Now, that target score is going to be set by adding 24, Kobe's numbers, to who had the highest score after three quarters. The teams will then play to that number, no matter how long it takes. And that whole fourth quarter, it's going to be commercial-free on TNT.

All right, now, All-Star Saturday night always one of the highlights of the weekend. The three-point competition was a thriller. The King's Buddy Hield making his very last money ball in order to beat the Suns' Devin Booker by one to become the three-point champion.

And in the main event, the dunk contest, we had another just epic battle. The Heat's Derek Jones Jr. and Magic's Aaron Gordon going to triple overtime to try to decide this. Gordon had five dunks that had a perfect score of 50. He even dunked over 7'5 Tacko Fall, never rehearsed it before, but somehow he still lost. People think Gordon was robbed again.

I got a chance to catch up with Jones Jr. on the court afterwards, and he was pretty happy to have a slam dunk trophy as a 23rd birthday present.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DERRICK JONES JR., DUNK CONTEST CHAMPION: I felt great. And I just -- just being able to get this on my birthday is even better when I just -- words can't describe how I feel right now but I'm very happy, very excited. Now, I might go out and celebrate with my family now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And, guys, happy for Jones Jr. to win the competition, which was just an epic, epic dunk contest. But feel really bad for Aaron Gordon. This really is the second time he's been robbed of a slam dunk trophy. And he even said afterwards, it's a wrap. This is the third time he's competed and he's not going to come back again because he feels like he should have two trophies right now.

BLACKWELL: Understood, understood.

WALKER: Andy Scholes, appreciate it. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. So have you seen this mess, because that's what it is? It's just a mess. This is on a plane. We're going to show you the video that has people asking, is it wrong to recline your airline seat?

WALKER: No.

BLACKWELL: I don't know why they're asking because it's not wrong.

WALKER: And should you ask for permission?

BLACKWELL: No. We'll talk about it.

WALKER: Also be sure to tune in, the all new original series, The Windsors, Inside the Royal Dyansty, premieres tonight. And here is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 1917, the First World War rages on. Prince Edward is now an officer in the British Army.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But he's not allowed to fight. He's not allowed near the frontline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says to his father, King George, look, I've got to be doing my bit. And his father said, no, no, you can't risk being killed or captured.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's an experience that he finds extremely humiliating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His father insists that the Prince of Wales is protected at all times. But Edward defies his father's orders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At one point, he escaped from his (INAUDIBLE), stole a motorbike and headed off for the frontline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: "The Windsors: Inside the Royal Dynasty," airs tonight at 10:00 P.M. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:00]

BLACKWELL: Serious flooding in Mississippi has forced thousands of people out of their homes.

WALKER: Mandatory evacuation orders were sent to neighborhoods in the state capital of Jackson. The Pearl River is expected to rise up to ten feet above flood stage endangering more than 2,000 homes and businesses.

Roads and highways are closed to nearly 100,000 sandbags have been handed out to help keep water out of homes.

BLACKWELL: We've talking about this story this morning. You know, airplane seats sometimes are uncomfortable enough. And now people don't want you to be able to recline.

WALKER: Yes. And there is a viral video that is pretty hot right now, sparking a lot of debate. Here is Richard Quest with that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: When Wendy Williams reclined her seat on an American Airlines flight, she had little idea of the trouble that was in store. She says she was flying back from a teachers' convention when the man sitting behind her asked if she would return her seat forward while he ate his meal. Williams says she did and that she reclined it again only when he was finished eating.

But Williams says the man started punching her seat repeatedly as the video shows. CNN is not able to reach the man in the viral video for comment.

To recline or not to recline, it's not the first time the issue has been brought up in the close quarters of economy. In 2014, a United Airlines flight was forced to divert when two passengers got into an altercation over a gadget called the Knee Defender. The tool was invented by Ira Goldman in 2003. The idea is to block the seat in front of you from reclining. Goldman told me it's all about passenger consent.

IRA GOLDMAN, INVENTOR, KNEE DEFENDER: If I buy an economy ticket and it's this much space, that's the space I get. But I don't agree when I get on an airplane to say, sure, come and whack me on the knees.

[07:00:01]

QUEST: And so the traveling world is once again roiled by the question of reclining seats in economy.