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Polls Open in Colorado; Polls to Open in California; Millions Head to the Polls for Super Tuesday Races; Blinken Meets with Qatari Prime Minister; Texts in Fake Electors Plot Revealed. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 05, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

STEVEN HAMBURG, CHIEF SCIENTIST, ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: They really do believe, and I suspected (INAUDIBLE), that they're doing a good job, but many of them aren't. It gives countries and companies the tools to select who they buy gas from and where that gas comes from.

So, the first time they'll have the ability to make really informed decisions. And those informed decisions will have an enormous positive impact on the climate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Radical transparency. How is this going to play? I mean that's - that was a really interesting way to put it.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. I've often wondered, if we could see planet cooking pollution, how would humanity behave, right?

SIDNER: Yes.

WEIR: And this is a great experiment on that. As the frack natural gas boom happened around the world, especially in the United States, it was sold as like a cleaner alternative fuel.

SIDNER: Right.

WEIR: But that's only true if it never, ever leaks. And it leaks a lot. And methane makes up about a third of global warming. So, stopping that, especially in the near term, is key to straightening out things.

SIDNER: Yes, seeing is believing, at least we hope, right?

WEIR: We hope. WE hope.

SIDNER: Bill Weir, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

WEIR: You got it. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast and that means more than a dozen states now have their polls open on this Super Tuesday, and more states will soon be joining. What voters are saying and what everyone is watching for.

SIDNER: Just how far some of Donald Trump's key allies went to illegally overturn the 2020 election and keep Donald Trump in office after the January 6th Capitol attack. We have the newly released text messages that reveal more about that fake elector's plot.

BOLDUAN: And it's a party on the International Space Station. A big celebration this morning has a new crew arrived. Where was our invite?

I'm Kate Bolduan, with Sara Sidner and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Right now nearly every spot on the Super Tuesday map is open and ready for business. And by business I mean voting. California opens next hour as America collectively clears a gigantic 2024 hurdle today in the presidential race.

Today, 865 delegates are up for grabs in the Republican -- in the Republican side. And right now Donald Trump has 276. Meaning tonight he could get really close, though he cannot secure definitely the nomination which requires 1,215 delegates.

And Trump, moments ago, he spoke out on the Super Tuesday, projecting confidence about what the end of the evening is going to mean for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a peace deal between you and Nikki Haley to move forward as a party?

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, my focus is really -- at this point it's on Biden. We should win almost every state today. And we think we're going to be very well unified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Nikki Haley on that unified front. Nikki Haley definitely will have something to say about that today. But we will see. And the voters have the say.

John Berman is in Castle Rock, Colorado, inside no less, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The scarf is off. We are now inside an in- person polling location in Douglas County, Colorado. And there are voters who have now shown up. It's just after 7:00 a.m. local time here, Mountain Time here. That is when the polls, the official in- person polling places open. People have arrived here and they are beginning the voting process here.

These are late voters by Colorado standards because nearly 1 million people have already cast their ballots either by mail or by the drop boxes, where we were all morning long. More than 75 percent of the people here actually use those drop boxes. Just leave their ballots there.

And by 7:00 tonight local time, that's 9:00 Eastern, they will all be collected and counted very quickly because one of the things that happens here in Colorado is they count as the ballots come in. So, the minute that the voting stops, they have a pretty good sense of where the results are. So, we have a -- should have a good sense tonight where the voting stands here in Colorado.

Unaffiliated voters, by the way, make up the largest voting bloc here. They can vote in either presidential primary, but only one of those presidential primaries. Colorado, one of the 15 states that will be voting and we should know those results by tonight. American Samoa as well.

California, the biggest pot of delegates available. And that is where Stephanie Elam is in Santa Ana, California, a state that a lot of people are watching for tonight.

Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's very much this case here. John. And that's the thing, a lot of people just want to write off Californias as just being so strictly blue that it doesn't matter. But you've got to commit -- remember that there are some down-ballot voting that has to happen today, mainly for that open senator position.

[09:05:04]

And so that is what a lot of people are looking at here today.

The polls are not open yet. We're here at this polling place. Polls open at 7:00 a.m. It's 6:00 a.m. right now. So, we still have an hour to go before the polls open.

But what people are looking at are the three U.S. representatives that are going after Senator Dianne Feinstein's open seat. That would be Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee. And, of course, there's also Steven Garvey, the Republican, who is running for the seat that most people only know because he was a baseball great, playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. So, that is what's set up this battle here.

And we see a lot of people have been putting their money behind Adam Schiff. He's raised the most money by far. He enjoys the support of most of the California Democratic Party here as well. Keep in mind, California is Democratic two-to-one over Republican. So, he has spent a lot of money going after Garvey, trying to raise his profile. And the reason why he's doing that is because California takes the top two winners of today's contests and they automatically go to November. It does not matter which party they come from. So, he's figuring if he can knock out the two other Democrats and just go head-to-head against the Republican, those would better his odds here in the state. Also worth noting too, that here in California, people have to vote for two questions when it comes to the senator, one to fill the end of Feinstein's term, and then one for another full term, six-year term, beginning in January 2025.

John.

BERMAN: So a lot at stake well beyond just the presidential contest that people are watching so closely.

Stephanie Elam, in Santa Ana, California, waiting for the polls open there for two more hours. Here in Castle Rock, they are open now and people are starting to arrive here to begin to cast their ballots in- person.

Sara.

SIDNER: It's pretty quiet there so far, but we've got a full house here, John, right, in the studio.

Joining me now, CNN's senior political commentator and former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings, president of the Manhattan Institute, Reihan Salam, and CNN political commentator and former Obama administration official, Van Jones.

All right, gentlemen. Full house. Loves seeing you all here in person. It's nice.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to be here.

SIDNER: You're welcome for the standing. It's good to your legs.

It is Super Tuesday. Surprise! Pollsters have pretty much forgone saying, OK, this is going to be Trump and Biden at the end of this. They're going to go head-to-head. They're going to come out on top.

But there are lessons that can be learned beyond who wins. What warning signs - I'll start with you, Scott -- will the -- will you be looking for when it comes mainly to Nikki Haley and whether she pulled some big numbers here?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, obviously, if you see a persistent number of Republicans in these primaries that are voting for her and then telling exit pollsters, I'm not going to vote for Trump or I would be dissatisfied if he were the nominee, you've got to keep an eye on that.

Now, some of the national polling we saw over the weekend indicates a lot of the people who say that already voted for Biden in 2020 anyway. But still, if you're Donald Trump and you're looking at where you're going to win the election, you don't want to be leaking any of your own party. I think his group is actually pretty solid right now, but this race may be won or lost on the margins. So, a few thousand people in a few swing states who just can't quite do it would be one.

For Biden, it's, honestly, just the uncommitted. Do you see people in blue areas going in and casting an uncommitted protest vote because they're upset with him for one reason or the other.

SIDNER: I want to ask you, Van, do you think that some of those voters who say I want Nikki Haley, if she does not make it, can Biden pull those to his side?

JONES: He'll get some. He'll get some. He'll have to. He's leaking support in parts of his coalition. He needs some of the younger voters that are still upset about what's happening in Gaza. Some of the working class men of color now beginning to fall. Some of the white working class guys out of the party. So he's got to make that up someplace. Probably makes it up with women on abortion. Probably makes it up with some suburban voters who just can't pull it for Trump. But you're seeing some real readjustments here and who they can count on going forward.

SIDNER: I want to ask you, Reihan, you know, the vice president, Vice President Harris, came out and for the first time said there has to be an immediate ceasefire. She did it publicly. We have not heard the same words from Joe Biden. You have this issue of the uncommitted vote. What do you think happens there?

REIHAN SALAM, PRESIDENT, MANHATTAN INSTITUTE: My ultimate view is that when you look at those voters who are under motivated for Joe Biden, they're not Gaza voters. They're mostly moderate voters who are very skeptical about the president and his record. And so my view is that if he's going to pull this out, if he's going to win in November, it's going to be on the strength of appealing to those moderate voters who might otherwise be to unenthusiastic about his record. And I think that that's one very good reason, in addition to the larger, strategic reason, for him to be circumspect about pivoting too far in that hard left direction on Gaza.

SIDNER: It'll be interesting to sort of watch this. There were 100,000 votes cast in Michigan uncommitted. And I think that really got the administration's attention.

Scott, Americans have spoken, we've looked at these polls, you've seen them over and over again, that immigration is a huge issue now.

[09:10:05]

One of the top issues beyond the economy, for example. You know, who's going to get blamed for this? Of course the president, who was in place, always gets the most heat, but the Republicans in the House tanked a bill that was bipartisan that the Senate came up with. So, who gets blamed at the ballot box, or does anyone? Do people just stay in their lanes?

JENNINGS: Well, I think political blame has already been assigned. And it's pretty obvious in the polling that Joe Biden is suffering on this issue mightily. First of all, immigration's the number one issue in the country, which you pointed out, and it is the worst issue in the Gallup poll for Joe Biden. He has a net negative job approval on this issue of 39 points.

I think the gambit to try to blame this on Republicans has obviously failed because I think Americans say, well, you've been president for three years, you reversed all of Trump's policies, this has gotten worse and worse and worse on your watch, and all of a sudden we come around to an election year and you want to change her tune. I just don't think people are buying it, and it's showing up in the polling.

SIDNER: Van, what should the Biden administration do about this issue of immigration, because it's not just being seen on the border. One of the things that Republicans made sure of is busing people, no matter how bad humanitarianly that is, is dropping people off in places like New York, in Martha's Vineyard, so that it's in the faces of people who don't normally see it.

JONES: Well, look, Republicans had a strategy when it came to immigration, scream fire, then spread the fire to blue states, and then stop the fire trucks when it was time for Congress to act. And so it's going to take time for people to understand that they're getting scammed on this.

But everybody has a breaking point when it comes to immigration. How many people can come here without papers. Is it one? Is it two? Is it a billion? Well now everybody, including Democrats and Republicans, have hit the breaking point number, but Democrats are willing to act, Republicans won't (ph). That's going to be -- and you say, we can't win that argument. Well, we just won it in the New York congressional race a couple of weeks ago. So, Democrats can win on immigration. It's just - it's uphill for us.

SALAM: Well, Democrats are winning on the issue, please.

SIDNER: Reihan, I was going to say, jump on in.

SALAM: They're winning on the issue by actually pivoting against the Biden administration position. Senator John Fetterman has come out and said, I can get behind the House Republican's HR-2 measure on immigration. That is not something the Biden administration has said, number one. Number two, when you're looking at those busing operations, basically the governor of Texas, you know, state officials in Arizona and elsewhere have asked migrants, where would you like to go? Where do you see more opportunity for you, family networks and other resources? New York City, Chicago, other cities initially declared, we are open for business, come on in. We're going to provide you with the assistance that you need. In New York City there is a right to shelter. That has been something that's come under intense strain.

When you look at Tom Suozzi in the suburbs of Long Island, he's been saying, hey, guys, I've been very critical of the hard left on immigration for a long time, but he actually has a case to make.

JONES: Yes, you're -

SALAM: He ran as a primary candidate against Governor Kathy Hochul, saying, I'm going to be tougher on this issue than other Democrats. So, Fetterman and Suozzi have a case to make. It's a heck of a lot tougher for President Biden to make that same case. That's tricky. JONES: We'll see him - we'll see him make it. We'll see him make it. Your favorite word is hard level. Anything's hard left. So, let's - it's a - it's not a - it's not a hard left position to say that we've gone too far in terms of what's happening in Gaza. That's a mainstream American position. And I think that Biden, you will see, will adopt a mainstream American position to support Israel, but to also want more humanitarian support for -- for what's going on in Gaza. That's not hard left.

And it's also, when it comes to immigration, you are correct that - that the - that the existing position is no longer popular in either party. And you're going to see Biden take the mainstream position there as well.

SALAM: Van, I'm sorry to say that actually a large majority of Americans believed that Israel has a right to defend itself.

JONES: Of course. And so do I. And so do I.

SALAM: And also they believe that Hamas should actually surrender.

JONES: So do I. Yes, and -

SALAM: And that that's how were going to move forward.

JONES: And the majority of Americans also are concerned about the humanitarian crisis. I'm just - I'm just saying you -

SALAM: That is created by Hamas indeed.

JONES: You - which -

SALAM: And let's hope the Biden administration sticks with the posture of recognizing that Hamas represents the greatest threat.

SIDNER: And, gentlemen, have the Biden - you have the Biden -

JONES: And he certainly - and he certainly - completely has, but I just -

SIDNER: Hold on, you have the Biden administration doing two things. You've heard this from Kamala Harris. On the one hand she said Hamas must be eliminated.

JONES: Absolutely.

SIDNER: Israel has the right to defend itself.

On the other hand, she says, because of the humanitarian crisis we are seeing with thousands of people killed, we cannot continue to (INAUDIBLE). There has to be a ceasefire.

JONES: Which is a mainstream American position.

JENNINGS: But the trouble with the word ceasefire is that for a lot of people in the Democratic Party, ceasefire means Israel ceases firing. JONES: As opposed to a -

SALAM: And Hamas does not.

JONES: As opposed to a bilateral ceasefire.

JENNINGS: And - and -

JONES: And I - and I think that -- I think it's important that it's a bilateral ceasefire, which I agree with that.

JENNINGS: Yes, but the language here matters. And - and I think -- I think it's a buzzword, but they don't -- they don't want Israel to be able to defend itself.

JONES: That's not true.

SIDNER: That's not what they say. And certainly the policy is still there.

JENNINGS: That's what - you think that's what the - what do you think the activists who were chasing around AOC around New York City last night in -

JONES: Well, look, that's - that's three people.

SIDNER: But - but here - I mean those are the activists. You've got - right.

JONES: That's three people.

SIDNER: You - those three people. Yes.

JENNINGS: What do you think their view (ph) is, though?

JONES: Here's what I'll say. Those three people, I have no idea what their view is, and some of those people need some serious therapy.

[09:15:01]

But I think what you're going to see from - what you're going to see from Joe Biden is someone who cares about Israel, who stood for Israel, who wants the best for Israel, and who also cares about the Palestinians, which is most people. And I think that for people who try to box him in and say, he says anything or makes any pivot toward the humanitarian of Palestinians, now he's moving to the hard left, that's political games. That's political games.

SALAM: This is not the voting issue. This is not the voting issue on Super Tuesday. It's not the big issue driving Democrats.

SIDNER: All right.

JONES: It's the biggest driver of young people.

SIDNER: It is an issue. It is - it is a big issue. It's not as big as what's happening on the border. It is not as big as the economy -

JENNINGS: I agree with that.

SIDNER: But it's definitely an issue.

Reihan Salam, thank you so much. Van Jones. Always good to have a proper argument at the table.

JONES: That's good.

SIDNER: I like it.

Scott Jennings as well. I appreciate it.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

SIDNER: Kate.

SALAM: Thanks very much.

BOLDUAN: A Super -- just a reminder, Super Tuesday, 16 races, one consequential day. Special coverage begins tonight at 6:00 p.m. right here on CNN and, of course, streaming on CNN Max.

New text messages shedding new light on the scope of the fake electors plot after the 2020 election. We will bring those to you. There's also some video of it that they released.

And Secretary of State Tony Blinken is hosting two very important meetings this morning that could prove consequential in Israel's war against Hamas.

And, cracking down on price hikes. President Biden today launching what the White House is calling a strike force targeting corporate rip-offs.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:49]

SIDNER: This happened just moments ago. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke ahead of his meeting with the Qatari prime ministers as negotiations to get a ceasefire in Gaza is ongoing.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is getting it to Palestinians who so desperately need it and can also set the conditions for an enduring resolution. And it is on Hamas to make decisions about whether it is prepared to engage in that ceasefire. But throughout, including the original ceasefire that we were able to achieve last year that brought hostages home and created a weeks quiet, humanitarian assistance doubling during that time, Qatar played along Egypt the critical role in getting us to that point. And it continues to do so now. And I'm grateful for that on behalf of the United States.

It's also urgent irrespective of the ceasefire to dramatically increase the humanitarian assistance that's getting to people inside of Gaza. The situation for children, for women, for men, who are caught in this crossfire Hamas is making inside of Gaza is unacceptable and unsustainable. Israel has to maximize every possible means, every possible method of getting assistance to people who need it.

The United States will continue to strongly support those efforts, along with many other countries around the world, but it requires more crossings, it requires more aid getting in. And once that aid is in, it requires making sure it can get to the people who need it.

So, we will continue to press that every single day because the situation as it stands is simply unacceptable.

We have a lot to talk about. But, again, I just want to emphasize that for the United States, Qatar has been an exceptional partner. We're grateful for that partnership and for the vital work that were doing together every single day.

My friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You Heard Antony Blinken there talking about the situation in Gaza being unacceptable.

Chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt is joining me now.

What sort of things -- what else do you sort of hear from him? We heard the word ceasefire a lot as they're trying to push that through.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Secretary Blinken, Sara, standing there with Prime Minister Thani from Qatar. This is an annual meeting between the Qataris and the U.S. in which they discuss a whole range of issues.

But, of course, there is no bigger topic of conversation between these countries than the ongoing war in Gaza. The U.S. and Qatar have been at the very center of the conversations about how to get to a ceasefire. And there in those comments by Blinken you could hear the two main things that they are going to be discussing today when it comes to Gaza, the ceasefire, the efforts to get those discussions across the finish line, and then independent of that, even if a ceasefire doesn't work, the dire need to get more aid into Gaza.

The U.S. has been stepping up its arguments and its criticism, frankly, of Israel, that not enough aid is being allowed to get in, not enough aid is getting to where it needs to be. We saw that horrible incident last week, Sara, in which more than one 100 Palestinians were killed as they mobbed that aid convoy. And that is just evidence of the fact that there isn't enough aid in Gaza and it's not getting to where it needs to be. So that's what those two men are really going to be discussing today among several other issues.

There is a ticking clock of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, that is set to start next week. U.S. officials and others have said that a ceasefire needs to be in place by then. And the goals of a ceasefire, of course, would be to get those Israeli hostages released who have been held for the past five months, to get Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons, to get a break in the fighting for those two plus million Gazans who so desperately needed it, and for that aid to get into the Gaza Strip. They have been making progress, but clearly the mediators, and foremost among them the Qataris and the Americans, are still struggling to get that deal across the finish line.

Sara.

SIDNER: Right, it's not just the bombings, it is the starvation that is making this such a desperate situation.

[09:25:02]

I do want to ask you about ceasefire talks because they've been happening in the past few days in Cairo. Do we have an idea of where those stand at this part -- point?

MARQUARDT: Well, what's interesting about these, Sara, is that all the parties except Israel showed up this time. So, Hamas, which has been going to Cairo, they were there, the U.S., the Qataris, and, of course, the Egyptians. The Israeli said, we're not going because Hamas has not yet given us a list of the hostages who they have, who are alive, and who is dead.

Now, the U.S. has said that Israel has essentially agreed to the framework of a deal. So, what we've seen in the past few days are these conversations that Egyptian state TV said today are still facing difficulties. So they are still trying to get that ceasefire done. It is not yet a done deal.

Sara.

SIDNER: Alex Marquardt with the latest reporting on what is going on with ceasefire talks. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, new text messages shedding new light on the scope of the fake electors plot after the 2020 election. And a new crew arrives at the International Space Station. The joyful team meeting and welcome and what the plan is now that -- for all up there.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SIDNER: All right, we are getting new emails that reveal just what

people were doing surrounding Trump trying to make sure that he remains president even after the January 6th Capitol attack.

Let's go ahead and go to our Marshall Cohen, who has some of the details of this newly released information of it sort of goes down the gambit of what exactly happened with that fake electors scheme. What are the details you're hearing?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Sara.

There was a lawsuit in Wisconsin. The real electors from 2020 sued the fake electors. And as part of the settlement to that lawsuit, a whole bunch of new materials became public yesterday.

I want to break down three big revelations for you about Ken Chesebro, who was the architect of the fake electors plot.

First of all, in December 2020 he wrote a memo spelling out step-by- step how to pull this off, how to organize slates of Republican electors in states that Biden actually won.

[09:30:04]

We knew that he made that memo, but we didn't know this. Look at this text message that he sent to Donald.