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Biden Campaign: Trump Is A "Dangerous And Unpopular Candidate"; Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) Hit With New Conspiracy, Obstruction Of Justice Charges; Today: Alabama State Lawmakers To Vote On Protecting IVF. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired March 06, 2024 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:32:16]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New developments for you this morning on our radar.
Israel is targeting a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon. The IDF released this video you're seeing behind me. It says this is in retaliation for a recent attack. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for that attack but it said that missile launch was in response to an earlier Israeli airstrike. The Iron Dome defense system intercepted some of the missiles that had targeted Israel.
This morning, Louisiana is now the fourth state in the United States to allow executions using nitrogen gas. The governor signed it into law. Before this, only lethal injection could be used. And this is all happening after Alabama carried out the very first execution using nitrogen gas last month.
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RUPAUL, AMERICAN DRAG QUEEN AND TV PERSONALITY: You want to talk about reading?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: In a way only he could, RuPaul is saying sachet away to book bans by sending this Rainbow school bus across the country to distribute banned books. He has an online bookstore as well. RuPaul partnered with an LGBTQ advocate and a fellow drag performer to launch the site called Allstora. They plan to promote under-represented authors and give writers a bigger cut of the profits than other booksellers tend to do -- Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: That is one good-looking bus. I will just say that.
SIDNER: OK.
BOLDUAN: Today is a huge day for the presidential race. Super Tuesday was also a huge day for key down-ballot races. Two closely-watched Senate matchups -- they are now officially set for November. Each one of them in every Senate race matters. Democrats hold a slim 51-seat majority in the Senate and they're defending 22 incumbent Democratic seats this cycle.
CNN's Eva McKend is following these down-ballot races from the Senate to the House, to all of the above, Eva.
Eva, we're talking about -- when we're talking about the Senate, we're talking about California and Texas. Walk us through.
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kate, these down-ballot races -- they are so important to the balance of power here in Washington.
The California Senate primary -- that was a particularly exciting one because you had three House members -- Congressman Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee -- all competing against each other.
But ultimately, it was Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey who are the top vote-getters. And so, that means they will be the ones to advance to the general election. Under California's open primary system, all candidates run on the same ballot and then the top two, regardless of party, move on to the general election.
In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two to one, that seat heavily favored to stay blue in the fall.
[07:35:00]
But Schiff could not escape, even in his victory speech last night, one of the issues that will continue to confront Democrats, and that is a deep divide in the party over how to address the war in Gaza. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): It looks like we're going to the general.
PROTESTERS: Chanting "Ceasefire Now."
SCHIFF: We are so lucky to live in a democracy where we all have the right to protest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKEND: So you hear protesters challenging him there.
Meanwhile, in Texas, another congressman was victorious, Colin Allred. He won the Democratic nomination in the state to take on Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred defeated State Sen. Roland Gutierrez and seven others in that crowded Democratic primary.
Now, Democrats -- they often suffer a lot of heartbreak in Texas. Six years ago, then-Congressman Beto O'Rourke -- he shattered fundraising records, but he still failed to unseat Cruz. And we might see similar dynamics in this matchup because Cruz is also -- I'm sorry -- Allred, rather, is also a prolific fundraiser.
Democrats face a difficult map in the Senate because the party is defending a slew of seats in states Trump is likely to win in the presidential race, including Montana, Ohio, and West Virginia -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely. These are very important races to watch, Eva. It's great to see you. Thanks for wrapping it up for us -- Sara.
SIDNER: All right. Ahead, Donald Trump's campaign -- it's looking for a boost in funds as he sails towards clinching the Republican nomination. He's now having conversations with the world's second- richest man, Elon Musk. They met over the weekend as Trump's campaign tries to keep costs low while dealing with soaring legal expenses and fundraising concerns.
Also new this morning, after major Super Tuesday wins for both Trump and President Biden, the Biden campaign is making a case why the former president is, quote, "wounded, dangerous, and unpopular." In a new memo, the campaign says Biden has a clear path to victory in November.
CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House with more. What else is Biden saying in his campaign strategy?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, Biden campaign officials have long felt that Super Tuesday would be the moment that this race crystalizes for voters between President Biden and former President Donald Trump. And perhaps the latest proof point in that argument is the expectation that this morning, Nikki Haley will drop out of the Republican presidential primary contest.
One thing that the Biden campaign will be working towards in the coming months is trying to potentially peel off some of those Haley voters who have been turned off by Trump -- not just voters, but I'm told also donors that they could also target as well. Senior campaign officials spoke to that in a memo last evening as they painted the former president as damaged and unpopular.
In their Super Tuesday assessments, the two women leading the campaign, Jennifer O'Malley Dillon and Julie Chavez Rodriguez, wrote that, quote, "A significant share of moderate and Haley voters across the country are saying that Trump cannot count on their votes in a general election."
And that will be key for President Biden going forward. The campaign will try to tap into those Haley voters. Try to tap into moderates and suburban voters as well. The campaign really believes that the issue of reproductive rights is a huge vulnerability for the former president and one that could work to their advantage come November. And they acknowledge that they anticipate this contest will be incredibly close.
It comes as polling has shown CNN's average of the poll of polls has found that there's no clear leader in this contest. I think that average is about 48 percent for Trump and 46 percent for President Biden. Now, President Biden certainly faces a host of challenges in his own reelection bid trying to keep the coalition that elected him in 2020 together this time around. Also, trying to address some of the growing discontent within the Democratic Party over his approach to the war -- the conflict in Gaza. And then there are the questions that he has faced about his age and ability to serve in a second term.
But the White House and the Biden campaign clearly believe that Super Tuesday and tomorrow's State of the Union address will be key for voters as they're trying to make their arguments for a second term in office.
BOLDUAN: Arlette Saenz, thank you so much.
All right. Joining us right now to talk much more about this is CNN senior political commentator and former Republican congressman, Adam Kinzinger. And the senior campaign adviser to Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, Marc Lotter. It's good to see you guys.
MARC LOTTER, FORMER TRUMP 2020 DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, PRESS SECRETARY TO FORMER VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Good morning.
BOLDUAN: We were just handed some new reporting from Jeff Zeleny. Let's go through this together.
"Nikki Haley reached a decision to suspend her presidential campaign late Tuesday," an adviser said. An adviser said that going into the big day of voting, the Haley team had set a loose threshold of winning about 40 percent of the vote in several states to credibly stay in the race. And the decision to get out of the race is that a benchmark for staying in -- that one -- a benchmark wasn't set.
[07:40:09]
What do you think of that?
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (R), FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN: I think it makes sense. I mean --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
KINZINGER: -- 40 percent -- I think -- I think there was very few kind of paths for Nikki to stay in after Super Tuesday -- not necessarily because she didn't want to but because the donor money is going to dry up. I mean, obviously, nobody wants to chase --
BOLDUAN: It sure hadn't to this point, though.
KINZINGER: No, it hadn't. And I think she -- I actually think she overperformed yesterday compared to what a lot of people thought, particularly winning Vermont.
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
KINZINGER: Not bad, right? But, yeah -- I mean, for her, I think to go on past this didn't make
much sense. Forty percent made sense as a threshold. I don't think there was anybody that realistically thought she'd get there. And so, yeah, it's just a two-person race now going forward.
BOLDUAN: What do you think Donald Trump is happier about this morning -- how he performed across the board of the simple fact that Nikki Haley will be exiting the race?
LOTTER: I think the simple fact that she's out now and no one has to talk about the primary any longer. They can shift all of the focus to the general election, which he was trying to do anyway. But you're --
BOLDUAN: He was -- he was definitely trying but you can't.
LOTTER: Right.
BOLDUAN: I mean --
LOTTER: So now you can officially do it. It's over with and you can move all of your focus to November.
BOLDUAN: What -- counterintuitive, what -- did you -- do you -- were you impressed with Donald Trump's performance last night?
KINZINGER: No, no. You mean like in his speech?
BOLDUAN: For sure -- either one.
KINZINGER: Well --
BOLDUAN: I don't mean exactly like how he performed on the --
KINZINGER: Yeah. I mean, on the -- on the -- on the actual election results, sure, it's impressive. I hate to normalize because after an insurrection it's tough for me to just talk about his horse race as normal. But regardless, it was -- it was an impressive victory.
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
KINZINGER: I mean, he won all these states. He won big. I live in Texas now. He got like 80 percent in Texas.
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
KINZINGER: His speech was OK, I guess, if you have a low bar for him, which we do. But my issue was when he called America a third-world country. Like, what kind of -- in what world is the inspirational leadership of a former president saying this is a third-world country is --
BOLDUAN: Adam, don't you remember his inaugural -- his inaugural speech in 2016?
KINZINGER: Oh, I do. I was there --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
KINZINGER: -- when he called everything -- he said, like, you know, carnage -- American carnage.
BOLDUAN: Yeah, carnage.
KINZINGER: And this is what we're going to be at again.
So, yes, I also am glad the primary is over because now we can kind of go forward and talk about this. But it was -- yeah, like, it was an impressive political victory. I wasn't impressed.
BOLDUAN: What do you think Joe Biden should be most happy about this morning after Super Tuesday?
LOTTER: Well, that's it's, I guess, the race is on. I mean, he now has one singular target. I think he probably knew that for a long time --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
LOTTER: -- as well. But now -- I mean, it's going to be a clear choice. And the difference is -- in having worked on that 2020 campaign --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
LOTTER: -- the big difference is Joe Biden didn't have a record in 2020. He was hypothetical. So he could talk about ending the -- ending the pandemic, not mean tweeting, and basically getting elected.
BOLDUAN: Do you think the quote-unquote distance between his record -- Donald Trump's record in terms of time -- do you think that helps him? I mean, like, people hoping that people have short memories.
LOTTER: Yeah. I mean, they remember that we didn't have the illegal immigration crisis. They remember that gas was $2.39 a gallon. That inflation wasn't --
BOLDUAN: But you did have a pandemic and the handling of a pandemic.
LOTTER: We did have that as well. But before the pandemic, I think we had all of these things. And that's --
BOLDUAN: That's --
LOTTER: -- the point he is going to -- that Donald Trump is going to make --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
LOTTER: -- and Joe Biden is going to have to try to explain away.
BOLDUAN: On that point, Congressman, the Biden campaign put out this memo this morning -- Arlette was talking about it -- saying after last night, they have a clear path to victory is what the memo says. Pointing to Nikki Haley's moderate voters and then saying in exit polls that Donald Trump might not be able to count on their vote. Republican voters saying Donald Trump might not be able to count on their vote come November.
One big Haley donor and fundraiser was on with us last night --
KINZINGER: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: -- when we were sitting there. I want to play for everyone his take on this -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC LEVINE, NIKKI HALEY DONOR AND FUNDRAISER: Here's the struggle. Joe Biden is a cognitively impaired octogenarian whose policies I disagree with in the extreme.
I think his distance he's putting between the United States and Israel now is disgraceful. I think the way he's handled Ukraine -- he's just simply not doing enough. He's always a day late and a dollar short. And he hasn't been forceful enough in dealing with China. The border, of course, is a crisis. Even he now admits that.
So I can't vote Democratic. So can I vote Republican? Can I vote for Donald Trump? It's tough.
BOLDUAN: Well, he says he doesn't want -- he doesn't want your support now.
LEVINE: Then how does he win?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And how does he win?
What do you think of that in terms of this now is part of the Biden strategy? They want to pull over those --
KINZINGER: Yeah. So this is how a lot of us feel. I mean, I feel -- I feel politically homeless and there's no way I'll vote for Donald Trump, period. So he can't win me over. But there are a lot of people that he could. And I think that's the challenge of the Biden team right now.
Look, we have been so preprogrammed in this country to default to I have to support a party. So I either have to -- you know. And so that's where people are at right now.
Joe Biden is fighting with his left that's got you every Gaza interruption that happens, every screen. That kind of pushes the middle away. But he has a real opportunity. He's the guy that can do it if he can make his staff allow him to be Joe Biden. If they're going to drag him to the left he's going to have a harder time. But he has to win people like me over -- and he'll win me over -- but people like me over to win the presidency.
[07:45:00]
BOLDUAN: Lindsey Graham was on CNN last night, Marc, and he said the path forward for Donald Trump in the general is to talk policy and contrast policy between him and Joe Biden. "I think a contrast in policy is the key to getting these people" -- Nikki Haley voters -- "back on board."
Do you think that's it? I mean, it could be asked another way. Do you think Donald Trump sticks with policy discussions? We know what his base reacts to. It's not necessarily on policy; it's on feeling.
LOTTER: Well, but I think you can do both at the same time. I mean, you can talk about low gas prices and you can talk about the immigration crisis as both an emotional reaction and a policy prescription. And I think the challenge is that -- like, if you go by the exit polling last night --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
LOTTER: -- that I've seen from CNN and others, 85 to 90 percent of Nikki Haley's voters were satisfied with Joe Biden's leadership. That means they were probably not Donald Trump voters to begin with, even if they didn't vote for Nikki Haley. Meanwhile, if you go by The New York Times-Sienna poll, 10 percent of Joe Biden's 2020 support does now have buyer's remorse and flipping back to Trump.
That's why I think when we look ahead to these --
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
LOTTER: -- battleground states and the national polls -- I mean, remember, I think it was, what, four points -- three points that Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in 2020 nationally to eke out a 45,000-vote win in three states. It's not a five-point swing where Donald Trump is leading by two points, according to the RCP average.
BOLDUAN: We've got a long general election --
LOTTER: Oh my God.
BOLDUAN: -- ahead of us. We have now just realized this morning this next chapter kicking off in full swing with Nikki Haley and her remarks starting at 10:00 a.m.
It's great to see you guys. Thank you.
KINZINGER: It's good to be here.
BOLDUAN: Thank you for coming back.
KINZINGER: Yeah, great.
BOLDUAN: All right. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez hit with a new indictment. What's in the dozen new criminal charges? We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL) [07:51:15]
SIDNER: This morning, charges piling up for Sen. Bob Menendez. The New Jersey Democrat and his wife face a slew of new criminal charges related to an alleged yearslong bribery scheme involving Egypt, Qatar, and several businessmen. In the new federal indictment, prosecutors accuse Menendez and his wife of lying to their own lawyers to cover up the alleged bribery. This comes just days after an accused co- conspirator pled guilty and agreed to cooperate in the investigation.
Senator Menendez is denying any wrongdoing.
CNN's Kara Scannell is joining us live. Can you give us the significance of these new charges? There were a bunch of them before and now they've piled on more.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, any time there are new charges that is not good, right? As a defendant, you don't want to see that. He was facing four counts before, all conspiracy-related charges.
Now they've filed new obstruction of justice charges and then also, what's known as the substantive counts. So he was charged with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. And now he's charged with honest services wire fraud. He's also charged with bribery, with extortion, as well as acting as a foreign agent. That was a key one for the government of Egypt.
So what these new charges are -- I mean, now there's a total of 16 charges that he's facing. And this new allegation of obstruction of justice where, according to the indictment, he told his attorney who was meeting with prosecutors -- so his attorney, according to the indictment, misled the prosecutors based on what Menendez told him that these weren't bribes but had said they were loans. And that he -- Menendez had signed checks that were handwritten notes. And then both he and his wife saying that it was repayment for a loan.
And prosecutors say that is not true. That Menendez had been well aware of these payments and that they were actually bribe payments and not repayment of a loan.
So he has different attorneys now, which we saw take place but didn't really know why. Now this sheds some light on that.
But he, though, remains defiant as ever. He has not resigned his seat as senator. Even though Democrats in his own party have been asking him to step down, he has not.
He issued a news statement after these charges came out saying, "These prosecutors are trying to get me to give in simply by making wild allegations again and again, without actually proving anything. I am innocent and will prove it no matter how many charges they continue to pile on."
Now, he is set to go to trial in May. We'll wait to see with these new charges if that date sticks. But now they have one of these co- defendants now cooperating in the investigation, so that is another very serious and significant step in this case.
SIDNER: And you have to imagine that may have been used for these new charges. There is a lot to unpack there.
Thank you so much. I appreciate it, Kara -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: Today, state lawmakers in Alabama will vote on legislation to protect IVF patients and providers. And this move is really the direct response to the backlash that the state faced when the Alabama Supreme Court threw it all -- threw IVF treatments really into question, ruling that frozen embryos are quote-unquote children under state law.
Three Alabama fertility clinics have since paused treatment because of the ruling.
So let's get to the latest. CNN's Isabel Rosales is outside the Alabama State House with more. What are state lawmakers going to do today, and what does that mean for how quickly people could see these clinics starting back up?
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate.
I spoke with Dr. Mamie McLean over at Alabama Fertility in Birmingham who tells me that they -- her clinic could restart IVF treatments as early as tomorrow or Friday. Of course, this is contingent on lawmakers being able to get this bill -- this legislation across the finish line.
[07:55:00]
Dr. McLean tells me that 13 days since her clinic paused IVF treatments at least 35 frozen embryo transfers were canceled. So that, right there, means 35 women in that clinic alone impacted, not to mention many other women that had their IVF journey interrupted through various other stages.
Then there's the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which became the first in the state to announce it was pausing IVF treatments. The school telling CNN in a statement that it plans to continue to follow the Alabama Supreme Court ruling unless one of two things happen. Unless the court reconsiders, which typically doesn't happen, or unless a bill is signed into law.
Now, it's important to mention here that the state Supreme Court ruling did not tell clinics to shut down. Did not order IVF treatments to be on pause or anything like that. It just simply stated that frozen embryos are children.
But as you said, Kate, it put IVF treatments into question here. Clinics like UAB, clinics like Alabama Fertility, the Center for Reproductive Medicine saying we can't operate like that. We're in fear of legal reprisal.
Very quickly here, I want to mention that the Senate and the House -- they're voting today on each other's bills. If that goes through they're going to have to reconcile the differences in the language. Once they again approve that sole piece of legislation then it goes to the governor's desk for a signature.
Thank you.
BOLDUAN: Isabel Rosales, thank you so much -- John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Yesterday was Super Tuesday, today is Nikki Haley Wednesday, tomorrow is State of the Union Thursday, and all three are completely melded together.
Nikki Haley dropping out of the race this morning. We're standing by to watch that. Why? Because of her performance on Super Tuesday.
The Biden campaign out with a memo looking ahead, targeting Nikki Haley voters, saying, quote, "A significant share of moderate and Haley voters across the country are saying that Trump cannot count on their votes in a general election."
Tomorrow, in the State of the Union address, President Biden can try to reach out to those very voters. So, how?
With me this morning is Michael Waldman. He ran speechwriting for former President Bill Clinton and is now the executive director of the Brennan Center. Michael, great to have you.
OK, you're writing a speech for Joe Biden. How do you reach that Nikki Haley voter?
MICHAEL WALDMAN, FORMER CHIEF SPEECHWRITER FOR PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT, BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE, NYU SCHOOL OF LAW: Well, the State of the Union address, of course, is an important governmental speech. But, especially in a campaign year, especially in a reelection year, it's a political speech, too.
The White House is betting on the idea that there is an anti-MAGA majority in the country. So while you don't -- I don't think you'll hear Donald Trump's name, I imagine they will draw lines and try to pull in those Haley voters and pull in the Independents and soft Republicans who actually gave the Democrats a very strong midterm in 2022.
BERMAN: What do you give them? What do you talk about to reach those voters?
WALDMAN: Well, I think a few things.
I wouldn't be surprised if you hear the president saying that he wants Congress to pass the bipartisan immigration bill that Donald Trump nixed a few weeks ago.
I think you'll hear him and should hear him talk about the state of American democracy. That's a theme he's talked about a lot. A lot of pundits kind of roll their eyes but a lot of voters really feel democracy is threatened. They remember January 6. And so, he can talk about voting rights. He can talk about the need to have the rule of law. And that's actually something that doesn't sound partisan and has wide appeal.
BERMAN: Um, one of the great strategies of politics is to under- promise and overperform. Set low expectations. It doesn't seem like the White House is setting low expectations for this State of the Union address. It seems as if anyone connected to the White House or the Biden campaign is acknowledging it's a big deal.
So how do you measure up to those expectations?
WALDMAN: Look, it's -- this speech, believe it or not, is in the Constitution that the president has to report on the state of the union. It's the biggest audience, by far, that he's likely to get this year unless there's a debate in the fall.
But we're all going to be watching, given all the chatter about his age, to see if he has vigor and command, and is sort of enjoying himself as the happy warrior. If you remember, last year, he did very well jousting with heckling Republicans in the audience.
And one of the things presidents always have to think about -- and I'm sure they're thinking about -- is Democratic presidents always get a lot of advice. Oh, don't brag about the economy. Don't act like things are going well under your watch. You have to feel people's pain.
But I do think that presidents who tell an optimistic and positive story when they're running for reelection actually usually do better, and they can sometimes help shape and reshape the public sense of what's going on. I think he needs to point out where the challenges are but not be afraid to claim credit when things are going well.
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