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Biden-Trump Rematch Takes Shape With Haley Exiting Race; WH Calls On Speaker Johnson To Bring Ukraine Aid Up For Vote; Haitian PM In Puerto Rico Amid Turmoil In Country; House GOP No. 3 Expects House Republicans To Act On Ukraine. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 06, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:01:05]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The matchup we've expected in the race for president is now all but cemented as President Biden and former President Trump look beyond Super Tuesday toward the long road to the White House.

Plus, a Russian attack hitting within eyesight of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the prime minister of Greece as Zelenskyy uses the strike to call on Western allies for more air defense systems and ammunition.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And it's become the latest battleground in the fight for reproductive rights. Why an attempt by an Alabama lawmaker to protect IVF after a ruling from the state's highest court may not go as far as some advocates would like.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: It's feeling unofficially official as the 2024 campaign enters a familiar new phase, Biden versus Trump. The current president and the former president all but wrapping up their party's nomination nominations last night, but now they are trading jabs and they're vying to win over Nikki Haley supporters. But poll after poll reveals a skeptical American public that largely does not want this rematch. Not necessarily surprising as president, they both have notched historically low approval numbers.

We're going to talk about how we got here. But first, let's talk about what happens next.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is near Trump headquarters in Florida.

So, Kristen, Trump didn't moderate his Haley attacks today, but does his campaign see an opening here?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they absolutely do, Brianna. When you're talking to his various campaign advisors, they know that a race with Joe Biden, a rematch, is going to be incredibly tight. And they also know that they are going to need every single vote that they can get and that includes some of these Nikki Haley supporters.

Now, they are aware that some of these people are just people who are never going to vote for Donald Trump. They are Republicans who have decided they would not back Donald Trump under any circumstances. But some of them are Republicans who are just looking for an alternative to Donald Trump and those are the voters that they are trying to get, people with conservative values who wouldn't vote Democratic under any circumstances.

The point to mention here is that part of the reason Donald Trump and his team have been so annoyed that Nikki Haley wouldn't drop out of the race is because they wanted to project this image of unity. They wanted to say the Republicans all around were coming around, coalescing around Donald Trump as the nominee, and then they could move forward because he needs, again, the biggest base that he can possibly get going into this very competitive race.

We are starting to see that. We already saw Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell coming out and endorsing Trump. The two men have not spoken in three years. Now, Donald Trump is responding to that on Truth Social, saying, thank you, Mitch. I look forward to working with you and the Republican Senate majority to make America great again.

Again, the two have not spoken, but you are starting to see people who really have no relationship with Donald Trump or have talked poorly about him, even in recent weeks, coming out and backing the former president as the Republican Party becomes the president of Trump. We also heard from the Republican National Committee celebrating him as the presumptive nominee.

Brianna, as you know, that is a very big deal because it gives Trump and his team the access to the entire infrastructure that the RNC has across the country, as well as donor lists and fundraising abilities and money which is a very important thing to run a presidential campaign.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. Kristen Holmes live for us in West Palm Beach, thank you. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's get the view now from the White House with CNN's Kevin Liptak.

And, Kevin, it's hard to describe this as a new chapter for the White House because the Biden team has essentially been assuming that Donald Trump was going to be the Republican nominee. So how are they responding to the news today?

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KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN REPORTER: Yes, I still think they view this as a pivot moment as President Biden turns towards the general election campaign. And they really do hope that as it becomes clear that Trump is the presumptive nominee, that voters will come to regard him as such. And as voters tune in and as President Biden makes his case, it will become clearer and clearer that this is a Biden versus Trump rematch.

And even though that that particular rematch isn't necessarily popular with the American people, they do hope that it will become clear, this contrast, this choice that Americans have in front of them. Because according to their own research, many voters at this point just don't believe that Trump will be the nominee. And until that happens, it's very hard for them to make this argument to remind voters of the chaos that Trump brought with him when he was in the White House, of the policies that he's planning to impose if he were to return to the White House.

And so I think they do really view this sort of as a kickoff week as they look to sharpen that contrast with the American people. And it was very interesting this morning. When Nikki Haley dropped her bid for the Republican nomination, they were very quick to try and peel off some of those voters to make this argument that President Biden represents some of the attributes that Haley was presenting to her coalition as well.

President Biden saying in a statement, Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump, about the chaos that always follows him, about his inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin. Very interestingly, the President goes on to say, "Donald Trump made clear he doesn't want Nikki Haley's supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign."

So the recognition that there is this imperative to try and find voters everywhere that they can who just will not vote for Trump, who really are turned off by the attributes that Trump brought to the presidency, I think that will continue as well tomorrow when we see President Biden deliver his State of the Union address. The most watched television appearance for any president of the year, certainly a very important moment for President Biden tomorrow.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I guess the kickoff part of the kickoff week.

Kevin Liptak live from the White House. Thanks so much, Kevin. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Let's break this all down with the great Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Larry, just how do you see this race right now?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS AT UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: I think it's very close and it's likely to be vicious. It probably has to be vicious because the stakes are so high. This is not the kind of race that comes around every four years. I might compare it to 1968, for example, when the stakes were so high and the candidates, frankly, were not beloved by the electorate. In that case, Democrat Hubert Humphrey and Republican Richard Nixon, but a choice had to be made.

You could argue about whether the right choice was made, but it's those kinds of stakes that exist in 2024 and people have to focus on that. They have to get away from their inability to accept what has been obvious for weeks and months. This is a rematch. This is a rematch. And people have to accept that and come to terms with it because it's either going to be Joe Biden or it's going to be Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

And those - the third party candidates may well steer the election to one of these two candidates, but they're not going to be in the Oval Office. It's really important for people to focus on that fundamental fact.

KEILAR: Yes. Any warning signs for either of these candidates that is really standing out to you today after the results last night?

SABATO: Well, there are loads of warning signs for our society, of course, the greater tendency toward violence, which is building once again, all the elements are there and we all have to be on watch for it and do everything we can to prevent it. But as far as political signals that matter.

For Donald Trump, clearly, there's a quarter to a third of the Republican Party or at least the people who voted in the Republican primaries, which included some Democrats and independents, who simply won't accept Donald Trump and don't want Donald Trump back in the Oval Office. He can attract some of them back, the traditional Republicans who voted for Haley, but he's never going to be able to attract back the Democrats and independents, for the most part, who voted and even some of the never Trump Republicans, so that's his warning.

For President Biden. I think the warning is twofold. Even active Democrats, in many cases, don't understand what he has done over the past three and going on four years. They're not familiar with his achievements and accomplishments. I know that surprises him. It probably surprises his staff. But for various reasons, people have not seized on the particulars.

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They have got to use the campaign and also the State of the Union address to make clear what it is they've actually done, and the other part will be very distasteful to people, but it's absolutely necessary. They're running against a candidate who has compiled and almost unbelievably long list of outrages and insults and things that have never been associated with the presidency. And they're going to have to use them well every single day, maybe hour by hour, and they certainly have enough to pull from.

KEILAR: Yes, I think you're right. People have been muddling through a pandemic and a post pandemic. This has been incredibly occupying in the lives of people for years, certainly in the early years of the Biden administration. You mentioned when I asked you about warning signs, the warning sign of a tendency toward violence. What scenario concerns you the most, Larry?

SABATO: Oh, that's easy. If Donald Trump should lose. Of course, he won't acknowledge losing, but if the facts clearly show and those who study this clearly are of the belief that the votes tallied favored Biden and not Trump, we have a pretty good idea of how he's going to react. We know he'll never concede. His base, which is still, because of Trump's big lie, still believing that he actually won the 2020 election, when he most certainly did not.

That is the set of circumstances most likely to produce violence. But there are plenty of things that can happen on the campaign trail. High emotions are prevailing, especially this year with these two candidates. And at any time, on any day, the chemistry set of American politics could produce an explosion.

We all need to be concerned about that and to the extent we can have an effect on it through our own commentary, our own beliefs, the way we conduct our work and the way we conduct our work ourselves. Maybe we can help to lower the temperature a little bit, but I think it's out of our control for the most part.

KEILAR: You mentioned the third party effect. What do you think the effect is of RFK Jr. as he's now poised to be on the ballot in some battleground states, most recently Nevada?

SABATO: It's almost certainly going to hurt Joe Biden more than Donald Trump. To what degree? I can't say. No one could say at this point. But when you look at who's likely to vote for the name RFK Jr., and many voters, even in October and November, won't know his real record or how he differs from his father and his other relatives who strongly oppose him, he has the potential to shift the electoral college, just like happened in 2016 to Donald Trump. It was the third party candidates that stripped Hillary Clinton of at least two and probably more of the key states that went to Donald Trump and gave him an electoral majority, even though he lost the popular vote by three million.

That is a serious consideration, I hope, for anyone who's thinking about voting for RFK Jr. or Jill Stein of the Greens or Cornel West, who I imagine is a pure independent, or a no-labels candidate, whoever the heck it turns out to be, if they even have a candidate. These candidates are going to do some of Donald Trump's dirty work for them, and they're going to hurt Joe Biden. And people who are thinking about voting for them need to understand what they're doing.

KEILAR: Larry Sabato, always great to get your perspective. Thanks for being with us.

SABATO: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: A Russian missile landing within several hundred yards of Ukraine's president, was he targeted?

And Haitian gangs now controlling an estimated 80 percent of the country's capital and one of their leaders is now warning of a genocide, unless the prime minister steps down. We have those stories and many more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:18:35] SANCHEZ: The White House is now calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson

to bring Ukraine aid up for a vote after today's deadly Russian missile strike that nearly hit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's convoy. The explosion happened in the port city of Odessa, as Zelenskyy was meeting with the prime minister of Greece.

A source tells us the missile landed just 500 yards away from the convoy and that both leaders felt the impact. Ukrainian officials say at least five people were killed. Multiple others were injured.

Let's go now to CNN Senior International Correspondent, Fred Pleitgen.

Fred, what is Zelenskyy saying about this attack in Odessa?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's underscoring that saying it appears to be pretty close and one of the interesting things that we've heard from him is he said that the Greek prime minister was there. They did a tour, actually, of the port of Odessa, where he told the Greek prime minister of the port of Odessa. And as they were, essentially, about to leave that area is when this missile attack apparently took place.

Now, Volodymyr Zelenskyy goes even a little bit further than saying he felt the impact. He also said that both leaders actually saw the missile as it was coming in and right before it landed and also, of course, heard the very loud explosion as well. The Ukrainians are saying that the Russians apparently used a pretty large missile with a very large warhead, of course, making all of this all the more dangerous.

I want to listen into some of what Volodymyr Zelenskyy said afterwards. Let's listen in.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through interpreter): We saw this strike today. You can see who we are dealing with. They don't care where they strike. I know that there are victims today. I don't know all the details yet, but I know that there are dead and wounded. We need to defend ourselves first and foremost. The best way to do that is with an air defense system.

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PLEITGEN: So Zelenskyy at that point saying he didn't have the details yet. However, Boris, as you mentioned, the Ukrainian Navy later coming out saying that five people were killed and others were wounded. They didn't give an exact number as to how many people were wounded. The Russian side has now acknowledged that they did conduct a strike on Odessa in that port area earlier today. They claim that they hit a warehouse containing unmanned sea drones. Of course, this comes only a day after the Ukrainians say they sank a Russian warship in the Black Sea using sea drones. So whether or not this may have been retaliation is unclear, but it

certainly seems like a pretty close call for the Ukrainian president, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Fred Pleitgen, very important update. Thanks so much, Fred. Brianna?

KEILAR: Haitians are frantically trying to escape exploding gang violence in the capital city of Port-au-Prince as murderous gangs try to overthrow the country's prime minister, Ariel Henry. He is now safely in Puerto Rico. Opposition groups are demanding that the prime minister resign, including a notorious gang leader behind a wave of attacks against police and the government.

CNN's Havana-based correspondent Patrick Oppmann is monitoring the unrest.

Patrick, this gang leader is warning the prime minister of civil war and genocide. What can you tell us?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it seems there that the Prime Minister's plan to bring in Kenyan troops, that's where he was when this latest unrest kicked off, that has unified some of these gangs that usually are fighting each other for turf, as well as the government. And so that they have risen up in force against the less well-armed Haitian police and then they have burned police stations. They have forced police to further retreat. They have the upper hand here and they've prevented Haitian prime minister, Ariel Henry, from returning to his own country.

He's unable at this point and air travel is suspended because one of the places they have targeted through these days of terrible violence has been Port-au-Prince's airport. So it's unclear where this goes from here, because Ariel Henry is an unpopular prime minister. He was not elected. He came into power after the assassination in 2021 of the president of Haiti.

And for years, the U.S. has called on Haiti - on Henry to hold elections. He has responded to the security situation and Haiti doesn't allow that. Certainly now, it certainly does not seem like any kind of elections could be held. But that is what the U.S. is calling for Henry to do to begin a transition, to call for elections, to see if that quells some of this violence. But for the Haitians caught in the crossfire, they need someone to come in, some force to come in from abroad, from wherever, and save them from these gangs, something their government apparently is unable to do.

KEILAR: Yes, it's unreal, the pictures as we look at them. Patrick, thank you so much for that report.

And still ahead, President Biden just suffered his first defeat of the primary season. We're going to talk to the guy who managed to beat him next.

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SANCHEZ: Stop me if you've heard this before, the House of Representatives is gearing up for a crucial vote on a government funding package just days ahead of a partial government shutdown. CNN's Lauren Fox is live for us on Capitol Hill with the latest.

Lauren, deja vu all over again. What's different this time?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Yes, what's different is the fact that they are actually moving forward with a series of bills that actually fund the government through this fiscal year. This is half of the bills that they actually need to pass. The other half will be necessary to get done by March 22nd. But obviously this puts them on a course of avoiding a government shutdown and not having to do those repeated short-term spending bills.

But I did catch up with the number three Republican, Whip Tom Emmer, who I asked, what's next on the agenda after you get through these spending bills and are you committed to moving forward with more and additional Ukraine aid. He said he does expect that Ukraine aid will come to the floor. Exactly how that happens, though, he was less clear on. That is because there are really two options right now.

Republican leaders could move forward with a plan to just put legislation on the floor. And he says ultimately it's going to be up to them to decide if they want to go that route or if they want to go a more complicated procedural route. Here's what he said.

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FOX (off camera): So at this point, do you think the discharge petition is a better route or do you think House Republican leadership putting a bill on the floor is the better route for Ukraine?

REP. TOM EMMER (R-MN): We'll leave that for the Speaker to determine. Ultimately, my job, again, is to make sure that he is well aware of what our members will do, what they won't do, what they can do and what they can't do.

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And once he's apprised of that, which is our job, then he'll make the call.

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FOX (on camera): And as we've laid out many times before.