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Sen. Elizabeth Warren: "Disappointed" Sanders Sent Volunteers To "Trash Me"; Senator Cory Booker Ends His 2020 Presidential Campaign; Sanders VS Warren Dynamic Plays Out On The Trial; Queen: "Period Of Transition" For Duke And Duchess Of Sussex; Senate Impeachment Trial Expected To Begin This Week. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired January 13, 2020 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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JOHN KING, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome to "Inside Politics." I'm John King. Thank you for sharing your day with us. Iowa votes three weeks from today and the attacks are getting sharper as the leading Democrats prepare for a big debate right here on CNN tomorrow night. The once historically diverse field shrinks again. Senator Cory Booker suspended his campaign just last hour.

Plus the Defense Secretary concedes he never saw intelligence specifically indicating an Iranian on four American Embassies. His critics suggest that President Trump is making that up, he spends the morning sending angry tweets including hawking Muslims and confusing eminent with imminent.

And a big impeachment week ahead, the House Speaker prepares to name the trial Managers and send two articles of impeachment over to the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): So this is - in defiance of the valor of our founders and what they established and disloyal to his oath of office. And so as I say every knock from him is a boost and everything he says about somebody else is a projection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Back to that in a moment, but we begin with another 2020 campaign exit in the Democratic Race that is suddenly getting very testy. The candidate bowing out is one who constantly warned against just such a democratic family feud, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.

He told supporters in an email last hour he could not raise enough money to remain viable, especially since his poll numbers were too low to get debate invitations. And in a farewell video posted a short time ago he promises to help Democrats down the road.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. CORY BOOKER, (D-NJ): Today I'm suspending my campaign with the present with the same spirit with which it began. It is my faith in us, my faith in us together as a nation. I can't wait to get back on campaign trail. I will campaign as hard as I can for whoever is the eventual nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Iowa cast the first votes in that choice just three weeks from today. And the leading candidates debate in Iowa here on CNN tomorrow night. Bernie Sanders and his campaign team clearly see this as the moment to ignore Senator Booker's advice and to instead sharpen the attacks.

Joe Biden taking hit from Sanders on his Iraq War vote and questioning his commitment to African-Americans. And though the candidate says he knew nothing about it, Sanders volunteers now using a script to tell voters Elizabeth Warren is the candidate of the affluent and someone who cannot, in the Sanders' campaign's view, bring new voters into the Democratic tent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was disappointed to hear that Bernie is sending his volunteers out to trash me. Democrats want to win in 2020. We all saw the impact of the factualism in 2016, and we can't have a repeat of that.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have hundreds of employees. Elizabeth Warren has hundreds of employees, and people sometimes say things that they shouldn't. You have heard me give many speeches. Have I ever said one negative word about Elizabeth Warren?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: CNN's Jeff Zeleny joining us live from Des Moines. Jeff a big debate tomorrow night an exit on the eve of it. Senator Booker while struggling was working hard out in Iowa. What do you see is the impact where might his supporters go?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John, there is no question that Senator Booker leaving the race is the biggest development to date in terms of candidates in organization leaving. He started early out here and he built an organization of loyal followers.

Polls don't reflect everything. Polls don't always reflect the actual full support. He had some loyal, committed supporters. Yes, they were small in number. So the question is who does that benefit? The calls I've been making in the last hour since this news became public is it probably is scattered around a bit?

Just anecdotally speaking, I talk to one supporter of Senator Booker. She said I'm going to more reluctantly support Joe Biden, one other said I'm going to more enthusiastically support or at least check out Amy Klobuchar. So we will see in the coming days how this unfolds. One thing is clear, if Senator Booker decides not to endorse, which we don't know if he's going to at this point, he is not given any indication of that, it's likely his supporters will scatter, his organizers may as well.

But John, he was already not going to be on the debate stage tonight. There is no doubt this is not an ordinary debate. This is the Des Moines Register and you know always the final start before Iowa Caucuses. This is the night for candidates to move and have a potential breakout moment. He did not make the debate stage.

So by all intents and purposes, he was already likely going to be struggling. So it eliminates one thing that second choice fight on Caucus night is going to be eliminated in some respect because other candidates are going after them right now.

Campaigns have already identified who Cory Booker's supporters like to the second choice so there is a furious scramble going on.

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ZELENY: But in terms of the debate the dynamic is as you said Bernie Sanders/Joe Biden collision course on foreign policy certainly fascinating front and center here as well as the progressive fight between Warren and Sanders. Amy Klobuchar, of course look for her to potentially try and go after everyone to make her move here.

John, three weeks from tonight, this race finally gets underway. It's still quite unsettled with Pete Buttigieg also in the top four. No one knows who is going to win. John?

KING: Couldn't be more clear on that last point, no one knows. Iowa likes to surprise us three weeks from tonight, we'll be counting. Jeff Zeleny, I appreciate the live reporting. We'll be in touch with you tomorrow as well as we wait for the debate.

With me in the studio to share their reporting and their insights, Seung Min Kim with "The Washington Post" Olivier Knox with SiriusXM Tarini Parti with "The Wall Street Journal" and CNN's Kaitlan Collins.

Let's just touch quickly on Booker, to Jeff's point the polls don't show everything. He was struggling let's not over state it but he was working Iowa hard and in a race where you have in our latest poll four candidates essentially tied within a point or two of each other.

If you've got somebody who has may be only two, three or four percent in the polls, but those people a lot of them are good established Iowa Caucus organizers, people who can help you in the room on caucus night. In the next 24 hours or 40 hours, it will be pretty fierce trying to get them.

TARINI PARTI, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: That's right. For months Cory Booker had been seen as the sort of candidate who could pull off a surprise on caucus night. He started organizing early he had racked up endorsements. But you know that was just not materializing and polls don't reflect everything, but they weren't even giving an indication of whether or not that could happen for him. He was in the latest poll polling below Andrew Yang.

So a lot of campaigns are going to be making the case to his organizers, to those top endorsers to try to get them on their side. As Jeff was pointing out, the second choice really matters in Iowa, and when I talk to voters in the state, they always brought up his name kind of below the second or third choice. He was never the top choice for anyone.

So it will be interesting to see where those people who were sort of considering him kind of end up in all of this.

KING: And we began this campaign - it seems like a long time ago - but with a giant field and historically diverse field. Now a hip scene, Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Cory Booker and Congressman Julian Castro some of the more diverse candidates leaving the debate stage tomorrow night will be Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar.

Make a difference? In a party that does have a - it does rightly so say we are the home of African-American voters. We are increasingly the home of Latino voters. We are increasingly in the last few elections the home of Asian Americans as well.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: I think it certainly is an important point for the Democratic Party to make, because you're right, it started with a historically diverse field, now we're dwindling down. We lost the first black woman, we've lost you know Cory Booker, Julian Castro.

And I think that's what because of how the - you can blame it on the debate standards or debate polling standards and you could blame it on a bunch of other things, but I think it really is going to start a discussion that has already started about kind of the caucus process. You heard Julian Castro talk a lot about, why should Iowa and New Hampshire be first in the primary race?

And I believe Mike Bloomberg is out with an op-ed kind of making a similar case saying he has focus on other states that aren't the first four states that have a more diverse population that are more reflective of the American population. So you know who will get through the slog of Iowa, will get through the slog of New Hampshire but I do think this will start a broader conversation in the Democratic field.

KING: And as we watch the fight, Sanders is very consistent, both in his positions, but if you go through the rhythm of the 2016 campaign and now the rhythm of this campaign, he waits, he waits, he waits, and he senses when he says it's time we get closer to voting, he gets sharper in his attacks as he did on Hillary Clinton then now on Joe Biden very familiar there.

You may have experience, Joe, your judgment on Iraq, your judgment on NAFTA, things like that. The candidate says he knew nothing about it. He's the candidate. He's the CEO of the operation. He says he knew nothing about this script where voters are knocking on doors and essentially saying, Elizabeth Warren, she's the candidate of rich people and can't bring in new voters like Bernie Sanders can.

It's interesting as this place out, number one I guess it is going to be a debate question tomorrow night. Number two we'll see how they handle it? But if you look in Iowa and you ask voters this whole second choice question. So Elizabeth Warren is going to take offense, right? And Bernie Sanders is going to have to defend his campaign or go after his campaign for this.

Among Sanders supporters 44 percent listed Elizabeth Warren as their second choice. And so if she can turn this attack to her benefit and say, you come my way. Among Warren supporters, it's more diverse when you ask who is the second support about 31 percent first option is Bernie Sanders. You have these two progressive candidates, so you're for one or the other, but your second choice is likely the other one.

OLIVIER KNOX, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SIRIUSXM: And that shot from Elizabeth Warren, referring to 2016, and the divisions in 2016 a direct reference to the Hillary part of the party blaming Bernie in part for her loss.

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PARTI: It also comes at a time where Elizabeth Warren is trying to project to herself as a unity candidate, so the fact that Sanders is going after her really does help her keep making that projection on what her campaign is trying to do. Looking at whether or not these candidates are going to turn it back on Bernie Sanders, we'll see tomorrow night, because so far in debates we really haven't seen other candidates going after Bernie Sanders in the way that he's gone after them.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And notice that they did not dispute the authenticity of that script. They say he didn't know about it, but they didn't say this is true or we weren't doing this. I do think the attack saying essentially that Elizabeth Warren is not going to be able to appeal to a broad swath of voters and therefore defeat President Trump, is one you have heard from Joe Biden also make about Elizabeth Warren.

And that's likely why you're seeing their campaign respond so forcefully, because they don't want that to become the narrative. They, of course, deny that that is her problem, but you're seeing Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden make pretty similar attacks on her.

KING: That's absolutely true and one of the interesting points I mean, no offense to Senator Booker, but he kept saying, this should be a campaign of love, we should all get along. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way you get closer and closer to the election.

But if you look, it has been an interesting dynamic. Warren and Sanders overstate their friendship. They certainly agree on most of the issues. They've been eyeing each other competitively for quite some time. Each hope the other one wouldn't run and the both ended up running in the end, "The Huffington Post" progressive peace pack breaks, drudge Warren shows teeth 21 days until Iowa, Berning! You see that will play up on there. The question is just a moment and then Bernie backs away and disavows what his campaign did or is this here we go it's time, we've got go with it.

KNOX: It is in keeping with a lot of his attacks on Biden as well, I mean, he is really ramping up there. The rhetoric is the closing argument, Iowa is looming. Everyone can hear the clock ticking. So it is other piece, I don't know whether he knew about it, I don't know where that buck ceases to be passed. It's another piece of the way he has structured his final push toward Iowa.

PARTI: It's one thing for campaign staffers to do it and surrogates to do it in op-eds but if he does it on the debate stage tomorrow night, I think that will be telling of his strategy and the voters he's looking to pick off from Warren.

KING: And to the point just the calendar point, to you not only just Iowa votes three weeks today, these Senators who are on the debate stage tomorrow night need to realize there is last big moment before they're struck back here for a little bit. We'll get to that story a little bit later as impeachment jurors.

So watch tomorrow night, that's where we end this block on the programming notes. The last debate for the first votes in Iowa right here on CNN. That's tomorrow night at 9:00 pm. Coming up Buckingham Palace race in I mean an unprecedented Royal Family turmoil.

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KING: The British Royal Family trying to present a united front today this after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announce last week they would be stepping back from Royal duties the most senior members of the family meeting today at one of the Queen's state to discuss the couple's future.

The Queen releasing a statement just moments ago saying in part "My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan's desire to create a new life as a young family. Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family". CNN's Royal Correspondent Max Foster joins us now from Sandringham. Max, tell us what you're learning about this meeting and take us inside - porch that statement for us?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the same is interesting you have to sort of read the Palace Speech here. I think the first thing that sort out to me actually it might seem like a small thing but the Queen refers to them as Harry and Meghan when she would normally call them the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. I think that reflects, really, the fact that we're talking about two different things here. They are members of the family but they are also working Royals. She says I would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the Royal Family, so she clearly appealed to them to stay within the fold, suggesting that the Sussex has disagreed with that.

What we know is though, on the table were various different options for future roles put together by Palace and government officials, and they were presented to the Sussex's. We were expecting some agreement on one of the roles, and that perhaps will be announced tonight. There hasn't been any announcement, and the Queen says she wants a final decision within the coming days.

So there hasn't been a resolution here. That does not mean there has been an impasse. Well, I think we can't read that into the statement, quite, but it's not the ideal statement that the Palace would have been coming out with right now. It does seem though Sussex's are digging their heels in but what they want for their future roles and that's to leave as working members of the Royal Family.

KING: Thanks Foster, I appreciate both the news and your important insight on it as we watch this drama unfold. Let's bring in CNN Royal Commentator Victoria Arbiter. Victoria, again the same question it is a carefully worded statement by the Queen, where she essentially says Harry and Meghan will get their wish but?

VICTORIA ARBITER, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, indeed. Well, what struck me the most actually about this statement is the personal tone of it, particularly coming from the Queen. This is an institution that is built on formality, precedent and tradition, so the fact that she's referring to them as Harry and Meghan suggests that perhaps these are going to be two people that step aside and become private citizens.

Now there has been no talk of them losing their titles. The key points really that needed to be addressed were funding, that was one of the most important and this statement does address the fact that Harry and Meghan are very keen not to continue with public funding. Of course with that comes a number of constraints that they're keen to strip away.

I think there is a sense of sadness in this statement as well. We'll have to remember that the Queen is not just serving as Head of State and Head of Nation but also as a grandmother, and she's always enjoyed a particularly close relationship with Prince Harry.

So suggestions tonight, I think that this meeting went well, but there is still an awful lot that needs to be ironed out.

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KING: An awful lot - behind are correct, and it does say, therefore has been agreed there will be a period of time in which the Sussex's will spend some time in Canada and the U.K. We will wait for more details. Victoria, appreciate your insights as well. Coming up for us here some House Democrats getting antsy waiting to find out who will prosecute the case against the President in the Senate?

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KING: All eye on the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she prepares to send the articles of impeachment across to the Senate at nearly a month after the House voted to impeach the President. Sources on the Hill telling CNN, many House Democrats are still in dark over who Pelosi will choose as the impeachment Managers.

That includes some Democrat who want to be on the team. One aide described the mood the caucus this way "Everyone is going crazy as they wait for to announce that important decision". Publicly the Speaker was advocating for a trial with new witnesses and new documents. Listen.

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PELOSI: Dismissing is a cover-up. If they want to go that route again, the Senators who are thinking now about voting for witnesses or not, they will have to be accountable for not having a fair trial. They take an oath to have a fair trial, and we think that would be with witnesses and documentation. Now the ball is in their court to either do that or pay a price for not doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: now at the White House, the man who will be on trial calling for what sounds like just the opposite of what the Speaker wants. The President tweeting, it's an impeachment hoax, and he suggests he agrees with those who want a, "Outright dismissal". That's what he calls for in that tweet. The President in his Laura Ingraham interview the other day said he'd very much like a trial, he'd very much like a lot of witnesses, he want whistleblower, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden. Do we believe is there any of this the one we know that is right or is he just bouncing around?

COLLINS: If you talked to people who talked to the President about this, he has really been all over the place. I mean, he has called for the exact opposite of that in the past saying he does want witnesses, he does wanted to be essentially this vindication of him, and now he says he just would like it to be over quickly.

Of course that's not likely what's going to happen. We know that based on all of our reporting. And the big question at the White House that his defense team is going to be facing now is whether or not they are going to have these witnesses. But the President making pretty clear if John Bolton does get subpoenaed, if that does somehow get to where that's an actual reality that they are going to try to block his testimony.

Obviously prompts the question, would John Bolton ignore a directive from the White House not to speak? So it's unclear, but of course the President has been essentially fuming about this for several days now. It's been a long time since he was impeached, and essentially they're waiting to see exactly what's going to happen as they've been doing the work behind the scenes.

KING: So we've been waiting four weeks now.

COLLINS: Yes.

KING: And I look through this covering the White House back in the Clinton days. Several important things are going to happen and will happen pretty quickly after this wait in the sense that Speaker Pelosi will announce the Managers. We expect that tomorrow after a House Democratic Caucus Meeting.

Then the House floor has to vote to formally send the articles over to the Senate along with the Managers. The Managers then present their articles on the Senate floor, the Chief Justice and Senators will sworn in the Senate has to adopt a resolution setting out the rules at least the initial rules for the trial. And then the Senate it is a formal procedure sends or summons to the Trump legal team essentially inviting them to join the procedure.

This is all going to happen after this long wait pretty quickly in the sense that it was told by somebody yesterday, that if this House sends them over on Wednesday night, it is possible McConnell starts the procedural stuff, Senator McConnell a Majority Leader, this week. We don't expect the actual trial part the substantive of it until next week after "The Martin Luther King" holiday, but they could swear them in, seat them and get the basics done this week. This is going to happen fast.

KIM: Exactly. I mean, the impeachment rules called for a happening pretty rapidly. So once the House sends over the articles over to the Senate the rule say by basically the latest 1 pm the next day the trial has to begin. So you have to remember all the things that have to occur once the trial begins.

First of all, the Senate has to adopt that resolution, those parameters of a trial that Senators have been fighting for some time, the one that McConnell said last week he has 51 Republican votes for they had to adopt that. They have to do a lot of procedural stuff.

One interesting thing you're going to be watching for you mentioned that once there is a summons issued to the President, there will be an opportunity for them to file some sort of a legal brief, legal response. That will be the first time that we see some sort of a detailed response as part of a trial for the President.

So there is a lot of things going on, but you're right, the meat of the trial, the opening arguments and the questions won't start for some time. I think that's why the President insisting over and over or insisting now a motion to dismiss is not going to go anywhere aside - just aside from the fact that he switched on it a lot.

Because Senators want the semblance of a substantive trial and you need opening arguments, you need questions to make that happen.

KING: And if they did bring some Republican Senators do want to bring a motion to dismiss, it is pretty clear they won't have the votes, in part because you have more moderate Republicans including Susan Collins who is on the ballot this year, saying they want the trial. To your point, she is also saying something else. Listen to this from over the weekend and then we'll talk about is this realistic or not. She says, she wants witnesses and she wants an agreement for witnesses in the initial Senate resolution, which is counter to her leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R-ME): I am working with a group of Republican Senators and our leaders to see if we can come to--

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