Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
Candidates Make Final Push Before Iowa Caucuses; Final Sprint To Iowa Exposes Divide In Democratic Party; Iowa Voters Torn Between Candidates Ahead Of Caucuses; The Impeachment Of Donald J. Trump. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired February 01, 2020 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:01]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world.
President Trump this weekend is technically still on trial, but now that the outcome of the impeachment process is pretty much set, there's very little suspense and very little uncertainty left.
So the focus now shifts to Iowa. That is where the men and women fighting for the Democratic nomination for President will finally see the first real votes of the 2020 race for the White House.
No more polls or mock elections. The Iowa caucuses are Monday.
Our CNN Political Director, David Chalian joins us in Iowa. David, CNN had planned to bring everyone to the final Iowa poll from CNN and the Des Moines Register tonight. That is no longer happening. Please explain to our viewers why.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. It was brought to CNN's attention earlier this evening that somebody who was questioned for the survey raised an issue with the way that their interview was conducted. That means the results of the poll could have been compromised.
We weren't able to determine exactly what happened during this person's interview, and we don't know if it was an isolated incident.
So, out of an abundance of caution, CNN and the Des Moines Register, and Selzer & Company who conducts the poll decided not to release tonight's poll. We take the standards that we apply to our polling very seriously and to keep the highest possible standards.
We wanted to present this information to the public and explain why we didn't proceed with releasing this poll this evening -- Ana.
CABRERA: Okay, David Chalian, we are glad you are there. I know you'll have much more from Iowa for us tonight with John King and Dana Bash, coming up live from Des Moines.
But first to the campaign trail, some influential Democrats appear to be fighting more among themselves than against the freshly impeached President Donald Trump and instead of looking forward, they're rehashing the past.
Here we are, Friday night, a sitting Democratic Congresswoman booed former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
This was at a Bernie Sanders rally in Iowa. The moderator mentioned recent comments from Hillary Clinton, where she criticized her 2016 opponent, Bernie Sanders.
Listen to this Hillary Clinton comment and then see what happened last night.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Unfortunately, you know, his campaign and his principal supporters were just very difficult and really constantly not just attacking me, but my supporters.
We get to the convention. They're booing Michelle Obama, John Lewis. I mean, it was very distressing and such a contrast between what we did to unite in '08 and all the way up until the end.
A lot of people highly identified with his campaign were urging people to vote third party, urging people not to vote. It had an impact.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Iowa, we have three days. I don't remember if you guys remember last week when someone by the name of Hillary Clinton said that nobody -- we're not going to boo, we're not going to boo. We're classy here.
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): Oh, no, I'll boo. Boo.
[LAUGHTER]
TLAIB: You all know I can't be quiet. No, we're going to boo. That's all right. The haters -- the haters will shut up on Monday when we win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: That was Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a major surrogate for Senator Bernie Sanders booing a fellow Democrat from the stage.
Tlaib expressed some remorse today on Twitter saying her disappointment with Hillary Clinton got the best of her.
Senator Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden are heading into the Iowa Caucuses, Monday, sharing the lead among the Democratic candidates. We have live Team Coverage all across the state of Iowa. Let's start
with CNN's Ryan Nobles. He is with the Sanders campaign tonight. Ryan, any reaction there to that Friday night booing incident?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there has been some reaction to it, Ana. But honestly, the Sanders campaign would like to move on. They do not want to re-litigate 2016. They are more focused on what's happening here in Iowa over the next couple of days.
This massive rally that's taking place behind me here in Cedar Rapids with the band Vampire Weekend, and the energy they believe, is behind their campaign going into this crucial stage of the Democratic nominating contest.
But I did talk to Michael Moore an hour ago. He's the filmmaker. He was at that event last night, where this controversial statement was made, and essentially Moore's argument here is that yes, there is some angst still within particularly the progressive wing of the Democratic Party as it relates to what happened in 2016, but we should not misinterpret that.
This is more about where the energy in the party is, and he believes the energy is behind Bernie Sanders. Listen to what he told me about an hour ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: Bernie Sanders is number one in the polls here in Iowa, New Hampshire, California, across the country. Your own CNN poll last week said he was number one with non-white voters.
[21:05:06]
MOORE: He's already won over the country because he is fighting for healthcare for all Americans, daycare, a minimum wage that should be doubled, on and on and on and when people hear that, that's why they're for Bernie Sanders. That's all they're thinking about.
Nobody out there in Michigan or Wisconsin or Pennsylvania is thinking about 2016 now. We're thinking about how many people have lost their homes because they couldn't pay the medical bills. That's all we're talking about. That's all we're thinking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: And that is the focus of the Sanders speech tonight here behind me He is continuing to hit on these issues that he has talked about for the last 40 years.
Ana, though, Sanders himself repeatedly on the campaign trail this weekend has said the following refrain, if voter turnout is high, they will win. If voter turnout is low, they will lose. That is the standard that they're holding to on Monday night.
And right now, they feel confident that that voter turnout will result in victory for Bernie Sanders -- Ana. CABRERA: Ryan Nobles there live. We hear the cheering continuing
behind you. Thank you. Let me turn to MJ Lee. She is with Senator Elizabeth Warren's campaign and Senator Warren also addressed the Clinton booing incident and this divide and the lack of unity in the Democratic Party at this moment. What did she say?
M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, Congresswoman Tlaib booing Hillary Clinton, this is an incident that has created a lot of concern among Democrats, concerns that the party isn't unified as we head into the election and voting actually starting in just two days.
And we are just coming out of an event that Elizabeth Warren held in Iowa City, and when she spoke to reporters after the event, CNN got a chance to ask her to react to Congresswoman Tlaib leave booing Hillary Clinton. This is what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I understand that during primaries, people can get heated, but what's important is we come together as a party, because we have one really important job, and that is to beat Donald Trump.
And our best chance to do that is when Democrats work together, when we get out there and fight for the things we believe in, and we bring as many people as possible into our party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: So interesting, as you heard there, Senator Warren chalking up this incident to politics sometimes getting heated. And it was also notable that this question allowed Senator Warren to talk about party unity, which is something that she already wanted to talk about as she has made her pitch in Iowa this weekend on electability.
And a part of that message has been that she believes she can win over supporters of Bernie Sanders from 2016 and even supporters of Donald Trump from the last election.
And I just want to paint a picture for you, a bigger picture sort of scene of what it has been I'd like to cover Senator Warren just this weekend.
The energy has just felt different. I think voters are obviously keenly aware that voting is about to get underway. Senator Warren herself has been extremely energetic.
This is a candidate who often doesn't lack energy, but it has seemed even more so this weekend as she has really delivered her closing and final message.
And just to give you some perspective, too, on how much campaigning Senator Warren is trying to cram in into these final days, especially since she has spent the last week in Washington, D.C. for the Senate impeachment trial, she announced earlier today that she is skipping her famous photo lines this weekend in Iowa because she doesn't have time for that, unfortunately.
She says she wants to preserve the time to visit as many cities as possible this weekend. So it just goes to show how much urgency there is this weekend here in Iowa as these candidates are fanned out trying to deliver their final messages before the caucuses -- Ana.
CABRERA: All right, thank you, MJ. As these candidates rush to try to reach as many voters as possible, we want to reach as many of the campaigns as possible. So let me bring in Arlette Saenz. She's on the trail with former Vice President Joe Biden. Arlette, how is team Biden feeling heading into Monday?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Ana, Joe Biden is wrapping up his third events of the day here in Waterloo, Iowa.
He's actually shaking hands with people and reporters are waiting to potentially ask him a few questions.
But Joe Biden has been here on the ground for the past week, and he has been stressing over and over that he is the best candidate to face President Trump and defeat him in November.
This is something that Biden has been hammering away as he has campaigned through the state, and what he's essentially trying to do here is something that he started to do at the very beginning of his campaign.
He tries to frame this as a face-off between himself and the President. He doesn't mention his Democratic rivals by name in his stump speech, but he is really trying to stress to voters that the President is most concerned about facing him in a general election.
[21:10:10]
SAENZ: Now, you did hear Biden today offer voters with a little suggestion for what they should be evaluating when they look at these other Democratic candidates.
One thing that he said was that you need to select someone who isn't just simply making promises, who actually can get things done. That could be seen as a snub, a slight at Bernie Sanders, who Biden has often said that some of the policies that have been proposed on the more left side of the party aren't as realistic, able to become actually become legislation.
But take a listen as Biden over the course of the day was really trying to draw a contrast, paints a contrast between himself and the President in both values and leadership style. Take a listen to what he had to say earlier tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Everyone knows who Donald Trump is. We have to let him know who we are. No, that's what we have to do.
[APPLAUSE] BIDEN: We, I -- we choose hope over fear.
[APPLAUSE]
BIDEN: We choose -- we choose science over fiction. We choose unity over division and we choose truth over lies.
[APPLAUSE]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: So Joe Biden there sending a rallying cry to Democrats about what they should be sending a message with, with their caucus decision, and he is betting that caucus goers and people across the country that their first priority is going to be defeating President Trump and that he thinks he's the best one to do that -- Ana.
CABRERA: Arlette Saenz with the Biden campaign. Thank you. Abby Phillip is covering Pete Buttigieg's campaign.
Abby, you spoke with Buttigieg right before his campaign event earlier in Dubuque, Iowa. You talked to him about his effort to court what he is calling future former Republicans -- explain.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ana. We're here at the last event of the day for Pete Buttigieg in Cedar Rapids, but it has about capped what has been several days of a really whirlwind tour of Iowa, where he's gone from county to county to county, with the idea being speaking to these voters that he believes that he can get.
They are people who might have voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, and flipped to vote for Donald Trump in 2016.
The Buttigieg campaign is taking so much of their strategy here in Iowa on showing that they have the ability to reach not only registered Republicans, but former Democrats and what he calls future former Republicans.
I asked him about what's behind that strategy, and here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE BUTTIGIEG (D-IN), FORMER MAYOR, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's a mistake to take any vote for granted and it's a mistake to write any vote off.
Look, I want to not only win against Donald Trump, but when so big that it sends Trumpism itself into the dustbin of history.
I think a big win is also what it would take to send out the kind of shockwaves that might actually reunite Senate G.O.P. members with their conscience because it seems like right now, based on how they're behaving on the floor of the Senate, the language of political power and winning and losing is the only thing that they'll respond to. (END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: And while on the ground here in Iowa, Buttigieg has been focused on reaching some of those flipping voters from 2016 to 2020. But there's also some questions being raised by some of his own supporters about whether he can reach his fellow Democrats and unite the Democratic Party.
He said to one supporter today, to remind that their friends who might want to vote for Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren that their Medicare-for-All proposals, for example, would actually result in people who work in those industries being out of a job.
So there's still a lot of questions here about whether Buttigieg's message is going to reach some of the more progressive voters and it's also something we've heard a lot of his own supporters having some anxiety about.
I think Democrats are really concerned that at the end of this nominating process, they'll all be able to come together around one nominee and go into November with a united front -- Ana.
CABRERA: Thanks, Abby. And thank you one at all for your reporting from the trail.
It is a week of special political coverage here on CNN. You have the caucuses on Monday. Tuesday, it's the State of the Union address. Wednesday and Thursday, we have back-to-back Presidential Town Halls for you live from New Hampshire. So don't miss our whole week of special coverage right here on CNN. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:18:39]
CABRERA: It's all eyes on Iowa with just two days to go and helping us analyze these crucial final hours before the Iowa caucuses, CNN Political Director, David Chalian is back with us along with CNN Chief Political Correspondent, Dana Bash, and CNN Chief National Correspondent, John King.
Dana, let me start with you because before the break, we saw Rashida Tlaib booing Hillary Clinton at an event for Senator Sanders. This sounds like deja vu a little bit.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CABRERA: How does the party in 2020 bridge this gap, especially if this becomes a long primary fight?
BASH: Well, it's that last part that you said that is the most important, especially if it becomes a long primary fight because that was exactly what Hillary Clinton was getting at with the series of comments that she made first in the upcoming documentary and then in the podcast that was released. And this is such a real undercurrent that has been going on for more
than four years now. And the fact that it continues and Hillary Clinton isn't even on the ballot is very telling and it's also -- I was talking to some Sanders supporters today about this -- empowering for them.
At this point, so close to caucus day, so close to when people are actually going to the polls, you know, they're trying to harness at the anger, to harness the offense that they're taking to these comments.
[21:20:10]
CHALIAN: And can I just add something to that, Dana, is I heard Pete Buttigieg in an interview with Abby Phillip, our colleague today on CNN, and I went to go see Senator Sanders give a speech in Indianola, Iowa today.
He, on a couple of occasions in his remarks today talked about unifying the party. He made the case for why he thinks he is the absolute best one to go up against President Trump and defeat him.
But he also said, you know, that he and he thinks he could speak for every other person on the stage knows that the ultimate goal for the party is to defeat Donald Trump and that they will get behind whoever is the nominee.
He talked about the need to unify the party again a couple of times in his speech, and I think when I heard that, my ears perked up a little bit and being like he knows that he has to continue to assuage any concerns from the non-supporting side of the party for him.
And Buttigieg had these remarks, too, and I think these candidates understand it's been -- look how they are closing? All of them are closing on electability arguments and some other, you know, message points, too, policy.
But that core mission of electability because we have seen all year long, nothing matters as much as defeating the President and they have to make sure that they're not doing anything to dissipate from that.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And that matters for all Democrats. But in Iowa Democrats, you pick it up a lot because Obama won the state twice, and Democrats loved it, they were part of the birth of Obama, if you will.
In the beginning of his campaign, they sent him on a victory, and then Trump won it. And so Iowa Democrats get mad about that. They get viscerally mad about that.
And so unity to them matters, although even sometimes you will find a Sanders supporter from 2016 or a Clinton supporter. The bad blood does still exist.
Bernie Sanders is trying to move past it. You're dead right about that. He really understands how important is to his growth, especially if he can get a win here and get early momentum. It's key to his growth to get other people to come in.
So he has been willing to move past that even though you know he doesn't like it. So some of his supporters like the Congresswoman last night, they are still a little prickly about this.
CABRERA: You know, there's an interesting dynamic though this year in Iowa because there are so many candidates, right. And there isn't a clear, clear front runner. There's a big group kind of up at the front.
Elizabeth Warren, though, has seen her poll numbers slip a bit, Dana, and recently her campaign has been downplaying the significance of the early nominating contest. She's sort of changing her message from I have a plan to I am the most electable. How well does she have to perform there in Iowa in order to keep her campaign from stalling out?
BASH: Well, look, I mean, all of these candidates have the ones who are really campaigning aggressively here in Iowa, they do have to do well, but with someone like Elizabeth Warren, who I don't know if you guys agree, who's got a tremendous amount of support, not just in Iowa, not just in New Hampshire, because she is from the state next door, but also she's turned her campaigning aggressively in the south.
So she's got the support across the country. She's got money. So if she doesn't do well here, it will be, especially Bernie Sanders does and he kind of takes the progressive mantle, it will be harder for her to catch up, but maybe not a death now, if she performs poorly here.
CHALIAN: Yes, I think the stakes are pretty high for all the candidates here. I really do. I think you can make a case almost for each of the leaders in the field as to why I was really important for them.
I do think, you know, there's a lot riding on it from Warren and Buttigieg to sort of catapult through the rest of the calendar to show that what they've built over this year is durable.
I think that there is some pressure on Sanders to show that he can recreate the movement that came out and almost won the caucuses here against Hillary Clinton four years ago.
And there's pressure on Joe Biden, who has most consistently made the case that he is the most electable, and this has been the very core of his message.
And you know, one of the things to prove electability is winning. And so I think there's, you know, pressure on him.
So I think it's actually a pretty important state, even though it may be a muddle, and we'll go on to New Hampshire and Nevada and South Carolina and Super Tuesday. But I do think it's a pretty important out of the gate marker for each of them.
KING: And I think maybe and it's a big maybe, but all the more so this year, because you do have a strategy that's never worked before with a Michael Bloomberg waiting with an unlimited budget because he writes his own checks.
And so Iowa is about only a small amount of delegates. The first four contests give you less than five percent for the delegates you need at the convention, so it's about momentum, and about building your brand.
But even these candidates who've been -- Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg, Biden to a lesser extent successful raising money, raising enough money so far, if you're struggling after the first four, and you've got a guy who's already spent $275 million, and he's willing to spend another $275 million, how much it costs to advertise in California? When you get to these big states.
So it's never happened before. No one has gone and maybe sit out the first four and do it. But if nobody emerges or if one of the progressives emerges with winning, say three out of the first four, that's when Bloomberg is going to stand up and say, look at me.
[21:25:14]
KING: So I think getting momentum early, whether you're Elizabeth Warren, who has a great organization here, tomorrow is a test of organization -- it's Monday, I'm sorry -- it's a test of organization.
But for all of them, that's just another wildcard that's unpredictable to me because he can write unlimited checks.
CABRERA: Right. And John, Bloomberg has been criticized for not having to sort of play the same political game as the other candidates, and this big question mark about the strategy he is pursuing that really hasn't been pursued previously.
And he's been criticized for not having to come on the debate stage to make his case to the voters. Well, now we have the D.N.C. just announcing that they're changing the rules for the debates. No donor threshold for the upcoming debate in Nevada. That means Michael Bloomberg could make his first appearance on the stage.
I mean, this is something the Sanders campaign is now crying foul saying, you know, the D.N.C. is paving a path here for Bloomberg. Is that what happened here?
KING: Well, Michael Bloomberg would say -- his campaign would say he is rising in the polls. He has given money to the D.N.C. The candidates are trying to say he gave a whole bunch of money to the D.N.C. Michael Bloomberg's campaign says well, they raised money for the D.N.C., too.
I can tell you here in Iowa, where they take their caucuses very, very seriously. Even someone who says that they are a Sanders supporter, they admire Pete Buttigieg because he has been out here working so long. They admire Joe Biden because he's been out here working for it.
So Iowa voters resent it if you skip at the beginning, Bloomberg's play is that nobody emerges and then he can raise his hand with all that money. And yes, there's a lot of -- imagine how Cory Booker feels? Imagine
how these candidates who have had to drop out of the race because they can't get debate attention feel, and all of a sudden Michael Bloomberg now is going to get on the debate stage.
So those complaints will continue. But the reality in the campaign looking forward is he has now risen to eight, ten, twelve percent in some of these polls whether you're looking at national polls or state polls, and that matters.
And if he does get on the debate stage, and he does start spending all this money, who knows.
BASH: But I think, to Ana's point, it already is feeding into the rigged system notion that Bernie Sanders, you know, is hitting -- is pounding on and even Andrew Yang, others are pounding on -- Tom Steyer.
And it's not just about this particular issue. It's sort of the core of their campaigns, when they're talking about changing the institutions, changing the way we do things.
And so when you have something like the D.N.C. saying, yes, maybe Michael Bloomberg can come in and we're going to change the rules for him, they're obviously not saying that directly.
CHALIAN: Right.
KING: Right.
BASH: But that's what the critics -- that's what the critics are saying. You know, it's the same notion on the other side of the aisle that helped Donald Trump get elected. It's the rigged system. It's the, you know, taking a whack at everything that Washington and the big institutions are keeping down the little people. It's the same notion.
CABRERA: Okay. Everyone standby. Our live team coverage from Iowa will continue in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:32:47]
CABRERA: With just one full day left now before the Iowa caucuses, how do voters in the first in the nation to vote state feel during these last hours approaching decision time? CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Des Moines talking to voters there -- Jeff.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Finally, it is their turn. Iowa voters are poised to render the first verdict of the presidential race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAT MUNDY, IOWA VOTER: I have never been not willing to take a chance.
And I think this election we maybe need to take a chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (voice over): Pat Mundy has been sizing up the field.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUNDY: I started first with Elizabeth Warren and I was very pro- Elizabeth in the beginning. My next candidate was Pete. And I have heard him speak twice. Joe Biden, he is a source of comfort. Bernie Sanders comes off much more compelling in person than he does on the screen.
ZELENY (on camera): So Monday night whose corner will you be in?
MUNDY: I have committed to caucus for Pete.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (voice over): Mundy, a retired teacher, has taken full advantage of her front row seat. Shaking hands with Biden, asking a question of Andrew Yang and finally coming face-to-face with her top choice.
After a year of listening to candidates at town halls --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to win this campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (voice over): -- and through TV ads --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Elizabeth Warren is the president this nation needs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (voice over): -- voters are making up their minds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON HEITLAND, IOWA VOTER: This is the year to play it safe and go with a proven candidate. I think that is Joe Biden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (voice over): We met Jon Heitland at a campaign stop for Buttigieg, where he made his final decision to support Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEITLAND: We need to nominate the person that can beat President Trump. That is the number one issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (voice over): The signs of the season are everywhere in Iowa, from storefronts to front yards. This time, many voters have been slow to choose as they search for the strongest candidate to challenge President Trump.
Their decisions are driven by issues but above all, electability. On that front, Democrats are torn whether to choose a progressive path --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENISE DIAZ, IOWA VOTER: I'm supporting Senator Sanders.
ZELENY (on camera): Why?
DIAZ: I just love his message. I think that he has integrity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (voice over): -- or a more pragmatic one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My first choice caucus I think is going to go with Amy Klobuchar. My second is uncertain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[21:35:09]
ZELENY (voice over): It is that question of second choice that is critical here. Candidates must win at least 15 percent of support in the first round of voting. If they don't, voters turn to plan B.
For Hope Bossard, that is Biden. She respects him and is comfortable with him. But after seeing him up close, she wasn't electrified.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOPE BOSSARD, IOWA VOTER: I have to weigh this out. I like a lot of the new ideas that Tom Steyer's has, but I'm good with Biden. If he is our guy, I can support him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (voice over): But not everyone is making that choice. After seeing Biden and Buttigieg on the same day, just before Christmas, Cheri Scheib faced a tough decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)`
CHERI SCHEIB, IOWA VOTER: What is a guy to do?
I don't know yet. I've got to think about it and sleep on it. I don't know yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (voice over): We caught up with her again this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (on camera): Who are you going to be with Monday night?
SCHEIB: I'm going to be with Pete. I am. Mayor Pete, you've got my vote. As many times as I've seen him, I've enjoyed him every time. I appreciate everything that he says, smart guy. Today, really solidified my thought process on it. So I'm going with Pete.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY (on camera): Now there is no question that those voters have made up their minds, but so many other voters across Iowa we've talked to all week have not.
There are so many undecided voters here, Ana. One of the reason is, electability, we hear again and again. Who is the strongest Democrat to take on President Trump?
Tonight, I am at a rally for Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. She of course has been trapped in Washington at the impeachment trial all week, so she is back here now trying to rally support.
She of course is pressing the electability argument as well. In fact, her precinct captain leaders are wearing green shirts that say Amy Klobuchar can beat President Trump.
So it's not a very subtle message here from any of the candidates -- that is one of the defining issues, but, Ana, the question here, how many voters will turn out on Monday night at the caucuses?
As Bernie Sanders has been saying, if it's a big turnout that benefits him; if it's a small turnout, it does not.
So with about a day and a half left of campaigning still very much undecided -- Ana.
CABRERA: It's anybody's game, anybody's guess which way this is going to go. It certainly looks like there's a full house there behind you tonight, speaking of turnout, Jeff Zeleny, thank you.
Quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:41:53]
CABRERA: Tonight, fresh reaction from Democrats and Republic as the timeline for President Trump's impeachment trial has shifted with an end now expected on Wednesday.
Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee who was a key vote against calling witnesses says he thinks President Trump's conduct was improper and crossed the line, but not bad enough to justify removal from office.
Now Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are heaping criticism on the Republicans' decision to end the trial without witnesses. CNN's Manu Raju has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUESTION: How does it feel to be leaving during the trial after no resolution?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (voice over): Tonight, a bitterly divided Senate taking a break as Republican push for a swift end to President Trump's historic impeachment trial.
After ignoring Democratic complaints that they are holding a sham trial, Republicans have now set a schedule that will virtually ensure Trump is cleared a date after his State of the Union address next week.
Monday at 11:00 a.m., closing arguments for the Democratic impeachment managers and President Trump's lawyers for two hours each. After that, regular Senate business, allowing senators to deliver floor speeches about their decisions over whether to convict the President.
Culminating Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, the final vote on whether to remove or acquit President Trump on charges of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Democrats' emotion still raw after Republicans voted largely along party lines against hearing from any witnesses or issuing subpoenas for scores of documents blocked by the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's deeply disappointing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU (voice over): Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeting, "It is a sad day for America to see Senator McConnell humiliate the Chief Justice of the United States into presiding over a vote which rejected our nation's judicial norms, precedents and institutions which uphold the Constitution and the rule of law."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mrs. Feinstein discerns no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU (voice over): In Friday's dramatic vote, two Republicans -- Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine voted to hear from witnesses, including former National Security adviser, John Bolton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT: The yeas are 49. The nays are 51.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU (voice over): But the other 51 Republicans voted to block the effort with many arguing that no matter what the witnesses said or what the President did, it would not amount to an impeachable offense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R-TN): I think he shouldn't have done it. I think it was wrong. Inappropriate was the way I'd say, improper, crossing the line, and then the only question left is who decides what to do about that?
CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST: Well, who decides what to do with that?
ALEXANDER: The people. The people is my conclusion. I think what he did is a long way from treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. I don't think is the kind of inappropriate action that the framers would expect the Senate to substitute its judgment for the people in picking a President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU (voice over): But many Republicans and the White House wanted Trump cleared last night so he could use Tuesday's State of the Union address to boast about his acquittal. Yet, some Senate Republicans and most Democrats demanded a chance to speak on the floor.
That means President Trump will still be on trial while delivering the nationally televised address.
[21:45:09]
RAJU (voice over): The delay also allows the four Democratic senators running for President to campaign in Iowa ahead of the crucial Iowa caucuses, Monday night.
Now, the focus is on whether any senators buck their party on the final vote, including three moderate Democrats who have not ruled out acquittal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Is it a very hard decision?
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): It is the most serious decision that any senator will ever make in their career. And every senator wish they didn't have to make this decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU (voice over): Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: John King, Dana Bash and David Chalian are back with us now.
John, what we had heard over and over and over again from the President was that this was a perfect phone call with Ukraine, but now we have some Republican senators admitting that what he did was improper, yet they don't want to punish Trump for it. Can they have it both ways?
KING: They're going to try, Ana, and I think some is the word to focus on there because it's not a lot of Republicans. It's very few so far.
I think it's interesting in Manu's speech there, he explained there'll be two days on the Senate floor where the senators get to give speeches.
We know a lot of Democrats are going to get up and say this is an outrage, we should have called witnesses, more information is going to come out, you Republicans are going to be shamed by what you've done here. We know that's going to happen.
My question is how many Republicans go to the floor and say what Senator Alexander said there, say what Senator Rob Portman of Ohio have said. The President was wrong. He acted inappropriately. He should not have asked the President of another country to investigate Joe Biden. He should not have held up the military aid pushing for those investigations.
Very few Republicans have been willing to do that so far. And we know, the President doesn't like it especially when Republicans criticize him.
So my question over the next coming days is, there are a lot of Republicans who want to say that and privately, they will tell you they're trying to put some guardrails up so the President doesn't do this again. How many of them will have the courage to do it? It's a big question for the next 72 hours.
CABRERA: I think Marco Rubio's statement, too, was one that just had a lot of jaws dropping when he says, "Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office." Dana, how do you make sense of that?
BASH: A lot of people can't. I mean, it's -- you know, there are lots of pretzel twisting moments happening while people are trying to write these statements.
That was probably the twistiest of the pretzels right there. But I think, John is right that we're going to probably see in here more of that when the senators go and speak on the Senate floor, particularly those who are either retiring, now, we know what Lamar Alexander who is retiring at the end of his term is thinking, but also those who are up for reelection.
There are again -- we've been talking a lot about it, but now we're really going to hear from these Republican senators who are facing lots of, lots of -- you know, facing an uphill battle back home, whether it's Cory Gardner in Colorado, or Susan Collins in Maine.
It's also going to be interesting for people in more purple states like Thom Tillis of North Carolina say, because they're trying to find the balance of not angering the Republican base, even in the blue state of Maine.
They really, really like the President, but also not completely shunning the Independents and Democrats that these Republicans need historically in order to win their states, and it's very difficult.
CHALIAN: Sorry, I'm also really curious to see Mitt Romney and Susan Collins, the two senators that voted with the Democrats on wanting witnesses. Do they want to extend that disagreement with the President and really take it to the floor in some way in their speeches and give a more full explanation to the American people?
Or they made their votes, they don't want to continue engaging the President and sort of shy away from that? I'm very curious to see what they do with it.
KING: Especially for --
BASH: I can tell you, Susan Collins wants to say what she -- give a more fulsome explanation of why she voted the way she voted on the witnesses, and more importantly, why she is going to vote and how she will on the Articles of Impeachment.
KING: It'll be interesting to see though because in her state, the President will probably not win Maine, but he is going to compete for one electoral vote up in Maine.
The State of Iowa, Joni Ernst made a decision to stick with the President. Martha McSally in Arizona made a decision to stick with the President. Why? Even if they have to reach out to Independent voters, they know, Ana, they cannot win without the Trump base.
So they just -- they figured for personal survival. This is the right thing to do. We'll see come November.
CHALIAN: And guess who's on top of the ticket?
KING: Right.
CHALIAN: Yes, I mean, you know, they're running with the President.
CABRERA: David, overnight, we learned that the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke with the President and got his blessing essentially, for when they would hold the acquittal vote that it's going to come on Wednesday, instead of before the State of the Union speech, which is what the White House had wanted. But I mean here, they haven't acquitted him yet. And yet they're
asking the man on trial, if, you know, is that convenient for him after, by the way, shooting down any new witnesses and evidence? Just what's your reaction to that?
[21:50:13]
CHALIAN: Well, I don't think there was any pretense of this actually being impartial justice as it's required to be. I don't think that was the case.
But it's not terribly surprising that the Majority Leader of the President's party would, Ana, schedule a matter, try to organize with him. And it was my understanding, it was the Democrats that really wanted to push this to Wednesday, to not have this on the State of the Union day as the President wanted.
And while it is, perhaps not at all surprising that Mitch McConnell would yet again coordinate a piece of the strategy, I don't -- there's no mystery that the President is going to be acquitted in the Senate.
So I don't think there's some great alarm that he gave the President a call and a heads up to when the vote would be taking place especially because it isn't to the President's liking of when that would be.
BASH: And Ana, if I could just add to that. I've been in touch with Senator McConnell's office about this very issue, and they have been arguing since the very beginning that it is appropriate for him to be coordinating with the White House.
They claim that -- their argument is that there are three parties to this. There's the Senate Republicans, there's you know, the Democrats, and then there's the White House about the parameters of this trial.
And so they saw this as no different giving him a heads up. Now, the reality is the big reason why is because the President was very, very clear. He wanted this done before he went to Capitol Hill for the State of the Union address on Tuesday, and now that is not going to happen.
So, of course, before the tweet storm came his way, it made perfect sense to give the President a heads up.
CABRERA: Right, so for our viewers who maybe aren't following every little nitty-gritty detail here, we know this acquittal vote is going to come the day after the State of the Union on Wednesday afternoon.
John, how do you think that might shape Trump's speech?
KING: Well, some Republicans are hoping it keeps him somewhat more restrained, that he doesn't gloat, that he doesn't celebrate, that he realizes the vote is the next day.
Look, the President has some tough choices to make here. How aggressive do you want to be? How critical of the Democrats do you want to be? Because he's on the ballot in November, this will be a giant opportunity for any President running for reelection.
This President is going to be running in what's going to be a tough year. Most Republicans even concede he'll probably lose the popular vote again. But there is a path for him to win reelection.
He has a very strong economy right now. Does he give an upbeat, optimistic, let's move on -- this has been a bad chapter. I'm mad about it, but I'm not going to dwell on it. Let's focus on the economy. Let's keep going.
Or does he give an angry, you know, the Speaker behind me and all you Democrats in the room. You know, you went off with your angry hoax. We'll see. We'll see.
It's a huge challenge for the President and you know he is raw in the moment, whether you agree or disagree with him. He's raw in the moment about this, but if he's thinking about November, he might want to dial it back a bit.
CHALIAN: And I'll just say, watch the President's -- the campaign -- they are putting out their Super Bowl ad. The former message you just described about the economy, that's the message that they're putting $10 million behind to get in front of every Super Bowl watcher tomorrow is a message about the economy and what he has done.
Then compare that campaign ad to what he does Tuesday night at the State of Union and see if it is in line with that, or if there's a discrepancy between the two, and I think that's going to tell us a lot about how Donald Trump plans to campaign this year.
CABRERA: Dana, we know the President does not plan to apologize.
BASH: I cannot imagine that happening. No, because the President still believes that it was a perfect call. I don't think he will come anywhere near apology territory. I think that's pretty safe to say.
CABRERA: All right, everybody, thank you very, very much for joining us. David Chalian, John King and Dana Bash, as well as the studio audience there at Drake University in Iowa. It's going to be an exciting next 48 hours.
Also, thank you to our viewers at home.
KING: Give us a hand.
CABRERA: Exactly. Exactly. Way to roll with the punches there. Be sure to tune in for a special week of political coverage here on CNN.
We have the Iowa caucuses, of course on Monday. Tuesday, the State of the Union address. Wednesday and Thursday back-to-back Presidential Town Halls live from New Hampshire. You following?
It's all next week right here on CNN.
That's going to do it for us tonight. Stay with CNN and cnn.com. We will bring you all the latest details from the campaign trail as well as new developments in the coronavirus as more Americans have also been diagnosed with the virus.
Eight total and another case still pending here in New York tonight. We're on top of it all. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thank you for being here.
I'll be back tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern in the CNN NEWSROOM. Up next. It's the race for the White House. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:00:00]
