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CNN Live Event/Special
Unprecedented Glitch In Iowa Frustrates Candidates; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Not Wasting Her Time Waiting; Results From Iowa Caucuses Delayed After "Inconsistencies" In Reporting; Biden, Warren, And Sanders Speak Amid Delay Of Iowa Results; Iowa Democratic Party To Manually Count Caucus Results. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired February 03, 2020 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And it's causing a lot of heart burn especially among the candidates, they want to know what's going on. The candidates would like to go out and speak to the American people, speak to their supporters and then move on to New Hampshire and elsewhere.
You know, it's crazy what's going on, Mark. You know, Mark Preston is here, David Chalian is here. So, the latest information you've received from the Iowa Democratic Party is what?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Is that they were spending time to do quality control to ensure that the three data set numbers which they have never released before, this is the first time, are accurate.
Now we have since found out from Ryan Nobles through the campaign that there's now would -- can only be called an emergency meeting of campaign representatives with the Iowa Democratic Party to discuss we don't know what, but clearly this is not a good sign of what we're at.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. No. We were told we were going to start seeing reports of votes an hour ago. The top of the 10 o'clock hour, after this quality control delay.
BLITZER: Normally we start receiving reports about half an hour --
(CROSSTALK)
CHALIAN: Exactly. So were already asking.
BLITZER: -- to 45 minutes after the caucus is open.
CHALIAN: We were asking party officials what's the deal and we were told at the top of the 10 o'clock hour, after this quality control, we would start to -- we're an hour past that. Now that campaigns have been called into a meeting where the party needs to inform them of what has gone on here and by the way, still keep their confidence that whatever, if anything ever gets eventually reported here, is actually legitimate. Clearly, this is a -- this isn't just a small problem they're dealing
with. Right? It is hard to imagine you would call in all the campaigns into a meeting in your boiler room if you're the state party running this process if you're worried about one precinct over there or one precinct over there.
This is clearly a larger issue now that they have to brief the campaigns on to make sure there's still integrity in the process.
BLITZER: It's going to call into question, you know, Iowa. I mean, this is a serious problem. They've got to fix this very soon, get the results out very soon, otherwise people are going to wonder, this is the first in the nation Democratic presidential election, caucuses, right now. And people have been waiting for three hours.
PRESTON: And there have been problems in the past. You know, this brings me back to 2016 and I remember leaving Iowa just about this time on an airplane. We did not know who had actually won. There were four airplanes that left Iowa. I remember we all landed in New Hampshire.
Now, the reason I say this is when we landed Bernie Sanders came out, he did not know that Hillary Clinton had declared victory of the Iowa caucuses and he came out and we had done an interview and Chris Cuomo had pulled him aside, it was about 4.30 in the morning and I said, Senator, you've lost the caucuses and he said what are you talking about? And again, it called it into question.
What we've seen so far tonight is we've seen multiple campaigns now telling our reporters on the ground that they are now questioning what these results are. Heading into New Hampshire there could be some question about who exactly the winner is.
CHALIAN: And I think we're also going to have to start looking at, what was the reporting system here, this app that they were using, this new way of doing things, did that -- did that app system fail in some way entirely?
And then I think you're going to start asking -- we have to start asking the question of has it been infected in any way, has there been any kind of interference? We have no -- we don't know that. But these are the question -- these are now all the questions that are mounting in the absence of the reporting information that the party has to answer. To have any belief and trust in the -- in the system.
PRESTON: And Wolf, when we talk about all these results, too, and for most of the viewers out there they're used to a primary system that's run by the secretary of state or the election official who was appointed or elected in their state. This is being run by the state political party and by volunteers, so no surprise that we'd be running into some problems tonight.
BLITZER: The Iowa Democratic Party earlier, Linda Nelson, a county chairperson of one of the counties out there posted a call for help on Facebook saying, I still cannot get my caucus app to work. I get to the point of adding my precinct pin from the math work sheet. I continue to get the error message. What am I doing wrong?"
So obviously there's a problem with this new app that they brought in. But you know what, now they may have to go back to the old-fashioned way of actually calling these specific results --
CHALIAN: Right.
BLITZER: -- from nearly 1,700 precincts and getting the results.
PRESTON: And that's a really important point. Because remember, they have these cards. They have the presidential preference cards that you sign and you express your support so there is a paper trail.
The party has that system in place so you -- it will be attainable to go and look at those preference cards and, in fact, it was those preference cards that each of these precinct chairs were using to do the actual vote count.
They would count the heads and that was the backup system, the way to verify how many people actually showed up in the caucuses. It looks like they're going to need to make sure and secure all of those presidential preference cards and make certain that they represent the reality of what occurred this those rooms.
[23:04:58]
BLITZER: Because the most important thing is to be precise and accurate. They don't want to rush it if they don't have the numbers and they're not confident in the numbers they've got to wait.
PRESTON: I mean, look, if the situation right now is that they want to be specifically and extra careful, that's understandable. But then we just go back to the fact that they've called an emergency meeting with some of the campaigns. I can't imagine that meeting is just to say, look, this is why we've been late, we're going to release them now. I think you would just do that over the telephone.
So, I suspect we are going to find out very, very soon what exactly is happening.
BLITZER: And I -- Terry McAuliffe, former governor of Virginia made an important point, and David, I would just get your thought on this. He said if he were advising any of these presidential candidates he would send them out to speak right now while people are still awake on the East Coast.
CHALIAN: Yes. I think there's no doubt. I mean, in Central Time, it's 10 o'clock, an hour earlier, the late -- the local newscasts are beginning, now would be a good time to capture a lot of attention. The problem is you don't know what the results are that you need to talk about. But at least you could go out and offer some assurance to your supporters and perhaps maybe just move on to New Hampshire if it doesn't look like we're going to get Iowa results anytime soon.
PRESTON: Right.
BLITZER: Let's go to Jeff Zeleny, he's in Des Moines. What are you hearing over there, Jeff?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Party officials have been hunkering down, I'm told, in a war room near here and they are really not saying much. They have some in this we've been reporting, campaign officials here to downtown Des Moines to have a briefing, essentially.
I've talked to officials in a couple campaigns who literally are on their way for this private meeting for some type of an update. We are told, an information we should point out is very limited here. We are told from officials from two campaigns that they believe as we've been saying that this is a delay from the app.
The application that was designed to report this three-tiered reporting system. We've heard reports earlier in the day that it had crashed for several people, several party chairs. So, they were calling in the results old fashioned way, if you will, and the lines have been jammed and other things.
I did also talk to a separate state Democratic official who was in this hotline room and he said the mood in there was fine. He said this is a lot of information to process. So, they were taking their time.
So that's the party line right now that they are, you know, having a quality control check, but frankly the campaigns aren't buying it. And as David was saying earlier, they are losing valuable time here for momentum going forward.
I was just at a precinct across town, at precinct 38 at the Des Moines -- at the Drake Fieldhouse and the precinct chair there was also calling in the results over the phone, not using the app because of a glitch in the reporting.
So, it appears that -- that the calling in these results is taking more time than the instantaneous app. We do not know if it's more than that, we don't know how widespread it is but that is what we know here right now as those presidential campaign officials, you know, they thought they would be at their victory parties, who are licking their wounds perhaps, now they are headed downtown Des Moines to try and find out from party officials what the holdup is. Wolf?
BLITZER: You know, it's interesting. Give me a sense of the mood that you're seeing out there, Jeff. Because there must be a lot of frustration, a lot of awkwardness right now. What's going on with the Iowa Democratic Party?
ZELENY: Sure. I mean, this is something that it's Central Time here so it does not seem as late, if you will. I talked to one official who said it's only right before 10 o'clock and this isn't that late. I said, you know, but the results as we've been talking about all evening long have always come in much faster.
In 2008, they certainly did. Four years ago, they certainly did. And it is a different moment. They are reporting significantly different results. The raw total of course the popular vote, if you will, as well as the delegate equivalent. But the mood among presidential campaigns is one of worry and one of
wonder exactly what's going out there. And some know exactly how they did and how they didn't do so that is another thing. They're in a bit of limbo here. But I think average voters have already gone home.
I was texting with some voters who were at their precincts earlier and they've been home for quite some time. So, there is just a sense of where are these results. And you're talking about newspapers earlier, the deadline for the Des Moines Register, the state's largest newspaper is about now. It's coming up on 10.30. So, the winner almost certainly will not be on that front page and that does matter.
We, of course, you know, have seen time and time again Rick Santorum ended up being named the winner of the Iowa Republican caucuses a couple weeks later. So, Wolf, we're efforting more information here when we can talk to these officials and the campaign officials once they come out of their briefing. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right. We'll get back to you soon as you have more information. Jeff, thank you.
Shawn Sebastian is joining us right now from Story County, he is a precinct secretary out there. What can you tell us about this delay in getting any results, Sean?
SHAWN SEBASTIAN, PRECINCT SECRETARY, STORY COUNTY, IOWA: Well, Wolf, I have been on hold for over an hour with the Iowa Democratic Party. They tried to, I think, promote an app to report the results. The app, by all accounts, just like doesn't work so we've been recommended to call in to the hotline and the hotline has not been responsive.
[23:10:10]
BLITZER: And you've --
(CROSSTALK)
SEBASTIAN: I can hear that this is the move that I'm hearing with.
BLITZER: -- have you gotten any explanation? Shawn, have you gotten any explanation at all as to what's going on?
SEBASTIAN: No, I have not, no. I'm just waiting on hold and doing my best to report the results from my precinct.
BLITZER: What are you hearing? I know you're listening to a conversation from the Iowa Democratic Party.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's (Inaudible) doing the reporting. Can we help you?
SEBASTIAN: This is a real coincidence, Wolf, I just got off hold, just now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello?
SEBASTIAN: So, I've got to get off the phone to report the results.
BLITZER: All right. Go ahead, and report, can we listen in as you report them, Shawn.
SEBASTIAN: Yes.
BLITZER: All right. Let's listen.
SEBASTIAN: All right. OK. Hi, hello? They hung up on me. They hung up on me. OK, I've got to get back in line on hold. They just hung up.
BLITZER: It's so frustrating, indeed. Shawn, we're going to stay in close touch with you, Shawn Sebastian from Story County out in Iowa, a precinct secretary. Just wanted to report the results of the caucus there, and clearly for an hour he was on hold, finally got through and then all of a sudden not happening.
Now Story County, you know, John King, you know I assume where all these 99 counties --
(CROSSTALK)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Story County is very important. Polk County is right here, this is where the state party headquarters is, so it's a pretty short phone call. But this is where the state party headquarter is. Polk is the largest county, Story County is very interesting because Ames, Iowa, it's a college town, so it's key if you go back in time and just take a look at it here.
It was a Bernie Sanders county by quite a bit four years ago. So, it's one of those places where we're trying to see where the young people go, where do the progressives go. It's very important in the full calculation. It is stunning, we still have 99 counties in Iowa all gray at the moment.
Again, you're seeing these names here, they're all percent because the computer stacks them alphabetically until we start to get results. All these campaigns, all these campaigns that are competing anyway are sitting in their headquarters.
I was just in the back texting and e-mailing. Ryan Nobles was the first to report it here, all of the campaigns have been asked to send a designee to the Iowa Democratic Party for a meeting. We're waiting to get some word on exactly what they're being told in that meeting.
And of course, you just heard the precinct captain you were talking to, the campaigns are saying the same thing that they hearing issues with the technology, they're hearing issues about the delay trying to get on the phone when they're trying to do it in the old-fashioned way. So, we wait, and at the moment we have nothing.
BLITZER: All right. Let's take a quick break. Resume our special coverage from the Iowa caucuses, still zero percent of the precincts have reported. We'll be right back.
[23:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And you're looking at live pictures from Amy Klobuchar headquarters, that is not Amy Klobuchar in case you're wondering. That is a person on her campaign. We expect her to be speaking very shortly to Governor McAuliffe's suggestion that candidates maybe come out and start speaking. Maybe somebody was listening. We're told she will be out momentarily.
Governor, just, again, this is, for those who are just joining us, normally we would have the vast majority of results in more. We relied in 2016, by this hour, we would have had 90, more than 90 percent of the results in. We have zero results in. The Iowa Democratic Party says that they have 25 percent results in thus far. What do you make of what is going on? What does it --
(CROSSTALK)
TERRY MCAULIFFE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Now they've called representatives of the campaign to the state party for a meeting. That is not a good sign. So, obviously what we're hearing is there was a problem with the app sending the information in.
I mean, you're only reporting a couple numbers. They should have had a backup with phones, you heard this gentleman, could not get through. I mean, it's chaos.
COOPER: If you're sitting in the White House tonight watching this, as I'm sure some people are --
(CROSSTALK)
MCAULIFFE: Donald Trump is loving this.
COOPER: -- this must be ideal.
MCAULIFFE: I mean, this is what we have to fix, we have to organize as a party, but this is the problem here with the caucuses, candidates, they want to give their victory speeches, they want to get on the planes, they're going to get into New Hampshire at five in the morning. This is their job to run these caucuses and they can't do it.
COOPER: Amy Klobuchar there, you can sort of see her through the signs, not really, but she's about to speak.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Unbelievable. So you probably heard we don't know the results. But I did not want to let another minute go by without thanking all of you.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: We are -- we know there's delays but we know one thing, we are punching above our weight.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: My heart is full tonight. One, because I have my great chair here. Thank you, Andy McGuire.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: Two, because I have this fantastic staff that has stood with us all the time.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: And three, because my husband and daughter are here with me tonight.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: And I want to thank them. I want to thank our tireless field organizers. The unstoppable volunteers who would never give up and we are feeling so good tonight and I cannot wait. Somehow, some way I'm going to get on a plane tonight to New Hampshire.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: And we are bringing this ticket to New Hampshire. So even in a crowded field of candidates, even during the well-earned impeachment hearing of Donald J. Trump, which kept me bolted to my Senate desk for the last two weeks, we kept fighting. And you kept fighting for me.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: We have started -- we have started in a blizzard. And a lot of people didn't predict I'd finish that speech. How could she do it? Then in the summer they kept saying is she going to make it through the summer? And then debate after debate after debate and all I can say is we are here and we are strong.
(APPLAUSE)
[23:19:58]
KLOBUCHAR: And with that same grit that got us through that blizzard we are now ready to head to New Hampshire.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: And my friends, my friends here in Iowa, you know we have beaten the odds every step of the way. We have done it on the merits. We have done it with ideas. And we have done it with hard work. Because --
(OFF-MIC)
KLOBUCHAR: Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: We know, in our hearts, that in a democracy it is not about the loudest voice or the biggest bank account. It is about the best idea. And it is about the person that can turn those ideas into action.
We know that our party can't win big by trying to out divide the divider in chief. We know that we win by bringing people with us instead of shutting them out.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: Donald Trump's worst nightmare is that the people in the middle, the people who have had enough of the name- calling and the mud-slinging have a candidate to vote for in November. Donald Trump's worst nightmare is that our fired-up Democrats will march to victory alongside a big coalition of independents and moderate Republicans that see this election just as we do.
That this election is, yes, an economic check. But it also is a patriotic check. It is a decency check. It is a simple idea. It's a simple idea. That the heart of America is so much bigger than the heart of this guy in the White House.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: Our country -- our country cannot take another four years of Donald Trump. Our collective sense of decency can't take another four years. The rule of law can't withstand another four years of a president that thinks he's above it.
Our democracy cannot tolerate another four years of a president who wants to bulldoze right through it. The American dream cannot take another four years of a president who thinks he can choose who gets it.
His playbook is not hard to understand. It is really three words. Divide and demoralize. Well, I have a playbook that's three words. Unite and lead.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: And that is how I have passed over 100 bills as the lead Democrat in the United States Senate in the middle of that gridlock.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: And that is how I have won elections in the reddest of red congressional districts, in the bluest of blue congressional districts.
The president, though, he might as well have a sign on his desk that says the buck stops anywhere but here. Look at what he has done. He blames everyone for our problems. He blames everyone, people that shouldn't be blamed. Who does he blame? He blames immigrants, right? He blames Barack Obama.
He blames the Fed chair that he nominated. The energy secretary that he appointed. The generals that he commands. And yes, the king of Denmark. He even recently blamed Justin Trudeau for cutting him out of the Canadian version of "Home Alone 2," who does that? Who does that? So, let me tell you what I will do. When I am behind that desk, I will
take responsibility instead of passing it on. I will reach across the aisle and work with Americans in good faith. Instead of picking fights I'll bring this country together instead of pushing it apart.
Some of you may know that old story about Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And it was a story about how after he died. They put his body on a train and it worked its way to Washington, D.C.
And there's a story of a reporter who came upon a man who was crying by the side of those tracks and the man had his hat on his chest and he was sobbing and the reporter looked at him and said, sir, do you know President Roosevelt? Did you know him? And the man says no, I didn't know President Roosevelt, but he knew me. He knew me.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: And what we are missing so much right now in our country is that sense of empathy. We are missing that caring. And I promise you this. I will bring back that sacred trust between the American people and the president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
[23:25:09]
KLOBUCHAR: So, if you are sick and tired of hearing how great the economy is when you don't feel it, when your paycheck is stretched to the breaking point month after month, I know you, and I will fight for you.
If you are sick of choosing between paying for day care for your kids and long-term care for your parents, I know you and I will fight for you. If you are sick of being torn between filling a refrigerator and filling a prescription, I know you, and I will fight for you.
And if you want a Democratic nominee who can make our tent bigger, and our coalition wider, and our coat tails longer --
(APPLAUSE)
(CROWD CHANTING)
KLOBUCHAR: -- if you -- if you want that, I know you and I will fight for you. And if you are sick and tired of the extremes in our politics and the noise and the nonsense you have a home with me. So please join our campaign at amyklobuchar.com.
(APPLAUSE)
KLOBUCHAR: Join us. Join us because --
BLITZER: Amy Klobuchar first out. She just spoke even though we're waiting, even though we're waiting for some results, so far zero percent of the precincts reporting. You're getting some new information on this delay hour after hour. PRESTON: I am, as well, as David Chalian is. The telephone call has
ended between the Iowa Democratic Party and the representatives of the campaigns. What we're told, though, is what they are saying publicly is what they were saying privately that, in fact, this is out of an abundance of caution that they're having to report three data sets. They want to make sure they get it right.
Now I know David has even more.
CHALIAN: Well, we just have a brand-new statement, everyone, from the Iowa Democratic Party. This is from the communications director Mandy McClure. Wolf, I'm just going to read this from my computer here.
BLITZER: Please.
CHALIAN: We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results. In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report.
This is simply a reporting issue. The app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results.
So that is from the Iowa Democratic Party communications director. We are now finally, after several hours now, actually getting what the system is, which is that the tech systems used to tabulate the results in addition to photos and paper trail will now validate because of inconsistencies in reporting of the three sets of results.
BLITZER: And tell our viewers what the three sets we're talking about.
CHALIAN: Well, remember, this is something brand new. This has never happened before and obviously this has caused a complication here but we were getting tonight, anticipating from the Iowa Democratic Party a popular vote total of that first round of voting that voters -- that caucus goers do when they get to the caucuses, and then a popular vote total of the final round of voting after they have realigned themselves and certain candidates are not viable.
And then the all-important metric of state delegate equivalence that determine the winner of the Iowa caucuses, three different data streams that the party had prepared to transmit simultaneously as it was being reported in from the -- from the precincts and report out first, final and state delegates all at once.
But again, quote, "we found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results." So, something wasn't matching up and making sense, it seems, between that first vote, final vote and the state vote.
BLITZER: Sounds like a technical problem, they're going to have to go back and actually count -- count the --
CHALIAN: And they want to ensure it's accurate, the reporting. PRESTON: And, you know what, you have to give them credit for that. I
mean, in the sense, if this is, in fact, what is happening and that they have the safeguards in place then we're all -- we're all just going to have to wait a little bit to get those results.
Again, they probably should have come out about an hour earlier to probably tamp this down. But we'll see what these results are when they come back.
BLITZER: We've got Bret Niles is joining us, the Linn County Democratic Party chair joining us on the phone right now. Bret, can you help us better appreciate this delay, what's going on?
[23:29:56]
BRET NILES, LINN COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR: Unfortunately, we're having trouble with people who weren't able to get through on the app that it was getting hung up or they weren't able to initially get in that are trying to call in the results on the line that was identified for filing results if the app wasn't working.
BLITZER: So where does it stand right now? What do you have to do?
NILLES (voice-over): We're trying to gather all the information from the various 86 precincts in Linn County. We have a central location for that. So we're going to be getting as much information from each one of those so we can try and compile it here if possible for Linn County results.
BLITZER: Do you have a sense of the results of Linn County where you are?
NILLES (voice-over): No, I personally don't right now. There's still people coming in and we're unpacking our presidential preference cards, our reporting sheets, our voter registrations and so forth. So to that extent, I really don't have a handle on where it stands.
BLITZER: All right. Bret, we'll stay in touch with you. The former vice president, Joe Biden, is getting ready to make a statement, too. You see his wife, Jill Biden, there as well. We want to hear what he has to say in Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hello, everyone. Folks, well it looks like it's going to be a long night, but I'm feeling good.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I want to thank you all, all our supporters and all those incredible people, all public office in this state that endorsed us, and all the endorsers across the country, my colleagues in the Senate, the House, the vice presidency, all of you, all the people from Delaware and California, all the people that came from all over to help us campaign here.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I want to tell you -- and most of all, I want to thank the Iowans that are here.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Well, the Iowa Democratic Party is working to get this result -- get them straight. And I want to make sure they're very careful in their deliberations. And indications are -- our indication is going to be close. We're going to walk out of here with our share of delegates. We don't know exactly what it is yet but we feel good about where we are. Look, so it's on to New Hampshire.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Nevada, South Carolina. Well beyond. We're in this for the long haul. And I want us to remember, not just tonight but throughout this campaign, this -- thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: This isn't just another election. This is well beyond our party. This is about ending an era of -- well, ending an era, god willing, of --
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: -- of a president who -- look, this is bigger than any of us. It really is. We cannot -- we cannot allow Donald Trump to be reelected to the United States presidency again.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I'm ready to give him a new nickname, the former President Trump, Chris, the former President Trump.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And folks, as I said, it's bigger than any candidate, bigger than any party. And folks, you know, I said from the outset, Jill and I both said, we're in a battle for the soul of the nation and that's not hyperbole. We really believe that and I think it's been demonstrated every single hour he remains as president of the United States.
Folks, each and every one of us know that deep in our bones that everything this nation stands for is at stake, and I really mean it. Four more years of Donald Trump will fundamentally alter the character of this nation and character is on the ballot. That's what this is.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Everything that makes America is at stake and literally our democracy is at stake, in my view -- our view. I say our view because you've been doing this hard work as well as I have. Folks --
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And folks -- I love her, too, man.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: Well, I tell you what -- the other reason we're running, we're going to make sure it happens. We've got to rebuild the backbone of this country: the working class, the middle class. They've been getting laid out badly by this administration. The middle class is being hurt very badly.
But look, you know what, we have -- we have to unify this country as well. Everybody understands that CEOs and Wall Street bankers didn't build America. Ordinary hardworking people led by unions built America.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Unions.
(APPLAUSE)
[23:34:57]
BIDEN: And folks, we need a president who is not only ready to fight but also ready to heal this country. We can't hold grudges. We've got to be able to go out and unify the country because a president is supposed to heal as well as fight. That's exactly what I plan on doing, we plan on doing, and all of us in this hall plan on doing.
Ladies and gentlemen, you know, I'm going to go all over this country, every part of the Democratic Party and be united -- men, women, gay, straight, everyone, black, brown, whole universe of people out there.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Folks, there's nothing, nothing we've ever failed at when we tried to do it together. Nothing America has ever, ever failed at. And so, ladies and gentlemen, all my friends, I -- and by the way, I want to say a special thanks again to (INAUDIBLE) firefighters. You've been incredible to us.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: You've been incredible. But folks, everybody knows who Donald Trump is. Well, it's fortunate they do know now. They didn't know last time, I don't think. But they know now. And folks, we've got to let them know who we are. We, we choose hope over fear.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We choose science over fiction.
(APPLAUSE) BIDEN: Unity over division.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And compassion over cruelty.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And maybe most importantly of all, truth over lies.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Folks, we're going to do this. I promise you. I promise you we're going to get this done. And god willing, god willing, we'll do it together. May god bless you all and may god protect our troops.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Thank you, thank you, thank you! On to New Hampshire!
(APPLAUSE)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Fought side by side until we won our independence.
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: In the 1800s, people said that slavery would endure forever and African-Americans would never see liberation. But abolitionists, enslaved and formerly enslaved people formed an underground railroad and more than two million people waged war to defeat the tyranny of slavery.
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: And in the 1900s, people said we could never rescue our economy from the depths of the great depression or defeat fascism. But we forged a new deal. We mobilized to defeat fascism. We expanded unions. We built a middle class and we marched for civil rights.
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: Americans do big things. That's who we are.
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: We don't settle. We don't back down. We meet big problems with even bigger solutions.
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: So I'm here tonight because I believe that big dreams are still possible in America. Tonight, you showed that when you imagine an America that lives up to its ideals, you can set in motion the process of making it a reality. All it takes is some hard work and better connections. (APPLAUSE)
WARREN: And here in Iowa, that's what happened. You came together. You organized. You showed that we are united in our conviction --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Elizabeth Warren there. If you're listening for a victory speech, you're not hearing anybody give a victory speech because nobody has any -- there have been no results released publicly.
Given this issue with all the data that has been coming in, in ordinary years, in 2016, for instance, by 11:40 on east coast time, I'm just checking from the records back then, we would have had about 90 -- almost 95 percent of the votes already announced.
Governor McAuliffe -- David Axelrod, Governor McAuliffe earlier was suggesting that candidates should get out there, at least, and Amy Klobuchar was the first --
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER FOR OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Here's what we're learning. When there are no results, everybody goes home a winner.
(LAUGHTER)
AXELROD: They're all giving victory speeches. And in certain ways, it lets candidates off the hook, who would have had to give a much more sober speech tonight if all the results had come in --
COOPER: Everybody is going on to New Hampshire. Everybody is --
AXELROD: Yeah. We'll see.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Happy.
AXELROD: New Hampshire will be first in the nation. These results may come in so late that New Hampshire will be first.
(LAUGHTER)
BORGER: I feel like we're in a rain delay of some kind, you know, a political rain delay here, and we're listening to all these candidates.
[23:40:00]
BORGER: And the one thing they're not talking about is why this happened. And every four years, we seem to be talking about some kind of problems the caucuses have.
COOPER: We just explained -- David, I don't know if you have the e- mail or --
AXELROD: Yeah. COOPER: Just explain what we've now been told about --
AXELROD: Here's a more extensive one. "We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results. In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report."
"This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results." It is not clear how much time --
BORGER: The precinct captains are saying, however, they couldn't get through on the app.
COOPER: Senator Santorum, you know well what it's like to wait and wait and wait. Talk about it.
RICK SANTORUM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER PENNSYLVANIA SENATOR: Look, I've talked to some friends in Iowa tonight, and I think the experience of 2012 has resulted in them having an extra sense of caution to make sure, particularly when it looks like a very close race here, that they don't get it wrong --
COOPER: Mm-hmm.
SANTORUM: -- and then have to backtrack. That's the worst. Making everybody wait an hour or two, it's not great for the candidates, it's not great for pundits and everybody, but they don't want to get it wrong. They don't want to miss --
COOPER: Can you just remind people what happened?
SANTORUM: Well, I can remind you very well. In 2012, they -- the results were off. Several precincts misreported. They had, you know, duplicate numbers. It's a manual system. They reported that Romney won on caucus night by eight votes. When they went back and checked everything, I won by 34.
So, you know, Mitt Romney got the win. Everyone says I won the Iowa caucuses. But in reality, the winner is the person who wins tonight. There were two elections that were held before I was declared the winner and so I got -- the advantage of winning the Iowa caucuses really didn't matter at that point.
AXELROD: We were talking earlier, Rick, about whether it matters, you know, first, second, third, if it's close. But it does matter. It does matter. You're a living example.
SANTORUM: Particularly with Bernie Sanders. I mean, it could be a very similar situation with me. Buttigieg and Sanders may be very close here. I thought, heck, I've lost by eight votes. I mean, I was at eight percent, you know, two weeks before the caucus. I thought that would be the story. Within 12 hours, the election was over. Because Romney won Iowa, was going to win New Hampshire, gang set match. Yeah, Santorum may have come close. I actually, within 24 hours, I wasn't even in the story anymore.
COOPER: So what happens if nobody wins tonight?
SANTORUM: Well, they're going to report a tally. Look, they're just using -- everything I'm hearing, they're using an abundance of caution to make if it's a close race, if it's a few hundred votes or even, you know, less than that, that they're not going to have to backtrack.
COOPER: What's the cost -- governor, what's the cost of this for all these candidates? They've missed, obviously, papers, reporting first thing in the morning maybe when people --
TERRY MCAULIFFE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER VIRGINIA GOVERNOR: They will all have e-mails out today declaring victory. It would be huge victory speech. It would raise a lot of money. They would be on route in a private plane to New Hampshire. A tremendous enthusiasm when you land. You got a huge rally when you get going, as soon as you get in New Hampshire. That's all in jeopardy right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Several candidates are catching an enormous break.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they're getting away with it. And the shame of it is that some candidate or maybe candidates are being denied the big victory that the governor just referenced. The early data didn't suggest that Amy Klobuchar was headed to victory. But, boy, you look tonight at the way she came out and spoke, she got a benefit.
COOPER: Do these campaigns have a -- they have a sense of how --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Bernie Sanders is coming out. We're obviously going to take him when he speaks. But as he's just greeting the crowd, they have --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely, they're getting reports from their own precinct captains. They have a good sense of where they are.
COOPER: Did we meet our target or did we not meet our target? They have a pretty good sense of how they're doing. All right, let's listen to Bernie Sanders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
CROWD: Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!
SANDERS: Let me begin by stating that I imagine -- I have a strong feeling that at some point, the results will be announced.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And when those results are announced, I have a good feeling we're going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa.
(APPLAUSE)
[23:44:59]
SANDERS: And the message that Iowa has sent to the nation, the message shared by the American people is that we want a government that represents all of us, not just wealthy campaign contributors and the one percent.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: Tonight, in this enormously consequential 2020 election, the first state in the country has voted. And today, today marks the beginning of the end for Donald Trump.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: The most dangerous president in modern American history.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: You know, no matter what our political views may be, the people of America understand we cannot continue to have a president who is a pathological liar, who is corrupt, who does not understand our Constitution, and is trying to divide our people up based on the color of their skin, based on their religion, their sexual orientation or where they were born.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And all of that hatred, all of that divisiveness is going to end when together we are in the White House.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: We are going to win this election because the people of the United States are sick and tired of a massive level of income and wealth inequality.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: They don't want tax breaks for billionaires and cuts to social security, Medicare and Medicaid.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: The American people understand that if you work 40 hours a week, you should not live in poverty and that we've got to raise that minimum wage to at least $15 an hour.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: The American people understand that health care is a human right, not a privilege.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And that our administration is going to take on the greed and corruption of the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And whether they like it or not, we will pass a "Medicare for All" single-payer program.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: The American people understand that in the year 2020, all of our people, regardless of income, are entitled to get a higher education.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And that is why together, we will make public colleges and universities tuition-free --
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: -- and why we will cancel all student debt in America.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And we're going to do that through a modest tax on Wall Street speculation.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: Eleven years ago, we bailed out the crooks on Wall Street. Now, it is their time to help the middle class.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And unlike the president of the United States, the American people -- the American people understand that climate change is not a hoax but is an existential threat to our country and the entire world.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: They understand that the time is now for us to take on the fossil fuel industry.
(APPLAUSE)
[23:49:58]
SANDERS: To transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energies.
(APPLAUSE) SANDERS: And as president of the United States, because this is a global issue, not just an American issue, we are going to speak to the people in China, Russia, countries all over this world and say, maybe just maybe, instead of spending $1.8 trillion a year on weapons of destruction designed to kill each other, maybe we should pull our resources and fight our common enemy, which is climate change.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And the people of America know the time is long overdue for major reforms to a broken and racist criminal justice system.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: We're going to invest in our young people in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And the American people also understand that our immigration system is broken and together, we will pass comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And the American people know that gun safety legislation will be written by the American people, not the NRA.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And the American people most certainly know that it is women who must control their own bodies, not politicians.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: So brothers and sisters, yes, together we will defeat Donald Trump but we'll do more than that.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: Our message to Wall Street and the insurance companies and the drug companies and the fossil fuel industry and the military industrial complex --
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: -- and the prison industrial complex --
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: -- our message to them is change is coming.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE) JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: All right, we are going to cut away and talk more about the breaking news story here in Des Moines and across Iowa with this Iowa caucus mess. Dana Bash, the Iowa Democratic Party just called all of the campaigns and gave an update as to why this significant delay in any results or returns. It never happened like this before. What did they tell to campaigns?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I am told that it was a short call, not that informative, that the Iowa party basically told them what David Chalian read, the statement that they released to the press. They didn't take any questions. It was very quick.
I talked to a campaign source who said that they kind of hung up quickly so that they can avoid taking questions. That was the feeling from the source. But the other thing they did say is that there's going to be counting manually.
TAPPER: Manually counting all the ballots.
BASH: But that's a question because they didn't answer questions, is what does that exactly mean? You're talking about caucuses. How does that work? We don't know the answer to that. Just put that on the long list of questions.
TAPPER: Is it hundreds of thousands of votes or is it from the 1,700 or so precincts?
BASH: Exactly.
TAPPER: Remember, there are three sets of data for this caucus count. Not just the delegates but also the popular vote and more.
BASH: Right. Let me just add one thing.
TAPPER: Yeah.
BASH: One thing that they could be doing and this is a suggestion by one of the campaigns, I think you can actually add to this, that at the end of the caucus, each caucus, they tally everything all of the data points. And what I'm told is that people are being asked to take photographs of that and sending it in.
TAPPER: Oh, interesting. We know that the campaigns are even more annoyed than you at home because obviously they and volunteers and staffers worked literally for years in many cases on this very night to get these results.
Jeff Zeleny, the campaign of Vice President Biden has written a letter, a rather pointed one, to the Democratic Party. What does it say?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It is pointed and this is coming from their lawyers. This is coming just before that phone call. They are calling out a systemic failure, they believe, in this. They said, look, we invested all this time and money into this system. They said, "However, we believe that the campaigns deserve full explanations and relevant information regarding the methods of quality control you are employing, and an opportunity to respond, before any official results are released."
[23:55:03]
ZELENY: That is a key. They are questioning the results. That is a much bigger problem. If it's not just simply hand counting, we will see some campaigns that perhaps didn't do as well as others. Will they be questioning these results?
So, we have not heard from the Iowa Democratic Party officials. Questions are mounting. And their silence is deafening, I would say, at this point.
TAPPER: And one of the other things going on right now, of course, is the Trump campaign and Republicans are trying to exploit this opportunity. And so seeds of doubt suggesting that perhaps there's some sort of conspiracy going on here. The Trump campaign manager, Brad Parscale, asking on Twitter, is this rigged, etcetera.
We have -- obviously, there's no evidence of anything like this other than tremendous systematic incompetence. We'll squeeze in a quick break. We are going to come right back with the breaking news from Des Moines. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: All right, zero percent of the precincts have reported so far even though the polls of the caucuses closed four hours ago. No results at all from the Iowa caucuses, a huge, huge embarrassment for the Iowa Democratic Party.
The deputy campaign manager communication director for the Joe Biden campaign, Kate Bedingfield, just issuing --
