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EARLY START

Time Is Running Short For Sanders' Rivals; President Trump Weeding Out Disloyal Officials; Coronavirus Cases Spike Beyond China's Borders And Tank Global Markets. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 24, 2020 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: To Super Tuesday states said that Sanders was in Austin, Texas last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I've been hearing, you know, the establishment is getting a little bit nervous about our campaign. And you know what? When they see -- if the cameras turn on this crowd and our friends on Wall Street and the drug companies see this kind of crowd, you're going to really get them nervous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: About a third of all delegates are up for grabs a week from tomorrow. Most of the splintered field is focused on the primary in South Carolina Saturday, looking for a momentum boost after mostly ignoring Sanders at last week's debate. Expect him to be a target at the next one tomorrow night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am here to make the case for a politics that aims higher than just replacing one form of divisiveness with another, but rather unifies this country before it is too late.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Courage these days is not standing by yourself in the corner throwing a punch in the boxing ring. Courage is whether or not you're willing to stand next to someone you don't always agree with for the betterment of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: A new South Carolina poll shows Joe Biden is still in the lead there but the race is all about margins now and Biden's lead is narrowing. One important dynamic to watch, Tom Steyer, who will be on the stage at tomorrow's debate. Biden is blaming him and his big-money ad buys for Biden's slide in South Carolina. Biden is also arguing that Sanders at the top of the ticket could cost Democrats nationwide. Our Jeff Zeleny is on the campaign trail in Charleston, South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, now the South Carolina primary only five days away. Bernie Sanders still the clear front-runner in the Democratic nominating contest.

Joe Biden trying to make a stand here in South Carolina campaigning here on Sunday, making the case that the African-American electorate here -- some 60 percent of the Democratic electorate -- African- American -- that he believes they own this election, in his words, and they will make their judgment. That's exactly the case he's trying to make.

But look, there is worry across the Democratic establishment, particularly after the Nevada results over the weekend, is Bernie Sanders simply too strong to stop? We asked Joe Biden about whether Sanders would be detrimental to Democrats down-ballot.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not just can you beat Donald Trump, can you bring along -- can you keep a Democratic House of Representatives in the United States Congress and can you bring along a Democratic Senate? Can you help people up and down the line? And I think I'm better prepared to do that than Sen. Sanders is.

ZELENY: So, Biden clearly trying to make this a two-person race with Bernie Sanders but that is simply not the case. There are so many others in his lane as well. Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, even Tom Steyer here in South Carolina making big investments.

So the question for Joe Biden, can he revive his candidacy? Can he show that he is the strongest candidate to take on President Trump?

Now, after South Carolina, only three days before Super Tuesday next week. That's why so much is on the line here -- more than anyone, for Joe Biden. Five days left, the most important ones in his political career -- Christine and Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: All right, Jeff Zeleny. Thanks so much for that.

Meantime, moderate voters may have another reason to bypass Bernie Sanders. The Vermont senator offing up -- offering up a partial defense of Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution. Sanders was asked on "60 MINUTES" about something he said back in the 1980s that the Cuban people didn't rise up against Castro because he gave them education and health care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: We're very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba. But, you know, you've got -- it's unfair to simply say everything was bad, you know. When Fidel Castro came into office you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing even though Fidel Castro did it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Anderson Cooper then pointed to the number of dissidents imprisoned in Cuba. Sanders responded, "We condemn that."

ROMANS: Ahead of the South Carolina primary, CNN will host town hall events with all the leading candidates. A two-night event starts tonight with Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, and Tom Steyer. That's tonight, 9:00 eastern, only on CNN.

JARRETT: The president stepping up efforts to weed out government officials he views as disloyal. Aides tell Axios the president has crossed a psychological line involving the so-called deep state ever since his Senate acquittal. They say he feels his government from Justice to State to the Defense Department to Homeland Security is filled with snakes he wants fired and replaced.

ROMANS: CNN reported last week President Trump's new personnel chief made it clear his office will be on the lookout for staffers across the administration who are seen as disloyal.

Now, 12 sources tell Axios the president and his top allies, over the past 18 months, compiled lists of untrustworthy officials to oust and loyalists to replace them. A well-connected network of conservative activists has been quietly developing never Trump and pro-Trump lists and sending memos to the president to shape his views. Members of this network include Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

[05:35:02]

CNN has reached out for comment but has not heard back.

JARRETT: Axios reports one recent memo involved Jesse Liu. She was nominated for a top job at Treasury, only to have the president withdraw the nomination right before her confirmation hearing.

She led the U.S. Attorney's Office, overseeing the Roger Stone case in D.C.

And the memo about Liu contained 14 sections making the case for why she was unfit for the job. Neither Liu or the White House have responded to requests for comment.

All right, more ahead on all of this. Plus, global markets are tanking --

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: -- as coronavirus cases rapidly spike in Europe and Asia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: All right. Faced with a stark choice between moderates and a revolution, so far, Democrats are voting for revolution. But if they pick Bernie Sanders and his really energized base of support, moderates, at least, say they'll alienate a whole lot of Americans. The next 10 days will tell us a lot about how they weigh that balance.

[05:40:10]

JARRETT: Joining us this morning, Princeton University historian and professor Julian Zelizer, also a CNN political analyst.

ROMANS: Hey, Julian.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, CO-AUTHOR, "FAULT LINES: A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1974": Hi, good morning.

JARRETT: So good to see you this morning.

All right. So since President Trump's inauguration, we have heard about the so-called resistance, right -- this broad coalition of people who obviously want him out of office. But it seems like the resistance, if what we mean by that is really the moderates, are running out of time in comparison to Bernie Sanders, who is just racking up win after win, especially this weekend.

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: Such a broad array of people who are supporting him. It seems like what people really want is a revolution.

ZELIZER: Well, it's true. Sanders -- his campaign is not only gaining momentum, it's gaining delegate votes and it's broadening now. It is actually going beyond just the resistance or just young people --

ROMANS: Right.

ZELIZER: -- and bringing in traditional Democratic voters and new Democratic voters -- Latino voters, for example. At the same time, the moderates are split apart.

ROMANS: Yes.

ZELIZER: The best thing would be for some of them to drop out --

ROMANS: Right.

ZELIZER: -- before Super Tuesday but none of them want to make that move. And so, you have the math working in Sanders' favor, assuming he can continue to build strength.

ROMANS: You know, it was interesting. He was on "60 MINUTES" last night. Anderson Cooper was talking to him about Cuba and communism and socialism. And he had -- you know, he had kind of nice things to say about Fidel Castro, which doesn't play well. Except when you talk to young voters they don't care. They don't see

socialism like failed socialist experiments in Latin America. They just want a better level playing field for health care and for -- and for tuition.

Is there a generational thing happening here, you think?

ZELIZER: There is. I think there -- they don't see him as socialism from the 1960s or 70s. They see him as a Democratic socialist, which in this day and age means something very different. It's almost like old-fashioned liberalism.

ROMANS: Yes.

ZELIZER: It's a new version of Medicare, it's a new version of education policy.

And I think for younger Americans, they like that and they like just the excitement of a campaign that's exciting. They are a generation that has grown up distrustful of politics. They have seen their leaders betray them. That's how a lot of young people see the system and he's speaking to that.

ROMANS: Trump supporters, though, would like to see Bernie Sanders at the top of -- you know, win the nomination --

JARRETT: Sure.

ROMANS: -- because then they can put --

ZELIZER: Yes.

ROMANS: -- socialism versus capitalism and make it as stark --

JARRETT: Make it a boogeyman.

ROMAN: -- put through the branding machine -- the Trump branding machine.

JARRETT: Yes. Obviously, one of the people who is most worried about this Bernie runaway train is Joe Biden. And over the weekend he seems to be making the case that Bernie Sanders at the top of the ticket would hurt down-ballot races --

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: -- and that we're going to see losses in the House of Representatives if, in fact, he is the nominee.

Do you think that that is a fair takeaway or do you think that case is overstated?

ZELIZER: Well, we don't know. I mean, the question is can Sanders turn this grassroots energy toward the Senate and House campaign trail as well? Can you have those young people coming out and trying to increase the margins in the House and Senate for Democrats? But I do think it's a fair warning. I think in a lot of these swing

states --

ROMANS: Yes.

ZELIZER: -- Sanders might hurt some of these Democrats who are running. I'm not sure that's an argument against his campaign. That's very much an argument Washington followers care about.

Buttigieg has a stronger argument that if he runs, the Democrats lost the presidency, period. I think that's the stronger claim.

ROMANS: Can we talk about health care real quickly because, you know, I've been talking about this low-wage worker army -- 53 million Americans who make basically 10 bucks an hour, right?

ZELIZER: Right.

ROMANS: That is a huge chunk of the working population. They're one emergency room visit away from financial ruin.

And when you look at the polls on health care, 44 percent of Nevada voters believe health care is the most important issue. Of those, 38 percent voted for Bernie Sanders.

You know, what is it that they want? They want Medicare for All or they don't think they're going to get Medicare for All, right? They think they're going to be able to keep their regular insurance. What is -- what is the health care factor here?

ZELIZER: They want better health insurance, they want health insurance that's more regulated one way or another, and they want to make sure they have access to health insurance and their families have it.

ROMANS: Right.

ZELIZER: That's the bottom line of what they want. I think there's lots of plans out there and part of what they're attracted to is probably the boldest promise of all. And, Medicare for All has a kind of clarity that expanding ACA doesn't. It just means the government will make sure you have insurance and I think that's part of what drives the support on that particular issue.

ROMANS: Are you surprised by the anti-establishment factor here? I mean, Trump won, really, by -- it was like a hostile takeover of the Republican Party, right? And Bernie is almost doing the same thing but on the other side of the spectrum. The establishment loses.

ZELIZER: There's something to that. I think the establishment also put its bet on a kind of problematic candidate with Joe Biden and it was based on these electability predictions. And so there was always a softness to his support --

ROMANS: Yes.

[05:45:00]

ZELIZER: -- and it's started to fall away. And then the rest of the party didn't have a clear candidate. So I think that's part of what happened.

But it is true -- the parties are weak. They are not what they used to be and media, grassroots politics, and small donations have changed the playing field and I think Sanders has capitalized on that.

JARRETT: Clearly.

All right, Julian, so good to see you this morning.

ROMANS: Nice to see you.

ZELIZER: Thank you very much.

ROMANS: All right.

Stocks around the world -- watching them tumble right now as the coronavirus outbreak spreads beyond China -- Italy and South Korea, in particular. Hong Kong, stocks closed down nearly two percent. South Korea stocks had the worst day in more than a year.

And the bad mood extending to Wall Street. Take a look at futures right now. We are in store for an almost-three percent decline in U.S. stocks at the opening bell. That is not a pretty picture.

The White House is expected to ask Congress for emergency funding to battle the virus as fears of a larger outbreak in the U.S. grow. There are now 25 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. Fourteen Americans who tested positive returned to the U.S. after spending weeks quarantined on the Diamond Princess docked in Japan.

Now, the exact amount of funding hasn't been set yet but a request could be sent to Capitol Hill today.

JARRETT: Meantime, novel coronavirus cases are spreading far beyond China's borders. The biggest outbreak outside of Asia is in Italy where cases spiked from three to more than 150 over the weekend. Four people have now died and 10 towns are on lockdown. Venice's Carnival, which can draw more than 100,000 people daily, was suspended two days before it was supposed to end.

Cases have also surged in South Korea to more than 830, prompting a national red alert.

So how are efforts to contain the virus at the epicenter going? CNN's David Culver is live in Shanghai with the latest. David, what more can you tell us?

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, I can tell you that this past weekend, President Xi Jinping met with his top officials and he acknowledged this is a crisis and this is a major test that China is facing. But he says that the prevention and control efforts are, in his words, turning out good. In the same breath, he's also been acknowledging the economy and this is huge here because economic stability is social stability. And one of the things that President Xi stressed is that there is an impact right now -- there's no question -- but he believes this impact will be short-term and he says generally controllable.

A few updates in the past few hours here, meantime, out of the Foreign Ministry in particular.

And then, we're also hearing from the National People's Congress as far as what they were planning to have. They're going to have this big gathering -- it's going to be some 3,000 officials -- that was planned for March fifth. They are putting that off. It's the first time that they have either suspended or delayed what is essentially the rubberstamp Parliament in several decades -- since the 70s -- the Cultural Revolution.

And we're also now hearing that there are going to be warnings for Chinese citizens when it comes to traveling to the U.S. Now this is interesting because the U.S., of course, was one of the first countries to issue warnings to travel to China for its citizens and also essentially preventing people who have either come from China or transiting through China from coming into the U.S. for some two weeks' time. But now, the Chinese seem to be responding.

And they consider that to be an overreaction and they said, Laura, that because of what the U.S. had done, essentially isolating Mainland China and several other countries followed suit, that they felt like U.S. -- Chinese citizens, rather, who were traveling in the U.S. were being treated unfairly. So they're telling their citizens now, here, do not travel to the United States. That's the warning coming out from the Chinese government.

JARRETT: All right, David Culver. Thanks so much for all of your reporting, as usual.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:05]

JARRETT: A public memorial celebrating the lives of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna will be held today in Los Angeles. Kobe and Gianna perished in a helicopter crash last month with seven other people.

The celebration of life takes place at the Staples Center, the house that Kobe built. Thousands of fans are expected to attend. All proceeds will go to the Bryant's Mamba and Mambacita Foundation.

The date for the memorial is significant here, February 24th -- 2/24/20. Two is the number Gianna wore, 24 is the number Kobe wore, and 20 is the number of years that Kobe and his widow Vanessa Bryant were together.

ROMANS: Tandem parade floats are now banned from the rest of Mardi Gras after two people were killed in separate accidents last week. Both incidents involved tandem floats. That's when two or more floats are connected with a hitch and pulled by a single tractor. Organizers say there will be one tractor for each float.

JARRETT: A convicted murderer on the run in Alabama. Forty-three- year-old Daniel Miner was reported missing after a bed check Saturday night at a minimum-security work-release center in Childersburg. He is five-foot-six, weighs 192 pounds, and has tattoos on his arms, neck, and torso.

ROMANS: A Jewish community center in Albany, New York evacuated on Sunday because of an e-mailed bomb threat and nothing was found. A spokesperson for New York's governor says other Jewish centers in the state and across the country also received e-mail threats. No locations or details were provided. There have been a growing number of anti-Semitic threats and attacks around the country.

JARRETT: The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City apologizing for a graduate fashion show that many, including one of the models involved, called racist. The show featured models parading down the runway in oversized red lips, bushy eyebrows, and prosthetic monkey ears. Model Amy LeFevre refused to wear the items and walked the runway without them. FIT placed two top academic officials on leave.

[05:55:00]

ROMANS: All right, one of the biggest snowstorms of the season taking shape for the Midwest and Great Lakes. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine and Laura, it promises to be one of the most significant snowfall producers for the Midwest and the Great Lakes that we've seen all winter long.

One system moves out from the south-central U.S., another moves across the Northern Rockies, and where they meet across the Upper Mississippi River Valley and into the Great Lakes, this is where we will expect to see some significant snowfall.

Just to give you some idea, Des Moines was 64 degrees Sunday afternoon. It's only going to be in the 20s coming up for Wednesday.

What happens in between? All the way from Des Moines to Dubuque to Davenport to Chicago -- pretty much to the north of Interstate 55 -- to Milwaukee -- Milwaukee may see the heaviest. Possibly six to 12 inches of snowfall for Chicago. Those temperatures go from the 40s to the 30s, dropping down to single digits overnight into the rest of the workweek. New York City, 50s -- only into the 40s coming up by midweek.

So a lot of big changes that reminds us that winter is still here. Back to you guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Yes, it is. All right, Karen, thank you for that.

Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.

Global markets tanking as the coronavirus spreads beyond China, and we're expecting that ugly red ink to spread to the United States. A big move on Wall Street expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average now looking like it's going to be down almost three percent and that is a big one-day move, and that will be about 800 points on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Look, stocks ended the week lower as those worries about the virus weighed on markets. The Dow closed 227 points lower. The S&P and the Nasdaq also fell.

And look, Goldman Sachs says the likelihood of a near-term correction is growing. A correction is defined as a 10 percent decline from a recent high. Stocks may be overdue for a pullback.

The last time the S&P 500 fell by at least 10 percent was December 2018. You're going to get three percent at the opening bell this morning.

All right, Boeing suppliers have been in limbo ever since the halt of the production of the 737 MAX. Now, Boeing is preparing to offer its suppliers money -- some support to prepare them for a restart in production and to prevent them from looking for more business from competitor Airbus.

"The Wall Street Journal" reports Boeing has set aside $4 billion for additional expenses. It plans to use some of that money for cash advances and other financial support to the suppliers to address these shifts in production.

Some of Boeing's largest suppliers said the MAX production halt would hurt sales and profits this year.

JARRETT: All right. Take a look at Natalia Taylor's exotic Bali vacation. The YouTube influencer had her 300,000-plus Instagram followers oohing and aahing. There were photos of Natalia lounging in an exotic tub and lying on a sun lounger.

Well, it turns out the photos were taken in Ikea. Natalia says she pranked her followers as a fun reminder to take social media less seriously and don't believe everything you see online.

ROMANS: All right. A remarkable rescue in Washington State's Olympic National Park. Joseph Oldendorf broke his leg when he slipped on ice running on a remote mountain trail. He had to crawl for nearly eight hours in subfreezing temperatures to find help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH OLDENDORF, CRAWLED FOR EIGHT HOURS WITH BROKEN ANKLE: My ankle was in such shape that I couldn't -- I had to be facing chest-down for it to not be flopping out of alignment. So, I had to crawl on all fours and my knees -- it's a rocky, snowy, dirty, wet trail and after a while, my knees were just raw. And so I had the idea to put my shoes over them so that would be some traction and a little bit of protection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Wow. After crawling for nearly seven hours he was finally able to call 911. But he kept crawling and he was spotted almost six miles from where he was injured. A Coast Guard helicopter hoisted him out.

JARRETT: We love stories of a miraculous survival --

ROMANS: I know.

JARRETT: -- on EARLY START.

ROMANS: Running on a remote trail, slips on ice, crawling on your knees. Wow, that does not happen when I just sit on the couch all weekend.

JARRETT: Definitely not.

ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's bringing new voters into the mix like never before. That's what gave him such a big win in Nevada.

SANDERS: We have just put together a multigenerational, multiracial coalition.

BUTTIGIEG: Sen. Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While the Kremlin is, indeed, meddling, it is not clear that its efforts are aimed at reelecting President Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there are these reports that they want Bernie Sanders to get elected president.

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Our national security advisers should stay out of politics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Russians never stopped interfering in American politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Monday, February 24th. It is 6:00 here in New York.

And the next nine days might very well determine if Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will be the Democratic nominee for president.

END