Countdown to South Carolina primary, Trump dealt financial blow and more | America Decides

[Music] we have lines going all around the block they're going all around this BL they've never seen anything like this one he said himself he's going to spend more time in a courtroom than on the campaign Trail we can't win like that he's just an uninspiring candidate like you know there's nothing about you know Joe Biden that makes you want to listen to him hello I'm Nicole Killian in Washington and welcome to America decides on this President's Day we begin in South Carolina where we are less than a week away from the Republican presidential primary former un Ambassador Nikki Haley is hitting the campaign Trail to make her final pitch to voters a recent CBS News poll shows former president Trump is far ahead of the former government in her home state the GOP front runner will be in the pal Meadow State tomorrow CBS News political correspondent Caitlyn Huey Burns joins us now from Columbia South Carolina Caitlyn you spoke with Nikki Haley today what did she tell you about the state of the race hey Nicole good to be with you as you mentioned Nikki Haley is trailing by over 30 points in our polling and in other polls and here in South Carolina reporting on the ground for the past couple of weeks it very much feels like Donald Trump's home turf Nikki Haley acknowledges that this is a acknowledges that she is is not going to be able to win this state outright perhaps but wants to at least close the gap here and then move on through super Tuesday take a listen to what she had to tell us you have said that you want to be competitive here in South Carolina what exactly does competitive look like well I think yall will decide what's competitive right I mean I think at the end of the day we want to close that Gap we want to make sure that we continue to show that there's a purpose there and then you know we're going to keep on doing what we're doing we've got people excited in South Carolina they're ready to vote they've already started early voting we'll see what happens on Saturday and then on Sunday we're headed to Michigan polls show about a 30% or 30 point difference here how much do you need to close the gap I think you'll see us close it quite a bit I mean right now the goal is everybody knows I was a good Governor now we're showing them that I can be a good president and so that's the point of the bus tour is we're all these small towns we're in the big areas we're in the small areas and it's touching hands it's answering questions and it's reminding them one what we did in South Carolina and the fact that we could be that successful in America I want to ask you a little bit about that because when we're here on the ground our polling shows that um people do approve of your job as Governor but they give Trump a higher approval as president and that they're thinking about this race more nationally than they are locally here in South Carolina what do you make of that and why do you think that is well I think they should be thinking National I mean we've got big issues you know whether it's $34 trillion in debt whether it's an open border whether it's the fact that our kids aren't reading at a good level you know whether it's the fact that we've got Wars around the world these are big issues but at the end of the day the one thing we did in South Carolina was every crisis every challenge we didn't divide each other over it we brought people in we didn't cause chaos we had sanity and when you look at things that are happening Republicans and Democrats have both gotten us into this debt situation but also look at what America is telling you 70% of Americans don't want to see a trump Biden rematch 59% of Americans think Donald Trump's too old and Joe Biden's too old to be president this is a time where we have watched Trump talk about anything from Revenge after New Hampshire to being a victim after all of these court cases he's going to be in a courtroom for the rest of this year you can't win a general election if you're sitting in a courtroom and every poll shows that so in order to win the nomination you have to win some states what exactly are you looking for as you head to Super Tuesday what states do you think you can win we're playing all of them you'll have you know after South Carolina you're going to have another 20 States vote but this is the fact that as much as everybody's wanting to say but what will you do here only three states have voted we don't anoint Kings here let's let States vote let's let them go and decide what they want if they're telling us % don't want a trump Biden rematch let's listen to them and let them vote that's what the people want I'm fine doing the work I don't mind taking the hits I don't mind taking the bruises because you have to do that we can't keep living the same way that we are it is not normal to have this kind of Chaos in our country it's not normal to have this kind of anger in our country but then you look at the National Security perspective whether it's Russia China or Iran you've got Russia now putting soldiers around the Baltic countries and you've got Donald Donal Trump saying that he would encourage Putin to invade those countries if they weren't pulling their weight that's saying that Donald Trump's going to side with a thug as opposed to those countries that stood with us after 9/11 he's going to side side with someone who kills his political opponents who rest American journalists and holds some hostage that's not what we want it's it's that chaos that's gotten us into the mess that we're in so Nicole with this huge up Hill Climb that Nikki Hale Haley has in her home state and in the states uh after South Carolina she is really kind of leaning into these criticisms against Donald Trump mostly focused on the legal cases and uh on his approach and stance towards Russia that has been kind of a key to her stump speech but the legal proceedings are interesting because as you know Nicole having covered this race as well this was something that uh many of Donald Trump's Rivals were you know cautious about criticizing him over over the course of this campaign and we saw you know with each indictment uh his base and Republicans kind of rallied around him now the that she is the kind of the Lone Survivor of Trump's Rivals she's really taking this point to go after him on the court cases arguing that he's going to be in the courtroom not on the campaign Trail but so far Nicole that hasn't dented his support in fact supporters that we've talked to of Donald Trump at rallies here in South Carolina say that that it's that it's made them want to support him even more all right Caitlyn Huey Burns thanks so much we'll see how things play out over the next couple of days former president Trump is using his legal battles and his pitch to voters in Michigan over the weekend the GOP front runner said that judges and prosecutors in his cases are quote nasty CBS News campaign reporter Olivia raldi joins us now and Olivia I want to talk about South Carolina in a moment but first I just kind of want to start with the former president's latest truth social post uh we saw him today for the first time weighing in on the death of Russian opposition leader Alexi naal he seems to be comparing himself to nval and references his current legal woses he says the sudden death of Alexi nval has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our country it is a slow steady progression I mean what what do you make of that I mean it's his first time really publicly addressing the death of Alexi naali directly on Friday after the death of navali he put out this statement it was quite Bland saying that the destruction of the world is and the world is more dangerous due to President Joe Biden but over the weekend we had heard some chatter in conservative circles tying Trump to navali that he like navali is a victim of the system that he also is being politically persecuted and really what this tells me is it's part of this broader effort that Donald Trump is using to tie Biden to his investigation saying that they're politically motivated and that Biden is acting as if Putin would like a dictator again it's this victim mentality he often says that Biden is a threat to democracy on at the same time not calling out Putin exactly not addressing Putin directly in any of these statements we should also note that Biden has said repeatedly and the doj has said repeatedly that there's no coordination between the two on these investigations and trials into the former president and then obviously turning back domestically here um you know we just heard Caitlyn's report we know the former president will be in South Carolina tomorrow what more can we expect from that visit and why is he so far ahead of Nikki hilly in the polls when this is her home state I mean Caitlyn kind of nailed it there when she talked about these investigations into Trump and especially with the trials I was in Michigan over the weekend and talking with some voters and they are equally as angry as Donald Trump is when it comes to these trials and the fines that he's supposed to pay one of the people I spoke with said I see no fraud directly mirroring things that Donald Trump has said and the interesting part about that is that it's motivating for them that's the challenge for Nikki Haley here how do you make this argument that the courtroom is going to be part of the campaign Trail when that is something that motivates voters in her home state that's a really difficult barrier for her to try to overcome there and you talked about voters being angry about this but we saw that the president got kind of a different reaction when he was in Pennsylvania this weekend at Sneaker Con it's this Footwear conference he was unveiling this new gold pair of trump high tops uh let's take a listen to the reception that he got at that event there's a lot of emotion in this room thank you thank you so so the really nice thing is we have lines and I want to thank Chase and I want to thank Allan but we have lines going all around the block they're going all around this they've never seen anything like this one so maybe a different kind of anger here and some cheers too in addition to the booze I mean what happened at this event I mean it was different than any campaign event I've ever seen before Donald Trump said that he's always wanted to unveil sneakers and have a sneaker line this was an interesting moment to do it but part of this broader effort for Trump to do this to go into a Battleground State like Philadelphia and into a democratic stronghold or into a democratic State Battleground State like Pennsylvania Democratic stronghold like Philadelphia is to reach out to younger and more diverse voters Donald Trump has said multiple times on the campaign trail that he wants to make a dent into black voters and get more of them onto his side perhaps this was part of that broader effort to go to he can do it by selling sneakers I think he does I think he thinks that's the way in is to perhaps appeal to a broader more diverse crowd that way and I guess talk about the timing I don't know if this was something that was always on his radar or I mean this obviously came after that major legal judgment on Friday where you know his comp and he himself will now face millions of dollars in penalties I mean was this always on the schedule it wasn't on our schedule and it was something we were aware of that was coming up it was announced on Thursday that perhaps he would be going to Sneaker Con and then he himself announced it right after the decision came down from the New York civil fraud trial case the timing is interesting it's a way for him to raise money I mean these sneakers are ranging from about $200 to $400 he even sold some of them that were signed for about $99,000 so all of this goes into his ability to pay these massive massive fines that are now being weighed against him we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars that he's going to have to pay in the coming months and I believe they sold out Olivia raldi thank you so much well next we'll take a look at how the former president is doing that using his legal battles to further his campaign could it benefit him here streaming America decides welcome back to America decides a judge's ruling on Friday in former president Trump's civil fraud trial could deal a serious blow to his finances the GOP FrontRunner and the Trump organization were ordered to pay penalties of more than $354 million that total jumps to over 453 million when you factor an interest CBS News campaign reporter Katrina Kaufman joins us now Katrina is also an attorney Katrina thanks for being with us so what exactly does this judgment mean for the former president financially could he go out of business hi Nicole so this is a serious blow to Donald Trump as you just read these are very very astronomically High numbers that would be a big hit to his bank account but basically right now the judge has issued the decision and next we'll be getting a judgment that should happen in a week or two and nothing can actually happen till that judgment comes out but once it does the state could start going after Donald Trump's money they could start freezing his bank accounts they could start selling off having the state sell off his stock so what he's going to end up doing is either trying to get a stay on this ruling to get more time from the court or he can post a bond in which case that would depend on his agreement with the bonding company he might have to give them cash or maybe he could give them a mortgage on one of his properties a line a letter of credit there are different ways that he could deal with this so it's hard to say exactly how soon he's going to take a real cash Financial hit from this but this is a substantial amount of money for him and if he does take any kind of financial hits what role does the Republican National Committee play or could they play I mean can they help him pay for some of this so my understanding is that they're not prohibited from giving him money for this they have helped him with legal fees so it's possible that they could help them with the Judgment as well but they really don't have this much cash on hand at the end of 2023 I think they only had $8 million so that really is not going to cover this bill and we're also awaiting the Supreme Court's decision on whether to pause the immunity ruling in the 2020 election case how might the justices rule on this particular issue there are a number of ways that this could go the judges could choose to Grant the stay in which case that would put the ruling on pause and then they could either give Trump a lot more time to petition for CT for them to take the case or they could actually treat this emergency stay application as a petition for C and make a decision right now about whether or not they're going to weigh in on this case either denying or granting that petition so we might see either a pause in the ruling or find out very soon if the Supreme Court wants to weigh in on this really important issue all right a lot of legal headlines to follow and Katrina Kaufman we know you'll be on top of it thank you so much thank you next a wakeup call for the Biden campaign a warning from an influential radio host in one time Biden backer about the upcoming campaign you're streaming America [Music] decides welcome back to America decides President Biden said he is considering additional sanctions against Russia following the death of opposition leader Alexi Nali he was also asked about house Republicans lack of support for Ukraine Aid here's a bit of that exchange Mr President would you go as far to say about election is on the hands of House Republicans right now I wouldn't use that term they're making a big mistake not responding look the way they're walking away from the thread of Russia the way they're walking away from NATO the way they're walking away from meeting our obligations is is just shocking I've been for a while I've never seen anything like this Deepa shivaram and Shelby Talcott join us now DEA is a White House correspondent for NPR and Shelby is a politics reporter for semaphor DEA I want to start off with you and with the president's comments there I mean obviously he's frustrated with House Republicans but and we know a delegation of lawmakers went over to the security conference in M Munich where it appears they also got an earful over Congress not passing Ukraine Aid obviously they didn't in the Senate but you know what are the real impacts of this I mean how might this affect the war the longer this stalemate over Ukraine Aid and Congress drags on I mean the White House has been very clear for months now I mean this is going all the way back to the end of 2023 right saying that there is no Magic Pot of Gold there's no magic pot of money that's left over for Ukraine if Congress can't pass this money can't fund uh this extra aid for Ukraine Ukraine doesn't have the ability to support itself and so of course you know where vice president Harris is in Munich where all these lawmakers are in Munich they're getting questions from leaders all over the world our German allies our European allies asking you know what's the plan forward here and for President Biden all he really can turn to is point to the house and say yes it's on them we're waiting on them to act on this and and you can see you know that kind of unfolding on so many issues but right now Ukraine a is very much uh the focus for this president who is himself getting a lot of questions about this and we know speaker Johnson has pretty much made clear that it's unlikely he's going to bring this legislation that the senate pass to the house flooor so is there any kind of plan b or anything that the administration may be trying to do as a workaround yeah there's definitely things that I think you can see the administration trying to piece together with whatever they can Cobble together in in this case um but they've been very clear that this the best case scenario forward is for Congress to pass uh this Aid and so you see you know White House players the Department of Defense um you know we hear a lot from National Security Council spokesperson John Cur we talk about this that there are ways that the White House is trying to see you know what next steps they can take but at the same time they are still going to be calling on Congress they are still going to be calling on the house to make this Aid package work because at the end of the day it has been bipartisan uh and continues to have that support and then very briefly I know the president mentioned he may consider some additional sanctions against Russia do we know at this point what he might be considering or what might be on the table at this point we are waiting to see the details of that but it'll be curious to see how the president M he's traveling this week you know uh to the West Coast and and we'll be meeting with donors and everything there so uh what he can send to the message he can send to to his party and and how uh the White House can move forward on this we're we're waiting to see what next step they want to take and I want to turn now to politics back here at home uh and to the 2024 campaign I want to bring you in Shelby because over the weekend we heard from radio show host Charlamagne the God he kind of gave his take on the 2024 campaign let's take a listen the crooks of the Republicans the the the cowards of the Democrats cuz they don't fight hard enough on anything and right now right now it feels like the couch is going to win he's just an uninspiring candidate like you know there's nothing about you know Joe Biden that makes you want to listen to him Donald Trump seems more sincere about his lies than Joe Biden does about his truth of course charlot man the God's very popular radio show host but he also has kind of been a thorn in the Biden campaign side so does he have a point I mean how concerned is the Biden campaign about people potentially sitting this election out on their couches charlam just said well when you talk to the Biden campaign they've continued to maintain that it is really early on in the race we still technically do have a primary although Biden officials have you know publicly said they believe that Donald Trump will be the nominee so they just believe that people are not yet tuning in and once it becomes an official race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden that voters will begin to turn out and will begin to be interested now on the flip side I have heard that argument that we just heard uh multiple times and the main concern from Democrats who have been more critical of Biden and the Biden campaign is that voters at this moment are not excited and they're not excited about both options but they're particularly not excited about Joe Biden and so we heard you know I think going forward the Biden Administration is going going to have to make changes in order to get voters excited that's going to entail having surrogates out on the field more and more often which we've seen and then their campaign ads what they do with that and how they can tap into some of these voter bases that they dominated last election but they're struggling with right now and I understand you also have some new reporting about what the campaign is trying to do to pitch the president to voters what can you tell us yeah it's really interesting because the Biden campaign and Democrats are going to have a ton of money to spend this cycle and they're going to use a lot of it on ads and not just traditional ads but they're also going to Tik Tok as we saw after the Super Bowl they're using these sort of new um factions they're going to go on YouTube we saw him sit down with that black family in North Carolina these are all ways where they believe that they can Target the voter base they need and the argument I've heard from the Biden campaign you know we've heard a lot of criticism that he doesn't do some of these traditional sitdown interviews they say well these aren't the the voter base that we need to talk to right now isn't watching traditional news and so that's how they're going to sort of move forward I think they're going to continue to try to circumvent and go around traditional uh news and they're going to use some of these other platforms to try to pitch younger voters to try to pitch black voters and they want them back just like they managed to get them back in 2020 yeah Anda you know I know you spent a lot of time covering the vice president as well well um you know charlem man kind of in that same interview also kind of made the point that you know perhaps the President should lean in more uh on the vice president sometimes other folks argue otherwise but but kind of what are you hearing I mean we are seeing her kind of take a larger role on the trail do you think that's expected to continue absolutely I mean you see her take on this issue of abortion right which is um Monumental for Democrats they need to keep plugging this issue they need to keep talking about it make sure voters are thinking about all the way through November it's been a successful uh election topic for them since row was overturned and you know she is the first woman in this role and so that is the best messenger they have and so you're going to see her talking about that you're going to see her talking about gun control another issue that reaches younger voters voters of color at a higher rate than other topics and so you really are seeing her tap into these voter groups that are so critical for Democrats going into the rest of this year and reaching them in a way that Joe Biden you know can't really connect as well and so they're hoping that you know she can kind of uh build some of that that up um as as Democrats are sort of trying to claw their way back in you think she has built up more uh credibility if you will with the Bas because there have been some detractors who feel that she hasn't been as effective but the more she's getting out there do you think that key part of getting out comforable with her the campaign will argue and I think even voters when you hear from them will argue I feel differently about her once I see her in the room seeing KLA Harris on social media hearing about KLA Harris through your friends or family you know if you're a voter and you get to see her face to face or she comes to your town people have a much different perception of her once they see her in person and so you're seeing her travel all over the country right now you can definitely expect that to to ramp up all right Deepa shivaram and Shelby Talcott thanks so much and that does it for us today we will be back with another edition of America decides tomorrow at 5:00 P p.m. Eastern you are streaming CBS [Music] News [Music]

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Length: 24min 10sec (1450 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 20 2024