President Trump Has A Big Win
ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: You're live in the CNN Newsroom. Thank you for staying with me. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. President Trump this weekend trumpeting what he calls a big win. Just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling in the White House's favor, the high court, Friday evening, giving the green light for the Trump administration to take money earmarked for the military and spend it on building parts of the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. A federal appeals court said no to that plan earlier this month. The president celebrated, tweeting, "Wow, big victory on the wall. The United States Supreme Court overturns lower court injunction, allows southern border wall to proceed, big win for border security and the rule of law." Let's go to our White House Correspondent Boris Sanchez. Boris, this goes all the way back to February when the President declared a national emergency, trying to get billions of dollars for a border wall. This ruling doesn't necessarily give him all the money he wants.</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPODENT: Right.</s>CABRERA: But it's enough to make him happy today.</s>SANCHEZ: Yes, that's right, Ana. And if you go back to February, the White House was, essentially, scrambling to come up with the money for border wall, after President Trump shut down the federal government at the end of last year and couldn't get the $6 billion or so that he wanted from Democrats to build that long-promised wall. A judge, about a month ago, deciding to freeze these $2.5 billion from the Pentagon, deciding that it would be inappropriate for the White House to use these funds, as the courts decide whether it's legal for the president to circumvent Congress and use military funds on this kind of project. The Supreme Court, yesterday, essentially, decided to overturn that decision, making it so the White House could spend this money. But the Supreme Court, ultimately, didn't decide on the legality, the appropriateness of the president using these funds, only that they wouldn't be frozen. So, this is kind of a temporary victory for the White House, because, ultimately, this case likely will end up in the Supreme Court. And it's uncertain which side they're going to go. Ultimately, the president, though, is going to call this a win. Keep in mind, immigration is an issue that's central to his presidency, and it is one that he will likely drill down on, again and again, as we get closer to November 2020 -- Ana.</s>CABRERA: That's right, it's sure to be a big part of the upcoming election. Boris Sanchez, thank you. Let's talk more about the 2020 race and the countdown to the much- anticipated CNN Democratic debates. Former Vice President Joe Biden hoping to cement his frontrunner status with a more aggressive approach this time around. That one Biden campaign source telling CNN that the former vice president genuinely believes he was too polite in the last debate, which included a confrontation, you'll recall, with Senator Kamala Harris. When Harris was asked about that, she said she was raised to be polite. Joining us now, CNN Senior Political Analyst Ryan Lizza and Washington correspondent for "New York Magazine," Olivia Nizzi. So, Ryan, let's look at this debate stage for Wednesday night. Joe Biden sandwiched between not only Harris, but also Senator Cory Booker, who has also been attacking him regularly now. What do you think that dynamic's going to look like?</s>RYAN LIZZA, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, everyone -- all of us now are expecting, and almost demanding, right, that Biden fix two things that he was universally criticized for. One, not really being as prepared as someone at his level, and a frontrunner for the nomination, should have been prepared. And, two, you know, being able to understand his opponents' records in a way that he can counterpunch. So, the fact that he was surprised by the criticism he received is odd. He should not have been. Front runners get attacked, especially in a huge field like this, when you have few -- only have a few opportunities to get known. That and the fact that he just didn't seem well-prepared. You know, I think a lot of people said, a lot of Democrats said, is this the best person to take on Trump? Which has been his main argument, right, that he polls better in these head-to- head matchups. So, you know, I think it would be a failure, on his part, if, at the end of that debate, he did not address those pretty basic criticisms.</s>CABRERA: Olivia, in the past, Biden wasn't willing to go there. Take a listen.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to speak ill of any Democrat during this campaign, unlike some other Democrats now. That's not useful. The last thing the Democratic Party has to do is get in a big fight. That only benefits Donald Trump.</s>CABRERA: What happened to that?</s>OLIVIA NUZZI, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK MAGAZINE": Well, I guess we'll see, this week during the debate, whether or not he really changes course. But he has been saying this pretty consistently, since he announced his candidacy formerly in Philadelphia earlier this year. He's not the only one. Pete Buttigieg has also said something to this effect, that voters will be able discern the differences between him and the other Democratic candidates, without him going on the attack against them. But, of course, if you are being attacked, you can't let other people define you. And I think he learned that the hard way through a pretty bruising news cycle following the last debate. And maybe he's going to try and change course this time. And you'll recall that Biden's campaign internally, I reported for "New York" magazine, was freaking out during the last debate. They were really unhappy. They knew that it was going poorly. And I think, since then, they've been pretty -- they've been thinking pretty single mindedly about how to improve that and how to make sure that he doesn't fall victim to something like that again.</s>CABRERA: Ryan, the frontrunners aside, these debates are also make or break for many of the candidates on the stage who haven't yet qualified for the other round of debates, the next ones in September. Who will you be watching?</s>LIZZA: Yes. Well, first of all, on your point about the debates. These debates are more important. The primary debates are more important than in recent cycles. And I think that's partly because there's -- it's so hard to break through right now. It's so hard because a lot of political coverage isn't just the Democrats. It's also Trump, right. So, we're not -- you know, frankly, the media is not paying quite as much attention to this race as in previous cycles because there are a lot of other big political stories. And so, if you are a struggling candidate or someone who's just not, you know, famous like Joe Biden, this -- these debates are your -- you know, it's your big moment to shine. And so, look, you know, I'll be -- the other -- you know, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, who have been keeping it up with Biden, obviously pay attention to them. Pete Buttigieg, who has raised an absolutely, you know, --</s>CABRERA: Yes.</s>LIZZA: -- astronomical amount of money, but -- and has a lot of media buzz, but has not really had the polling to match all that.</s>CABRERA: Right.</s>LIZZA: You know, obviously, someone to watch. And then, just, you know, a couple of candidates who we're just not talking about, because they're not polling and they haven't raised a lot of money. But, suddenly, have one of those moments in the debate where everyone starts to pay attention to them, there will be someone like that. You know, it was Julian Castro, to a certain degree at the last debate. But it was hard for him to sustain that. But that's what I'll be -- I'll be watching for.</s>CABRERA: OK. Well, you mentioned Pete Buttigieg. He was an earlier surprise. Fund raising numbers have followed, but he seems to have plateaued in the polls. He's on stage on night one, Tuesday, and he needs to win over black voters. But I want you to watch something he said this afternoon in Iowa in the aftermath of that police shooting in his city, where a white office shot and killed a black man who was said to be armed and breaking into cars. Watch this.</s>PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to one of the white politicians in America who gets the most questions about race. I just am. Let's use that as an opportunity to have a conversation that a lot of white audiences have not been ready for. Because while it is -- it is not true that the rising tide lifts all boats. But it is true that, until some of the boats are unchained from the ocean floor, everybody is worse off.</s>CABRERA: Olivia, do you think that kind of talk will get him more support?</s>NUZZI: I can't see it hurting. I think that he's striking an important tone. He's saying something important. And he's, sort of, saying that he will be listening and trying to help facilitate an important conversation with the platform that he has. I don't know that you can -- that, you know, we could expect him to say anything beyond that, right now going into this debate. He doesn't know what he's going to be asked. He doesn't know, precisely, how this will be brought up. But he's sure, like he was last time, that this is something that, either other candidates or the moderators, will want to ask him about. So, I wanted to go back to one point, though, about the candidates who needed to break through.</s>CABRERA: Yes, go for it.</s>NUZZI: We were talking about Julian Castro. And, you know, he had a moment in that last debate and has it translated into him becoming the frontrunner? No. But I think it did something important which that was during a conflict with Beto O'Rourke. Beto O'Rourke has really suffered since that first debate. And I think that, sometimes, maybe instead of really puncturing through having a big media moment, the least that a candidate could hope to do, by having some sort of breakout in the debate is to weaken another person in the competition and make more room for themselves.</s>CABRERA: That's interesting, especially when we have a field of 20- plus --</s>NUZZI: Right.</s>CABRERA: -- candidates right now. Twenty at the debates themselves.</s>NUZZI: How many is it?</s>CABRERA: I know, it's hard to keep track. It's, like, one in, one out. All right, Ryan Lizza, Olivia Nuzzi, always good to have both of you with us. Thank you.</s>LIZZI: Thanks, Ana. Good to see you.</s>NUZZI: Thank you.</s>CABRERA: The line-ups are set for the CNN Democratic presidential debates. Let's show them again. Two big nights. Ten candidates each night. Tuesday and Wednesday night at 8:00, live from Detroit only on CNN. Coming soon to a courtroom near you, "The Godfather: Part II." Why prosecutors want to show a clip of that famous film at Roger Stone's upcoming trial. Plus, the moment when a CNN journalist gets caught in the middle of the chaos, during protests in Hong Kong.