Can Democrats Slow The Bernie Sanders Surge; Axios, President Trump Wants Snakes Fired From Government; Time Is Running Short For Sander's Rival; America's Choice 2020; Intel Official's Russia Assessment Called Misleading; Coronavirus Fears Tank Global Markets; Coronavirus Hurting China's Economy; China Warns Citizens Against Travel To United States; America's Low Wage Working Army; America's Choice 2020; Sanders Offers Partial Defense Of Fidel Castro; Stocks Fall As Coronavirus Spreads Beyond China
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Bernie Sanders is starting to run away from the Democratic field hell bent on a revolution. Is the moderate resistance out of time?</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The president obsess with the so-called the deep state, he wants snakes found and fired. New details on who is helping and how.</s>JARRETT: And it's going to be an ugly, ugly day on Wall Street. Futures weigh down, markets worldwide plummet as coronavirus cases expand well beyond China. Welcome back to Early Start. I'm Laura Jarrett. And as we mentioned in the break it's really that spread beyond China that's causing the plummet.</s>ROMANS: Yes. And 3 percent moves, those are big overnight moves. I'm Christine Romans, it is 31 minutes past the hour here in New York. Let's begin with the Democratic race, Democratic candidates not named Bernie Sanders are running very short on time with the South Carolina primary coming on Saturday, Sanders is close to wrapping up a lead that will be very hard to beat. It's full steam ahead for the Vermont Senator after a convincing win in the Nevada caucuses, expanding his now to Super Tuesday states. Sanders was in Austin, Texas last night.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I-VT), U.S. 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 in Wall Street and the drug companies see this kind of crowd, you're going to really get them nervous.</s>JARRETT: About a third of all delegates are up for grabs a week from tomorrow. Most of the splintered field is focusing on South Carolina looking for a momentum boost. After mostly ignoring Sanders at last week's debate, expect him to be a prime target at the next one tomorrow night.</s>PETE BUTTIGIEG (D) 2020 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.</s>SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), U.S. DEMOCRATIC 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.</s>ROMANS: A new South Carolina poll shows Joe Biden still in the lead, but the race is all about margins now. 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 the slide in South Carolina. Biden is also arguing Sanders at the top of the ticket could cost Democrats nationwide. Our Jeff Zeleny is on the campaign trail in Charleston, South Carolina.</s>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's 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.</s>JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2020 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not just can you beat 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 down the line? And I think, I'm better prepared to do that than Senator Sanders is.</s>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 and the most important ones in his political career. Christine and Laura.</s>ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks for that. All right. The election year economy is strong, but something is wrong. President Trump tapped into it, now Bernie Sanders has, too. There is a low wage working army in America, and that coalition is behind Bernie's win in Nevada. The energy he had in Iowa, and now again we're seeing it in Texas. Look at these numbers. Data from Brookings institution shows 53 million people are making $10.22 an hour. That's just under $18,000 a year, 53 million people. Two thirds of these low wage workers are in their prime earning years of 24 to 54. These aren't teenagers, these aren't young people working with minimum wage or entry level jobs. These are adults and 40 percent of this group are raising children. Now, all this despite unemployment being at a 50-year low. This low wage army is told the college is the answer but they can't afford the tuition. The Feds consumer debt report recently showed a record number of student loan holders are not paying their bills, one in nine borrowers 90 days or more delinquent or in default in the fourth quarter of last year. Important numbers, I think, behind what you're seeing on the campaign trail and what you're seeing on specifically from supporters of Bernie Sanders.</s>JARRETT: Bernie and Trump.</s>ROMANS: Yes.</s>JARRETT: Well, moderate voters may have another reason to bypass Senator Sanders. The Vermont Senator 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.</s>SANDERS: We're very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but, you know, it's unfair to simply say everything is 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 --</s>JARRETT: Anderson Cooper pointed out -- point out the number of dissidents imprisoned in Cuba, Sanders responded we condemn that.</s>ROMANS: Ahead of the South Carolina primaries, CNN will host town hall events with all the leading candidates. A two night events starts tonight with Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern only on</s>CNN. JARRETT: President Trump stepping up efforts to weed out government officials he views as disloyal. Aides of 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 defense, to homeland security is filled with snakes he wants fired and replaced.</s>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 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 is sending memos to the president to shape his views. Members of this network include Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. CNN has reached out for a comment but has not heard back.</s>JARRETT: Axios reports one recent memo involves Jessie Liu. She was nominated for a top job at treasury only to have the president withdraw that nomination right before her confirmation hearing. She led the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C. overseeing the Roger Stone case. And the memo about Liu contained 14 sections making the case for why she was unfit for the job. Neither Liu nor the White House has responded to request for comment.</s>ROMANS: All right, stock markets around the world are tumbling as the coronavirus outbreak spreads beyond China. These are big moves to start the week. Hong Kong closed down nearly 2 percent. South Korean stocks had their worst day in more than a year down almost 4 percent, and the bad mood is extending to the president's favored economic indicator, the stock market, the industrial average looks like almost 800 points if this negativity holds into the next few hours. Now, 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., 14 Americans who tested positive for the disease return to the U.S. this week after spending weeks quarantined on the Diamond Princess docked in Japan. The exact amount of funding has not been set but a request could be sent to the Capitol Hill soon as today. A spokesperson for Health and Human Services said, CDC has already notified Congress. It plans to spend up to $66 million for its infectious diseases, rapid response reserve fund to react to that outbreak. Those are big stock market moves. I mean, we're going to be bracing for a big sell-off this morning. The DOW was down also on Friday. It's sort of the realization here that they don't have a grasp on how badly coronavirus will spread and how that will hurt global growth. You know, in China, China is now a third of global economic output, has tied into China. Much different than 20 years ago when we had the SARS virus.</s>JARRETT: Well, still ahead, a hiker in Washington State crawling, crawling eight hours to save his own life.