Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

For the Third Time in Three Days, New York Judge Rejects Trump's Effort to Postpone His Criminal Trial Over Hush Money; Trump Says He Would Not Sign Federal Abortion Ban; Closing the "Gun Show Loophole"; Guns, Primary Cause of Mortality for Children, According to New Movie; Parents of Michigan School Shooter Received 10-15 Years of Jail Time; Ohtani's Former Translator Expected to Enter a Guilty Plea, According to New Report from NYT. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 11, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And we'll hear -- we also don't know what we're going to learn about. I mean, we've heard some of it from Michael Cohen over the years. What lengths was Trump willing to go to? Who was involved in trying to keep this information hidden from the voters before the election? That is really the crux of this case, and that is going to be the crux of what you're going to see Democrats pushing, I hope they do. Because again, when we then get to talking about what happened in 2020, there seems to be a pattern emerging in terms of a willingness to do and say anything to win.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: And I -- and let's go back to the abortion discussion.

FINNEY: Yes.

ACOSTA: And Karen, let me go back to you real quick on this. After years of saying he supported a federal abortion ban, Trump is now changing course. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you sign a national abortion ban if Congress sent it to your desk. Would you sign --

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (R): No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you sign it or you wouldn't sign it?

TRUMP: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think a doctor should be punished who perform abortions?

TRUMP: I'll let that be to the states. You know, everything we're doing now is states and states' rights. The states are handling it. And some have handled it very well, and the others will end up handling it very well. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The states are handling it very well. It reminds me of, you know, COVID when he was saying it's a miracle that's going to disappear.

FINNEY: Right.

ACOSTA: I mean, the Biden campaign is weighing in on this. Saying, Trump lies constantly about everything. He has one track record, banning abortion every chance he gets. And he's --

FINNEY: Yes.

ACOSTA: -- Karen, he's talking about state's rights. In the case of Arizona, aren't we talking about territory rights? I mean, this came out when Arizona was a territory, right?

FINNEY: Arizona was a territory. Women were barely considered equal human beings. We couldn't vote.

ACOSTA: They couldn't vote. They --

FINNEY: Black folks weren't quite -- we're still three fifths, right?

ACOSTA: There was that.

FINNEY: So, yes, let's go back to that law. Look, Donald Trump is a fraud and he lies about everything. He has been reading the political tea leaves not that hard in the last couple years. He knows this is a bad issue for him, this is a bad issue for Republicans. He's clearly trying to, you know, pull himself back.

And I want to point out, you know, this sort of, I call it a pseudo- fight that he's even having with Lindsey Graham, right, where they're sort of disagreeing. That is such a setup because he's trying to show he wants people to talk about how, oh, he's fighting with Republicans. Because again, Trump understands that's what some of his voters want to hear and then others of his voters want to hear something different. He's trying to be a little bit of everything to everyone to win their votes.

ACOSTA: And Doug, I mean, there's such a thing as videotape.

DOUG HEYE, (R) FORMER GEORGIA LT. GOVERNOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, AND FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yes.

ACOSTA: And Trump -- I mean, I guess now it's digital video. I'm old. But Trump has taken credit for overturning Roe time and again. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The fact that I was able to terminate Roe v. Wade after 50 years of trying. I was even -- I was so honored to have done it.

And what I did by killing Roe v. Wade, which everyone said was impossible.

Because for 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I'm proud to have done it.

So, I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of Roe v. Wade.

For 52 years, people have wanted to end Roe v. Wade to get it back to the states. We did that. It was an incredible thing. An incredible achievement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: An incredible achievement.

HEYE: Well, look, you know, what we saw there was a series of clips of where Donald Trump was being consistent in his messaging. We often say he's all over the place. He can be a disciplined messenger when he wants to be. The situation has obviously changed with the Dobbs decision. And now, basically, state legislatures and and judiciaries, sort of, legislating and making judicial decisions out loud.

And what we see then is it's not defined by what Trump says. It's not defined in Washington. It's defined in Arizona. It's defined in Texas, South Carolina certainly, and that's where Republicans are finding themselves back on their heels on this.

Trump is -- Trump does get it, as Karen says, that this is a difficult issue for Republicans when everything else seemingly is in their favor right now. But ultimately, Donald Trump is trying to communicate with nuance here. Donald Trump doesn't do nuance very often. He is a blunt force trauma speaker. And so, this is an interesting space to see, will he be successful or not?

ACOSTA: And to that point -- I mean, just go back to you about what we were talking about earlier in the program. Tomorrow, House Speaker Mike Johnson is going to be holding an event with Trump down at Mar-a- Lago on what they're calling election integrity, which we can slice and dice that. What do you make of that? I mean, because, Johnson's in a real jam up on Capitol Hill right now. It's not just Ukraine.

HEYE: Mm-hmm.

ACOSTA: Now it's FISA.

HEYE: Yes.

ACOSTA: And Trump is calling the shots. And so, he's going down to Mar-a-Laga -- Mar-a-Lago a la Kevin McCarthy here. Tough framing.

HEYE: It -- well, it is.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HEYE: And look, it's not been a great week for the House.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HEYE: You know, I'll tell you anytime you have more than one House Republican conference meeting in the same day, that's a bad day and it's a bad week. Johnson clearly wants to get on the same page with Trump, make sure that they're on the same page. Make sure that Trump is on the same page as him. That's a difficult thing to do. But the need is there.

You know, what we saw yesterday was, wasn't just that FISA went down, it's that -- and this gets into process political nerd talk, congressional speak, but this was a procedural vote that they had no room for error in, and obviously there was a lot of error.

[10:35:00]

ACOSTA: They have no room for just about anything these days.

FINNEY: No, right.

ACOSTA: And Karen, I mean, when they say, oh, we're going to have an event on election integrity --

FINNEY: Mm-hmm. Sure. OK.

ACOSTA: I mean, unless you're watching "Newsmax" or "OAN" and you're getting that drip every day. Who believes this bunk anymore?

FINNEY: Well --

ACOSTA: I mean, it's -- we're like, how many years out from the 2020 -- nobody believe -- does anybody believe that?

FINNEY: Yes.

HEYE: Yes.

FINNEY: -- the core base of Trump voters --

ACOSTA: Except for the core base.

FINNEY: -- believe him. They will follow him over the cliff. They are still talking about -- so, when -- most of us talk about election integrity, we're talking about things like voter registration and people being able to vote. When they talk about it, they're not just trying to readjudicate 2020, which was a free and fair election that President Biden won.

They're also trying to talk about ways that they want to actually make it harder for people to vote. We're already seeing Republicans trying to challenge different like vote by mail, for example, in the States. But here, can I just say, there's another piece to this, right? So, the whole event is going to be a sham. Really, Ron -- Johnson is going to go down there and basically say, Dude, you're killing me here. You got it right there. But wait --

ACOSTA: Yes, Mike Johnson, he's looking for relief. FINNEY: He's looking -- he's probably going to say, can you please call off Marjorie Taylor Greene?

ACOSTA: Yes.

FINNEY: But the truth is, this is an example. This is Trump actually running the House, right? He knows that with such a slim margin if he puts something out on "Truth Social", then a FISA bill will go down. And I will tell you, if we have -- if they can't pass it and there -- God forbid, is an attack in this country, that would be Donald Trump's fault if it meant that we didn't have the tools that we needed to be able to present -- prevent it.

ACOSTA: All right.

FINNEY: But he doesn't even care.

ACOSTA: Yes. Oh, we'll be watching. All right. Karen and Doug, thanks a lot, guys. Really appreciate it.

HEYE: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Coming up, the Biden administration makes a major move to close the so-called gun show loophole. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: Next Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado. Ahead of that grim milestone, the White House is finalizing a new rule to combat gun violence by closing the, "Gun show loophole." The new rule will require online sellers and those at gun shows to conduct background checks on potential buyers. It will also increase requirements for a federal firearms license.

And now here to talk to us about this and an exclusive in the "CNN Newsroom", my next guest has been personally impacted by the horror of a school shooting. Manuel Oliver's son, Joaquin, was killed in 2018 at the Parkland, Florida shooting. He and his wife, Patricia, founded the gun violence advocacy organization, Change the Ref.

They have a new short film highlighting a chilling fact that gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children in America. The film follows Anna, a young girl who beats cancer and returns to school only to be caught in a school shooting. Take a look at this exclusive clip that we have for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then we got the news.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does that mean it's over?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The battle against cancer is never over. But at last, Anna was going back to school. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cancer is the third killer of kids in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And Manuel Oliver joins me now. Manuel, we've talked so many times. I know how passionate you are about this subject. This is a very important new film that we're -- we've just shown to our viewers a clip of that. Tell us more about this project.

MANUEL OLIVER, FATHER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM JOAQUIN OLIVER: Well, you know what? This is the result of six years of fighting, non- stopping and not getting enough attention of the issue. This is like trying to get more and more people engaged in something that is killing our kids. It is amazing that we needed to put together cancer along with guns just to explain our society, our country, how bad this is.

A group of -- a very talented group of directors and producers and creatives. Not to mention the fact that Patricia, Joaquin's mother, she is in the film. She plays the teacher. So, we are using every single aspect of our movement, of Joaquin's way to empower us to put this together. The film is out there. It's a game changer. Now. it's about sharing it. Now, it's about getting everyone to see it. There is no debate behind this message. It's very clear.

ACOSTA: And everybody should see it. Absolutely. I do want to ask you, Manuel, about this new gun show loophole rule from the White House. I mean, it was thought for many years that this was going to have to be done legislatively. The White House is going to try to do this. What's your reaction to that?

OLIVER: I think it's a must do like yesterday. I'm going to answer you with a very brief story. I was able to go to a gun show in Miami five years ago and purchase an AR-15 with non-background check. And then I made a sculpture out of it. So, I know exactly how this gun show loophole works. And it's terrible and I'm hoping that we will get rid of it.

ACOSTA: And I'm sure you've seen this as well. The Tennessee State Senate passed a bill this week that would allow school teachers and staff to carry concealed handguns on school grounds. A bill to require public schools to teach age-appropriate gun safety to children as young as pre-K ages, that's headed to the governor's desk. I know you see all of these different pieces of legislation happening in the states. What's your response to that?

[10:45:00]

OLIVER: The response to that is the video that you showed at the beginning. Those are answers and solutions that are coming directly from people that will receive more money by selling more guns. I mean, you're not fooling anyone else. It's a lie. It's a total lie. You're arming teachers for what? Now, you're going to have more guns inside a school. How is that going to help? How is adding more guns going to help? We need to put less guns outside there, but we also need to create awareness, Jim. This is about people understanding. This is about people not being afraid of sharing the truth. And I'm hoping that leaders and influencers and politicians will grab this video, not being afraid of being cancelled or not liked by majorities. Because you know who was cancelled here? Joaquin Oliver. Joaquin Oliver was canceled forever from everywhere.

So, it's time to put things and call things by their name. This is a game changer. And I'm hoping that this time Patricia, myself, and the whole people, the amount -- number of people that is fighting against gun violence can reach a step forward.

ACOSTA: Another thing that happened in one of the states this weekend, Michigan. We saw the parents of Ethan Crumbley sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for the school shooting carried out by their son. What did you think of that?

OLIVER: Well deserved. Buy their son with a gun that was given from its parents. So, it is incredible that I'm mentioning Patricia fighting against gun violence to save other kids. In the meantime, you have mothers that are giving guns to their kids just because our culture and our system allows that to happen. Well deserved. I hope that this marks a precedent because, yes, there's more people behind the shooter.

The kid, the 19-year-old killer that killed Joaquin has a chain of people that are guilty about this. Organizations, corporations, and people. And everyone needs to be accountable.

ACOSTA: Meanwhile, Oliver, as always, it's always good to talk to you and our hearts always go out to you. And it's so heartening to see you doing something so enormously positive with this film that you have coming out. I hope everybody watches it. Manuel Oliver, thanks as always for your time. Really appreciate it.

OLIVER: Thank you, Jim. Good to see you.

ACOSTA: All right. We'll be right -- good to see you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

ACOSTA: This morning, the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers phenom Shohei Ohtani is in negotiations to plead guilty after being accused of stealing millions of dollars from the star player. This is according to new reporting from "The New York Times".

CNN Correspondent Nick Watt joins us now from L.A. And Nick, I should caution our viewers as I'm going to you, we may have to break off for breaking news in the next few seconds here, but what's the latest in this investigation?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, "The New York Times" is now reporting that three people say that this interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, is in negotiations to plead guilty. Charges relating to the theft of more than $4.5 million that he allegedly stole from his boss, his friend Shohei Ohtani, the massively, popular face of baseball right now.

The story emerged when investigators noticed Ohtani's name on wire transfers to a bookie in Orange County, California. Now, Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter, came out and said, Ohtani lent me the money to pay off my own gambling debts. Ohtani's people came out and said, no way. This money was stolen and they say they handed it over to the authorities. Now, we are told, as I say, that this interpreter is negotiating a plea deal. I spoke to his lawyer. He said no comment at this time.

Now, this raised eyebrows, obviously, because anything to do with gambling in sport is a problem. And also, this bookie had been going around telling people that Ohtani was his client. That bookie's lawyer told me that was just a marketing ploy. He never had any contact with Ohtani at all.

But there were also questions as to how would this interpreter have actually managed to take this money without Ohtani knowing? Well, according to those sources who spoke to 'The New York Times", Mizuhara changed the settings on Ohtani's bank account so he didn't get alert when money came out of his account.

Now, Ohtani himself, he came out and gave a very strident press conference a couple of weeks ago in which he called his former friend a gambler, a thief, and a liar. And now, with this report of this alleged negotiation, it does seem that this cloud has moved completely away from Ohtani.

In the meantime, Jim, he's been doing what he does best. Playing very, very well at baseball. So, it doesn't seem to have gotten inside his head. He has had a great start to his career at the Dodgers here in Los Angeles, which is good. I mean, $700 million they're paying him. And I will note that I was at his first game of the league season here at Dodger Stadium, the fans of the Dodgers never doubted him one bit. Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Nick Watt, thank you very much.

And before we go, a rescue mission turned family reunion. For more than a week, three mariners had been stranded on this remote island out in the pacific. To get some attention, the castaways spelled the word help in big letters on the beach using palm leaves.

[10:55:00]

After spotting the sign, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard on Tuesday carried out their rescue mission. Once they arrived, the stranded men were surprised to see that. This man, one of the Coast Guard rescuers that day, was Micronesian and spoke their local language. Connecting the dots, the officer told them his name and they turned out to all be cousins. Incredible story there. All right. Thank you very much for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of "Newsroom with Wolf Blitzer" Starts after a short break. Have a good day, everybody.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]