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Iran Expected To Strike Targets Inside Israel; Famine Already Present In Parts Of Gaza; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Reacts To Trump's Land-For-Peace Idea; Trump Hush Money Trial Jury Selection To Begin Monday; Vice President Kamala Harris Slams Trump And Arizona Abortion Ruling; Argentinian President And Elon Musk Lithium Deals; Mexico Plans To Curb Illegal Crossings Into The U.S.; The Masters. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 13, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to viewers watching around the world. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong.
Ahead, waiting for an attack. Sources tell us that Iran could hit inside Israel in retaliation for the strike on its diplomatic compound in Syria. U.S. President Joe Biden expects it's sooner, rather than later.
Israel says it has hit more sites in Lebanon releasing these pictures, it says, shows strikes on a military complex used by Hezbollah.
The first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is set to begin in New York on Monday. The judge denies Donald Trump's lawyers' efforts to delay it.
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COREN: U.S. sources tell CNN they expect Iran to carry out strikes inside Israel. They say Iranian proxy groups could also be involved in any attack. An Iranian attack on Israel could be retaliation for the Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria last week.
On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden says an attack from inside Iran or from its proxy forces in other countries could happen soon.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to get this security information but my expectation is sooner than later.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: What is your message to Iran in this moment?
BIDEN: Don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The White House says U.S. officials are in constant communication with their Israeli counterparts. On Friday, Israel's defense minister met with the commander of U.S. Central Command about the threat of an Iranian attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO LCIP)
YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): Our enemies think that they can pull apart Israel and the United States but the opposite is true. They are bringing us together and strengthening our ties. We stand shoulder to shoulder in our struggle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: CNN Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann has more on what the U.S. is doing to prepare for a possible Iranian strike.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Just like Israel, the U.S. is watching very closely to see what Iran's response looks like here to the Israeli strike in their consular building in Damascus. And whether it comes from Iran directly or from Iran's proxies.
One thing the U.S. has seen, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence, Iran moving around weapons and assets internally. And that's to include cruise missiles and drones, according to two sources familiar with the intelligence.
According to one of those sources, Iran has readied at least 100 cruise missiles.
Now the question, of course, is, what's the purpose of this?
Is this part of Iran's response to that attack in Damascus?
Or are they simply posturing and trying to send a message to Israel and the U.S.?
That is a key question here, because Iran's actions and the actions of their proxies could be on quite a wide spectrum. The U.S. believes that Iran is trying to avoid a wider escalation in the region and trying to calibrate their response, to send a message without igniting a wider conflict here.
As for the U.S., they have sent additional assets to the region, likely air defenses, because that's the threat here coming from the air, whether it's cruise missiles, rockets or drones. So that's what the U.S. is looking out for and bolstering its own force posture.
Worth noting that the U.S. has been on high alert since basically the beginning of the Gaza war and especially since an attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members. The U.S. very much preparing here as well. Officials have also said that the U.S. will intercept any launches or
attacks that it can directed at Israel. And we've seen that happen in the past. The U.S. Navy has intercepted missiles launched from the Houthis in Yemen toward Israel, those over the Red Sea.
There are also U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria that could intercept launches from Iran, depending on where they're launched from and what route they take. Still a very big open question as to what this will look like.
Of course, the U.S. and Israel watching very closely. General Erik Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, is in Israel right now, coordinating with his Israeli counterparts on a situational assessment and a look at the security situation in the region -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, in the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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COREN: Hasan Alhasan is a senior fellow for Middle East Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He joins us now from Bahrain.
Hasan, thank you for joining us. We are hearing that an attack is imminent.
What is your assessment and what are the potential targets?
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HASAN ALHASAN, SENIOR FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: So all of the pieces are in place for this really to blow up into a very dangerous situation for the entire region.
Iran has very publicly committed to retaliate against the Israeli attack on its consulate, its diplomatic mission in Damascus. And Israel has, in turn, vowed also to respond to an Iranian attack.
And the U.S. has very publicly committed to standing by Israel and to defending Israel's security interests. So all of the pieces are in place for this to go completely haywire.
So Iran has made a very public commitment. It has a number of options at its disposal. It could seek to launch attacks directly from Iranian territory, using precision missile strikes, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles; also, drones, of which it has many.
It has quite a sophisticated and diverse arsenal. It could choose to activate its militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere. It could go after softer Israeli targets, like diplomatic missions and besieging (ph) third countries and, of course, use cyber attacks and so on.
So it has a number of options at its disposal and it will, I think, choose a combination of options that allow it to save face and retaliate and do good on its commitment without risking an all-out confrontation and war with Israel.
COREN: Do you believe that it will be an attack by Iran or by its proxies?
ALHASAN: It's difficult to say with absolute certainty. So if this attack comes from Iran directly and from Iranian soil, then that obviously becomes a very risky scenario, because Israel could very well respond against Iranian soil and against Iranian Revolutionary Guard's interests within Iran and assets within Iran.
And that would obviously be the riskiest scenario that could more likely than not blow up into a broader confrontation.
A lower risk scenario for Iran would be to use its partner militias in third countries. So Iran has developed these partnerships with Hamas, with Hezbollah, with the Houthis or Ansar Allah in Yemen and a number of other militias in Iraq.
It has advisors and troops that are forward deployed with these militias. And so a less riskier scenario would be for Iran to activate these militias in order to respond and retaliate against Israel's attack on its diplomatic mission.
COREN: Many experts believe that this attack will be measured so as to prevent a wider conflict. But as you well know, there is always room for miscalculation for things to go haywire.
ALHASAN: Indeed, I think Iran's conduct since the beginning of this conflict has been to calibrate its involvement in a way that would allow it to support its militias include -- across the region and its partners, including Hamas and the Palestinian jihad, fighting Israel at the moment in Gaza.
But to do so in a way that nevertheless leaves some room and some distance and a modicum of deniability so as to avoid Iran getting dragged fully into this conflict. So I think that's consistent with Iran's conduct since the beginning of the war for sure.
But of course, the risk for accidents, miscalculations. Iran could be too successful in a way that may not be totally intentional. So if it launches strikes, even through its militias and lands (ph) too many casualties on the Israeli side or targets success for the U.S. forces, for example, because the Iranians have accused the U.S. of being in on this.
Then, of course, that --
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COREN: Well, speaking --
ALHASAN: -- broader retaliation.
COREN: -- speaking of the U.S., the experts are saying that U.S. targets are unlikely. We're also learning that Israel didn't warn the U.S. before the Damascus strike that killed three generals and other commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
In hindsight, was it foolish of Israel to strike Damascus, considering where this conflict could lead?
ALHASAN: So I think Israel's strike -- and my analysis is probably motivated by two considerations.
It was motivated by a military desire to degrade Iran's leadership in -- especially within the IRGC, because the commanders, the generals that were taken out, were rather important and senior and played a direct role in coordinating Iran's activities in the Levant area.
It was also meant to inflect costs on Iran, of course. But I think there's a wider political objective that Israel was going for. It was coming under a lot of international pressure, including from the U.S., for its highly atrocious conduct in this war, for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
And so I think by changing the rules of engagement in its conflict with Iran.
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By going after Iran's diplomatic mission, it was trying to reframe this war as being rather than a war simply against Hamas to a war against Iran. And then attempt to interrupt the U.S., bring the U.S. closer to its side and dial down some of that international pressure to focus on the counter escalation, the retaliation that would be coming from Iran.
So I think Israel was trying to achieve that political objective and I think, to some extent, it has managed to deflect attention away from the situation in Gaza to this issue of a potential threat of a wider escalation between Iran and Israel, of course.
COREN: Hasan Alhasan, we certainly appreciate your perspective and we'll be watching how this all plays out in the coming days. Thank you.
ALHASAN: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Israel says it carried out new strikes in southern Lebanon today. The IDF released this video a short time ago.
It shows a series of explosions. Israel says the strikes were on a large military complex used by Hezbollah. The IDF also struck in southern Lebanon on Friday. An IDF spokesman posted this video on social media.
He said the strikes hit military buildings Hezbollah was using. Well, Hezbollah says it fired dozens of rockets into Israel as retaliation. They said the barrage was in support of Palestinians in Gaza and in response to Israeli attacks on what Hezbollah says were civilian homes in southern Lebanon
Well, the area has already seen months of cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militia. CNN's Ben Wedeman rode along with U.N. peacekeepers, who keep watch over a battle-scarred landscape.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're on patrol with Spanish U.N. peacekeepers in a land on the edge. The southern most part of Lebanon, racked by six months of strike and counter-strike between Hezbollah and Israel. On the brink, perhaps of even worse.
We drive along the blue line, the unofficial frontier between two countries in a technical state of war for more than 75 years. A concrete wall topped by mesh is all that separates the two.
More than 300 people, fighters and civilians have been killed here since October. Communities on both sides perilously close to the borders, says Lieutenant Colonel Juan Garcia Martinez.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL JUAN GARCIA MARTINEZ, UNIFIL, SPANISH CONTINGENT: It lies -- it's in a very bad position. You see the front close to the blue line. And you can hit from many position the IDF.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Hezbollah is a close ally of Iran, which is threatening to retaliate against Israel for its bombing of Tehran's consulate in Damascus, raising the specter that the war in Gaza could spread across the region.
WEDEMAN: When you speak to ordinary people here in service (ph), analysts, diplomats they all seem to agree that war between Hezbollah and Israel is not a matter of if; it's only in question of when.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Around 90,000 people have fled the south since October. Others remain, many of them Syrian workers tending farms in these fertile valleys.
The Spanish peacekeepers base is right on the border and in the line of fire, says Captain Hector Alonso.
CAPTAIN HECTOR ALONSO, UNIFIL, SPANISH CONTINGENT: So (INAUDIBLE), we have their Israel on the south; north, we have Yemen, right?
So as I said, we have seen some single fires on (INAUDIBLE) area. We seeing a striking on the -- on this area, which is called Masara (ph).
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Just a few hundred yards away, across a minefield, sits an Israeli military position; no visible movement there. The temporary calm highly deceptive.
Friday afternoon, the Israeli military released video of a strike on what it claimed was a military building belonging to Hezbollah -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, South Lebanon.
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COREN: At least one Palestinian man is dead and 25 others injured after one of the largest attacks this year by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Palestinian officials say hundreds of armed Israeli settlers stormed a village in the Occupied Territory, setting fire to homes and cars while firing guns at residents.
A CNN source says, Israeli forces told Palestinian officials that the settlers were looking for a missing 14 year-old Israeli boy.
Amid the Israel-Hamas war, the United Nations has warned repeatedly that Palestinian civilians were at risk of famine. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports it's happening now in parts of Gaza.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rami Uttar(ph) has been waiting two months for this single box of humanitarian aid, cans of meat and vegetables to feed his
family of seven.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This will be gone in 10 days. He says his frustration unmistakable. I don't know how it's going to be enough
for seven people. I've been suffering here, being stuck for the last six to seven months and the U.N. hasn't brought me anything to at least satiate
my hunger.
Six months into the war, famine is creeping into parts of Gaza. Humanitarian aid agencies have been sounding the alarm for months but now
amid ramped up U.S. pressure, Israel is suddenly taking major steps to increase humanitarian aid. "We plan to flood Gaza with aid," Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant said this week, describing a new phase of humanitarian assistance that will see more aid flow into Israel's port of
Ashdod and into Gaza via a new northern crossing point.
Overnight, the first trucks of food aid crossing into northern Gaza via that new crossing point. Israel says it has nearly doubled the number of
humanitarian aid trucks getting into Gaza over the last week, screening close to 400 trucks per day.
JAMIE MCGOLDRICK, HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR, UNITED NATIONS: Yes, we're dealing with the wrong part of the system -- DIAMOND: Jamie McGoldrick; the U.N.'s Humanitarian Coordinator says it's clear Israel is suddenly shifting its approach to humanitarian aid.
MCGOLDRICK: Well, that's for sure. I mean, there has been a change. We've been asking for this for months. The fight, we would ask for more -- they
say Kerem Shalom to be open longer. We've asked for more routes and the corridor for job and we've asked for all of the things that no start to
say they're going to give us.
They'd ask the question, why didn't we get it before?
DIAMOND: For months, Israeli leaders have rejected accusations that they are limiting aid into Gaza or intentionally starving its population.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER, ISRAEL: Well, our policies is to not to have famine but to have the entry of humanitarian support as needed and
as much as it's needed.
DIAMOND: But the sudden ramp-up, almost like flipping a switch suggests Israel could have done a lot more a lot sooner.
MCGOLDRICK: Well, I think it was never seen to be a priority. I mean, I think for them, it's the war aims, the objectives of the war, that was
first and foremost. We're either seen as a -- of a second priority or even a nuisance value.
DIAMOND: Data from UNRWA, the U.N.'s main agency in Gaza shows that Israel has steadily allowed more aid into Gaza since opening up humanitarian
crossings on October 21st, with the exception of February, when the number of aid trucks dropped to less than a 100 per day before slowly increasing
again in March.
But those numbers are all well below the 500 humanitarian aid and commercial trucks that entered Gaza every day before the war. The impact of
insufficient aid has been obvious for months. It is marked all over the emaciated face of little Layla Jained (ph), barely three months old.
She is among the 30 percent of children in northern Gaza who are suffering from acute malnutrition and who desperately need more aid now -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
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COREN: Well, breaking news right now in Sydney, Australia. Police say one man has been shot and multiple people have been stabbed in what they're calling a critical incident. It happened inside the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping mall.
Police are urging people to avoid the area. They're not saying if the incident is related to terrorism. We will keep across the story and bring you more information as we get it.
Well, former U.S. president Donald Trump reportedly floats the idea of pressing Ukraine into peace with Russia. Still ahead, the Ukrainian president responds to an alleged proposal to swap land in return for guns going silent.
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COREN: Well, Russia says it's ready to revisit a peace agreement that was floated at the start of its war with Ukraine. The Kremlin says the draft deal, which was abandoned in the spring of 2022, could be a starting point for future talks. The agreement would have left Crimea under Russian control.
Ukraine would have to keep its military small and stay out of NATO. But Moscow's new statement suggests it has additional demands regarding four occupied regions that Russia has declared annexed.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DMITRY PESKOV, PUTIN SPOKESPERSON (through translator): This is only possible in the form of dialogue. Readiness for the dialogue and negotiations was confirmed yesterday by the president. As a rule, the talks are based on something. Of course, the talks may be based on that document as well.
But naturally, from what has changed since then in the last two years, the new territories are now part of Russia as per our constitution, which was not the case two years ago.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COREN: Ukraine says it wants all of its land back, including Crimea, and every Russian soldier to leave its territory.
Meanwhile, Russia's arms industry is getting a second lease on life, courtesy of China. Well, that's from U.S. officials who say Beijing is helping Russia with everything from drone and missile technology to satellite capabilities and microelectronics.
Without that help, according to one official, Moscow would struggle to keep its war effort going. The U.S. has reportedly raised the issue with China, including in a phone call between the presidents early this month. but so far officials say there are no signs that anything has changed.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump may get on board with more aid for Ukraine if Kyiv eventually pays it back.
He spoke after meeting House Speaker Mike Johnson at Trump's resort in Florida on Friday. Johnson has been holding up about $60 billion in military aid for months which the U.S. is providing as a grant.
Ukraine's president warned in recent days his country will lose the war without more U.S. aid. But Trump, who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said this.
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TRUMP: We're looking at it right now and they're talking about it and we're thinking about making it in the form of a loan instead of just a gift. We keep handing out gifts of billions and billions of dollars and we'll take a look at it. But much more importantly to me is the fact that Europe has to step up and they have to give money.
We have -- they have to equalize. If they don't equalize, I'm very upset about it because they're affected much more than we are. The Ukrainian situation would have never happened if I was president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Trump has reportedly floated another idea about Ukraine in recent days. According to "The Washington Post," he privately said, if he's reelected, he would press Ukraine to cede territory to Russia and make peace.
The Trump campaign told the paper the report is based on uninformed sources. Earlier this week, CNN's Fred Pleitgen directly asked Ukraine's president for a response.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As Russia unleashes barrages of powerful missiles in Ukraine's cities, killing and wounding dozens in the past days.
And Kyiv, both outmanned and outgunned, suffers setbacks on the battlefield, I asked Ukraine's president about Donald Trump's reported plan if he's elected to end the fighting by forcing Ukraine to give up territory and hand it to Vladimir Putin.
PLEITGEN: Would you ever be willing to give up Ukrainian territory for peace?
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I did not hear it directly from Trump, his ideas in detail. I did not have the opportunity to talk to him about this topic and his idea of how to end the war.
If there is such an opportunity, I would be happy to hear and I will listen. And we will talk about this topic.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The Trump campaign today also denied the former president has agreed to visit Ukraine after reports surfaced he was planning a visit.
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Zelenskyy says Ukraine will lose the war if Republicans don't approve U.S. military aid fast. Kyiv's army running short on everything from artillery ammo to air defense missiles.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): I understand that it is not easy and everyone thinks about themselves. Our partners are helping. I am grateful to them.
They help us much as they can. But as much as they can is not enough if we really want to defeat Putin, if no one wants Putin to drag the world into World War III.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Speaking to me, Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the U.S. and its allies not to be intimidated by Putin.
"If Ukraine gets a weapons and ammo," he says, "Kyiv will win."
ZELENSKYY (through translator): It is a war and we have a serious enemy against us. But let's be realistic, not pessimistic; let's be realistic. Today, the situation is stabilized. If there are concrete weapons, concrete political steps from our partners, we will break Putin's backbone.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Delphi, Greece.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: The first criminal trial of a former U.S. president, begins on Monday. A closer look at how challenging jury selection could be ahead.
Plus U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is blaming Trump for weakening reproductive rights. We will have a report on her push to energize voters around the issue after the break.
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COREN: Updating you on the breaking news from Sydney, Australia. We're getting video now from the shooting and stabbing incident inside a shopping mall. Well, police say one man has been shot and multiple people have been stabbed in what they're calling a critical incident.
This is from the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping mall. Police are urging people to avoid the area. Witnesses say people were running through the mall and falling over each other.
One described the situation as pandemonium. Police have not said if the incident is related to terrorism. We're keeping across this story and will bring you more news as we get it.
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COREN: Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial is set to begin Monday in New York with jury selection as planned, despite his continued efforts to delay it.
The Republican presidential candidate is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, stemming from payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
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CNN's Jessica Schneider has more.
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TRUMP: This is election interference.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump's outsized personality could present a challenge to lawyers Monday as they set out to find 18 unbiased Manhattan residents to decide Trump's criminal hush money case.
SCHNEIDER: You have a former president of the United States, someone who is very controversial, how difficult is it going to be to seat a jury based on the defendant here?
DR. LESLIE ELLIS, JURY CONSULTANT: I think it's going to be difficult. It's going to take a long time.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Dr. Leslie Ellis (ph) has worked as a jury consultant for 25 years. She estimates it could take more than a week for lawyers to settle on 12 jurors plus six alternates. And for both sides, it may be more about weeding out the wrong ones than finding the right ones.
ELLIS: One sort of overriding premise of jury selection is that it's a misnomer, it's jury de-selection. It's sort of finding those two or three people who really sort of scare you for whatever reason and to get rid of them.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Hundreds of potential jurors will arrive at the Manhattan criminal courthouse Monday morning. Once inside the courtroom, they'll come face to face with Trump. He has the right to sit through jury selection and sources tell CNN he plans to be there. Anyone with conflicts like knowing someone involved in the case or strong biases they can't disregard will likely be immediately dismissed.
Then the work begins.
Each juror will have to answer 42 very specific questions out loud inside the courtroom. They range from where they live to whether they support extremist groups like QAnon, the Proud Boys or Antifa. They'll even be asked to disclose what news organizations they listen to.
JEREMY SALAND, FORMER MANHATTAN ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's really getting to understand who this juror is. What this juror is going to do when he or she gets the evidence. How is this juror going to interact with his co-jurors?
It's your only opportunity to get a feel for them as people and not as number one, two, three, et cetera.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): This jury will be very different from the last one Trump faced during the E. Jean Carroll defamation case. That jury was in federal court and the jurors came not only from Manhattan but also a diverse array of surrounding counties. This jury will only be drawn from Manhattan, where voters overwhelmingly chose Joe Biden in 2020. Nearly 87 percent to 12 percent.
ELLIS: Political affiliation doesn't necessarily mean bias, right?
And that's what they're going to have to figure out. There may be lots of reasons for somebody to vote for a candidate that don't necessarily de facto translate into a bias for or against the other candidate.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The jurors who ultimately get selected will not be known to the public. Their names, images and identities will not be released, even though lawyers on both sides will know their names. Dr. Ellis says Trump's attorneys and prosecutors will have to be on high alert for any potential juror who might hide their true feelings in an effort to ultimately upend deliberations.
ELLIS: I'm not a big believer that stealth jurors are everywhere. But in a case like this, there is definitely a higher risk of a stealth juror, meaning someone who intentionally keeps quiet about an opinion to get on the jury. They're not that common. They're not as common as a lot of people think. But here, that's a real risk.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Watch CNN's special coverage of the Trump hush money trial Monday at 9:00 am in New York, 2:00 pm in London.
In the classified documents case, a federal judge in Florida appeared skeptical of efforts by Trump's co-defendants to get some charges thrown out. Attorneys for Trump's valet, Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, argue that the charges aren't clear enough.
During a Friday hearing, the judge grilled Nauta's attorney, asking what was missing from the indictment that she called "very lengthy and very specific." The judge did not make any decisions on the motions or indicate when she would rule.
Nauta and De Oliveira are accused of conspiring to help Trump hide documents after he left the White House. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Trump's co-defendants are not the only ones trying to get charges dismissed. A federal judge has rejected multiple attempts by Hunter Biden to throw out his felony gun indictment in Delaware. In the ruling issued Friday, the judge dismissed claims that he was being selectively prosecuted because he is the son of the president.
However, there's been no decision on a key motion -- challenging, I should say, the constitutionality of the gun laws used to challenge him. Hunter Biden's trial starts in early June. He has pleaded not guilty.
Well, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is warning that a second Donald Trump presidency would be worse than the first when it comes to reproductive rights.
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During a speech on Friday, Harris slammed a recent Arizona supreme court ruling that upheld an 1864 law banning almost all abortions. It's part of efforts to mobilize voters for the upcoming election. More now from CNN's MJ Lee.
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MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) Harris on Friday traveling to Arizona on the heels of Arizona supreme court's ruling that said that the state must adhere to a 160-year-old law that bars abortion in almost all cases.
You listen to the vice president's speech and you get a really good sense of why the Biden campaign is leaning all in on the issue of abortion rights. She said, the government simply should not have a say in determining what people should be able to do with their bodies.
And she also said that the Arizona supreme court ruling was one of the biggest aftershocks after Roe was overturned.
And then she asked the question of, who is to blame for this?
And she said the answer to that was Donald Trump.
And in fact, just minutes before she took the stage in Arizona, Donald Trump was down in Florida. And he boasted about how he was responsible for the fact that now states are having to largely determine what kinds of abortion rights people have in their respective states.
This is the vice president talking in Arizona. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now in states across our country, extremists have proposed and passed laws that criminalize doctors and punish women. Laws that threaten doctors and nurses with prison time, even for life, simply for providing reproductive care.
And then just this week, here in Arizona, they have turned back the clock to the 1800s to take away a woman's most fundamental right, the right to make decisions about her own body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: And the Biden campaign overall has been using the strategy of sort of trying to paint a full picture of the full impact that people have seen across the country since Roe v. Wade was overturned, talking about women's health being at risk.
Also talking about doctors and medical professionals fearing for just their jobs and their livelihoods as they are trying to do the work that they're supposed to do and provide the service that they are supposed to provide.
And then just painting a picture, too, of the general uncertainty and chaos as different states are putting in place different regulations and different laws, again, in the aftermath of Roe being overturned.
The message overall from the Biden campaign has really been this is what the country will look like if Donald Trump comes back to the White House and if Republicans have a say in determining what kinds of reproductive rights people have across the country.
And the vice president was very clear. She said this is only the beginning. And of course, the Biden campaign is trying to use this as a political messaging tool, because they feel that they were very much validated in 2022, in 2023 and all of the various ballot measures that have come up on this issue.
And they are making a big bet that they are also going to be validated come November -- MJ Lee, CNN, at the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Sentencing is set for Monday for the woman in charge of the gun that killed a crew member on the set of Alec Baldwin's movie, "Rust." On Friday, prosecutors asked the court to give Hannah Gutierrez 18 months in prison because of her, quote, "complete and total failure to accept responsibility for her actions."
Her attorney asked for a conditional discharge. Last month Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. She was killed by a live bullet fired from a prop gun in October 2021.
Argentina's far-right president Javier Milei made a stop in Texas on Friday, making time for a like-minded CEO. CNN's Ivan Sarmenti has the details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN SARMENTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And finally, they met. This Friday, president of Argentina, Javier Milei, visited Elon Musk at his Tesla factory in Austin, Texas.
They have promised to work together to promote free markets as well as potential lithium projects. Also both had their selfie time, as Milei tweeted on X, Musk's social network, sharing several pictures together.
It was an eight-minute (ph) meeting, face-to-face for the very first time, because they had never actually been together, despite the tweets, likes, retweets and a phone call, when they promised this encounter.
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On more than one occasion, Musk has expressed his affinity for Milei and his libertarian politics, both in on X for example, that prosperity was ahead for Argentina following Milei's election in November.
Later in January, when Argentine president spoke in Davos at the World Economic Forum, Musk shared Milei's speech on X by saying, what explanation of what makes countries more or less prosperous?
Milei used to answer (INAUDIBLE), also on X but one of his first measure as president was to use a televised address to announce a wide range of economic deregulations. And there, the only business he mentioned was Starlink, Musk's satellite internet company.
Three months later it had started to operate in Argentina. This Friday at Tesla's factory, Milei was joined by his sister, Kateryna, who is the secretary of presidency and Argentine ambassador, here are the worst thing (ph), who told the media about the potential lithium projects.
Argentina is the world's fourth largest producer of lithium, a critical component of the batteries that power Tesla and other electric vehicles. Besides, according to the presidential spokesperson, the Argentine president offered his support for the judicial and political dispute over X in Brazil.
And both Milei and Musk also agreed to organize a big event here in Argentina to promote ideas of freedom.
Now that the meeting is over, Milei keeps on posting about all the repercussions and the media articles about it on his X account -- Ivan Sarmenti, CNN, Buenos Aires.
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COREN: Stay with CNN. Much more after the break.
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COREN: Well, more now on the breaking news in Sydney, Australia. Police say one man has been shot and multiple people have been stabbed in what they're calling a critical incident.
Well, this video is from the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping mall. Witnesses say people were running through the mall and falling over each other. One described the situation as pandemonium. Police have not said if the incident is related to terrorism. But they're asking people to avoid the area.
Well, Donald Trump and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson voiced their concerns about election integrity at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. But they made many false claims about voting and immigration among other things.
Johnson speculated about votes, quote, "potentially being cast by undocumented immigrants." And he proposed a bill that would require people to directly provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote for federal elections.
It's already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal and state elections. It's also extremely rare, according to decades of voting data and nonpartisan experts.
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Now an exclusive look into how Mexico is strengthening its border security. CNN got unprecedented access to temporary base camps in places where migrants are known to easily pass through. Our David Culver reports on how effective this new border enforcement really is.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can see behind me here, there's a huge gap in the wall in this is where Mexican officials tell us that a lot of the smugglers are either directing or bringing some of the migrants to so that they can easily cross. (voice-over): Which makes these rugged back wrote that preferred and profitable routes for cartel-backed migrant smugglers.
We're about an hour east of Tijuana, driving with Mexican migration officials along the U.S.-Mexico border but we detour after learning a group of migrants has been rescued, has officials hear say.
We pull up and find about a dozen folks who described to me there were attempts to claim asylum in the U.S.
And he said he tried to cross but Mexican officials stopped him from being able to go.
That's because Mexico is now stepping up its efforts to stop migrants from crossing illegally into the U.S. Following requests from the Biden administration, Mexico is now pouring resources like the national guard and Mexican army in to help patrol and detain migrants like these, eventually transporting them to southern Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where we separate them by nationalities and then from them, we determined the deportation process.
CULVER: What's happening here goes beyond stepped up patrols. In recent months, Mexican officials have built base camps, deploying troops to some of the most popular illegal crossings sites.
The smugglers van, are there several of these vehicles just left abandoned and --
UINDENTIFIED MALE: Like seven vehicles in total --
CULVER: In this area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the area.
CULVER: As we pull up, we realize we've been here before.
We've seen so many people across through this property this right here.
At this spot late last year, we met U.S. residents fed up with migrants coming through their land.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They can come to the front door our cameras captured hundreds each day and night.
That has stopped in recent weeks and it stopped primarily because of what were seeing on the Mexico side of things. This is a remote base on the border. You've got Mexican immigration officials. You've got national guard and you've got Mexican army who are here 24/7.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have our fridge, microwave, coffee. CULVER: You have moved resources to live 24/7 on the border. Why is this important for Mexico to be doing that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to prevent migrants to get in touch with the criminal groups.
CULVER: The number of migrant encounters reported by U.S. border Patrol appears to reflect the impact of Mexico's actions, dropping 42 percent from December to January alone and seeming this stay low.
But officials warn cartels and their smugglers frequently adjust their tactics and keep close watch.
They're watching us right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They see when we are patrolling and when we leave a spot.
CULVER: It's a crisis that has also sparked uneasiness for Mexican residents.
It's gotten so frustrating for these folks in particular that the community got together, wrote a letter to their governor petitioning for more resources and for that reason that you have where you can see right here members of the Mexican national guard for now patrolling neighborhoods like this one to keep migrants from coming through.
Authorities here urge migrants to use the U.S.'s CBP One app rather than to risk crossing with smugglers.
Mexican officials at this location even help pre-screen up to 500 migrants daily for the U.S. asylum interview process.
So he's in communication with U.S. officials but on the other side and they're sending documents back and forth to make sure that they have the right information.
While this is a more orderly way to claim asylum, it can take awhile to get an appointment.
Martha Gilad (ph) says she's waited five months for this day.
So I asked why they didn't go through the smuggling route, which so many choose to do. (INAUDIBLE) and she said that for one, it costs an extreme amount of money and the other aspect remember her was they wanted to be able to enter legally through the appointment, try to build a better future there.
The road ahead is uncertain for both the migrants and for those protecting the border. We see that firsthand as we leave the remote border camps
The reason why we stopped and pulled over is because there are these spikes that we've noticed all along the different dirt roadways that take us to the border wall.
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Evidence of smugglers' desperate attempt to salvage their profits.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of these.
And while it slows them down momentarily, for now, they forge ahead and their efforts to curb the flow of a migrant crisis that's consuming resources on both sides of the border -- David Culver, CNN, Tijuana, Mexico.
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COREN: We'll be right back after this short break.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) COREN: We are following breaking news coming out of Sydney, Australia.
Emergency officials have confirmed to CNN that eight people, including a child, are now in hospital after a shooting and stabbing at a Westfield shopping mall.
Well, it happened, as I say, at Westfield's Bondi Junction shopping mall. Witnesses say police (sic) were running through the mall and falling over each other. One described the situation as pandemonium.
Police say one person was shot and multiple people were stabbed. They have not said if the incident is related to terrorism. We are monitoring the situation and we will let you know as soon as we get more information.
Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani is hoping to move on from the gambling scandal involving his former translator. He says he wants to focus on playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It's his first public comments since the scandal broke. The former translator turned himself into police on Friday to face a federal charge of bank fraud. CNN's Nick Watt has the details from Los Angeles.
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NICK WATT, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter, walked into court in leg shackles. He walked out on a $25,000 bond. A number of conditions attached to that.
He is not allowed to gamble. He is not allowed to speak to any bookmakers. He has to seek gambling addiction treatment. His lawyer said he was planning on that anyway. Also surrendered his passport; no travel, et cetera, et cetera.
Now 37-page complaint against the interpreter. The final line are texts between a bookmaker and the interpreter.
The bookmaker asks, "Obviously, you didn't steal from him."
The reply from the interpreter, "Technically, I did steal from him. It's all over for me."
There are still a few unanswered questions. For example, we read in that complaint that Ippei Mizuhara made $140 million sports betting over a couple of years. He lost $180 million, $40 million shortfall.
We're told he stole $16 million from Shohei Ohtani. So there's a gap there in the finances.
Another condition of his release, he is not allowed to contact Shohei Ohtani and he'll be back in court himself May 9th. Meantime Shohei Ohtani continues to do what he does best, playing very, very well at baseball.
The $700 million golden boy is Dodgers' right now, leading the National League West -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: It was an exhausting day two at the Masters in Augusta, Georgia, as golfers battled the elements and some had to finish round one and play round two. Fierce winds swept the bunker sand and tree debris onto fairways and greens.
With some groups said taking upwards of six hours to finish. CNN's Don Riddell has the latest from Augusta National.
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DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A number of American golfers dominated both the headlines and the leaderboard at Augusta on Friday, setting us up for a thrilling weekend of Masters golf.
But whatever happens, it is already historic. Tiger Woods came into this tournament saying that he believed he could win a sixth green jacket, despite the fact that he only played 24 holes of competitive golf all year.
He played 23 holes on Friday alone, ending with a respectable one over par score. He's seven shots behind the leaders. But he's made the cut for a record 24th consecutive time. That is a new record. But he's thinking about much more than just playing on the weekend.
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TIGER WOODS, GOLF PRO: I'm tired.
I've been off for a while competing, grinding. It's been a long in 23 holes, a long day. But last night really did some good fighting today and was -- we've got a chance.
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RIDDELL: At the top of the leaderboard, it's an all-American three-way tie. Max Homa held his nerve in some very tricky conditions, shooting a one under par 71 for a six under par tournament score.
The world number one and former Masters champion Scottie Scheffler is right there alongside him, as is the former U.S. open champion Bryson DeChambeau. He famously has always played golf his own way.
But nobody would have expected this sight on the 13th hole, when an iconic Augusta signpost got between he (sic) and his route to the green. So he simply picked it up and moved it, birdying the hole.
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BRYSON DECHAMBEAU, GOLF PRO: I think that the signpost I'm trying to direct people. I try to give people go the restrooms or -- I had a great shot out around the corner and was able to take advantage of a pretty open interest to the green to that back right flag and I was pretty pot.
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RIDDELL: All the signs now point to an exciting day of golf on Saturday. The wind should die down as both the temperatures and the action heat up. And there is no shortage of popular players for the patrons to root for -- back to you.
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COREN: Before we go, an update now on breaking news coming out of Sydney, Australia.
Eight people, including a child, are now in hospital. We are looking at live pictures outside Westfield Shopping Centre. There was a shooting and a stabbing at that shopping mall.
It happened at Westfield. Witnesses say people were running through the mall and falling over each other. It was described as pandemonium. Police say one person was shot; multiple people were stabbed. We are keeping across this story. Police have not confirmed whether or not this is terrorism related.
We'll be keeping across this story in the coming hour. I'm Anna Coren. Thank you for your company. Kim Brunhuber will pick up now.
