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Now: House Votes On $1.2 Trillion Spending Package; Trump Says He Has Nearly $500M In Cash For NY Bond; Rep. Greene Files House Resolution After Saying She's "Done" With Speaker Johnson. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired March 22, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:01:43]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

The House of Representatives is about to begin voting on a high stakes government funding package that is looking to push through once again at the 11th hour. In the nick of time, both chambers have to pass the bill by the end of the day to avoid a partial government shutdown. It's not clear if Speaker Mike Johnson has the votes just yet. He's facing backlash not just for Democrats but from within his own party.

One Congresswoman saying the Republican majority is, quote, a complete failure. Those aren't the words of a progressive. They're from none other than Marjorie Taylor Greene. She says she is done with this Speaker of the House. But the big question hanging over Washington right now is, can the legislation make it through the Senate and its sausage making process before the midnight deadline. CNN congressional -- chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju is up on Capitol Hill for us. Manu, what's the latest?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, this bill is expected to pass according to top Republicans but not without some pains, particularly coming from the right. The far right of the House Republican Conference is absolutely furious at their leadership for cutting this deal. Remember, this deal was about six months after the fiscal year actually began. And they had approved short term extension after a short term extension, ultimately keeping the government open, kicking the can down the road.

That first short term expansion led to the ouster of Kevin McCarthy after a revolt from the right flank. Now Speaker Mike Johnson, the new speaker, had to cut a deal with Chuck Schumer, the Majority Leader in the Senate and the White House to fund the rest of the federal government to the end of this year. And that is what a number of Republicans on the right are concerned about. They believe this deal does not go far enough and cut spending. And the process, this bill was unveiled yesterday morning at 3:00 a.m. It's going to have to pass today in order to avoid a government shutdown by midnight tonight. And they say there's simply not been enough time to review this 1,000-page bill. And that is one warning from one member in particular, Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia who's suggest that perhaps this could be an effort to try to oust Speaker Mike Johnson because of the way he has handled this. And she just took to the House floor also raising major concerns about this bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Madam Speaker, it is the will of our voters and it is the will of Republicans across the country that this bill should not be brought to the, that this bill will absolutely destroy our majority and will tell every single one of our voters that this majority is a failure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And she has not ruled out actually moving with a motion to vacate. Remember only one member that all it takes is one member to actually call for a vote to seek the ouster of a speaker. And Marjorie Taylor Greene has been clear. She simply said stay tuned when she has been asked about this. So that's one pressure point to watch here, Jim. But even as we see this internal GOP divide play out, the aspect -- the question about funding the government, we do expect that question to be answered here in a matter of moments.

We do expect it to pass the House with Democratic support. It will require two thirds majority to get there. This even -- the question to for Mike Johnson, he wants to get a majority of his Republican conference to back this plan. It's possible that could fall short of the majority which could lead to more political problems for the Speaker but even if this does pass which is expected it has to be approved by the Senate sometime today reach an agreement with all 100 senators that scheduled that vote. That is still an open question as this messy process could finally reach its conclusion today. Jim?

[11:05:17]

ACOSTA: Yes. Messiness is the new normal. And we'll have to see if Marjorie Taylor Greene, it sounds like she might have some sway over some of these members who are nervous about all of this. And we'll keep an eye on all the voting. Manu, please keep us posted. If we need to bring you back in with the latest, we will certainly do that. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

In the meantime, clock also ticking for Donald Trump, he now claims he has $500 million in cash just days before his massive bond payment is due in a civil fraud case. Until this morning, the former president was adamant that it was impossible to come up with that kind of money after 30 insurance companies refused to underwrite his bond. The New York Attorney General has already taken the first steps toward possibly seizing Trump's assets.

And joining us now is defense attorney, former federal prosecutor Shan Wu. You know, Shan you know, it's hard to follow the bouncing ball here with Donald Trump. He's previously said I'm a billionaire, I have billions of dollars. Then he was saying just a little while ago, he doesn't have the money that raising this half billion dollar bond payment would be impossible. Now he's saying he does have the money. What's going on?

SHAN WU, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think with Trump's strategy, he uses anything that may work.

ACOSTA: Yes.

WU: So if he could have gotten the amount of Western Yay (ph), if that wouldn't work, can you get it delayed? Yay.

ACOSTA: Yes.

WU: So when all that --

ACOSTA: Whatever works, do it.

WU: Yes, whatever works, do it.

ACOSTA: Yes.

WU: And really, even if the seizure commenced via the courts, he's still got time to put together the funding. So I think with his connections, with his finance, people, they should be able to come up with it. I mean, you know, holding aside the question of whether it's sort of a sketchy source or not, they have time to do it. I think as these different options begin to get closed for him, you'll see that he comes up with the money.

ACOSTA: Yes, and there are questions about potential sketchy sources, I mean, that hasn't all played out. But the New York Attorney General has taken the first steps apparently to seize some of his assets. What does that process look like if folks have sort of this maybe it's like a late night soap opera view that, you know, padlocks would go on doors, at golf courses, and so on, that's probably not going to happen, it's going to be a little less dramatic than that.

WU: Right. I mean, if we think of it as who is trying to take ownership or control of the property, that's really what's going to start to go on. I mean, there's some intricacies about whether it's a in ramp proceeding against the property versus against Trump in person.

But the bottom line is, if the government can seize the assets, they don't want to make the assets worthless. I mean, if there's money coming in, you know, from rentals, people can use it. They're not going to want the building to sit there, you know, dilapidated and empty at that point. So it's really trying to take control of it away from him, so they can hang on to it to satisfy the judgment.

ACOSTA: And there's also this banner of Truth Social, it's on the verge of going public, but he could be $3 billion richer according to the speculation about when the shares are sold, and so on, but he wouldn't have immediate access to the cash. There have been questions raised about who's going to buy these shares. Is this with, you know, with the stock be worth anything, ultimately, in the long run? Could that make him more palatable to some of these lenders? Could that get him out of this jam?

WU: Oh, it definitely could. And I think part of it was they were he was probably counting on that timing. That's actually been kind of messed up for him, because now there's some lawsuits pending among the investors, the partners originally, and those suits were actually stopped him from be able to take the money he was anticipating on taking out of that deal. Now, of course, they may settle those disputes. And maybe that is the reason he now has the extra cash around. But that's an added complication for him.

ACOSTA: Yes. And if he can't pull the money together, despite everything that he's saying, I mean, there's this possibility the specter of he could file for bankruptcy.

WU: Right.

ACOSTA: We've been told no, no, he's privately against that idea. But he's, I mean, Donald Trump has done this before.

WU: Yes, yes.

ACOSTA: So it is an option that he has used in the past.

WU: Oh, it's absolutely an option. I would not believe for a moment he wouldn't use the option if it was helpful. He's just, you know, posturing and he could turn it to their forced me into bankruptcy. Bankruptcy, again, ultimately --

ACOSTA: And it would be a huge delay.

WU: It'll be huge delay. That's exactly what the point is. I don't think ultimately it would discharge them from these debts. But it would be part of the delaying while he gets other financing together.

ACOSTA: And I did want to talk to you about the Stormy Daniels hush money case in New York, the Manhattan DA is calling on the judge to stop with all these delays.

WU: Right.

ACOSTA: I mean, Alvin Bragg, I mean, it might be a little bit of Don Quixote here. I mean, the Trump playbook is delay. What do you think, did that work out to Alvin Bragg's favor that we might see something happen in the next month or so this trial getting started?

WU: I think that's possible. Of all the cases, Bragg remains the one that is most likely to be able to get to trial before the election. I think, they're ready. I think they have a very strong case despite all the puffery about the witnesses being weak. If the witnesses were that weak, Trump wouldn't be trying to keep them off the stand. They would be relishing the idea of taking the case apart by having them on the stand. [11:10:12]

But Stormy Daniels, Cohen, they're all going to be fine on the stand. The difficulty in that case, is this legitimate delay of the Southern District of New York, the federal prosecutor's office, having turned over documents a little bit on the late side. And so there's some traction there for Trump's people to say, look, there's a lot of stuff we have to go through. It's not overwhelming, Jim. I mean, in this day and age, you get terabytes of the electronic discovery. They could get through it. But it does put up an obstacle. And that could be the problem for the case getting to trial.

ACOSTA: All right, very interesting, a lot of cases to keep track. We didn't even cover them all.

WU: Right.

ACOSTA: But we'll do that next time. Shan Wu, thanks very much. I really appreciate it.

All right, still ahead this hour, this man, Paul Manafort, remember him, and more than a dozen others Trump pardoned have begun helping the former President as he seeks to return to power. We'll tell you how.

Plus, a quick look at the Dow right now, the market is up. Actually, no it's not. It looks like it's down right now, down 160 points. But it's getting close to that number of 40,000. Perhaps things in Washington, central for a government shutdown might be weighing on things on Wall Street. We'll discuss what's driving stocks to some of these record highs, that's coming up.

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[11:16:00]

ACOSTA: It's the last business day for Donald Trump to make a nearly half billion dollar bond payment in his New York civil fraud case. This morning, he claims to have most of that cash saying he's dipped into his campaign war chest to back it. That's not the only thing he's using donor money for. As CNN is learning he's made a deal with the Republican National Committee to give priority to a PAC paying his legal bills over donations to the RNC itself.

Joining me now is CNN senior political commentator, former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger. Adam, I do want to ask you about all the Trump stuff in a second. We are watching this vote in the House right now to avert a government shutdown. And I guess we should note that Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand conservative Republican congresswoman from Georgia, has sort of threatened with a motion to vacate that she may make a maneuver to oust the House Speaker Mike Johnson, because some of the folks in the Freedom Caucus are furious over, you know, this deal that they've cut. What's your sense of things? I know you serve with some of these folks. I mean, we've been told this is all going to work out. But I mean, I caution the viewers at home, we are not there yet. We might get there, but we're not there yet.

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I did serve with some of them. And I'm not saying that to look for your sympathy, you know, or your thoughts and prayers. But I can tell you I had the pleasure. You know, look, it's ironic, because right now they're complaining about this bill, this year was spent on frivolous investigations that were pushed by the freedom club, mainly because their whole obsession has been to take out Joe Biden.

So there hasn't been much opportunity, frankly, to negotiate any kind of a deal when you have such a close majority. The idea that the Democrats aren't going to get anything is pretty ludicrous. And this is just how government works, the Constitution. This is what the Constitution, you know, pretend. So is she going to try a motion to vacate? I don't know. In a way, I think it could be interesting if she does to see if Mike Johnson just says, OK, fine. That's delayed, because you can delay that motion to vacate.

And by the way, since you're doing that, the next bill I'm putting on the floor before we go to recess, is the Senate Foreign or the Senate Foreign Aid Bill. That would be an interesting reaction. And then the Democrats can frankly come in and save Johnson on a motion to vacate. We'll see if he does that. I don't know if he's got the courage to do that. But we'll see.

ACOSTA: Wow. And that would get the funding to Ukraine, that would be a heck of a maneuver. Adam, I did want to ask you about something that's been reported about the work that was done on the January 6th Committee. The New York Times is reporting that Trump warned Mike Pence that certifying the election will be a quote, career killer. What did you think of that? I suppose, during your work there on the committee, you may have come across this anecdote or what's your sense of it?

KINZINGER: Well, I mean, look, Trump was right, right. I mean, if you go against the, if you go against Trump and the GOP, it is a career killer. It's the right thing to do. But look, it's sad, because I think Donald Trump, I mean, obviously, it's tough to get into his mind, but I think Donald Trump knew in his heart that, you know, the Vice President had no ability to not certify an election. He was basically a ceremonial job. But he was doing this to threaten them. He wanted Mike Pence to bear the brunt of this illegal activity and take it off his own shoulders.

We see Donald Trump do this all the time. He brings other people into his charade to try to get them to take the hit look at all the people that are in jail around Donald Trump except Donald Trump. So it's sad. And Mike Pence gets a lot of credit again for not just doing the right thing that day. I wish he'd have been more outspoken after that day, and we can go back and revisit that but even recently saying that he can't vote for Donald Trump. And that takes courage in today's GOP, sadly. It's not very courageous, but I commend him for that.

ACOSTA: And Adam, I did want to ask you about another piece of the times on about the Attorney General Merrick Garland and some of the deliberations he was going through, his team was going through as to how and when to pursue the former president with respect to his actions on and surrounding January 6th. And it says, in the story that Mr. Garland proceeded with characteristic by the book caution and trying to avoid even the smallest mistakes, Mr. Garland might have made one big one not recognizing that he could end up racing the clock, your sense of it? And I mean, here we are, you know, butting up against the 2024 presidential election. And the Trump trial on January 6th, the Jack Smith case, may not make it to trial before the election.

[11:20:43]

KINZINGER: Yes, that's a huge problem. And look, I don't want to be one to say the DOJ should do this or that because again, I'm, you know, I'm not a lawyer. And I don't want to appear like we want this done for political reasons. But the American people deserve to know the information. They deserve to know the truth. And what was frustrating on the Committee is after we did our first hearing in the summer, kind of that blockbuster hearing, and people are like, oh, my goodness, they have a lot of people that are testifying, a lot of Republicans.

It was then that it seemed the Department of Justice is like, holy cow. We need to pursue this. A year later, after we've already done the investigation and they had more tools at their disposal, so I think it's fairly obvious that they were delayed. But like I said, now we end up in this race. And this isn't about using the DOJ to win an election at all. This is about the American people having the right to know what is going to be in that trial before they determine who --

ACOSTA: And we still don't have the full picture. We still don't have the full picture. I mean, it's just "The New York Times" today that Donald Trump said to Mike Pence, this would be a career killer. And if the American people don't get to see this trial, or have reporters in the courtroom and have this trial play out this Jack Smith case play out. All of those fine details just don't get out before the election. And it's four years. I mean, almost four years, after it happened.

KINZINGER: Yes, and that's true. And keep in mind, you know, Mark Meadows did not cooperate with the Committee, we got some of his text messages, and then he refused to cooperate. He appears to be cooperating with the Department of Justice. This is a guy that knew every time Donald Trump went to the restroom. So there's going to be a lot of information with this. And of course, the declassified documents case which we had nothing to do with. That's going to be important for the American people to see and know. And unfortunately, it appears there's a judge down in Florida that seems to be slow walking this for whatever reason.

ACOSTA: All right, Adam Kinzinger, thank you very much for your time, really appreciate it.

KINZINGER: You bet.

ACOSTA: All right. In the meantime, still ahead this hour, officials in Ukraine say Russia has unleashed its largest attack ever on the country's power grid leading more than a million people without power. A live report next.

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[11:27:36]

ACOSTA: All right, some breaking news to tell you about up on Capitol Hill concerning rising Republican anger with House Speaker Mike Johnson. Let's get back out to CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju. Manu, I mean, we were talking about this earlier. There is a monkey wrench could go into the works and it looks like that might possibly happen in the form of a resolution from Marjorie Taylor Greene. What's going on?

RAJU: Yes, that's right. Remember, it just takes one member to actually call for a vote seeking the ouster of a sitting speaker. We saw that unprecedented action happened last fall when Kevin McCarthy was booted and make an uprising in the ranks. We'll see if that happens here. Our colleague Christian Wilson, who was in the Chamber of the House, just witness Marjorie Taylor Greene filing a resolution with the House parliamentarian. That is the first step you take before ousting. You can move on what's known as a motion to vacate.

Then that person needs to be recognized on the floor. Then there are two legislative days to actually have the vote to seek the ouster of a sitting speaker. And if it goes along party lines, that means Mike Johnson will only afford to lose two Republican votes on a party line vote in order to stay as Speaker of the House.

Now, we should caution, it is unclear exactly what was in that resolution that was just filed. I am told by a source familiar with the matter. She has been weighing how to proceed. She's considering trying to move to oust Mike Johnson over these concerns. And she has been clear, she was asked about it on a podcast earlier today about whether she was going to go that far. She said stay tuned.

So she is clearly dangling this thread over Mike Johnson. And all has to do with this deal that was cut to keep the government open. This bill on the floor right now, we do expect it to pass the House. But there's been anger building on the far right that Johnson cut deals with the White House, with Senate Democrats. This bill was unveiled early yesterday morning. And it's going to be approved before, I mean, today to just over 24 hours.

Typically, under the rules you'd give 72 hours to review such legislation, that was waived. That is part of the anger that Marjorie Taylor Greene has been raising about the concerns over there and the deals that were cut and not going as far as these hardliners want and trying to rein in the Biden administration.

Now, what will happen from here remains to be seen. If she does go that route, does she have enough votes to actually kick out Mike Johnson? I just talked to some hardliners including one Ralph Norman just moments ago, he kept open the option of voting to boot Mike Johnson as did Bob Good who's a member of the House Freedom Caucus. And if it goes to that level what did Democrats do, do they step in any way to try to help Johnson. [11:30:08]