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Trump Associate Sentenced; Trump Continues Attempts to Delay Hush Money Trial; President Biden Welcomes Japanese Prime Minister. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 10, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:33]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

Happening this hour, over at the White House, President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are sitting down for a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office. And that will be followed by a joint news conference early this afternoon.

Officials say the two leaders will announce a list of defense and diplomatic agreements to strengthen ties.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is joining us live from the White House right now.

Arlette, what does President Biden want to achieve during this important summit?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, President Biden is trying to showcase the close relationship with Japan and the country's Prime Minister Kishida at a time when the U.S. is really sought to reinvigorate allies and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific as they are looking to blunt China's rise.

Now, President Biden, a short while ago, welcomed the prime minister here at the White House for the full pomp and circumstance of that arrival ceremony, the two men walking, reviewing the troops. And, also, they both delivered remarks, President Biden hailing the partnership with Japan as a monumental alliance, saying that their strength has really been a highlight of their alliance-building in the region.

Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Eisenhower said his goal was to establish an indestructible partnership between our countries.

Today, the world can see that goal has been achieved, and that partnership between us is unbreakable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, the president noted that Japan has really been at the cornerstone of so much of the administration's efforts to rebuild these alliances in the Indo-Pacific.

But, also, they have seen a very willing partner in Kishida from the fact that he has offered so much to Ukraine amid Russia's invasion of that country. Now, the president and Kishida right now are meeting, a bilateral meeting.

And they're expected to outline a host of announcements on several fronts, including really trying to deepen the defense and security ties between the two countries, announcing new steps when it comes to space, as Japan has signaled that they would like to land an astronaut on the moon. There's also people-to-people ties, deepening of semiconductor production together, all of this really encapsulating the view that the U.S. views Japan as one of its strongest allies.

Now, there are some areas of differences. We know that the president has opposed the sale of U.S. Steel to Japan. Officials say that they don't expect that to come up in discussions, that this relationship is much larger than one commercial deal.

But I also want to note one significant symbolic announcement that was made by President Biden and Kishida. Japan provided cherry blossom trees to the United States back in the 20th century. Some of those trees, which many visitors come to Washington, D.C., to visit in the springtime, some of those trees have to be cut down.

And Japan has offered to provide new saplings of those trees, really stressing the symbolism between the two countries, Kishida saying that the cherry blossom-like relationship of the United States is on display. So we are expecting to see them in just a few hours, again, in that meeting, but also at a joint news conference.

And then, tonight, the White House is hosting that lavish state dinner, as they're trying to honor one of their closest allies.

BLITZER: Yes, we all love those cherry blossoms here in Washington.

Arlette Saenz over at the White House, thank you very much.

I want to bring in CNN's Hanako Montgomery right now. She's joining us live from Tokyo.

Hanako, what does Japan's prime minister want to achieve during this historic visit with President Biden?

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, I think Kishida is really looking to emphasize his relationship and how strong his relationship is with U.S. President Joe Biden at this bilateral meeting.

Now, Kishida looks to do this primarily through the defense sector. Under Kishida's leadership, we have already seen Japan bolster its defense capabilities to levels we haven't seen since World War II. During our interview with the Japanese prime minister on Sunday ahead

of his visit to Washington, I asked him about this policy change and some of the security challenges that Japan was facing. This is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FUMIO KISHIDA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): In our neighborhood, there are countries that are developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons and others that are building up their defense capabilities in an opaque way.

Also, there is a unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force in both the East China Sea and South China Sea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:05:05]

MONTGOMERY: Now, to combat these growing geopolitical tensions, a senior U.S. government official tells me that Japan and the United States will announce a joint defense council, which will look to co- produce and co-develop military exports.

We have already seen under Kishida's leadership Japan decide to export American-designed Patriot missiles to the United States that were made in Japan. So, this move is really an expansion of that. The senior government official also tells me that Kishida and Biden will announce a joint operations command in Japan, which, of course, is a move that the United States has long pursued.

Right now, joint operations of U.S. personnel in Japan are directed by INDOPACOM, which is headquartered in Hawaii. So, with this move, it would make it much, much easier to coordinate military operations at a real-time pace, Wolf.

And, of course, this will all culminate in Japan becoming more of a global partner, rather than just a regional player.

BLITZER: Hanako Montgomery in Tokyo for us.

Hanako, thank you very, very much.

I want to talk about the wider implications of this summit between the United States and Japan.

Our chief national security analyst, Jim Sciutto, is joining me right now. He's got an important, very important new book that has just come out. It broaches this very subject. It's called -- there you see the cover -- "The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War." It's a "New York Times" bestseller right now, important reading for all of us.

Give us some perspective on this summit that's taking place at the White House right now. JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This is all about China, a rising China, also North Korea, to some degree, and the shared U.S. and Japanese concern about that threat, and a strategic decision by the U.S. and Japan and also other U.S. allies in the region, South Korea, Australia, to bring their alliance closer, in military terms, in military industrial terms, building up supplies and so on, defense terms.

Look at it this way. You have got China that is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, its missile arsenal. North Korea is also a nuclear power, also expanding that. Japan is very close to that threat. It sees a direct threat. And it calculates it needs more U.S. support to defend itself against those threats.

BLITZER: Is it going to get it?

SCIUTTO: It will. It is. And that's part of the agreement here. It's not just a show of force of them together, but it's also expanding the U.S. defense agreement, making very clear to Japan that the U.S. will continue to defend it against Chinese and Japanese missiles, in the event of conflict here, but also the U.S. showing influence in the region.

You saw Hanako mention the threat to the South China Sea and the East China Sea, because China has already been active there. It's already made a huge land grab in the South China Sea with these manmade islands. So, all those things are a threat to Japan's security and its trade as well.

And it wants to improve its defenses and, by the way, by also expanding its own military resources.

BLITZER: And you should know we're about to get the tape of the opening statements from the prime minister and the president in the Oval Office. They're just sitting down for their meeting.

SCIUTTO: Right.

BLITZER: And once we get that tape, we will play it for our viewers. We will see what both of these leaders have to say.

You have done a lot of reporting from China.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BLITZER: How are the Chinese likely to view this summit between the U.S. and Japan?

SCIUTTO: They will -- I think it's fairly likely you will see commentary from them, possibly from the Foreign Ministry spokesperson or even in their CCP newspapers, that is talking about this being antagonistic in some way or hostile to Chinese interests, that China will reaffirm that it wants peace in the region, et cetera.

So, they will look at it, to some degree, as a threat, not a surprising one. The U.S. has had a decades-long mutual defense agreement with Japan, as has South Korea. The U.S, of course, has troops based in Japan, as it does in South Korea.

But it is also expanding those alliances now. And China sees that as a direct response to its rise and a direct threats to its interest in the region. By the way, it's interesting. It's not just the U.S. that is improving relations with Japan and alliances. You see a lot of European nations that have been creating agreements and so on, which is interesting, because Europe, though it's further away, looks at China as a threat as well.

BLITZER: Very quickly, North Korea is looking at all of this as well, and, certainly, North Korea a subject that the president and the prime minister will be discussing.

SCIUTTO: Absolutely.

And look back to what the Camp David -- if you remember the Camp David summit last summer between the U.S. Japan and South Korea, all three of those countries look not just to China, but certainly to North Korea. And, of course, South Korea is much closer to the North -- North Korean threat.

So, North Korea will look at this as further antagonism from the West and its allies and as a challenge to its leadership, but, again, one that is, let's be frank, decades-old. U.S. forces have been in South Korea virtually since -- well, since the 1950s...

BLITZER: Since the Korean War, yes.

SCIUTTO: ... and in Japan since the 1940s.

One thing I think we should note is that, in November, there is an enormous choice for American voters, in terms of how the U.S. views these alliances, because, for my book, I spoke to several of Trump's former senior advisers.

[11:10:08]

And they say that not only is he less interested, less committed to the NATO military alliance -- we talk about that frequently -- but that he does not have the same commitment to the U.S. military alliances with Japan or South Korea and might very well reduce them or eliminate those agreements.

BLITZER: All right, hold on a second.

Here is the tape now of the president and the prime minister in the Oval Office just moments ago. We are just getting the tape in from the White House right now. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Good to see you again.

When we were here last year, we said the role being played by the United States and Japan is -- is becoming even greater. And we -- I couldn't agree more with your assertion back then. And what we see in our joint support for Ukraine, in the face of

Russia's vicious assault, was -- is just outrageous.

We see it in our historic trilateral relationship with South Korea. We see it in our economic investments, which has helped generate millions of jobs across both our nations. And I sincerely want to thank you, Mr. Prime minister, for your bold leadership across all these issues.

You personally have made all this possible. And I would assert our alliance has never been stronger in our entire history. So, today, I look forward to discussing how we can even deepen it more, including increasing defense and technology and cooperation across the board.

And we can also discuss how we can continue to enhance and ensure Indo-Pacific remains a free, open and prosperous region of the world with us standing together.

And thank you for being here, Mr. Prime Minister. You heard me say this before, but I will say it again. You're a genuine leader, a true partner, and a good friend. Thank you for being here.

KISHIDA (through translator): Well, Joe, thank you so much for those very kind words of welcome. And I'm very grateful to be invited to the United States for this official visit.

My wife, Yuko, and I are sincerely grateful for the warm hospitality extended by you and Dr. Biden.

Up until now, Joe, you and I, we have had countless dialogues, and we have nurtured a friendship and a trust along the way. Japan and the United States are now at the forefront in maintaining and strengthening a free and open international order based on the rule of law.

[11:15:08]

Japan and the United States are also indispensable now to each other in driving sustainable and inclusive economic growth as well. Through this official visit, I look forward to confirming the robust bond between our two nations and show -- demonstrate at home and abroad how Japan and the U.S., firmly bound together, will build a future as global partners.

So, once again, I thank you for your warm hospitality.

BIDEN: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, so reporters are shouting a few questions.

We're told that there will be a separate camera, video of maybe the president answering a question about what's going on with Israel and Gaza. We will listen to that and we will play it for you once we get that separate videotape as well.

Jim Sciutto is still with me.

Our alliance, the president said, the alliance between the United States and Japan, has never been stronger in our entire history.

SCIUTTO: Listen, these things are about public messaging, right, to see the leaders of these two countries next to each other, but at the root of it is a very genuine concern about the rise of China, the military threat from China to Japan, but also U.S. interests in the region, as well as North Korea, and not just from a military perspective, but also from a trade perspective.

And you heard the president reference that by saying Japan wants open shipping lanes, et cetera. This is important to their trade. It's, of course, important to U.S. trade. The U.S. frequently makes the argument it's important to China's trade as well to have those sea lanes open.

So, they see a dual threat, military and trade. And they're trying to message that the U.S. and Japan are very close. The trouble is, a new president in the fall, just based on Trump's vision of the world, would have a very different view of that alliance.

He's said this publicly. He attempted to reduce U.S. troops, for instance, in South Korea during his last term. I will just tell you what John Kelly, his former chief of staff, told me in the book.

He said, "The point is he," speaking of Trump, "saw no point in NATO. He was just dead set against having troops in South Korea, again, a deterrent force, or having troops in Japan, a deterrent force."

That would be a remarkable switch for a U.S. president to reduce or even eliminate those alliances, whereas you have Biden expanding them.

BLITZER: It fits into Trump's skepticism about the importance of the NATO alliance as well.

SCIUTTO: A hundred percent.

BLITZER: And this is an alliance with Japan that's been going on and so, so significant right now.

Jim, thank you very much.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

BLITZER: Jim Sciutto.

And, once again, his new book, "The Return of Great Powers" -- there you see it -- "Russia, China, and the Next World War," is available right now. It's out there on bookshelves. You can go check it out. It's must -- it's a must-read. I must say that. And, as I pointed out earlier, it's already a "New York Times" bestseller.

Congratulations, Jim, on that. SCIUTTO: Thank you, sir.

BLITZER: Still ahead this hour: another associate of the former President Donald Trump heading to jail. The sentence for former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg, we have details.

Plus, there's breaking news out of Gaza. Hamas indicates now it does not -- repeat -- not have and cannot find 40 hostages who are part of a key demand from Israel. We will have a live report. This is important news.

Stay with us. You're live here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:23:35]

BLITZER: New this morning, sentencing for one of Donald Trump's closest allies; 76-year-old Allen Weisselberg is headed to jail over at Rikers Island in New York.

The former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization admitted to lying under oath in the civil fraud case against the former president.

And just minutes ago, we learned that the former president has filed another appeal in his hush money case.

CNN's Kara Scannell joining us from New York with her new reporting.

What can you tell us about this new filing, this latest filing, Kara

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, this latest filing is another attempt to appeal some of the rulings by Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money criminal case.

In this new filing, Trump's attorneys are ask -- are going to the appeals court to challenge the judge's denial of their motion for that -- about presidential immunity. They wanted the judge to postpone the trial until the Supreme Court decides the issue of presidential immunity. The judge had denied that, saying it was untimely. It was too late before the trial for them to raise this.

They also want to challenge him, his oversight of the case, saying that he should recuse himself from the case based on work his daughter does for a political firm that works for Democrats. The judge hasn't actually formally ruled on that recusal ruling, but they're already taking this to the appeals court.

Now, the documents are still loading on the docket, but, right now, what we could see before it was sealed was that they are asking for a hearing in May.

[11:25:04]

Now, we did see the other day, earlier this week, they also filed a petition, but then made an emergency for it to go before the appeals court. That hasn't happened yet, but we're watching closely to see if they do try to bring this the appeals court today to try to get a judge to stop the trial.

It's not clear at this moment whether that is going to happen, but -- because this is still unfolding. But it would be the third attempt this week for them to try to derail the trial scheduled to start on Monday. They -- earlier this week, they tried to get a judge to stop the case so they could argue that there was too much pretrial publicity to have this case in Manhattan. That was denied.

They also tried to stop the trial over a gag order that the judge put in place to limit what Donald Trump could say about witnesses, about the prosecutors and the judge's family and about jurors in this case. That was also quickly denied.

But this is now the latest attempt to try to throw sand in the gears of this trial, now that we are just days away from jury selection starting on Monday -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And, Kara, you were in the courtroom today for the Weisselberg sentencing, Allen Weisselberg, former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. He was with Trump all those years.

Tell us how that unfolded.

SCANNELL: Yes, a real loyal lieutenant of Donald Trump's.

He appeared in court today, arriving wearing a windbreaker, dressed to report to prison. The whole hearing took less than five minutes. When the judge asked Weisselberg if he had anything to say before she sentenced him, he said: "No, Your Honor."

She said she would honor the agreement that Weisselberg had made with prosecutors and sentenced him to five months in jail. After that moment, the court officials came up to him, handcuffed him behind his back, and led him out of the courtroom, where he will be processed and begin serving this five-month sentence.

It is the second guilty plea for Allen Weisselberg. He previously pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges, also in a deal with prosecutors, was sentenced to five months in jail, ended up serving about 100 days in Rikers Island here in Manhattan.

This is, of course, the second time Weisselberg is pleading guilty, but neither -- in neither case is he cooperating against Donald Trump. He will not be a witness at the trial expected to start next week, even though he was involved in the financial paperwork involving the hush money payments, which is central to this case. He is not cooperating against Donald Trump, and he's not expected to be called as a witness -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, it's hard to believe. He's handcuffed. He's going back to Rikers Island, this notorious prison in the New York City area.

Before Trump became president, I used to go to Trump Tower all the time and interview Trump. And almost every single time I was there, the first person I would see was Allen Weisselberg. He worked for years and years and years together with Trump. And now, like some other Trump associates, he's winding up in jail.

Kara Scannell, thank you very, very much.

Let's discuss this and more with our senior legal analyst, the former federal prosecutor Elie Honig.

First of all, Elie, what's your reaction to this latest Trump appeal to delay?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Wolf, I don't think Trump has much of a chance of either succeeding on this appeal or of using it to cause a delay in the April 15 trial start date.

So, the new issue that Trump is bringing up on appeal now, as Kara said, relates to his claim of presidential immunity. But, first of all, there's a procedural problem, which is, as Kara said, too late. He was supposed to make this motion months ago. And, second of all, if you look at the substance of it, remember, the crime here relates to hush money that was paid to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

So, Donald Trump wasn't even president yet. Now, some of the reimbursements spilled over into the first weeks and months while Trump was president. But I don't think there's any way he has a realistic claim of immunity in this particular trial.

BLITZER: As you know, Elie, jury selection is scheduled to begin this coming Monday in the hush money case in New York. Is this appeal a measure of the Trump team's desperation to simply try once again -- and they have failed repeatedly -- to delay, delay, delay?

HONIG: Well, we have been seeing that throughout the week, Wolf.

As Kara noted, I think this is at least the third appeal in three days. You do see this sometimes. It's not uncommon to see a defendant in the days leading up to the trial itself try anything to derail the proceedings.

This is taking it to a new level, perhaps a new low. I don't think Trump has any merit to these arguments. Again, he has missed his opportunity. There was a time to make these arguments. The fact that they're coming so late and so far after the deadlines, and they're all in this sort of emergency procedural stance, I think does speak to a certain level of desperation.

I don't think it's taking hold. We haven't seen any of these last- minute motions get any traction with either Judge Merchan or the appellate court. And I don't expect that to change in the coming days.

BLITZER: Yes, I think you're probably right.

I want to turn to the sentencing of Allen Weisselberg, who was the chief financial -- in charge of a lot of the operations over at the Trump Organization over decades, decades. Take a look at this, though. I'm going to put it up on the screen.

Weisselberg is among 13 former Trump associates now convicted of a crime, 13. Several of them have actually wound up in jail.