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International Pressure on Iran Following Strikes and to Soothe Israel; Israel's Response to Iran Being Met with Caution by International Community; 7 Jurors Seated in Trump Hugh Money Trial; Boeing Whistleblower to Testify on Capitol Hill; After Streaming Announcement, Price of Trump Media Shares Drops; Athletes Sound Off Over Team USA Olympic Track Uniform. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 17, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JONATHAN SCHANZER, FORMER TERRORISM FINANCE ANALYST, TREASURY DEPARTMENT: Make them pay a severe price. This, by the way, is the war. It's the real war right now. It's Israel versus Iran. These other groups are really not the issue. And I think that it is -- it's backward thinking right now. And I heard David Cameron say the same thing that, you know, we need to get back to Hamas.

Hamas is 95 percent finished. The Israelis are on the five-yard line. They can finish that whenever they like. They need to think about how to deter Iran, which, by the way, is on the precipice of a nuclear weapon.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: Yes. But Colonel Leighton, I mean, there's a lot to be said for what Jonathan is saying. But there's also -- the potential is they're not, for this thing to really spiral and really get ugly and get, sort of, inflamed in a way that it's going to be very difficult for the International Community to contain it in terms of spillover in the region and just becoming a very messy conflict.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER MEMBER OF JOINT STAFF, PENTAGON, AND FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR TRAINING, NSA: Yes, that's for sure, Jim. And, you know, one of the key things to remember, this could be a World War I like moment. In other words, where everybody gets together, they get different messages, everything's mixed up, and then all of a sudden you find yourself in a major conflict. So, this is the challenge.

You know, Jonathan is right in the sense that this is a, you know, the real war is between Iran and Israel. And it also is a real, you know, pseudo alliance, even a sub-rosa alliance between some of the Sunni- led governments in the region on Israel's side, more or less, against the Shiites in Iran. And that's -- you know, kind of that element is also part of this. So, it's a very combustible situation, and the risk of escalation is extremely high.

ACOSTA: All right. Jonathan Schanzer, Colonel Leighton, thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it. A delicate time this week.

Coming up, what we're learning about the seven jurors seated in Donald Trump's hush money trial. That's next.

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[10:35:00]

ACOSTA: Jury selection is set to resume tomorrow in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial. And so far, seven jurors have been selected. Opening statements could begin as soon as Monday. After his day in court yesterday, Trump was asked what he wants to see in a juror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of juror, in your mind, is an ideal juror in this trial?

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anybody that's fair.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that the jury -- the jurors seated today can be fair?

TRUMP: I'll let you know after the trial, depending on that --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: CNN's Kara Scannell joins me now. Kara, what did you make of what Trump had to say there?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Trump saying that he wants to -- he will tell you if the jury's fair after he gets that verdict. It's certainly one way to look at it. Not really answering the question of what he thinks of the jurors that were selected yesterday.

And what we know about them, it's four men, three women. Most of them have college degrees or more. Including on the panel are two lawyers, a school teacher, and the school teacher was unaware that Trump has been charged in the three other cases, and she said that she likes that Trump speaks his mind. There's also a software engineer, an oncology nurse, and the foreman of the jury is a man from Ireland who works in sales.

Now, the judge is saying, given how briskly we're moving through this, he thinks that we could have opening statements in this case on Monday. Now, what we expect tomorrow is that the judge will bring in a new panel of 96 jurors, and this process that we saw play out over the past day and a half will continue.

They will go through the 42 questions on that questionnaire. The judge will ask if anyone believes they can't be fair and impartial, those will be excused. Then the attorneys for both the prosecution and Trump's team will have a chance to question these jurors 30 minutes each, and then they will begin the process of striking jurors.

Now, Trump speaking out on a social media post today, making -- complaining about this process, saying that he thought he had an unlimited number of strikes. That's not true. There is a 10 strikes per party based on the law for what he was charged with. And the judge reiterated that during a hearing earlier this year where Trump was in attendance.

Now, both the prosecution and defense have already used six strikes. So, they each have four more. So, the judge is thinking that that is very possible over the next two days, we will be able to see this jury and they're looking for 12 jurors and at least six alternates, Jim.

ACOSTA: And a bit of a break today in all of the action. Hope you get a break as well. Kara Scannell, thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

In the next hour, a Boeing engineer takes his safety concerns straight to Congress. What he says is at stake, next.

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[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: A whistleblower claims Boeing's 787 Dreamliner could, "Fall apart and drop to the ground mid-flight." The Boeing engineer is speaking out and raising the alarm just before he's set to testify upon Capitol Hill.

CNN's Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean joins me now. Pete, for all of us who like to travel a lot, I mean, this is disturbing stuff. It does not sit well. What can you tell us?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boeing really on the defensive already ahead of these dueling hearings in the Senate. And we'll hear from the whistleblower who alleged last week that the 787 is unsafe.

The whistleblower's name is Sam Salehpour. He was a quality engineer on the 787 line. He saw the big sections of the 787 fuselage being joined together. And he says the gaps in those pieces are simply too big, which creates stress and wear which could lead to fatigue failure over time.

Now, Boeing insists there is no evidence of that in the 16 years that the 787 has been flying, there are about 1,100 flying worldwide. None launched to a crash. Salehpour was on NBC ahead of this hearing, and he takes this accusation one step further. Here is the section of that interview in which he says the 787 is at risk of falling out of the sky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM SALEHPOUR, BOEING WHISTLEBLOWER: The plane will fall apart at the joints where the -- we're talking about. Once you fall apart, you're going to descend all the way to the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Federal Aviation Administration says, it's investigating this allegation. Boeing held a press briefing on Monday, but executives would not comment directly on Salehpour's allegations. Here though is the statement from Boeing. Boeing says, we are fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner. These claims about structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft.

[10:45:00]

Remember, this is just the latest chapter in the years-long saga of Boeing issues. Two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, killed 346 people abroad, led to a 20-month long grounding in the U.S. Then this past January, there was the door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9.

But remember, this latest accusation has to do with the 787, not the 737. But the 787 has not been without its problems. Deliveries of new 787 were paused in 2021 and 2022 because of quality issues. Some of that because the tolerances are so tight. The gaps Boeing wants between the main fuselage parts are about five one thousandths of an inch. We're talking about the width of two sheets of paper, about the width of a human hair.

Boeing says, in some cases, it's really not necessary for things to be that tight. And so, they have allowed themselves a little bit of leeway, depending on certain scenarios.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, it -- it's just been a long series of very tough questions for Boeing. They've got to provide some answers.

MUNTEAN: No doubt.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. All right. Pete Muntean, thanks for staying on top of this.

MUNTEAN: You bet.

ACOSTA: We appreciate it.

Trump media stock has plunged or has been plunging over the last several days. But right now, it's been bouncing back just a bit. We can show its stock price up on screen. We can give you the latest. It's been just a touch higher today. But yesterday's 14 percent drop, there it is. It's up about 13 percent today. But yesterday's 14 percent drop comes after the company's premier product Truth Social announces expanding into streaming.

CNN's Hadas Gold joins me now. Hadas, what do you make of -- I mean, it's been a roller coaster ride for this stock, but it -- mainly has been a lot of downhill on the -- on this roller coaster.

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, they had the 14 percent drop yesterday. But if you look at the drop since the high on March 26th, that's a more than 60 percent drop in valuation there, you can see that graph right there of how much that has gone out. That's billions of dollars wiped out. And remember, the former president is the majority stakeholder in this company. He owns 60 percent of the stock. And so, he -- he's net worth just from yesterday plunged something like $300 million.

Now it's still worth something. It's still worth $3 billion. And even though this has a sky-high valuation, it is struggling to make money and it needs cash. And there's a question of how much of this stock is just meme stock. It's people who are buying into it because of emotions or because they are betting on it versus the actual value.

Now, the company is trying to add value by announcing this new streaming service. They've been a bit light on the details. They say they haven't said who was going to be on this. What kind of -- if there are specific shows. All they're saying so far, it's going to be about content that is at risk of being canceled or has been canceled and will span everything from news to religious to family friendly film and documentaries. Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. We'll be watching that. Hadas Gold, thank you very much. Really appreciate it.

Coming up, we're 100 days from the opening of the Paris Olympics, but it's a uniform design that has athletes talking, that's next.

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[10:50:00]

ACOSTA: The countdown is on. We are now 100 days away from the opening of the Summer Olympics in Paris. It's been 100 years since the city hosted the games.

CNN's Carolyn Manno got to cover some of the media tour for Team USA and joins me live in New York. Carolyn, I mean, we're all getting Olympic fever. You met some of the athletes competing in the games. What can you tell us about how they're preparing? They've got to be getting geared up.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's a lot of excitement, Jim, for these Olympic and Paralympic athletes. For so many of them, this is the culmination of an entire lifetime's worth of hard work. And because so many of these sports are so niche, this spotlight, as you know, gets so bright and then fades away.

So, in speaking with a lot of athletes this week, what was interesting for me to learn too is in this new age of social media. This is really a time for so many of them to monetize their efforts and to embrace this, sort of, mania that comes with the Olympics and Paralympic Games and to support themselves as well in all this training that they have done. But there's a lot of excitement around it.

ACOSTA: And how well is USA -- Team USA expected to do this summer?

MANNO: Well, the expectation for Team USA is always to win, of course. I would say the world is catching up. I mean, the United States had 113 medals in the last games, 39 of them were gold. China was right behind them, though with 38 gold medals.

And you've got LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant headlining this star-studded USA basketball team for the upcoming games. This group has seven players with 10 Olympic gold medals combined. You've got training camp that's beginning in early July. This is actually going to be the first games for Steph Curry. Durant could become the first men's player with four Olympic medals.

So, the U.S. Men's basketball team is poised to do very well. But the expectation is, is for everybody to really show up on the world stage and prove what they can do, though, as we have seen, everybody else is there to win as well.

ACOSTA: Yes, we better get the gold with those guys playing for us.

And what about this controversy over Nike's new outfit designs for the U.S. Women's Olympic team? What's going on there?

MANNO: Yes, I think this was bad optics. Team USA and Nike have found themselves at the center of a firestorm right now over one of their track and field uniforms for female athletes. You can see the high cut design on your screen, which was unveiled last week

And this picture has been criticized as being very revealing and skimpy and sexist. Nike responded, told CNN in a statement that this leotard in particular, this design is one of multiple options available, including compression shorts, full length body suits.

And now some other athletes, Jim, are coming out and acknowledging that as well. That there's really more than a dozen combinations that you can choose from, including going over to the men's side, whatever makes you feel more comfortable.

[10:55:00]

But because this was what was revealed, I think for a lot of people, it just triggered the idea that women's apparel, has never really been quite on par with the men's.

ACOSTA: All right. Carolyn Manno, thank you very much. Really appreciate it.

Coming up, now here is something you don't see every day, an elephant in a casino parking lot in Montana. Maybe there's a jackpot in there somewhere. We'll talk about that next.

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