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Jury Selection Continues Tomorrow in Trump Trial; House Speaker to Hold Votes on Foreign Aid; Israel Weighing Options on Iran Response. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 17, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:10]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: All right, before we go, we have all heard about the elephant in the room. What about the elephant in the streets? Take a look at this.

This is Viola. And, apparently, the circus elephant got spooked while preparing for a show and got loose in Butte, Montana yesterday. Viola had strolled half-a-block, halting traffic -- there's a little Butte right there -- when circus handlers found her eating grass behind a nearby business. She was not harmed during this wild adventure and returned to her day job performing at the circus.

Glad to see Viola's doing OK. I wonder how she did at the slots.

Thanks very much for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta.

Our next hour of NEWSROOM with Wolf Blitzer starts right now. Have a great day.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Right now, the world's eyes are on Israel and how it will respond to the attacks by Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israel will make its own decisions on what to do and when. We're live in Tel Aviv as the tensions build.

Also happening this hour, a Boeing whistle-blower is on Capitol Hill right now testifying about the safety of the company's planes. More on his disturbing claims, that's coming up.

Also, a new study on the high price of climate change, a look at how it's costing you a lot of money.

Hello. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin this hour in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a message for his foreign allies. He says Israel appreciates their support, but insists it will make its own decisions about Iran. Israel is weighing how to respond to Iran's direct attacks over the weekend.

The U.S. and European allies have urged restraint, pushing for sanctions over military strikes. Our Anderson Cooper is joining us live. He's in Tel Aviv following all

these rapidly evolving developments.

What are you hearing Anderson, first of all, about a potential Israeli military response?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yes, well, Wolf, they're -- the war cabinet has not been meeting today, which is perhaps significant, given that they have met at least five times over the last several days, and many of those meetings lasting many, many hours.

Obviously, there have been a lot of contentious discussions, given the divided nature of some of the players on that cabinet. No official word yet on what decision has been made, what timing of any kind of counterattack would be.

Jeremy Diamond is here with me in Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, you recently got a look at actually one of the missiles that had been fired by Iran.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

And it really is something to see up close, Anderson. I mean, this thing is -- was just one part of this ballistic missile, and it was 36 feet in length. It actually fell into the Dead Sea. The Israeli military recovered it and brought it to a military base, where they brought us to show us the power of these missiles. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: ... is just one piece of an Iranian ballistic missile that the Israeli military says Iran fired towards Israel over the weekend.

At 36-feet-long, this is just the fuel tank for that missile. The Israeli military says more than 120 ballistic missiles were fired at Israel in this attack, only a handful of them actually making it through Israel's air defense systems. And the Israeli military believes this missile was likely intercepted.

And you can see the holes in the sides of this fuel tank. This missile was actually found in the Dead Sea. It was recovered, and it was taken to this base in Southern Israel. But now Israel says it must respond. It must reestablish deterrence. They say this attack cannot go unanswered.

The only question now is how the Israeli military will respond and when.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And so, Anderson, obviously, the majority, the overwhelming majority of these 120-plus ballistic missiles were intercepted.

But when you see it up close, you imagine the amount of fuel that's packed into that, the warhead itself is about a half-a-ton of explosives. And so you can just imagine the destructive power that it could have had it made it through that air defense system.

And so it's interesting, as we're looking for what the next steps of Israel's response will be, the Israeli prime minister invoking the fact that the allies, Israel's allies, helped with that air defense effort. But, still, he's saying that's not going to box him in as far as what Israel will do to respond to Iran.

He's saying that Israel will make its own decision.

COOPER: What do you make of the fact that the war cabinet is not meeting today, but that there have been so many meetings that have gone on for so long, and still no action on a response?

DIAMOND: It's interesting, because I know that, initially, there was a question of timing.

Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's chief political rival, who's also a member of that war cabinet, he was arguing for a much swifter response. He wanted to respond basically right away to Iran's strike. Netanyahu kind of pumped the brakes.

[11:05:03]

And that is also kind of characteristic of Benjamin Netanyahu. He is someone who, despite his kind of hawkish reputation, the rhetoric that he uses, he's actually someone who's quite cautious and certainly very deliberate in making decisions. I have been told by multiple Israeli officials that he likes to wait until the very last minute to actually call off -- to make a decision.

But it's also important to keep in mind that, with any military action, there are timing things that could shift, right, whether it's trying to hit a facility that's unmanned, realizing at the last minute that that facility is indeed manned. There are a number of intelligence factors, military factors that could be weighing on a potential decision and perhaps why we haven't seen that military response come yet.

COOPER: Obviously, attention has not been on Gaza as much internationally over the last several days, which, clearly, there had been the Rafah operation that was supposed to -- I believe was supposed to be this week.

And you had reported that leaflets were supposed to be dropped on Monday. That did not occur. Is that still on the table?

DIAMOND: It's definitely still on the table.

Israeli officials have told me, despite that delay that I reported on, that Rafah offensive will indeed happen. And even as the attention has been on the situation between Israel and Iran, this has been a very deadly week in Gaza. We saw even just yesterday dozens of people were killed in various Israeli airstrikes in Central Gaza, in particular, one particularly deadly situation in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, where at least eight children were killed in one strike. So it's important to keep in mind that, even as the focus is on these

kind of big geopolitical issues, Israel's military campaign in Gaza still very much ongoing, and they are also vowing to finish the job there. And that's certainly a complicating factor as they consider this response to Iran.

Netanyahu wants to finish the job in Gaza. And I think he also knows that a hot war with Iran is going to detract his attention, detract the military's attention from actually finishing off Hamas in Gaza, which he has said, of course, is his stated objective.

COOPER: Yes, Jeremy, thanks so much -- Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Anderson, thank you, and thanks to Jeremy as well, both of you in Tel Aviv.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, has just arrived at the G7 foreign ministers summit on the Italian island of Capri.

De-escalating these tensions between Iran and Israel is expected to dominate the talks among the world's largest economies.

CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood is here with me in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Kylie, what are your sources saying about these very important conversations that are about to take place in Capri?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, given the backdrop, of course, this tension between Iran and Israel, what sources are focused on is these sanctions and new Iran sanctions.

We heard just yesterday from the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, to the president, saying that the U.S. is working on new Iran sanctions to go after Iran's drone and missile program and also go after entities that are supporting Iran's IRGC and its Ministry of Defense.

And then we have also heard from the U.K. foreign secretary, who was in Israel just this morning, saying that the G7 is looking at coordinated Iran sanctions. So, that's something that we will be watching for out of this meeting. The secretary of state, Tony Blinken, just arrived there this morning.

The other thing that I want to note, just to pivot for a second away from the region, is that U.S. officials just last week told reporters that there is really an unprecedented amount of support that China is giving to Russia in order to build up its defense industrial base.

And that's allowing Russia to build up its military expansion in a way that it hasn't done since the Soviet era. They think that Europeans could put some pressure on China in this vein. So that's another thing that they will be discussing at the G7 this week.

BLITZER: Yes, the stakes right now clearly are enormous. We will see what happens at that G7 summit. Kylie, thank you very, very much.

Kylie Atwood reporting for us.

I want to bring in CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid right now. He's also a reporter for Axios.

Barak, give me your analysis of Prime Minister Netanyahu's statement, thanking the allies for their support, but letting them know that Israel, and only Israel, will make the decision on how to respond to Iran.

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Hi, Wolf.

Well, I think that both the Biden administration and other governments in the West, like the U.K., like France, they're not telling Netanyahu what to do. They're just giving him advice. And they say, look, you have the higher moral ground right now. Iran is in the corner.

The international community now is ready to put more pressure on Iran. If you go now and go on a huge strike against the Iranians, you're sort of giving the Iranians a very good way out of where they are right now.

And, today, when Netanyahu met David Cameron, the U.K. foreign secretary, he -- I mean, he made it clear that Israel is going to respond, but he also used a very interesting term. He says that any Israeli response will be thoughtful and calculated, meaning Netanyahu wants to respond, but in a way that will not cause a huge regional escalation.

[11:10:13]

BLITZER: So how do the Western allies and Israel, Barak, come to a consensus here? Could there be some kind of a compromise where they're all working together with the same goal?

RAVID: I think they're trying to do that. I think they're trying to minimize the Israeli response as best as they can in order to make sure there's no, like, huge regional war out of this thing.

But it's a tricky thing, because you can never know what the -- how the Iranians are going to respond. The assessment I hear from both U.S. and Israeli officials is that the Iranians will respond to any Israeli strike in their territory. The question is, are they going to respond the same way they did on last Saturday?

Is it going to be even bigger, or they're just going to try and sort of close this incident with some sort of a symbolic response? But those are all question marks. This is why, when you enter such a thing, you don't know how you're going to come out of it.

BLITZER: A brand-new poll from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Barak, found that 74 percent of Israelis oppose retaliatory strikes against Iran if they were to undermine Israel's security alliances. Just 26 percent say they should strike regardless of what the allies

are telling Israel. Is Prime Minister Netanyahu moving farther away from what the Israeli people want?

RAVID: I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

Look, inside the war cabinet right now, the internal division is not according to party lines. It's more a division between the former generals, Minister of Defense Gallant, and former IDF Chiefs of Staff Eisenkot and Benny Gantz, and the civilians, Netanyahu himself, Ron Dermer, and Aryeh Deri, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party.

So this is the division, between the generals, who want a more aggressive response, and the civilians, who want to -- who are more careful. But I will give you another point, and I'm sure you and many of our viewers will understand it very well, and this is that we are less than a week away from the holy day of Passover, when Jews all over the world, and especially in Israel, have their family seder, Passover seder.

This is a big thing. So for Netanyahu to decide right now to go on a strike with Iran that might lead to a war a few days before this huge religious holiday, it's a big thing. It's like the president of the United States taking such a decision four days before Christmas.

So it's a main issue. Even though it seems like an anecdote, it's a main part in the decision-making.

BLITZER: Interesting. Very interesting indeed.

Barak Ravid, thank you very much for your analysis.

And still ahead this hour, more details about the seven people picked, at least so far, to serve on the jury in the Donald Trump historic hush money trial.

And senators are about to hear from a Boeing whistle-blower, who is going public now for the first time, his claims about shoddy manufacturing after several jets were grounded this year.

And lawmakers question university leaders about an alarming spike in campus antisemitism.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:18:14]

BLITZER: In a new opinion article in "The Wall Street Journal," President Biden is urging the House of Representatives to pass crucial aid to both Ukraine and Israel.

He insists that now is not the time to abandon America's friends. House lawmakers passed a $14 billion aid bill to Israel in November, but Democrats objected to its lack of anything for Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Senate passed its bill in February. It included assistance for both countries.

President Biden concludes the op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal" by saying -- and I'm quoting him now -- "There are moments in history that call for leadership and courage. This is one of them."

The battle over foreign aid has led to internal chaos in the House, with Republican Speaker Mike Johnson's job on the line right now. Johnson just announced in a memo to members that he will move forward with a vote on Ukraine aid.

CNN's chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, is up on Capitol Hill.

So, Manu, what's the latest? What are you learning?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a significant move.

And it comes at a time of desperate need for Ukraine, which has been clamoring for this aid for months and months and months. And now Speaker Johnson is detailing plans to move ahead with this package of new bills that he's going to unveil this afternoon. And there will be a vote in the full House by Saturday evening.

Recall, that $95 billion foreign aid package did pass the Senate about two months ago. That included aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. What Johnson wants to do here is to try to split up those measures individually and also add something else, another proposal that would deal with issues such as a potential ban on TikTok and other policy measures as well.

And in this text message to members, he also indicates that he plans to move forward with a border security bill as well. It's unclear exactly what the contents of that -- he says it would have components of the Republican-led bill that passed the House last year.

[11:20:12]

Now, this is another big question here, Wolf, what the process will be. There had been some expectation in the House that the bill that would ultimately be approved -- and now it's going to happen on Saturday -- when and if that's approved, will it go over to the Senate as one package?

There are parliamentary procedures in which they can cobble all these individual pieces together and send it over to the Senate in one package. Why that's significant is because the White House and Democrats in particular have demanded that all these issues ride together.

They want Ukraine aid to ride along with Israel aid, concern that Ukraine could fall by the wayside. But Republican hard-liners in particular don't want a dime spent more on Ukraine aid, do not want it tied to Israel. And that's the rub. That is the real challenge for Mike Johnson at this key moment, as he's facing threats from two members of his own conference to oust him from the speakership. The question will be how many more Republicans join that effort if he

does go along with that strategy, if that border security plan does not make it into this final package that goes over to the Senate. And what will Democrats do? Will they come to his defense? Will they push this bill over the finish line? They will need Democratic support to pass this, and will they save Mike Johnson's job?

All critical questions, as the speaker now announcing Saturday evening a critical evening of votes on this package and potentially for Mike Johnson's future -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, it's a very sensitive moment. Some Democrats have already said they will support the speaker, Speaker Johnson.

I want to turn to the Senate while I have you, Manu. Later today, the impeachment trial of the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, will begin in the Senate. What can we expect from the Senate floor later this afternoon?

RAJU: It could be a potentially quick proceeding here, Wolf, because Democrats, they have the votes to essentially kill this proceeding immediately.

They could wait. There have been some negotiations about having procedural votes that could take place, Republicans make their political points to argue that there should be a full-blown trial, Democrats say there should not be a trial. But they have not been able to reach an agreement to schedule these votes.

And at the moment, we do expect Democrats to try to quickly move to dismiss this altogether, which simply requires a simple majority of Senate Democrats. The question will be also how this could play out politically.

Some vulnerable Democrats, including one, Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey, I asked him about his opposition to moving ahead with this trial and the impacts that this could have on his race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Do you think there should be a trial?

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): I don't. I think we should move on and get to work on a bipartisan border security deal.

RAJU: Do you think your opponents will use that vote to dismiss against you?

CASEY: Oh, I'm sure they will.

(LAUGHTER)

RAJU: Would it be hurtful?

CASEY: But it won't work. I voted multiple times now to support the best deal for border security in 25 years, supported by the Border Patrol agents, who usually don't support Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So, the question will be what other vulnerable Democrats do.

Senator Jon Tester of Montana one to watch, as well as Sherrod Brown of Ohio. We do expect them likely to vote to dismiss this. We will see how some other Republicans, Lisa Murkowski, one, of Alaska, someone who's criticized these proceedings, how she may ultimately vote on this key measure.

But, Wolf, we expect this effort, while historic, only the second Cabinet secretary ever to be impeached, to end pretty quickly, this effort.

BLITZER: Yes, I suspect you're right.

Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, thank you.

I want to quickly turn to New York right now. The courtroom is dark today in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, but jury selection is set to resume tomorrow. And opening statements could begin potentially as soon as Monday.

So far, seven jurors, four men and three women, have been selected. One of them has already been named foreman. And, this morning, the former president is taking to social media to criticize the selection process just a day after the judge scolded him.

At one point, Judge Juan Merchan told Trump -- and I'm quoting him now -- "I will not have any jurors intimidated."

CNN national security reporter Zach Cohen is with me here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Zach, so what else is Trump saying right now? He's supposedly under a gag order.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Wolf, Trump using his day off to complain about the fact that both prosecutors and defense attorneys in this case only get 10 strikes that they can use to disqualify potential jurors.

This is the standard number of strikes that lawyers on both sides get in a case where a defendant is charged with the crimes that Trump is charged with. But Trump says that he was under the oppression, claiming on social media that he thought strikes were supposed to be -- quote -- "unlimited" when picking the jury, and that he was told they only had 10 opportunities to do that, and makes this argument that we have heard from him before that he can't get a fair trial in New York because of the demographics.

That is -- is puzzling on a few fronts, because, one, we know that Donald Trump's attorneys have been aware of the fact that they would only have 10 strikes for months now. In fact, the judge reminded all parties involved during a hearing where Trump was present that that was going to be the case, but, you know, Trump using his time outside the courtroom to criticize the trial itself.

[11:25:13]

As you mentioned, Judge Merchan did reprimand Trump in court yesterday when Trump was reacting to what one of the jurors was saying when being questioned about their social media posts.

So, we're getting a look at how Trump is going to act when he -- on the one day a week that he's not in court, versus how he's being forced to act when he is in the courtroom.

BLITZER: Following his day in court yesterday, as you know, Zach, Trump was asked about potential jurors.

Tell our viewers what he had to say.

COHEN: Yes, that's right.

Donald Trump sat for hours in the courtroom and watched as seven jurors were sworn in. We need five more, plus about six alternates. But after leaving court yesterday, Donald Trump was asked if he thought these jurors could render a fair verdict. And take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anybody that's fair.

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

TRUMP: I will let you know after -- after the trial, depending on what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, Trump saying essentially, if he likes the verdict that they render, he will let you know if he thinks it's fair or not.

That is consistent with how Trump has sort of framed this trial from the beginning. A lot more to come. We still have months of trial ahead of us, but opening statements could take place as soon as Monday, Judge Merchan optimistic in that timeline.

But, first, we have to complete jury selection.

BLITZER: Once again, this is the first time in American history a former president of the United States has actually gone to a criminal trial. So, we will watch it all unfold, history in the making right now.

Zach Cohen, thank you very, very much. Meanwhile, Columbia University's president is testifying up on Capitol

Hill right now about antisemitism on campus. I will speak to the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League about that and the soaring number of incidents antisemitic incidents, happening across the country right now.

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