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CNN International: U.S. Official: Israel Strikes At Iran, Iran Reports No Damage; Fourth Day Of Trial: Trump Rails Against Gag Order; House Votes To Advance Foreign Aid Bills For Final Passage. Aired 11a- 12p ET
Aired April 19, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
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RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning, and welcome to CNN's special coverage from New York. I'm Rahel Solomon. And with me now I have Erica Hill. Let me toss it over to my colleague Erica.
ERICA HILL, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Rahel, thank you. As we --
SOLOMON: OK. We're going to get back to Erica in just a short moment. But, in the meantime, we want to begin this hour in the Middle East. And calls for calm amid a new chapter in the face-off between Israel and Iran. A U.S. official tells CNN that Israel carried out a military strike inside Iran. Now, Iranian officials seem to be downplaying the attack. They say that its air defenses intercepted three drones near an army base in central Iran, in the city of Isfahan. Now, there was no damage, and the UN nuclear watchdog says that no nuclear sites were affected. So far, Israel is not commenting.
Now, later, Iranian media aired video of what appears to be calm on the streets of Isfahan, that city. Now, Israel, for days, had been promising that it would strike back after last weekend's missile attack by Iran.
Let's bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks from Beirut for us. Paula, as we said, Iran seems to be downplaying this Israel, not officially commenting. But, give us a sense of where things stand right now.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, it's certainly the case that the narrative that Tehran wants to show at this point is that this was not a significant attack on its territory, pointing out, according to the Commander in Chief of the Army, that three drones were shot down. Now, there are some details. We don't have at this point. For example, what was the target of this particular strike? We have a confirmation from Israel at this point that it was in fact at their attack, although we have heard that from the U.S. side.
And it is interesting that we are seeing this downplaying within Iranian state media of what has happened, given the very fiery rhetoric we have heard from Iranian officials over recent days. First of all, though, let's remind ourselves what happened in the early hours of this morning. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Flashes in the sky seem close to a major military airbase near the Iranian city of Isfahan. This overnight video is from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard. CNN cannot verify its authenticity. Iranian officials said air defenses downed three drones with no reports of a missile attack. A U.S. official tells CNN Israel carried out the strike, saying the U.S. was warned but did not endorse the response. The Israeli military has no comment. State-run media reports Iran's nuclear sites are quote "completely secure". The UN nuclear agency also confirms no damage. Calm street scenes dominate Iranian airwaves, visual proof of claims of business as usual, with little appetite for further escalation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Interpreted): In general, we are not in favor of war one way or another. War is destructive. We are against war. We do not accept whether this side launches attacks or that side launches attacks. We do not accept it. We are not happy with the killing of people, whether they are Iranians, Israelis, or Gazans.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Tensions around the Middle East remain on a knife's edge following Iran's unprecedented direct strike against Israel last weekend. Around 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles were launched at Israel by Iran, the vast majority intercepted by the Israeli Air Force and Israeli partners, a response to a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic complex in the Syrian capital Damascus on April 1, which killed a top commander and several others. G7 foreign ministers are meeting in Italy with a unified call for maximum restraint.
ANTONIO TAJANI, ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (Interpreted): I wanted a very clear message to come out from the whole of the G7. The political goal of the G7 is de-escalation. We have worked and we will continue to work and to be active to achieve de-escalation throughout the Middle East.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: What we're focused on, what the G7 is focused on, and again, it's reflected in our statement and in our conversation, is our work to de-escalate tensions, to de- escalate from any potential conflict.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): A cool that early indications suggest Israel may have headed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS: Now, speaking to CNN just hours before the strike took place, Iran's Foreign Minister said that if there was another Israeli attack on Iranian soil, then the response would be immediate.
[11:05:00]
It would be at maximum level, and it would be decisive. But, since that attack has taken place, and since it does appear to be quite slim in scope, and it's certainly not as significant as some had feared that it might be, there does appear to be this pullback, certainly within Iranian state media, that they don't want to be escalating any further. Now, of course, there are plenty of caveats which go with that. We cannot predict what Tehran is going to do. But, at this point, the situation does appear slightly less tense than it did about 24 hours ago. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. We've even heard this called a de-escalatory strike, if there ever was one. Paula, give us a sense, as we said, Israel has been pretty tight-lipped thus far. Any sense of when we might get more information.
HANCOCKS: There is always the possibility, Rahel, that we won't hear anything from Israel. We have heard from a U.S. official that they have confirmed this was Israel that carried out this strike. There is the chance that the Israeli military won't feel the need or the necessity to give any more details. And certainly, if they feel that what they set out to achieve has been achieved, then there is no reason for them to give more details. When it comes to Iran as well, they haven't been that forthcoming with exactly what they believe targets may have been, whether it was this army base where those drones were close by and shot down, according to Iranian officials.
So, at this point, there is a possibility that the details will remain fairly vague. But, of course, the question that everyone is asking is, what happens next? Is this de-escalation, does this mean that we may not see these direct attacks between Israel and Iran going forward? Of course, it doesn't mean that things become peaceful. You also have the Iranian-backed proxies which are still continuing to fight against Israel. We know that just in the last week here in Lebanon in just on the southern border here in the northern border in Israel, there have been a significant increase in the attacks in missile launches between Israel and Hezbollah, and no one at this point expects that to calm down anytime soon. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. It's an important distinction, and certainly something that we continue to watch. Paula Hancocks live for us there in Beirut. Paula, thanks so much.
Well, Russia and China are among the many nations today calling for the de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East. Meantime, the Italian Foreign Minister says that the U.S. did not get much of a warning before Israel's strike on Iran. Listen.
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TAJANI: The United States were informed at the last minute, but there was no involvement on the part of the United States. It was simply information which was provided.
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SOLOMON: Let's bring in CNN's Kylie Atwood, who joins us now from the U.S. State Department. Kylie, really interesting that it was the Italian Foreign Minister who gave us that bit of information, not Antony Blinken, who also spoke. What more can you share with us about the U.S. response here and what we've heard? KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. That's right. I think it's noteworthy just to put a little bit of context around the Italian Foreign Minister's remarks. He was in Italy. He was at a G7 meeting of the foreign ministers. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also at. So, if you draw the picture there, it presumes that the Secretary of State is the one who told his allies at that table that the U.S. had gotten the heads up, though we haven't actually confirmed that. The Secretary of State on the record in that conversation with reporters was not at all willing to speak about what happened overnight, those Iranian -- excuse me, those Israeli strikes against Iran, calling them just reported incidents, and saying that the U.S. was not involved in any offensive operations. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLINKEN: The United States has not been involved in any offensive operations. What we're focused on, what the G7 is focused on, and again, it's reflected in our statement and in our conversation, is our work to de-escalate tensions, to de-escalate from any potential conflict. You saw Israel on the receiving end of an unprecedented attack. But, our focus has been on, of course, making sure that Israel can effectively defend itself but also de-escalating tensions, avoiding conflict, and that remains our focus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ATWOOD: With his comments, they're almost embodying his own commitment not to escalate the situation by not talking about what happened overnight, by not pouring more fuel on the fire that has been this ongoing back and forth between Iran and Israel.
[11:10:00]
We did hear, however, from the Secretary speaking about Israel and the G7's commitment to defending Israel's stability, Israel's capability to defend itself, and also spoke at length about the G7 wanting to hold Iran accountable for the strikes that they carried out, those unprecedented strikes against Israel that they carried out over the weekend. For the U.S. part, we have seen new sanctions against Iran that were rolled out, very precise sanctions, Rahel, going after the manufacturers of the type of engines that were used in the type of drone that Iranians carried out that attack with. And we'll watch to see what more the U.S. has to say about this today.
But, for now, they're making it very clear they don't want to get any more further involved, and as you have Israel and Iran not saying very much, I think it's unlikely that you'll have U.S. officials say a whole lot more on the record about what happened overnight, which appears at this point to have been a measure of response by Israel.
SOLOMON: Kylie, anything that can be made of or anything that can be taken from the fact that if the Italian Foreign Minister is to be believed, and the U.S. did get a heads up, even if it was not much of a heads up that Israel sort of gave the U.S. that courtesy, if you will, that is certainly something that Secretary Austin had asked for, that if Israel was going to retaliate to at the very least give the U.S. a heads up just in terms of security personnel, in terms of asset. What do you make of that?
ATWOOD: Well, that matches our reporting. Even though the Secretary of State wouldn't say it on the record, U.S. officials have told us that Israel did indeed give the U.S. a heads up. Now, we don't know the specifics in terms of how much of a heads up they gave them. But, what we also know is that the U.S. didn't respond by greenlighting Israel's decision to go ahead here, because we've heard repeatedly from U.S. officials saying that they want to de-escalate, that Israel should take last weekend where they were able to defend 99 percent of those incoming missile and drone attacks from Iran effectively. They should take that as a win. They didn't necessarily need to respond. Of course, Israel clearly felt a need to respond.
But, I do think it's noteworthy that the U.S. isn't actually condemning what happened overnight or being highly critical that they're just sort of letting it stand.
SOLOMON: OK. Important to note there. Kylie Atwood live for us at the State Department. Kylie, thank you.
We have some breaking news just into us here at CNN. The U.S. House of Representatives has just passed a procedural measure to set up a vote on aid for Israel and Ukraine this weekend. Just hours before midnight Thursday, the House Rules Committee advanced the bills out of Committee. They got support from Democrats, but three Republicans voted against them. Speaker Johnson is vowing to continue to a vote despite the opposition in his party. This is something we will continue to track and follow throughout the hour.
In the meantime, I want to send it over to my colleague Erica Hill who is outside the New York courthouse. Erica.
HILL: Thank you, Rahel. Happy report. I can hear you now. Sorry about that earlier. Here we are outside the courthouse, of course. "We have a jury", those words coming from Judge Merchan just Thursday afternoon. 12 New Yorkers, some of whom talked about their various feelings about the former President, positive or negative, have now been selected in addition to one alternate. What's happening this morning as we sit here is the search is on, of course, for additional alternate jurors. At least five, we're told, still need to be seated. Before heading into court this morning, Trump once again stopped to speak to the media and took that moment to slam both trial and his gag order. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you very much. As you know, I've been saying for a long while, this is a rigged trial. It's coming from the White House. They have White House DoJ people in the trial, in the DA's office, representing the DA because he is probably not smart enough to represent himself. The guy got elected using Trump and you're not supposed to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: CNN's Zachary Cohen is live for us in Washington. We should point out there, of course, this is a case that was brought by the Manhattan DA. Of course, it was not brought by the White House or the DoJ, Zach.
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah. Absolutely. Trump repeating a lot of familiar criticisms of both the judge in this case, but it did become a center point -- a centerpiece of his presidential campaign since -- especially since he is currently spending four days a week in the courtroom. And look, those criticisms are mostly baseless and -- but it does resonate with a core part of his base and his followers. At the same time, though, Trump is in the courtroom again today, watching this jury selection process play out.
[11:15:00]
As you mentioned, we do have the 12 jurors seated, plus one alternate, and we need about five more. And so, they've made their way through this questionnaire with the 22 remaining potential jurors who were first up today. They braced (ph) things that we've heard. All the other potential jurors asked about their media consumption habits, about their views on Donald Trump, about their various political beliefs, and only three have been excused so far. One potential juror was excused because they expressed concerns that as the trial went on and their identity as a juror became more known, even though jurors does remain anonymous, that it would be hard for her to be fair and impartial.
And that's really the standard here, just like with every other jury that's been sworn in, and every other potential juror who has been asked this question, that's the standard that the judge is mandating here, that jurors put their political and their personal views about Donald Trump to the side and say whether or not they can render a fair and impartial verdict. We'll have to see if we do ultimately fill those remaining five alternate slots. But, that process is underway. And we have made our way mostly through that first group of 22 potential jurors.
HILL: There is also the tissue of veto. We heard the former President rallying against the gag order. In terms of that gag order, the prosecution has said they believe that he has now violated it 10 times. That hearing is set for next week to deal with that issue.
COHEN: Absolutely. And Trump's comments today really do walk up to that line, but don't technically violate at least the core part of the gag order itself, which is allows him to criticize the judge and allows him to criticize the case itself. But, he is not allowed to attack potential witnesses or likely witnesses in this case. He is not allowed to speak about the jurors and the jury in this case as well. And so, we've seen him walk up the line. Prosecutors say that he has crossed it at least 10 times. They pointed to social media posts that Trump was posting on his day out of court on Wednesday, including reposting a conspiracy theory that was floated by one Fox News anchor that leftist activists were trying to infiltrate the jury.
And so, that will -- that all gets sorted out next week when prosecutors and defense attorneys make their various arguments as to why or why Trump didn't violate the gag order. But, clearly, Trump is seizing on the gag order still as part of this campaign rhetoric when he does speak to reporters outside the courtroom.
HILL: Yeah. Absolutely. And as we move forward here, if those alternate jurors are in fact selected today, we could be looking at opening statements come Monday morning. Right?
COHEN: We could. Absolutely. And we could also potentially hear from our first witness, and to your point earlier about not sharing that witness list with Trump and Trump's attorneys, that's because they're worried that Trump will tweet about the witnesses if he knows who is going to speak and in what order. So, yeah, things could move forward and really kick off the trial part of this process as soon as Monday, and we do need to still finish up the jury selection process. But, things moving along, we could have those five alternates seated by today.
HILL: Yeah. Interesting that the judge said that he just wasn't comfortable, didn't believe, essentially, I'm paraphrasing here, but that there was concern that it'd be hard for Donald Trump to not say anything about those witnesses ahead of time, and so they wouldn't -- he would not force the prosecution to give up that list. Zachary Cohen, appreciate it. Thank you.
Well, we'll continue to track developments here on day four of jury selection. We're also going to dig a little deeper into the legal nuggets here, just ahead in this hour. And we're continuing to follow the breaking news here. The U.S. House now set for a weekend vote on those hotly contested foreign aid bill. Stay with us. We'll take you live to Washington, next.
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[11:20:00]
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. The U.S. House of Representatives has just passed a procedural measure to set up a vote on aid for Israel and Ukraine this weekend. Just moments ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke on this very issue. Let's listen.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Tomorrow, we would have had to eat the Senate supplemental bill, and that is because we were very close, given the timeline in both Israel and Ukraine, to a discharge petition being brought. A discharge petition, in layman's terms, is that when a number of members or a majority of members get together, they can override the Speaker and bring something straight to the floor. That would have happened imminently on the Senate supplemental.
So, by doing this, even though it's not the perfect legislation, it's not the legislation that we would write. If Republicans were in charge of the House and Senate in the White House, this is the best possible product that we can get under these circumstances to take care of these really important obligations. And so, we look forward to the vote tomorrow. We look forward to every member voting their conscience and their desire, and that is exactly how this process is supposed to work and how the House is supposed to operate. So, we're happy to provide that. And we will give you more comments tomorrow.
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SOLOMON: All right. Let's bring in CNN's Lauren Fox, who has been following this for us. She is outside of Capitol Hill. Lauren, just give us a sense. I mean, the bill has passed another hurdle now with bipartisan support again. What happens now? All eyes turn to tomorrow.
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. I mean, look, the level of frustration from Republican conservatives right now on Capitol Hill is high with Speaker Mike Johnson. Meanwhile, you have those who are part of his defense hawk group who are extremely proud of the Speaker for taking this step. This was not an easy step for this Speaker. He has been threatened at every turn by Marjorie Taylor Greene not to take the steps that he has taken today. Obviously, it's highly unusual for Democrats to help get this through this procedural step. Usually, the majority is responsible for getting these rules passed. Today, it took Democratic votes to do it. And there were more than 50 Republicans who voted against that step today.
Now, some Republicans are arguing. They're frustrated that there wasn't an immigration component to this. There are other conservatives who were just never going to be satisfied with any additional funding for Ukraine being sent to that country. Johnson ultimately put on the floor a series of bills that looks so similar to what already passed out of the United States Senate. It's essentially the same thing, just in three different parts. So, that's where things stand right now. Tomorrow, the House will return. They will have a series of votes starting at 1 p.m. tomorrow. We expect that that will be finished up around three o'clock. But, it is obviously a very momentous moment for the Speaker, as we are watching to see what happens next to his speakership. Rahel.
SOLOMON: And then, Lauren, give us a sense of expectations for tomorrow if Democrats vote with -- if Democrats throw their support behind this. I mean, what happens next? And also, I mean, what's going on with the motion to vacate? I mean, where do we stand there?
FOX: Yeah. I mean, we're watching every single vote series so closely, because at any moment, Marjorie Taylor Greene could bring forward that motion to vacate, forcing basically a procedure to begin in which leadership would have two legislative days to deal with it. Now, we just saw Marjorie Taylor Greene leave the House of Representatives after this vote. So, she cannot do it anymore this afternoon, is our understanding.
But, the question becomes tomorrow, after these bills pass, assuming they do with Democratic votes, does she move forward then? So, every single vote series kind of becomes this all eyes on Marjorie Taylor Greene watch game, Rahel.
SOLOMON: And then -- and Lauren, just really quickly, for our audience, if you may just be parachuting in, just give us a sense of what appears to be the real point of friction between Republicans here. Is this all about Ukraine. And even with Johnson -- I mean, Johnson making comments recently that he wants to be on the right side of history here. Just give us a sense for someone parachuting in what appears to be the real friction point.
FOX: Yeah. I mean, Ukraine is certainly a huge piece of it.
[11:25:00]
I think that Johnson for a while was trying to have conversations with members, trying to understand if there was any component of the Ukraine aid that he could convince conservatives to support. Could he structure this bill in a way that he could force sort of a conference Committee with the Senate over two different proposals? I think ultimately what he started to understand was giving conservatives, and giving conservatives wasn't going to get him the votes that he needed, because ultimately, they were not willing to support any additional funding for Ukraine.
One of the tools he used was he included a provision that created a $10 billion loan for some of the direct assistance to the Ukrainian government. That loan was repayable, he was hoping, because Donald Trump was supportive of that idea that that would help get some conservatives on board, that would silence critics like Marjorie Taylor Greene. It just didn't. There are other Republicans who are frustrated that there wasn't a border component to this. We should point out that Johnson did try to include a separate border bill. It failed in the Rules Committee because of Republican opposition. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Fascinating. Even Donald Trump still throwing his support behind Mike Johnson, but that doesn't appear to be silencing his critics or doing anything to sort of quiet the criticism. Lauren Fox live for us on Capitol Hill. Lauren, thanks so much.
All right. Turning overseas, polls have closed in the first phase of the world's largest ever general election. Nearly a billion people in India, about 12 percent of the world's population, are eligible to vote, setting the stage for a massive exercise in democracy over the next six weeks. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is standing for a third term in power against an alliance of opposition parties.
Here is CNN Senior International Correspondent Will Ripley with more.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's Election Day here in India. Well, it's not just one day. It's going to be spread out over the next six weeks because of the massive size of the electorate here in India. We're in Uttar Pradesh, which is the largest state in India with around 200 or so million people, about two thirds of the population of the entire United States. But, over the next six weeks, from now until the first of June, throughout seven phases of voting, you have 968 million eligible voters here in India, nearly a billion people more, than three times the population of the United States, who are eligible to vote.
And the way that the process works here is that over the next six weeks at polling stations like this, people will come. They'll give their voting cards. They'll vote in electronic voting machines inside. And it's a pretty efficient process. And what's miraculous is that in this, the world's largest election, the largest democratic exercise in the history of mankind, they're going to make sure that electronic voting machines are available for every single eligible voter within a two-kilometer radius of their homes. So, even if they live in one of the most remote corners of India's 28 states and eight union districts, they will have an opportunity to exercise their civic duty and vote in these elections.
And there is certainly a lot at stake here, whether it's which political candidate will lead India into the future, whether it's the economy, whether it's foreign investment, whether it is rights for farmers or social services for everyday people. There are a lot of issues that are being debated. However, we can't really talk about them on the air just yet because of pretty intensive reporting restrictions that are placed on all news organizations, including CNN, while the polls are open.
So, all we can say right now is that, judging by these lines, not just here, but across the world's largest most populous country, 1.4 billion people living in India, nearly a billion of them eligible to vote, and it all kicks off right here starting today.
Will Ripley, CNN, Uttar Pradesh, India.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And our thanks to Will there.
And coming up, we continue to track the breaking news following Israel's strike on Iran. Could this lead to an escalation, or could it lead to an end to the exchanges between two states? I will speak with a military analyst, coming up next.
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[11:30:00]
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
More now on our breaking news we've been following. A U.S. official says that Israel launched a military strike on Iran. Iranian officials say that its anti-aircraft system shot down three drones near an army base in the central part of Iran, and that no facilities were damaged. Israel, for its part, is not commenting. Now, a source tells CNN that direct strikes between Israel and Iran are over, but it's not clear what could come next, with tensions running so high in the Middle East.
Let's welcome in CNN Military Analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, always good to have you. Thank you.
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: And you bet, Rahel. It's great to be with you as well.
SOLOMON: So, let me start there. I mean, do you believe from your perspective that direct strikes are over, and if so, then what comes next?
LEIGHTON: Yeah. I think they might be over for now. But, there is always a chance that things could go very badly very quickly. And I think, though, in this particular case, what we're looking at is a reversion back to the kind of shadow war that existed between Israel and Iran, really for decades, up until this point, and it may be integrating more of the proxies into the battle once again, just like they had, and we're talking about proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas and others there basically doing Iran's bidding.
And then the other part of it, though, is that there is a possibility of increased cyberattacks between the two countries. Both countries have proven that they have the capability to do a lot of damage in the cyber world. And I think that's a highly likely tenant of both country's policies, and I think that could very well be something that they implement in the next few weeks or months.
SOLOMON: So, in that case, Colonel, would you say that the strikes from Israel were in a sense de-escalatory, as Ian Bremmer, obviously, a very respected name in the geopolitics space, I mean, could you call it de-escalatory then as he suggested on Twitter?
LEIGHTON: I think it's possible. I think he might be onto something here, because the way in which both countries did their respective strikes is very much in the form of posturing. In the case of the Iranians, although they sent a lot of missiles, and I think they would have been perfectly happy with the missiles striking something of note in Israel, they knew that their targeting capabilities were not that refined at the moment. But, they also learned a lot from what they did.
On the other hand, the Israelis, they have, in essence, chosen to hit certain areas where they did practically no or little damage. But, what they did do is send a message that we can strike at targets that are at the same range, at the same distance, and they can actually be very important targets, such as the nuclear facilities, such as the airbase at Isfahan. Those are the kinds of things that I think are sending messages to both sides, and they're putting each other on notice. In this particular case, I would say the Israelis have the better air defense capability by far. The Iranians have a Russian- based system that is not as capable as the Israeli system, and that is something that I'm sure the Iranian leadership is taking note of.
But, they're also looking at this in a way where they can say that they've done certain things for their local populations and their local various political factions, and then they can move forward in other areas, and potentially achieve some kind of modus vivendi, if you will, between the two sides, one that will involve conflict, one that will see several actions taking place, but one that is less escalatory than what we've seen in the last few days.
SOLOMON: So, essentially, both sides can go back to their domestic audiences with a story to tell, if you will.
[11:35:00]
LEIGHTON: Exactly, and that story is going to be really important, because both governments need to placate their more conservative factions and that becomes increasingly important when it comes to things like implementing certain measures within the military, certain foreign policy initiatives, and basically staying in power, and that, of course, the last one is the most important for both governments.
SOLOMON: And Colonel, before I let you go, what do you make of the fact that, as we've learned, Israel did give the U.S. a heads up, perhaps not much of a heads up, but a heads up nonetheless, which is something that the U.S. had asked beforehand, not condoning necessarily any retaliatory strike, but at least asking, if you are going to do something to communicate that to the U.S. because of U.S. assets, because of U.S. personnel? What do you make of the fact that Israel apparently did that?
LEIGHTON: Well, I think it's a good thing from Israeli-U.S. relationship standpoint, and it's also probably good from a diplomatic standpoint that the U.S. didn't have a lot of time to deal with it. Now, from a practical military protection standpoint, force protection standpoint, it would have been good to have as much notice as possible from a diplomatic standpoint, and it in essence gives the U.S. a degree of plausible deniability that they did not know the exact nature of the Israeli action, and that, of course, helps the U.S. in its relationship with Iran.
SOLOMON: Fascinating. Colonel Leighton, always good to have you. Thank you for the expertise and the insights today.
LEIGHTON: You bet, Rahel. Anytime.
SOLOMON: OK. All right. Coming up for us and still ahead on the show, Donald Trump may soon face consequences for allegedly violating his gag order. Details ahead, as our coverage continues on day four now, this historic criminal trial. We'll be right back.
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HILL: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Erica Hill outside the Manhattan criminal courthouse.
Jury selection is underway at this hour. We're actually in the middle of a short break. The focus, of course, here today is those alternate jury -- jurors, rather, after the 12-person jury and one alternate were, of course, finalized on Thursday afternoon. So far this morning, we did hear, earlier this morning before heading into the courtroom, Donald Trump approaching the cameras, once again complaining about the gag order in this case, complaining about the case itself and about the Manhattan DA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Thank you very much. As you know, I've been saying for a long while, this is a rigged trial. It's coming from the White House. They have White House DoJ people in the trial, in the DA's office, representing the DA because he is probably not smart enough to represent himself. The guy got elected using Trump and you're not supposed to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:40:00]
HILL: Prosecutors, meantime, have accused Donald Trump of violating that gag order a total of 10 times. They've, of course, asked the judge to hold him in contempt and to fine him $1,000 for each violation. Judge Merchan set to decide on that request at a hearing next Tuesday.
Joining us now is CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor, Jennifer Rodgers. Jen, good to have you with us today. As things are progressing here, I'm just curious, from your point of view, especially as a former federal prosecutor, how is the judge doing in terms of keeping this train on its track, really moving things forward?
JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, & FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, Erica, he is doing a great job. I mean, the fact that we are where we are in jury selection, I think, is remarkable. So, I'm really impressed with how he has been doing to move things along, but also in his rulings. I think he has been very fair, down the middle, with a slight lean towards favoring the defense's position, which is common actually. Judges hate to be overturned on appeal. So, they tend to favor the defense, which is just fine.
The one area where I think Merchan could be doing better is on this violation of the gag order issue. I don't know why he is waiting till Tuesday to sort all of this out. I understand he wants to get the jury set. But, on the other hand, these violations continue. So, I do wish you were moving more swiftly in that way.
HILL: In terms of setting that jury, there is a gag order for Donald Trump, but that's the only one out there. And we have seen some of his allies questioning the impartiality of the jury. I would imagine that will not be the last time. How concerning is that for prosecutors, for the jury, for the judge, as we look at this?
RODGERS: Yeah. It's really problematic. Unfortunately, these random parties are not in front of the judge and not subject to the judge's order. So, there is not a whole lot that anyone can do other than order Trump himself, his lawyers, obviously not to cause these statements to go out. But, we've already seen two jurors drop off, one because she was concerned about information becoming public that identified her, and I think we're probably not done with that problem. I think some of these other jurors are identifiable based on information that's become public. So, I expect this is an ongoing problem. And I'm sure the judge is concerned about it, as is the DA's Office. And we'll just hope that if it happens again, they'll act swiftly.
But, I think it's also, Erica, why we are going to have six alternates here, because some of these jurors may need to be replaced as we go along for this issue.
HILL: Yeah. Yeah. They may in fact be needed in short order as we watch this play out. If things keep moving at the clip that we're at, we could have opening statements come Monday. We will then have the first witnesses. I found it so interesting that the prosecution has not saying ahead of time publicly who those first witnesses will be, and the judge is not pushing prosecutors to do that either over concerns about what the defendant, the former President may say.
RODGERS: Yeah. Good for them. I mean, there is no question that he keeps violating the order. He won't listen to the judge's admonitions not to talk about the witnesses. And so, they're not going to know when witnesses are coming. Of course, they have the full witness list. They know who is coming. It's not that they don't have what they need to prepare, but they don't need to know the order and this at least protects a little bit the deluge of threats, intimidation, insults, etc., that would likely come if they knew that Michael Cohen was witness number one, for example.
HILL: Well, we will be watching it all. Jennifer Rodgers, always good to have you. Thank you.
RODGERS: Thank you.
HILL: Still to come here, are you ready for it? Plenty of people were at midnight, Taylor Swift's new album dropping overnight. And not long after that moment, yet another big surprise for the Swifties.
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[11:45:00]
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. In the U.S., a major win for climate and environmental advocates. The Biden administration has finalized a ban on fossil fuel drilling on nearly half of the National Petroleum Reserve in Atlanta -- at Alaska. That's a very big difference. That covers 13 million acres, including a remote area that's home to protected animal species, such as polar bears and caribou. Meantime, President Biden is on the move, wrapping up a three-day three-city tour, promoting his economic policies in the state of Pennsylvania. He is set to speak shortly at a construction and maintenance conference in Washington.
For more on the President's week, let's bring in Tyler Pager. He is a White House Reporter for The Washington Post. Tyler, good to have you again today. The President had a pretty busy week, swinging through Scranton, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the all-important state of Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia, I should say, in the all-important state of Pennsylvania. Trump was sort of stuck in New York for this hearing, and yet he still managed to capture quite a bit of attention. How much does this change things, if at all?
TYLER PAGER, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: Yeah. This is the split screen that we expect to see many times over the next few months as Trump goes to trial, obviously, in New York, but potentially in other jurisdictions as well. And this is a challenge that Biden has had throughout, which is trying to compete with the oxygen of Donald Trump, who manages to take up all of it even when he is not on screen. Obviously, no cameras allowed in the courtroom, but still much of the attention on him, given that he is the first former President to sit for a criminal trial against him.
But, for the President, I think they want this split screen of his candidate sitting in a Manhattan courtroom, as we start to see next week opening arguments and evidence presented, headlines about the former President's sex life. It is a contrast that the Biden campaign is eager to exploit. But, one of the challenges for the Biden campaign as well is to try to break through and get attention to his policies and his message. He has never been one to command a lot of attention. And so, it is a challenge for him to break through and connect with voters.
We saw yesterday, he campaigned with several members of the Kennedy family, a rebuke of RFK Jr., who is running for President as an independent, and threatens to pull support from both Biden and Trump. And I think whether or not that event in and of itself helps the President. I think it depends on how much it's able to break through to people that are interested in supporting RFK Jr., and whether they know that six of his siblings appeared with the President yesterday, endorsing him over their brother and Donald Trump.
SOLOMON: And what about how effective the Biden campaign thinks messaging on some of his policies is and how popular that is in terms of breaking through? Well, we just mentioned that he is at this construction and maintenance conference. I'm reminded of the comments from Ron Klain, his former Chief of Staff, not long ago that said essentially, he spends too much time and we can put up the choice words for our audience here, but who was caught saying that he spends too much time in front of bridges. He spends too much time talking about infrastructure. He should be talking about prices more. But, Tyler, I mean, clearly, the Biden campaign thinks that it's effective or else they wouldn't keep doing it.
PAGER: The Biden campaign says that they can do both, that they have to do both. They have to both get out there and sell the President's record and his agenda, and also talk about some of the challenges that Americans are facing. What the balance is, I think, is really where that tension is in a rare criticism from inside the Biden circle. This is a very disciplined group of people. The White House and Ron Klain sort of modified and tried to walk back some of that.
But, it has been at the heart of this debate within the administration for years, why the President, they feel, has not gotten more credit from the American people for his legislative accomplishments from the infrastructure legislation to the Inflation Reduction Act, to some of the climate action he has taken. They feel that he has had historic success passing legislation and transforming the American economy, and they're frustrated that Americans are not seemingly giving him more credit, as polls suggest. They do not largely approve of his handling of the economy. So, the Biden campaign is trying to do both, and that's what we're seeing the President trying to both get out there and talk about the infrastructure, but as well trying to connect with people about the challenges they face with rising prices and inflation.
SOLOMON; Yeah. It's an interesting point. We'll have to leave it here, Tyler, but we'll talk another time about the balance that they have to sort of strike just even on terms of the economy.
[11:50:00]
You see stronger growth which most presidents would love, but apparently, that stronger growth making inflation a harder problem to solve, which most presidents wouldn't love. It creates a really interesting challenge for him. Tyler Pager, we so appreciate the time today. Thank you, White House Reporter for The Washington Post.
All right. Now, an exciting moment for all the Taylor Swift fans out there. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD CHANTING: Three, two, one. Oh my God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, here just a brief thought. What are the titles? What are the titles? What are the titles? Are there features? Are there features?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so cool. It's so cool.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: I think they are excited. Do you think they're excited? Swifties around the world staying up late for the drop of her new album "The Tortured Poets Department", and in really big surprise release, not just one, but two albums.
Joining us from Los Angeles is Elizabeth Wagmeister. So, Elizabeth, I mean, clearly, the passion and the emotion is there that Taylor Swift fans are just sort of -- it's all they're talking about. It's all you see right now.
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And you are correct that they stayed up late, but a lot later than expected, because at 2 a.m., Taylor dropped a surprise second album, a total of 31 songs that she dropped in one night. This is her 11th studio album. Yesterday, there was a pop-up in LA and I spoke to some fans at this event. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The epic countdown ending overnight with the release of Taylor Swift's 11 studio album, and then some, "The Tortured Poets Department" dropping just before midnight on Friday, only to be followed by a surprise drop at 2 a.m. of 15 additional songs. Swift announcing the surprise, telling her fans she released a secret double album.
TAYLOR SWIFT, AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER: How does that sound?
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The global phenomenon that is Taylor Swift, the only solo artist in music history with four Grammys for Album of the Year. Much more than a singer, Swift is a cultural icon, now with "The Tortured Poets Department" exploding to even greater heights.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
With the album's first single "Fortnight" in collaboration with Post Malone, and songs like "Florida" featuring Florence + The Machine, her dedicated fans anticipating this moment since the album was announced earlier this year at the Grammys.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm pretty big fan. I love her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know every lyric to every song.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really excited.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Swifties counting down to the release by "Decoding Clues" coming from Taylor herself, including some at this pop-up installation at The Grove in Los Angeles.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can take a picture and decipher it and be like, oh, maybe it's this lyric.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Arguably the most famous musician on the planet, the 34-year-old superstar is breaking through her already sky- high ceiling with new songs like "Guilty as Sin" --
(VIDEO PLAYING)
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- and "But Daddy I Love Him".
(VIDEO PLAYING)
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): With this release, Taylor is likely to smash even more records in 2024, after already earning Spotify's most streamed artist of 2023, headlining her Eras Tour, the first tour to ever break a billion dollars, and releasing a blockbuster concert film. She also boasts almost a half a billion social media followers. But, the impact of "The Tortured Poets Department" is expected to exceed all that and more, engaging Swifties with not only music, concerts and films, but also bracelets, T-shirts, even tattoos.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think I've ever felt that way in a concert, just to be surrounded by so many girls, giving our friendship bracelets, just girlhood moment. WAGMEISTER (voice-over): A connection her fans feel to one of the
world's greatest living artist.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WAGMEISTER: We talk about decoding those clues in the lead up to her album drop. Well, now, Rahel, we know what all the Swifties are doing all weekend long. They are decoding the lyrics. And Taylor is not just a masterful marketer. She writes all of her songs. So, these lyrics, there is a lot in there. We don't want to spread rumors, but there is one celebrity that people think she is -- has a diss track towards, and two of her exes as well, of course, are at the center of these lyrics. It is a breakup album. Taylor spoke about the stages of grief and the heartbreak and how she overcame that, and that was the inspiration for this album.
[11:55:00]
SOLOMON: One of the best parts of beyond the music of whenever these like really popular artists release music is all the think pieces, sort of -- just sort of examining and analyzing the lyrics and what do they mean and what do they tell us and what do they say. Really fascinating. Great stuff. Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you. Have a great weekend.
All right. One more thing before we go. You are looking at a video showing the final search by a TSA explosives detector dog, officially marking his retirement from duty at Reagan National Airport. How cute is he? His name is Messi. And to make it all official, his "Do Not Pet" patch, the one you always see, well, it was removed, letting everyone know that it is officially OK to now get all of the pets. The yellow "Labrador Retriever" has been with the TSA for eight years. I always find it so difficult not to pet them. I don't -- I know I'm not supposed to. But, I find it so difficult not to pet them.
All right. We know your time is money. So, thank you for spending time with me today and this week. I'm Rahel Solomon in New York. Stick with CNN. One World is coming up next. Have a great weekend.
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