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Opening Statements Tomorrow In Trump's First Criminal Trial In New York; Republican Lawmakers Weigh In On Accusations Against Trump; Columbia University To Allow Students To Take Classes Virtually Amid Protest; White House Condemns Call For Violence; Israeli War Cabinet Meets To Discuss Hostages Held In Gaza; Debris From Space Crashes Into Florida Home; Siblings Killed By Alleged Drunk Driver During Birthday Party. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 21, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:18]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alex Marquardt in Washington. Thank you so much for joining us.

It is the eve of a historic moment in American history. Tomorrow opening arguments are set to begin in the first ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president. Just hours from now Donald Trump will be appearing in a courthouse in Manhattan where he is facing dozens of charges related to an alleged hush money payment to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Tonight, Trump is lashing out at the judge, again, calling for the gag order to be removed ahead of a hearing on Tuesday. Prosecutors said last week that Trump had already violated that order seven times already.

Let's get straight to CNN's Marshall Cohen who joins me here on set.

So, Marshall, tomorrow is going to be unprecedented in so many ways. What are you going to be looking out for?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I am not looking to see the judge take that gag order away, right. We all know that's not going to happen. That's just Trump lashing out. He is allowed to attack the judge. He is allowed to attack the D.A. But he is not permitted to talk about the other prosecutors, the staff at the court, and importantly, the family members of the judge. So he is towing the line there, going against the judge, saying -- you know, playing within the rules and limitations.

But there's that hearing on Tuesday about the gag order. But before we get to Tuesday, of course, is tomorrow with the start of opening statements, a historic moment. Prosecutors will start telling their story to the jury and they have a very compelling story to tell. A lot of witnesses lined up over the next few weeks.

MARQUARDT: And take us through what this is actually going to look like, because we're going to be getting most of our information from reporters and others who were inside the courtroom, not actually seeing it ourselves, right?

COHEN: Yes. It's a very interesting setup. This is how many courts are. Some have cameras. We watched all those hearings last month from Georgia. But no cameras in New York, so we have our team in the courtroom. They can use their laptops and if they can type fast enough, we can get it to air and share it with the American public.

Look, this is all about a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress, back in 2016, to keep her mouth shut, to stop her from going public with allegations of an affair with Donald Trump, which he denies. The payment was made through Donald Trump's then attorney Michael Cohen. He is a star witness for the prosecution.

The theory of the case, Alex, according to the prosecutors, is that those payments that were given back to Michael Cohen through the Trump Organization, that they were falsified records. They were claimed to be legal expenses when really it was a hush money payment tied to the 2016 election to keep that information away from the voters.

MARQUARDT: You mentioned Michael Cohen. We don't have witness list yet. That has not yet been revealed. But we have a sense, right, of who could be called and these are some big names that many people are familiar with.

COHEN: Yes, big cast of characters from back in 2016. Michael Cohen, he is a big one. Stormy Daniels will tell her side of the story. There's also Hope Hicks, who was a campaign official and a Trump confidant back at that time. She can give some of the behind-the- scenes, retelling how the campaign was reacting to negative stories about Donald Trump's relationships with women at the time.

There's also David Pecker, who was involved with the "National Enquirer." It was that scheme, that agreement, that alleged agreement between Pecker, Cohen and Trump that prosecutors have put at the centerpiece of this case. They alleged that those three men got in a room in 2015 and agreed that they would make sure that stories like these never saw the light of day. Prosecutors say that that was election interference because it was interfering with what the voters had a right to know before they went to the polls.

MARQUARDT: And that was a journalistic practice. But, as you say, it crossed legal lines into campaign law, and violation there.

COHEN: In the eyes of the prosecutors.

MARQUARDT: In the eyes of the prosecutors, of course, that remains to be seen, whether this jury that has now been chosen agrees with that.

Marshall Cohen, we know you'll be following it closely. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Republican lawmakers appear to be having a tough time defending Trump in the hush money case. Instead, some are casting doubt about the justice system.

CNN's Manu Raju asked several Republicans about Trump and what he is accused of doing in the case. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What about the character issues here?

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Well, Manu, I mean, listen, let's talk about the character issues of Alvin Bragg. This is the Bragg case, right? Because it's hard to keep track.

RAJU: Yes, I'm not talking about Bragg. I'm talking about Trump's character issues.

HAWLEY: Well, I'm talking about Bragg.

RAJU: I know you are, so you don't want to answer about Trump?

HAWLEY: Well, listen. I mean Trump denies the underlying allegations.

[18:05:02]

REP. BARRY LOUDERMILK (R-GA): I think it was Thomas Paine said that if all men lived as angels, then we wouldn't need the power of government.

RAJU: But does the conduct concern you?

SEN. MIKE BRAUN (R-IN): I mean, you get so much stuff that comes around all that, I kind of don't give it a lot of thought. The justice systems in motion. We'll see if it's a fair trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Let's discuss this with our panel of CNN political commentators, Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, and Republican strategist Alice Stewart. Together they host the podcast "Hot Mics from Left to Right."

Thank you both so much for being with me this evening.

Maria, I want to start with you. In the past and throughout all of Donald Trump's legal travails, he has kept fundraising. He's been using this on the campaign trail to rally his base. As this case gets underway, the first of these four cases gets underway, is there any reason to think that this is going to be any different for Donald Trump?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, not in that he's going to continue to use it to rile up his base and to continue to try to get money from them. But the difference is, Alex, we are past the Republican primary. He has his base already and even during the primary, we saw that he was losing anywhere between 11 percent and 20 percent of the votes during the Republican primary. That is a huge red flag for him going into the general election.

Now that we're in the general, he has got to start playing addition and what he's doing, his attitude, his wanting to so get rid of the gag order, his talk about retribution, all of that is focusing on subtraction because he needs to now trying -- he needs to be trying to appeal to independent voters. Everything that he is doing where there's going to be a split screen of Americans seeing a criminal defendant on trial and Joe Biden, the president for reelection on the trail, all of that helps for the addition for President Biden. And we're now seeing it as the polls are shifting in Biden's direction.

MARQUARDT: Right. I want to play a clip from the South Dakota governor and potential Trump VP pick, Kristi Noem, earlier. She says that she plans to vote for Trump, even if he is criminally convicted in the hush money trial. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: Talking to people across the country, they don't even know which trial this is. They're like, I don't even remember which one this was about. Is this the one they're coming after him for this or this?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: If Donald Trump is convicted in this trial, will you still support him in November?

NOEM: If my choice is between Joe Biden and Donald Trump every single day of the week, yes, I will support Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Alice, what do you make of that?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's how many Republicans feel. Look, Republicans would certainly much rather have the economy, the border and national security and public safety of the Trump leadership than the Biden leadership, and that is without question.

And look, the Republican Party, there's two subsets basically. This his rabid base is fully on board with everything he says when he walks into the courtroom and out of the courtroom. This is weaponization of the DOJ. I am a victim. This is a witch-hunt. This is prosecutorial misconduct against Biden's biggest threat. That is what he feels. He is a martyr and his supporters believe that.

Then on the rational Republicans that realized there's some there, there, there might be some questionable activity, but at the end of the day, they would much rather have his policies over Biden's. But my dear friend Maria is correct, and that the goal now is not the Republicans for Donald Trump. It is the independent voters. And we've seen poll after poll that shows they're keeping an eye on this trial.

And it might cause some concern. But if there was a conviction that could be a game changer. The good thing for Republicans and Donald Trump, Trump's legal issues are far from the top of concern for voters. They're concerned about the economy, jobs, the border, as well as public safety. And these trials, as much as they talk -- we are talking about this a lot in the media, the average person in middle America, I can assure you, is not concerned about Donald Trump's trials. They're concerned about their paycheck and putting food on their table.

CARDONA: They are also concerned about somebody like Donald Trump taking away their rights and freedoms, which is why I think you're also seeing the closing of the gap and the number shifting in Biden's direction because, while this -- all of these trials are going on and this is going to go on for weeks, and again, I will say for independent voters, that is not going to be a good image for Republicans -- for independent voters to continue to see that day after day.

You're also seeing the issue of rights and freedoms play out. The abortion issue is going to be top of mind over and over and over again. And while Donald Trump thinks he put it aside, he actually lit that gasoline hump on fire because of what he said when he talks about he doesn't -- he's not going to -- he's no longer going to be supporting a federal ban, but we know that if one lands on his desk, he will sign it.

He says he supports the states. The states have some of the most egregious, foul, extremist laws that are doing harm, and frankly causing the deaths of American women all across country.

[18:10:00]

MARQUARDT: I want to ask you about Mike Johnson and his prospects, and whether he can hold on to his job because, Alice, he angered a lot of Republicans by bringing forward, particularly this Ukraine bill, which he had opposed for so long. Marjorie Taylor Greene, rather surprising yesterday said she wasn't immediately bringing this motion to vacate forward. She wanted lawmakers to hear from their constituents, but she has called on him to resign.

So how much of a threat is what Johnson did in terms of allowing those votes yesterday, a threat to his speakership?

STEWART: Look, her threat is to Congress getting things done. She is such a self-serving member of Congress. This is all about her fundraising, her getting attention. She's causing chaos and confusion. The problem is she doesn't have the army to back her up. And the frustrating part of all of this is she talks about putting forth this motion to vacate. She didn't put forth a plan. She has not put forth an alternative.

If she really had the balls to do this, she would have done this before this big vote yesterday and put her money where her mouth is, and she is certainly not doing this. My hats off to Speaker Johnson, while she's playing real housewives of Georgia throwing up tables, he threw this to prayer. He prayed on this. He put this in God's hands and thank goodness in this case, God won here and he's not putting out a fundraising letter like Marjorie Taylor Greene is.

MARQUARDT: Do you think that the Democrats, should it come to that, that they should try to rescue him? I mean, this was a rare and remarkable show of bipartisanship, getting this $95 billion approved for Israel, Ukraine in the Indo-Pacific. CARDONA: Democrats will always do what's in the best interests of the

country. And Democrats, the majority of Democrats have always supported money for Ukraine because we know that that's in the best interest of our national security and frankly for the survival of democracy worldwide. The sad part of what is happening, and I get that so many people are giving kudos, even Democrats, to Speaker Johnson.

But that is how low the bar has become for a Republican speaker of the House to do his freaking job. This could have been done back in October if Mike Johnson had had the wherewithal and the spine to do it. Now he's done it six months later while Ukraine has lost so much on the battlefield. But yes, thank goodness we are where we are now and with the help of Democrats, Speaker Johnson has finally been able to do his job.

Democrats will continue to do what's right for the country and in the future, if this means coming to his saving -- if Marjorie Taylor Greene does put this on the floor, we'll see if that occurs. Again, it speaks to just how low the Republican congressional leadership has gone in terms of losing control of their own caucus. And if Democrats do have to come to his, to his aide, I don't think it's going to be for free.

I think it's going to be for some kind of power-sharing or something that again will benefit the country because Democrats are always going to do what's in the best interests of America.

STEWART: I think it's important, hats off again to Speaker Johnson for showing true leadership in the face of potential ouster by the vocal minority in the House. I think this is an opportunity for Americans to sit back and say, thank goodness, Congress worked on a bipartisan fashion. We sent a strong message to Russia, to China, to Iran, the proxies in any of these other nations that are want to put a threat to democracy. And I think everyone should call their member of Congress that voted for this and tell them thank you.

MARQUARDT: We only have a couple of moments left, but, Alice, does that mean that you think there's some fatigue that's setting in in the Republican caucus over all of this chaos? Because how Johnson is acting is not so different than what Kevin McCarthy did and yet he was ousted.

STEWART: Look, again, I think when you talk to rational Republicans, I know you talked to them all the time, they're really -- they're tired of the chaos and confusion. They're running for reelection. Some of them are trying to help get themselves reelected. And Mike Johnson is not focused on a few people saying, we're going to kick you out. He is laser-focused on November. He's going to hit the road and raise money for candidates.

He's hitting a lot of states in the south. That's where all of their focuses are trying to save their own jobs, but also saved the Republican majority in the House.

CARDONA: I think Alice made a good point, which is they understand that they're up for reelection and if they kept acting the way that they have been acting up until now which is a huge dumpster fire in Congress, they know that Democrats would absolutely take over the House. I still think that will happen because Americans do not want to see the repeat over and over again. And we still, that could still happen.

MARQUARDT: And no doubt they will get a lot of questions on the campaign trail about Ukraine.

Maria Cardona, Alice Stewart, thank you both so much. Appreciate it.

CARDONA: Thanks, Alex.

MARQUARDT: We have special coverage of opening statements in former president Trump's criminal hush money trial that starts at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. You can watch right here on CNN or stream it all on Max.

And still ahead, a warning from a rabbi associated with New York's Columbia University. He says that the school is not safe for Jewish students and that they should, quote, "return home until it is." And this comes after several days of pro-Palestinian protests. We're there live with what's going on.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:19:34]

MARQUARDT: Amid ongoing protests on campus today, an Orthodox rabbi associated with Columbia University in New York is warning Jewish students that the campus is not safe and they should, quote, "return home until it is."

Tension is running high at Columbia after several days of pro- Palestinian protests and more than 100 arrests by the NYPD. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has tweeted just moments ago saying, "The First Amendment protects the right to protest but students also have a right to learn in an environment free from harassment or violence.

[18:20:03]

"At Columbia or on any campus threatening Jewish students with violence or glorifying the terror of October 7th is antisemitism."

CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us in New York.

Polo, what is going on today?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it was interesting, Alex, from the governor's office all the way to the White House, what's happening on the Columbia campus is certainly getting the attention of elected officials at all levels. There are many different elements to this, the first of which is really quite obvious.

Over my shoulder here, similar picture to what we brought you yesterday. This is a pro-Palestine protest that has made its way quite literally to the gates of the Columbia campus. The reason they can't make their way onto the campus is just because access to school remains restricted. The other side, though, as we do know that there is an encampment that continues to grow inside the campus itself.

Peaceful and at this point the Columbia University has not had the need to interject like what we saw play out just a few days ago, but meanwhile, there are also growing concerns among Jewish students on campus. Many of whom -- some of them we've actually had an opportunity to speak to. They say that they feel that the university has not done enough to make them feel on campus. It's now reached a level where one of those -- one of the rabbis who's quite active in the university community associated with Columbia's Orthodox Union Jewish Learning Initiative sent a message to about 300 Jewish students on campus, recommending that they simply go home until more could be done to make them feel safer.

In a conversation with our colleague, Jake Tapper, this rabbi said at this message that he sent out was in response to videos of protesters here at Columbia calling for violence against Jews, and scenes that he described as just horrific. So this is really just about the situation. And now at this point, Columbia University even allowing students to attend classes remotely, to come tomorrow because of the situation on the ground here.

Certainly something that authorities are monitoring, watching very closely. And yet again, of course, universities not just here but throughout the country now walking that very thin line between ensuring of course freedom of speech but also safety of students on all sides of this issue on campus -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: And Polo, we should note that the Hillel Chapter of Columbia says that the city and the campus needs to do more to protect the security of Jewish students, but that they disagree with that message about going home and saying that they should stay there.

Polo Sandoval, certainly a tense times up there at Columbia. Thank you very much for that report.

I'm joined now by White House correspondent Priscilla Alvarez.

Priscilla, how is the White House responding to this?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're condemning any harassment against Jewish students and the Jewish community, and they've also acknowledged it's a deeply painful moment. That's what the White House press secretary told me last week when I asked about the arrest of students following these protests.

Now they just put out a statement this afternoon. Let me read you what it says, quote, "While every American has the right to peaceful protests, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable and dangerous. They have absolutely no place on any college campus or anywhere in the United States of America."

It goes on to say, "Echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms."

Now I should also note that President Biden released the statement only moments ago, marking Passover, where he, too, says that harassment and calls for violence against Jews has, quote, "no place on college campuses." So clearly the White House monitoring all of this very closely.

MARQUARDT: Yes, some real flashpoints up there at Columbia. Passover is set to start tomorrow night.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much.

Still ahead, Israel's war cabinet meeting to discuss the hostage situation in Gaza. It says Prime Minister Netanyahu says that Israel will soon land what he called additional and painful blows on Hamas. We're in Tel Aviv with the latest.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:28:14]

MARQUARDT: Overnight in Lebanon, Israeli military officials say they struck a number of what they're calling Hezbollah targets, including an observation post and two military structures. According to Lebanon's state-run news agency, Israel's military hit four locations. And these strikes come shortly after U.S. House passed over $26 billion in aid just yesterday for Israel and humanitarian reasons in Gaza. Also this evening, Israel's war cabinet just finished meeting.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv with what they discussed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, an Israeli official tells us that the war cabinet met this evening to discuss the situation of those 133 hostages who remain captive in the Gaza Strip. But as you know, negotiations have really broken down quite significantly over the course of the last week or two. And so the Israeli prime minister in the context of hostages now talking more about ramping up the military pressure to secure the freedom of those hostages, saying in a video message this evening before that war cabinet meeting, that Israel will land, quote, "additional and painful blows on Hamas, increasing military and political pressure in order to secure the release of those hostages."

And so what does that military pressure now look like? It appears that it will look like a coming ground offensive of significant military operation in Rafah, that southernmost city in Gaza, where more than a million Palestinians are currently living. The Israeli military's chief of staff, General Herzi Halevi, on Sunday, approving plans for the continuation of the war in Gaza, holding a situational assessment with other top Israeli military commanders. And the continuation of the war does indeed seem to mean a coming

ground offensive in Rafah, which was also the subject of that Israeli war cabinet meeting.

[18:30:02]

We know that last week the Israeli military was set to already begin evacuating Rafah. They delayed those plans as they prepared for a military response to that Iranian attack last weekend. With that out of the way now, Israeli officials have indicated to me that a Rafah ground offensive is indeed in the offing.

Now, all of this comes as the United States has of course expressed serious concerns about a potential ground operation into Rafah. They held meetings last week with Israeli officials to discuss that possibility. But over the weekend, the House of Representatives passing a significant bill of military aid for Israel. Billions of dollars in additional military assistance, obviously, very much welcomed by the Israeli government, the Israeli military, all of whom expressed their appreciation to the United States over the weekend.

But there's a lot of anger coming from Palestinian factions. The Palestinian Authority has said that this is a dangerous escalation, an active aggression against the Palestinian people. Hamas meanwhile says that this will give the green light to Israel to continue its military campaign in Gaza. Hamas accusing the Biden administration of being complicit with the Israeli military operations in Gaza, as well as what it describes as war crimes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv.

And joining me now is Steven Cook. He's a senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and an author of the soon-to-be released book, "The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East."

Steven, thank you so much for joining us this evening. I want to talk first about Israel and Iran. It's been almost 72 hours since Israel's counter-strike against Iran. It feels like those drums of war that we've been talking about so much aren't beating as loudly between Israel and Iran as they have been. Do you think that each side has said and done what they want to at this time?

STEVEN COOK, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST: I think the key phrase that you used, Alex, is not beating as loudly. Certainly the Iranians demonstrated that they would not shy away from attacking Israel directly, crossing a red line. Then the Israelis responded demonstrating to the Iranians that they could penetrate Iranian air phase with impunity.

It does seem that neither side is at this moment interested in another blow, but I wouldn't say that this is over between these two countries now that both of these red lines have been crossed. As you -- the lead-in from your correspondent in Israel pointed out, there's Israeli military activity in Lebanon. Anything can trip these two countries back into lobbing missiles and rockets at each other once again.

MARQUARDT: In terms of the American role, it was very interesting in the past week, hearing that the U.S. was telling Israel to take the win and essentially move on, messaging to the Iranians through allies that they shouldn't respond to an Israeli attack. You wrote recently for a piece in "Foreign Policy" after more than a decade in which the American foreign policy community sought to de-emphasize, pivot away and retrenched from the Middle East, the Biden administration proved that Washington can be separate from its confused approach to the war in Gaza, a source of security in the region.

So what do you make of the Biden administration's efforts to tamp down this escalation while also continuing to support that war in Gaza?

COOK: This has been a recurring theme of the Biden administration since October 7th with the deployment of significant assets from the U.S. Navy to the area, as well as the cobbling together this coalition to help defend Israel during Iran's attack a number of weekends ago the effort to continue to help ensure Israeli security without escalating the conflict to a region-wide war. I think the administration has generally been successful at doing so through both its diplomatic efforts as well as playing this very significant role in creating what's essentially a regional air defense system.

MARQUARDT: Yes, I want to ask you more -- a bit more about that because Jordan's foreign minister told CNN that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he benefited from the recent escalation between Israel and Iran, and that is notable, not least because, as you note, Jordan actually came to Israel's aid last weekend, in part acted as part of that air defense shield around Israel. Do you agree that Netanyahu has benefited?

COOK: Well, the conversation over the course of the last week has been about Israel and Iran, not Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, which has killed tens of thousands of people have perhaps irreparably damaged Israel's international reputation. So in that sense, taking the spotlight off of the Gaza Strip is a benefit to the Israeli government and the Israeli prime minister.

It also demonstrated that Israeli government's efforts to build ties and bridges in the ongoing security dialogue between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, certainly paid off.

[18:35:09]

The Jordanians and the Saudis were public in saying that they did nothing to -- that they were protecting their own airspace. But the effect was the same. They helped to defend Israel and Israelis.

MARQUARDT: How do you think that this flare-up, not to downplay it, but this back-and-forth with Iran, unprecedented as it is, has affected Israel's plans for an offensive in Rafah, which the Biden administration says it has still not seen an acceptable Israeli plan for? COOK: I don't think there was any ever any question that the Israelis

were going to go into Rafah. I think that the Biden administration has done what it can to put a brake on this operation, but I think that there is consensus within the war cabinet, there's consensus within the security cabinet. And quite honestly, there's consensus among the Israeli public that a major IDF operation in Rafah to root out what remains or what they believe remains of Hamas is necessary and just.

This, of course, the concern on the part of the United States and others is the terrible toll that this will likely take on civilians in the Gaza Strip. And that's why there has been the Biden administration has said that they wanted to see a plan, that they opposed the plan. But I think there was never any question that the Israelis were going to do it. The fact that the Israelis were successful in penetrating Iranian airspace, successful in -- with help defending their territory, gives the IDF I think a bit more confidence going into a Rafah cooperation.

MARQUARDT: Obviously, a very different kettle of fish, though, when you're trying to attack Hamas hiding behind 1.4 million innocent civilians there in southern Gaza.

Steven Cook, really appreciate your time, your thoughts this evening. Appreciate it.

COOK: Thanks so much.

MARQUARDT: Growing piles of junk sitting in landfills here on earth are one thing, but hunks of debris flying through the atmosphere 22,000 miles per hour, that's another matter especially if one of them comes falling back to earth, crashing through your roof, as a Florida family found out firsthand.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:53]

MARQUARDT: When it comes to earth's orbit, scientists are saying that cosmic clutter as it's known is getting worse. Space trash, broken satellites or leftovers from rocket boosters, as well as junk from the space station, that's all a growing problem they say. NASA estimates about 100 million pieces of space junk are hovering over our heads as we speak.

On Monday, NASA confirmed that this piece of space junk, which re- entered the earth's atmosphere and came crashing into a home in Florida last month was trash from the International Space Station.

Joining me now is Terry Virts, former NASA astronaut, and a retired U.S. Air Force colonel.

Colonel, thanks so much for joining us. Isn't the expectation that this trash is just going to burn up upon re-entry so that it doesn't hurt anyone?

COL. TERRY VIRTS (RET.), FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, that's the hope and NASA had done analysis on this piece that they thought it would burn out. But if you look at it, I remember seeing it. It's basically the size of an SUV. So I remember thinking, wow, that's a pretty big thing. I bet you parts of it will make it through. And a lot of space debris does make it down to earth. Usually it ends up in the mountains or usually it's in the ocean. And so this one was just so big and unfortunately it landed at a house in Naples, Florida.

MARQUARDT: So I think that the common sense, the conventional wisdom was that most of this stuff just does burn up. Are you saying that that is not normally the case? Why is the best way then of getting rid of this trash to throw it overboard if so much of it gets through?

VIRTS: Well, the best way is not, and NASA's plan was not to do that, but there was a Russian Soyuz explosion a few years ago and that really -- there was a snowball effect on the schedule and so this giant battery, like I said the size of an SUV was supposed to come back on one of our cargo ships. And because the schedule got reworked, it was like the odd man out, so they didn't have anything to do with it. So they released it after analyzing, hoping that it would not make it back to earth. And you know what, luckily, knock on wood, it didn't hurt anybody, but it did unfortunately go through the roof of that house.

MARQUARDT: Yes. It looked like it could certainly do some damage. When you were on the International Space Station, did you worry about one of these big pieces of space junk hitting the ISS?

VIRTS: You know, I never worried about the big pieces. Big pieces are not a problem because we see them coming. It was the Air Force, now it's the Space Force, tracks tens of thousands of objects. And the really small things didn't worry me because they couldn't do damage. When I did my spacewalks, I could see lots of small little craters to where a piece of dust or a flake of paint or something and hit the space station going 17,000 miles an hour. And it made a little mini crater.

The things I worried about were the mid-size things. You know, the -- your iPhone or some -- a golf ball sized thing that was too small to be tracked by ground radars but big enough to do damage. That's the -- that's the thing that you worry about.

MARQUARDT: So if you're NASA or another space program, even a private space program, I imagine it's in all their interests to try to get this stuff cleaned up essentially. So how do you go about cleaning up 100 million pieces of space trash?

[18:45:03]

VIRTS: Well, unfortunately, nobody has come up with that solution. If you -- excuse me, if you could come up with that solution, that would be a pretty good business model. These pieces are going many miles per second. They're all going in different directions. It's a tough problem. What we're doing is we're just trying to avoid it.

So when I was on the space station as commander in 2015, we actually had to maneuver to avoid some debris that the Chinese had created. They did a military demonstration. They exploded a satellite, and that debris still causes a space station to maneuver usually once or twice a year. So military explosions and space are really, really bad idea because that debris will last for years, or sometimes centuries if that's high enough. And the only thing you can really do is track it and maneuver to avoid it.

MARQUARDT: Yes. I remember that angered a lot of people. In terms of this debris, the trash that fell into that home, is there any takeaway from NASA? Can NASA take away anything from that? Can they learn from that experience to try to make sure that it doesn't happen again?

VIRTS: Well, I think so. I think, you know, now they have a data point that battery pack, a suburban size battery pack is not completely safe. In theory you could have little small deorbit engines. So if you had a really big thing and you didn't have a SpaceX or Cygnus or another cargo ship to bring it back to earth, in theory, if somebody invented it, you could attach a small little engine and it could deorbit it. So went into the Pacific Ocean. That's something that could be invented but I think -- pardon this cough.

I think they just have some more information of what makes it back to earth and what doesn't now.

MARQUARDT: Well, I had no idea that this could get through the atmosphere and not burn up. So that's another thing to look up in the sky for.

Colonel Terry Virts, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

VIRTS: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: And ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, a child's birthday party quickly descending into chaos after a vehicle drives through the building. What we've learned about that incident, that's coming up.

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[18:51:42]

MARQUARDT: Two children are dead and over a dozen people injured after an alleged drunk driver crashes into a child's birthday party that was just outside Detroit. Authorities say that the children who died were siblings.

CNN's Rafael Romo has more on this tragic event.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alex, it was a joyous occasion that instantly turned into a nightmare for multiple families with young children. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon when they were celebrating a child's birthday party at a boat club in Newport, Michigan, which is located on Lake Erie, about 30 miles south of Detroit.

According to Monroe County authorities a woman later described as driving while intoxicated crashed her vehicle against the building where the party was being held, went through a wall and finally came to a stop approximately 25 feet inside. The sheriff says, first responders who rushed to the scene described what they saw as extremely chaotic with a high level of emotions of those directly involved and those witnessed this horrific incident.

Monroe County sheriff Troy Goodnough choke back tears at a press conference providing details above the tragic crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF TROY GOODNOUGH, MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Unfortunately in tragedy, two of the victims were very pronounced deceased at the scene. This includes an 8-year-old female and a 5-year-old male who are siblings of each other. The 66-year-old female driver of the vehicle, excuse me, who will not be identified at this time has been taken into police custody for operating while intoxicated, causing death, and she's lodged at the Monroe County jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: In addition to the children, at least a dozen other people were injured. Nine people, including three children, were transported to area hospitals with what Sheriff Goodnough described a serious life- threatening injuries and the two siblings were pronounced dead at the scene.

In addition to driving while drunk officials also said the 66-year-old woman will likely face additional charges.

Alex, back to you.

MARQUARDT: So horribly sad. Our thanks to Rafael Romo for that report.

Tonight, police in Memphis say that they are urgently searching for the gunman they believe shot into a crowded block party and killed two people. The police chief says that as many as 300 people were at the block party last night when that shooting broke out. 16 people were shot. Police say they believe that two people fired weapons, but they don't have any suspects in custody or any motives for that shooting.

And new details about a tram crash at Universal Studios, Hollywood and the California Highway Patrol says more than a dozen people were hurt when the last car of its tram crashed into a guard rail during a turn with some people ejected from the vehicle. 15 people were taken to the hospital with what Universal described as minor injuries. Universal uses the trams to shuttle people between filming locations on that iconic Hollywood backlot.

And it is a case years in the making and after a whole lot of legal maneuvering, former president Donald Trump's historic criminal trial is set to start tomorrow morning. We're talking to legal and political experts about the ramifications.

That's ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:59:52]

MARQUARDT: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alex Marquardt in Washington. Thank you so much for joining us.

We are just hours away from a historic moment in America. Tomorrow opening arguments are set to begin in the first ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president.