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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Special Counsel Blasts Judge's Order In Classified Docs Case; Taiwan's Strongest Earthquake In 25 Years Causes Serious Damage; Israel War Cabinet Member Gantz Calls For New Elections; Speaker Johnson Says House To Vote On Ukraine Aid After Recess; Experts: Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Bridge Is Vulnerable To The Same Type Of Collision That Took Down Baltimore's Key Bridge. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired April 03, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:01]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: It is not inexpensive to go check out these games and seeing the women's game flourish the way that it has is inspiring. Caitlin Clark is --
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: I mean, amazing.
SANCHEZ: She's great.
KEILAR: Isn't she? She's just such a great -- and also the personality they're bringing, people pay attention to the drama in these games. And, you know, someone like Angel Reese, she's going to be such a face in the WNBA with that same personality.
SANCHEZ: Yeah. And you could bet that when they both get to the WNBA, it might be like Magic and Bird, shades of that.
THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.
(MUSIC)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: It's not just Donald Trump upset with the judge these days. The special counsel now has a bone to pick with a different judge.
THE LEAD starts right now.
In the strongest rebuke yet, special counsel Jack Smith goes in blasting how Judge Aileen Cannon is conducting that classified documents case against Donald Trump down in Florida. He says her latest action has, quote, no basis in law or fact. We're going to lay out what she did that has prosecutors so upset.
Plus, celebrity chef Jose Andres speaking out, accusing the Israeli government of systematically targeting his aid workers, killing them in Gaza. Hear his comments ahead.
And CNN investigates whether another major U.S. bridge is just as vulnerable as the one that collapsed near Baltimore. This one is longer and busier than the one that just went down. (MUSIC)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
We start today with our law and justice lead, and special counsel Jack Smith blasting the judge's approach in Donald Trump's classified documents case in Florida, basically suggesting that Judge Aileen Cannon does not understand what's going on in new court filings. Jack Smith's team claimed the Judge Cannon's recent actions were based on a, quote, fundamentally flawed understanding of the case, one that has, quote, no basis in law or fact, unquote.
This constitutes a remarkably harsh critique of Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, and how she is doing her job, and a clear sign that prosecutors are quite worried that her actions could and will benefit the defendant. Donald Trump.
CNN's Paula Reid starts off our coverage today with a closer look at exactly what the special counsel's team is requesting and the Trump team's counterarguments.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL: We very much look forward to presenting our case to a jury of citizens in the southern district of Florida.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A trial in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case appears highly unlikely to happen before the 2024 election, and special counsel Jack Smith expressing frustration with Judge Aileen Cannon.
In a new filing late Tuesday, Smith's team said Cannon had ordered briefings based on a fundamentally flawed legal premise that had no basis in law or fact.
AILEEN CANNON, FLORIDA JUDGE: My sincere thanks to the president for his nomination.
REID: Prosecutors harshly criticizing the Trump appointed judge's request for hypothetical jury instructions. She asked both sides to take into account the former president's claim that he had broad authority to take classified documents under the Presidential Records Act.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Whatever documents the president decides to take with him, he has the right to do so. It's an absolute right.
REID: But prosecutors have repeatedly said that law is not relevant because Trump is accused of obstruction and storing highly classified material in a bathroom and other unsecure locations at his Florida estate.
Prosecutors also point out that telling a jury that Trump had the authority to take records he wanted from the White House would make get nearly impossible to secure a conviction. Prosecutors insist that legal premise is wrong, and a jury instruction that reflects that premise would distort the trial.
But Trump's attorneys, who are also asked to weigh in here, suggested that the judge tell jurors Trump was authorized to possess a category of documents defined as personal records, both during and after his term in office. The idea that classified documents belonged to Trump, Smith's team said, is pure fiction.
JEREMY FOGEL, FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE: I was a trial judge for 37 years, I have never seen an order like this.
REID: Former federal judge Jeremy Fogel says the government will likely appeal.
FOGEL: If he makes that decision and then the case goes to trial and then he's acquitted as he certainly would be with that instruction, the government has no recourse, there's double jeopardy.
REID: But an appeal will likely further delay the trial, something Trump has been seeking in all his criminal cases.
Critics say Cannon is playing right into that strategy. She has yet to decide more than a dozen outstanding issues, including setting a firm date for the trial and how much witness information to keep under seal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
REID (on camera): Over a month ago, Cannon heard arguments from both sides about when this case should go forward.
[16:05:04]
It's currently penciled in for May, but expected to be delayed. Now at this point, she still has not revealed, when this will go forward, it doesn't expect that it'll be before November. But that is significant because if former President Trump is reelected, Jake, he would likely have his attorney general dismiss the special counsel and both of these federal cases.
TAPPER: I don't think there's any likely about it. He'll definitely --
REID: You have to caveat it, you know.
TAPPER: He will definitely have his attorney general dismiss it.
Paula, stick around because I want to bring in former federal prosecutor, Gene Rossi.
Gene, first of all, what do you make of this filing by the special counsel's team? It -- I'm not a lawyer, but it seems unusual for I am right. So it seems unusual to me for a federal --
GENE ROSSI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I am, I am.
TAPPER: Right. So, it seems unusual to me for a prosecutor to attack a judge in this way. ROSSI: Well, let me just say this. If I were in the Eastern District
for Virginia and I filed that pleading, I probably would be held in contempt. The language that he used, Jack Smith, et al, and he has to assistants that are varsity, it was pretty -- pretty pointed, pretty caustic, and I infer from the filing that Jack Smith and his team do not have a lot of respect for the judge and that's unfortunate because in every case, you tried to show some respect.
But I think the gloves are off in this case and that's why they made that filing.
TAPPER: And how might Judge Cannon respond based on what we know about her?
REID: So she seemed skeptical about this idea that the whole case should be dismissed based on this Presidential Records Act offense. But the big question with Aileen Cannon is always okay, she's doing what she's doing to help Trump or she's doing it because she's experienced.
ROSSI: Right.
REID: One of the few people who has been in the court with her for this case. And it's clear. She is aware of the scrutiny. She's trying very hard to at least give the appearance of being fair, being tough on both sides, but her inexperienced shows through and her lack of command or the courtroom. And then there's over dozen motions that she has piling up.
But I have learned, don't guess what Aileen Cannon is going to do, because as many experts have said, I mean, what she is doing is just so unusual.
TAPPER: So given how unusual it is, is there any chance that this case might be taken away from her? Is that possible?
ROSSI: To get a judge recused is a very high -- high bar, but I think we are almost crossing the Rubicon where Jack Smith and his team are going to say, you know what? Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. We're going to file a motion and to get her off this case because she's already been schwacked two times by the appellate court.
And I just want to comment on Paula's saying this case has penciled in for May -- it is the lightest pencil in the history of the United States of America.
TAPPER: Invisible ink.
ROSSI: It's invisible ink, yes.
TAPPER: Yes. If the special counsel loses this argument, Judge Cannon decided she's going to let the jury here instructions saying that Trump had complete authority to take the records he wanted from the White House. Does that just mean that this is going to be a slam dunk case for Donald Trump? ROSSI: Well, if that instruction is given to the jury after jeopardy attaches, when a jury takes the oath, Trump is going to be acquitted. But what's going to happen if she doesn't rule -- if she doesn't rule for Jack Smith or doesn't rule at all, they're going to try to take her up on writ of mandamus to get her to basically do her job.
I will say this --
TAPPER: Explain what a writ of mandamus is.
ROSSI: A writ of mandamus is an extraordinary remedy where you go to the appellate court or to Supreme Court and you say, force the person who's below to do their job and it can be applied to a judge. It can be by the clerk of a court, but it's basically you're telling a judge or someone below to do their job. That's a writ of mandamus.
TAPPER: Go ahead.
ROSSI: Yeah. I wanted to say this. Paula brought up a good point.
Aileen Cannon, I hope I got her name right. Aileen Cannon is relatively inexperienced.
TAPPER: Right.
ROSSI: And in my 30 years doing prosecutions and defense, and I have never seen a judge more indecisive in my entire career. And it's kind of sad because this is one of the biggest cases we will ever have because it involves foreign President Trump. Its kind of sad in a way, but it is the reality of this matter.
TAPPER: And, Paula, there's this other new filing the separate Trump case, the New York hush money case, which is scheduled to start in less than two weeks. What's the latest filing here?
REID: Well, the Trump team is trying everything they can to try to get that case pushed back. Just yesterday, they were pushing for the judge to be recused again. And here, they're arguing that the case should be adjourned because of pretrial publicity. All what they described as the bad publicity the around Trumps criminal cases. But prosecutors push back on that and say, look, pretrial publicity is not a reason to adjourn this case. Anyone with a bias or a viewpoint can be weeded out during jury selection.
This is unlikely to succeed, but I will caveat, we're supposed to be in that trial right now is to begin early last week.
[16:10:01]
Now it's scheduled for the 15th. We don't expect there'll be any delay, but I caveat everything around these Trump criminal cases.
There's no guarantee that they will go before November.
TAPPER: And they're trying to have him recused because his daughter is a Democratic operative who has worked for Kamala Harris, I think. Is this idea, Gene, of pretrial publicity, is that a strong argument?
ROSSI: It's a difficult argument. There's a famous case from 1966, Ohio versus Sheppard, Maxwell versus Sheppard. It was Dr. Sheppard, he -- his case was reversed because of pretrial publicity. The facts were egregious.
But here's the problem with Donald Trump's argument -- he's created the pretrial publicity. He has intentionally poisoned the potential jury pool. So it's like somebody who kills parents and goes before the judge and says, I'm an orphan, so be nice to me. That's what he's doing here.
And this motion is going to fail.
TAPPER: Likely with lawyer jokes. All right.
ROSSI: That is a good lawyer joke.
TAPPER: Jim Rossi and Paula Reid, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Coming up next, the uproar in Israel on several fronts, but directed at one man really. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the sheer level of anger coming his way domestically and internationally, as his country's war with Hamas nears the sixth month mark this Sunday.
But, first, CNN on the ground in Taiwan after today's powerful deadly earthquake. The frantic efforts to find survivors trapped in buildings that could be close to tumbling down.
Stay with us
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TAPPER: In our world leader today, Taiwan's strongest earthquake in 25 years, killing at least nine people, injuring more than 900 others. The 7.4 magnitude quake triggered this terrifying landslide you're looking at right now, sending boulders tumbling onto a highway, ceilings, bridges shook violently, glass flew off the shelf in a store.
CNN's Ivan Watson reports now from Taiwan where rescuers are rushing to try to save those trapped in highway tunnels and in collapsed buildings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just before 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, the ground in Taiwan starts to shake. The island rocked by the most powerful earthquake to hit Taiwan in a quarter century.
In the capital Taipei, CNN photojournalist John Meese tries to protect his wife and children as the walls of their home lurch back and forth An earthquake has just hit, announces the anchor of this morning news,
as she struggles to stay on her feet.
But the worst damage is at the epicenter in the rugged mountains of Hualien County on the island's east coast. The 7.4 magnitude earthquake triggers massive landslides. Authorities say several people were killed by falling rocks.
In the town of Hualien, apartment buildings on the verge of collapse. Emergency workers inaction. Authority say they've rescued scores of people from toppled buildings and highway tunnels, but more than 900 people have been injured. And rescue teams are still trying to reach others trapped high in the mountains.
The work has continued in while yet throughout the night. No ones left inside this building says this firefighter. He adds people are frightened.
There are constant earthquakes here, says this woman, I've lived here 50 years and never felt one so big. It's really scary. People in Taiwan are accustomed to feeling the earth shake but rarely with this much destructive force.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON (on camera): And, Jake, there were scores of people that were trapped in some of these different highway tunnels that the Taiwanese have carved through the mountains to reach places like Hualien. They fortunately, almost all of them have been rescued, but the authority say they're still around 71 minors believed to be trapped in two separate mines.
We don't have a lot of details about what they're conditions are right now, but that is an effort that is still underway and it may be complicated by the fact that the island is still being rocked by aftershocks. U.S. Geological Survey counting at least 29 in the first 12 hours after that initial 8:00 a.m. local time earthquake and some of them with a magnitude of more than five in some cases six. And the Taiwanese authorities are predicting that these powerful aftershocks that could reach seven in magnitude will continue for the next three to four days -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Ivan Watson in Taipei, Taiwan, thank you so much.
Coming up next, the sharp words from celebrity chef and humanitarian Jose Andres as he gives his first interview about the Israeli strike that killed seven of his aid workers in Gaza.
Plus, a Democratic congressman who was just in Israel is here. He recently voted in favor of more U.S. military aid to Israel. I'll ask him how he feels about that vote now.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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TAPPER: Back with our world lead now, you're watching family members of hostages storming Israel's parliament called the Knesset. Some of them smeared yellow paint on the gallery windows. That color has come to symbolize the plight of the hostages and their 180 days in terrorist captivity.
And it's not just the hostage families irate with Israeli leaders who in their view we're not focusing enough on getting the relatives back. Over the weekend, thousands took to the streets in Israel in the largest protests against the Israeli government since the war began, and those protests continued today.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is with us now.
Jeremy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chief rival, politically, Benny Gantz, has been working with Netanyahu as a member of his war cabinet.
But Benny Gantz did something very significant a few hours ago.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Jake.
For the first time in nearly six months that he has been a member of that war time emergency governments, Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's chief political rival, is now calling for early elections in Israel, as early as this coming September. He says that the public must know that will soon ask once again, he says for them to demonstrate their trust in their leadership, and interestingly, he's framing it with aura of maintaining war time unity.
That's particularly notable because Gantz while he is a member of that wartime cabinet, he's not a member of the coalition government. And so his departure from this emergency government, if that were to happen, would not actually trigger the downfall of this government. But what it would do is it would shatter that aura of war time unity, which he has provided by deciding in the early days of this war to join the government.
[16:25:05]
It comes, of course, in the context of those protests that you have talked about, a very significant move, and now putting the ball in Netanyahu's court. We understand that Gantz actually informed Netanyahu of his demand for early elections. The Israeli prime minister has yet to actually say what he will do on that front.
TAPPER: Jeremy, a CNN analysis shows that the IDF attack on the caravan containing the World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, that that attack was consistent with multiple precision strikes. And now, World Central Kitchen founder, chef Jose Andres is addressing this directly.
DIAMOND: Yeah, he is. And what he's looking at is both what he's hearing from his team, but also at the evidence that we also looked at ourselves which is the fact that you have three vehicles here who were struck seemingly with precision guided strikes according to arms experts, potentially from a drone. And these vehicles, the distance since between the first vehicle and the third vehicle is about 1.5 miles.
And Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen, saying that his team on the ground was systematically targeted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHEF JOSE ANDRES, FOUNDER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Seven team members between the specialty security people we have, three British individuals and three international crew, plus one Palestinian, that they were target systematically car BY car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: And Jose Andres also said that his team actually tried to contact the IDF while this was all going on to tell them that they were targeting the wrong vehicles. And yet we know the results. Seven of these team members were killed, six of them foreign nationals, sparking an enormous international outcry, including from the United States.
The Israeli military has apologized for the strike with its top general coming out in a video statement and doing so saying that they misidentified the vehicles. But still, so many questions since remained, Jake, about how they could have misidentified these vehicles with the logos on them, shared the core -- the information at these convoy was traveling with the Israeli military. A lot of questions that the Israeli military has yet to answer so far -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem, thanks so much.
Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider of Illinois joins us now. He's on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Congressman, CNN just learned the President Biden is set to speak with Prime Minister Netanyahu on the phone tomorrow.
You led a trip to trip to Israel. You met with Netanyahu last week. Did you press him at all on the way that Israel is conducting this war as well as the humanitarian crisis, the starvation in Gaza?
REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-IL): We did, we made three explicit points at the very beginning. We need to bring home the hostages. We need to make sure that Israel is fighting this war in a way that protects civilians as best as possible. And there needs to be a plan for once Hamas is defeated, a way to see a future for both Palestinians and Israelis to live together in peace.
TAPPER: Was he receptive at all or did he just deny that there was any sort of problem? Because the way that his public pronouncements have been along the lines of Israel is conducting this war perfectly well. And civilian casualties are horrible, but they happen in war and it's all Hamas's fault. I mean, did he seem receptive at all? SCHNEIDER: He listened to us with a robust meeting that lasted about
90 minutes. One of the other things we pushed him on. This was right after he had canceled the visit by his advisors, Hanegbi and Dermer. I made very clear I thought that they should be in Washington. I was pleased right after our meeting, it was announced that they it would be traveling to Washington.
But it's important. Israel has to defeat Hamas. As long as Hamas can control Gaza and threaten Israel, there'll be -- there won't be peace for either Israeli Palestinians. But the way Israel fights this war, and the way Israel lays the groundwork for the future after the war is crucial, and the United States has been making that very clear. President Biden has been putting the pressure on the Netanyahu government to have a plan and to have a plan that gives confidence, not just to the United States, but to the world that's watching this, that Israel's fighting a just war, but fighting in a way that's paving the way for the future.
TAPPER: I want to read a part of a statement from World Central Kitchen founder, chef Jose Andres in "The New York Times" today. It's an opinion piece. He says Israel was better than the way Israel is waging the war.
He writes, quote, I have been a stranger at Seder dinners. I have heard the ancient Passover stories about a strength being a stranger in the land of Egypt. The commandment to remember with a feast before you that the children of Israel were once slaves.
It is not a sign of weakness to feed strangers. It is a sign of strength that people of Israel need to remember at this darkest hour what strength truly looks like, unquote.
What -- what do you make of all that?
[16:30:05]
SCHNEIDER: Well, first let me say my heart goes out to the people that World Central Kitchen, their family, their friends. These were people who put their lives on the line, trying to help strangers, trying to help folks that they didn't know, but saw who were in desperate need, and from the beginning of this conflict, I've been talking to the Israelis, to the Egyptians, Qataris, saying we need to get this aid into Gaza. Civilians caught in the middle of the war always are the ones who suffer the most from a war but we need to be doing everything we can to minimize the impact on those civilians. But I think what said --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Go ahead.
SCHNEIDER: Well, as I say, what I said about Israel is indeed true? We were at kibbutz Nir Oz right on the border, 400 people -- of those 400 people who live there, 100 were either murdered, are taken hostage. The gentleman who gave us the tour of the kibbutz, his mother was
taken hostage and release, his father is still in captivity. He talked to us for a couple of hours as we walked around and saw the carnage of the attack on October 7, not once did he talk about revenge, what he talked about was bringing the hostages home and looking to build a future for his children, a future where they could feel safe and secure living on the border with the people of Gaza.
TAPPER: There is also a political aspect to this. And last night's primary in Wisconsin, more than 47,000 Democrats voted for uninstructed delegates as a protest, a rebuke to President Biden for his policy in the Middle East right now.
Progressive activist Nina Turner posted this, quote, this president must decide of loyalty to Netanyahu is worth delivering Trump the election in November, and she also noted, 47,000 voted basically no confidence in Biden, 47,000. Biden only one Wisconsin by 20,000 votes.
SCHNEIDER: Yeah. I think what President Biden has done for the beginning of this war. He spoke with moral clarity right after the attack. He is speaking to the Israelis, to the Israeli government. He stood with Israel. He sent the carrier strike force off the coast of Israel to send a clear message, Hezbollah, made a very clear statement, don't.
But at the same time, I think the president is working very hard to instill in the Israelis and understanding that there has to be a path to a future for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Politics are politics and they're going to play out over the next six months. But what I'm confident with President Biden, what he's done up to now and I think what he'll continue to do, is show the moral clarity that the only way to have a future in the Middle East for both Jews and Arabs, people who both belong to the same land is to defeat the evil of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, et cetera, but make sure that we provide a pathway for a future of people of goodwill were willing to live together as brothers, as cousins in peace and prosperity, not just between Israel and Palestinians, but throughout the region, which is what he was doing, trying to bring Saudi into normalization with Israel, as well as the Abraham Accord countries.
TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider of Illinois, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Across the aisle, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's not backing off her threat to kick Speaker Johnson out of his leadership position with a motion to vacate. Her blunt comments to CNN's Manu Raju today are next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:37:32]
TAPPER: In our politics lead, quite a bit has happened since House Speaker Mike Johnson took this selfie with Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene five months ago. Their collegial relationship has turned into a full blown feud after Greene filed a motion to oust him from the speakership last month.
On Sunday, Speaker Johnson called that move a distraction
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: But again, the mission is to save the republic. And the only way we can do that is if we grow the House majority, win the Senate, and win the White House. So we don't need any dissension right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: However, dissension, especially Republican dissension will be on the agenda next week when Speaker Johnson says he plans to bring a vote on aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan to the floor of the House. It's a move Marjorie Taylor Greene says, should cost Speaker Johnson his job.
CNN's Manu Raju was live on Capitol Hill.
And, Manu, you just spoke with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
What does she have to say?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, she bluntly warned the speaker not to move ahead with any Ukraine aid package, even as the speaker is planning to change the Senate's bill, tried to woo Republicans, includes some new border security measures. She said that absolutely should not go forward. She is a staunch opponent of more aid do Ukraine, as Republicans are badly divided over this issue.
She told me -- she said that -- she said, I think that let me tell you when he forces that vote again under suspension with no amendments and funds Ukraine and people find out how angry their constituents are about it, that's going to move the needle even more. But I'm going to tell you right now, funding Ukraine is probably one of the most egregious things that he can do.
Now, she would not go as far as saying it was a red line, but she went right up to that line and, remember, any one member can call for a vote seeking the ouster of a sitting speaker. The question, would Democrats come to Johnson's defense if he does move forward with aid to Ukraine? That is still uncertain because it's uncertain -- clear the form that's Ukraine aid package will take at this key moment.
Now there are also concerns, Jake, that if there is a push to oust Johnson, who had one will be the second person ousted ever as speaker of the House through a vote on the floor, that Democrats could work with moderate Republicans and move forward a more moderate speaker. Greene pushed back against that contention. She said, I don't think we can get any more moderate than Mike Johnson. She had she said there's not even any daylight between him and Nancy Pelosi at this point. He's literally turned into Mitch McConnell's twin and worse.
[16:40:01] And she went on to continued to rail so against Mike Johnsons deal- making. Of course, he had to cut a deal to keep the government open with Democrats. She did not like the way that was handled, that was unveiled at the last minute as they push that through to avoid a government shutdown.
But by Johnson facing the perils of governing this narrowly in bitterly divided Republican House conference. The question is, when will Marjorie Taylor Greene move forward? She would not reveal her plans or her timing, just yet -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Manu Raju, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Let's discuss this with -- first of all, just fact check, Speaker Johnson is very conservative. He's nothing like Nancy Pelosi. I can't even understand it, and yet she's a force in the Republican Party.
To -- listen to what she said to Steve Bannon yesterday on his podcast.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Everywhere I go in my district, everyone is so angry at Mike Johnson and one guy said to me like this, he goes, do they have Mike Johnson's wife tied up somewhere and have a gun to her head? What is wrong with Mike Johnson?
So for Mike Johnson to actually think that his Republican conference support sending $60 billion to Ukraine, he is a damn fool, Steve. And he's a liar.
STEVE BANNON, PODCAST HOLD: Hold on, hang on.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
TAPPER: All right. Now, normally, I'm reluctant to give a microphone to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, but she speaks for a big part of the Republican Party, a part that has really had an impact on Congress.
MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR, TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Absolutely. I mean, look, I worked for Tim Scott and that was, you know, Tim Scott approves broadly of degrade the Russian military through aid to Ukraine. And when we go to Iowa, that was something that we'd have to deal with a little bit.
But look, I think a couple of keys here. A, women's actually comes to the floor or around that time does Trump weigh in? We already saw what he can do around something so the border bill at the end of last year, what does he say on this? Number one.
Number two, its a little bit different than six months ago, I think also because there's less incentive for Democrats led to thing go totally off the rails and bring the House through a stance like we saw was frozen for three weeks and they didn't have a speaker. Number three, I think more than anything else, they'll get by this. There'll be a speed bump with Ukraine, but what does this happen in say, November. If Trump gets elected, will he want to install a speaker that's more ideologically predisposed to him? Does he want to keep Mike Johnson? Or if he loses, is there a free for all?
Watch more so after the election what this does to Mike Johnson than anything else?
TAPPER: I mean, it just -- again, Speaker Johnson is all in on Donald Trump. He has to also trying to govern --
NAYYERA HAQ, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SENIOR DIRECTOR OF CABINET AFFAIRS: He's governing with what is getting to be a smaller and smaller group of Republicans, right?
TAPPER: Yeah, because of the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world keep chasing them out.
HAQ: Yes. And that is Mike Gallagher, congressman who's very deeply respected and bipartisan fashion, expert in foreign policy effectively lead in Congress this month. But just at the right time to make sure that his seat cannot be replaced.
TAPPER: Yeah.
HAQ: Right? So Johnson has an even slimmer majority to make things happen
TAPPER: And we should note that Congressman Don Bacon, who -- I don't know that I would call him a moderate, but he is certainly sane. He's from the swing district in Nebraska, frame the situation for Speaker Johnson like this, quote, he's got a gun to his head right now, but we need to have a Churchill, not a Chamberlain right now. He could be on the right side of history.
I'm not sure that Marjorie Taylor Greene knows who Churchill or Chamberlain are, but those are -- that's a World War II allusion to standing up to Putin in this case, and Hitler back then.
SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And I do think that is really weighing in on his mind. You've seen pretty strong words, especially when foreign leaders have come visited the White House. They have a specific message for Speaker Johnson.
I remember one of the Polish leaders who visited with Biden last month saying the world is basically hinging on your -- on your shoulders, the fate of Ukraine is on the shoulders of Speaker Johnson. You saw him have a conversation with President Zelenskyy in the last couple of days.
It's a matter of how he does this and how he sort of is able to finesse getting a foreign aid package through this Congress with this House Republican conference, I was really fascinated with a reminder that when Speaker McCarthy put through Ukraine assistance and a test vote, if you will, only got 100 or so House Republicans, if you figured that's kind of the scene feeling that Mike Johnson is working with. That's why the threats from the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world is really potent for someone like Speaker Johnson.
TAPPER: So, Senator McConnell, the Republican leader is set stepping down from his leadership ship role next year, although he will serve out his full term on Monday, he laid and laid out his priorities in a local radio interview. Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: And I'm particularly involved in actually fighting back against the isolation as movement in my own party, and so many others as well, and the symbol of that lately is, are we going to help Ukraine or not? And I think its extremely important that we do that. So I've got this sort of own my mind for the next couple of years is something I'm going to focus on.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
TAPPER: But you heard Marjorie Taylor Greene insult -- insults Speaker Johnson by comparing him to McConnell and Nancy Pelosi.
[16:45:08]
GORMAN: That's the change. Yeah. Everybody has a gun to their head. It's like the end of "Reservoir Dogs" site, but like, well, notice this, I think in the Trump era, it didn't so much change things dramatically, accelerate things that were already happening.
I think we saw the isolationists during versus the more neoconservative wing has really been bubbling the last 20 years ever since Iraq really ended, we saw bubble up with Rand Paul and Syria in 2013, but I think this is the first time where there's been extended long debate on this ad actually even say the isolationist kind of -- or we can call it that overtook, where a lot of the rest of the party is in a real way.
HAQ: It is -- it is part of the pendulum swing that has happened in American history, right? 1930s, fascism rising on the world stage. We unfortunately do see that Donald Trump and folks that he has put out on the campaign trail talking about foreign policy going overseas are aligning themselves with the authoritarians of the world.
So this is not a battle just for America, democracy when it comes to how much money you send overseas, this is truly about the American experiment and what that means to people around the world.
TAPPER: And speaking of Donald Trump, last night, I guess in a reference to President Biden declaring transgender day of visibility, which happens on March 31st every year, this year, coincided with Easter Sunday. A lot of people were upset about it.
Trump added his take on this. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: November 5th is going to be called something else. You know what it's going to be called? Christian visibility day. When Christians turn out in numbers that nobody has ever seen before. Let's call it Christian visibility day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Really leaning into this Christian nationalist thing.
KIM: Right, right, and that's going to be -- I mean, setting aside the fact checking about when the transgender day of visibility falls. It just happened to fall on Easter of this year. But, yes, this is Donald Trump really leaning into religious issues, cultural issues, really trying to rile up that base -- base of voters were really excited to vote for him come November.
TAPPER: All right. Everyone, stick around. I'm going to come back to you in the next hour.
One week after that horrific bridge collapse in Baltimore, CNN is investigating another span and parts of it that could be just as vulnerable to a large cargo ship bringing it down.
Stay with us.
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[16:51:34]
TAPPER: In our national lead, the tragic and stunning collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge last week immediately raised the question, are there other major bridges in the United States susceptible to this same kind of disaster? A CNN investigation discovered that the answer is sadly yes.
And as Pete Muntean reports for us now, at least one of those bridges is very well known to millions along the East Coast of the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just 20 miles away from the disaster is ship collision that took down Baltimore's Key Bridge, there are new fears that another iconic Maryland bridge may be vulnerable to the same fate.
Parts of its stretching more than 300 feet up, and four miles long between Annapolis and Kent Island is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Multiple experts underscore to CNN that many of the hulking twin span suspension bridges concrete pilings, and aging piers are too exposed to possible collision.
FRANK CARVER, BOAT CAPTAIN: That's the symbol of the Chesapeake Bay.
MUNTEAN: Captain Frank Carver showed me the Bay Bridge at close range. Its oldest span now 72 years old. The urgent morning from experts is especially pertinent since this bridge is on the very shipping lane that was being used by the MV Dali. State figures show that each year, 27 million vehicles drive across the Bay Bridge as 11 million tons of cargo sail under it.
CARVER: Sometimes we're doing these four times a day, if not, sometimes ten times a day, you know, fished all around it at the Bay Bridge now.
MUNTEAN: Right now, we're in the center of the shipping lane that leads into the port of Baltimore and a CNN analysis found that some of the pilings of this bridge are just as vulnerable to the type of collision that took down the key bridge.
Engineering Professor Adel ElSafty of the University of North Florida says, the design could be at risk of collapse if hit by a container ship.
ADEL ELSAFTY, CIVIL ENGINEERING PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA: If once a pole goes down, then the whole superstructure will go down as well and it will pull the other force as well. It's going to have that kind of catastrophic failure.
MUNTEAN: The tower piers that support the main spans of the Bay Bridge have protective fenders, but ElSafty points out that is where protections end. There are none of the barriers known as dolphins use the blunt, the force of an errant ship.
ELSAFTY: I think that is what we really need to do is to design and protect -- design better and protect our infrastructure.
MUNTEAN: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is operated and maintained by the same agency that oversees the Key Bridge. In a new statement to CNN, the Maryland Transportation Authority says, after the Key Bridge collapse, it is looking at options with the U.S. Coast Guard on the feasibility of increase pier protections for the Bay Bridge and what's possible in the navigation channel.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said no bridge is designed for a direct hit from a ship.
PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: This is a unique circumstance. I do not know of a bridge that has been constructed to withstand a direct impact from a vessel this size.
CARVER: I think everybody will definitely more on guard now, that's for sure.
MUNTEAN: Captain Frank Carver caused the collapse of the Key Bridge, a gut punch.
CARVER: That's the whole new light, something you just didn't realize could ever happen and all that, then it happened, now you can see just so many more vulnerabilities all around.
(END VIDEOTAPE) MUNTEAN (on camera): Experts we talked to disagree about whether any protection would have stopped the Key Bridge from collapsing, but they say they at least should renew calls for risk assessment, also potentially more money for bridge protections.
[16:55:06]
Tonight, the owner of the construction company whose six workers were killed says safety has always been the prime consideration on the Key Bridge. He calls it a tragic event that was not something we could ever imagine what happened -- Jake.
TAPPER: Well, they can imagine it happening again, right? Pete Muntean, thanks so much.
Publicly, President Biden says he is outraged over Israel's deadly strikes in Gaza, killing innocent Palestinians and World Food Kitchen aid workers. Privately, he is -- well, publicly, too, he's ready to send more military aid. That's creating a divide within his own White House, and voters are also taking note. Is the president listening? Is he concerned?
Stay with us.
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TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
At this hour, the deadly shooting of a 15-year-old girl at the hands of California deputy sheriffs. Savannah Graziano was believed to have been kidnapped by her father. New video shows her walking towards deputy.
