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Today: Trump Arrives In New York For Tuesday's Historic Arraignment; Students Walk Out One Week After Nashville School Shooting. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 03, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:25]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: About an hour from now, former President Trump is expected to take off from Florida and head to New York, where he will become the first former president in the United States' history to face criminal charges and be arraigned in court. What we're learning this hour about the security threat as New York's Mayor and the NYPD Commissioner prepares to address the media.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Drinking water and autism, a groundbreaking new study looks into the potential link and risks for pregnant women and their unborn babies.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, tonight is the night. Will it be UConn or San Diego State? What you need to know before the final game of what has been a wild March Madness. These major stories and more all coming in right now to CNN News Central.

SIDNER: Live pictures now from Palm Beach airport in Florida where next hour former President Donald Trump is set to be wheels up and on his way here to New York City for a historic moment. He is expected to be arraigned in a Manhattan court tomorrow. We're getting new details of how this process will play out. The New York City Mayor and the NYPD Commissioner will make a public safety announcement the next hour.

And Donald Trump is the first former president to face criminal -- and a criminal indictment. All of this is connected to his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover up involving adult film star, Stormy Daniels. As of this moment, the actual grand jury indictment is under seal. CNN has asked the judge to release it. Trump's legal team says they plan to challenge every potential issue in that document.

CNN's Kara Scannell is outside the court in New York City for us. Kara, you know, officials in New York are set to make a public announcement that we're just hearing, the Commissioner and the Mayor. What are you learning?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, that's right. So just about at noon, eastern, New York City Mayor and the NYPD Commissioner are expected to make an announcement to address the public about the security measures that are in place for Trump's arraignment tomorrow. Now sources tell Brynn Gingras that there are no credible threats against the courthouse or in the area and there's no threat of disruptors, but they will give the public a briefing of what to expect.

Now behind the scenes, there's a lot that's also happening. There's restrictions on the 15th floor and the courthouse behind me over my shoulder. That is where the former president will be arranged -- come in self-surrender midday. And they were speeding up this process. He may or may not have a mugshot taken.

There are questions about that. He's likely to be fingerprinted. And then he will walk down a public hallway where other defendants, everyone from drug dealers to his former chief financial officer and go into the courtroom and face the judge.

That's when the judge will ask him to enter a plea and Trump's attorneys say that he will plead not guilty. From there, Trump is expected to head back to the airport and then back to Mar-a-Lago where he said he will address the nation at 8:15, Sara?

SIDNER: Yes, arraignments are regular course of business for the courts, but not this one. Can you give us a sense of what Trump's legal team has been saying? They have done a media blitz over the last few days.

SCANNELL: Yes, they certainly have. I mean, their main point here is that they are going to look for every possible way to launch a legal challenge in this case, put -- going ahead that they're putting forward an aggressive posture. Now one thing that one of Trump's attorneys Joe Tacopina, he was on CNN yesterday, saying, you know, just how aggressive they're going to take this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE TACOPINA, LAWYER FOR FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: We will take the indictment. We will dissect it. The team will look at every, every potential issue that we will be able to challenge and we will challenge. And of course I very much anticipated motion to dismiss coming because there's no law that fits this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: So they're looking to take a bunch of legal angles here, motions to dismiss also possibly challenging the statute of limitations in this case, as well as other matters. Now, the one thing though, is that those motions will all happen a bit down the road, because they've yet to see what the specific charges are in this indictment.

And CNN and other media organizations have asked the judge to unseal that. The judge has a deadline for both sides, the Trump and the DA to respond at 1:00 p.m. And we could see these specific charges and the indictment unsealed later today. Sarah?

SIDNER: Kara Scannell, thank you outside of the court there in New York. I want to bring in CNN national correspondent Kristen Holmes. You are in West Palm Beach, Florida as we can see with the wind and the water behind you. The President is set to take off in I think less than an hour. What are you learning about his plan?

[11:05:10]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sara, that's absolutely right. So we are waiting to see him leave his Mar-a-Lago home. He will be traveling with a small group of aides including his top -- its campaign advisors Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. They will be traveling by motorcade to the airport which is close by. And then flying into LaGuardia on Trump's private plane and they are expected to land around 3 o'clock.

Then we are told Trump will go to Trump Tower. And I was actually just told by a source that he is likely to meet with his lawyers while he is in Trump Tower. He will spend the night there before heading to the courthouse on Tuesday.

Now, as you noted, and as Kara noted, he will come back almost immediately after that arraignment to deliver remarks. We will be there at Mar-a-Lago at his resort. And I am told by sources, this will be the former president opportunity to really take control of the narrative. Of course, we have heard him from the last several weeks calling this a political witch hunt a hoax.

But this will be the first time that we actually see him respond to the charges as we all learn them on Tuesday afternoon. That's when we're expected to actually learn what they are.

SIDNER: All right, Kristen Holmes, thank you there live from West Palm Beach. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So there is no doubt the decision to indict has elicited a strong reaction across the political spectrum. New CNN polling shows many Americans believe politics played at least some role in the decision to indict Donald Trump. Take a look at this. Fifty-two percent say politics played a major role. And you see 23 percent say a minor role. Some think no role, and there's also an element of people still they really are not sure.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny joins us now for much more on this. Jeff, many people think people that politics played some role in this indictment, but how many people -- how many people that were polled actually approve of the indictment?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, this is so interesting. Of course, you cannot divorce politics from any of this, because we are talking about the former president here who of course, is a current candidate for the White House. But when you look at the findings of our new poll, take a look at this, 60 percent of Americans, some six and 10 of Americans support the overall indictment here. And 40 percent are against it.

That's largely driven by sort of some common views from Republicans, of course, they're opposed Democrats support. But Independents largely follow this rule. So that is so interesting, that 60 percent support. And we should be clear, we do not know exactly what is in the indictment. This is just based on the broad confines of a familiar storyline of a hush money payment that we've been talking about for more than six years now.

So six in 10 Americans support that. But there is so much more interesting findings in our poll this morning, that really speaks to the dynamic of the politics going into this, Kate.

BOLDUAN: And one thing we see is that one thing, maybe the only surprising thing in this is that shows that the nation is remains so divided, especially when it comes to Donald Trump. But what is it -- what are you seeing in this poll in terms of the overall impact, the impact on the country, the impact on democracy?

ZELENY: We should talk about the historic nature of this. Yes, you know, this is a really a run of the mill indictment, but a former president has never been indicted and arraigned. So the next 48 hours are going to see something in the country we have never seen before. So when you talk about democracy, take a look at these numbers. What do you think about the strength of democracy, and 31 percent of Americans say that it strengthens it, 31 percent say it weakens, 23 percent it has no effect at all.

So divided, Americans clearly divided among party lines, in familiar lines on this. But this is a historic proceeding, no question. So we cannot -- not take stock of all of that. But there is no doubt as we go forward here. Democracy is at the core of this. And the -- he obviously has other cases pending in Georgia and in federal court as well. So this is something that will be a through line of all this conversation today, Kate.

BOLDUAN: That's is -- and that is a great point. It's good to see you Jeff. Thank you so much. John?

[11:09:10]

BERMAN: A week after the deadly shooting of the Covenant school in Nashville, students are now calling for stronger gun laws in Tennessee.

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BERMAN: You were looking at live pictures from Palm Beach, Florida, obviously a shot from a helicopter that is Mar-a-Lago, the home of former President Donald Trump were in just about 45 minutes, maybe even less, he will be leaving. He will head to the airport in that plane. He is going to take off from the said airport and fly here to New York City where I'm standing where he will be arraigned tomorrow.

Those are live pictures of his plane at the Palm Beach airport. Of course that plane became famous in the 2016 campaign. That is the plane he'll take up here to face one of the biggest legal challenges of his entire life. Here to discuss that CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig. Elie, we were just looking at pictures of Donald Trump's plane. He's

coming here today. Our Kristen Holmes just reported when he gets here, he's going to go to Trump Tower where he will meet with his lawyers. You're an attorney. What do you say to your client who is going to be fingerprinted tomorrow?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: You have to start with the basics, John. Let's remember, this is a first for Donald Trump. He has been sued, he has been subpoenaed, he has been deposed, he's been impeached twice but he's never had to stand at the criminal defendants table in a courtroom. And so I would prepare him for that. I would explain to him, you will probably be fingerprinted. You might be mugshotted, let's get ready for that.

[11:15:18]

In court, what's going to happen is the judge will advise you of the charges against you, and then you will enter your plea, which will be not guilty, then we're going to set bail. I expect the judge to release you. And then we'll set the calendar going forward. So you want him to have the basics. And I would advise him, a lawyer can only ever advise, please don't say anything other than whatever the judge asks you.

BERMAN: Hold that thought for one second because I want to follow up on that. Just so people know we are again, looking at live pictures and aerial shot of Mar-a-Lago. One of the reasons we've been looking at this, we've been trying to figure out if there are large crowds gathered outside.

There are a few people holding signs who appear to be Trump supporters who've been there and other versions of the shot that we've seen, but not giant masses of humanity waiting for him to depart and come here to New York. You did just say that the lawyers will advise him, don't go off, don't speak unless spoken to.

HONIG: Absolutely. It's important to keep in mind. All a lawyer can do is give advice. A lawyer cannot force a client to do anything. But it is an absolute no brainer. You do yourself no good whatsoever by speaking publicly about this case, in terms of the legal case itself. There may be a different political calculation here. But legally, the best thing you can do is only answer the questions that the judge puts to you all the other stuff, leave it out.

BERMAN: All right, so that's in terms of the behavior and the mechanics of tomorrow. We've also been reporting, all of our great reporters have been saying that Trump's legal team is going to challenge anything in everything they can. What does that mean? What will they challenge first?

HONIG: Indeed, they made no mistake of this over the weekend. I think the first thing they're going to challenge and they've forecast this is if there are charges here relating to campaign finance violations, if one of the allegations is these hush money payments were actually intended to help Trump in the campaign and they were not reported or they were excessive watch for this argument. The defense lawyers are going to say, but we're in New York State court right now, New York State law is what applies. But we're talking about a federal election, the election for president, hence any campaign finance charges, they will argue, are illegitimate and need to be thrown out of this New York State court.

BERMAN: What about statute limitations?

HONIG: Yes, so typically the statute of limitations, which is the amount of time that a prosecutor has to charge a case from when the conduct actually happened, it's going to be five years for the most part. Now we're beyond five years. So you may be thinking, oh, boy, prosecutors are in trouble. However, there are special laws here in New York State that say, you can what we call toll the statute of limitations, meaning put it on hold.

First of all, while someone's living continuously in another state, the argument would be Trump was living continuously at the White House, and then at Mar-a-Lago. There also were special laws put in place to hold the statute of limitations during COVID. So I expect that argument, but I think prosecutors are going to prevail there.

BERMAN: What do we know about the judge who will oversee this? Now, I want to be clear, Donald Trump has attacked this judge very directly. Trump's lawyers have it. Trump's lawyers have been very careful not to back that up. But who is this judge? And is there a legal basis to question this judge's work on this case?

HONIG: So there's no legal basis to question, Judge Merchan's impartiality. However, there's a couple things that are important to know about the judge. First of all, he is a former prosecutor, used to actually work at the Manhattan DA's office, nothing wrong about that, nothing unusual about that many, many judges are former prosecutors. He's been on the bench since 2006. So he's experienced, he really gets rave reviews from both sides of the aisle. Prosecutors, defense lawyers say he's a totally straight shooter.

Now, the reason he is on this case, it's not just a coincidence that the same judge who handled the Trump Org PACs trial last year and the Allen Weisselberg case, also got this case. There's 50 some judges, it would be a remarkable coincidence. It appears that what prosecutors did is file this case as a related case, meaning, OK, this case relates to this prior case, therefore, we believe the same judge should be put on it.

If that is what was done here and it appears that it was, watch for defense lawyers to challenge that. They're going to say their job shopping, essentially. And this case should not go to that same judge who had this prior case. This case should go back into the wheel for random assignment. So look for that as well.

BERMAN: Are these challenges ever successful?

HONIG: Yes, sometimes they are. I mean, the state and federal campaign finance challenge could well succeed. There's actually no specific law. This hasn't happened before in New York State. And I think it's a reasonable argument to say New York State law can't cover a federal election.

BERMAN: What if any of this happens tomorrow? Is there any opportunity tomorrow for Trump's attorneys to get in there and file motions?

HONIG: No, you don't do that. You will not file the motions until after you have the indictment, until after you've been arraigned. They may preview it. They may say to the judge, here's some of the motions we believe we are going to bring. But the time for motions is a bit down the line. First things first, you get arraigned tomorrow then you start to get discovery which means you get to see as any defendant the prosecution's evidence. It's an open book here.

[11:20:08]

Prosecutors have to turn over all evidence, good, bad, indifferent. And then we'll get into motions. And that's where we'll see those motions.

BERMAN: By the way, none of us knows what's in this indictment. This could be a little bit of a different story tomorrow, and we finally know what's in there. Of course, we have filed CNN has to see the indictment today. That's no word yet on that. Elie Honig, great to have you here. Thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Great stuff. We are continuing to follow the historic indictment of former President Donald Trump. You're looking at live pictures in West Palm Beach, Florida right now as we await Donald Trump's departure where he is getting ready for his arraignment in New York tomorrow.

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[11:25:27]

BOLDUAN: Today students are calling for stronger gun laws in Tennessee, a week after that deadly shooting at the covenant school in Nashville. The group March for Our lives is helping to lead this protesters there today to the State Capitol as they are demanding action. CNN's Isabel Rosales joins us now once again from Nashville. Isabel, more people gathering around you than we saw when -- then when we last saw you last hour. What are people that are telling you?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you, Kate. It started with a moment of silence at 10:13 a.m. local time here. And that's important because that's the precise time that the first 911 call came in at the covenant school warning police about an active shooter. Now we've seen this massive crowd coming in sharing stories on a megaphone and over here holding up signs saying, am I next. Ban guns not books, our kids are braver than our politicians.

They're sharing the stories outside of the State Capitol here demanding gun safety. And you'll see a sea of red too, as they're wearing red in honor of those six victims, half of which were just nine years old. I want you to now listen to what a March for Our Lives organizer had to say.

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EZRI TYLER, MARCH FOR OUR LIVES ORGANIZER: What if legislators really wanted to protect our kids they would take action against what is killing every single day. So our message to everyone here today is we know it's not drag queens, we know it's not books that is harming our children, it's guns and we need action today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Now Tennessee is an open carry state, it has no Red Flag Law, which would allow a judge to temporarily seize guns away from somebody who's believed to be a threat to themselves or to others. However, we did hear from the Police Chief John Drake that in this particular shooting, they did not know about the shooters emotional disorder. And they did not believe that the shooter was a threat before the shooting actually happened.

Law enforcement were never called to Hale. And Hale, Audrey Hale was never institutionalized. Now, we did also hear from Governor Bill Lee according to reporting from the Tennessean that he is proposing increasing school security by putting up armed security at every single public school and bringing up funding to assist private schools with doing the same although they are not forced to take part of that funding.

Now the organizer that I spoke with said that that is not enough adding more guns to school does not get to the root cause, the rot that is causing so many children to be so afraid to just go and learn and go into their classroom and be a part of the school environment. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Those images from last week are showing still bring chills whenever you see them. Isabel, thank you very much. Sara?

[11:28:16]

SIDNER: We're continuing to monitor Palm Beach County, Florida where at any moment former President Trump is expected to leave Mar-a-Lago and head here to New York for his arraignment tomorrow. We're following it and all the live developments coming up next.

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