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Closing Arguments Underway In Defamation & Battery Trial Against Trump; Sources: IRS Whistleblower's Attorney Met With Congressional Investigators On Hunter Biden Probe; Family Calls Ex- Marine's Statement A "Character Assassination" Of Neely; Phoenix Officials Scramble To Clear Sprawling Tent City; Data: Fentanyl- Related Pediatric Deaths Rise At Alarming Rate. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 08, 2023 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:34:10]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: After seven days, 11 witnesses, and no defense presentation by Donald Trump, the defamation and battery trial against the former president is about to go to the jury. Closing arguments are taking place today.

Magazine columnist, E. Jean Carroll, is accusing Trump of raping her and defaming her after he denied the rape, which she said took place in a department store dressing room some 27 years ago.

CNN correspondent, Kara Scannell, is outside the New York courthouse. She has been tracking all of this for us.

Kara, walk us through the closing arguments for both sides.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, first up, E. Jean Carroll's attorney opened by telling the jury that no one, not even a former president, is above the law.

Then she said that Trump himself, even though he didn't show up at the trial and he didn't testify in his own defense, he did give a video deposition that she said was actually one of the worst witnesses against himself.

[14:35:07]

And here is why. She pointed to his video deposition where he is shown a photo of him at a gala talking to E. Jean Carroll and two others a few years before the alleged assault. And on tape, in the deposition, Trump mistakes Carroll for his second wife, Marla Maples.

That matters because E. Jean Carroll's attorney says he defamed Carroll saying he wasn't her type in denying the alleged rape in the department store.

They also played the "Access Hollywood" tape, which they played again to the jury in the closing arguments. In part of that tape, they said, look, this is Donald Trump in his own words saying he thinks he can just kiss women, he can grab them, if you're a star, you can do anything. He said he did think he was a star.

They said regardless of all the other denials that you've heard from Trump in this case, including on the deposition, they said all you need to do is look at that "Access Hollywood" tape to watch when he thought no one else was watching and listen to those words.

They also brought up two other women who had testified in this case. They both testified that they were assaulted by Trump.

And this is where Carroll's attorneys focused on this as a possible pattern. They say three different women, decades apart, but one single pattern of behavior.

That pattern being that Trump meets someone, has a familiar way of speaking with them, it's a semi-public place, he assaults them and then when they come forward, he criticizes them and says that they are not his type. That's the allegations from Carroll's team.

Trump's lawyer, who spent about two and a half hours into his closing arguments, he came out of the gate saying to the jury, they want you to hate him enough to ignore the facts.

Then he went to try to pick apart Carroll's story, saying it was so unbelievable. Saying, you know, how was it that no one was on the floor? How was it that she tried to fight him off with four-inch heels?

He also is saying, how do you prove a negative? She doesn't have a date when this happened. He can't have an alibi, he can't pull up a calendar or a schedule to show what he was doing.

So his closing arguments are wrapping up now. Carroll's team will have a chance to do a rebuttal.

Then, if there's time today, the judge could begin instructing the jury on the law. And when have that, deliberations can begin -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: One of many cases facing the former president and, in some ways, the most personal.

Kara Scannell, live outside the courthouse in New York City.

Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: New details in the federal criminal investigation into the president's son, Hunter Biden. The IRS whistleblower who alleges there has been political interference at the Justice Department in this case has met with congressional investigators from both sides of the aisle.

We have CNN's senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez, here with the details. Evan, tell us what you're learning.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, the key of this meeting is to try to set up a date for the IRS whistleblower to come in and talk to these committees on Capitol Hill who are doing this investigation.

They want to know what's been going on behind the scenes. The fact is that this is an investigation that has spanned three attorneys general. It started off during Jeff Sessions' era. It is still ongoing.

So the big question has been, what is the delay? What is causing the problem?

The IRS whistleblower informed his lawyer, and his lawyer then told these committees what he is prepared to say when he comes in for an interview.

Among the things that he's saying is that the promises that Attorney General Merrick Garland made to make sure no political interference was involved in this investigation, he's saying is not so.

And that's part of what we expect he is going to be able to tell the committees once he comes in in the next couple of weeks.

KEILAR: This is so drawn out, as you point out.

It's interesting, though, here recently Hunter Biden through his attorneys has been a lot more aggressive. He's been going after folks who disclosed financial information about him.

And you have actually learned that that's caused some heartburn in his dad's White House.

PEREZ: It really has. This was something that, early on, once they brought in Abbe Lowell, who you know and a lot of us know here in Washington. He's been very combative. He's been essentially pushing back at the Republicans.

And the reason for that change, according to people close to Hunter Biden, is that, you know, they stood quietly while they were getting attacked for years so he's decided to go on the offensive.

At the White House, obviously the president is now launching a reelection campaign. This was met with, let's just say, disfavor. They did not want this because they thought it was going to end up causing problems for the president.

So far, it appears to be working. At least according -- according to Hunter Biden's team.

And, you know, one of the things that is still -- they are still weighing is whether Hunter Biden can launch a defense fund, which would raise a lot of really difficult legal questions for the White House and for Hunter Biden himself. KEILAR: Certainly would, right? But this is not cheap what he has

going, the number of lawyers we're talking about.

PEREZ: Actually, I should also add, by the way, Hunter Biden says he's done nothing wrong. So that's what part of this -- his defense is intended to do.

[14:40:03]

KEILAR: Evan, thank you very much.

Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: All right, New York prosecutors are meeting with the medical examiner and detectives after a man died after another passenger held him in a choke hold on the subway. We will have the details coming up.

And in Phoenix, a large homeless encampment will be cleared this week. Many living there, though, have nowhere to go. We will have more on that just ahead.

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SCIUTTO: We now know the name of the man who held Jordan Neely in a choke hold on a New York City subway, 24-year-old Marine veteran, Daniel Perry.

[14:45:00]

Neely, you may remember, a homeless street artist, died last week right after that incident. His family now says that a statement released by Perry's lawyer amounts to, quote, "character assassination" of Neely.

CNN's Omar Jimenez has more on this.

Omar, the circumstances of this case have been confusing, certainly upsetting for many who have been watching it closely.

Tell us, first of all, what the family is saying in response to Perry's lawyer's description of this event.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. So family -- the attorneys for the family of Jordan Neely say that this is a clear example of indifference towards Neely's life.

And one witness we spoke to, who was formerly homeless himself, says he believes this would not have ended in death if Neely's life had more value by the people that were there.

Take a listen.

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JOHNNY GRIMA, WITNESS: I saw that his eyes were staring off and that he was limp. So I went in through another door. I went to pour a little water on Jordan Neely's head and Daniel Perry came up and told me to stop. He got over him and said stop.

If he didn't have the intention of killing Jordan Neely, I believe, at the least, he did not have consideration for his life because he was poor, homeless and black.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, we reached out to an attorney for Perry on some of those claims but haven't heard back.

However, they have said that Perry was trying to protect people until help arrived and that he never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.

All of this, though, as we await any potential announcement on charges -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: That announcement certainly will get a lot of attention.

Omar Jimenez, in New York, thanks so much.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Let's talk now about homelessness in Arizona. It is a huge problem there. And there is a massive effort underway to clear out what many in Phoenix call the zone. It is a sprawling tent city of about 900 people. It's one of the largest encampments of its kind in the entire country.

And the question now, what happens then to the vulnerable people who live there?

We have CNN's Gabe Cohen covering this story for us.

Gabe, you've spoken with people on all sides of this problem. What are they saying? What's the plan?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, in short, the plan is still evolving.

First, I want to explain how we got here because it's important. We have reported on states passing controversial laws to ban public camping.

This was different. This is a lawsuit brought by Phoenix residents and business owners that sued the city arguing that this encampment is a public nuisance. And they won. The judge sided with them and ordered the city to clear the camp.

Now some think that this type of lawsuit could become a model, a template for those in other parts of the country looking to try to force cities to clear encampments.

But that gets to your question, the important question of, what happens to the 900 or so people living there, where can they go where they can be safe?

The Phoenix area only has half as many shelter beds as people experiencing homelessness.

Take a listen to a young woman we met who is living in a tent. Her name is Stefanie Powell. She is living in the zone right now.

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STEFANIE POWELL, EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS: I don't want to wind up having to walk the streets again. It's hard because nobody wants to see the problem. Nobody wants to acknowledge the problem. They just want it to go away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So now the city is scrambling to create these safe options. They're looking to lease vacant buildings, hotel rooms, anything to create temporary shelters.

And they're planning to fill that gap by building some sort of sanctioned campground with sanitation and security where people can stay while looking for spaces.

But we don't know when that's going to be operational. It could cost a lot of money.

And there are a lot of people who are concerned that many of the folks living in this encampment instead will wind up going down the road to other neighborhoods where they will be more isolated potentially in more dangerous situations.

KEILAR: Yes, you can definitely see that happening.

Gabe, thank you for bringing us this story.

Boris?

[14:49:06]

SANCHEZ: Still to come, the Fentanyl crisis in the United States isn't just impacting adults. New data shows a surge in deaths of children. We have more on that and much more to come, next.

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SANCHEZ: We are learning new and disturbing details about the deadly impact of America's Fentanyl crisis. Just released data showing the highly dangerous drug killing a number of children.

CNN medical correspondent, Meg Tirrell, is here to break it down.

Meg, what is in this data? What does it show?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is really alarming looking at the Fentanyl overdose deaths of the kids under 20 in the past two decades.

The numbers have gone up dramatically in the last decade, sort of mirroring what we have seen in the adults. But more than 5,000 kids under the age of 20 have died from Fentanyl poisoning since 1999. If you look at data, you can see that really started to pick up in 2013.

In terms of the age groups that are affected here, it is the older kids, between 15 and 19, who make up the deaths. But kids under 4 also make up 6.6 percent of those deaths from Fentanyl in this data that we are seeing.

A lot of deaths occurred at home. And 44 percent and 88 percent of them were unintentional. So what the researcher is saying is that better control, safe storage and disposal of Fentanyl in the home is key.

[14:54:58]

Opioid use disorder treatment is really important both for parents and adolescents who may be using these drugs.

And of course, carrying the antidote. Having that in the home could make a huge difference. a lock key in the home is pivotal.

Boris, that was just approved for over-the-counter use. And the hope is that it becomes available in late summer, which will be really important.

Back over to you.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it could be a big step in mitigating at least some Fentanyl deaths.

Meg Tirrell, thank you so much for that.

Brianna?

KEILAR: We are learning some news details about the shooter who killed several people shopping at a mall in Texas, including why the military removed him. Stay with us

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[15:00:07]

SCIUTTO: What drove him to kill? We are learning new disturbing details about the Texas mall shooter.