Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Beginning of Jury's Deliberations in E. Jean Carroll, Donald Trump Rape Case; Judge Set to Sentence Man Convicted of Killing a Black Lives Matter Protester; First Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill Being Considered by FDA; Online Prices Decrease for Eighth Month in a Row. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired May 09, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This afternoon, a high stakes meeting at the White House. The president will sit with top congressional leaders, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The U.S. is potentially just weeks away from defaulting on its loans. If no deal is reached on the debt ceiling, and it could mean economic disaster. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that could happen as soon as June 1st.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Any moment now, jury deliberations are set to begin in the civil rape and defamation trial against Donald Trump. Now, former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll arrived in court once again, just a short time ago, on a very important day in this trial. She's maintained for years and throughout this trial that Donald Trump raped her inside a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room back in the '90s, and then defamed her when she spoke publicly about the allegations and he denied her claim.

[10:35:00]

Joining us right now on this big day is CCN Chief Legal Analyst Laura Coates for much on this. So, Laura, to remind everybody what we've seen in the course of this trial, Carroll's legal team put on 11 witnesses, including Carroll herself, she took to the stand to testify over the seven-day trial. This is a civil trial, not a criminal trial one, how does that impact the burden of proof here?

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, SIRIUSXM HOST, "THE LAURA COATES SHOW", AND FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It is a much lower burden, it's not as if it's beyond a reasonable doubt, it's by the preponderance of the evidence, which means more likely than not. And not even say, 51 percent versus 49, it could be 50.001. It's about whether it was more likely.

And as you listed the people who did testify which, frankly, it's -- sometimes, can be odd in a criminal proceeding to have witnesses who are not a part of the present action with allegations about the present conduct being able to testify about actions unrelated to this. But the goal here in allowing the testimony was under what is called toward the M.O. That this person, Donald Trump in this case, had engaged in a pattern of behavior that could better inform the jury about what the person's M.O. was. To engage in a behavior in a semi private business and then to defame later on by denying. That was the hope of the plaintiff in this case. To actually bring that forward, but Trump himself, did not appear.

BOLDUAN: The jury has to reach a verdict on each of these two claims, right? You've got the battery and also then the subsequent defamation claim. What do you make of the claims that Carroll's attorneys, Carroll's legal team put forward when it comes to each of these?

COATES: You know, it can be odd. When you're hearing about the summation of this trial, one of the phrases that keep sticking out in everyone's mind is, she's not my type. Now, that might just seem salacious or an odd thing to focus on. But remember, the battery charge is about that offensive conduct. Within minutes of filing this particular lawsuit, we had the New York State law change to allow for adult victims to be able to, even if their limitations period had lapsed, they could still bring the case based on sexual assault, of course.

But the other aspect defamation has to do with one's reputational harm, that you had to assert something that was false, i.e., a lie, and it had to defame the person by lessening their perception of people's view of them in the community and their reputational harm.

And so, she's trying to, essentially, assert that by saying that he wasn't -- she wasn't his type, he's calling her a liar. That's the core of the issue. Now, it's odd to go about this in his because Tacopina, the council for Trump, seemed to focus on this notion about who's type was who. But what does that suggest, Kate? On the one hand if she were his type, would he have been more likely to engage in the behavior that he was alleged to have done so? And on the second notion of it, every survivor of sexual assault will be very clear, rape is about power, not about the laws of attraction. So, we were talking about how the jury may perceive this. I'll be curious to how much they weigh that particular deposition testimony.

BOLDUAN: That's a great point. It is a great point. It's good to see you, Laura. Thank you so much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Today, a judge is set to sentence a man convicted of killing a Black Lives Matter protester, but Texas Governor Abbott is pushing for a pardon even before the sentencing. What could happen in this case, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

BERMAN: This morning in Texas, there will be a sentencing hearing for Daniel Perry, you can see him right there. Perry was convicted of murder in the 2020 shooting death of Garrett Foster, you can see Garrett Foster up there. This happened at a racial justice protest in Austin, following the death of George Floyd. Perry's legal team argued that his actions were justified as self-defense. And Texas Governor Greg Abbott has already said he will seek to pardon Perry, whatever happens at the sentencing hearing today.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov is with us. So, what will happen today, Lucy?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in just a little while, John, the judge will decide the fate of Daniel Perry who faces up to 99 years in prison after being convicted of murdering that protester at a Black Lives Matter rally in Austin. Now, Perry is an army sergeant, he shot and killed 28-year-old Foster in July of 2020. Prosecutors said Perry who was stationed at Fort Hood and working as a Rideshare driver to make extra cash initiated the encounter by running a red light, turning his vehicle into a crowd gathered at the protest where he then shot Foster.

Now, what's extremely unusual in this case is despite the fact that the jury reached a unanimous decision that Perry was guilty of the murder, after hearing from 40 witnesses and deliberating for 15 hours, is that Texas Governor Greg Abbot moved to pardon Perry less than a day after he was convicted.

Now, in a tweet last month, the governor wrote, "Texas has one of the strongest, stand your ground laws of self-defenses that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney." The victim's mom -- Garrett Foster's mom responded to that tweet saying she was sick to her stomach, "It was almost like that -- like all that weight was lifted in the verdict. And now it feels like the biggest hammer in the world has come crashing down on me."

And now, John, court documents also show that Perry had a years-long history of making racist comments and messages on social media posts. I will share just a few.

[10:45:00]

In one -- in a Facebook message, this is May of 2020, just weeks before the shooting, Perry told a friend that he might, "Might have to kill a few people who are rioting outside his apartment." He sent another text that month that said, I might go to Dallas to shoot looters. Some messages including -- included white power memes. In 2019, he also wrote, too bad we can't get paid for hunting Muslims in Europe. And that's just a fraction of the social media posts that were discovered in which Perry had abdicated for violence. We are expected -- expecting that sentencing to under way shortly. John.

BERMAN: All right. We will see what happens today. A key step in what might be an ongoing process. Lucy Kafanov, thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Now, to a welcome trend for consumers. Prices on most online shopping categories continued to drop last month as inflation concerns remain top of mind. What this trend means for your wallet.

Also right now, the FDA is weighing whether to make birth control just as easily available as aspirin. More on the FDA's concerns over making one pill available without a prescription, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

BOLDUAN: Right now, advisers to the FDA are meeting to debate the first over-the-counter birth control pills. It's called Opill and could allow women to access birth control as easily as getting Tylenol or Advil or any other over-the-counter medicine. The drugmaker says that it's safe and effective. And birth control pills have been approved by prescription since 1960.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen is looking at this, she joins us now. Elizabeth, there are some scientists, though, expressing some concern about this particular pill. What are the concerns?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate. In a 130-page briefing document, the FDA said, look, we have a lot of concerns. One of them is that currently, about 60 percent of U.S. adults, including adult women are obese or overweight. They said, well, the test for this drug were done 50 years ago and we didn't have that kind of percentage of people being overweight. Secondly, they were concerned that women might misread the label because based on studies, some of the women did. And of course, the doctors weren't there to prescribe them and kind of walked them through it.

So, what gynecologists say to that is, look, yes, there are more overweight women now than there were 50 years ago, but pill effect in this is the same. They don't see it as a problem, that more women are overweight. They also say that they trust women to read the label correctly. And that is why the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, as well as the American Medical Association both support pills, birth control pills going over-the-counter.

Now, let's take a look at a statement from Perrigo, that's the company that is going to be selling this if indeed it goes on the market. Data from our eight-year development program showed that consumers can use Opill safely and effectively as guided by the proposed labeling.

So, the FDA advisors are meeting as we speak, Kate. They're going to meet again tomorrow. They'll make a recommendation about what they think. The FDA itself can listen to it or not listen to it. And it will likely be a matter of months before we hear from the FDA about whether or not they're going to let this pill go over-the-counter, you know, right next to shampoo and the toothpaste and the aspirin. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Fascinating. It's good to see you, Elizabeth. Thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: An encouraging sign for U.S. inflation this morning. Online shoppers saw prices drop for the eighth month in a row according to Adobe Analytics. Welcoming news for shoppers and a good sign for central bankers trying to bring inflation down.

CNN's Matt Egan is joining us now. So, just online, a little disappointing, people like me, but how much are we seeing these prices fall?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMY REPORTER: Sara, we'll take falling prices wherever we can get from these days.

SIDNER: Fine.

EGAN: Down 1.8 percent according to Adobe, that's in April versus April of last year. As you mentioned, eight straight months of falling prices. And yes, we are talking about outright price drops, deflation. Now, normally, this actually wouldn't be news at all, because pre- COVID, prices were always falling online. It was the land of deflation. Then we had COVID. We had this very unusual and unpleasant spike in prices, now we are getting some sense that that is starting to unwind.

So, where are the prices dropping? I am sure you are wondering. Adobe says most categories are seeing prices fall, good news for parents seeing the toys and the sporting goods prices falls online by six percent, year over year. Not a bad time if you're in the market for a refrigerator, washing machine. Appliances are down by the most since Adobe started tracking in 2014. And electronics and computers, we're seeing double percentage drops. All of this is welcome news for consumers getting squeezed by the high cost of living.

Also, good news for investors and the federal result ahead of tomorrow's big inflation report. The government is expected to say, consumer prices up by five percent year-over-year in April, That's not good. It's not healthy but it is moving in the right direction.

SIDNER: All right. I think people have been waiting for this for quite some time.

EGAN: Yes.

SIDNER: And -- they'll take that, down 15, 12 percent, that's pretty darn good.

EGAN: We'll take it.

SIDNER: Thank you, Matt.

John.

BERMAN: All right. Thank you so much, Sara. In advance of the big CNN town hall with president Trump, one of his possible opponents makes a big move on the airways.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

SIDNER: Investigators are getting a look into the mind of a killer through his disturbing social media post ahead of his deadly rampage at the Texas Outlet mall.

BERMAN: Hundreds of migrants could be bussed to a New York City suburb. Local leaders tell CNN they think it could be a crime. A just moment in the migrant crisis.

BOLDUAN: And this just in, a new medical recommendation for all women starting at age 40. Why doctors say it could help in the fight against breast cancer. These major stories and many more all coming in to "CNN News Central."

SIDNER: Overnight, we learned of disturbing social media posts from the gunman who killed eight people at a Texas outlet mall. They reveal a person obsessed with Nazis, guns and mass shootings.

[11:00:00]