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Memorial Day Weekend Travel; Trump Slams DeSantis; Turkey Race Headed for Runoff; McCarthy Downplays Debt Limit Talks; Grizzlies Suspend Morant. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 15, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL HOST: Pete Muntean is counting the cars at this moment at an overpass in Washington, D.C.

Pete, there are a lot of people who are going to travel. And I suppose that's good news.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It's very good news, John. You know, Memorial Day only two weeks from today, but the real rush begins on Thursday on the roads according to AAA. Only ten days out. So, make your plans now if you've not already.

The big thing here AAA says is that this is really foreshadowing a huge summer for travel, especially on the roads. The vast majority of people will drive 50 miles or more, 37 million of that 42 million people expected to travel during the AAA holiday travel period over Memorial Day.

The good news here is that gas prices are down pretty significantly compared to where we were back just this time last year. $3.54 is the average price for a gallon of regular according to AAA. Compare that to a year ago when it was $4.47. So, we've gone down nearly a dollar a gallon.

The worst times to travel, and this is the thing you should really listen to, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Friday, before Memorial Day, then coming home, 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. on Monday, Memorial Day itself. The real thing here, and you can really tweak your schedule, if you have the ability to work from home, AAA says if you come home on Tuesday that might be better, even stretch your trip into Wednesday, that might be even better because that is when the traffic really subsides on 395, 95. You know the hot spots on the East Coast. It's going to be really bad. AAA says, in some cases, the traffic could be double than what you normally see. So, a two-hour commute would be a four-hour commute over the Memorial Day long weekend.

The real thing that is driving the big rise in travel here and the numbers, air travel, up 11 percent AAA forecasts compared to 2019. So that is a huge difference. We may see numbers, new records set in the pandemic era, maybe numbers even higher than what we saw back before the pandemic when travel was huge. A lot of things driving that right now, John. Really international travel is a big growth period that we will see in the summer travel, holiday travel period. So, so many people are waiting to get out and they are really undaunted as the pandemic subsides here, John.

BERMAN: So, Memorial Day weekend, I'm not coming back until Wednesday. And my note to the bosses is going to be, because Pete Muntean told me.

MUNTEAN: Take note.

BERMAN: All right, Pete, thank you. Great to see you. That was a lot of information there.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL HOST: Former President Donald Trump taking shots at Ron DeSantis, saying the Florida governor has no personality or political skills. The attacks are beginning. Trump's comments come from a new interview with the messenger just days after severe weather forced him to call off a rally in Iowa.

And while it rained on Trump's parade, DeSantis was able to capitalize on that moment, reportedly organizing a last-minute event close to where Trump was set to take place.

So, Errol Louis is joining us right now. He's a political anchor for Spectrum News and a CNN political commentator.

All right, a few things seemed to go well for DeSantis in Iowa this weekend, mostly that Trump wasn't there because of bad weather. Did you see a man, though, that could successfully challenge Donald Trump?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, yes. This looked like somebody who was going to take advantage of the political opening that he got, which you have to remember is a very important skill. You know, if you get a lucky break, you've got to take advantage of that.

And Ron DeSantis did rearrange his schedule. He got to meet with a lot of statewide Republican leaders in the very conservative northwest portion of the state. So, he was sinking his roots where they most need to be exploited.

You've got to keep in mind, Sara, in 2016 Donald Trump lost Iowa in the Republican caucuses. It was Ted Cruz who came in first and Trump, in fact, was tied with Marco Rubio. So, these are voters, as we say, every four years that are very used to being catered to. And so Ron DeSantis, I think, is doing some of what they expect there. And he may see some political benefits from it.

SIDNER: It was interesting because DeSantis made a veiled attack on Donald Trump but it wasn't forceful, it wasn't all that direct.

In the meantime, Donald Trump has come after him with both ads and guns blazing, doing those personal attacks that he is known for. So why is DeSantis being so careful at this point?

LOUIS: Well, you've got to be careful. Donald Trump is the unquestioned leader of the Republican Party. He is extremely popular. He likes to take any advantage to what he calls counterpunching, which is really just going on an attack. And as we've already seen, he's -- he doesn't even wait for the attack. He's kind of going after him anyway.

If you want to annoy the Republican base, going after Donald Trump or appearing to disrespect him or turn your back on him is a pretty good way to do that. And so I think all of the candidates are really treading very, very carefully.

[09:35:03]

And Ron DeSantis has to try and figure out if Trumpism can exist without Donald Trump. If he can sort of take the base away from the person who crafted that base. It's a very tricky, very difficult political assignment.

SIDNER: It sounds like what you're saying is that the ignoring of Donald Trump is the way he's going now, but that may have to change, especially if there is a debate.

LOUIS: Well, that's right. That's right. And also we've seen this -- again, we've seen this movie before. Donald Trump will amp up the personal nature of the attacks, the cutting nature of the attacks. He'll start attacking family members of his opponents.

SIDNER: Yes.

LOUIS: We've seen him do this before. To the point where you have to respond. When someone calls your wife ugly or something like that or says your father was involved in the JFK assassination, something so outrageous that you have to, on the national stage, respond.

Ron DeSantis is going to, you know, sort of duck and dodge, but the moment of truth is going to arrive if he does declare for president.

SIDNER: What does it tell you, though, that Donald Trump is already attacking him? There are ads, I've seen them, attacking DeSantis from one of Trump's super PACs. Those are happening now. But he hasn't even declared. So, what does that tell you about how Donald Trump feels about DeSantis.

LOUIS: You and I, we interview a lot of people. We look at the polls. One of your best indicators of who's closing in on Donald Trump is who he attacks. He hasn't said a word about some of the other candidates. He's not going after Asa Hutchinson, you know. He's not - he's not talking very much about Mike Pence, frankly, unless asked in an interview. And that's because he doesn't think of them as his immediate problem. His immediate problem is Ron DeSantis, make no mistake about it. They're polling, you know, sort of neck and neck in -- depending on which poll you're looking at. In early states like Iowa, he doesn't want him to get any traction or momentum, and that's why he's going after him.

SIDNER: He sees him as a threat, unlike some of the other candidates at this point in time.

LOUIS: Absolutely. SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Errol Louis. We appreciate your

time and your expertise.

Kate, to you.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL HOST: A Florida teacher is now facing a state investigation for showing a Disney movie to her fifth grade class. Details on that ahead.

And Turkey's hotly contested presidential election headed for a runoff it looks like now. Why the result there could mean so much for the United States and NATO.

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[09:41:40]

SIDNER: A ceasefire appears to be holding in the entrenched battle between Israel and Palestinian Islamic jihad after five days of Israeli air strikes on Gaza and four days of rocket fire at Israel, CNN's Ben Wedeman and his team got a firsthand look at the damage left behind in Gaza where dozens of people are now homeless. In all, 35 people were killed in the fighting. All but one killed was Palestinian.

A court in eastern China has sentenced a 78-year-old U.S. citizen to life in prison on spying charges. John Shing-Wan Leung, who also was a Hong Kong permanent resident, was detained in April 2021. Authorities have not provided details on the charges or the court process that led to his conviction.

And new video out of Sudan shows thick plumes of smoke rising from a hospital in the capital Khartoum. It is not clear how many people have been hurt or possibly killed. The Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are accusing their rival, the Sudanese Army, saying they hit the building with air strikes causing significant damage. The two military factions have been fighting for control of the country for a month now. So far the army has not yet responded to the accusations.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Turkey's hotly contested presidential election is headed to a runoff. Nearly all of the ballots have been counted and no candidate has reached the 50 percent threshold required to win outright. Now, state run news reports that President Erdogan, he leads the group with just over 49.4 percent of the vote, while Kemal Kilicdaroglu has just under 45 percent.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is in Istanbul tracking all of this for us.

Jomana, the outcome here is, of course, important to Turkey, but it's also being very closely watched by the United States and other NATO allies.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Of course it is, Kate, being watched by the whole world really. I mean this is a country, is a NATO ally, that has been very important for so many countries, including the United States. Many have seen President Erdogan as this unpredictable ally. But everyone in the lead up to this election has really been quiet, not really commenting publicly on how they wanted to see this election play out.

But, of course, as you mentioned, this is so important. This is so consequential for this country. People here telling us that this election is not just about the next five years, Kate, this is about the future direction of their country. And right now, as you mentioned, we have heard from the country's supreme electoral board saying that they are headed towards a runoff because neither of the candidates have achieved that 50 plus one that was required to win the presidency. So, you've got President Erdogan, who will be -- he is currently in the lead, but he doesn't have that 50 percent. And so they will be headed towards that second round of voting on the 28th of May.

What we have had here, Kate, is you have two different visions for the country that were presented to Turkish voters, and they had to decide which one that they were going for. You had supporters of President Erdogan who say that they wanted to continue on this path that he has put his country on. They list his achievements over the past few years of making this, they say, a great power on the global stage and they wanted to continue on that path.

[09:45:08]

You've got the other side, the opposition, really this moment that we haven't seen before here where you have these diverse, different opposition parties that have come together for the first time and they're this united coalition presenting one candidate with the promise of change. And they were hoping that they would be able to unseat President Erdogan.

And right now the opposition and the president all saying they are ready to head to this runoff. The opposition still trying to keep this very optimistic outlook saying that they are still hopeful, they still believe that they could - they -- that they can still win. But I can tell you, there's a lot of disappointment with that promise of change, the promise of turning this country back to a democracy, which many people voted for. That, so far, doesn't appear to have the lead in this race.

BOLDUAN: All right, Jomana, it's good to see you. Thank you so much.

John, headed to a runoff.

BERMAN: Yes, talk about an election that has a huge impact all around the world.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: In the meantime, potentially important news just in on the debt ceiling. President Biden is expected to meet with congressional leaders tomorrow on this issue as the June 1st deadline to avoid a potential debt default is looming. So, the president tried to project optimism that a deal was within reach, but, just moments ago, we heard from Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

CNN's Lauren Fox is with us now on Capitol Hill.

Lauren, what did the speaker have to say? As optimistic as the president?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, definitely not. This morning our colleagues Haley Talbot and Manu Raju caught up with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he was headed to his office, and he did not project the kind of optimism that you heard from the president and his team over the weekend. Instead, this is what McCarthy said about the state of the negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I just don't think we're far apart. Doesn't seem to be yet what they wanted. It just seems that they want it looking like they're in a meeting, but they're not - they're not talking anything serious. And, in the meantime, we just watched the CBO come out saying we're $100 billion further in debt. So -

QUESTION: Do you see -

MCCARTHY: Seems more like they want a default than a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And you hear him there. He said to him it seems like the White House wants a default, not a deal.

And that certainly splits the screen now between the optimism from the White House and what his team is now saying.

I -- you know, the meeting tomorrow is another high stakes meeting of the principals. And, you know, over the weekend staff said that they were making some slow progress, but it sounds like this meeting tomorrow is going to be even more important to see whether or not they can overcome some of the hurdles that they found themselves in over and over again in those closed door meetings.

John, there's a couple things to keep an eye out here. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy did emphasize once again this morning that he thinks that they need to have a deal in principal or a framework for a deal by this weekend. And that is because he believes it's going to take some time to get this through the Senate and to get this through the House of Representatives.

We should also note that there's not much time when the Senate and House are scheduled to both be here in Washington. That's not to say that both chambers can't be called back to make sure that this happens. We are expected to get more guidance this week from the Treasury secretary on when that important x date is, that means when the country will reach it's borrowing limit on the debt ceiling.

But, obviously, a lot of moving parts here. And you're hearing just now from the House speaker, things are not looking good from his perspective.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, and, Lauren, on ton of that, if people can see this map right here, on top of that, President Biden leaves on Wednesday -- or is scheduled to leave on Wednesday for international travels. So, talk about deadlines. A lot of moving parts here and so much that needs to get done. And that tone from Speaker McCarthy, that was news, and very different from what the White House is projecting over the last several days.

Lauren Fox, on Capitol Hill, thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: Ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, North Carolina's governor vetoes a controversial bill that would ban abortion after 12 weeks, but the fight is not over.

And the NBA's Morant is sidelined again. The Grizzly's guard is accused of flashing a gun on video. How much this latest incident could cost him. That is straight ahead.

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[09:53:34]

BOLDUAN: Memphis Grizzlies' star Ja Morant is in trouble once again. The Grizzlies have now suspended him from all team activities after another incident involving a gun and social media. An Instagram Live video from over the weekend appeared to show Morant flashing a gun while he was in a vehicle. CNN has reached out to Morant's representative, the Grizzlies and the NBA for more comment.

You'll remember in March the NBA suspended Morant for eight games after another social media incident. That time a video of Morant holding a gun while at a night club.

CNN's Coy Wire has more on this for us.

Coy, what are you hearing about this one?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Kate.

We have not yet heard back from Morant's representatives, but the NBA does tell us that they're still gathering details for this most recent episode here. And aside from announcing a suspension, the Grizzlies, well, they're deferring to the league.

Chandler Parsons, who played in Memphis for three years, though never teammates with Morant, Kate, he tweeted that he believes that Morant should not be allowed to play at all next season. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Commissioner Adam Silver could start seeing a lot of pressure, and increased pressure from other teams around the league to hand down a tougher, lengthier suspension to stand this next season. And it's important to note that after he was seen flashing that gun

that you mentioned back in March, Morant checked himself into a counseling program. He admitted he needed to get a better handling on dealing with the pressure that he faces of being a star in this - in the NBA. And he had met face to face with the commissioner and he described Morant's actions at that time as, quote, irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous, unquote.

[09:55:06]

Now, just two weeks ago, Morant had this to say after the Grizzlies were knocked out of the playoffs by the Lakers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JA MORANT, MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES GUARD: I just got to be better, you know, with my decision-making. That's pretty much it, you know. Off the court issues, you know, affected us as a, you know, an organization pretty much so, yes. Just more discipline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: So, Kate, will Ja Morant be able to get his off-court issues under control, find that added discipline that he says he needs. He's one of the brightest young stars in the NBA. Sometimes those players get more chances than other players might. But one thing's for sure, he certainly seems to be push the limits.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Coy. Thanks for the update.

WIRE: You too.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: So, General Motors recalls almost a million of its SUVs over fears the airbags could explode. And that's just part of the story.

And the chaos predicted at the southern border with Mexico didn't happen as feared. New information about what could happen, next.

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