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Israel-Hamas War; 72% Of Young People Disagree Of Biden's Handling Of Israel-Hamas Conflict, According To Poll; 2024 U.S. Presidential Election; Ready To Refute Trump, The Biden Campaign Enters 2024; Trump Seeks To Push Another Case To The Supreme Court; Trump Contemplates Carroll Case Reconsideration By The Supreme Court; Interview With Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General And Represented George W. Bush In Bush v. Gore Tom Dupree; Annual Ursids Meteor Shower Lights Up Sky; Russia's War On Ukraine; New Order Imposing Further Sanctions On Russia To Be Signed By Biden; Biden Will Reduce 11 Drug Convicts' Nonviolent Sentences; AAA Forecasts Record- Setting Air Travel This Week; AAA: Over A 10-Day Period, 115M Individuals Will Travel Or Drive. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 22, 2023 - 10:30:00   ET

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

[10:30:00]

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: ?You're looking at the blue wall. Certainly, Biden's campaign is looking to retain Georgia, Arizona. They have their eyes set on North Carolina. They're carefully watching Nevada, make sure they don't lose that state. So, of course, every vote is going to matter, and they're really watching the discontent among young voters and Arab American voters, certainly, after the Israel war -- the war -- the Israel-Hamas war broke out in -- it broke out in early October.

And I think that they are -- there's two thoughts. Obviously, I think people generally feel that these aren't voters that would necessarily go to Donald Trump, and they have been -- and the Biden campaign has been highlighting that, obviously, in the last several weeks. You're looking at their -- you know, you're looking at their reminders to voters of the Muslim ban that President -- then-President Donald Trump tried to implement in his -- implemented in his first weeks in office.

But there is the concern, there is always a concern of just discontent, that these voters just, you know, they don't like Donald Trump, but they don't like what Biden has done in office. And that apathy is really what the Biden campaign and Democrats are watching right now and make sure that doesn't spill over and that discontent doesn't spill over into next year when voters start voting.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Yes, I mean, they may not go to the polls to vote for Donald Trump. They may not go to the polls at all if they can't live with their decision --

KIM: Right.

SIDNER: -- and that could be really damaging to Joe Biden, but we will see. You know, I just -- just, sort of, a bigger picture, if inevitably, Donald Trump becomes the nominee for the Republican Party. What kind of change, can they make? Can the Biden administration make to pull up their numbers against him, or do you think that there will be some people that like Haley, that like DeSantis who say, you know what, you know, I really, I can't stomach another Trump for years. I'm going to go ahead and put my vote in for Biden?

KIM: Well, I think in terms of the polling and how to make their case with voters, the Biden strategy is twofold. One is to continue in whatever way they can to communicate Biden's accomplishment to voters and make sure that voters connect those accomplishments to what President Biden himself did.

If you look at research and the campaign will tell you, Democrats will tell you, that if you look at research, if you tell voters all of the things that the president -- President Biden has been able to get done in his first, you know, two, three years in office, you're looking at the prescription drugs issue, in particular being really popular with voters, the Infrastructure Law, other provisions in that Inflation Reduction Act. They say those remain immensely popular with voters and they just really need to make that connection between the popularity of President Biden's agenda, his accomplishments and to President Biden himself.

And the other big part of that in terms of the numbers is to continue making that contrast with Donald Trump that we're talking about this morning. If you'll look at the extensive campaign memo, that campaign manager Julie Rodriguez distributed to allies last night, and just hammering away that, you know, democracy versus autocracy. That's not only been a pillar of President Biden's foreign policy agenda, but it really is going to be a hallmark of his campaign when he argues over and over that Donald Trump is going to get back to democracy. That's -- so, that is really their two broad pillars, and I don't think you're going to see that change.

SIDNER: Yes, and especially when you have the Former President Donald Trump saying that he would be a dictator, at least, for the first day. That certainly should help the Biden administration in proving a point. Seung Min Kim, thank you so much and have a wonderful holiday.

KIM: Happy holidays.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Coming up for us, President Trump suggesting that he may take yet another legal case to the Supreme Court. We're going to dig into the difficult position that is pushed the justices in, which is smack dab in the middle of an election. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:00]

SIDNER: Donald Trump is once again asking a court to delay one of his trials. This time it is the defamation trial brought by E. Jean Carroll. The trial date is set for next month. Trump's attorneys have asked the Federal Appeals Court to push it back so they can consider other options, including possibly taking the case, or trying to anyway, to the Supreme Court. A Federal Appeals Court ruled Donald Trump waited too long to invoke an immunity defense to the defamation allegations that stem from statements he made while in office.

CNN's Kara Scannell is joining us now. This could -- I mean, this could add to the Supreme Court's docket which already is growing and growing and growing just on the -- on these issues with Donald Trump. What do you see happening?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, this is another one of these cases, and it means that another trial could potentially get delayed in a campaign year with, really, the calendar is pretty full.

SIDNER: Right.

SCANNELL: There's not a lot of room there. So, what Trump is doing here is he's asking this appeals court to say, I know that you ruled that I can't use presidential immunity as a defense in this case because I didn't bring it in time, but can you give me more time, 90 days to decide what I want to do? And in this case, it could be either asking the full appeals court here in New York to weigh in, or go to the Supreme Court and see if they will take up the case, and this all is about E. J. Carroll's defamation suit.

These are the statements that Trump made while he was president. And so, the trial judge had said, you know, for several years, I mean, this was 2019, she brought it, we are in the end of 2023, he never raised presidential immunity as defense until within the last year. And he said it was too long, too -- he waited too long, the appeals court agreed with that. And so, this is now where we are. This trial is set for January 16th. So, this appeals court will have decisions to make soon if they're going to entertain this or if they're going to let their mandate telling the trial court judge proceed with the trial to stand.

[10:40:00]

So, a bit of a waiting game. Now, Carrolls's team has long opposed any delays in this case. They often point to the age of both defendants from their late 70s, saying that there needs to be justice and it needs to happen now. And as a reminder, you know, Trump had already been found liable for defamation and sexual assault. This was a second lawsuit that E. Jean Carroll brought. So, now this trial that's going to trial, it's not so much on damages, it is already -- excuse me, it is not so much on defamation that's already been established, it's going to be on damages.

SIDNER: How much he has to --

SCANNELL: How much he has to pay. The jury already awarded her $5 million, she's seeking now more than 10 in this separate action.

SIDNER: It's just another case of the presidential power and whether or not you can do certain things or not. It's a similar case to what the Supreme Court's looking at now in another much bigger case. Goodness, there's so much to get through. Kara Scannell, I know you're going to be studying the whole holiday. So, thank you for being here. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And joining us now to talk much more about all of this is Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States, Tom Dupree. A lot to get to, Tom. But let's start with this, the latest with this E. Jean Carroll case as Kara was laying out. This new request from the Trump legal team to delay. He's asking to delay to consider his legal options. What do you think his options are?

TOM DUPREE, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL AND REPRESENTED GEORGE W. BUS IN BUSH V. GORE: Well, I think his options would be to try to push this immunity issue as far as he can take it. He does have a few cards left to play in the court of appeals and potentially he could try to get the United States Supreme Court interested in the case. So, I think his strategy right now is to say, give me and my legal team a little bit of breathing room so we can figure out what our options are, figure out what we want to do, and then potentially take this issue all the way to the Supreme Court, which could potentially, again, delay this trial.

BOLDUAN: We have known for quite some time that the former president's team is pushing for a delay as kind of like a broader general strategy with a lot, if not all, of the cases that he is up against. Is there a limit to this?

DUPREE: I think there is. I mean, I think -- look, I -- the United States Supreme Court justices, I can't imagine, have really a strong desire to dive into all the Trump legal challenges that they seemingly, on a daily basis, are being presented with. They have a very limited docket. They have got a lot of other important issues and cases that they have to decide.

And I think there's also a lot of hesitance, frankly, to get involved in these political disputes, because inevitably, no matter how they go, what they decide, a significant portion of the country is going to say, well, that's a political decision. What business does the Supreme Court have weighing in? So, I think they're very cautious, very hesitant about getting involved. But frankly, a lot of times they don't have a choice. Certainly, no shortage of cases for them to take.

BOLDUAN: Let's walk through some of it. It took me -- I mean, looking at my paper, I almost want to apologize in reading them to people about the position that the Supreme Court now finds itself in. Being asked to decide whether Donald Trump is covered by absolute presidential immunity in the federal election subversion case. Being asked also if the obstruction charge, which is at the core of many January 6th cases, including Trump's, is viable. Likely to be asked to decide whether or not Donald Trump should be on the ballot in Colorado after the insurrection decision there and then possibly being asked to weigh in on the E. Jean Carroll civil defamation case.

That is a lot. I mean, how do you see this happening here? What position does this put the court in, really? It's really unprecedented. DUPREE: It is unprecedented. I mean, you go back and you look at our nation's history, say Bush versus Gore, where kind of the country was somewhat shocked that the United States Supreme Court would get involved in, you know, "Deciding a presidential election." And that was one case.

Now, as you note, we've got six, seven, eight possible cases going up there. I think it's a safe bet they're not going to take all of them at the same time. I think they probably will take at least one or two of the cases, particularly that Colorado case that's now going up to the Supreme Court. But look, they understand that every time they get involved in the political fray, there's somewhat of an institutional price to be paid for it.

So, I think they're going to be cautious. They're going to be judicious. They're going to take some of these cases, but they're certainly not going to take all of these cases.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Tom. Thank you so much for coming in.

DUPREE: Great. Thank you, Kate.

SIDNER: Interesting conversation, Kate. That's great.

Coming up, did you stay up late to catch the last meteor shower of the year? I can answer for both of us. We did not. So, that's why we're here today, so we can look at these unbelievably beautiful pictures of the heavens. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:00]

SIDNER: White House officials are saying that President Biden is planning to sign a new executive order today with the goal of strengthening sanctions against Russia. Senior administration officials say, the secondary sanctions will target financial institution that support Russia's military in its war in Ukraine, or as another official put it, to pour sand in the gears of Russia's military logistics.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is live outside the White House this morning. This is something the Biden administration can do. It doesn't require Congress, which he's waiting upon to see if they can fund the war -- help fund the war in Ukraine and, and frankly, Israel at the same time. Tell us more about what is actually in this order and how it might work.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, as you mentioned there, Sara, the focus here is on secondary sanctions to go after financial institutions. The resounding message there being to disincentivize the type of behavior that is furthering Russia's ability in this war. And a way that a senior administration official characterized this is that it will provide the U.S. way to target institutions, goods and financial services in a more, "Surgical way."

[10:50:00]

So, again, it is strengthening the sanctions, but also trying to find to them just enough to crank it up on Russia. Now, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said this in a statement. He said, these new sanction authorities will make clear to foreign financial institutions that facilitating significant transactions relating to Russia's military's industrial base will expose them to sanctions risk. We are sending an unmistakable message, anyone supporting Russia's unlawful war effort is at risk of losing access to the U.S. financial system.

But while the U.S. can take this on, strengthen these sanctions, it doesn't stop the war in Ukraine. That is also something that senior administration officials underscored. And that is what the White House is focused on going into the New Year, is getting that supplemental funding, the billions of dollar to -- billions of dollars to Ukraine to help them in their war against Russia.

SIDNER: All right. I do have to ask you a question about something else, the Biden administration is up to. They have set to commute, I think, 11 people for nonviolent drug offenses. What more are you learning about the commutations?

ALVAREZ: Well, this is an extension of what President Biden first did in 2022 when he pardoned individuals and commuted dozens of sentences. In a statement, the president saying, that he -- this is for people serving disproportionately long sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. He's also pardoning others, but the underlying message here, "It's time that we write these wrongs", that from President Biden.

SIDNER: OK. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for all your reporting there on those two fronts. Appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next for us, with just three days until Christmas, a check in for you at the airports as what is expected to be a record setting week for travel is very much underway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

BOLDUAN: So, the last meteor shower of 2023 is lighting up the skies just in time for the holidays. At its peak, it is offering stargazers. Just look at these pictures. Stargazers had the chance to see between five to 10 meteors per hour shooting across the sky.

Let's get over to Derek Van Dam. Derek, I have not been able to see it yet, but it looks so pretty from the images that are coming out. Talk to us about it.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST AND AMS CERTIFIED METEOROLOGIST: For your celestial viewing pleasure, I think mother nature had given us her last departing gift of 2023, just in time for the holiday season, and here it is. The Ursid's meteor shower, it peaks tonight. You mentioned right, Kate, this is the last one of the year.

So, get out if you're an outdoor enthusiast like myself. You want to get outside, away from city lights and pear towards the northeast. This is where we would typically look to find the Big or the Little Dipper. So, that's where you're going to have the highest likelihood of seeing those radiant streaks from the meteor shower take place. You have to look towards the Little Dipper. That's where you'll start to see the most likely probability of seeing about five to 10 meteors in an hour.

So, you have to be, again, away from city lights. Clear open skies. This is peaking this week, and tonight is the night to see it, peaking at midnight, actually. We've had meteors from the Ursids the past week or so, but really, tonight is the night where you have the highest likelihood of seeing the most a number of meteors.

Of course, you need to have clear skies for that to take place. So, you're out of luck if you're located across the Southwestern U.S. You're out of luck if you're located across the Great Lakes. But if you're along the East Coast, like my friends Kate and Sara, just get away from the Big Apple and head inland because it will be pretty nice.

SIDNER: If I must. See, now it's an assignment that I have to get out of the city.

VAN DAM: Do it for the weatherman, OK?

BOLDUAN: Exactly, exactly. An outdoor -- it would be very weird if you were not an outdoor enthusiast, but as a --

VAN DAM: Be a weatherman, right.

BOLDUAN: -- meteorologist, I'm just a little bit struck by that. Thank you so much, Derek.

And now we will --

VAN DAM: Merry Christmas.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

SIDNER: Now, I'm messing with the -- with our executive producer because I'm going to mess up your time due today. I'm very sorry, it is not a nice Christmas present. But --

BOLDUAN: No, it's not.

SIDNER: -- I'm going to tell you what I'm going to be doing when that meteor shower is going full blast and it's like incredible and we'll never see it again in our lifetime. I'm going to be looking at something more beautiful and that is the back of my eyes because I find that to be the better place for me on a weekend.

BOLDUAN: You know what, I --

SIDNER: Do you know what I mean?

BOLDUAN: I support you in your endeavors. SIDNER: OK.

BOLDUAN: I do.

SIDNER: Let me know what it looks like. Maybe take a couple of shots.

BOLDUAN: I'll take some pictures. I'll take some pictures.

SIDNER: Watch out for the bears.

BOLDUAN: Because, you know, my iPhone pictures will be so much better than what we're seeing --

SIDNER: Maybe we can Getty (ph) out there, right?

(CROSSTALK)

SIDNER: Yes, I'm being wrapped. And you know what, I'm going to listen to him today because it's the holidays.

BOLDUAN: Just do it.

SIDNER: All right. Bearing gifts, they traverse afar like the classic Christmas carol. Millions of Americans are traveling this weekend. American Airlines, the country's largest carrier, expects today to be their busiest of holiday travel period. Airports nationwide, bracing for potentially record-breaking numbers yet again. We just need to get out as they hope to avoid the disastrous travel meltdown from 2022 that no one wants to relive. I mean, no one.

CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean is live where he probably has a whole pad to live in at Reagan National Airport. Pete, what are you looking at right now and how do the airports, sort of, prepare for this? Their staffing issues, there's all sorts of things on top of all of us going to the airport trying to go somewhere to see family.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It was a tough lesson for airlines to learn, especially Southwest, after last year's 10-day meltdown that started pretty much a year ago today. 16,900 flights cancelled, 2 million passengers left in the lurch. Southwest says, it has turned the page from that. It has more deicing available. It has more people available. It's done war games behind the scenes.

[11:00:00]