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Legal Battle Looms As Trump Blocked From 2024 Ballots; 7.5 Magnitude Quake Rocks Western Japan; President Faces Crises, Divisions, And Re-Election Hurdles; Drone Attacks Escalate Tensions, Putin Promises More. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 01, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Donald Trump kicking off the new year with his name kicked off primary ballots in Colorado and Maine. How his legal team plans to fight those decisions. Plus a powerful 7.5 earthquake striking western Japan. Thousands of people fleeing coastal areas. Over fears of a tsunami. We'll have the latest on that. In just hours into 2024, Russia launches intense attacks across several key Ukrainian front lines. Vladimir Putin saying more strikes are coming. We're following these major developing stories and many more. All coming in right here to CNN News Central.

A new year and a new test for American democracy as several high stakes cases could put the 2024 campaign calendar on a collision course with the Supreme Court. And it all centers on former President Donald Trump. Tomorrow, Trump's lawyers expected to appeal a pair of highly controversial decisions that bar him from the 2024 ballots in Colorado and Maine. There are also Trump's pending criminal cases. And some key aspects of those are also on a fast track to the Supreme Court. And did we mention primary season is now in full swing?

Just look at that calendar. If it seems overwhelming to you, imagine logistics of being a part of the Trump campaign and the legal teams that are dealing with this right now. I want to break it down with Lawfare's courts correspondent, Anna Bower. Anna, first, should we expect the Supreme Court to clarify the insurrectionist ban issue once and for all? Or could the justices end up landing just on a narrow decision that paves the way for more controversy?

ANNA BOWER, COURTS CORRESPONDENT LAWFARE: Right. Well, Brianna, first of all, Happy New Year. And thanks for having me on this first day of 2024. I think that the Supreme Court is very likely to take up this appeal that relates to the disqualification in this landmark ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court, in which they found that Donald Trump under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment ought to be disqualified because he engaged in insurrection. I do think that this is something that the Supreme Court must take up.

We've been tracking these nationwide efforts to bring litigation related to Section 14 -- excuse me, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. And we found that there's over at least 30 challenges that have been brought. There are more challenges that are coming in other states. So, it is something that is going to continue to be an issue as we go through the primaries and then into the general election. So, I do think that it's something that the Supreme Court certainly will take up as to whether they will actually clarify, though, whether what it means to engage in insurrection and whether Donald Trump did. I don't think that it's something that the Supreme Court will actually clarify, though, whether what it means to engage in insurrection. That is to be seen.

There are some ways that they could skirt the issue. They could, for example, decide that the Section 3 does not actually apply to the office of the presidency. Or they could decide that the clause is not self-executing, and that Congress would actually have to implement some kind of legislation to kind of make it effective. So, there are a few different ways. Potentially, the justices could kind of skirt the issue of actually declaring whether or not Donald Trump engaged in insurrection as it relates to the events of January 6th. It is a very contentious issue.

And I think that the court, having gone through some of the challenges to its credibility that it has in recent months, is going to be very cognizant of just how highly politicized this issue is. So I certainly won't be surprised if they end up avoiding the issue and deciding on other grounds.

KEILAR: To that point of how politicized they become, on CNN yesterday, Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin laid out why he thinks Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from this 14th Amendment matter. Here's what he said.

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REP. JAMIE RASKIN, MARYLAND (D); RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: I think anybody looking at this in any kind of dispassionate, reasonable way would say if your wife was involved in the big lie and claiming that Donald Trump had actually won the presidential election, had been agitating for that and participating in the events leading up to January 6th, that you shouldn't be participating.

UNKNOWN So, he should recuse himself?

RASKIN: He should. Oh, he absolutely should recuse himself. The question is, what do we do if he doesn't recuse himself?

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KEILAR: Because do you think that he will recuse himself?

BOWER: So, I don't know whether Clarence Thomas will recuse himself, but it is important to note that he has previously recused himself in cases related to January 6th committee litigation. If you recall, there was a case in which the January 6th committee attempted to get documents from John Eastman. Some of those documents included emails between Eastman and Jenny Thomas, Clarence Thomas's wife. And Clarence Thomas did recuse himself in that case.

There is a federal law that requires that a judge recuse themselves when there might be some reasonable question as to the appearance of impartiality. And that includes instances where, for example, they might reasonably believe that their spouse could be a material witness in the case. And again, Jenny Thomas is someone who had communications with people like Mark Meadows about efforts to reverse the results of the election, had communications with people like John Eastman, and is someone who was at the January 6th rally and Trump's speech.

So, it is certainly the case that there is a colorable argument here that, um, she could be someone who might be a material witness in as it relates to the Department of Justice case against Trump. So there is an argument there for Clarence Thomas's recusal based on all of that. However, there are some signs that we've already seen that potentially Clarence Thomas will not recuse. If you recall, there was just a Supreme Court petition brought by special counsel Jack Smith in relation to the federal election interference case against Trump.

And in that petition, where Jack Smith asked the court to kind of jump ahead of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and decide this presidential immunity issue, the court declined to go ahead and do that. And in doing so, there was no indication in the denial of the petition that Clarence Thomas had recused himself from voting on whether to accept or deny the petition. So that might give us an indication, Brianna, that Clarence Thomas may not recuse himself from the Trump-related criminal cases or some of the Section 3 of the 14th Amendment cases. And there's not really much that can be done as to Senator Raskin's question about, excuse me, Congressman Raskin's question about what could be done if he does not recuse himself.

At the lower courts, you can seek something called a mandamus to kind of force a judge to disqualify or recuse themselves if they refuse to do so. But there's really no equivalent at the Supreme Court level. It's something that's a decision of the justice themselves. And so, if Clarence Thomas decides not to recuse, there's really not much that can be done.

KEILAR: He'll have the final say. Anna, thank you so much for being with us.

BOWER: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: President Biden also facing a daunting start to the new year. Crises at home and abroad are threatening global stability. And the deep political divisions in Washington mean solutions to the problem. won't come easily. Plus, he's trying to get re-elected. CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Washington. Arlette, what are the president's top priorities in the new year?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, President Biden is seeing a host of challenges pile up at a time when he's also trying to convince American voters to give him a second term in the White House. Now, President Biden is still on vacation in the Virgin Islands, but he did spend part of the day on the phone today with his national security team, where he was briefed on what had happened with that earthquake in Japan. Just moments ago, President Biden released a statement sending his condolences to the Japanese people and also stressing that the U.S. administration officials are in touch with Japanese officials and stand ready to provide assistance to the country in the aftermath of this earthquake.

That national security call that the president had also focused on the latest developments in the Middle East. The Israel-Hamas conflict really consumed a lot of the president's time and attention in the final months of 2023, and that's expected to be no different now that 2024 has started. White House officials in the coming weeks will be watching very closely to see whether Israel actually moves into that lower intensity phase of fighting.

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That is something that the U.S. has been pushing the Israelis to do for quite some time. And today, a senior U.S. official said that they were starting to see the beginning of that gradual shift that they are expecting to that lower intensity phase of fighting, to that more surgical approach as the IDF had announced that they would be withdrawing some troops from Gaza. There's also other issues, including back here at home, when you think about the border crisis, also whether they can renew aid for Ukraine, and also getting government funding passed with not one but two deadlines approaching in the next five weeks.

And all of this is playing out against the backdrop of the 2024 election. President Biden has been trailing in some polls. His predecessor, former President Donald Trump, he's expected to start hitting the road. He's expected to start hitting the road in the coming months and starting to make that more direct contrast with Trump as the 2024 campaign approaches.

KEILAR: All right, Arlette Saenz, thank you for that report. And the first true test of this presidential election cycle, the Iowa caucuses, it's just two weeks away. CNN's Kristen Holmes is here with the state of play as the new year is getting underway. All right, Kristen, so where does this Republican race for president stand on the first day of 2024? Or maybe I should say at this point, it really appears to be a race for second place.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Brianna, that's right. So, if you look just today at all of the polls in the early voting states, Donald Trump clearly is the GOP frontrunner and by a pretty significant margin. And we have one poll here I want to show you from Iowa and kind of break down what exactly we're looking for as we kick off this primary caucus season. This year, Iowa poll has Trump at 58 percent, Ron DeSantis at 22 percent, Nikki Haley at 13 percent, Vivek Ramaswamy at four percent and Chris Christie at three percent. So we're going to see what's going on in Iowa. Now, the Chris Christie is not surprising. He has spent almost no money in Iowa. He has been solely focused on New Hampshire. But what is surprising, at least maybe surprising, is that DeSantis

still has a big gap between he and Donald Trump. DeSantis really is all in on Iowa. This was the state that he has said that he wants to win. And when you talk to Iowa operatives, they basically believe that he needs to win this state. Now, when it comes to Donald Trump what they want to do is they want to make sure this margin is as big as possible because they're really going to be setting the tone for the rest of the primary season.

You look in New Hampshire, while Donald Trump still has the lead, there really is getting to be a smaller and smaller gap, not between Trump and Ron DeSantis, but between Trump and Nikki Haley. Nikki Haley, again, seeing a small surge there, but all of the tone is going to shift and a lot of what we see is going to change based on what happens in Iowa.

KEILAR: All right, Kristen, and how would a Trump-Biden hypothetical at this point, head to head, how would that shape up?

HOLMES: So, it's very, very early. And just a reminder that Donald Trump has not won the nomination. However, there has been a lot of polling to see what exactly that would look like. Now, New York Times did a poll in which Joe Biden was trailing Donald Trump overall nationwide, 44 percent to 46 percent. Donald Trump with 46 percent. But perhaps more interesting was our CNN polls, where we really went into these critical swing states, particularly Georgia and Michigan, both states that were won by Biden back in 2020, that have him trailing by a pretty significant margin.

If you look at Georgia, Trump is beating Biden in this hypothetical poll, 49 to 44 percent. In Michigan, where Biden really won by a larger margin in that state, he is trailing by 10 points, with Trump at 50 percent. And Biden at 40 percent. But again, it is still very, very early, Brianna.

KEILAR: It is early indeed. Kristen, thank you so much for that. And still ahead, a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Japan causing extensive damage, leaving thousands of people without power.

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KEILAR (off-camera): You can see it here, the force of the quake shaking the ceiling of the subway station. I'm going to interview a marine scientist about the big waves that this quake caused. We'll talk about if any more are ahead. And back in the U.S. A new year means new laws are hitting the books in some states. We're going to take a look at the measures that will go into effect across the country today.

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KEILAR: Disaster strikes western Japan just hours into the news. A 7.5 magnitude earthquake devastated the Ishikawa Prefecture. You see some pictures of one neighborhood there. Local media reporting that first responders are rescuing people as we speak. And public broadcaster NHK says about 1,400 people are stranded on bullet trains even more than 11 hours after the quake hit. One video shows the sheer power of the shaking as this occurred around 4.10 p.m. Japan time. For more than 30 seconds you can see the quaking in the office, in an office in the prefecture next door to Ishikawa.

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KEILAR: CNN's Mark Stewart is here with the latest for us. Obviously getting into the wee hours of the morning there where you are. I see you sort of shaking your head as you're looking at that video. It really is amazing to see what's going on.

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MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brianna, I received a text from a friend of mine in Japan who lives in Tokyo, which is a good 200 miles away from where this happened. So it is clear that this quake was very intense. As you mentioned, there are rescues taking place, but I think right now we're still about three hours or so away from sunrise in Japan. And broadly speaking, rescue teams are, one, assessing what the current situation is, and then, two, trying to take action. One issue that they are going to sadly have to confront is homes, or homes that have been completely destroyed. We have some video right now that we will soon show you of a home that essentially was flattened, pancaked, and it looks like someone almost dropped a bomb on it. It just collapsed.

You see here people driving up, to this home. If you could hear some of their reactions, there's a woman in Japanese saying something to the effect of, oh, my God, oh, my God. It's that startling. But as you can see, this home is basically rubble, and that's the big concern, that people may be trapped. Some rescues, we know, are taking place now, but there is going to be this broader issue of just how widespread scenes like this truly are. We know a big issue that is facing this part of the country right now is infrastructure. Five highways are damaged. As we've seen from the video, many roads are cracked. There are some problems -- at least one airport.

So, getting people, getting supplies from point A to point B, things such as food, clothing, water, even emergency responders is going to be a challenge. There was a report that doctors at one point were having a hard time getting to health care facilities because the roads were blocked and in such poor shape. Brianna, we don't know how many people right now are homeless or stranded, but this happened in the middle of the day or late in the afternoon on New Year's Day. As we saw, people were out shopping. A lot of people are stuck. And as such, at least 20 schools have been set up as emergency shelters. That's certainly a number, Brianna, that could grow in the hours ahead.

KEILAR: Yeah, certainly we expect that. Mark, thank you for that report. We appreciate it. And joining us now, is oceanographer Dr. Ellen Prager, chief scientist at StormCenter Communications. She also wrote the book Dangerous Earth, What We Wish We Knew About Volcanoes, Hurricanes, Climate Change, Earthquakes and More. Dr. Prager, first, what stands out to you about this particular earthquake?

DR. ELLEN PRAGER, CHIEF SCIENTIST STORMCENTER COMMUNICATIONS: Well, it's considered a major quake. 7.5 is a big quake and it was shallow. And that's why you're seeing a lot of the impacts in the homes and in buildings and roads cracking. And because it was so shallow and such a high magnitude quake, it's those things combined.

KEILAR: Okay, so it's those things combined that are really making this quite a challenge for people there. I wonder, just from the video that we have seen, we've seen video inside of a parking garage. We've seen another video inside of an office building. And I wonder what you have observed in the shaking, because it does appear at one point that the shaking is moving objects one direction. And then it kind of moves them perpendicular in direction. Did you notice anything about that?

DR. PRAGER: Well, you're going to sort of see that in general, especially with something where you've got these ground waves like that. But for me, the other thing that stands out is, one, Japan has an early warning system. So even seconds in advance, they knew something was happening. And their building codes are really good. And so, if this kind of quake had happened somewhere else, the damage would, I mean, there's no damage, but it would have been catastrophic in other places.

KEILAR: Yeah, I mean, we go back to the Northridge quake in California in 1994. Six point seven, I believe. Is that right, just to put it in context? This is, just to compare it.

DR. PRAGER: Right. I mean, essentially, yeah. It might have even been like a 7.1. But yeah, again, building codes, and they're used to earthquakes. They really, and also the tsunami warning system. They were good about putting the warning out, getting people to high ground as soon as possible and keeping the messaging going. I think that was also very impressive that they didn't just put it out. They kept telling people where to go. They haven't even said it's safe to return because there could be changes in water levels still. Things could have been damaged. They don't want people going back to the coast. So that's the other part that I think was done very well.

KEILAR: Yeah. Let's talk a little bit more about that because obviously Japan has learned a lot since the 2011 quake, which was much larger and created a huge tsunami. But we did see some elevated waves and that isn't without potential danger to the coastal areas as well. What are you looking at here, and what are you looking for ahead?

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DR. PRAGER: Well, certainly it's not. One of the things people have to remember is that even a little bit of water, you know, a foot of water rushing in is extremely powerful. We always see pictures of cars and things floating. It doesn't take a lot of running water to have a big impact. So that's one thing. Now we're kind of waiting to see what's going to happen next. One thing to think about is aftershocks, and does it create any landslides that could go into the sea or underwater? Those could trigger maybe small tsunamis. I don't think we expect anything huge at this point. But you do have to look at the aftershocks and potential submarine landslides.

KEILAR: Yeah, we see what was a placid sort of inland waterway here. And it's not a big wave, but, you know, about a foot. Like, it's not a big wave. Like you said, and you just see it cascading across this waterway. That can do a lot of damage as well. Dr. Prager, thank you so much for being with us.

DR. PRAGER: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: Still ahead, Russia launching a barrage of drone strikes across Ukraine during the early hours of the new year. And now Vladimir Putin is vowing more strikes on the way after the Russian border city of Belgorod was shelled over the weekend. Plus, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman opening up about his mental health struggles. And how he thought they would end his career. We'll have more on that coming up.

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