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Trump Files a Barrage of Appeals; Dozens of GOP Lawmakers Head to U.S.-Mexico Border; Harvard President Resigns After Backlash Over Anti-Semitic Comment. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 03, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CO-ANCHOR, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: Appeal-a-Palooza. Donald Trump goes on a legal filing spree. You didn't know that was a word, did you? Appeal-a-Palooza. So legally-speaking, politically-speaking, how much will this work in his favor?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CO-ANCHOR, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: Also it's a key 2024 issue, immigration. And today, dozens of GOP lawmakers are taking their heated message for Biden directly to the southern border.

BERMAN: New fallout after Harvard's president resigns. The protests now planned. And will other college leaders be next? Sara and Kate are away, I'm John Berman with Rahel Solomon. CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

So the question this morning, what will Donald Trump appeal today? It really is a multiple choice question. The most probable answer is C right there. Colorado's ruling to remove him from his primary ballot. That appeal is expected any time, only about 24 hours left to file it, there is a deadline.

He appealed a similar decision in Maine overnight and did not stop there. Overnight, his lawyers also asked a federal appeals court to rehear his immunity argument in the E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit, and a brand-new legal filing outlines how Trump plans to fight special counsel Jack Smith to get immunity in the federal election subversion case.

Oral arguments on that scheduled for next week, and of course, all of this is happening with just days before the Iowa caucuses. CNN's Zachary Cohen here with the flurry of legal developments. Zach?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, John, let's start in May, and obviously with this appeal by Donald Trump, he's just trying to stay on the ballot in these battleground states. And look, his appeal last night to stay on the ballot in Maine really spent a lot of time attacking Maine's Secretary of State, a Democrat, who he called bias.

Said his lawyers said that she should have recused herself from this decision, and that she actually had no authority to make it in the first place. Now, the Secretary of State in Maine, the situation is a little bit different there. The Secretary of State is the first-stop under Maine law for questions about who can be on the ballot and who can be removed from the ballot.

But it does show how Trump's politics are really part of Trump's legal strategy when it comes to Maine, and arguing this at the state level. Now, he also argues that he can't be removed under the 14th Amendment because the insurrection ban of the 14th Amendment -- because he did not engage in an insurrection.

And this is something that might have relevance beyond just Maine. It's also at the core of the questions raised by Colorado's decision to remove Trump from the ballot. As you mentioned, that's a decision that we expect to be appealed as soon as today, and we're waiting to see how that might impact the broader landscape of these states deciding whether or not Trump can be on their primary ballot, and potentially on their general election ballot as we go into the 2024 presidential race.

BERMAN: A lot of lawyers very busy this morning. Zach Cohen, keep us posted, thank you very much.

SOLOMON: All right, with us now is Federal and White Collar Criminal Defense attorney Caroline Polisi. Caroline, good to see you. So Zach, I think did a good job there, laying out some of the arguments that Trump made in this filing in the Maine disqualification case. What do you make of it? Because it sounds like he gave himself a few different ways to win here.

CAROLINE POLISI, LECTURER IN LAW, COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL: Yes, and you know, Trump asking for recusal is nothing new. Obviously, we've seen him attack, you know, whether it's the federal election subversion case with Judge Tanya Chutkan or here in New York with Judge Arthur Engoron, he frequently makes these types of arguments.

But look, Rahel, this is not just a Maine issue, it's not just a Colorado issue, this is quickly becoming a real federal issue that the Supreme Court is going to take up, has to take up, unlike the presidential immunity question where I think they might not actually answer that question.

This obviously is something that the Supreme Court is going to want to weigh in on. Looming large, you know, behind -- in their minds, obviously is the Bush v. Gore decision, they don't want to answer political questions, but they really have no choice at this point. They are going to decide one way or the another with respect to all 50 states, whether or not Trump can be on the ballot in all 50 states.

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It's not going to be a state-by-state issue. And, you know, I personally don't feel that they're going to answer this question we're all asking, whether or not Trump engaged in an insurrection for the purposes of the 14th Amendment, that section 3 there that we've all been talking about.

I think they are going to make the decision on procedural grounds, whether or not that clause is self-executing, and whether or not really it's the electorate or Congress that is going to enforce this decision. I don't think it's going to be the courts.

SOLOMON: So, to that point, do you think that those were the most effective arguments made in that filing, less about whether he actually committed insurrection, more about sort of the technical aspects of who should be deciding who remains on the ballot?

POLISI: Yes, look, each state has its own, you know, different sort of issues with respect to election law, and so, this argument is different from the Colorado case, for example. There they made a very technical argument with respect to whether or not, Article 3 of the 14th Amendment even applies to the presidency.

So, you know -- but they all -- the underlying issue with all of them that I think the Supreme Court is going to ask is whether or not we want in this country the courts to step in and decide and make that determination. He hasn't been convicted of anything like insurrection, for example.

The constitution doesn't require it, but the question is, do we want, you know, in terms of due process, is this the type of thing we want the court deciding.

SOLOMON: Yes, I take your point that they don't want to get into the politics of this, but I'm wondering, do you think that we see a ruling where it sort of settles the matter at least legally? There's one ruling, or is there a world in which they send this back to the states?

Because as one legal expert told me just yesterday, look, I mean, there is no more perfect case for the U.S. Supreme Court. It's a constitutional issue, the stakes are huge -- and, oh, by the way, there is tons of confusion.

POLISI: That's exactly right. There is no way that the Supreme Court is going to let chaos reign wherein he is on the ballot in some states, he's not on the others. You know, the primary is obviously, coming up, so both -- you know, both the court and these lower courts have to decide quickly.

I do think we will see the court act expeditiously. They can do it, we know that they can do it, the question is just how quickly they will do it.

SOLOMON: Caroline Polisi, good to see you. Thank you.

BERMAN: I think I heard a legal objection in the background there, the dog barking --

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: I object.

SOLOMON: Touche.

BERMAN: All right, breaking moments ago, a new endorsement for Donald Trump. Tom Emmer, who is the number three House Republican, the Republican whip, he has now endorsed Donald Trump for president. This follows the House Majority leader Steve Scalise endorsing him just yesterday.

The House Speaker Mike Johnson has already endorsed Trump, all Republican House leadership has now endorsed Donald Trump for president. So, the party apparatus really rallying behind Donald Trump.

This comes as there is some positive news for some of Trump's opponents. Nikki Haley's campaign reported raising $24 million in the fourth quarter. That is more than double her third quarter haul. Haley is in New Hampshire today, Ron DeSantis is in Iowa, that's where CNN's Steve Contorno is live for us now. What do you expect to see today, Steve?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, that money that Nikki Haley is getting, that's going to be a nice injection of cash into her campaign, and giving her more firepower to go after Ron DeSantis. And she has spent since November 14th almost $30 million between her and her Super PAC, attacking Ron DeSantis on the airwaves and supporting her campaign in New Hampshire and Iowa.

Just to put that in perspective, DeSantis' campaign and his allied Super PACs, they have been virtually dark in New Hampshire since mid- November. They haven't been putting a lot of their effort and resources into Iowa. They have spent a lot -- $13 million on advertising in Iowa.

And, again, Chris Christie has actually spent more money than DeSantis in New Hampshire, that's where he is putting most of his effort. He is on the air with a new ad that is criticizing his opponents for not doing enough to directly take the case to Donald Trump. DeSantis last night at a town hall in Iowa responded to that criticism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And why do you protect Trump? What are you scared of? And we had a few questions like this basically. Are you scared of Trump? Is that why you don't criticize him more? How do you address that?

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I take issue with that. I mean, I have rendered very sharp contrast between Donald Trump and myself with respect to policy. I don't like the way he gets involved in some of the pettiness that he does. It's not how I roll. You know, we all -- we look higher. We set a good example. But we're tough when it comes to contrasting on issues, judgment and results.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: DeSantis will be here at this community center in Waukee, Iowa, in about an hour. He has gone all across the state, leading up to our town hall tomorrow, and he's going to spend much of the weekend here as well. This is the state where he is putting most of his effort into.

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He needs a good showing here, and he is doing all he can to ensure that he comes out of these Iowa caucuses with some momentum going into New Hampshire. John.

BERMAN: All right, Steve Contorno in Waukee, Iowa -- and a reminder, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, they will both take questions directly from Iowa voters back-to-back CNN town hall events, Kaitlan Collins and Erin Burnett moderate live tomorrow night starting at 9 o'clock Eastern Time.

SOLOMON: All right, coming up for us today, the House Speaker and dozens of Republicans are headed to the southern border to highlight the migrant crisis. That's as the White House points the finger at the GOP for blocking President Biden's immigration plan. Coming up, we're live on the grounds in Texas.

Plus, the president of Harvard steps down after her Capitol Hill testimony on anti-Semitism and accusations of plagiarism. The House Republicans say that their investigation into her work is not over. And new clues in that deadly plane collision on a Tokyo runway. Hear what air traffic control told the pilot just moments before it happened. We'll be right back.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. Today, Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to put the pressure on the Biden administration as he leads a house delegation of more than 60 Republicans to the U.S.-Mexico border. Their goal is to highlight the surge in migrant crossings, something that they blame on the Biden administration.

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They're even formally opening impeachment proceedings against his Secretary of Homeland Security. But the White House says that they're seeing a dramatic drop in crossings in the first days of the new year. They partially credit this to their negotiations with Mexico, and the president says that there is still more to be done.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got to do something. They ought to give me the money I need to protect the border.

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SOLOMON: Now, currently, negotiations for Biden's proposed aid package with -- proposed aid package with funding for the border is tied to Ukraine and Israel and it's at a stalemate on Capitol Hill. Let's get right to CNN's Ed Lavandera, who is on the border, and Lauren Fox who is in Washington for us. Lauren, stand by for just a moment. Let me start with Ed. Ed, what will lawmakers see on their visit today?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're going to come here to Eagle Pass, and this is a city that has been one of the major focal points along the U.S. southern border during this migration crisis. And this is an area where just a few weeks ago was filled with thousands of migrants who had crossed in from Mexico.

But you know, Eagle Pass is also kind of interesting, it really kind of captures the rub that is the border situation. You know, this is an area that is filled with thousands of federal, state and local law enforcement officers, miles and miles of razor wire along the river.

You can see in the background there, steel containers that state authorities have put along the Rio Grande to block people from crossing, but despite all of that, over the last several months, tens of thousands of migrants have crossed through this very area.

So, this is the dichotomy here, that you see an area that has built up infrastructure in border security and border infrastructure, and despite all of that, people continue to cross. So those lawmakers coming with this Republican group, more than 50 of them expected including the house speaker, will be meeting with state authorities who have also been very critical of the Biden administration's handling of the migration crisis along the U.S. southern border.

But the Biden administration, Rahel, also hitting back at these Republican house lawmakers saying that this visit comes -- is obstructing and hamstringing the delicate negotiations that are ongoing between a bipartisan group of senators in Washington and who have been meeting over the holiday break to try to come to some sort of deal and compromise on a border security bill. So, all of this visit today playing as those negotiations in Washington continue.

SOLOMON: Yes, and speaking of those negotiations, Ed, thank you. Let me bring in Lauren here. So, Lauren, how does the now Mayorkas impeachment push impact those talks and impact the negotiations?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's hard to imagine, Rahel, a world in which this doesn't further complicate those border discussions. Despite the fact that Republicans and Democrats in the Senate had been working in good faith to try to find a path forward, a compromise that they could all live with.

It's really hard to imagine that even if they got a deal, that it would now be easy to get through the House of Representatives where the newly-minted Speaker, Mike Johnson is now dealing with one of his committees who is moving forward with an impeachment proceeding against one of the men who has been in the room in those border talks in the United States Senate, Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS Secretary.

So I think it does further complicate the ability to get any kind of compromise through the House of Representatives. And you also have this dynamic where for months, you know, House Republicans have been calling on Mayorkas to be impeached.

And I think it just makes it very hard to imagine some of those Republicans being willing to vote for a border security compromise that is not the house-passed Immigration Bill that they moved forward with last year. So that's one dynamic. The other question, though, is what happens to additional aid for

Ukraine and Israel? As you mentioned, these issues are all tied together now -- and our colleague, Phil Mattingly pressed Secretary Mayorkas earlier on what it will mean if more funding for the U.S. southern border is not passed, and what that means for the conditions at the southern border. Here is what he said.

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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY, UNITED STATES: We will not have the resources to perform our jobs as fully and completely as we could do so, and that would be a very sad state of affairs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? When? Do you have a date on that?

MAYORKAS: We need additional resources. We need them now. We need technology to advance our fight against fentanyl. We need additional asylum officers to really accelerate the asylum adjudication process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And Senate negotiators are back in Washington, we expect that they are going to continue meeting today to try and make progress on this border security legislation that they have been trying to get an agreement on for the last several weeks.

Again, though, it just makes it very hard to see even if they got a deal, how it gets through the house at this point. Rahel

SOLOMON: Ed Lavandera, Lauren Fox, thank you both.

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BERMAN: Right, with us now is Congressman Gabe Vasquez, a Democrat from the border state of New Mexico. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. Your Republican colleagues have initiated impeachment proceedings against the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. How would you assess the job that Secretary Mayorkas has done at the border?

REP. GABE VASQUEZ (D-NM): Thank you, John. Well, first, I have to say, you know, representing 180 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, serving here as a border legislator for many years, and having the privilege to represent my constituents in New Mexico in Congress, I know the border very well, and the issues are much more complicated than the Republicans make them out to be, in particular with the claims made against the secretary in this particular impeachment process. In fact, I would call the proposal unserious. It's not going to go anywhere.

And if anything, we need to be working in a bipartisan way, including with the administration and with Secretary Mayorkas to solve this humanitarian crisis, and this just sets up -- sets back those conversations.

BERMAN: Yes, I mean, what does -- what do these proceedings accomplish? Where does this put the status of negotiations?

VASQUEZ: Well, look, what we've seen is that immigration is a hot political issue for Republicans, and we're going into an election year, and they're going to want to make this a political issue. Democrats like myself that represent border districts, in fact, colleagues like Tony Gonzales in Texas, who is leading part of that trip today, we know what is best for our communities in terms of the solutions that we need right here at the border.

And so, this supplemental package has to include, you know, emergency funding for Customs and Border Protection, but also for the support of the national organizations that are supporting the relocation of these asylum seekers.

Now, there's a crisis on the ground right now that many folks are facing, both on the local side, but also those women and children who are coming here to our borders. And so, we need to focus on what we can get accomplished in this deal, and not what we can get accomplished in a political commercial ten months from now.

BERMAN: Well, it's not just a political issue, though, right? I mean, it's a genuine issue. You just called it a crisis. You made a series of proposals as far back as November, even before that. I was reading through the proposals, I didn't see in there -- and correct me if I'm wrong, any reform, any major changes you proposed to the asylum process. Why not?

VASQUEZ: Well, because I think that we need some time to be able to look at what the best decisions are, and what our values are as American people when it comes to immigration into this country and our asylum process. And there's a lot of other things we could be doing.

The State Department could be doing a much better job, for example, of combating human trafficking and smuggling and educating migrants as well as our communities in our southern state or our southern neighbor in Mexico and other places. We could also be doing what the administration is doing right now, which is working with Mexico, Central American countries and others to help with the current crisis that we are seeing.

However, we cannot give up and give into Republicans' draconian anti- immigrant policies that reflect some very serious and deep changes to asylum policy that has long been held as a tradition of who we are as American people, that tell folks, give us your huddle, give us your weary, give us your poor. So those are discussions that we can't make --

BERMAN: Yes --

VASQUEZ: -- in a rush or in a haste. There are some things we can be doing on the ground now that will alleviate the situation at the border.

BERMAN: The Senate discussions, as I understand it, do include some talk about asylum reform. If that's what the Senate agreed to, would you vote against it? VASQUEZ: Well, look, we have yet to see what's coming out of the

Senate, and that's been part of the frustrating part for us here, especially as House Democrats. And speaking as a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, we have raised this alarm.

We held a press conference in front of the Capitol just a few weeks ago, asking the administration to engage in productive dialogue with the Hispanic members of the U.S. House. And so, we haven't seen that, and until we do -- and I can't comment on what I'd vote for or what I wouldn't.

But we can't rush immigration policy. We haven't done anything serious on immigration since the 1980s. And so, to do it under the auspices of a few Republican Senate negotiators and asking us to agree to that, I think seems disingenuous.

BERMAN: You mentioned Tony Gonzales from Texas, who is a Republican hosting what? Some 60 Republicans at the border today. What do you think of what they are doing today, and talk to me about Congressman Gonzales? Do you think there are Republicans from the border like you who do have your genuine concerns about what's happening?

VASQUEZ: Absolutely, and Congressman Gonzales is a good friend and in fact, I started the Southwest Bipartisan Caucus to deal with issues just like this, along with my colleague to the west of me, Representative Juan Ciscomani, also represents the border districts in Arizona.

And so, there are ways that we can come together. Now, Gonzales and I have talked about technology at the border, for example. Here in Santa Teresa at our port of entry, we are now scanning up to 80 percent of all commercial cargo, we're installing new inspection technology for non-commercial vehicles as well that have the opportunity to capture massive amounts of fentanyl that are coming into this country.

Those are two issues that we can agree on. This funding package, it should include money for security. Those are the things that we can come together on.

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But H.R. 2, what Republicans are proposing and some of the draconian anti-immigrant policies that Democrats had no hand in crafting is a nonstarter for many of us.

BERMAN: Congressman Gabe Vasquez from New Mexico, we do appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.

VASQUEZ: Thank you, John.

SOLOMON: All right, we have some breaking news into CNN. Twin blasts in Iran. More than 100 people were killed, at least 140 others were injured. That's after two explosions struck near the grave of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani. According to Iran state media, officials are describing the explosions as a, quote, "terror attack". Let's bring in CNN's Nada Bashir who joins us now. So, Nada, what more do we know here?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, Rahel, this is a developing situation. We are still getting more details from authorities and reports in Iran. That death toll has steadily risen over the last hour or so. Now, state media citing officials on the ground in Iran say at least 103 people have been killed, further, 141 said to have been injured.

Some of them are said to be in a critical condition. Of course, we are still waiting for more details around what caused the blast. According to state media, again, citing officials on the ground, there were two explosions, one, the first one, just 700 meters away from the burial site of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.

The second was just about a kilometer away from the path and checkpoints where pilgrims had been crossing through. Now, important to note that today marks four years since Qasem Soleimani was killed, he was killed by a U.S. strike on Baghdad International Airport, ordered by then President Donald Trump.

And of course, we haven't seen this kind of violence necessarily on the anniversary of Qasem Soleimani. So, there has always been heightened concern around the potential for such violence. Hundreds of pilgrims would have been gathering around or heading towards Qasem Soleimani's burial site to mark the four-year anniversary of his death.

And of course, there is now a huge amount of concern as we continue to see that death toll rise. Still unclear what the exact motive behind this reported attack may have been. State media reporting, again, citing officials that this is being characterized as a terrorist attack.

But of course, we are still waiting for more details around that. This does of course come at a time of heightened tensions in the region, particularly when it comes to Iran and Iran-backed groups across the Middle East, as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.

We are expecting to hear later today from here in Beirut, Hassan Nasrallah; the Secretary-General of the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah here in Lebanon, he was scheduled to speak to mark the anniversary of Qasem Soleimani's death.

And we will also be waiting to see what he has to say about this latest attack, and of course, keeping an eye on those developments as we continue to get more information on the situation in Iran.

SOLOMON: OK, certainly still a lot of questions to come. Our Nada Bashir live for us there. Nada, thank you.

BERMAN: President Biden's re-election campaign announces big plans for January 6th, using the insurrection anniversary to kick off his campaign really in 2024.

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