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Christie Slams Haley. DeSantis On Hot Mic Before Ending Campaign; House GOP Hardliners Balk On Bipartisan Spending Plan; Hunter Biden Set To Appear In Court On Federal Tax Charges; Trump Arrives At NY Court For Closing Arguments; Trump Speaks Ahead Of Closing Arguments In Civil Farud Trial. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 11, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Cares about. Because the thing that Chris Christie cares about honesty, hypocrisy, honor, integrity, these things do not matter in the MAGA base anymore. So, while this mattered to people like me just affected, you know, conservatives, I think this probably fell on some deaf ears. And I don't think that his opponents are going to change course because they were scolded by Chris Christie.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Look, Terry, he never broke through in with voters just look at the polling. So, impact may be negligible. But he was the only candidate out there taking on Trump directly. What do you think of what he did?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now look, he absolutely was but it goes back to authenticity, and at the end of the day, as sanctimonious as he comes across now and you know, lecturing everybody on the free world for how they've cow tailed to Donald Trump and not stood up to him. He was the first person in 2016 to endorse Trump, after they dropped out, stood there behind. I wish we had the video of it. Stood there behind Trump after endorsing, him looking sheepish and looking awkward in 2016, he led Trump's transition team. His -- his thing about oh, I'm not going to endorse Nikki because she refuses to say she's not going to be his VP. That's because he's jealous about that he didn't get picked to be Trump's VP in 2016. I mean, it's -- it's really sad.

BOLDUAN: And so, the campaign continues. Let's see what -- let's see where we're headed next. Thank you, friends. Really appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Talking about campaign, talking about Donald Trump and where his campaign is taking him which is arriving at any moment now to New York courthouse to attend the closing arguments in his civil fraud trial. We are there live. John Berman is on the ground. We're going to get back to John just after this.

And a bit of deja vu for House Republicans and the impossible job of being House Speaker. While Republicans are now threatening bulking, maybe revolting against House Speaker Mike Johnson, as he hopes to avoid a government shutdown.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:36:34]

BOLDUAN: All right, you are looking at the New York courthouse on the right of your screen inside Manhattan courthouse on the left. The steps out front where any moment Donald Trump is expected to arrive to attend closing arguments in his civil fraud trial. We're keeping a very close eye as you can see on all of this. Cameras everywhere we can have them and where it is allowed.

Well, in Washington today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to make some moves take a first step on a bipartisan Stopgap Spending Bill. The goal here is what amounts to a bandaid to avert a partial government shutdown that set to be triggered next week on January 19th. With the chance of a full shutdown, two weeks later.

Here's the deal. This doesn't mean it's a final deal yet even if they would pass this short-term deal. But even this short-term holdover move is becoming a hard sell, in the House for Speaker Mike Johnson. Hardline Republicans are bulking one Republican Warren Davidson of Ohio, calling it a surrender, even questioning why Johnson was even got the job as speaker if he goes along with this.

CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill. Lauren, you've got a ton of great reporting on where things stand, what the temperature is, what the heck is going on. Can Johnson find a way forward as the right flank is rebelling once again?

FOX: Well, it's an extremely chaotic place right now in the House of Representatives. And despite the fact that they are in the second session of this Congress, there is a sense that it looks a lot like the first year of Republicans being in control of this body.

Meanwhile, they do have this spending deadline coming up on January 19th. And Mike Johnson, he's already cut a deal on the top line funding numbers with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. He announced that deal over the weekend. His argument to his conference behind closed doors and publicly is that this was the best deal he could get under the circumstances. And yet he is still facing this extreme pushback from his right flank who held the floor of the House of Representatives hostage yesterday, when they voted down yet another procedural step. This is a tactic that they have used in the past. It was a bill that is unrelated to the funding fight, but it is a way for them to register their displeasure with the Speaker.

Meanwhile, Johnson defending himself to our colleague, Manu Raju yesterday. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Are you worried that one of these guys is going to make a move on you?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON, (R) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: No, I'm not worried about that at all. I just met with all those guys. Their close friends of mine. And we agree on the principles. Look, I am a lifelong hardcore conservative. I want to get as many policy wins as we can, I want advance the ball as far as we can. But the reality is we have a small majority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And that is the underlying reality. He's really walking a tightrope right now between what is practically possible given the fact that this deadline is coming up, given the reality that many of these members who are frustrated with the deal that he caught, are members who don't vote for spending deals, really no matter what is inside of them. That is the challenge for Johnson. Not to mention the fact that anything that House passes has to get through a Democratic controlled Senate, has to get signed by President Joe Biden, yet another Democrat. That is why Johnson feels like he has very little room to maneuver right now. And it's why he is in the position that he's in.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, with the slimmest of Republican majorities and a reality that folks have got to face. It's a divided Congress with a Democrat in the White House. They've got to work together or the government shuts down.

[09:40:08]

Lauren, keep close to you. Let us know what happens today on all of this.

Also fresh off that surprise appearance on Capitol Hill yesterday, Hunter Biden is in California today where he's expected to appear in federal court this afternoon on charges of tax evasion. The president's son faces nine counts and what special counsel David Weiss says was (INAUDIBLE) your scheme to avoid paying more than a million dollars in taxes.

CNN's Evan Perez is in Los Angeles. He's got the latest on this for us. Evan, what is this all about today?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate. This is the first time we're going to hear from Hunter Biden, we expect that he and his lawyers are going to enter a not guilty plea to those -- to those nine counts, three of which are felonies. But remember, you know, just six months ago, Hunter Biden was just minutes, minutes away from sealing a plea agreement with the federal government. Prosecutors agreed to reduce everything to a couple of misdemeanors, and another deal covering his purchase of a firearm at a time that he was prohibited from owning firearms.

So now, we have Hunter Biden facing two federal cases. Now he's being prosecuted in in Wilmington, Delaware for that gun charge. And now he is going to be facing these nine counts here in Los Angeles.

As you pointed out, from the start the show that we had yesterday in Congress, that this is the legal part of this, but Hunter Biden of course, is also a big figure in the political story as Republicans try to use some of the facts that you hear, you see in these cases right here against the against Hunter Biden and against that, of course, his father, the President of United States.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Evan, you so much for us to close this. Evan's going to be watching all of it for us in Los Angeles this morning.

President Trump has just arrived to court for closing arguments in the now $370 million civil fraud case against him. In New York, there's a live look inside the courthouse where we will once again likely see the president walking into the courtroom very soon. We've also just learned about what he is planning for later today.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:46:48]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I'm John Berman, along with CNN chief legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid. We're outside the courthouse here in lower Manhattan. Donald Trump has arrived here at the building for the closing arguments in his civil fraud trial and what you're looking at right there on the other side of your screen, live pictures of the hallway outside the courtroom, where Donald Trump has gone to the microphones to deliver campaign speeches, before going into the court room for the various proceedings over the last few months.

Paula Reid has been here for much of it.

PAULA REID, CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent: Yes.

BERMAN: Just remind us why we're here.

REID: This is a civil case. This is about money and the Trump Organization's ability to do business in the state of New York. Here the Attorney General has accused Trump and several other individuals, even his two sons of fraud, of lying to banks and insurance companies to get more favorable terms for loans and on their taxes. Now the judge has already found them liable for fraud. So right now, they're focused on penalties, which could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars and also some other charges.

Now today's specifically is for closing arguments. This is the end of the case where both sides present their theory of the case to a judge. Again, this is not a jury trial. This is going before a single judge. But there was talk of Trump potentially doing some of the closing arguments. The judge wanted some restrictions based on Trump's prior conduct here at court, attacking the judge, attacking the district attorney, attacking staff members here at the court. They would not agree to those terms.

So, this point, Trump is not expected to participate in today's closing arguments. But anything can happen here, John.

BERMAN: Basically, the judge said you can give a closing argument you can't give a campaign speech.

REID: Exactly. You have to stick to the relevant material facts and you cannot attack your accusers. Now that seems pretty reasonable inside the bounds of the court. But that's, that's not what we've seen so far. He has attacked again, pretty much everyone involved in this proceeding, trying to frame himself as a victim. And as you know, our colleagues are reporting this is as much a campaign event as it is a legal proceeding.

BERMAN: One of the things that you're looking at live pictures from the hallway outside the courtroom, again, are showing you this because Donald Trump does usually or often speak before going into the courtroom. One of the things I will be watching for is if Donald Trump's attorneys walk into that room and tell the judge, you know what we do agree to all of your terms. Let Donald Trump deliver part of the closing argument. Again, we don't know if that will happen or not. But that is one of the interesting possibilities here.

Paula, standby for one moment, because we are joined by Kristen Holmes, who covers the Trump campaign, which is one of the same thing with everything we're seeing here in the courtroom today.

But Kristen, you're getting some new reporting, or you have some new reporting on what Trump plans to do today.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So, I'm told by senior advisors that he is planning to make remarks. Now nothing is a done deal. Everything is still fluid. They're setting up those plans now. But after closing remarks, separate location, not here at the courthouse, he is going to have some kind of press event which is completely unsurprising.

And again, you know, really want him to go back to what we saw on Tuesday because that was a learning experience for his entire team. They had book ended this event that being the debate with two court appearances and a town hall in the middle. Tuesday did not go as planned. Donald Trump said he was fine with going to court and not being on camera. Originally, obviously that didn't work out as they scrambled to have a last-minute press event. That is because these are in fact campaign events, they are an opportunity for him to say that this is election interference, that all of the legal troubles he is facing are only because of political persecution. And that is it.

[09:50:18]

And that's what exactly we're going to hear today. And when we talk about whether or not he was actually going to ever deliver closing remarks, the answer is, is very unclear. Because as we know, just last month, he said he was going to testify, that he was going to be his lawyers went through all the processes, said he was going to be the final witness. Everybody put all the media coverage on the fact that he was going to testify in his own case again, and then last minute decided not to. So, whether or not he was actually going to stand up here, it still would have sucked all the oxygen out of the room, just the appearance of possibly delivering his own remarks, which is seems so crazy that his lawyers would even allow that to be participated in the case.

But of course, that again, changes the media narrative a day after a debate when two of his other rivals are fighting for second place. And one of them, Nikki Haley is really seeing a rise in the polls. He has an ability to take the oxygen out of the race. And that's exactly what he's trying to do.

REID: Yes, it's interesting. People don't give their own closing arguments. That's what you pay lawyers for. But it's clear today. He wants a bigger return on investment for showing them what he got on Tuesday, right, federal court, you go into a garage, you don't have a gaggle of reporters in the hallway, but that's what you have here.

So, I think it's fair to say we can likely expect him to address (INAUDIBLE) --

HOLMES: I would, I would, I would bet that he will address the (INAUDIBLE).

REID: Inside it's a lot like it was at the White House, actually, when he goes in and goes out and talks to reporters. And then again, another press event, trying to make sure that he gets as much attention as possible.

BERMAN: All right, Kristen, Paula, stand by. As a political matter, it doesn't matter whether he ever meant to deliver closing arguments or not. He more or less got what he wanted out of it so far. Again, we are watching for him as he walks into the courtroom in that hallway.

Our special live coverage from outside closing arguments in the Trump civil fraud trial, continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:55:58]

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump had just arrived to a -- sorry looking down to see who might be walking in. Let's keep an eye on that camera in the New York court house, because Donald Trump will be entering that courtroom very soon. I'm going to just keep an eye on this because there is quite a bit of activity. He's -- he's arrived at the New York court for the closing arguments in the civil fraud trial.

Now the judge in that case has already found that Donald Trump is liable for committing persistent. Here is. Let's listen.

DONALD TRUMP (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, thank you very much. As you know, we consider this unconstitutional, which it's election interference at the highest level, it's a disgrace. And it's in coordination with the White House and Joe Biden, because he can't win a campaign fairly. And we're going through it, but it is indeed a terrible witch hunt. We're going to have a news conference a little bit later on. As you know, I want to speak, I want to make this summation. At this moment, the judge is not letting me make this summation because I'll bring up things that he doesn't want to hear. And it's a very unfair trial, nobody's seen anything like this. I don't think they've ever seen anything like this. We have a situation where a statute was used that doesn't give me a jury. So, I have no jury, I really have no rights, and it's sad. And nobody, nobody thinks it's constitutional people. Legal scholars are writing about it like it's something they've never seen before. So, it's interference, its political interference, and it's something that shouldn't be allowed.

So, I am hoping to speak and to help my lawyers reveal all of the defects of this case. It should have never been brought. Very, very strong financial statements, they thought it was the opposite. They had no idea (INAUDIBLE). Then they saw them, knocked their socks off. You couldn't believe it. But great financial statements, everything is good. So, we have -- we have a level of detail in our defense that nobody's ever had. This is a case that should have never been brought, and it was brought, and it's very unfair and it's very bad for New York State.

Companies are fleeing, people are fleeing, the streets are crime- ridden. And Letitia James, that's all she thinks about is "Get Trump." She's been dreaming about it for years. And it's, you know, it's not the way the state should be run, because it's a state that's been in big trouble. We have all the businesses fleeing, and you have the people fleeing, the people that pay taxes. The people that don't pay taxes are coming in. So that's not what you want.

So, I want to thank you. We're going to have a news conference today, we don't know the time, we'll notify you, but sometime in the early afternoon at 40 Wall Street. So, we'll give a news conference where we can actually speak and have a microphone here, because even that they don't want us to have and they really don't want us to speak too much. So, we'll see whether or not the judge allows me to speak. Perhaps he won't, but I certainly would like to.

Thank you very much.

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump, speaking before he now heads into closing arguments of the civil fraud trial against him, saying, repeating much of what we have heard from Donald Trump in the past going in, calling it a witch hunt, calling it election interference, and also in those remarks, making it very clear once again. What is happening in the courtroom is a campaign strategy for Donald Trump at this point.

John Berman outside. John's back with us. Also joining us Paul Reid is right there with John, Anna Navarro here with us, S.E. Cupp here with us as well.

John, it's exactly what we've heard from Donald Trump before going after the Attorney General, going after -- criticizing the judge saying that he wanted to speak but not allowed to and attacking the whole process and trying to incorrectly connected to Joe Biden what he is up against here in this New York courtroom. BERMAN: Yes, I think as you said correctly, Kate, this was a political speech filled with some legal inaccuracies as he was describing what was taking place. You know, Paul Reid was with me watching this in real time.

[10:00:08]