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Trump's Disruptive Behavior In E. Jean Carroll Trial; Biden Labels Houthis As Terrorists Amid Red Sea Tensions; National Shift In Attitudes On Weight And Health; Trump's Truth Social Attacks On Nikki Haley; Secrecy Surrounding Defense Secretary Austin's Hospitalization; Iran Suggests Ceasefire In Gaza Could Impact Regional Clashes; Houthis Designated As Global Terrorist Entity By Biden Admin; Maine Judge Delays Decision On Trump's 2024 Ballot Eligibility. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 17, 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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[14:01:52]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The judge in the second E. Jean Carroll trial threatens to kick former President Trump out of the courtroom for comments overheard by Carroll's lawyer. What Trump said that triggered the warning and his response to the judge's rebuke. And the Biden administration redesignates the Houthis as a terrorist group following numerous attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. This coming as Iran launched new missile strikes overnight ahead what we're learning from a top Iranian official on escalating tensions.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And we're going to be joined by Dr. Sanjay Gupta to talk to us about the major inflection point in this country when it comes to weight. Ahead what we're learning about shifting attitudes when it comes to bodies and health and the obsession with new weight loss drugs. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

KEILAR: Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Brianna Keilar here in Washington with Boris Sanchez and we are tracking federal court developments in New York City. That is where the former president Donald Trump is right now but he may actually be in the middle of a crisis, perhaps not be there much longer because the judge has threatened to kick him out. Trump attending his second E. Jean Carroll civil defamation trial. Well this is the second. It's the first one he's attended. And the plaintiff is on the stand today. She testified that Trump's defamatory comments led to a flood of violent threats and also major damage to her reputation.

SANCHEZ: Now here's the thing. Trump has been visibly and audibly reacting throughout her testimony. And first the judge cautioned him to keep his voice down so that the jury couldn't hear him. Apparently, that didn't take a short time ago. The judge threatened to exclude Trump from the remainder of the trial to which the former president replied I would love that. CNN's Paula Reid is tracking this in New York. Paula. Walk us through this courtroom clash.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look Boris, Brianna, this is pretty contrived courtroom drama. This is what Trump came for. And we've seen last week and then again this week. Trump attends legal proceedings where there are rules. You cannot enter a federal courtroom and make a ruckus while someone is testifying. Those rules apply to everyone. And the judge already gave Trump one warning, saying, look, I want you to be mindful that whatever you're saying to your lawyers during the testimony cannot be heard by the jury. But it appears that his reactions have escalated.

And this is a pattern that we're seeing. He doesn't have to be in court today. He is voluntarily attending this damages trial, even though he did not show up to a single moment of the trial about the facts at the core of this case last spring. He is volunteering to be here. He has been told some pretty standard rules to follow by the judge that apply to everyone else. He refuses to play by those rules. Of course, the judge has to admonish him, as he did here, reminding him that while he has a right to be present, quote, that right can be forfeited.

And if he is disruptive, and that is what has, sorry, I want to make sure I read this, that can be forfeited, that right. And if he disregards the court orders, Mr. Trump, I hope I don't have to consider excluding you from the trial. That's what the judge told Trump there. I mean, that's what would happen to pretty much anyone who engages in this kind of disruptive behavior in a federal court.

[14:05:19]

Last week, we saw him engage in similar behavior in a state court. Again, the judge would push back. They would engage in sort of a little bit of a contentious exchange because those are the headlines. That's the coverage that Trump wants, right, that he's being treated unfairly or at least cause enough drama to blow out of the headlines and distract from the crux of E. Jean Carroll's testimony today, where she talked about the profound impact that his attacks have had on her life.

KEILAR: Do you know, Paula, what specifically she was saying that elicited these strong reactions from the former president?

REID: So shortly before this, they were discussing how she thought that after in the spring, when a jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarded her five million dollars. She testified that she thought, okay, that's the end of it, right? She's going to start. He's going to stop because now he has to pay millions of dollars in a short time thereafter. He was participating in a CNN town hall and doubled down on his attacks.

Now, this exchange between Trump and the judge that happened outside of the presence of the jury, which is significant, of course, because they don't want the jury to be in any way influenced by these exchanges. But he has been, according to our colleagues who are in court physically and verbally reacting to much of her testimony throughout the day.

SANCHEZ: Paula Reid, please stand by. We want to get some legal analysis now from former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. Renato, your reaction to these exchanges between Donald Trump, the former president, and Judge Kaplan?

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: So, I think my initial reaction is that Trump really wants to turn this trial into a circus. He wants the story to be the circus rather than a focus on the facts of the law. I mean, he is on trial after all for sexually assaulting a woman in a dressing room. I mean, it's a very, very serious matter. And his defamation regarding that, of course, repeated defamation even after our jury verdict. And yet here we are talking about his antics in court. So, I really think that that is what he's doing here. It's not a legal strategy. It's a political press or PR strategy.

KEILAR: And we just got word, Renato, that Donald Trump's attorney, before the jury began, their afternoon proceedings, he actually made a motion for Judge Kaplan to recuse himself from the civil defamation case, citing a general hostility following this, I guess you would call it an episode in court. The judge denied that. What do you think about that?

MARIOTTI: I think that's a frivolous motion that is being made precisely so we repeat the fact that the motion was made on the air. Judges rule against defendants all the time. They rule against parties in lawsuits all the time. That doesn't mean that they should have to recuse themselves. This is a message Trump is trying to send a message that he's going to say every legal proceeding against him is unfair. It's a circus and he's trying to turn it into one. He's going to try to attack the judge here, just like he did attack the judge in the New York civil fraud suit. Of course, attacking that judge personally and the judge's staff personally.

Judge Kaplan is -- won't give him the leash that he had in the last trial. But nonetheless, Trump is trying to make this a personal fight effectively between him and the judge and turn this into a circus, uh, rather than take the proceeding seriously.

SANCHEZ: Renato, I want you to expand on the idea that Trump and his team could be pursuing this kind of strategy for an appeals process that they are sort of foreseeing into the future. Is this the kind of thing that would ultimately benefit them in an appeals process.

MARIOTTI: I don't think so. The transcript's not going to look very good for the former president interrupting a court proceeding, making statements out loud in front of the jury is not -- is not something that judges would ordinarily permit a defendant to do as Paula noted a moment ago. And, and I think the judge is making a good record here. So, I doubt that there's really an appellate strategy here. Don't see this as a legal strategy. I really view this as a strategy where he is using this as a platform to further, whether you -- political campaigners, press or PR strategy or fundraising strategy. I don't know.

It's not my expertise, but purely from a legal perspective, throwing rocks at the judge, so to speak, disrupting his courtroom very unlikely to help him legally, unless he's hoping to sway a particular juror who might overhear something he says.

SANCHEZ: Renato Mariotti, Paula Reid. We've got to leave the conversation there. Thanks so much. Back to the campaign trail. Now, former president Trump has been launching a series of truth, social attacks against his Republican rival, Nikki Haley, derisively comparing Haley to Hillary Clinton and using a familiar racist smear he used against former President Obama.

[14:10:19]

KEILAR: Let's bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes, who is covering the Trump campaign from New Hampshire. Trump really seeming to focus his ire on Haley, Kristen, which he wouldn't do if he wasn't feeling the heat there. What can you tell us?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Brianna and Boris, it's very clear that for Donald Trump, at least in New Hampshire, this is a two-person race. We've been reporting now for the last several weeks that his team has been watching Haley's poll numbers rise. And it's very clear that Donald Trump is seeing that and, as you said, feeling the heat. We heard him on the campaign trail last night going after Haley, saying that she was trying to bring in Democrats and independents to infiltrate the Republican primary. And to be clear, only Republicans and independents can vote in the primary.

And the only people who switched their party affiliation had to do so by October 6th, so there is no new recruitment going on to bring Democrats into the party. The other thing are those social media posts that you mentioned. Now, I want to bring them up here and show exactly what it is that he's doing. You can see in this post, he goes after Haley and he's using her birth name. Now, this comes after he amplified the false narrative that she couldn't be president of the United States because when she was born, her parents were not. U.S. citizens.

We will say, as we have reported, she is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She was born in South Carolina and she is a U.S. citizen and therefore could be president. Now, these attacks might seem familiar because they look almost identical to what he did with President Barack Obama. He would often emphasize Barack Obama's middle name, which is Hussein. He would also talk about the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama couldn't be president because he wasn't born in the U.S. That seems to be a tactic he's used in the past and is using here again as they are seeing her creep up in the polls.

KEILAR: All right, Kristen Holmes, it certainly does appear that way. Thank you for that report. Let's talk now with Jamal Simmons, former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris and also CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp. We've seen it before, SE, what the president is doing here.

SE CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: More than just the Obama administration. We've seen it in the Obama narrative. We saw it in 2016. We all covered that. We remember him sort of alluding to Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz's ethnicity, questioning the legitimacy of their presidential candidacies. He also did it, I think less memorably, to Ben Carson. He brought up his religion, his Seventh Day Adventist religion. He went after Carly Fiorina's looks. I mean, anything he could use to scare his base into voting for him, he did. So, he's doing the same thing with Nikki.

But let me tell you, they love this. They want this to be a two-person race in New Hampshire. They are thrilled that he's taking her on this way. I spoke to the campaign earlier today and they said they're doing this for one reason only. He's scared of her.

SANCHEZ: Jamal, to you. So, if that is the case, that her campaign actually sees this as kind of a backward compliment by seeing her as a legitimate rival in New Hampshire. How should they respond? Looks like we're having some issues with Jamal's signal. We're going to get him unmuted.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Yes, all right we're going to unmute. Let's hope that's the simple --. Oh, here he is. Okay.

SANCHEZ:

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There you go. Sorry about that.

SANCHEZ: From the top, Jamal.

SIMMONS: You'd think several years later we'd have this all figured out. So, you know, I hope she feels good about it right now because it won't feel good in a few weeks as Donald Trump continues to unleash what he does on his opponents. One, it starts with the nickname. Two, he signals to his hordes of followers who are on social media that she's fair game. They start to take after her. Maybe they start to do things that are even more untoward and she starts to feel maybe even a little bit unsafe.

I think this is something that we all are going to have to wrestle with as we go through the campaign with Donald Trump because we know that he does not feel any of the social pressures to operate by norms or customs that treat people fairly. And, you know, this is. is going to be a pretty big deal for Haley over the next few weeks. If she can withstand the Donald Trump torrent, then she might just be able to be a great presidential candidate.

KEILAR: To that point, SE, I mean, that idea, Jamal, that you brought up, that she may even start to feel a little unsafe. You sort of just said that is, you know, one of the consequences. And that's an unfortunate thing, SE, that that is, that's where we are. We're also hearing today in court from E. Jean Carroll about how she felt very unsafe after being targeted by Donald Trump. That is the reality of what it is to be in his rhetorical crosshairs.

[14:15:19]

CUPP: Yes. Whether you're an election worker or a health worker, you know, during COVID, they were targeted by Trump and his supporters. It can feel very unsafe. Now, you know, listen, it's unsafe and an awful feeling for everyone. It's a bit darker for women. And I used to talk to Carly Fiorina about this back during the 2016 campaign. It's really scary to be a woman in Trump's crosshairs. That said, Nikki Haley is pretty tough. She'll be the first to tell you that. And I think she knew what she was getting into when she decided to take Trump on. It's why a lot of people decided not to, because it's a lot to handle his incoming and the incoming from his supporters. We've been there. I've been there. It's not fun.

SANCHEZ: Jamal, the timing of this is a tad bit ironic, because Haley is getting slammed by Trump with these sort of birther attacks hours after she claimed that the United States has never been a racist country.

SIMMONS: Yeah. So, she's wrong about that, right? It's clear the United States was founded as a racist country. Right. There was a three-fifths compromise in the Constitution. There were the Fugitive Slave Laws codes. There was, in 1820, the Missouri Compromise that was trying to balance slavery versus free states. So, we've seen this, obviously, segregation and Jim Crow. But what has happened over the last 70 years is that we've been trying to dig out from that history. We've been trying to become the country that our founders promised.

Now, so she talked about that that way, that we've gotten better than the one we used to be. I think she tried to circle back around to that. But as a South Carolina governor, she knows what she's doing. She's in a party that refuses to accept the facts. And so, for the rest of us who feel like we've got to give our children the best facts, the most information, so that they're prepared for the future, her perspective is that we should tell them fairy tales, right? That's the MAGNA perspective. Tell the kids fairy tales. And then they won't be prepared for the future when they really have to wrestle with some of these big questions as the country becomes an even more diversified place.

KEILAR: Yeah. What do you think, SE?

CUPP: Listen, I think saying that the country was never racist is obviously not good -- it's not right. That said, I don't think she can give that history lesson that Jamal gave every time she's asked this question. She's asked it a lot. But to say that America is not a racist country, that's something Joe Biden has also said. And I think she wants to sort of center on that narrative. But Jamal's right. She's running in a Republican primary. You know, this is a party now that wants to sort of reject the idea of racism and systemic racism wholly.

And I think she knows that. And she also is very aware of the history of racism in this country. She's aware of it in her own state. She took the Confederate flag down in her own state. So, she's aware of it. I just think she probably should skip that second part, the never, the never part. We were never racist part.

SANCHEZ: SE Cupp, Jamal Simmons, appreciate the perspective. Thank you both.

SIMMONS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, a close-up look at the 911 call that got an ambulance for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. What it reveals about his hush-hush hospital stay.

KEILAR: Plus, a top Iranian official says if the Gaza conflict ends, so will other clashes in the region. What he's saying about the Red Sea attacks and politics meet profane at a Trump store in Virginia. We're going to show you how one business owner is taking support for the former president to a whole new level.

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[14:20:09]

SANCHEZ: There are new questions being raised after an aide who called 911 to send an ambulance to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's home. Asked that the emergency service be discrete. Remember Austin was admitted to Walter Reed New Years Day after complications from prostate cancer surgery. It was later discovered that President Biden, the Whitehouse and members of Congress weren't told until several days later. CNN's Oren Liebermann is live for us at the Pentagon. Oren, what are these calls revealing?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Boris, this call shows that the efforts to keep this quiet, to effectively keep this hidden from public and perhaps from other senior members of the administration began at the very beginning of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's time in the hospital. In fact, on his way to the hospital. This call took place, according to the recording, at 7.11 p.m. on New Year's Day when an aide called 911 to bring an ambulance to transfer Austin to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It's worth noting that's not the nearest hospital to Austin's home in northern Virginia. But that is where the aide requested that Austin be taken as quietly as possible. Here's part of the recording here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: DEFENSE SECRETARY LLOYD AUSTIN'S AIDE: Can I ask, can the ambulance not show up with lights and sirens? We're trying to remain a little subtle.

UNKNOWN, 911 DISPATCHER: Yeah, I understand. Yeah, usually when they turn into a residential neighborhood, they'll turn them off. Is he reporting any chest pain at all?

UNKNOWN: No.

UNKNOWN: Okay. Did he pass out or does he feel like he's going to pass out?

UNKNOWN: No.

UNKNOWN: Okay. And like you said, he's awake, he's alert and oriented. He's not confused or anything like that, correct?

UNKNOWN: Correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LIEBERMANN: Keep in mind that from this point, it would be three more days until President Joe Biden learned that his secretary of defense was in the hospital. Another day after that, until the Congressional Oversight Committees learned about Austin's hospitalization, and that's when the public learned as well. But they still didn't know what sent him to the hospital in the first place, which is a diagnosis of prostate cancer that had happened nearly a month earlier in early December, as well as a surgery on December 22nd. One of the key questions now, Boris, why is it that the aide requested that the ambulance be subtle? That is a question we'll pose to the Pentagon here in a briefing coming up in just a little bit.

SANCHEZ: Look forward to seeing how they respond. Oren Lieberman, live from the Pentagon. Thank you so much. Brianna.

[14:25:09]

KEILAR: Iran's foreign minister is now saying if the conflict in Gaza ends, other attacks in the region could end too. His comments coming after Iran's deadly missile strikes in Syria, Iraq, and now Pakistan. Officials there say two children were killed, several others injured when Iran fired missiles and drones into Pakistani territory. Iran insists it was targeting terrorists. Joining us now is CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, thank you so much. As you listen to what this Iranian official is saying, what do you think?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think that the Iranian official is putting out a scenario that doesn't quite match reality because the Iranians have been doing a lot of these activities basically subtly in the -- over the last few years. And they've been moving forward in a way where they are actually going to, I think, challenge the U.S. in as many places as they possibly can. So, I don't think those challenges are going to stop even if the fighting in Gaza stops.

KEILAR: It's a false ultimatum in a way.

LEIGHTON: I think so. I think it really is a false ultimatum, and especially when they're involving so many other countries like Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and others. And that, I think, is a danger sign for everybody in this area.

KEILAR: Today, the Biden administration nominated the Houthis, of course, the Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, as a global terrorist entity, basically a terrorist group, saying they're a terrorist group after what they have continued to do, those attacks in the Red Sea, on the shipping lanes, and on U.S. interests. What does this designation change?

LEIGHTON: So what it changes, Brianna, is it really makes it easier for all of the different entities in the U.S. government, in not just defense but treasury, commerce, to put in place sanctions. In essence, or to trace the flow of financial transactions against any type of movement from the West into Houthi hands or even from other countries into Houthi hands. And that, though, is going to have limited effect because the Houthis use a financial system, the Hawala system, that is actually quite different from the Western financial system. So, they're going to be exempt from a lot of these types of sanctions just because of how they do business.

KEILAR: Such a good point there. Okay. The Houthis, maybe no surprise, they're criticizing this designation. They don't like it. Hamas is criticizing it as well. I'm sure the U.S. doesn't care too much about that. They're pretty comfortable still with the designation. But at the same time, should they be bracing for some sort of retaliation?

LEIGHTON: Well, these kind of criticisms are kind of rich, given the history of both Hamas and the Houthis and all the other groups in this area. But having said that, it is pretty clear that the Houthis and Hamas and their Iranian cohorts are going to be doing certain things against U.S. interests in the region. And I think we have to be very careful that these kinds of things are going to not only potentially endanger U.S. service members, but they could also continue to endanger commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

KEILAR: Yeah, huge economic ramifications and as well to our service members. Cedric, thank you so much for that.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brianna.

KEILAR: Boris.

SANCHEZ: We're following more breaking news just into CNN. A Maine judge has told state election officials to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on Donald Trump's eligibility for the 2024 ballot. CNN's Marshall Cohen is joining us now. And just as background, Marshall, last month, the secretary of state in Maine decided that Donald Trump did not belong on the Maine presidential primary ballot. However, she waited for this to go through the legal process. And now a judge is essentially saying the Supreme Court has to do its job before a final decision is made, right?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: More waiting. Boris, the decision just came in a few minutes ago from a judge in Maine, a state judge. This was on appeal. As you mentioned, Trump lost in the first round. The secretary of state said that he is not eligible to run because he engaged in the January 6th insurrection. And our Constitution bans insurrectionists from holding office. Trump appealed that decision. And the decision today from the Maine court was basically, we all need to take a deep breath and wait until the United States Supreme Court weighs in.

There is a separate case from Colorado that is looking at a very similar question. The oral arguments are scheduled for February, which means a decision might be pretty soon. So instead of saying yes or no today in Maine, that it was the right call or the wrong call to take Trump off the ballot, the judge sent the case back to the secretary of state and ordered her to wait until the Supreme Court weighs in, take that ruling from the Supreme Court into consideration, and to take action based off of whatever the Supreme Court does.