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E. Jean Carroll's Trial Against Trump Resumes Tomorrow; Conservative Group To Test Menthol Cigarette Message In SC Primary; U.S. Carries Out Airstrike On Iran-Backed Militias In Iraq. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired January 24, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Is that somehow, the Biden administration was forcing Trump back into court on Tuesday, when again, he could have continued with the case and really probably gotten through a significant amount of the work that they still have to do on Monday. But as of now, it's unclear if the judge continued to offer that option to the lawyers, or if he's just unilaterally extending this.

ELI HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So, one of the things -- oh, sorry. Ultimately, that is up to the judge. He does not need both sides to say we're OK with that. The judge can say, I get you, I know you want to -- you want to wait for the jury. You don't. But here's what we're doing.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it may be something that if Trump's lawyers don't object to in court, they do in the court of public opinion --

HONIG: Yes.

REID: Yes.

BERMAN: -- which is what this is all about --

HONIG: Yes.

BERMAN: To an extent. Donald Trump's showing up at this trial, making a campaign event out of it. I want to show you one interesting number, Joe, if you can point to the magic wall, maybe over there. And we can see that poll number that we put up there so people can see.

We asked in our exit poll of the New Hampshire Republican primary voters, is Trump fit for the presidency if convicted of a crime? 54 percent said yes. 42 percent, no, which is a very high number among Republican primary voters.

REID: Yes.

BERMAN: You guys are the law. I'm not asking you about the politics. On the law, Elie, and on the last scheduling, what trial is there a possibility that he would be convicted of a crime and at this point in this election year?

HONIG: Yes, the calendar is so crucial here. There's four pending criminal indictments. I think in terms of which ones are going to get tried before the election, forget about the Fulton County D.A.'s.

That -- they don't even have a trial date yet. They're asking for an August trial. They assure you, that will not happen.

Now, we're getting really close to the start of Jack Smith, the DC case, the 2020 elections diversion case. The scheduled start date there is March 4, which is about 40 days from right now. And they have to start picking a jury a couple of weeks before that.

But of course, that case is currently hung up in the court of appeals on the immunity question. We don't have a ruling. That could come at any moment. Could be going to the Supreme Court next.

So, if that case gets moved, guess which one is left standing as the one that would be going first? The Manhattan hush-money case, which is the least serious case. And I don't know if those numbers even reflect the Manhattan hush money.

BERMAN: I'm not sure people remember that.

HONIG: Yes.

BERMAN: Paula, any sense from your reporting on Donald Trump's various lawyers in various places, which one they're preparing for first, which one they think might be first?

REID: So, he has -- his very broad team of lawyers. So, there is some overlap. But they've always been most concerned about the Georgia case because if there's a conviction there, that would be outside the pardon power.

In terms of the seriousness of the charges and things that might actually resonate with voters, the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case has always been of the utmost concern. Even though it is tentatively scheduled for May, it is widely considered that that date will be pushed. They are certainly concerned about going up against Jack Smith, in any court of law, but they are increasingly optimistic that the longer it takes to get this answer from the appellate court on immunity, the longer it takes to get to the Supreme Court, get an answer for them.

And the closer you get to the election, the harder it gets to bring a trial. Although I will note, our colleague Evan Perez tried to press Merrick Garland on just how close to the election are you comfortable starting one of these federal trials. Because historically, they have not taken investigative steps in any case that can impact an election 60 days outside the election.

This isn't an investigation now. This is a trial. Similar but different, Merrick Garland would not commit. So --

BERMAN: A lot of unanswered questions. REID: So many unanswered questions. I can't book a vacation. I'm sure you can either. We have no idea.

HONIG: We're on -- we're on call.

REID: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. On call, just like it's meant to be. Paula Reid, Elie Honig, thank you very much. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Still ahead for us. Conservatives test- driving a new campaign strategy in South Carolina. How they are hoping to use menthol cigarettes to take on Joe Biden.

And life imitating art in a wild fashion. The Oscars, the Barbie blockbuster, and the snubs that have Ryan Gosling speaking out now.

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[11:39:00]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning. A conservative group is using South Carolina as a testing ground for its message opposing the FDA's proposed ban on menthol cigarettes.

CNN's Rene Marsh joins us now. What's the goal here? Who is this directed at, Renee?

RENE MARSH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. So, John, only in a world where the incumbent president is facing this enthusiasm problem from his base. Can menthol cigarettes of all topics be seen as this political effective wedge issue in a presidential election? And that's where we're at.

So, we're talking about the Liberty Policy Foundation. This is a conservative advocacy group. They launched this digital ad campaign in South Carolina just this morning.

You're looking at a video of it there. And within the ad, it says "President Biden keeps talking about uniting Americans, bringing us together, so why is he pushing policies that continue to divide us? Like his proposal to criminalize menthol cigarettes."

The ad also goes on to show headlines related to Eric Garner. Garner, if you remember, died after police held him in an illegal chokehold for allegedly selling cigarettes illegally. Now, President Biden has not yet decided whether to approve the FDA's proposal on menthol cigarettes, which health advocates have said would save hundreds of thousands of Black Lives.

But the Republicans see that this could be unpopular as far as the span goes among some black voters. It's worth noting that menthol cigarettes are the preferred cigarettes among many black smokers because the tobacco industry has heavily marketed Menthols within the black community for decades. So, what this conservative group is doing is? It's using South Carolina in this democratic primary to test whether this is an issue that can effectively chip away from some of those Biden Democrats, specifically African Americans, John.

[11:40:13]

BERMAN: Well, great explanation. There was a lot going on here. Interesting to watch.

MARSH: Yes.

BERMAN: Rene Marsh, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So, New Hampshire's in the rear-view. South Carolina, you're now on the clock. A multi-million-dollar ad buy and a big campaign stop tonight, Nikki Haley is refusing to back down after Donald Trump's big win last night. Just as South Carolina Senator now a possible VP pick for Donald Trump, Tim Scott, he says Trump's strategy in South Carolina is to finish it.

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SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): What we have to do is just focus on South Carolina, make the margin so wide, so devastating that the race is over. The donors start turning their attention --

BERMAN: Fund Donald Trump?

SCOTT: I think it's next two or three weeks I suppose. The margins are going to get wider over the next three weeks. We're going home to South Carolina to finish this race and start focusing on Joe Biden.

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BOLDUAN: Let's talk about South Carolina. Joining us right now is Danielle Vinson. She's a professor of politics and international affairs at Furman University in South Carolina. Danielle, thank you so much for the time. Do you think, first and foremost, South Carolina Republicans take anything or learn anything from New Hampshire Republicans last night who are South Carolina Republicans?

DANIELLE VINSON, PROFESSOR, POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AT FURMAN UNIVERSITY: South Carolina Republicans are going to be a bit more like Iowa Republicans in that we've got a really large evangelical population that is very supportive of Trump. But you also do have a strong segment of more business, what we would have typically considered traditional conservative Republicans in past elections. And that's the group I think Nikki Haley is probably going to be focused on the most in trying to convince them that Donald Trump is not the best answer for them come November.

BOLDUAN: And they have you know, three of -- a month essentially that there's -- that South Carolina is going to be the laser focus of both of these campaigns now. I want to play for you what South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham told my colleague Manu Raju this morning reacting to Trump's win laugh -- last night, and Haley's -- and Haley's speech as well after the polls closed.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you think that it's time for Nikki Haley to drop out?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Well, I'll leave that up to her. But Trump is in a commanding position in South Carolina. I think, for all practical purposes, the primaries over.

She's done better than anybody in the history of South Carolina. She has a lot to be proud of. But her assessment last night of President Trump, I don't think would be widely shared in South Carolina.

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BOLDUAN: And what Graham's talking about there is her assessment of Haley's statement that Donald Trump is not fit to be president. Do you agree with Graham's assessment on that?

VINSON: I'm not sure because I honestly don't think most of the candidates in this primary have been making that argument very clearly until last week when Haley started doing so. And so, voters haven't really heard it very much. Chris Christie tried, but he was very low down in the polls for most of that.

And you were competing with all these other candidates, and all these other messages, and also what was going on with Trump and his court appearances and things like that. I think she's got one month to get voters focused on that message. And South Carolina is a good place to figure out whether will it work or not.

It's an uphill climb. I don't know that it will work. But I think it's her best shot at trying to close that gap with Trump and overtake him in South Carolina.

BOLDUAN: And, Danielle, let's also talk about the other senator from South Carolina, Tim Scott, who we played a bit from just then. I mean, this is also -- for context for everyone, it was a reminder. This -- Nikki Haley made Tim Scott a senator when she appointed him to fill a vacancy in 2012. Just showing some of the history there. But Tim Scott saying that his there -- Trump's strategy is to try to make South Carolina do or die for Nikki Haley. Do you think it is?

VINSON: Oh, absolutely. If she knows this electorate very well, she's won this electorate twice before when she was governor. If she cannot persuade this group of people which are very typical of a lot of the southern states where the campaign is going to be taken off to next, if she can persuade this group of people, there is no path forward.

So, yes, I think Scott is absolutely right that this is a make or break for her. If she cannot get to either neck and neck with Trump or beat him in South Carolina, there is no rationale for continuing. BOLDUAN: And one -- another thing that we saw last night is that Nikki Haley has gotten under Donald Trump's skin in a new way and he's now stepping up his personal attacks against her. You say there's a history in South Carolina, a strategy like that might not work, has backfired before. Do you think Donald Trump needs to be careful here?

[11:45:12]

VINSON: I think this is going to be really interesting to watch. And yes, Trump probably should be careful here. The first time Nikki Haley ran for governor, she endured some incredibly personal and ugly attacks from competitors and others in the state establishment, and that -- (AUDIO GAP) voters decided that the attacks were over the top, they were uncalled for, and they just didn't like it on.

Now, they're used to Donald Trump making these kinds of attacks. So, it may not have as much impact this time around. But South Carolina voters have not always reacted well to personal attacks.

And there could be a backlash, I think, particularly amongst suburban women who already know Haley. And they may not need a whole lot of persuasion on that front to ship their support to her.

BOLDUAN: There's a lot to watch. A lot of focus coming right your way. It's great to -- great to meet you, Danielle. Thank you so much for coming in. John.

VINSON: Thank you.

BERMAN: Obamacare hits a record for new signups as Donald Trump promises to repeal and replace it if he returns to the White House. And it's as if Oscar voters live only in the Mojo Dojo Casa house. Life imitating, art imitating life, and the Oscar nominations, the voters, they watch Barbie and reward Ken. Ken reacts this morning.

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[11:51:05]

BOLDUAN: All right, it's also "ON OUR RADAR" this hour.

Iraq condemning U.S. airstrikes on three facilities used by Iran- backed militias in Iraq. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the strikes were in direct response to escalating attacks against American and coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria. U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have come under attack at least 151 times since October 17.

New -- a New York man was found guilty Tuesday in the -- in the murder of a 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis. Gillis was shot and killed after the car that she was riding in accidentally turned into Kevin Monahan's driveway in rural New York. Now, the woman's father called it the best possible outcome shorter for still being alive. Monahan maintained that he killed her on accident after he stumbled, and his shotgun went off.

A record 21.3 million Americans have signed up for afford -- the Affordable Care Act -- for Affordable Care Act coverage this year. That is five million more people who signed up compared to 2023. Former President Trump has vowed to repeal Obamacare saying it "sucks," promising to replace it with a better plan that he is yet to unveil and despite his attempts when he had Republican House and Republican Senate and was not able to do it when he was president.

Moving on. There is no Ken without Barbie and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie. Actor Ryan Gosling, that's a statement from him, channeling some Ken energy after a shocking Oscar snub. Gosling and co-star America Ferreira, they're both nominated for their roles in the summer box office smash.

But Barbie's leading lady Margot Robbie and the film's director Greta Gerwig were left out of the Best Actress and Best Director categories. The snubs, they mirror the film's central premise, the patriarchy is baked into our culture, and it's exhaustingly hard for women to get a fair shake. CNN is owned by Barbie producer Warner Brothers Discovery. John.

BERMAN: We'll take over from here on --

BOLDUAN: Thank you, sir.

BERMAN: Stocks, on their way to record highs. Gas prices falling. Mortgage rates at their lowest level since last spring. John Stewart going back to the Daily Show. But not everyone is feeling so great about the economy.

Matt Egan is with us now. And this is something that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is acutely aware of.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: She is, John. Also, Janet Yellen, she's giving what Treasury officials are building as a major speech tomorrow in Chicago. And excerpts of this speech shared with CNN show that Yellen is going to focus in part on how the administration wants to lift up middle-class families who are dealing with real-world financial problems right now.

Cue line from the speech. Yellen is going to say "It is still too hard to be a working parent. We need to get American families access to affordable childcare and other support for their children." Now, on that point about childcare, care.com has a study out that shows that parents spend on average 24 percent of their household income on childcare. 24 percent. And almost half the parents who responded to this survey say that they're spending more than $18,000 a year, again, just on childcare.

Now, Yellen also plans to talk about other areas that they can focus on to help the middle-class including housing, and education, and she's going to note that the expanded Child Tax Credit, which went away, plunged millions of children back into poverty. Now, all of this, I think, shows how Biden officials are trying to thread the needle here, right? On the one hand, they want to take credit for historically low unemployment, for high GDP, and for the fact that inflation is cool.

On the other hand, they know that if they only focus on those positives. They're going to come off as tone-deaf, right? Kind of like those CEOs who go viral for the wrong reasons when they fire people on Zoom. And so, they've got to acknowledge the elephant in the room, which is that it is hard right now for working families.

[11:55:06]

And parents that I talked to, they do voiced frustration about the cost of housing, right, of childcare, of getting a car. And so, all of these issues are going to continue to be major issues in the race for 2024 in the White House.

BERMAN: I know you're an avid CNN NEWS CENTRAL viewer, it was right here on the show where the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, you know what, what's happening, that was the definition of a soft landing in the economy. It is happening. But at the same time, she was also super careful not to declare victory.

EGAN: Right. Absolutely. Both things can be true at the same time. The fact that recession fears have gone down and a soft landing may happen, that's certainly true. At the same time, there are real affordability challenges out there.

BERMAN: Matt Egan, great to see you. Thank you very much.

EGAN: Thank you, John.

BOLDUAN: And thank you all so much for joining us today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.

BERMAN: Enjoy.

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