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Justice Department Launches Probe into Boeing for Possible Criminal Liability Related to Company's Safety Measures for Producing Aircraft; Eye-Witnesses Say IDF Soldiers Opened Fire on People as They Tried to Get Food from Aid Trucks in Gaza; President Biden and Former President Trump to Visit U.S. Southern Border in Texas; New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul Interviewed on Her State's Sanctuary Policies and Congressional Deadlock on Immigration Bill. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired February 29, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This news just in. The Justice Department is now reviewing last month's door plug blowout. The door plug flew out of that Alaska Airlines flight midflight. This is a story first reported by "Bloomberg" and "The New York Time." The Department of Justice is investigating if Boeing can be held criminally liable.

CNN's Pete Muntean is with us now with the details here. Pete, what have you learned?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is not good for Boeing, John, facing a mountain of investigations into the door plug incident itself, also into quality control at the factory. And now the Justice Department is piling on here. Well, what does it all mean? This could expose Boeing to criminal liability if the Justice Department finds that Boeing violated their agreement after the 737 Max-8 crashes of 2018 and 2019.

The deferred prosecution agreement is what it's officially called was reached in 2021. It avoided a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Boeing admitted to the fraud, but it was controversial because crash victims' families were not consulted. Set to expire on January 7th, that was two days after the door plug incident on January 5th. That agreement cost Boeing $2.5 billion in 2021, included a $243 million criminal fine.

So far, no comment from Boeing on this latest development. Also, no comment from the Justice Department. This all comes from reporting from "The New York Times" and from "Bloomberg" citing unnamed sources. It's happening as multiple investigations are appearing to come to a head this week. Just on Monday an expert panel said that Boeing employees do not have the ability to properly report safety issues to their managers, fearing retaliation.

BERMAN: We know you'll stay on this. Pete Muntean, thank you very much.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Biden versus Trump Texas style. Both heading to the border today to highlight the migrant crisis and their political fix for it all.

BERMAN: Could today be the day that the Supreme Court decides if Donald Trump can be banned from state ballots as an insurrectionist?

BOLDUAN: And Vladimir Putin bashes the west as he addresses Russia, warning the U.S. its actions could trigger the of nuclear weapons.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara is out today. This is CNN News Central.

We are following some breaking news out of Gaza we wanted to bring to you. Eye-witnesses and the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health say that more than 100 people were killed in what is being described as a chaotic incident as IDF soldiers opened fire as people were trying to get food from aid trucks. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is gathering new details. He's been picking up some new reporting. Jeremy, bring us up to speed here.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Kate, I think it's important to note that the aid situation, the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, is just so, so desperate, and that seems to be part of what led to this scene, hundreds if not thousands of people surrounding some of these aid trucks that were able to enter northern Gaza, some of the very few aid trucks that have actually been able to make it in there.

And you can see in this video by the Israeli -- from the Israeli military, the crowds of people around these trucks. But what appears to have happened is that the Israeli military open fire on some of these people who are surrounding these trucks. An Israeli military official telling us that the crowd approached the forces in a manner that posed a threat to the troops. And they say that those troops then responded with live fire.

Now, eyewitnesses on the scene have told us that Israeli tanks as well as drones opened fire on this crowd, and that following that, there was a chaotic scene. Some of the drivers of these aid trucks apparently tried to get away amid this gunfire and killed several additional people. We are told that 104 people were killed in this incident, 760 people injured according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It's not clear yet how many of those were killed by Israeli gunfire versus buy these trucks and the ensuing chaos. But our eyewitnesses on the ground indicate that it was the Israeli gunfire that prompted some of those trucks to flee the scene, and in the process, run over some of these individuals.

But we are still working to gather additional details. The Israeli military says for its part that the incident is under review. And they are also saying in a statement that Gazan residents surrounded the trucks, looted the supplies being delivered, and that during the incident, dozens of Gazans, they say, were injured as a result of pushing and trampling. This was clearly more than just pushing and trampling, and we have eyewitnesses making very clear that the Israeli military did indeed open fire on these individuals as well.

Now, we should note that this is only happening because of how desperate the humanitarian situation is in northern Gaza.

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Very few aid trucks have actually been able to make it in there. The World Food Program recently suspended aid deliveries to northern Gaza, saying that it was too unsafe. Part of that has to do with a lack of coordination with the Israeli military to get those trucks into a warzone safely in a way that they are not targeted. And it also has to do with the fact that the Israeli military in the past has targeted police officers who have been around those aid convoys. And so there's very little security for these. You combine that lack of security, you combine that with the fact that people are on the brink of famine in northern Gaza, and then the Israeli military also being on the scene, and this is the situation that appears to have arisen. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And we're showing right next to you what appears to be video from a drone that I believe has been released by the IDF today showing some of these scenes is what it appears. Control room, tell me if this is different from what I'm looking at, but that's exactly what it looks like, what we're seeing here, multiple kinds of scenarios and tons of people around them. Much more to learn, very clearly. Jeremy, thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right, we will watch that all morning long. In the meantime, a big day shaping up at the southern border. Both President Biden and Donald Trump making visits there to focus on the issue of illegal immigration. This is what we heard from the White House press secretary just a few minutes ago.

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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, and when they rejected it, Republicans rejected it, again, because of the former president, the president said, he's going to take it directly to the American people. The American people are going to hear from him about what happened, about how they put, Republicans put politics, they put politics ahead of dealing with issues that matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What she was talking about there was she was placing the blame on Republicans, particularly in the Senate, for blocking that bipartisan agreement on immigration that had the support of many Republicans and also from the White House. But it is now going nowhere.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is in Eagle Pass. That is where Donald Trump will be visiting. Priscilla Alvarez is in Brownsville where President Biden is set to arrive. Priscilla, first you. What can we expect from the president today?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, John, this is an extraordinary move by a White House that has really kept border security at a distance. Of course, this is an administration that has dealt with multiple surges at the U.S.-Mexico border, and sources telling me that over the years discussions within the White House about this issue were tense as it increasingly became a political liability.

Now, border crossing have dropped in recent weeks, but the turning point here was that Senate border bill that you just talked about. That included some of the toughest border security measures in recent memories. But it was tanked by Republicans at the encouragement of former president Donald Trump. And so President Biden is expected to hammer Republicans while he is talking here at the Border Patrol facility behind me.

He is also expected to meet with law enforcement and with Border Patrol agents and really make the focus about what hasn't been done in Congress, despite his own administration officials working with negotiators to include some of the most extraordinary authorities in this Senate border deal.

But I should also note, John, that the timing here is critical. A new Gallup poll released this week shows that a bigger share of Americans sees this issue of immigration as one of the most important issues. The president here is going to try to flip the script on Republicans, on former President Donald Trump, and seize an issue that up until this point has really dogged his administration.

BERMAN: It will interesting to see what he says and how he handles it when he is there on the ground. Priscilla, thank you.

Let's go to Kristen Holmes in Eagle Pass for what we can expect from Donald Trump today, Kristen.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, there's a reason he's in Eagle Pass. This has really become the focal point of the standoff between Governor -- Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over who can enforce border security. We know that Abbott has spent state resources using razor wire on buoys as well as on the side of trains in this area, you can expect Donald Trump to tour some of the implementations that Abbott has put into place. We also expect that Abbott is going to join him for part of the day today. He is also going to meet with National Guard. He's going to deliver a series of remarks. They say he's going to answer questions, but we're not sure from whom since reporters will not be with him, it will just be one pool camera.

But we know that Donald Trump wants to make immigration and has made immigration a key talking point. It's really what helped carry him to the White House in 2016, and he's already promised to expand on his White House policies on immigration, these hardline policies that he put in place while he was in office. He plans on going after Biden, particularly now, as you heard, priscilla mentioning that Gallup poll. Also, on top of that, this decision really universally that there is a crisis now at the border. We heard a preview of what Trump is likely to say. Take a listen.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As president, I will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history to remove Joe Biden's illegals and murderers, because that's what many of them are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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HOLMES: And as we know, Donald Trump has always use rhetoric that is fear soaking when talking about immigration. Back in 2015, that's how he started the launch of his campaign, and expect that again today. He is going to talk about a number of different alleged crimes that were committed by migrants, particularly focusing on the murder of the UGA student Laken Riley at the hands of a -- well, allegedly the suspect is an undocumented Venezuelan migrant. John?

BERMAN: All right, Kristen Holmes in Eagle Pass, Priscilla Alvarez -- we lost her shot -- is in Brownsville where President Biden will arrive later today. Our thanks to both of you. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about this crisis at the border and how it's reached far beyond where they are going to be in Texas right now. Joining us right now is the Governor of New York, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul. It's good -- thank you for coming and good morning, Governor.

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): Good morning, Kate. Good to see you.

BOLDUAN: So President Biden, Donald Trump, they're going to be done at the border highlighting this issue today. The migrant crisis has made its way very clearly to New York. You have talked about this and spoken very publicly about the need for resources and the need for help from the federal government. The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, he's trying to make moves on this, right now, saying that he wants to basically change the city's sanctuary city status in order to make it easier to deport migrants who are accused of serious crimes, though before that's even worked its way through courts. Do you agree with that move?

HOCHUL: What I would say is the state of New York has a different sanctuary policy. We are allowed to work with federal immigration officials when a crime has been committed, as we should be able to. And what we want to have happened in the state of New York, if someone commits a crime like the horrific assault by migrants against police officers in Times Square, I immediately said, I want them arrested, tried, and if convicted, I want them to spend time in New York jails before they are deported, because if they're released, go back to their country, I don't know if they won't be back in the next few months.

So I think we have more control, at least under New York state laws. Now the city has a different view. They can choose the path they want to, but also it's a crisis that we need solved right now. We should not be talking about crimes being committed by migrants in the streets of New York, and the vast majority of them are law-abiding citizens. They truly are. They came here for a better life, and I don't want to highlight those who committed crimes. They do exist. They exist in every society. But right now the state of New York has the power to work with ICE when these situations occur. BOLDUAN: Because the difference is, is that Eric Adams seems to want

them to be able to be deported before tried and convicted of a crime. You think that is a bad move?

HOCHUL: Well, that is not consistent with our policy at the state level. We work with people. We want them -- I want people to have a punishment when they commit a crime against a New Yorker. I want to make sure that happens. That's very important to me. BOLDUAN: You've recently visited the border. When it comes to getting

some -- getting a real fix to the problem, Governor, obviously it's in the hands of Congress. Congress has stalled and getting their act together and any major bipartisan deal. It's been -- you've been following those negotiations and how that's gone. While House Republicans have definitely held up movement on what really was seen as could have been a pretty big bipartisan deal, Democratic members from New York have also been against. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had said of that Senate deal that she thinks it's contributed to worsening the border crisis and says that it was just giving Republicans everything that they want.

HOCHUL: That is one voice that does not represent the majority of New Yorkers, the majority of Democrats, or the majority of Americans. There was a solution presented on February 4th. I was in communication with the White House. They said we finally have a deal. Conservative Republicans and Democrats have come together to fix this.

And it's not the first time in history. I was a young staffer working for Senator Moynihan when we had the immigration reform act of 1986. Tip O'Neill, Democrats, Republicans, Ronald Reagan signs it, and it calmed down for decades. That's all we're asking for, to have what the American people want us to do is get the job done.

Joe Biden has taken the lead. Republicans had in their hands the ability to get this done and prove that, no, Washington is not as dysfunctional as it seems. We actually can solve this. And when Donald Trump went on Truth Social 24 hours later, it all collapsed, because even Republicans from the state of New York, which are being under a lot of stress right now. We're under a lot of stress, a lot of money is being spent to house people, to make sure they're not in the streets and try to get them jobs, it has taken its toll on our state. We're at capacity. We have big hearts, but we're at capacity.

I have 10 Republican members of Congress. If they banded together and walked into Speaker Johnson's office, he would have to listen to them.

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We even have a member of Congress up on the northern border, who is perhaps auditioning for vice president, but the truth is the deal that President Biden wanted and that Chuck Schumer negotiated with Republicans had money for the northern border.

I need that border money. I need it on the southern border, and the plan to stop all of this chaos is in the grasp of the Republican House, and they need to step up and do what they are sent there to do and help govern this country. BOLDUAN: You mentioned Trump.

New York has also become the center of the universe so far for Trump's legal troubles. I mean, I can list out from civil defamation to his first criminal trial that's about to happen, and he just lost that massive civil fraud case here.

The AG Letitia James led that charge on the civil fraud case. She has faced some criticism for basically bad form that she openly campaigned on a promise to take on Donald Trump specifically. And if you look at her Twitter feed, it seems that she's kind of rubbing -- I guess, you could sort of describe it as kind of rubbing it in his face kind of posting on Twitter, how the interest is accumulating for that civil judgment.

Are you okay with that?

HOCHUL: I have long known as has everyone in the state, anyone following the news that Donald Trump had unethical business practices. You go to any business person who ever worked with him over the last 40 years and they all have stories about how they were defrauded, and banks that were defrauded based on false information.

So for someone to talk about that in the context of what she did, that's not unknown -- now, that's commonly known. It was commonly known.

So if she wanted to say that this is something she would pursue as the attorney general, I think we would expect that. If she is supposed to run and say, well, I know it's out there and there is a lot of smoke there, we shouldn't investigate this because it might -- I don't think we would expect that.

We want people to do their jobs. She was elected. She did her job. And there are consequences.

Presidents of the United States and former presidents are not above the law and she demonstrated that.

BOLDUAN: Governor Kathy Hochul, thanks for coming in.

HOCHUL: All right, thank you. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Good to have you here. Thank you -- John.

BERMAN: All right, we are standing by to see if we get the second huge action from the US Supreme Court in two days after giving Donald Trump the delay he wanted in the federal election subversion case against him. Will they rule this morning on whether states can ban him from ballots as an insurrectionist?

And Wendy's tries to clean up the controversy over its planned munchie tax. Meanwhile, another competitor is trying to go one step further -- free.

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BERMAN: We could hear as soon as this morning whether the Supreme Court thinks Donald Trump can be banned from state ballots as an insurrectionist. Illinois became the third state to try to remove him overnight.

This, as Trump now cheers on the Supreme Court's decision to take up his immunity fight which will significantly delay the federal election subversion trial against him.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz with us now to walk us through where we are in this incredible calendar crunch.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE SENIOR REPORTER: John, so much depends upon the US Supreme Court and what they do about all of these illegal issues around Donald Trump and the fallout from the 2020 election, what he was doing while he was still in the presidency, leading up to and on the day of that January 6th Capitol riot by his supporters.

John, let's start with the lawsuits against Donald Trump to remove him from the ballot. That is an issue that the US Supreme Court is looking at. And now there are three states that say Donald Trump is ineligible to be voted for in their state's primary elections that are upcoming.

Illinois, a court decided last night that Donald Trump is ineligible. He will be able to appeal that and potentially put that on hold, as the state continues to work things out. But the US Supreme Court is looking at whether courts in Colorado and Illinois are able to do this and whether the people who run elections in the state of Maine are also able to remove Trump from the ballot or throw out votes for him. So that's on the lawsuit side, and his eligibility related to the insurrection calling him an insurrectionist and votes toward the presidency.

On the criminal case side, that's where the US Supreme Court has now said they are going to be weighing questions of presidential immunity if there is a bubble around Donald Trump that protects him from criminal charges and prevents him from going to trial in his obstruction case related to the 2020 election.

Right now, that case is paused. It was in the trial court. It was scheduled to go to trial very soon, as soon as March, but it has been paused for several months now as appeals over these presidential immunity questions play out.

The Supreme Court says they are now going to be looking at that. They're going to be hearing arguments in April with the decision very possibly coming by the end of their term in June, and so the trial date could fall any time after that -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Katelyn Polantz, thank you very much.

BOLDUAN: The calendar that doesn't stop changing.

Joining us now is CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, Jennifer Rodgers for much more on this.

Let's start with what the Supreme Court is now taking up, this immunity question. In general, why do you think the justices took it up? What are the reasons behind it? What do you think of this kind of moment we now find ourselves in?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well putting aside whether they want to put their thumb on the scale for Donald Trump and delay the thing, so put that aside for the moment.

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The Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of a question like this. It's never been decided before. It's a constitutional question, is the president immune for criminal acts?

If the DC Circuit is the last word on this, it's not binding on the entire nation, right? So one reason is, it's kind of their thing, right? Squarely within their wheelhouse to decide, and it makes it binding on the whole nation in the event that we confront this again.

So those are the reasons that the court might say, this is for us to decide. We have to be the final word here.

BERMAN: Forgive me for turning to the last page in the book here, but I think the question that everyone had overnight, and this is a full employment act for great lawyers, like you, I know you were talking about it last night. It is okay.

So the Supreme Court hears arguments in April, can the case happen? Could, if they decided can go forward, can it be before Judge Tanya shotgun before the election?

RODGERS: It could, but I think it's really unlikely.

You know, she has promised Donald Trump and his lawyers that they'll have a certain amount of time to prepare. So if they don't get the case back until the summer, she gives them the couple of months that he's lost during all of these days to prepare the case, do their motions, get their subpoenas out for trial, everything they need to do.

We're now into the end of summer, September. Early voting starts in September. Two-month trial, to do the trial itself. It's just probably not possible.

BERMAN: Can you explain how we will learn this?

So the Supreme Court hears arguments in April. They issue their ruling maybe June. Then what?

RODGERS: Their term ends in June. So they'll issue it by the end of June. The mandate will issue --

Well, first of all, if they decide he's immune, the case goes away. Right? Of course. If they decide that he is not immune, the mandate will issue back to the district court. You know, it's a paperwork issue. So in a few days, so let's say by the very end of June, district court has the case back, they can go back, they can continue their motions, they can issue subpoenas, do all the things that you do in advance of trial, but that takes time. It takes at least -- she is giving them a couple of months. So we're talking about now, July and August for that process, at least.

BOLDUAN: It is really amazing.

What do you think of the comparisons? I've heard a few times that the court, the justices will kind of decide that Donald Trump -- for Donald Trump in terms of the Colorado question, keeping him on the ballot, and it may then give them more room to kind of decide against him in the immunity case.

RODGERS: I think that's wishful thinking. I think the justices will and should do what they ought to do in each case, individually, right, based on what the Constitution says.

BOLDUAN: Right.

RODGERS: Based on what the law is, I think this horse trading notion. I think they do that sometimes in an individual case, it may be that actually here, that's what they've done in terms of taking cert, but not issuing the stay.

They may not have had enough votes to do, you know, one versus the other. But as far as this case against that case, it's not how it should be done and I don't think it's how it has been done.

BERMAN: I will say, and I think this -- everyone has been caught up in the timing of this all. They lost focus on this.

The Supreme Court will rule on immunity. It's possible they rule against Trump. And while it's not the actual criminal case, that could still stick, I would think.

RODGERS: Well, it will sting. But he's got a real balm for that sting, which is that they've now basically made it impossible for this case to be tried before the election. And so, you know, if he doesn't get his immunity, he still has to win the election for this to go away, but at least makes it possible for him.

BERMAN: All right, Jennifer Rodgers, thank you so much for explaining all so well.

RODGERS: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you, Jennifer.

So a succession battle in the Senate, the influence that Donald Trump could have on who will then -- who will now replace Mitch McConnell as the Republicans' top leader.

And concern is rising among White House officials that Israel may launch an incursion into Lebanon. When that has the potential to become reality? What we're learning about it. That's next.

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