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Soon, Supreme Court May Rule on Trump Ballot Eligibility One Day Before Super Tuesday; Vice President Harris Says, There Must Be an Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza; Teen Shot After Unruly Crowd Escorted Out of Six Flags Over Georgia. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 04, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: -- basketball, period.

[07:00:01]

Not women's basketball, not men's basketball, basketball. And guess, look at this, they beat Ohio states. I'm a Michigan fan. So, that's great. Caitlin passed Hall of Famer Pistol Pete Maravich is record when she did this, her career total now 3,685 points.

And it'd be hard for almost anyone to be humble about this feat, but after the game, Caitlin once again proved and this is what makes her part of it makes are so great. She's just built differently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAITLIN CLARK, NCAA DIVISION-I ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER : A record is a record, I don't want that to be the reason people remember me. I hope people will remember for the way I played with a smile on my face, my competitive fire. Sure, they can remember the wins, but also just like the fun me and my teammates had together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It's amazing.

All right, thanks to all of you for joining us this morning. I'm Kasie Hunt.

CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Hours from now, the Supreme Court could issue a landmark ruling that would decide whether former President Trump is eligible to appear on Colorado's presidential ballot. The stakes couldn't be higher.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden in a new interview out just this morning, losers who are losers are never graceful. He says he doesn't think that Donald Trump will concede if he loses in November, and there is much more.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And after two scrubbed launches, NASA's latest SpaceX mission is finally on its way to the International Space Station. I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: This morning, we are standing by for a potentially major Supreme Court ruling to drop. It is Super Tuesday Eve as well, and right now, voters in Colorado still do not know how the high court feels about Donald Trump being on their state's primary ballot tomorrow.

That could all change very soon with a decision that could not only provide clarity in color Colorado but also tell us whether Trump's name can appear on general election ballots in November. Overnight, the Supreme Court announced it would issue at least one decision at 10:00 A.M. Eastern, that's this morning, less than 24 hours before millions of voters across more than a dozen states head to the polls for Super Tuesday, including Maine, which, like Colorado and Illinois, successfully disqualified Donald Trump due to 14th Amendment's ban on insurrectionists.

CNN Senior Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic is leading us off this morning. Joan, the Supreme Court this morning will not decide whether or not Donald Trump engaged in insurrection but the ruling potentially this morning, as I understand it, will set a historic standard not only in this presidential race but in elections to come, correct?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Correct. And it's great to see you, Sara. First let me tell our audience why we think it is coming today. The Supreme Court closed its business on Friday with no notice of any opinion, but then suddenly yesterday afternoon, around 1:00 Eastern Time, put up a notice saying that it would likely issue an opinion, which indicates that they were racing to finish something, and the something has to be a decision that likely would affect what would happen on Super Tuesday, because Colorado, the state that's in dispute here, actually finishes its primary voting tomorrow, along with, as you say, more than a dozen states. So, this is the opinion that we expect.

And to your question about insurrection, the 14th Amendment, Section 3, which is in dispute here, bars anyone who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection or rebellion from holding future office. And the Colorado Supreme Court had used that text to disqualify Donald Trump from state ballots.

But during oral arguments on February 8th, Sara, the justices indicated by their questions that they probably would never even get to the question of whether Donald Trump engaged in an insurrection as the lower Colorado judges found. It looked like they were going to decide, first of all, that this provision of the Constitution would need some sort of congressional authorization before it could be used.

You know, at this point, obviously, we're just speculating some three hours before we'll see the decision, but it looked like from justices on the right and the left across political and ideological lines, were all thinking that this is not the kind of thing that individual states should be able to do, bar a candidate from the ballot. Now, will see what happens at 10:00 Eastern, but this is only the start of several chapters of the Supreme Court's outsized involvement in this year's presidential election. As you probably remember, they're also about to hear a case that will decide whether former President Donald Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for actions that the government alleges amount to election subversion for the 2020 race.

Now, we will see how the court rules on that one, but all chances, the chances are that the court is not going to give a decision that would require Donald Trump to go to trial before the 2024 election in November, Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Joan Biskupic, it's always lovely to see you. Thank you for breaking that all down for us. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And joining us now for more on this is former Federal Prosecutor Tim Heaphy. He was the chief investigative counsel for the January 6th congressional committee. It's good to you again, Tim.

So, let's talk about the here and now and what we could be learning from the justices, you know, in just a couple hours this morning. Let's go through assuming a few things, just play along with me, assume that the justices decide that Donald Trump stays on the ballot, what is the ripple effect of that?

TIM HEAPHY, FORMER LEAD INVESTIGATOR, JANUARY 6TH COMMITTEE: Yes, it's a question of law, not fact, as Joan just accurately laid out, that is the court is not weighing in, if assuming that hypothetical case is correct, on whether or not the president engaged insurrection. They would be deciding that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. It's not self-executing. It requires some kind of congressional impetus. So, it would be a sort of a legal ruling that essentially keeps him on the ballot in Colorado and all of the other states. That's what most people expect given the tenor of the argument.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Let's assume the opposite now, as we're just trying to play this out, assume that they decide something short of Donald Trump stays on the ballot, what is the ripple effect of that? Does that change your view here?

HEAPHY: No. I mean, look, any time that the former president has some sort of victory, the political narrative will be, you know, one of defiance and it will reinforce his view that a lot of these cases, either in the civil process with respect to ballot access or the criminal process, are misguided. So, it may have an effect on public opinion.

It won't have much of an effect, though, on his ultimate legal position. The criminal cases are much more significant. Those are still in pipeline. The Supreme Court will decide the immunity case, and this doesn't touch the possible trajectory of that in the other criminal cases.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Let's talk about all of it together, and let's put up the wording of the 14th Amendment Section 3 that's in question, that it's under examination here. The January 6th congressional committee, which you were the lead investigative counsel on, it found that Donald Trump assisted or aided in insurrection. If he stays on the ballot in Colorado and other states, does that say something about the 14th Amendment?

HEAPHY: It does something about 14 Amendment but, again, it does not say that the Supreme Court rejects the factual display of engaged in insurrection. We found, as is articulated in our hearings and our report, that there's ample evidence that the former president incited an insurrection, aided and abetted and gave comfort to insurrectionists.

The Supreme Court, if the president is successful today, former president successful, today will probably not touch that core factual question. They'll say it doesn't even matter because Section 3 of the 14th amendment is not appropriately triggered by an individual state.

Chief Justice Roberts, Kate, during the hearing sort of made the historical point that the 14 Amendment was really implemented as a check on states' power to essentially sort of rein in states that might want to do things inconsistent with the Constitution.

This decision then suggests -- that suggests that giving states power to, essentially, unilaterally exclude candidates from the ballot in a federal election would be inconsistent with that historical perspective. So, again, it seems like they're going to answer the question of law. 14 Amendment doesn't apply here, but they won't touch the underwriting factual finding of the Colorado court that the former president engaged in insurrection.

BOLDUAN: Real quick, what do you think of the immunity question before the justices?

HEAPHY: I think there's no way the Supreme Court finds that a former president has complete immunity. It is not a close case. I was surprised that they decided to take the case, given how resounding the D.C. Circuit opinion was. I think they may have taken it because it is such a significant question, and for posterity, They want to be the definitive voice on that question.

But I think the special counsel has the much stronger argument I hope that they reach the question quickly and issue a ruling quickly because the trial won't take place until the Supreme Court weighs in.

BOLDUAN: Tim Heaphy, it's always great to see you and thanks for coming in.

[07:10:01]

John?

BERMAN: New reporting this morning and all the ways the Trump campaign is looking to save money, hand-me-down furniture, maybe take the cheaper Uber without the water bottles in the back.

And out just this morning, new excerpts from a rare Oval Office interview with President Biden. What the hell he asks about Trump's comments about being a dictator.

And treacherous whiteout conditions, the snowfall just continues, some areas already counting more than seven feet.

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BERMAN: New this morning, assessing the strongest call yet from the White House for a ceasefire in Gaza.

[07:15:04]

Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with the Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz at the White House, this after she specifically called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza that lasts at least six weeks. And she said Israel must do more to increase the flow of eight.

Let's get to the White House now where Arlette Saenz is there. Interesting to hear this from the vice president in advance of this big meeting, Arlette.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. Vice President Kamala Harris' comments were quite significant as they really were one of the administration's most forceful cases that they've made in pushing for this ceasefire, which is currently still under negotiation.

The vice president spoke down in Selma, Alabama, on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, and it comes as the U.S. has been pushing for a six- week ceasefire as they try to get hostages out and more humanitarian aid in.

Those talks are still continuing in Egypt between all the parties over the weekend, though Israel notably did not attend those conversations on Sunday, saying that Hamas has not answered some questions on key demands that the Israelis are making.

But, really, the U.S. over the past week, two weeks, has really been making this forceful push to have a temporary ceasefire in place, and that is something that Vice President Harris spoke to just yesterday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The threat of Hamas poses to the people of Israel must be eliminated. And given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: And the vice president really spoke in very stark terms about the situation on the ground in Gaza, saying that people were starving there and facing inhumane conditions. She said that it's incumbent on the Israeli government to allow the facilitation of more aid into the Gaza Strip.

That is something that President Biden also called for over the weekend, saying that they needed to push Israel to facilitate more trucks, open up more routes to get this aid into the people of Gaza.

Now, over the weekend, the U.S. also airdropped food, about 38,000 meals, into Southwest Gaza. But, really, that is just one small fix, not a whole solution to the dire humanitarian situation on the ground there. That is likely something that will come up when Vice President Harris meets today with Benny Gantz, an Israeli war cabinet minister, who is also Netanyahu's one of his lead political rivals.

So, the White House at this moment is really trying to once again push for this temporary ceasefire to get those hostages out, but also calling on Israel to do more to get humanitarian aid in as so many people are suffering in that region.

I'll also note this is an issue that President Biden has struggled with with some Democrats in his party, wanting him to take a more forceful stance against Israel's actions in Gaza and trying to alleviate the humanitarian suffering that is ongoing there. So, the administration trying to show that they are taking some steps to try to alleviate some of these issues.

BERMAN: Arlette Saenz at the White House, Arlette, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So, more than 500 people swarming an amusement park in Georgia, the chaos ending in gunfire. Why Georgia's top investigators are now getting involved.

And starting today, it's a landmark moment for the access to contraception, the new-over-the-counter pill that's ready for pre- order. We'll be back.

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[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says that it is now investigating an officer involved shooting outside Six Flags Amusement Park. A teenager was shot in what really became a chaotic scene on Saturday.

Investigators say that Cobb County Police, they were called to help park police with crowd control. More than 500 people were running through and fighting in the park and then it all ended in gunfire.

CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest on this. He's joining us now. Rafael, what happened here?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, good morning to you. That's right, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the shooting that happened here outside Six Flags, the amusement park behind me.

And, Kate, according to police, Cobb County Police were called by a security here at the park as they were trying to escort out the crowd, an unruly crowd, let's say, between 500 and 600 people. They were running through the park, getting into fights. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation also said that as these people were getting out of the park, even more fights broke out.

And then the situation got even more chaotic, Kate. Cobb County police say that, as they were trying to lead the people out to clear the scene, an unknown number of people started shooting at the police officers, and that's when one officer shot back, hitting a 15-year-old who is now listed in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Police also say that they found a handgun near the minor.

We have also heard from Six Flags, a spokesperson said the following in a statement about what happened here.

[07:25:04]

She said, it is incredibly disappointing that our community is disrupted at public events throughout the region by groups of underaged youth. There was police activity involving gunshots. We want to confirm there was no shooting at our property or parking lot. This took place on South Service Road that is not owned or operated by Six Flags.

And, Kate, earlier, we had an opportunity to talk to a young man who decided to spend his Sunday here at Six Flags. This is what he had to say about the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAYDEN CARPENTER, VISITOR FROM ALABAMA: That doesn't impact how I feel about it. Crime happens everywhere. I don't think it's going to happen. You're more likely in one place than another. It's just the chance of where you're going to be at that day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And, Kate, unfortunately, this is not the first time something like this happened. Last year, several people were kicked out because they also got into fights inside Six Flags.

Now back to you.

BOLDUAN: All right, a lot of questions here and a lot of people that need to be looking for right now. Rafael, thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

Just ahead, nearly 1,000 icy miles to run the Iditarod, packs are off the kickoff of what's billed as the last great race in Alaska.

Also, this is just in out of New York, why Donald Trump's former chief financial officer is expected to plead guilty. We'll tell you why, ahead.

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