Return to Transcripts main page
CNN News Central
U.N. Sec Council Fails To Pass U.S. Resolution Calling For Immediate Ceasefire In Gaza; Trump Says He Has Almost $500M In Cash In New Truth Social Post; Stocks Soar, Markets Rally In Blockbuster Week On Wall Street; Snow Advisories In Effect For Parts Of The North, Midwest. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired March 22, 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]
WALLY ADEYEMO, UNITED STATES DEPUTY SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: Americans, including here in Phoenix where I am today.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo, nice to see you this morning. Thanks so much for being with us.
Kate?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's great to have him. Come on. We have some breaking news we want to bring to you (INAUDIBLE) news as the U.S. led UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. We just were talking about it. That resolution has failed.
CNN's Richard Roth is back with us. Richard, what happened?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Russia, China vetoed this resolution proposed by the United States Washington advanced its language agreeing finally to a resolution which says it wants -- the council would want an immediate ceasefire. The U.S. has not gone that far before. There have been lots of vetoes every few weeks. The U.S. said this was a strong resolution in consultation with all the members. But in the end, the Russian ambassador said the U.S. was playing politics, that they were throwing voters a bone by this resolution. The U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the objections were petty, and said the U.S. is going to keep at it.
Not much help here. I don't know how much hope there was before for the people of Gaza, or anyone in Israel who believes in the UN, but not today.
BOLDUAN: Not -- not today, not happening in the UN Security Council today in Doha, Qatar, the negotiations to try to move those talks along do continue. But an important moment nonetheless.
Richard Roth, thank you so much. It's great to see you.
Still ahead for us. Will the Dow crack 40,000 for the first time ever? It would be obviously a historic milestone. That's a question today as we are watching markets open and, on the rise. And country music is cracking down on AI. Tennessee just became the first state making it illegal to recreate a singer's voice.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:36:29]
BERMAN: The FBI has a message for passengers who are on the Alaska Airlines flight where the door plug flew off in mid-flight. They all might be victims of a crime. FBI Seattle sent a letter to people who are on that plane noting the FBI is currently investigating the incident. CNN has previously reported, the Justice Department was looking into this and also looking into Boeing. Boeing has declined to comment.
For the first time in state law protecting musicians' voices from artificial intelligence cloning. For the first time there is such a measure. Tennessee's governor signed the new law to protect musicians going beyond just protecting their names, images and likenesses, it is called the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act. It's got a very catchy name. The acronym is the ELVIS Act. Makes sense now.
The popular weight loss drug Wegovy is going to get much cheaper for some patients Medicare could soon start covering it for certain senior citizens and people with heart disease. The FDA just approved the drug makers application to add cardiovascular benefits the Wegovy.
Kate?
BOLDUAN: So, the clock is ticking and the walls seem to be closing in, just three days before the deadline to hand over his $464 million bond payment. Donald Trump's seem to suggest that he's got it covered, yet his legal team says that he doesn't. The former president claiming this morning that he has almost $500 million in cash. As he says that the New York Attorney General is making the necessary plans right now to begin seizing his assets if he fails to pay up by Monday.
Joining us right now is CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp, Republican strategist, Doug Heye.
Doug, what do you think of this moment and how he handles it what it means for Donald Trump politically?
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: So how many times have we had conversations about Donald Trump when we've used the word unprecedented?
BOLDUAN: I mean, I'm bored of it.
HEYE: $500 million in what presumably is the largest suitcase any of us has seen gets us to a new place if that suitcase exists. But I think it goes to where the Trump campaign is moving where the conversation is moving? Does he, have it? Does it not? Does he not have it? And ultimately, what's the conversation that voters are having? We're all very focused on this in New York, in Washington, D.C., you go to Wisconsin, you go to Winston Salem, North Carolina, this is not the conversation they're having. They're worried about the money that they have or don't have, because they just want bacon at the grocery store. And I think sometimes we lose sight of that.
BOLDUAN: That's a good point. Frank Luntz, longtime strategist, longtime pollster, he had an interesting take on if Monday hits and the New York Attorney General begins the process of seizing assets, what the impact will be.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER & COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST: I want you to remember this moment. And don't forget it. If the New York Attorney General starts to take his homes away, starts to seize his assets. It's all going to be on camera. Pundits is going to sit there and scream about this, this man cannot be elected. You're going to create the greatest victimhood of 2024. And you're going to elect Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: That to our own John Berman pulling double duty last night. Is he right Frank Luntz?
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes? First of all, Tish James DOJ, the justice system should not care about an effect on an election. Put that aside. Donald Trump has already cemented his victim status among his base. They see him as a victim. Everything else around him is corrupt. It's not him. It's everything else around and that cemented.
[09:40:03]
But to Doug's earlier point people are not voting on this issue unless you are a Donald Trump dyed in the wool, MAGA supporter, you don't care about this stuff. You care about the fact that you haven't gotten a raise in five years, you care about the fact that the border seems border less, you care about crime, you care about opioids, you care about the economy. So, we -- we will talk about this because we should and we have to, but it's not going to drive people to the polls in the way --
BOLDUAN: But, but, but.
CUPP: -- that anti-Trump people think it will.
BOLDUAN: But, but, but.
CUPP: Yes.
BOLDUAN: New polling out, our David Chalian highlighted this morning, that when you look in Michigan and Pennsylvania and the new CNN polling the way that people are voting, Democrats and Republicans, it's this they're voting on Donald Trump. They're voting either against Donald Trump or for Donald Trump, having little to do with Joe Biden, but doesn't this speak to that?
HEYE: This speaks to the larger attitude about Donald Trump, but it's not -- it's not the specifics on this. And it also we should remember, Donald Trump isn't a set of policy proposals. He's an attitude, you either like that attitude and embrace that attitude or you don't.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HEYE: But that's the reality of where voters are. And if you look in Michigan, or other swing states, you said earlier but, but, but. That is the hardest thing about this election because we can look at Donald Trump's strength and say but, but, but, weak here, weak here, problem here problem there. Joe Biden, incumbent president, but weakness with Hispanics, weakness with African-Americans, but the border.
This is why this election is sort of the resistible force versus the movable object, and I think makes it very hard moving forward to make concrete predictions about what's going to happen.
BOLDUAN: There are a lot --
CUPP: Yes, of methods (ph).
BOLDUAN: -- buts in this segment. I am just saying --
CUPP: I don't know what you mean by that. But --
BOLDUAN: I don't either.
HEYE: I want to diet.
CUPP: I will take it personally.
BOLDUAN: No. Don't even (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: OK. Let's run through a couple of the topics. I've been dying to get you guys on it. The news that the joint fundraising agreement that Trump inked with the RNC puts this on the priority list. Donor money goes first to the Trump campaign, second to the Pac that is paying his legal bills. And then third, third billing is the RNC itself.
You work --
HEYE: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- for the RNC. You ran communications for the RNC? Is this good?
HEYE: No. And look, you know, what they've said all along is no RNC money will go to pay Donald Trump's legal bills. So, if we think about, you're a fan of George Costanza, it's not a lie, if you believe it, this is sort of goes to that. Because the RNC money is not going to that, but it's going to be diverted before it gets there.
And this is the problem that large donors are having, that small donors are having. They want to beat Democrats, and they want to beat Democrats and gubernatorial races and congressional races. Those things that the RNC helps to fund in the field. Some of that money is going to be diverted away. And I think that's a problem for the RNC moving forward.
BOLDUAN: I want to get to the biggest political moment or headline of the week that flew under the radar. Said another way, I'm not doing my job. I see you say the biggest political moment has to do with the Trump endorsed Republican Ohio Senate candidate, Bernie Moreno. He just won the primary there.
CUPP: Right.
BOLDUAN: Now he was going to be against up against Sherrod Brown in November and him essentially saying in an interview, that he doesn't -- he doesn't use moderate voters. He's not even trying to get them to vote for him. There's they can go to the other side.
Let me play a piece of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNIE MORENO (R-OH) SENATE CANDIDATE: If you want the party of Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney, then you have a choice on the other side. But I don't think that's where Ohio is. They see what they want is people in office that put the interests of America first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: You know, I've been around a while Kate. I really have never heard as many Republicans telling Republican voters to go and vote for Democrats. I have heard it, you need to do a super cut. Because whether it's Trump telling Nikki voters, we don't want you, we want to make the party completely MAGA or Trump telling his own voters to get out go vote for Liz Cheney. If you like Liz Cheney, if you like Mitt Romney, you're not one of us anymore.
It is amazing. The idea that the math of this no longer matters. I don't think winning even matters it is to shrink and condense the party. So, it is completely pure, Trump pure, it's not a big tent anymore. It's not to bring in new voters. It is wild to me. And in any other time, we would be covering this. This is a huge moment for the Republican Party, literally kicking voters out of it.
BOLDUAN: But no.
CUPP: But no.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: It's just the headline flying under the radar. CUPP: Yes.
BOLDUAN: For you the under the radar --
HEYE: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- is that Congress has actually reached a deal to avoid a government shutdown, maybe sort of kind of.
HEYE: Maybe sort of kind of is a big part of the story. By the way supercuts, $15 I think it looks OK. I think the under the radar story is that Mike Johnson was able to potentially get a deal through and by the way not have his job threatened by this. Johnson is doing good, competent work as the speaker which is something that I think people didn't think would be possible. There's such a slim margin of error for -- for Johnson getting any three -- anything through is a real victory for him.
[09:45:05]
We're going to get past this moment, we're not going to have a shutdown and I think it's to his -- to his credit and to his team's credit. We don't talk about it enough because we're so used to congressional nightmares --
BOLDUAN: Right.
HEYE: -- and things like that,
BOLDUAN: But also, a statement of our time that Congress doing his job and a speaker of being able to figure it out is --
CUPP: Is a plus.
BOLDUAN: -- is a headline.
HEYE: Yes.
BOLDUAN: It is great to see you guys.
HEYE: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: But, but, but.
CUPPS: Buts.
BOLDUAN: John?
BERMAN: Putting the super in super (INAUDIBLE). Well, done. A lot of value in that.
On a brand new episode of THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER, Jake Tapper has the story of CJ Rice, whose murder conviction was overturned earlier this year. Thanks in part to Jake's father Dr. Theodore Tapper. Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
C.J. RICE, WRONGFULLY CONVICTED MAN: (INAUDIBLE) 2017, Dr. Tapper, hopefully as this letter reaches you, everything is as good as can be, given any in all circumstances.
THEODORE TAPPER, JAKE TAPPER'S FATHER: May 2019. Dear, CJ.
RICE: April 12, 2020.
T. TAPPER: December 2021.
RICE: February 13, 2022.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR (on-camera): These letters from my dad, did you look forward to getting them?
RICE: I did.
J. TAPPER (on-camera): Yes.
RICE: I did. Like a lot.
J. TAPPER (on-camera): Really?
RICE: Yes, because it's a -- it's a constant. So, you get used to constants (INAUDIBLE) but most of them are demeaning or not so personal. But a letter with ink on it from somebody on the other side of the wall, that's personal.
J. TAPPER (on-camera): Yes.
RICE: That makes you feel human. There was genuine, the caring concern as a father here for me it was genuine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Makes such a difference. All right, you can see that whole episode Sunday night at 8:00 p.m.
So, watching the markets this morning on what could be an historic day on Wall Street. The Dow doesn't have too far to go to get to 40,000. I will say it's moving in the wrong direction right now. We're going to take a quick break and see if we can fix that.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:51:56]
BERMAN: All right. The markets open just a short time ago. Now overnight, the Dow was really close.
BOLDUAN: How close?
BERMAN: Very, very close. So close. I can't do the math. But it was near 40,000. Right?
BOLDUAN: Yes.
BERMAN: I mean, it was already at a record high 40,000 is a big round number. The question is will it get there? Well, we'll eventually but when?
With us now CNN's Matt Egan. We got really excited, it was close to 40,000.
BOLDUAN: I know, it's (INAUDIBLE).
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: We did. We did before break you said you're going to try to fix it. Did you try turning it on and off again? Because usually that works for me.
BOLDUAN: Reset the router.
EGAN: Let's try that next time. Listen, even the fact that we're close to 40,000 is pretty significant. A lot of people didn't think that we'd be at this point. Because remember a lot of columnist and CEOs, investors, they were really predicting gloom and doom right now. Right? A lot of people thought this would be a recession right around now. Instead, it's looking more and more like a soft landing. And that is really one of the reasons why the market is up.
Also, it's the fact that the Fed has stopped these monster interest rate hikes, it's kind of in a wait and see mode and starting to signal that interest rates are going to be going down. There's also the AI boom, I mean, investors are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into NVDIA and other AI companies. So, all of that has really, really helped boost the market.
Now, I know that the stock market is not the economy, right?
BOLDUAN: Yes.
EGAN: And what's good for Wall Street is not always good for mainstream. But this is not just good news for millionaires and billionaires because a lot of real people have money in the stock market either directly or indirectly through mutual funds and 401(k)s and all of those funds have also gone up. New stats from the Fed show that 58 percent of households own stocks. So that is a record high and if nothing else, my little ones their college savings plans look a little bit mightier than they did a week ago.
BERMAN: Live 29 (ph), some of the best products out there.
EGAN: Yes.
BERMAN: But ascension (ph) to them.
BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: Great to see you, man.
EGAN: Thank you guys.
BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Matt.
So, this morning, more than 30 million people are facing winter weather alerts, with some areas facing the possibility of seeing more snow than they have all season long.
CNN's Derek Van Dam, he's got more for us. Where is spring again, Derek?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, one such city that is looking for spring, but we'll have no such sign of spring anytime soon as Minneapolis. Trust me on that one because you can see what it looks like right now on your TV screen. Perhaps you're watching on your tablet at home, but that's what Minneapolis looks like fresh coding of snow but they are in a snow deficit. Right. But with this upcoming snowstorm that we'll move in this weekend, we have the potential to surpass the entire winter snow totals in Minneapolis and several other locations.
So let me take you back to what's happening this morning with the first round of snow. This is now impacting places like Milwaukee, my home city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, very active radar right now across the Great Lakes and into the upper Midwest. In fact, another three to six inches still possible. But this storm system is going to quickly move east it's going to conjoin with another storm to the south, bringing rain to the I-95 corridor where we hit currently have flood watches, Boston all the way to New York and D.C. But on the cold side of that storm we see the snow measured in feet, at least more than 12 inches for places like upstate Vermont and New Hampshire and New York.
[09:55:09]
Flood watches for southern portions of Florida. It's all thanks to this large storm, taking abundant moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, by the way, the potential for severe weather near Miami Dade today, but that's going to be responsible for the wet soaking weekend that we can anticipate across the East Coast. Again, the snow on the northern side of this system. But if you're located across the major East Coast cities, it will be wet. Check your plans for Saturday, maybe bumped into Sunday. It'll be a better day. And then the secondary storm system that will bring more snow to places like Minneapolis and just north of Chicago that (INAUDIBLE) Sunday and Monday.
BERMAN: I don't mean to make this all about me. But did you say two to four inches of rain here tomorrow?
VAN DAM: Yes. Prepare yourself Saturday. You have been warned.
BERMAN: All right.
BOLDUAN: We're building up to like happiness on at the end of the show on Friday, Derek. So, yes. All right.
VAN DAM: Sorry. Just try to see (INAUDIBLE) -- BOLDUAN: So that's in (INAUDIBLE).
VAN DAM: -- better, but it's all I got.
BOLDUAN: Yes. All right. Well, try harder next time.
BERMAN: They'll be hard. Derek Van Dam and Gerald Ford (ph), both from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Thanks so much, Derek.
BOLDUAN: Well played John Berman. Thank you all so much for joining us. You can tell it's our Friday.
This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
"CNN NEWSROOM" with Jim Acosta, is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
