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Biden to Call Netanyahu; Trump Set to Make Announcement on Abortion; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is Interviewed about Trump, Israel, Judge Denies Trumps Motion to Delay. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 04, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The Fourth of July, Memorial Day. You should know, a lot of people are going to be driving to see this eclipse and you've just got to be more careful on the road.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I underestimated how dark these - these glasses actually are. that's really cool.

TIRRELL: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Thanks so much, Meg.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: I will keep them, or not.

Meg Tirrell, thank you so much.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM will start in just a moment. But first, the best way you can get a view of the eclipse with your wonderful glasses that you can obtain is go - go get them and you can also watch the entire thing on CNN. The rare opportunity, you won't see it for decades to come, join CNN for special live coverage of the eclipse across America. Coverage starts Monday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, or you can stream it on Max.

Now, the next hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL begins.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We just learned minutes ago that a crucial call today between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not originally on the schedule. So, what does that tell us about the urgency of the president's message.

Florida's six-week abortion ban turning up the heat on Donald Trump. He's a Florida resident. How will he vote when it is on the ballot there? New reporting this morning about how his campaign is working behind the scenes to address it.

And then $30 million in cash stolen. New clues in one of the biggest heist in history.

I'm John Berman, with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: In just a few hours President Biden is fully prepared to express his anger and frustrations to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a crucial phone call today. A call people close to Biden say will be very important in the next step for U.S.-Israel relation. And we've just learned that this meeting was not previously on the books and was scheduled after an Israeli airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers.

This will be the first time the two allies will be speaking since those deaths. A CNN analysis of the aftermath video found that the attack may have consisted of multiple precision strikes. The team was traveling through a deconflicted zone. They had coordinated their movements with the IDF. And Israel claims the strike was unintentional.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House for us.

Arlette, what is the Biden strategy today? We know we've been hearing behind the scenes that he is outraged.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, President Biden is expected to convey that frustration and anger directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the two men speak in the coming hours. Now a source familiar with the call tells CNN that this was not initially on the calendar at the start of the week, but was added after this Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen on Monday evening.

And that that moment really serves as the latest flashpoint in the increasingly tense relationship between Biden and Netanyahu. But a big question going forward is whether this could mark a turning point in the U.S. military support for Israel as they wage there campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

Now, the president has increasingly increased his frustration level, sources have told CNN, and he plans to make that quite clear in this phone call. He is expected to broaden out the conversation. While it is expected to focus mainly on the death of those aid workers, he's also expected to talk a bit about the humanitarian protections that need to be in place for aid workers going forward. One thing that U.S. officials have told CNN is that the Biden administration has already started to convey to Israeli officials that they need to change the way that they transmit information about where these aid workers are located as they're trying to get more aid into Gaza. There is also discuss -- expected to be discussions relating to a temporary ceasefire as the U.S. has been pushing to get hostages out of Gaza and more humanitarian aid into the enclave.

The likely - they likely could also discuss the Israeli plans and intention to have a ground operation into Rafah, something that U.S. official have been warning about for weeks now.

Now, ahead of this call, we know that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart. And a Pentagon spokesperson said that in that phone call he expressed outrage and also reinforced that this incident really heightens the stakes of this Rafah operation as they've been trying to tell the Israeli officials that they need to take great care to ensure the protection of civilians and also trying to get more humanitarian aid in.

But even as we've seen this increase in rhetoric, calling this U.S.s response an outrage, what we have not seen so far is any shift in U.S. policy, particularly when it comes to the U.S. offering military support to Israel without conditions.

[09:05:05]

So, many will be closely watching to see whether any shift in policy a could be coming down the road. But for the time being, officials have made clear that the U.S. position and its support for Israel has not changed and isn't going to in the imminent future.

SIDNER: Arlette Saenz, thank you so much, there from the White House.

John.

BERMAN: We have some new CNN reporting this morning. After months of saying different things about abortion, the Trump campaign claims it is carefully crafting new messaging. Now on Tuesday, Trump surprised his own campaign when he promised to make a statement on abortion next week. Of course, people who have followed him for years know he has often promised to release something. He never does. His tax returns, for instance.

Over the last several months, Trump has seemed to test different messages on abortion, hinting he would support a 15 week ban, other times being more vague.

CNN's Alayna Treene is with us now.

So, what exactly is the Trump campaign doing now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, John, it's really interesting because this is something that Donald Trump has struggled with for over a year and throughout his time on the campaign trail. And it's an issue that, of course, Donald Trump and his campaign recognized is going to be a top vulnerability for both him and Republicans overall as they look forward to November.

And you're totally right, Donald Trump hasn't been very clear on what his position is. He's really tried to have it both ways and tow the line. To some people he says, look, I'm taking credit for the overturning of Roe versus Wade. It wouldn't have happened without me stacking the Supreme Court with three conservative justices. But then in other times he publicly and privately acknowledges that the issue is a political loser, especially in a general election. And that's why we've really seen this waffling from him over the past several months.

Now, my conversations with Donald Trump's team is that over that time period they had been quietly working behind the scenes, his policy team, to craft some sort of policy on it. However, they hadn't really had any plans to roll that out anytime soon. And that's why when Donald Trump said earlier this week that he was going to be making a statement on abortion next week, it did catch some of his team off- guard.

Take a listen to how he's been putting it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Pretty soon I'm going to be making a decision. And I would like to see if we could do that or all how - I would like to see if we could make both sides happy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, do you support the six-week abortion ban that the Florida supreme court just upheld?

TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) we'll be making a statement in the next week about abortion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, John, part of the reason that that statement just there from Donald Trump did catch some of his advisers off guard is because for a while, especially during the primary, he had been receiving a lot of pressure from outside allies, people like Kellyanne Conway, Senator Lindsey Graham, Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-life, all of them pressuring him to clarify his position on abortion.

However, once he became the Republican nominee and secured enough delegates for that, his team recognized that there is some sort of vulnerability there, why don't you just keep continuing to be vague on this issue? However, they also recognize that he can't avoid it forever and it's probably better to come out sooner with that specific language rather than later.

BERMAN: We'll see. We'll see if they follow through one week from now.

In the meantime, you know, who is he listening to? Who is advising him on this subject?

TREENE: So, there's a couple people. And I mentioned Kellyanne Conway, his former aide. They actually had dinner recently at Mar-a-Lago on the patio of Donald Trump's resort. And they discussed it there. She's really been encouraging him to take a stance on a specific threshold, a specific amount of weeks for when abortion should no longer be allowed. And that's why you're sort of hearing him run out these ideas. Maybe 15 weeks. Maybe 16 weeks.

He's also been talking to Lindsey Graham. I spoke with the senator yesterday over the phone and he was telling me, look, Donald Trump wants to reach a consensus. He wants both sides to be happy. And he argues, Lindsey Graham argues, that that is around 15 or 16 weeks.

He's also been talking to a lot of pro-life leaders, anti-abortion groups. People like Ralph Reed, one of his close friends who heads up an evangelical organization. A lot of these people, again, who helped get him elected in 2016. Remember, this was a key issue in 2016 that helped Donald Trump make it into the White House. These are the people who are saying, you need to clarify this.

But again, there's also his advisers internally who are telling him, you need to be careful with this issue because it is such a vulnerable issue.

John.

BERMAN: And again, what he says could put him at odds with the six- week ban in Florida that he will get to vote on next November.

Thank you so much for being with us, Alayna. Alayna Treene.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about this. Joining us right now is Democratic senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren.

Senator, thanks so much for coming back in.

Donald Trump - we just heard that latest reporting from our team around Donald Trump's plans or not, or what is being considered and pressured behind the scenes on his stance on abortion rights.

[09:10:02]

If Donald Trump comes out to support a 15-week federal abortion ban, is that a compromise considering, as John mentioned, what's happening in Florida and other states who are going much further?

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Look, I understand that Donald Trump is trying to find a messaging solution here. But Donald Trump doesn't have a messaging problem, he's got a reality problem. And the reality is that Roe versus Wade protected access to abortion for half a century. Donald Trump aggressively and deliberately put in place an extremist supreme court that denied Roe versus Wade after having sworn they were going to follow through on precedent, overturned Roe versus Wade the first chance they got.

And what is happened since then? Republican led legislatures, governors all across the states where they're in power have tried to deny access to abortion. And this latest action in Florida is just a reminder of what Donald Trump faces. And that is that he unleashed this. He is lifted by the extremist wing of his party. And what they're trying to do right now in Florida is say, there's an abortion ban so early that many women would not even know they're pregnant yet when this abortion band goes into place.

Donald Trump has to live with that reality because he created it, he has fostered it, and he is running for president on it. Abortion will be on the ballot in 2024. And the American people don't want what Donald Trump is trying to sell.

BOLDUAN: Senator, I also want to ask you about the news that we're tracking out of Israel. President Biden will be speaking with Benjamin Netanyahu today. Do you think the strike killing World Central Kitchen aid workers, do you think this is the moment that President Biden needs to change course and use leverage to force Netanyahu to do more?

WARREN: You know, it - this is just one more reminder of the kind of humanitarian disaster that Benjamin Netanyahu has created. Here are these wonderful people who go in out of the goodness of their hearts. They're trying to be helpful in the middle of a disaster. And they lose their lives. And my heart goes out to their families on this.

Look, American policy has actually been for a very long time that we do not provide military aid to people or countries that are in violation of international law or domestic U.S. law. And our laws are clear that anyone engaged in combat has to be careful about civilian life and has to give access to humanitarian aid. Prime Minister Netanyahu is clearly not doing that. And people have tried to give him a lot of space. He is not doing it and he must be held accountable.

We need four things to happen, and we need them to happen now. A ceasefire, the hostages need to be returned, humanitarian aid has to be opened up, and America needs to be pushing the parties toward a two-state solution where everyone has the opportunity for self- determination for security and living with dignity going forward.

BOLDUAN: Senator, you talk about Netanyahu needing to be held accountable and things that need to happen now. Last month you joined a group of Democratic senators basically asking Joe Biden to leverage weapon sales to Israel to pressure Netanyahu to change tactics in Gaza. We know the administration is set to greenlight a huge sale worth upwards of $18 billion to Israel, having to do with a slew of F- 15 fighter jets. Do you - Congress can take action now to have a say in that. Do you want Congress to move to block that sale?

WARREN: Well, I think it is clear that Congress has a responsibility to act. We have legal tools here. And as I said, we cannot approve the sale of arms to a country that is in violation of our own laws on this. And that includes access to humanitarian relief.

This is a moral question. It is also a legal question. Congress has the responsibility here, and I'm willing to take that responsibility.

BOLDUAN: Talk to me more about that because there's - I've heard a lot of kind of conversations around possibly considering legislation to step in. Will - are you considering or will you be putting forward legislation, if that's the right term when it comes to this, to kind of start this process of blocking this sale?

WARREN: So - so, actually, let's - let's put this in a slightly different context.

[09:15:00]

We already have an established U.S. policy here. And the United States -

BOLDUAN: How do you enforce it? How do you make the president not - not - not greenlight this?

WARREN: Well, that's - that's - I - I think the best we can do here is that we need to all be working together. And that's the president, that's people in Congress. And I am hopeful that when the president talks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, it will be making it clear that support for the actions of the prime minister are not - he's not helping Israel. He is not keeping Israel safe. And that he cannot - cannot continue to follow a policy of trying to starve out the people of Gaza, that he loses support all around the world.

Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to be advancing the interests, not of Israel, but only of Prime Minister Netanyahu. And it's time for that to end.

BOLDUAN: But what if - I mean I heard - Chris Coons said on the program shortly time - a short time ago that - that this call is a very important moment in the next step of U.S. relations with Israel. If this call ends and Netanyahu continues without changing course, or there isn't something tangible that you perceive - that you and others perceive as course-correcting, what then?

WARREN: Well, what we're trying to do right now is make clear, both very publicly and to the White House, to everyone involved, that Prime Minister Netanyahu has to understand how little support he has for the actions that he has undertaken. That is a necessary precedent to this call. And the president will now step up. He will have this call with Prime Minister Netanyahu. And we will see what happens next.

But we cannot continue down a path where Prime Minister Netanyahu's policy is to try to starve hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, women and children, in - in Gaza as his way to advance his own personal interests. That's just not going to work.

As I've said, what we've got to do is we've got to get a ceasefire in place. We've got to get those hostages back. We have got to get humanitarian relief into Gaza, and we need to do it now. Every day is crucial at this moment.

BOLDUAN: Senator Warren, thank you for coming on today.

WARREN: Thank you.

Coming up for us, delay denied. Donald Trump's latest move to push off the start of his trial not happening. Why the judge said Trump and his -- what he's trying to do is straining credulity.

Michigan prosecutors say the first parents in the country to be convicted for the deaths caused by their son in a school shooting, that they showed a, quote, "chilling lack of remorse." Why they're pushing - prosecutors are pushing for a lengthy prison sentence now.

The Los Angeles Police Department says it's one of the largest cash heists in the city's history. Thieves making off with more than $30 million. And how police are trying to figure out how they pulled it off.

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[09:22:27] BERMAN: This morning, Donald Trump's New York criminal trials is on the clock, set to begin in two weeks. The judge rejected his last- ditch effort to postpone the trial, writing, quote, "the fact that the defendant waited until a mere 17 days prior to the scheduled trial date of March 25, 2024, to file the motion raises real questions about the sincerity and actual purpose of the motion. The circumstances, viewed as a whole, test this court's credulity."

With us now, CNN senior legal analyst, former federal and state prosecutor, former (INAUDIBLE) bureau, Elie Honig.

Councilor, thank you for being with us.

Does this mark the end of Donald Trump trying to delay the New York criminal trial? No more requests, you think, from his attorneys?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Not at all, John. I expect to see almost daily request if we go by the pattern that's been established over the last few days.

It is nothing all that unusual to see a defense lawyer in these last few days before a trial date go to the judge and raise these sort of emergency motions, we need more time, we need a postponement.

However, Donald Trump, as he is want to do, seems to be pushing this to and beyond any extreme. And there's a bit of a boy who cried wolf effect happening here where the judge has heard enough of these last minute emergency motions - there have been three or four just in last week or so - that it seems to be costing Trump in terms of credibility, and the judge seems fed up and he's sort of whisking them away with the back of his hand at this point.

BERMAN: Yes, let's take one for instance. One is the Trump team suggesting there's been so much negative pre-trial publicity that he can't get a fair trial and you have to delay. To that the judge says?

HONIG: Yes, that one's got no particular chance of succeeding. I mean, response number one from the DA is, you, Donald Trump, have been generating much of this publicity with your own public statements. And the other point that will be made is, there's no reason to think that publicity around this trial is going to be any less if we push it back to June, to July, to 2025. It's always going to be there. So, I think that's one of the many motions that has been and will continue to be unsuccessful.

BERMAN: There will be a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of presidential immunity, while in theory the New York criminal trial is going on. Is there any interplay between the two?

HONIG: Yes, so that's interesting. There is a Supreme Court arguments scheduled for April 25th, which will be a trial day, according to the current schedule.

Now, Donald Trump has said, we need to put this whole trial in Manhattan, the hush money case, on hold until we get a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on immunity, which will probably be in June or July.

[09:25:08]

Now, the first problem with that is, it's not clear how Donald Trump would even really have an immunity argument in the hush money case because almost all of the conduct there, the paying of the money to Stormy Daniels, happened before Donald Trump was president.

Now, there were a couple of invoices paid in the first couple weeks while he was president. So, maybe there's some hook there.

The other point though is, this argument has already largely been raised by Donald Trump in this case. He tried to get his case moved over to federal court last summer. And as part of that, he said, I'm going to have an immunity argument, and the federal court rejected it. So, it's a slightly different procedural context, John. Trump may well try again, but I think that's a long shot. Maybe a longshot is better than no shot for Trump.

BERMAN: Elie Honig, keeping New Jersey safe, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, coming up, we have some breaking news into CNN. We're learning the Biden administration recently authorized even more heavy bombs to Israel. That's next.

And we're just minutes away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Market futures are pointing higher this morning. The Dow ending Wednesday down for the third straight day of losses. Pre-market trading swung higher after this morning's new weekly job data. The Labor Department shows jobless claims higher than expected at 221,000 but still at an overall historic low.

Tomorrow, we'll get a fresh (INAUDIBLE) to the jobs market as March data will be released. We're keeping an eye on all of it for you. That's ahead.

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