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Pres. Biden Heads To Scranton, PA To Draw Economic Contrast With Trump; WSJ: DOJ Preparing To File Antitrust Lawsuit Against Live Nation; Paris 2024 Torch Lit In Olympia, Greece, 3,100-Mile Relay Underway. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 16, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. New this morning, a huge moment for House Speaker Mike Johnson -- even bigger for Israel and Ukraine. We've got new details about how the speaker plans to pass aid to Israel and Ukraine, and also Taiwan this week. This after months and months of waiting and sometimes waffling. Now, as with many things concerning the speaker, it is not clear if he can get it through and/or keep his job.

CNN's Lauren Fox is with us now. So what's the plan and what are the prospects?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Speaker Mike Johnson, yesterday, making this announcement to his Republican colleagues that he does plan to move on separate bills at the end of this week to fund Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, as well as Israel. And his argument for making these separate votes is simply that lawmakers deserve the opportunity to decide each one upon their own merits.

Obviously, behind the scenes, Republicans are deeply divided over this question of additional aid for Ukraine. But on Israel, perhaps, they are much more united. Meanwhile, Democrats are more divided on that issue.

So essentially, this is a gamble. He's going to put these bills up for individual votes. And then there's a question of what exactly happens in the United States Senate.

The other huge question looming right now is what does this mean for Mike Johnson's ability to keep his job? He was defiant last night, saying that he does not make decisions in his leadership to hold onto the speaker's gavel, saying that he thought that this was the correct moment to have this discussion. That he has been moving toward this for some time and that he doesn't keep an eye on whether or not he is going to be able to keep his job.

But, of course, looming in the not-so-distance is the fact that Marjorie Taylor Greene is arguing that she has not made a determination yet about whether or not she would try to oust Johnson if he moves on Ukraine.

Here's what she said last night. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): He's definitely not going to be speaker next Congress if we're lucky enough to have the majority. And I think that is a widely held belief throughout the conference.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is he going to be speaker for the rest of this Congress, do you think?

GREENE: That is to be determined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And this morning, one of the key questions is going to be if Marjorie Taylor Greene moves forward with an effort to try to oust Johnson from his job, what do Democrats do given the fact that now Johnson is promising to move on Ukraine aid even though it's slightly structured differently than what the Senate bill is, even though he's going to use some loan component when it comes to some of the humanitarian assistance he's giving to that country? What do Democrats do? Would they vote to table some kind of effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson?

We'll be outside that meeting later today -- John.

BERMAN: Well, one Democrat, Jared Moskowitz, did tell us that he would vote against a motion to vacate, which means that at least some Democrats are willing to help save Mike Johnson's job if Marjorie Taylor Greene is the one to push for his ouster.

Lauren Fox, great to see you this morning. Thank you -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, a new day and one filled with new challenges for Donald Trump, his legal team, and the Manhattan district attorney. We're standing by this morning for jury selection to resume in the first criminal trial of Donald Trump. Trump facing 34 felony charges for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election.

Joining us right now, former Trump White House lawyer, Jim Schultz. And CNN legal analyst and former chief assistant D.A. for the Manhattan district attorney's office, Karen Friedman Agnifilo. A note: Karen is a counsel for a firm that represents Michael Cohen, though she has no contact with Cohen and does not work on his case.

Let's get to it. Karen, day one of jury selection showed that it can be slow and it can take time to seat a jury on any case, but especially a historic one like this.

Is it -- it is -- you point out -- and I think this is -- I thought it was really interesting that this is Donald Trump's jury -- his picking -- as much as it is the prosecution, which is different from all the -- any case, any legal kind of -- any legal case he's kind of seen before this.

Why is that important for people to understand when we're looking at this?

KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER CHIEF ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: I think it's important because he talks a lot about how this somehow involves Joe Biden, and that the judge is biased, and Alvin Bragg, the D.A. is biased. But this really has nothing to do with any of those people. And first of all, the prosecution in that office has nothing to do with Joe Biden. It's a state-elected position.

It's about the jury. And it's 12 just regular people who are going to be selected, like any other jury, by both sides, right? Both sides agree on the jury in the end. They have challenges. They can -- they can say this person should be excused. They have a certain number of them but they can excuse the people they don't like. But ultimately, it's his jury and they're the ones who are going to decide whether the prosecution has proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

So I think it's significant because no matter what you can say about politics, et cetera, at the end of the day, it's just about -- it's the same thing that happens in every courtroom across America where you are judged by a jury of your peers.

[07:35:00]

BOLDUAN: It's stripped down. It kind of strips -- maybe what you're saying is it's stripping away a lot of the theatrics that we're seeing outside the court all the time and which won't stop when you get inside the court.

Jim, the numbers here from yesterday -- 32 potential jurors were left in the courtroom when court recessed. More than half of the first group of prospective jurors was dismissed almost immediately with that question that they said that they could not be impartial in deciding this case and deciding on Donald Trump.

I've seen it described two ways -- what happened yesterday. One, that this is exactly why the process is here and this is just as it is. But I've also seen it described as remarkable and rare to have a more than 50 percent fail rate when you're looking at seating a jury.

What do you think?

JAMES SCHULTZ, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: So, I'm not surprised by it, right? You do have a jury pool here in New York that isn't predisposed to be for Donald Trump, right? So you have that issue at the outset.

But that's why you have the protections that we were just talking about, right? Everybody -- they get their strikes. They get to ask the questions. And it's going to be a long process.

And there are going to be a lot of people that don't want to be part of this because they can't feel the -- that they can be -- they don't feel that they can be impartial.

So, no surprise on my part. BOLDUAN: What did you think -- did you -- from what you heard, did you hear any surprises, Karen? You were part of our coverage a lot yesterday.

AGNIFILO: I did not. I mean, in big cases where you are asking jurors to sit for two months or it's a --

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

AGNIFILO: -- a high profile case, it's very common to lose half the people who show up. Who -- I mean, who in their life can say you know what, I can press pause on everything for --

BOLDUAN: It's simple but important things. One man saying one of his kids was getting married in May or June.

AGNIFILO: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: And so that was --

AGNIFILO: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: -- one of the reasons.

AGNIFILO: And so, that's very common, actually, to have -- to lose a large percentage of the people. Also, in a high profile case, people will know about it or how strong feelings about it.

So I didn't see anything surprising at all yesterday. In fact, it was extremely routine and boring -- so much so that it's been reported that the former president fell asleep in court, which happens to people in court because it can be very boring in real life, right? There's a lot of waiting. There's a lot of downtime.

So it just felt very ordinary and it felt very much like every other case that is prosecuted in that building.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you just about that. It's been described maybe as falling asleep also just without knowing his REM state. It's -- he was seen with his eyes closed for significant periods of time -- minutes at a time.

Regardless, Donald Trump in the courtroom. I'm fascinated on your take, right? This is day one and he was described as slouching, scowling, scoffing. Maybe that's not a surprise either.

What is six weeks going to look like of this?

SCHULTZ: I -- look, those -- I think it gets different -- it's going to be a different situation once they get into the trial, right? But this is really a long, boring process. And I think a lot of people are saying yeah, I probably would have fallen asleep, too. Now, they don't have an opponent that they're calling Sleepy Joe.

But I do feel -- I think that is one of the issues here, right? It's going to be a long, arduous process here getting through it. BOLDUAN: Can he hurt his case or help his case -- how he just looks in court and is sitting there before the jury?

SCHULTZ: How he projects himself in his daily course on television and in the courtroom -- wherever -- is going to impact how people perceive him. So, yes, it's important but no surprise that he's -- that he's a little -- that he's dozing off during the day. I think most people would think they're going to do the same.

BOLDUAN: I promise you CNN will not.

It's good to see you guys. Thank you so much for this -- John.

BERMAN: No nap time before "MATLOCK."

All right. New this morning, while Donald Trump is in that New York courtroom, President Biden is heading to his hometown, Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he is expected to draw a sharp contrast between his "kitchen table" view of the economy and what his team is calling Trump's Mar-a-Lago vision. This is the president's first stop of a three-day tour through the battleground commonwealth that is sure to have a significant impact on the election this November.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House this morning. Kevin, what are we expecting to see?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, because the Biden campaign has essentially taken a vow of silence when it comes to the specifics of Trump's legal cases. But they do believe the split screen here -- Trump hold up in a courtroom and President Biden on the campaign trail talking about kitchen table issues -- will essentially speak for itself.

And what that will look like this week is three full days of campaigning in Pennsylvania starting today in the president's hometown of Scranton where he really will start to focus on these issues of tax fairness. And they do believe that is an issue that Trump is very vulnerable on. Remember, he signed that tax reform bill that had outsized benefits for the wealthy.

What President Biden will talk about today in Scranton is trying to make the tax code more fair, including raising taxes on the wealthy. He has proposed a minimum tax on billionaires of 25 percent. He's also proposed raising the corporate tax rate.

[07:40:00]

This is an issue that they really do think will have an effect on voters, particularly in a place like Pennsylvania where polls currently show quite a tight race between Biden and Trump.

Now, the economy has been something of a singular difficulty for President Biden when it comes to the campaign trail. Of course, his team had been hoping for an easing in inflation numbers. That has not been an easy road. And I think what you're going to see them do this week and going

forward is really trying to flip the script, going after Trump and corporations for raising taxes on middle-income people. On corporations for raising prices on Americans. And it really is this message of economy populism. Of course, that's not a new one for Democrats but it is the backdrop of this trial that makes it so unique.

We did hear from the Trump campaign communications director saying that "No matter where Donald Trump is, whether it's in Mar-a-Lago or a courtroom or anywhere, he'll be focused on himself, his toxic agenda, and his campaign of revenge and retribution."

So, certainly, this split screen very in focus today and this week as President Biden hits the campaign trail -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Kevin Liptak at the White House. We will be watching it closely. Thank you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: This morning, there's new reporting that could rock the live music industry and concert industry. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department is getting ready to bring an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, one of the biggest names in the live music space. Live Nation is the parent company of Ticketmaster. And Live Nation and Ticketmaster got all the wrong headlines you'll remember back in 2022 after that presale ticketing debacle for the Taylor Swift Eras Tour.

Joining us right now is CNN media analyst and senior media reporter at Axios, Sara Fischer. Sara, thank you so much for jumping on. We saw this reporting out of the Journal today. It -- this will be a big deal.

What are you hearing about this?

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST, SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER, AXIOS: Yes, and we've had a source, Kate, confirm that to us as well that the DOJ is preparing a lawsuit against Live Nation.

This is a big deal because this company was formed through a merger in 2010. And at the time, regulators said oh, we don't need pseudo block. It's not a big deal. Just please don't do anything bad. It's harmful to your competitors.

Well, let's fast-forward 10 years later. I think the whole Taylor Swift debacle forced everybody in Washington to figure out whether or not one company consolidated too much power.

And this becomes a problem, Kate, because then, 1) there's not room for competition. But then, 2) when something bad like this happens you have to wonder why did it happen? Were they not innovative enough? Were they not prepared enough? And if they had stronger competition maybe this could have been prevented.

And so, this is a huge deal for the live music -- live ticketing industry. If they were to get sued, sources tell me, likely, they wouldn't get broken up. It would mean, though, that they would likely have to do some sort of settlement where they have to agree not to engage in monopolistic behavior.

BOLDUAN: So, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Justice Department investigation -- it really gained momentum after that botched presale of the Taylor Swift tour. I mean, is that what this is all about? I mean, Taylor Swift's impact -- I mean, geez, Louise.

FISCHER: Yeah. So a lot of times when you're talking about thorny issues they don't impact consumers head-on, and so lawmakers think this is something that we can duke out with the companies and it doesn't become a big public spectacle.

But with the Taylor Swift thing, it became a huge consumer outcry. Suddenly, you have trade groups representing consumers that are weighing in. You have campaigns targeting Washington on behalf of them. And so this became such a big issue -- lawmakers are getting calls from angry constituents -- that I do think it prompted them to act.

It's worth noting, however, Kate, they were investigating and looking into Live Nation well before that.

BOLDUAN: Right.

FISCHER: And basically, they wanted to ensure that they weren't forcing some of their vendors -- Live Nation -- to use Ticketmaster ticketing. But the Taylor Swift thing definitely put this on the map.

BOLDUAN: Sara, it's great to see you. Thank you so much -- John.

FISCHER: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, one Chicago barber is giving out free haircuts to the homeless.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR ABUAWAD, CHICAGO BARBER WHO GIVES FREE HAIRCUTS TO HOMELESS: How do you feel right now?

TROY BROWN, GOT FREE HAIRCUT: I feel good.

ABUAWAD: You feel brand new?

BROWN: Yeah, I feel --

ABUAWAD: Without a haircut, a person feels depressed, stressed out.

BROWN: Yeah. Yeah.

ABUAWAD: Once you get that haircut you feel like no matter what -- what you're going through in life -- you feel like a brand new person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you looked in that mirror, Troy, and saw yourself, how'd you feel? BROWN: I felt good. I'm like, man, I forgot I looked this good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's barber Omar Abuawad. He does this on the sidewalks in Chicago every Wednesday after a car crashed into his shop last year forcing him to shut down. No fancy chair or a shop, just a clipper, a folding chair, and a mission to help people feel good when they may need it the most. That's really wonderful.

So the first step, literally, to the Summer Olympics. The Olympic flame officially on its way to Paris.

And happening right now behind closed doors, Israel's war cabinet is meeting. It's a slightly different group this time, so what does that mean? We are standing by for any details about a possible response to the attack from Iran.

[07:45:10]

(COMMERCIAL)

BOLDUAN: So, firefighters are working to put out flames ripping through one of the most iconic and historic buildings in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here is video from this morning. Nearly half of the old Stock Exchange has been destroyed, including its iconic dragon-tailed spire. The culture minister called the fire a devastating blow to Denmark's cultural heritage. The fire chief tells CNN rescue efforts are underway for valuable historic paintings and furniture from the 400- year-old building. So far, thankfully, though, there have been no injuries.

[07:50:00]

Now, the body of a Baltimore bridge worker has now been recovered. Mexico's foreign minister confirms the remains of 24-year-old Carlos Hernandez were recovered yesterday. We also just got new video of the scene. Hernandez was doing construction on the Key Bridge when that cargo ship crashed into it last month. And we're told minutes before the collapse, he actually called his girlfriend and left a voicemail saying that they just poured the cement and they're just waiting for it to dry.

And from the NCAA to the WNBA. As expected, Iowa's rockstar college basketball phenom Caitlin Clark was selected number one overall by the Indiana Fever during Monday night's draft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAITLIN CLARK, WNBA NO. 1 OVERALL DRAFT PICK: I've dreamed of this moment since I was in second grade and it's taken a lot of hard work and a lot of ups and downs. But more than anything, just trying to soak it in.

My parents always instilled confidence in me from a young age when I was a young girl. And I think that's something a lot of young girls can learn to have and I think people supporting them certainly helps. So, yeah, I think the biggest thing is the confidence. But I told my mom before this is, like -- you know, I earned it and that's why I'm so proud of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

South Carolina's Kamilla Cardoso and LSU's Angel Reese will be teaming up on the court with the Chicago Sky.

These players have brought more excitement to women's basketball -- and let's be honest, just college basketball in general -- than ever before. The NCAA Women's Tournament title game smashed records to become the most-watched women's college basketball game ever. Tickets for the WNBA draft sold out in less than 30 minutes. Take that, boys.

All right. So, right now, the Olympic torch relay is underway for the Paris 2024 Summer Games. The torch was lit just hours ago in Olympia, Greece, the birthplace of the ancient games. It is now beginning a more than 3,000-mile journey to France.

Joining us now for more on this is journalist Elinda Labropoulou for more on this. Tell us about this path, this tradition, and what happens now.

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: Well, first of all, it's been a fantastic ceremony here in ancient Olympia. It's at this temple right behind me where the lighting of the flame takes place. It's a ritual -- it's been going on since 1936 -- the Berlin Olympics -- and it's inspired by ancient rituals that used to take place right here in ancient Olympia, the home of the Olympics.

You have to understand that there's a tremendous sense of history in place being here on a day like this where the first Olympics were held 776 B.C. So clearly, close to three millennia ago.

So now the flame begins its journey across Greece and will then travel all the way to France and Marseille -- the Port of Marseille and the historic three-masted cargo ship -- a wonderful, historic vessel. The crew from the boat was here today -- they were actually standing right next to us -- and they were cheering along with the rest of the crowds. And from there, it will begin the last leg of the relay in order to reach Paris in time for July 26 and the opening of the Olympics there.

Now, the French have promised a spectacular opening ceremony. They have said that they will host most of the ceremony along the River Seine. So, beautiful backdrops of Paris along the way as you can imagine.

However, due to some security concerns, we understand that President Macron, just a couple of days ago, said there may have to be a plan B. So it may need -- they may need to change the venue. It may need to be held inside.

All the same, spectacular games ahead for all of us, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. I, for one, very much looking forward to the Summer Games. Thank you, Elinda -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on his way to Europe as G7 leaders consider weighing new sanctions on Iran after their weekend attack on Israel. U.S. officials are in lockstep with their G7 partners to arrange new multilateral sanctions that would target Iran's missile and other programs.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is with me now. Alex, I understand you have new information about what U.S. officials are hearing right now about these meetings and plans the Israelis might have.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, what we're hearing from U.S. officials is that the plans that Israel may have for Iran -- they have been assured -- the U.S. has been assured that they would be limited in scope. So this retaliation by Israel, if it's carried out, would be rather limited. And that's an attempt by Israel to essentially comfort the U.S. that what they may do would not necessarily escalate the situation.

But that is far from a done deal. That is far from certain. There are lots of mistakes that can be made here if Israel does choose to retaliate against Iran.

What we know for now and what we're being told is that there has been no warning to the U.S. by Israel that anything is imminent. That this -- that a military operation is going to be carried out imminently. The U.S. certainly hopes that there would be some kind of warning because an Iranian response to that could threaten U.S. military in the region. It could threaten U.S. diplomatic facilities.

[07:55:11]

I should note that before the Israeli strike against the Iranian building in Damascus, which essentially provoked this weekend's Iranian retaliation -- there was no warning to the United States beforehand. They only got a warning once those planes were in the sky.

So what we're hearing is that there -- that the Israeli response -- military response would be expected to be limited in scope. And American officials are treating this essentially as not a question of if but when and what that would look like. Would it be an overt, say, bombing of military facilities by Israeli jets? Would it be something a bit more covert? That remains to be seen.

But there is still hope on the American side that essentially, Israel will, as they've said, take the win. One senior official telling me that equilibrium has been reestablished following the Iranian retaliation. They are now essentially even.

And so, with all this new goodwill that Israel now has after being attacked, U.S. officials are hoping that Israel will just leave it there -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Alex Marquardt with that new reporting. Alex, thank you very much for that.

With us now is Max Boot. He is a senior fellow of the Council of Foreign Relations and a columnist for The Washington Post.

Max, I think you just heard Alex's reporting there. U.S. officials being told or reporting that Israel -- their response will be limited in scope.

What do you think that means?

MAX BOOT, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST (via Webex by Cisco): Really hard to know John because certainly, any Israeli airstrike on Iran -- Iranian territory would not be a limited one. That would be something that would be likely to provoke further Iranian retaliation and escalation. But there are certainly other things that Israel can do, including cyberattacks, including attacks on Iranian targets in Lebanon or Syria, or even Iraq. So it's really hard to know.

But I would hope that the Iranians -- that the Israelis would do just what Alex was talking about and take the win without having a need to lash out at Iran because that could easily draw the entire region into a lighter war and that could draw the U.S. into a lighter war, which is the last thing that the Biden administration wants.

BERMAN: You know, David Ignatius, who also writes for The Washington Post, says this is really a question of how can Israel retaliate and not escalate. Is that even possible do you think, Max?

BOOT: In theory, it's just very hard to pull off. I think any direct Israeli attack on Iranian territory, unless it's very, very limited -- maybe taking out a drone factory or something of that nature as kind of a symbolic strike -- maybe they can get away with it. But anything, certainly, larger would -- I think the Iranians have made it clear that they would feel compelled to retaliate for that.

And I think Israel can feel very good about what happened on Saturday night in terms of capability with known air defenses buttressed by the U.S., Jordan, and other allies to stop this Iranian attack and take down 99 percent of the projectiles.

But they need to understand that -- and I'm sure they do understand -- that they cannot count on that kind of success in the future and that Iran still has some cards it hasn't played, including the fact that Hezbollah in Lebanon, has an estimated 150,000 rockets. Iran did not fire those rockets on Saturday night. If it did, they would have a chance to inundate Israeli air defenses and those missiles would be fired right next door to Israel. They wouldn't have the kind of flight time and they would not have the kind of warning time they had with all of the missiles and drones that were fired from Iran on Saturday.

So I think Israel understands it needs to tread carefully here and it can't -- it did very well on Saturday but there's a -- there's a danger of (INAUDIBLE) coming in.

BERMAN: Quickly, Max, the U.S. has made crystal clear that it really does not want Israel to do anything that would escalate the situation here. But how much influence does the United States have or all these European nations? How much weight will that carry inside the Israeli -- these Israeli war cabinet meetings?

BOOT: Well, that's a great question because Prime Minister Netanyahu has certainly ignored advice from President Biden in recent months to wind down the operation in Gaza and to limit civilian casualties. So we'll see if he pays attention now.

But I think the fact that the U.S. played such a major role in defending Israel -- that our jets were shooting down Iranian drones and that our coordination with Arab nations made possible the early warning -- all of that I think should buy a lot of goodwill and credibility for President Biden.

And it should show to Prime Minister Netanyahu that he can't go it alone. That he needs help. He needs allies. And this is how, effectively, Israel can be defended when it has other countries on its side.

BERMAN: Max Boot, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

[08:00:00]