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Trump Seeks Delay in Federal Election Subversion Case; Dems Needed for Johnson's Aid Plan; Backlash Against Johnson; Clark Picked by Indiana Fever; Biden Closing Gap; Mitch Landrieu is Interviewed about the Biden Campaign. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 16, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:31:03]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump is running a familiar play, trying to further delay his federal election subversion case. Here's the latest twist. Trump's lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to return the case to a lower court, which would inevitably draw out the clock further.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has much more on this.

Katelyn, what is this move all about?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Kate, this was the last written argument that Donald Trump's team is making before those all-important Supreme Court arguments next week related to presidential immunity - his claim for president immunity around his January 6, 2020, election criminal case in D.C.'s federal court.

When the Supreme Court here's this, Trump's team is painting out some options. What he really wants is for the Supreme Court to say there's absolute immunity around the president. Someone who served in the presidency cannot face criminal charges for anything they were doing or saying while president unless they were convicted through a congressional impeachment proceeding by the Senate. He was not. And so they want the case to be dismissed.

In this situation, they're saying to the Supreme Court, if that doesn't happen, if you don't dismiss the case in full, then send it back to the lower courts and ask for more evidence. And they say that there is an option the Supreme Court could take here where they could send this case back to the lower courts and tell them, look at each act that Donald Trump is facing in his charges in this criminal indictment from the special counsel's office and the Justice Department, have the lower courts determine if that will shield him from prosecution, and then there may need to be more evidence here in this case.

So, that's the bid they're making. And the biggest caution around all of this that Donald Trump's team is trying to warn the Supreme Court of is divisible politics. They're even citing George Washington's farewell address, that any sort of prosecution of a former president could spell disaster for democracy.

Now, of course, the Justice Department says that's absolutely not the case. It protects justice in this country. And many presidents over the years have always believed that they could be prosecuted if they committed crimes while in office.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Katelyn Polantz, thank you.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson has a plan to pass aid for Ukraine and Israel, but he really needs Democrats helped to get it done. After months of waiting and sometimes waffling, he plans to bring a vote on three individual bills to fund Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. That votes - those votes could likely happen on Friday. There is some growing backlash from members of his own party.

CNN's Lauren Fox up on Capitol Hill.

So, where do things stand this morning?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're watching really closely just how severe the conservative backlash is against Johnson's newly rolled out plan to get aid for Ukraine, for the Indo- Pacific, and for Israel across the finish line. So far you have some people, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, even warning that they will vote against the procedural step to begin the debate on the floor when it comes to these bills. That, of course, is a major problem for Mike Johnson because that means he may need to depend on some Democratic votes on what is typically something that the majority gets across the floor.

Now, we will learn shortly, as we stake out the Democratic meeting, whether or not they are willing to help Johnson get some of those bills across the finish line, mainly Ukraine, which is one of those that conservatives have such problems with.

But the other looming issue is what is this mean for Speaker Mike Johnson's future? Does this mean perhaps that he could be ousted or that they will try and oust him? I think right now Marjorie Taylor Greene had been operating sort of as a solo act with this threat hanging over Mike Johnson. Does that change? Does her support grow among conservatives and hardliners who are frustrated with the fact that Johnson is doing anything at all on Ukraine.

[08:35:07]

Here was Marjorie Taylor Greene 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 widely held belief throughout the conference.

MANU RAJU, CNN 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 one other thing to keep in mind here is Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to make these bills as palatable as possible to some of those conservatives, including adopting a kind of loan idea for Ukraine when it comes to humanitarian and direct aid to that country. The hope is that that idea, which had been floated in the past by former President Donald Trump, may be a way for some conservatives to sort of get them to soften the blow. Maybe not see this as such a direct payment to Ukraine if there's some kind of loan component.

They're also looking at including what is known as the Repo Act, essentially seizing Russian assets using that funding to go to Ukraine aid. So, those are a couple of areas where Johnson is really trying to make this as palatable as possible to conservatives, but it's just not clear, John, that it's really going to make any difference in terms of how those lawmakers see this bill.

BERMAN: No. And it's Tuesday morning at, what, 8:35 a.m. The length of time between now and when they hold the votes on Friday, it's an eternity. So much could possibly go wrong for the speaker in that amount of time.

Lauren Fox, great to have you up on Capitol Hill watching every twist and turn. Thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now on that, CNN political commentator, former Biden White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield, and former Trump administration official, Matt Mowers.

It's good to see you guys.

Kate, what kind of rock and hard place is Speaker Mike Johnson between now?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Well, I mean, look, this situation is kind of same as it ever was for him and for the Republicans sort of being led around by the hard right flank of their party. I mean the truth is, there's been a Senate passed bill that if the Republicans wanted to take up and move through the House and get this funding done they could have done for months and months. So, you know, this is going to be challenging for Mike Johnson considering that he has struggled to maneuver legislation through his caucus and now he's going to try to, in theory, move four separate, contentious bills. Bills, by the way, that many of which should not be contentious but are, again, because you're looking at a Republican Party that is controlled by Donald Trump and the Freedom Caucus and the Marjorie Taylor Greene's of the world. So, this is going to be deeply challenging. This is going to be a test

of Mike Johnson's skills here.

You know, at the end of the day, again, the fact of the matter is, there is a Senate passed version of this legislation that could move if the Republicans were willing to do so. So, we'll see. This is going to be a test of Mike Johnson's leadership over the next few days.

BOLDUAN: Matt, I want to get your take on kind of what you see as the state of play in the House Republican conference. With this all - this addition, what we're not seeing in these four bills so far is any of the border security measures that were really called for and demanded by House Republican as a condition of approving aid to foreign countries. If we go in the way back machine, that was the stated reason that many Republicans didn't want to vote on Ukraine aid on its own in the first place. So, are we back to square one?

MATT MOWERS, PRESIDENT, VALCOUR GLOBAL PUBLIC STRATEGY AND FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No. I mean, look, what Speaker Johnson's done is reflection, not just of where the Republican conference is, but also the Democratic caucus. Let's not forget that's been many progressive and liberal Democrats in the House who have said that they will not support aid for Israel. And the truth is that by packaging these three types of aid together with Taiwan, Israel and then, of course, Ukraine, you have different coalitions in Congress that are going to be necessary for passing each individual bill. You're going to lose much of the left flank on the Israel vote. You're going to lose much of the right-flank on the Ukraine vote. And so the simplest and only way to ensure that this funding does go through, which as a conservative Republican I support, the only way to do it is to ensure that each individual bill gets a stand-alone vote so that you can actually bring forth a majority coalition to actually pass these bills.

And look, you know, I love that Kate's talking about the dissension on the Republican side, but the truth is that this is actually a reflection of the changing politics on the Democratic side revolving around Israel aid right now. And that's a reflection of reality there.

BOLDUAN: Well, I mean, yes, there is some split very clearly, and that's, you know, part of the discussion around Israel and the war against Hamas and Gaza and what's happening in Gaza. But this is definitely squarely in the Republican conference. They have a majority, a slimmest of slim majorities.

MOWERS: Very slim.

BOLDUAN: But I don't even think Mike Johnson would say that this is a Democrat problem. I mean I - he knows what he's up with. This - Kate, with Johnson - with this Johnson is - it's - it looks like making a choice to have a showdown with Marjorie Taylor Greene over his speakership.

[08:40:03]

I want to play how some House Republicans are reacting to this whole idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): No one's going to vacate Speaker Johnson. He's working his guts out. He's doing the best he can with the hand he's dealt.

REP. ELI CRANE (R-AZ): I think right now, you know, I think the timing is - would be pretty bad to have a change in - in command. So, I'm not really looking at that right now.

REP. DERRICK VAN ORDEN (R-WI): It would be a very bad idea. It would be a very bad idea for the Republican conference. It would be a very bad idea for the House of Representatives writ large and for the nation.

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL): Well, I think it would be horrible for our conference. I think it's horrible for the country too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I'm hearing some of that, Kate, I'm wondering if some Republicans are saying, you know, take the right flank out of the equation. If they're saying that this has now just gotten to a bridge too far. I talked to more than one Democrat who has said they are willing to vote to keep Speaker Johnson in the chair if that means getting aid to Ukraine. That's a real statement of kind of the - through the political looking glass that we seem to be in.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes. Well, I mean, first of all, I think what that tells you is that Democrats want to get this aid done. They've wanted to get it done for months. Again, there's a bill sitting there that could move if the Republicans and Speaker Johnson were able to corral their own caucus. So, you know - and I think for Republicans, they, obviously, have lived through the chaos and the turmoil of one exercise to remove a speaker. I think they are all very, for the most part, are very trigger shy about having to go through that again, endure that again.

You know, I mean, look, I don't think anybody ever got rich or seemed brilliant making predictions in this political environment, but it seems unlikely that the majority of Republicans are going to feel like it's going to be worth going through that exercise again.

So, again, this is going to be a huge test for Speaker Johnson over the next few days to see whether he can get his caucus together behind this critical support, which is so badly needed in these key places around the world.

BOLDUAN: Matt, if one person's finding themself on an island here, is it Speaker Johnson or is it Marjorie Taylor Greene?

MOWERS: I think it's Marjorie Taylor Greene. And you saw, you know, President Trump, who obviously has a strong relationship with Marjorie Taylor Greene, say that he does stand with Speaker Mike Johnson. They had that joint press conference on Friday, which was by no accident, to send a message about where the former president stood on the issue. And not only that, you've seen aides around President Trump, who have gone out there and said that this is not a time for division within the Republican Party and that all efforts need to be focused on November. And so I think even that clip you played of Marjorie Taylor Greene, she is already changing and nuancing some of the language about whether she thinks Mike Johnson is going to remain speaker. She's now saying, well, he won't be speaker in the next Congress.

I think this is going nowhere. I do not expect you'll see a full- fledged motion to vacate. And I just hope that maybe I'm making a good bet on this one, to pick up what the reference Kate was making.

BOLDUAN: Well, we will have the tape and we will bring you guys back in order to make good on those bets.

It's good to see you. Thank you. Thanks, guys, very much.

MOWERS: Thanks so much.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: So, this morning, the Biden campaign is releasing a new digital ad ahead of a push to convince voters they should feel good about of the economy. Polling shows they do not.

Tasers, burner phones, and a bloody scene. New details coming out about two missing women and the four people accused of killing them.

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[08:47:57]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, a hearing in the decades-long case of Scott Peterson. He was convicted in 2004 for the murders of his wife, Lacey, and their unborn son. The Los Angeles Innocence Project, who (INAUDIBLE) to exonerate people who are wrongly convicted and incarcerated, is representing Peterson now. The hearing will focus on a motion to seal court documents related to independent witnesses who the defense claims fear retaliation from the city of Modesto.

Just in, a 42-year-old man faces multiple charges in connection with the deadly crash involving a stolen semi-truck in Texas. Clenard Parker is accused of crashing into a Department of Public Safety building killing of 78-year-old man and injuring 30 - 13 others. Parker was denied his commercial driver's license the day before the crash and was reportedly running from police when it happened.

The Supreme Court has temporarily allowed Idaho to enforce its strict ban on gender affirming care for most minors. The law makes it a felony to provide such care, including puberty blocking drugs and hormone therapy. Idaho argues that the lower court decisions blocking the law were to broad, while opponents say the care is crucial for transgender teenagers' health.

So, it was the famous Patriots Day Red Sox game at Fenway Park and that was Rob Gronkowski throwing out the first pitch. But instead of throwing it out exactly, he did what Rob Gronkowski does, and he spiked it on the pitcher's mound. Always a great moment in Boston. The Red Sox game on Patriots Day, the day of the Boston Marathon. Not so great, the Red Sox lost the game, unfortunately.

And the new most sought-after jersey just might be found in Indiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With the first pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, the Indiana Fever select Caitlin Clark, University of Iowa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: There really wasn't any doubt about it. Iowa's Caitlin Clark was selected number one in a star-studded WNBA draft.

CNN's Carolyn Manno joins us now.

[08:50:01]

What's so great is there are so many household names now who went in the first round.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, John. And it was quite a night. I mean to see so many talented players here are their names called, everyone was emotional, family members there, it was wonderful. And you mentioned the certainty of this. This might be the most certain pick in the 28-year history of this draft. A week after wrapping up this historic college career, she now starts this next chapter as a pro. And last night she said she was really just trying to take in this moment. I mean, this was one of her dreams as a young girl. It was a girl that she put on paper in the second grade. Her mom kept that piece of paper. And she became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division One basketball history, men's or women's. And she should add a scoring boost to a team that has not made the playoffs since 2016.

Ticket prices to watch the Fever in Indianapolis this season more than doubled right away after she announced that she was entering the draft. And she spoke with our Coy Wire just before her name was called last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAITLIN CLARK, FIRST IOWA PLAYER TO BE SELECTED WITH TOP PICK: I'm super excited. I know this will be super special. And I have a lot of family coming. My coaches are coming. Some of my teammates are coming. So, just getting to enjoy it and soak it in I think is the biggest thing because like this is once in a lifetime. This only happens once.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: The Los Angeles Sparks selected Stanford forward Cameron Brink with the second pick in the draft. And the Chicago Sky picking up some size, rather, by drafting 2024 NCAA women's tournaments most outstanding player, Kamilla Cardoso, from the reigning champs, University of South Carolina, with the third pick. She's quite a player.

Last year's national champ, most outstanding player, Angel Reese, from LSU, going at the seventh spot.

So, you see the star power there, John. And for Caitlin Clark mentioning the big magnitude of this moment for her in her life. I mean the spotlight is huge in the college game. And now she's going to take this next step. And we'll see who follows her there.

BERMAN: It's going to be a fun season coming up.

Carolyn Manno, thank you so much for that.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, we are nearly 200 days away from the presidential election. And here is your latest snapshot in time. After months of lagging behind Donald Trump in polling, President Biden is seeing something of a comeback. That's why we have Harry Enten here to walk us through.

What is this shift that you're seeing, Harry?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, what is the shift that we're seeing? You know, I think an inordinate amount of press went into "The New York Times" poll this past weekend, which in late February showed Donald Trump up by four, now shows Donald Trump up by one, well within the margin of error.

But I'm always interested in whether the aggregate of polling is showing the exact same shift. And to some degree it is, right? So, in late February, Donald Trump was up by two points. Still a very close race. But you look now. And now the two gentlemen are tied. So, the fact of the matter is, it does seem like the end of the republic - when the end of the Republican primary season took into effect after Joe Biden's State of the Union, it does seem that Biden has closed the gap with Donald Trump. And now, honestly, whether you look at "The New York Times" poll or you look at the aggregate of polling, there's only two words to describe it, and that is dead heat.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it is a tight race right now.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Any clues as to if there is a shift, what that shift is? What's driving the shift?

ENTEN: Yes, what is driving that shift? You know, one of the things we've sort of harked (ph) on in the segments that we've done on the show is that Joe Biden is doing worse than you would normally expect among traditionally Democratic blocs, specifically black voters and Hispanic voters.

Look, in late February in "The New York Times" poll, what you saw was Joe Biden up by 51 points among black voters. What did you see in the latest poll? Now he's up by 60 points. BOLDUAN: OK.

ENTEN: That's still - that's still short of where a Democrat normally is, but that's a bit of a comeback.

How about among Hispanic voters? Donald Trump was actually up by two points among them in the late February "New York Times" poll. Now what you see is that Joe Biden is up by 13 points. Again, trailing where you would normally expect a Democrat to be, but doing better than we were normally seeing. And among white voters, I should note, they only shifted by a point. There was no movement from the late February poll till now. So, it really does seem, among voters of color, they do seem to be more preferable to Joe Biden now than they were just a few months ago.

BOLDUAN: You've also long been tracking kind of the trend line in where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is kind of standing in the polls. What are you seeing now?

ENTEN: Yes, he's a bit of a wild card. And he had been polling really high for an independent candidate. He still is, but his polling is significantly, or at least somewhat gone down, right? So, if you look in December, look at this trend line in Fox, 14, 13, now 12. How about Quinnipiac? Sixteen, 15, 13. This is generally following the trend line that you'd expect of a third-party candidate. They tend to do worse the closer you get into an election. And right now what we're seeing is it does seem to be the case, at least at this point.

BOLDUAN: Some people are facing realistic choices when they get closer to the election.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Not that it's not realistic, but you know what I'm saying.

ENTEN: I know what you're saying.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Harry. Thank you.

ENTEN: Nice to see you.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right, so one polling area the president continues to lag in is the economy. This morning, the president will head to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to try to contrast his economic views with those of Donald Trump. And in a brand-new digital campaign ad, Biden highlights voices from his hometown in Scranton.

[08:55:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY FINNEGAN GAFFNEY (ph): I said, and Biden is my first cousin. And there's almost like a part of him still here in Scranton. LAWRENCE ORR: We're all middle class people. Hard working people. And he was part of it. And I was a long-time friend of President Joe Biden. We go way back. Before we were in grade school. He never forgot where he came from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: National Biden co-chair and former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu joins us now.

Mayor, great to see you in person.

MITCH LANDRIEU, CO-CHAIR, NATIONAL BIDEN REELECTION CAMPAIGN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: That's the first time I've seen that new digital ad released just this morning. This is the first time I think anyone's seeing it. Not going for the youth vote there exactly. Some of - some of contemporaries to the president, you might say.

LANDRIEU: Well, first of all, the president is going to Scranton today. And if you've covered the president, and if you've been in a room with the president, Scranton is the place that basically he got his identity from. He talks all the time about sitting at the kitchen table in Scranton, talking his dad when his dad lost his job, committing himself to make sure that if he ever had the power he would use it to lift up people, to make sure that they had good work, good paying jobs. And that's essentially what he's going to talk about today.

You contrast that with Donald Trump, who essentially has a three-point plan to go back to trickle-down economics, give billionaires tax cuts, cut Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, cut the Affordable Care Act.

The reason I love that ad is because that ad is so true. Those are real people, in a real town, getting real jobs because of the work that President Biden has done. And he's going to go to Scranton to talk about that today. Then he's going to Pittsburgh. Then he's going to Pennsylvania. And then we'll continue to do that from now until the campaign and then for the next four years.

BERMAN: You, of course, the poll numbers are real also. And I know the Biden campaign is well aware of them. Just a smattering from "The New York Times"/Sienna poll, how would you rate the economic conditions today? Fifty-two percent say poor, 48 percent say good or fair. How would you rate the condition of the economy in the CBS poll, 35 percent say bad. And in "The Wall Street Journal" poll, 63 percent say bad.

LANDRIEU: Yes.

BERMAN: So, again, I mean across the board, Americans don't seem particularly happy. How will this contrast that you're trying change that?

LANDRIEU: Well, -- well that - yes. Yes, but what you just forgot to point out is what you previous segment just said, is that all the poll numbers are heading in the right direction. And right now the races is even, when a couple of weeks ago it was not.

The only poll that matters is the one on Election Day. People miss remember that when Donald Trump was in office there was nothing but chaos. When Joe Biden took over the economy, it was in a freefall. People forgot that under Donald Trump's administration they lost 2.5 million jobs. That's the most jobs that have been lost under any president in the history of the United States, except for Herbert Hoover. And under Joe Biden they've gained 15 million jobs. Wages are up. Unemployment is down. And as a consequence, and I think that the reason why these poll numbers have gone up is because as we tell the story and remind people of where we were and where we're going and who Joe Biden is fighting for, which is the middle class, working class folks and who - who Donald Trump is fighting for, which is just billionaires, they see that distinction, and we feel very good about bringing the receipts as opposed to just talking the talk.

BERMAN: You didn't use the "i" word there though, which is inflation.

LANDRIEU: Well, there's no question about it. But listen, inflation has been decreased by two-thirds. And even though prices are still high, this is why the president is always fighting to reduce costs.

And here's another great distinction. President Trump wants to help the pharmaceutical companies, and he wants to increase people's prescription drug costs. Joe Biden wants to lower them. Joe Biden wants to fight really hard against big corporations who don't pay their fair share, billionaires who don't pay their fair share and take that money and invest that back in people, in roads, bridges, airports, and the care economy so that folks that you saw on that ad, who are real people in a real place, responding to real policies that Joe Biden has put in place, their lives are better, their dignity is stronger and freedom and democracy are stronger than they were before.

BERMAN: How much of a coincidence is it that the president's going to Scranton and leaning into this message while Donald Trump just arrived, we're told, at a New York City courtroom this morning?

LANDRIEU: Well, here's the incredible thing that that should be obvious to everybody. Joe Biden gets up every day fighting for the American people. He does what I call the hard work of governing well all the time. And he can focus on that because he focuses on bringing people together.

As you said, the former president is otherwise predisposed as a consequence of actions and things that he has done. And everything this guy touches turns the dirt.

BERMAN: Are you dancing around it for a particular reason? I mean is there -

LANDRIEU: I'm not - I'm not dancing around it at all.

BERMAN: Is the campaign going to talk about the fact that the president -

LANDRIEU: No, but -

BERMAN: Former president is in court?

LANDRIEU: Well, you asked me the right question. The president is being the president. He's running the country. He's creating jobs. He's putting people back to work. Donald Trump is stuck someplace else as a consequence of his own actions. The legal process will play out as it will. The American people see the contrast between the two. A guy that gets up the fight for people, or a guy that gets up to fight for himself and seeks retribution and revenge against anybody. The choice is going to be clear.

And on the day that matters, the day where polls really matter, Joe Biden's going to be re-elected as president of the United States.

BERMAN: Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, always great to see you in person.

LANDRIEU: Great.

BERMAN: Thanks so much for being here.

LANDRIEU: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Appreciate it.

Kate.

Oh, I should say, a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump has arrived at the Manhattan courthouse where we are headed into day two of jury selection.

[09:00:01]

The new challenges facing both the defense and prosecutors today. Will they seat a single juror in this historic history-making trial today?