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Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) Moves Ahead With Foreign Aid Plan Despite Threats to Oust Him; 911 Services Mostly Restored After Outages in Four States; Biden to Appear With Kennedy Family, Receive Their Endorsement. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 18, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

NAYYERA HAQ, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE SENIOR DIRECTOR: Between science and expertise that exists in the American population right now is right there with Robert Kennedy.

[07:00:05]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: A little bit of a disconnect, yes.

MOLLY BALL, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: But I hear this nostalgia all the time for the era of the Kennedys, right, and from where the right and the left.

ACOSTA: I just visited the Kennedy Library up in Boston. I mean, any American who wants to go see a fascinating presidential library, I mean, that to me is just -- it's an incredible visit

BALL: Yes. And people think of it as a time in America when we could come together and be inspired and find common purpose. And maybe if you lived through it, it wasn't exactly like that. But I think that that's a huge asset for him and it's why the Biden campaign has to deploy against it.

ACOSTA: All right, guys, got to run. Thanks so much for our panel. Thank you very much for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta.

CNN News Central starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Is Mike Johnson now walking the plank? He's moving the House toward finally voting on Ukraine aid. What that means now for the efforts to oust him.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, closing in on a jury in the criminal trial of Donald Trump. Will news social media posts about the jury raise the fury of the judge?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: A 911 emergency right now, some parts of the country still do not have 911 service. And the blame game begins. Why is this happening?

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN News Central. BOLDUAN: Every member gets to vote their own conscience. That is the message from the Republican House speaker today, which should be good news for every lawmaker. No pressure campaign or arm-twisting operation toward a predetermined outcome on the floor, just a vote. But that's not exactly how things work on Capitol Hill, and that message is not making some House Republicans happy. Putting Johnson's job on the line now as the foreign aid bills are facing a first crucial test today.

In a few hours, the House Rules Committee will meet to consider the $95 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. This committee is the gatekeeper to what gets to the House floor. A bill has to pass through rules, generally speaking, before it can get a vote on the floor. And even this step, Johnson might need the help of Democrats to make it through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): When you do the right thing, you let the chips fall where they may. I mean, that's my life philosophy, and that's how I govern here every single day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And the chips may already be falling. Late last night, three Republicans on the rules committee tanked a separate border security bill that Johnson was hoping would satisfy the hardliners.

CNN's Lauren Fox has the very latest. I mean, I went to sleep and things have changed even and I've slept very few hours that things have already changed since I woke up. What's going to happen now?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's so important to underscore that the Rules Committee is typically known as the speaker's committee because people who serve on it typically serve at the leisure and at the direction of the speaker of the House. Obviously, that shifted a little bit when Kevin McCarthy was the speaker, but now you're seeing these problems really stacking up for Johnson.

This border security bill was supposed to be a bone that he was throwing at his hardliners to tell them and send them the message, I do care about the southern border, if we're going to help Ukraine, I understand this sentiment that we should be doing something at our own border as well. And yet even that couldn't get through the House Rules Committee.

Now, all eyes are on what happens to this series of supplemental packages to help Israel, Taiwan, Ukraine in the hours to come. And it's possible that Democrats on the House Rules Committee could help Republicans to get this to the floor of the House of Representatives in order for them to debate it. Again, once they get to the floor, they're going to need more Democratic support on the rule.

And I know that that is a lot of jargon this morning, but it's so important to just point out that the procedural hurdles here for doing anything has been so difficult because of this threat of vacating the speaker that is hanging over the entire House of Representatives right now.

Now, Democrats, for their part, are remaining noncommittal on what precisely they are going to do. Here's Josh Gottheimer, a moderate who is often willing to cross the aisle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): If it mirrors what the Senate sent us, that's something that I can see strongly supporting. However, if they stick a bunch of amendments on poison pills with this tightrope walk that they're doing, that undermines it, then, of course, I'm going to have problems with it.

So, I think what really matters is now what amendments they introduce, what amendments get passed and that's going to make the difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And in just a couple of hours, House Democrats are going to have a special caucus meeting to discuss the contents of what is in this three-part security package. In many ways, it looks a lot like the package that passed out of the Senate, $95 billion, $61 billion for Ukraine, and that is something that a lot of Democrats have been suggesting they could support.

[07:05:07]

But, again, we'll know a lot more after that Democratic meeting earlier this morning.

BOLDUAN: Lauren Fox, thank you so much. Thank you, thank you. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. This morning, we're standing by for Donald Trump's historic criminal trial to resume in New York. Very soon, the prosecution and defense will begin questioning a brand new batch of 96 potential jurors.

Seven jurors have already been selected to determine Trump's fate with five jurors and six alternates still needed. The judge though says at this pace opening statements could very well start Monday.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is live outside the court. Walk us through where things stand at the moment and we're getting to the point where those jurors will be coming in and being questioned.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. A new batch of 96 perspective jurors, Sara, just like you described, already sitting on the jury though are four men and three women. And as you just mentioned there, the judge telling them they should report back on Monday because it's very possible opening statements could happen. But, of course, that schedule is very fluid.

So, today, when court picks back up at 930, those 96 perspective jurors are going to come into the courtroom and, again, the judge is going to ask them, can they be fair and impartial?

Now, remember, when we went through this process on Monday, about more than 50 people basically rose their hand and said that they wanted to be dismissed. And so we'll see how many are weeded out through that process.

After that happens, then the rest of the perspective jurors have to answer those 42 questions. Remember, it's about where they get their news from, have they attended Trump rallies, things like that. And then once that number dwindles down a little bit even more, then each side, the defense and the prosecution, are able to ask more pointed questions.

Now, when this happens on Tuesday, it got very interesting. The prosecution really asked questions about, you know, could they follow the judge's instructions? Do they have any issues with the fact that there's going to be a tabloid publisher, an adult film star, a attorney who has committed and it was guilty of federal crimes? Those are the sort of things that the prosecution is trying to look for when they are asking these questions to the jurors.

As for the defense, well, they really were weeding through the social media of some of these jurors. In fact, the judge had to dismiss two jurors because of cause. So, those are some of the things that we'll continue to be looking out for as they try to pick these five other jurors plus more alternates today.

It's going to be another interesting day in court. We'll see if we do get a full jury seated. And, of course, we'll be here for it. Guys?

SIDNER: All right. Brynn Gingras, thank you so much. Appreciate it. John?

BERMAN: All right. 911 stops working for millions of people, and this morning first responders trying to figure out what caused the outage.

Major developments in Arizona in the battle over reproductive rights, Republicans in the House there blocked an effort to overturn the near total ban on abortion from the 1800s, this after Donald Trump said it should be left up to the states.

And it is a Kennedy family reunion minus one, the big announcement they are planning to make as a show of force against RFK Jr.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, law enforcement agencies in four states are investigating widespread 911 outages that interrupted service for millions. Emergency departments in Texas, Nevada, Nebraska and South Dakota all reported issues overnight. And this morning, while service has been mostly restored, it isn't clear what caused these outages.

CNN's Miguel Marquez here with the very latest. Miguel, what have you learned?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we learned and what we know is that technology is fantastic until it doesn't work. It sounds like most of these states, not contiguous states, most of them were related to mobile phone issues.

In Del Rio, Texas, for instance, the law enforcement there said, our system is fine, but the mobile system is down. In Clark County, Nevada, which is where Las Vegas is, of course, big town, which would have a lot of emergency services, people were not able to get through -- weren't able to call with their phone. They were able to still text, or if they called, the 911 operator could see their number and call them back, but they couldn't get through on their cell phone.

Across Nebraska, there were spotty issues, South Dakota, similar issue. In Nebraska, they said every cell phone carrier was affected except for T-Mobile.

If we had to guess at this point, it's probably some sort of update situation because it was just mobile systems. It was very specific ways that it was affected in all these different areas. And thankfully, for the most part, service has been restored.

BERMAN: Look, with something like this happens, the first place everyone's head goes to is cyberattack.

MARQUEZ: Sure.

BERMAN: Could there have been some kind of cyberattack? Any of the investigating authorities ruling that in or out at this point?

MARQUEZ: None of them are ruling that in or out. But it does sound like it was so widespread, it was so spotty in the way it happened, that they are now looking into it to try to figure out exactly what the issue was.

BERMAN: All right. So, clearly, more to learn here, and probably disquieting for the people who couldn't get through if and when they need to.

MARQUEZ: If you needed help, it wouldn't be pleasant.

BERMAN: All right. Miguel, great to see you this morning, thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, you have to pay to play, Donald Trump's plan to cash in on candidates who use his name to campaign.

[07:15:00]

Also mysterious Q.R. codes appearing around the world, Sydney, London, Chicago, Swifties flocking to the sites, tracking the clues. It's a beautiful mind over here, figuring out what is Taylor Swift telling her fans with just hours to go until her new album drops.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: President Biden is heading to Philadelphia today and he's about to get an endorsement from one of America's most storied political families, an endorsement that is more than just a show of support, it's a show of force.

More than a dozen members of the Kennedy family will join Biden today, pointedly shunning the third party campaign of their own family member, Robert Kennedy Jr.

[07:20:00]

CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House. He's got more on this. Kevin, what is this going to look like today?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Kate. This will be quite a moment, President Biden really trying to harness the legacy of the Kennedy family, which ordinarily wouldn't be such a huge surprise. This is the most storied family in Democratic politics, but the real intrigue here is, of course, that third-party bid by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Of course, many members of the Kennedy family have already rejected that bid, both concerned about some of his controversial views, but also deeply concerned about the prospect of him siphoning off votes from President Biden, from Democrats who may see the Kennedy name on the ballot, tick the box without knowing much about the candidate himself.

And so, really, this event is designed to show that RFK Jr. doesn't necessarily represent the Kennedy political brand. And certainly it demonstrates that the Kennedy family and the Biden campaign are taking this very seriously.

Now, what we'll see today is 15 members of the Kennedy family joining President Biden in Philadelphia, including Kerry Kennedy, she's a sister of RFK Jr., she will introduce the president and she will really sort of heighten the stakes of this election.

In an excerpt of what she'll say, she'll say, I can only imagine how Donald Trump's outrageous lies and behavior would have horrified my father, Robert F. Kennedy, who proudly served as attorney general of the United States and honored his pledge to uphold the law and protect the country.

Now, after the president's speech today, he's planning to join an organizing meeting with members of the Kennedy family. He'll be introduced there by another member of the clan, Joe Kennedy III. He's the Biden special envoy to Northern Ireland.

Afterwards, members of the Kennedy family will make phone calls, will knock doors on the president's behalf.

Now, President Biden has long espoused his affection for the Kennedy family. He has said that RFK Sr. was an inspiration for his own political career. He has his bust, in fact, in the Oval Office. And the Kennedy family has also telegraphed their support for Biden. It was just back on St. Patrick's Day when they all took a photo in the Rose Garden with President Biden with one notable absence, RFK Jr.

Of course, that will be the same case today. It's all an indication that the campaign that the Kennedy family views RFK Jr.'s campaign as a threat they can't ignore, and certainly they do want to emphasize their support for President Biden as this third-party bid continues. Kate?

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Kevin. Thank you so much. We are watching for that later today. John?

BERMAN: A lot of political dynamics there and family dynamics at play.

All right, the Republican House speaker in Arizona standing in the way of new efforts to repeal the 1800s era near-total ban on abortion there, major new developments in the battle over reproductive rights.

And we have new reporting coming in. The Justice Department said to be close to a settlement for more than a dozen women who were abused by former USA Gymnastics Doctor Larry Nassar.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, we are learning that Congressman Donald Payne, who suffered what his office called a cardiac episode more than ten days ago, is still in the hospital. We are told that he is in stable condition.

Overnight, the New Jersey Democrats office released a statement that said in part, while we hope for a full recovery, we ask everyone to keep him in your prayers.

A new report on the catastrophic Maui wildfires last August reveals terrifying details of residents trapped by flying embers, high winds and blinding thick smoke, and first responders trapped and unable to help. 101 people were killed in that wildfire, making them the deadliest in the United States in more than one hundred years.

And I am sure you know this, but Taylor Swift's new album, the Tortured Poets Department, drops at midnight tomorrow. That is how the kids say it, right, drops?

New cryptic mural clues in cities across the country with giant Q.R. codes are creating even more of a frenzy, as if that's even possible. The Q.R. codes take fans to a 13-second clip, a typewriter animation, then types, error 321, and a faded 13. That must mean something to someone. Sara?

SIDNER: Thank you, John, for dropping those clues on us. We appreciate it.

All right, let us switch gears back to one of our big stories of the day. Very soon, Donald Trump will be back in court for the historic criminal trial against him.

But last night, he went on social media and posted comments about the jury knowing full well a gag order is in place.

Former Trump White House Lawyer Jim Schultz got up early joining me now this morning. I appreciate you coming on, Jim.

Let's talk about what we have just seen from overnight, Donald Trump going on social media, going on Truth Social last night, and saying this, saying he's quoting Fox News personality Jesse Waters posting, they are catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge in order to get on the Trump jury.

Is this a violation, you think, of the gag order where he is talking about the jurors here even though he is quoting someone else?

[07:30:00]

JIM SCHULTZ, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: He's referencing the jurors. He's pushing out something that someone else said, yes. But the bottom line is it applies to him, right?