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Trump Jury Selection; Israel-Hamas War; Mount Ruang Eruption; Cashing In. Aired 3:30-4 ET

Aired April 18, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: From moving quickly on day two to essentially going in reverse on day three, a jury selection in former President Trump's Manhattan hush money trial appears to become more challenging by the hour.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We have hit a speed bump. Currently, there are just five jurors seated. The day started with seven before two were excused.

CNN's Laura Coates is back with us. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass has been speaking to the jury pool, Laura. And one interesting thing he was telling them was that a number of the expected trial witnesses have "some edge." Why is that a significant step? Why is that important?

LAURA COATES, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, because they want to prepare this jury that you're not going to have Mother Teresa testify. You're going to have people who are actually going to be, particularly in the circle of Donald Trump or those who may have had some hand in matters that are consequential to the allegations in this particular case.

Now, it's not an unheard of thing that you're going to have people who might have unseen reputation or those who maybe you wouldn't have at every one of your parties at the church, but certainly are people that could be credible for other reasons. Now, one of the most important parts about what Steinglass asked as well, he asked the jury pool and the population, could you look at the defendant and convict him, say he's guilty if were to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt?

That was a question that was asked of the jurors, because that's going to be very important given the fact that you have a presence of someone like Donald Trump and a defendant more broadly. Are you able to then make the decision based on what we presented as evidence?

Another question that was asked by Ms. Necheles, who is the attorney for Donald Trump, asked and posed this question. If somebody said they wanted to exact revenge or have revenge, I'm paraphrasing here, about the defendant, how would you evaluate their testimony? Of course, one of the names of the books of Michael Cohen is "Revenge." And so, they are all on both sides of the aisle here in terms of courtroom, trying to ensure that people are aware that there is going to be some difficult questions asked.

At the end of the day, the prosecution carries the strongest burden here and the only burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt, in spite of whatever the witnesses say, that they can, in fact, find that this should be the result. Also, one more point here, the attorney for Trump also mentioning there might be instances when two different witnesses have very different takes on what has happened. Are you comfortable establishing one as a liar and one as a truth teller? So they're really laying it out there right now in front of this jury.

DEAN: Yes, they certainly are. And it's worth noting now that both sides only have four peremptory strikes remaining. This is all about strategy, Laura, especially when you're down to just four.

COATES: It's a lot of intuition, a lot of strategy, and a lot of, well, the honor system of those who are self-declaring what their biases might be. Now, just because you've seen two jurors get dismissed who are already seated, it does not all of a sudden give you more strikes. It is a finite number, they have ten. And you can strike a juror for peremptory reasons for whatever reason you want, as long as it's in line with the Constitution and the Supreme Court's ruling about not being about race or gender, or ethnicity, or any other suspect classification. So they have these challenges left which think about the game of strategy.

If I'm going to say, I'm going to use my next and my only last strikes on these four people, that I have to think about who might be down the line, who I might otherwise want to strike and now cannot. It's kind of like in football, if you only have a certain number of -- basketball, a certain number of timeouts. Once you used them all up, the next time you try to use it again, you're in the penalty. And of course, there are consequences there as well. And the penalty in this instance could very well be, you see the juror that you need not have on this case.

DEAN: That's right. All right, Laura Coates for us, thanks so much.

Up next, can the US convince Israel to hold off on its promised invasion of the Southern Gaza city of Rafah? We're following a high stakes meeting between the country's top officials today. We've got details for you up next.

[15:34:57]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: High level talks happening today. US and Israeli officials are meeting virtually about the potential Israeli operation in Rafah. Senior US officials have publicly warned Israel against expanding further into Southern Gaza without a realistic plan to move civilians out of harm's way. More than a million displaced Palestinians are currently sheltering in Rafah, essentially with nowhere safe to turn.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Jerusalem following the latest developments. And, Nic, there's some hopeful news today, there's more aid that's making its way into the enclave. What are you learning about that? [15:40:04]

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the number of trucks has gone up over the past week or so, and that is directly as a result of pressure from President Biden following the killing of those seven aid workers working for the World Central Kitchen killed in a multiple airstrike on their vehicles while they were driving through Gaza. But I sat down today to speak with the head of the main international UN humanitarian aid group, UNOCHA, Andrea de Domenico. And he said, look, we're in the conversations with the Israelis. It's sounding a little better. But he said there's still a long way to go.

((BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREA DE DOMENICO, OCHA OFFICIAL: The real success will be when we will be able to deliver a system to people where they are.

ROBERTSON: How is that happening now?

DE DOMENICO: And there is a, we're moving the dial is we are not where we should be. There is a commitment to get there. And so, I will hold accountable the Israeli for this commitment. We need to expand humanitarian assistance. It's not just about flour. And that is something that we have to push on and consistently discuss with Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Yes. And consistency, consistent discussions but consistency in results, that's not really happening, his finding. He just -- we talked about, you know, he said it was like one step forward and two back and some the problems. Let's break it down a little bit and look at the north of Gaza, the northern part of Gaza, where again the commitment came from the Israelis following the call by President Biden that they would open a crossing in the north of Gaza.

Well, only a few aid trucks have gone in there over the past few days. And he said, look, the problems are massive and huge. The roads are blown up so they're not even passable in the north. And he said, besides we as a UN organization that have to organize the distribution on the ground, we left the north of Gaza on the 12th October, evacuated to the south. He said, we don't have an infrastructure there to do it. So this is the sort of massive scale of just getting the aid in and out to people.

But I think the takeaway here has to be that the call with President Biden and that pressure has made something of a difference. And of course, the White House says they're looking to see the results, the concrete results, not just one day, not just one week but consistently. And in the words of the chief here, we're not there yet.

SANCHEZ: And, Nic, in just over an hour, the UN Security Council is set to vote on granting Palestine full UN member status. A State Department spokesperson tells CNN that the United States will vote no on that. What does this mean for a path forward in the war? ROBERTSON: I think it means that nothing changes in the war and

certainly that the Israeli government will take that as a signal that the United States is at their back. Remembering just a few weeks ago, the United States abstained the UN Security Council vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. And that was a moment of recognition for the Israeli public and perhaps for the prime minister that the relationship with the United States has always stood behind them, particularly at the UN Security Council on these important votes wasn't there on that day.

Today it is but you have a lot of countries, Spain and Ireland in particular, pushing diplomatically, heavily, to have Palestine as a state, a Palestinian state, recognized now today to move the diplomatic ball forward and allow what would amount to be more pressure on Israel. This vote that the United States will vote no at will not directly impact the war. It's happening.

SANCHEZ: Nic Robertson live for us from Jerusalem. Thank you so much, Nic.

So, Mother Nature is putting on a show but it could have disastrous consequences. A volcano eruption sending plumes of smoke more than 13 miles into the air, sparking both lightning and fears about a potential tsunami. The detail's just a few minutes away.

[15:44:20]

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DEAN: Right now, there is a risk of a tsunami, not from an earthquake but because this volcano is erupting. Indonesia's Mount Ruang has erupted at least five times since yesterday, and that has forced some 800 people to evacuate its island. It's also stranded many others whose flights have been canceled because of volcanic ash in the air. And the fear is Ruang could partially collapse into the sea, and that would trigger a tsunami, which is exactly what happened more than a century ago.

Senior meteorologist Chad Myers is here with the latest on the tsunami alerts. And, Chad, tell us about this volcano. These images are really stunning. We're even seeing lightning here.

CHAD MYERS, CNN SENIOR METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Lightning because the ash is rubbing on each other as it goes up into the atmosphere, a lot like hailstones do in a thunderstorm. What caused the lightning, though, I think more than anything is it was dark. The eruption took place in the middle of the night time. And so, that really helped things out.

We're in Indonesia here, 120 active volcanoes. So Ruang here, very close to another island that they are worried about. This is what happened back in 1871. This stratovolcano right here erupted, but then part of volcano sloughed down into the water, pushing a wall of water into this town over here, and they didn't have any time to react, literally no time to react, less than 2 miles away. So all of a sudden, the water rushed right in and more than 400 people were actually killed in that volcano. [15:50:07]

So that's what they're worried about now. That's why these people are leaving the low lying areas here. That wave was about 75 feet tall. That was a tsunami. And yes, we talked about the lightning. The lightning was amazing and it happens all the time, but a lot of times the video we get of a volcano and the ash plume, well, it's all during the day. You don't get to see that. But now, because we are actually in the nighttime, that's why you got to see this amazing lightning show.

We even get lightning sometimes in forest fires. The ash goes up, the fire goes up, and you get a little cumulonimbus pierce, little fire tornado or firestorm there. But it's the act of upward motion. It's the shear of the ashes, kind of like the shear of the hail that we make in a thunderstorm. The positive up here, the negative down here, and they spark each other and that caused the dramatic pictures. And there are so many pictures online of this sparking. If you would like to see it is quite dramatic from other angles as well, Jessica.

Yes, no doubt about it. All right, Chad, thanks for explaining that all to us, we appreciate it. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour, beginning with a rise in heat related emergencies across the United States. According to the CDC, the number of ER visits for conditions like heat stroke, heat cramps and sunburns surged last summer. July and August saw the highest spikes, coinciding with record breaking temperatures.

Also, there's a refreshing change brewing at Starbucks to tell you about. The coffee giant unveiling these, what it's calling a more eco friendly design for its iconic plastic cups. Starbucks says the new cups use 20% less plastic than the current ones, and that they conducted tests with baristas and customers to make sure the change doesn't affect the cups performance.

And listen to this story out of Canada. Six people have been arrested in connection with last year's multi-million dollar gold robbery at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Police are now calling it an inside job, revealing that two of the suspects are former Air Canada employees. The group is accused of stealing more than $15 million worth of gold from a shipping container, one of the largest gold heists in Canadian history. I look forward to that reenactment whenever it premieres on Max or Netflix. We'll be watching for that.

So, Caitlin Clark spent her college basketball career breaking records. And word has it she's about to break the bank by signing a massive endorsement deal with Nike. We'll break down the details next.

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[15:57:07]

SANCHEZ: What a moment for Caitlin Clark. She captured the nation's attention, had a record breaking college career, just became the number one pick at the WNBA draft, and now the basketball superstar appears ready to cash in big time.

DEAN: She deserves it. The Athletic is reporting Clark is closing in on a whopping eight figure endorsement deal with Nike and is expected to have a signature shoe as well. CNN's Sports anchor Coy Wire joining us now. This is very cool. Coy, what more are you learning?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Very cool. Caitlin Clark is money on and off the court. You mentioned that the athletics reporting that Clark is nearing an eight figure deal with Nike and that would include her own signature shoe. Just 12 WNBA players have ever had their own shoe. Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu is the only other current player with a Nike shoe deal.

And according to a WNBA spokesperson, Clark's total compensation from the league, including cash from player marketing agreements with the league and team deals, should be around half a million dollars. But Clark also has sponsorship deals with Gatorade and State Farm, reportedly valued at $3 million. So much like Tiger Woods, brought all the eyeballs and attention to the PGA Tour. I think the hope is for many of the players and for the league that she is going to continue to be the tide that lifts all ships, especially when the WNBA's current TV deal ends and they can really renegotiate what the players are able to get paid in their salary.

DEAN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Excited to see her flourish on a WNBA court. Hey, Coy, while we have you, we got to talk about this missing Super Bowl ring. Retired NFL star Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles. He co-hosts a podcast with his brother. You may have heard of him, Travis Kelce, boyfriend of Taylor Swift, who's dropping an album at midnight. We're all waiting for it with bated breath. He says he lost his Super Bowl ring in one of the weirdest ways ever. What happened to Jason Kelce's ring?

WIRE: Yes. I don't know what's funny or this story or I did not know you were a Taylor Swift fan waiting for this album to drop, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Huge, huge.

WIRE: But, hey, just in breaking news. Listen, the curious case of the missing Super Bowl ring. Jason Kelce, apparently, losing it in a bath of chili. He hosts these games with his brother where players compete in these wild competitions, and one that included baths of chili. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON KELCE, FORMER NFL PLAYER: But I legitimately lost my Super Bowl ring in this event. They could not find it. This is Jets Jake and intern Brandon the next day, searching through the chili to try and find the sock that had my Super Bowl ring in it. We have still yet to find it. All of this stuff has been thrown away so I think we can safely assume that my Super Bowl ring is now in a landfill someplace in the Cincinnati Tri-State Area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIFE: The gift that keeps on giving. He said that he has a feeling the insurance company is probably going to have a few questions about this claim, but Jason Kelce, incredible stuff. As if we need any more reason for chili to give us indigestion, right?

DEAN: I know. They were, like, going through, combing through it. It's just kind of --

SANCHEZ: Yes. Delicious, appetizing. Coy Wire, great to see you as always, my friend. I know you'll be listening at midnight to the "Dead Sad Poets Department" was the name of it?

DEAN: "The tortured poet."

SANCHEZ: Tortured -- sorry. I'm a huge fan, I promise.

DEAN: We'll get him on message, don't worry.

WIRE: We're on a break.

SANCHEZ: Cory, thank you so much. "The Lead with Jake Tapper starts right now.