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Israel Launches Strikes Inside Iranian Territory in Retaliation for Iranian Missile and Drone Attacks against Israel; Secretary of State Antony Blinken States U.S. Not Involved in Israeli Strikes and Focus is on Regional De-Escalation; US Official: Israel Strikes Inside Iran; Any Moment Trump Returns to Court for Hush Money Trial Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired April 19, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Probably was a good removal.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jennifer Rodgers, great to see you this morning. Again, we have a lot to talk about. Opening arguments could be as soon as Monday. Thank you very much.

RODGERS: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Meanwhile, new information about the Israeli strike on Iran. A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are continuing to follow the breaking news. Our focus is de-escalation. That is the message from the U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken just now after Israel launched a retaliatory strike against Iran overnight.

Now, Blinken was just speaking from a G7 summit in Italy, telling reporters pointedly that the United States was not involved in any offensive operations. As he also said, the focus for the United States and G7 remains de-escalation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: You saw Israel on the receiving end of an unprecedented attack. But our focus has been on, of course, making sure that Israel can effectively defend itself, but also so de-escalating tensions, avoiding conflict. And that remains our focus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So Israel's strikes were in response to the missile and drone attack that Iran launched last weekend. The early read this morning seems to be that Israel in its response overnight was trying to avoid further escalation. A source in the region saying that the strikes are over. Iran so far downplaying the hit coming at them. John?

BERMAN: All right, U.S. officials confirm that Israel's attack was at a military base near the city of Isfahan right here. Isfahan, a very interesting, beautiful place. It does have nuclear facilities nearby. Those apparently not the targets at all. A military base.

We are covering this from every angle this morning. Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv, Kylie Atwood at the State Department, Kevin Liptak at the White House. Jeremy, first you for the latest from Israel.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, John, still no official word or confirmation of this attack by the Israeli government or the Israeli military. It is absolute silence over here as it relates to these reported explosions overnight. But what we do know from both Iranian officials as well as Syrian state media is that air defense assets in Syria appear to have been struck by Israel. And in Iran, in that city of Isfahan that you were saying, there were reported explosions at an a military base there. The nuclear facilities in that city were not struck. And there are reports of three drones having been downed by Iranian air defense assets.

But both sides here are really staying quite quiet in terms of public statements, and that appears to be the intention here. This we have been hearing over the course of the last six days since Iran carried out its strike on Israel, that Israeli officials were looking for a way to thread the needle here, to send a message of deterrence, to ensure that this attack by Iran did not go unanswered, but also, at the same time, to try and find a way to avoid the escalation that could potentially lead to an all-out war between Iran and Israel.

And ultimately this response by Israel appears to have achieved that aim at least for now, with a regional intelligence source telling us that this tit-for-tat between Iran and Israel is over, that Iran does not at this stage anticipate responding further.

And so because of the fact that this was not publicly messaged, this is also, of course, allowing that international coalition, that anti- Iran coalition that we have seen blossom once again this week, be able to move forward as we heard the Secretary of State Tony Blinken talking about more ways for the G7, for the United States to move forward with a coalition against Iran to restrain Iran's activity in the region, and also, of course, to exact further diplomatic pressure on the country.

BERMAN: All right, Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, thank you. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just minutes ago, as Jeremy Diamond just mentioned, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken finished speaking at the G7 ministerial meeting, making clear their focus is on de-escalating tension in the Middle East, and that the U.S., he repeated several times, was not involved with Israel in the attack.

CNN's Kylie Atwood is at the State Department for us. What else did you hear from Secretary Blinken? He was asked over and over and over again about this strike from Israel into Iran.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. The main line, as you said, is that he said that the us was not involved in any offensive operations. And then he went on to actually not even directly acknowledged or directly confirm that there even were Israeli strikes against Iran overnight, calling those reports and saying only that the U.S. is really focused on de-escalation. He said that has been the focus, that will continue to be the focus, and essentially embodied that commitment by not commenting on what happened overnight, by not giving extra fuel to this fire that has already been lit.

[08:05:07]

Perhaps a tacit acknowledgment that the U.S. believes that this was a measured response by Israel. We'll have to watch and see kind of how that plays out over the course of the next few hours here in Washington as we talked to more us officials about this. But the other thing that he did was really focused in on the G7's commitment to Israel after what he called that unprecedented attack from Iran against Israel over the weekend, saying that the G7 is committed to Israel's security, committed to making sure that Israel is able to defend itself, and committing to holding Iran accountable for that attack that happened over the weekend.

The other thing that he did was pivot to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, calling on Hamas to come to an agreement for a ceasefire. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The only thing, the only thing standing between the Gazan people and a ceasefire is Hamas. It has rejected generous proposals from Israel. It seems more interested in a regional conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: The other thing that he was asked about were reports that there have been human rights abuses by elements of the Israeli police forces. He didn't comment specifically on those reports, but he did say that he has made a determination when it comes to Israeli human rights abuses. And he said we can expect that determination in the coming days.

SIDNER: All right, Kylie Atwood with all of that, thank you so much, joining us from the State Department. Appreciate it. John? Or Kate?

BOLDUAN: Let's go from State to the White House right now where Kevin Liptak is standing by for the very latest from there. Kevin, what are you hearing from officials there right now?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: To be frank, not much. And this is sort of a tight-lipped approach that you saw from Secretary Blinken, that you're seeing from other parts of the administration. And it does reflect, I think, this attempt to put some distance between the U.S. and the decision by the Israelis to strike back, because of course, we know that President Biden in a conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu last weekend was counseling restraint when it comes to responding to the Iranian attack. His message was essentially that the Israeli attempts to intercept those missiles from Iran was successful, and that a military response might not be necessary. And he did try and reinforce that message just yesterday by implementing new sanctions on Iran, essentially trying to say that there are other non-military ways to punish that country.

But I think in reality, when you were talking to American officials over the course of the last one week, no one was under the impression that Israel would do nothing. And the view among American officials was that this would be a limited response, and at least on the surface right now it does appear that that's what's happened. Now, President Biden's overarching goal here is trying to prevent this conflict from escalating further, and you heard that very directly from the secretary of state himself. We do understand from American officials that they did receive a heads-up from Israel before they launched this retaliatory strike last night, but officials have been clear that they didn't endorse it. They didn't green-light it, making very clear to point out that this was not a U.S. offensive operation. And of course, President Biden in that conversation with Netanyahu last week made very clear that the U.S. would not participate in any offensive action against Iran.

So now the real question going forward for officials here, for President Biden, is what happens next? Does this cause further escalation, this tit-for-tat? Or does focus now return to the war in Gaza? U.S. officials have made clear that they still have those disagreements with the Israelis over humanitarian aid, over a planned ground offensive in Rafah. And certainly, those issues have yet to be resolved, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, Kevin, it's great to see you. Also another question is, when will we hear directly from the president himself in reacting to the strikes, this tit-for-tat, and where it stands right now. It's great to see you. Thank you so much. He's going to be standing by. We're going to have much more on this breaking news throughout the show. John?

BERMAN: All right, on a fast-track for opening statements in the criminal case against Donald Trump as unusual tensions boil over between the prosecution and defense. And then new details about a plot for a school shooting that police say they stopped before it could happen.

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[08:14:08]

BOLDUAN: We continue to follow the breaking news coming out of the Middle East. Israel hits back, retaliating against Iran overnight, directly hitting inside Iran. The first official word coming from the Biden administration on this coming from the Secretary of State Tony Blinken, telling reporters just now that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operations, and not going beyond that, despite the questions he was facing.

Let's talk about all of this. Joining us right now is CNN military analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, Cedric Leighton. It's good to see you. Thank you so much for coming in. You say this strike confirms that we're at a watershed moment in the Middle East. Explain, Cedric.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Kate, good morning. The basic difference here is from what we've seen before and in recent years is that, for the first time, Israel and Iran are attacking each other. They're sending not proxy forces. They're sending themselves through their weapons directly into battle from their respective territories.

[08:15:00]

Now, that doesn't mean that this is going to escalate out-of-control or anything like that, but what is different is that these two countries are doing away with the pretense of working through proxies or working in the shadows such as with cyber campaigns and things like that.

Those things in the shadows are still going to go on, but now things are a bit more out in the open and in essence, there is a bit of a fig leaf that has actually disappeared from the way these countries conduct their conflict.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And what do you think of Tony Blinken's response and reaction this morning? A lot that he did not want to address very clearly, not even directly confirming that there was a strike overnight. What do you take from that?

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's very interesting. I think the United States and Secretary Blinken is probably reflecting this. I think the United States wants to a kind of be in a position where it can serve as a bridge between Iran and Israel.

Obviously, the United States is supporting Israel in a defensive stance, but they are not supporting offensive operations, and they are using the abilities that they have, the connections that they have, not only to defend Israel, but also to work on the diplomatic track.

And what that really means is that through intermediaries, they are talking to the Iranians. They are trying to defuse tension and it seems to be at the moment, at least in both sides' interests that these tensions do not escalate, and that is I think what we are seeing at this point.

BOLDUAN: Let us talk about what, at least, is known right now of what was hit? What was targeted? Where and where not, I guess? The strike triggered Iran's air defense systems.

In doing so, is it possible have we learned -- have you learned anything about their capabilities from this?

LEIGHTON: Well, we knew that a lot of things about the Iranian air defense systems, but every time there is a situation like this, Kate, you have the time to learn more about what they're doing or what they're not doing, or what they are capable of so what this shows to me is that the Iranian air defense systems are nowhere near the quality and the ability give the Israeli air defense systems.

The Israeli air defense system is basically a three-layered defense system that handles everything from the low distance threats all the way to along intercontinental type threat. And that is the kind of system that is basically integrated in this.

Of course, also integrated at least it was in this last instance with the us and with other countries. The Iranian air defense system is not integrated with other countries, at least not yet, although it does use technologies from places like Russia.

But the other part of this is, is that it is not a defense system that seems to cover the entire country and it is not effective at discerning the types of missiles and drones that the Israelis probably used in this attack.

BOLDUAN: Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, ahead, the trump criminal trial jury is almost complete. Only the alternates need to be chosen, but there is another big issue.

The judge's gag order could get even tighter. We will discuss.

Also new polling showing a couple of shake-ups in the race for the White House. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:44]

BERMAN: All right, live pictures from outside Trump Tower. We are standing by to see Donald Trump head to court for his criminal trial. There is a jury, a full jury, and one alternate have been picked. Five alternates -- more alternates still must be selected today. If that happens and the judge says he thinks it will. Opening statements could begin on Monday.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is outside the courthouse, 12 jurors selected yesterday. Intrigue at the end of the day, I expect there will be more today as well -- Kristen.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, John.

So what we are expecting today is to really fill out that alternate box. The judge has said around six alternates, so we are expecting roughly five more, but just a reminder that he could change his mind particularly after what we saw yesterday, two of those jurors getting dismissed after they had been seated.

I know there is some concern really on both sides that there could be episodes moving forward, not just your typical episode in terms of a family member getting sick, but also with this view of can they be impartial?

This is a very high profile case with a very polarizing defendant. So what we are going to see today is there are 22 people left of that 96 from yesterday. They are going to go through the entire process again to see if they can get one of these five alternate seat.

They are going to go through the questionnaire, then you're going to see both of the sides questioned. Now, what is interesting about the alternates, they actually get both the prosecution and defense more strikes for the alternates than they did for the actual jury pool. They get two strikes per alternate seat, so we will see how both sides end up utilizing this.

But as you said, it is expected to move quickly. They are expecting this to be done possibly by mid-morning and I want to talk about Monday because that is when we are talking about those opening arguments.

The other part of this is that it is likely that we see the prosecution calling their first witnesses and some of the drama that we saw yesterday at the end of court was Trump's lawyers going to the judge, going to the prosecution saying, can we have a list of those early witnesses and they were turned down.

The prosecution saying they don't trust Donald Trump not to post about those witnesses and the judge sided with the prosecution here.

So this is usually a courtesy that is extended. It is not mandatory, but in this case, they are not going to be doing this.

Now one thing I do want to just lay out here is what we saw overall, the jury makeup so far because it has really been a cross-section of New Yorkers.

[08:25:16]

You see people who are in finance, a speech therapist. You have seen people who are lawyers. You are looking at 12 people here, seven of them are men, five of them are women, and their opinions of the former president vary.

It was interesting to see again, this is a very high profile case with a very high profile defendant, everybody knows who Donald Trump is.

You had some people saying they didn't like his persona. They thought that he was a selfish person. You know, other people saying they thought it was interesting that they had read "Art of the Deal."

So again, how all of this plays out will be very interesting, particularly given who the defendant is and the fact that this is the first criminal trial of a former president in US history -- John.

BERMAN: And there also is this issue of what Donald Trump continues to say and post while not in the courtroom itself, and the judge keeps saying, we are going to bring this up in a hearing.

Now that hearing is moved earlier, what is exactly going on here?

HOLMES: This is all about that gag order and what we have heard Donald Trump say time and time again, and really, this goes to the fact that the prosecution doesn't have to share their witnesses with Donald Trump because he is continually posting.

We have seen him do a series of posts about Michael Cohen, about Stormy Daniels. He also posted a quote from a Fox News host saying that the prosecution was finding or the defense was finding liberal activists who are trying to pose as jurors to get into convict Donald Trump.

These are all things that the prosecution say are violating that gag order. Donald Trump talking about -- he is not allowed to talk about jurors. He is not allowed to talk about the various witnesses. We will see what happens in this case.

I know and I can tell you this from talking to Trump senior advisers, they have been briefed by the lawyers on just how far Donald Trump can go without crossing the line. They do not believe he has crossed the line yet, but obviously, the prosecution disagrees.

BERMAN: And we will learn what the judge thinks about that. Perhaps more importantly, in the coming days.

Kristen Holmes outside the courthouse. Great to see you this morning. Thank you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: A game of risk. The Republican House Speaker seems ready to risk his job over a long-stalled foreign aid bills that could risk Ukraine's survival if they don't pass.

Democrats came to his rescue last night. Will they do it again?

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