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Biden to Sign Bill With Crucial Foreign Aid, Possible TikTok Ban; Negotiations Between Columbia, Student Protesters Extended 48 Hours; Soon, Supreme Court Weighs if States Can Ban Abortions in Medical Emergencies. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 24, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Vinyl sales and is poised to top the Billboard charts when they come out next week.

[07:00:05]

If Tortured Poets Department rises to the top spot, as expected, Swift will tie Jay-Z as the artist with the second most number one albums on the charts only behind these guys.

The Beatles currently hold the title for the most number one billboard albums with 19, but Swift inch and closer to topping that record. Got to love ending on Taylor Swift and the Beatles.

Thanks to our panel. Thanks to you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt.

CNN New Central starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, abortion showdown at the Supreme Court. Can a state ban on abortion keep women from getting emergency care?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Would you prefer a cash refund over a voucher when an airline ruins your travel day? That's what the federal government is now pushing for, the new move being announced this morning.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And did Donald Trump violate the gag order again? He again has commented about a witness. And this is before the judge is about to rule on whether he violated his order.

I'm Sarah Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN New Central.

BOLDUAN: Today, months of political infighting turn political paralysis will be over. President Biden is set to sign the $95 billion package of foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. This is after the Senate gave it the green light late last night in a 79 to 18 vote.

The big winner here, U.S. allies, and congressional bipartisanship, because after, what was it, eight months of stalling by far right House Republicans, other Republicans and Democrats came together to get past this. There's a little something extra in this package as well. Included is the forced sale of TikTok. The concern is U.S. national security. And when the bill is signed, that is going to trigger the clock on TikTok's China-based parent company. They then have nine months to sell or have the app banned from American app stores.

CNN's Arlette Saenz has new reporting from the White House about everything that went on behind the scenes to get up to this moment. Arlette, first and foremost, when is the president going to sign this today?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, President Biden is vowing to act quickly saying that he is ready to sign this legislation in the coming hours with the ultimate goal of getting this new weapons and equipment into Ukrainian soldiers' hands this week.

The package really marks a major milestone for President Biden, who spent the past six months pushing publicly and privately to try to get this across the finish line. In all, this package includes nearly $61 billion for Ukraine, as well as another $26 billion for Israel. The president in a statement last night saying, quote, this critical legislation will make our nation and world more secure as we support our friends who are defending themselves against terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin.

Now, Biden spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday to talk through what the next round of aid will look like. Sources say the Biden administration has been working towards releasing a new package, which would be around $1 billion. And sources say that that could include, for the first time, long-range ATACMS, also air defense and artillery ammunition, as well as Bradley fighter vehicles.

But this new surge of assistance for Ukraine really comes after months of intense behind-the-scenes work by President Biden and his team to cajole members of Congress, specifically with the goal of bringing House Speaker Mike Johnson on board.

Johnson was a relative unknown to officials here at the White House back in October when he took the speakership. But one thing that the White House knew they were also grappling with in that moment was discontent within the right flank, who did not want Johnson to bring up a vote for Ukraine aid separately without other conditions tied to this.

Now, this all really led to Biden and his team really drilling down in these talks over the past few months. One directive that President Biden, I'm told, had for his team was really trying to lay out the national security implications, but also paint a full intelligence picture of what Ukraine was experiencing on the battlefield as this debate progressed, how they were impacted by lack of munitions, and what could happen going forward if they were not provided this additional assistance.

Biden also told his team to try to lay off directly attacking Johnson as much as possible, as they were really hoping to give room to these negotiations to try to have them be productive.

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Now, those conversations really have picked up over the course of the past four weeks, with the counselor to the president, Steve Richetti, serving as the main conduit between the White House and Johnson speaking regularly. You also had the director of legislative affairs working all sides on the staff level as they were trying to get this across the finish line, which happened last night with that Senate vote.

BOLDUAN: They sure did, and then signing it today. It's good to see you, Arlette, great reporting. Thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight. Columbia University extended negotiations with protesters for the next 48 hours to dismantle the pro Palestinian encampment on campus, this after initially issuing a midnight deadline, which would have been overnight for the tents to be removed. Protests have spread to campuses across the country.

Today, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced he will visit Columbia to meet with Jewish students and speak on what he calls a, quote, troubling rise of virulent anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is live this morning outside the Columbia campus. What's the status there?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So right now, the last of protesters that we saw dissipated within the last few hours at this point, but that difference has been those protesters were outside the campus where we are versus the encampment-led protest that is happening on campus grounds as well.

This is now the eighth day we have seen that encampment. And as you mentioned, the Columbia University president, Minouche Shafik, set a midnight deadline for an agreement to be reached on clearing these encampments.

That midnight deadline came and went. And then, hours later, we got an update from a university spokesperson that actually conversations are now progressing, and based on those constructive talks, they are extending talks for another 48 hours.

Now, some of those tent poles of negotiation that they say they've made progress on, dismantling and removing a significant number of tents, ensuring that those not affiliated with Columbia University leave the encampment, and taking steps to make sure the encampment is welcome to all and prohibiting discriminatory or harassing language.

Obviously, a lot of the tension that has been there at the core of this protest, who they say they are for solely pushing Columbia University to divest from corporations, they say, support Israeli apartheid and genocide.

But, of course, it has created an atmosphere of tension for some on campus. It prompted the school to move to hybrid learning because, as they said, it out of an abundance of caution and for safety being a priority. And some Jewish students we have spoken to say they felt intimidated by the displays on campus, while not all Jewish students have felt that way at this point.

And it highlights sort of the back and forth that we have seen over how the university wants to handle this, because last week was when they sent in the New York Police Department to clear out this encampment, and it only seemed to inflame some of these protesters and they revived these encampments even more so. And now here we are a week later, and as you mentioned, Speaker Johnson has accepted this campus later today.

BERMAN: We will see where these negotiations lead. Omar Jimenez outside the Columbia University campus, thank you. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Just a few hours, the Supreme Court will hear arguments that could set a nationwide precedent on whether pregnant women can get life-saving abortion services at the E.R. Details on the Idaho case that is now before the justices.

Plus, he can't help himself, can he? Did Donald Trump violate his gag order the very same day he had to go to court for a hearing on whether he had already violated the gag order several times? We are waiting for the judge's ruling in the case.

And if your company has ever forced you to sign a non-compete clause, they can't do that anymore. The new rule from the FTC that will make it easier for millions of people to change jobs.

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SIDNER: This morning, we will hear arguments live from the Supreme Court in one of the most crucial abortion cases since Roe versus Wade was overturned, one that could end with life or death medical care stripped away from millions of American women.

At issue specifically this morning is whether or not E.R. doctors in Idaho, it's a state that has a near-total abortion ban, will be permanently forced to refuse to provide emergency abortions to pregnant women even when they know the woman's condition will become life-threatening.

We should note, federal law would normally require doctors to provide that care. The decision is now poised to reverberate across the entire nation during an unprecedented moment in American politics and health care access.

CNN's Joan Biskupic is joining us now. Joan, we are going to hear these comments, the audio of these comments live. Can you take us through the arguments the justices are about to consider here?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure, Sara, good morning. This really does bring us back to June, 2022, when the Supreme Court reversed nearly a half century of constitutional abortion rights in that Dobbs ruling you mentioned.

Shortly after that decision, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a statement reminding everyone of the federal law here, the Emergency Medical Treatment Act, that does require patients brought to emergency rooms to be stabilized, to be able to have good care.

It's a 1986 law that responded to so-called patient dumping, especially of poor patients who might not have been able to pay. But what Attorney General Garland stressed is that that law would allow stabilizing care for a pregnant woman who is suffering complications and who to prevent serious impairment of her health, would require termination of a pregnancy.

[07:15:13]

Idaho challenges that, saying, no, this federal law should not preempt its state ban on nearly all abortions, except when a mother's actual life is in danger, when she might die.

And that's where the gap is, Sara, in that place between actual imminent death and serious life conditions. For example, where the pregnant woman's membranes might have ruptured, she could have all sorts of tragic complications to a pregnancy that would lead to a risk of her organs and infection. So, that's the kind of medical emergencies that are at issue here.

Arguing for the state of Idaho will be Joshua Turner, who is a top constitutional litigator in the state. Arguing for the government will be Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar. Mr. Turner is going to assert that Idaho's ban, just like all the other bans in about 15 other states nationwide, should control in these situations that the federal law here should not displace state rules for emergency rooms, and the federal government will encounter no in these very difficult situations.

Emergency room medical personnel should care for a woman who might need for life, for health-threatening reasons to have a pregnancy terminated, Sara.

SIDNER: This could be a far-reaching decision that affects so many women. Thank you so much, Joan Biskupic, I appreciate it. John?

BERMAN: All right. Any moment a New York judge could rule if Donald Trump has violated the gag order in his criminal case. It would mean he is in contempt. He made brand new comments overnight.

And an update on the congressional comeback bid from former Congressman George Santos.

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[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, we are standing by to see if Judge Juan Merchan finds Donald Trump in contempt for violating the gag order in the New York case. The ruling could come at any time. Trump did rage on social media overnight.

Now, the judge told Trump's lawyer that he was losing all credibility with the court in arguments over whether the gag order should be lifted.

Former National Enquirer Publisher David Pecker is back on the stand tomorrow after telling the jury how Trump asked him to help his campaign in 2015 in an agreement to catch and kill stories that might be damaging to Trump.

With us now is CNN's Brynn Gingras for a sense of where we are and where we're going, Brynn.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, listen, this gag order is going to be a major issue, especially since Donald Trump had an interview prior to going to court yesterday. He gave an interview to our CNN-affiliate WPVI in Philadelphia on a number of topics, but he used that time to rail again against one of the witnesses in this case, Michael Cohen, which he has been doing several times. But now it's probably something else that the court is going to consider. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Michael Cohen is a convicted liar and he's got no credibility whatsoever. He was a lawyer and you rely on your lawyers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Now, listen, this is something the prosecutors brought up yesterday during that gag order hearing is that Trump just will not stop. And they even said they were going to file another motion about what he had said after court the other day regarding Michael Cohen. So, I imagine another motion is going to be filed regarding this interview. So, we'll see how that all plays out. We do not know yet when this judge is going to decide about this gag order.

But in the meantime, as you said, a main witness, David Pecker, is back on the stand tomorrow. And a lot was covered yesterday. He sort of set the scene, like you said, about this catch and kill scheme, which is at the heart of the prosecution's case.

And it all started with that Trump Tower meeting between him, Michael Cohen and Donald Trump, essentially David Pecker saying he was going to be the eyes and the ears of Trump's 2016 campaign, saying that if he heard any bad stories about Donald Trump, then he would, quote, notify Michael Cohen, and then he would be able to have them kill in another magazine or have them not be published or somebody would have to purchase them.

Prosecutors asked him purchase the negative stories about Mr. Trump so that they would not get published, you mean? And he responded that they would not get published, yes.

So, it really gives this foundation of how this whole scheme work, which is important, John, of course, because, yes, there are the charges for, you know, falsifying documents. But prosecutors are trying to make that link to the felony, which is essentially that they did that to conceal another crime. And so this testimony is very important for the jurors to hear.

Now, Pecker was on the stand when court adjourned yesterday. It continues tomorrow with him back on the stand. And he was just getting into some spicy testimony, which involved the story of Karen McDougal, which is another Playboy playmate who alleged an affair with Michael Cohen in 2016. And really, he was just getting started about how he helped allegedly Donald Trump conceal that story from the public eye.

BERMAN: Yes. The Karen McDougal stuff came up just at the very end. Brynn Gingras, thank you very much for that, really leaving the jury to think about it, Kate, for the next 24 hours or so.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Will you stay here? As a father of twins, you will be very interested in this one.

The good stuff this morning, talk about a whole lot of seeing double the graduating class at Norwin High School in Pennsylvania will have not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 11 sets of twins walking across the graduation states at the end of the school year, surprising even some of the twins themselves. Listen.

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RACHEL CASSLEY, GRADUATING SENIOR: I don't really realize as much that there are so many of us until we all got down in the office and I was like, oh my gosh, there's literally 22 of us.

[07:25:00]

JACK CASSLEY, GRADUATING SENIOR: I thought it was normal. So, I mean, I just think it's really cool.

ALEXIS CLAMUT, GRADUATING SENIOR: I think we all can relate that when we're going to go to college. It's just going to be hard because we just like live together constantly and we've grown up and team each other for the whole years and graduating together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN-affiliate WTAE reports that some siblings will be attending the same colleges together in the fall. Others are forging their own paths.

Principal Michael Choby, also a parent of twins, just keeps coming, not yet in high school, though, he says the students' interests cover everything from athletics to theater to trade studies.

Is this a record? We do not know. And the school doesn't seem to know either. But the principal did jokingly say, I don't know if there's something in the water. Sara?

SIDNER: Gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, twinning. All right, just ahead, the Supreme Court is about to hear the most significant case involving abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade. Live arguments will begin today as they look at a state abortion ban versus the federal law protecting a woman's health.

Also this morning, Tennessee teachers are about to be able to carry concealed handguns at school after action in the state legislature. What's now headed to the governor's desk on that issue.

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