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Law Enforcement Makes More Arrests on College Campuses as Pro- Palestinian Protests Continue to Grow across U.S.; Encampment Protest Grows at University of Pennsylvania; Prosecution Lays Out Banking Details of Hush Money Payments in Criminal Trial of Donald Trump; Trump's Hush Money Trial Resumes Tuesday; Arizona GOP Choose Fake Elector Hoffman for RNC Post. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 29, 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]

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The bill has stalled.

Is there anything that realistically can be done?

REP. YVETTE CLARKE, (D-NY): Absolutely. We need to make sure that this bill comes to the floor to make sure that we --

CARROLL: But it hasn't come to the floor so far, right?.

CLARKE: It hasn't, it hasn't. However, we still have time.

CARROLL: President Biden has called on Republicans to do more to get the bill brought to a vote. Meanwhile, those who need it most have little faith and lawmakers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say most likely they're not going to do anything.

CINDY WESTMAN, ACP RECIPIENT: They can pass things with a drop of a dime. If there's on both sides of the party, both parties agree there should be zero resistance, and this should have been done yesterday, instead of people fearing rather losing this funding.

CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, Eureka, Illinois.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, arrests on college campuses as pro-Palestinian protests grow across the country.

The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas, new comments from Secretary of State Antony Blinken after Israel proposed what he calls an extraordinarily generous ceasefire deal.

The damage is unbelievable, what one governor is saying as deadly, severe storms the country.

Sara is out. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

This morning, college graduations are right around the corner with pro-Palestinian encampments set up on some of the very sites they're supposed to take place. Hundreds of students and faculty have been arrested or detained in sometimes violent encounters with authorities. In Boston, about 100 new arrests at Northeastern University after police broke up an encampment there. At UCLA, police in riot gear intervened after protesters breached the security barrier. George Washington University is beginning to see its encampment spill off campus onto the streets.

CNN's Danny Freeman is in Philadelphia. Danny, we can see the tents set up behind you at the University of Pennsylvania. Tell us what you're seeing and how we got to this point.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You bet, John. This is day five of the encampment protest here at the University of Pennsylvania, and everything really has been mostly peaceful so far, although I will say it was a bit of a tense weekend because on Friday night, just about 24 hours after the encampment was set up, the university called on it to be disbanded. And as you can see, this encampment has only grown.

Now, just to give you a flavor of what we're looking at here, you can see they are students here. They've just woken up there. There's breakfast, it seems coffee in that area. This, to be clear, John, started as maybe 10, maybe it dozen encampments back on Thursday now grown to quite a bit more than that here in the middle of the University of Pennsylvania.

So let me tell you what makes this particular protest a little bit more unique than some of the others. So there are actually three universities represented here. There's students from Temple, students from Drexel, students from, of course, the University of Pennsylvania. And then also there are other folks from the larger Philadelphia community who have taken up camp here in this area as well.

And initially the university so that they support the right for folks here on campus to protest and to share their voices. But then, like I said, that changed from Thursday into Friday when the university said that this encampment had blatant violations of university policies. They said that they had credible reports of harassing and intimidating conduct, and then also an incident of antisemitic graffiti that the university said this investigating now as a hate crime.

But as you can see right here, the demands of these protesters remain the same and they say they're not going anywhere. They want the university to disclose a number of the companies that they may be invested in that have connections to Israel and then divest from those particular companies and investments.

The thing I'll tell you, John, also is that we understand from the protestors here that they did have a chance to meet with some of the university leadership over the weekend, the university confirming that as well, but so far they have not been able to see eye-to-eye. These encampments are still here, and we understand overnight there have actually been more notice of trespassing signs that have been put up in this area of the University of Pennsylvania, saying that you are in violation of both students regulations, university regulations, but also of Philadelphia law.

So as of now, things have been peaceful, John, make no mistake. But the tension between the university and these protesters at the moment, a bit of a standstill. John?

BERMAN: All right, Danny Freeman in Philadelphia, Danny, keep us posted as to what you see. Thank you. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's in Pennsylvania, and we've got police have arrested hundreds of protesters and students -- including students, professors, and activists, since these pro-Palestinian protests have started and engulfed so many college campuses.

[08:05:03]

Some now questioning the tactics used by law enforcement in the face of all of this. CNN's Josh Campbell has much more on this. He's joining us. Josh, what is the criticism that's coming at the police right now on this?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate. Law enforcement has certainly been thrust into the middle of this, particularly because so many of these protests are taking place on private property. There's no First Amendment right to protest on private property. And so when these universities say, hey, we want these people out of here, it's the police who have to do that. It's the tactics, however, that we've seen in some circumstances that have certainly drawn a lot of criticism, including one incident last week at Emory University involving a college professor. Take a look.

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CAMPBELL: Now, as you look at that video, at the start of that, what you see is this professor coming up towards a group of officers who were attempting to put someone in custody. Now, at that point, I think anyone who served in law enforcement will understand that for that officer to try to get her away from that situation, that would be justified, but it's been taking her to the ground afterwards that has obviously raised serious questions. Under the letter of the law under the state of Georgia, battery on a police officer is something as simple as touching them in a provoking way. But of course, in law enforcement, what departments look for is judgment. People will understand that just because you can do something, is that the best course of action?

It's worth pointing out that certainly since the 2020 protests that we saw across the country, I've heard from law enforcement people who said that one tactic they're taking is understanding there are now hundreds of videos that are often being taken at these incidents. If they see someone who they think isn't committing a serious violation, they can go back to the tape and then try to get that person later rather than seeing this violent encounter that we saw there.

I do want to show you one example of the right way to do this. We saw this the last week at the University of Southern California where you have protesters who were surrounding this vehicle. A protester was taken and put into a squad car. That turned into this very volatile situation where it's essentially a standoff of sort, if we have that video. At some point, authorities ultimately determined that they were going to try to de-escalate, and you actually see them letting the individual out of the back of that squad car. Obviously, there was some kind of conversation that they had with this person. Interestingly, once that person steps out of the car, he then starts telling everyone else to step back, to push back, and to get out of that area. And so you see that decision being made by the on-scene commander to try to de-escalate that situation.

Obviously, Kate, we're going to see more and more of these protests. Law enforcement will certainly be under the microscope as far as how they respond. Certainly, a lot of the actions raising a lot of questions. Obviously, though, there are so many other encounters that have happened as well where authorities are being asked to get people out of private property. Certainly, a very volatile situation.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Thank you, Josh, really appreciate it.

Coming up for us, the campus protests have also increased pressure on the Biden administration. How the White House is now responding to all of this.

And the second week begins of Donald Trump's hush money trial. Why hasn't the judge yet ruled on Trump's multiple violations of the gag order quite yet?

Plus the collision on the sidelines leaving an NBA coach needing to be carried off the court in the middle of the playoffs. We'll be back.

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[08:13:11]

BERMAN: Tomorrow, Donald Trump will be back in a New York City courtroom accused of falsifying business documents to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. The prosecution is set to call new witnesses to help lay out its case against him before the jury.

CNN's Brynn Gingras, star of primetime, joins me now in the morning. What can we expect -- well, you were. You were like primetime all last week.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So listen, we have some fun. I don't know if that's the right word. You can help me better. You have a better vocabulary than I do. But elements to this case, right, we have a former president, Republican nominee, we have a tabloid tie-in, we have an adult film star. But really at the heart of this case is what you just said, that 34 counts of falsifying business records. And that's what prosecutors are now just starting to get into is that paper trail.

So they said it was going to be sort of dense with paperwork that's going to have to be shown to jurors, and that's what we're seeing with this last witness that was just on the stand. And he's a banker that Michael Cohen used to set up those shell companies to first pay off Karen McDougal. Of course, that transaction never happened. But then they showed jurors basically how we set up another one. And that is to set the stage for paying off Stormy Daniels, of course, at the heart of this case.

So that's where we're at right now with this trial. It ended on Friday with jurors hearing from Gary Farro, who is this banker. And we're going to see just more sort of paperwork lined out. We saw the same thing prior to him, which was Trump's longtime assistant at Trump Tower, where she kind of was showing how Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels were contacts in the Trump Organization, how she actually saw Stormy Daniels at Trump Tower, though the defense said she might have been there for casting for "The Apprentice."

But yes, so the next couple of days well see how much is document- heavy, and then we might get into the big blockbuster witnesses again, like we saw with David Pecker. We've got Michael Cohen coming up, Stormy Daniels. So the next couple of weeks are certainly going to be busy.

BERMAN: In theory, these are the documents that would corroborate what the prosecution hopes to get out of Michael Cohen.

GINGRAS: Exactly.

BERMAN: All right, Brynn Gingras, great to see you. appreciate it. Kate?

[08:15:00]

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now to talk about more about exactly this, CNN's senior legal analyst and former assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Elie Honig.

Elie, start me up this week in setting the stage, if you will. I mean, how has the case gone so far for the DA? How would you feel if you were back at the prosecutor's table?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Kate, if I was back at the prosecutor's table, I would feel completely satisfied with the way this case has started out.

Look, you're not going to win the case in the first week. What you want to do is set the foundation for the jury and looking back now, okay, they've got three witnesses in. Things seem to be moving fairly efficiently, and they've given the jury the following.

First of all, the jury now understands catch and kill, the sort of seedy underbelly of the "National Enquirer," Trump-Pecker-AMI, that's important for the rest of the case. They have also now established a groundwork to get him in the Trump

Organization's business documents. That was the second witness, Rhona Graff, who was a long-time assistant to Trump, and now, with the banker who is on the stand, they are getting into the actual charge, the actual falsification of business records.

So this is all you can ask for as a prosecutor after the first week of trial that's going efficiently and smoothly and you're getting in your main points that the jury is going to need later on.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about that banker in just one second, but when you're talking about main points coming from the prosecutor's table, what are the best points that Trump's defense team has made so far?

HONIG: Yes, so they are picking their battles thus far. They haven't gone after all three witnesses. They haven't had a chance yet to cross examine the banker, but they've established a couple of important points.

First of all, they used David Pecker to cast doubt on Michael Cohen. They got David Pecker to say that Michael Cohen is "prone to exaggeration." And then when Rhona Graff came up, they used her on cross-examination, not to suggest she is some kind of liar or anything, but rather to humanize Donald Trump. They got her to talk about how he was a decent the boss and a man who she liked and admired.

So I think what the defense is doing, Kate, is they are laying back in there waiting -- they are really saving their fire here for Michael Cohen.

BOLDUAN: Then, on the banker that's going to be taking the stand that Brynn and John were talking about, how important is his testimony do you think to the DA's case?

HONIG: So he is the least dramatic witness so far, but I also think he is the most relevant to the actual charges because the crime itself goes to the way in which Donald Trump and Michael Cohen structured the payments to Stormy Daniels, the allegation is that they falsified business records, both of them together around those payoffs.

And this is the banker who worked with Michael Cohen to help Michael Cohen free up $130,000.00. He ended up drawing down on his mortgage in order to pay Stormy Daniels. So that's sort of half of the transaction. The other half is Trump then reimbursing Michael Cohen.

So this is sort of, I guess, dry banking stuff, but sometimes it is also the most important stuff that you have to make sure the jury really understands.

BOLDUAN: And also, I guess it is just a waiting game right now still, as everyone waits to see when and how and what the judge is going to say about the multiple violations that Donald Trump has made of the gag order. Why do you think the judge -- does this seem like its delayed in hearing from the judge?

Like why do you think the judge hasn't ruled yet?

HONIG: I have given up trying to figure out when and why this judge is going to rule. I thought he was going to rule right away. I thought he should rule right away.

Look, Judge Merchan has done a very good job of keeping control of his courtroom and keeping things moving efficiently and this is sort of an inexplicable lapse, I think by him.

To me, there is no reason to hold off. I mean, here is the status quo. We had an initial batch of 11 alleged violations. The judge held a hearing on that early last week, and now we've got a second batch of for more where he is holding hearing next week end, he hasn't ruled on any of them and Trump continues to violate the gag order.

Although we did cool off a bit this weekend, so maybe he is getting tired of it or maybe he doesn't want to have any more of these gag order hearings, but look it as a fact, there is not a lot the judge can do. The judge is not going to lock up Donald Trump, certainly not right now. He can only fine him $1,000.00 per incident, but look, we both have kids, like if you wait to enforce discipline, they're not going to get the point at all. They're going to run rampant.

So you have to enforce discipline even if you have limited tools. I think it has to be swift and it has to be certain. So I don't know what the judge is waiting for. I don't know when we are going to hear and I think it is a misstep.

BOLDUAN: All right, it is good to see you, Elie. Thank you very much.

HONIG: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, the Arizona Republican Party doubling down now on support for one of the people indicted for being part of the fake electors scheme in that state. The new job that he just got with the RNC.

And more storms are in the forecast, more states are in danger. Where severe weather is threatening today and after a widespread tornado outbreak cut a huge trail of destruction over the weekend.

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[08:24:06]

BERMAN: New this morning, a political promotion of sorts for a man now accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Arizona State Senator Jake Hoffman, who is under indictment in the fake elector scheme has now been named as a national committeeman for the RNC. Hoffman was indicted along with 17 others, including former White House chief-of-staff Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani.

With us now, CNN national security reporter, Zach Cohen. So go into the RNC. ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, John, this is the

latest example of the Republican National Committee really embracing these individuals at the state level who helped tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election in these key swing states -- Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan -- individuals that are still very active in Republican politics today.

And Jake Hoffman is a good example of somebody who served as a fake elector in Arizona, as you mentioned, he has been indicted as part of this alleged conspiracy to not only overturn the election results there in 2020, but also in those other key swing states.

[08:25:05]

You might remember, he sent a letter to then Vice President Mike Pence on January 5, 2021, asking him to delay the certification of the 2020 election results, which is another key part of this indictment that names him along with the other 10 fake electors from Arizona and seven other people from inside Trump's orbit, people who are really close to Trump and have been really close to trump since the beginning of his presidency, almost five years ago.

Now, they include Mark Meadows, his former chief-of-staff, Rudy Giuliani, his former personal attorney, Jenna Ellis his former campaign attorney, John Eastman, Mike Roman, Boris Epshteyn, and another person who has actually gotten a political promotion of sorts in the time since, Christina Bobb, you might remember that name Christina Bobb. She is a former OAN anchor, host, TV personality, but she was also one of the key people pushing these election fraud claims, including in Arizona.

She is indicted alongside Jake Hoffman and was recently appointed as the lead counsel for election integrity at the RNC. So again, the RNC, the national party, the Republican National Party, really hugging some of these people, these key players from the bid to overturn the 2020 election and it is hard to not notice the parallels between what Donald Trump himself, even though he is not indicted in Arizona, what he has been saying about these investigations and these indictments related to the 2020 election.

I am going to read Jake Hoffman's statement after he was indicted, it sounds a lot like what we've heard from Donald Trump. Hoffman wrote: "Let me be unequivocal, I am innocent of any crime. I will vigorously defend myself and I look forward to the day when I am vindicated of this disgusting political persecution by the judicial process."

And then almost at the same time, the Arizona GOP released a statement calling the indictment a blatant and an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial power aimed solely at distracting the public.

So you can obviously see the parallels there between what we are seeing at the state level in the wake of these indictment in Arizona and what Trump has been saying on the national level since the first charge came down almost a year-and-a-half ago.

BERMAN: Yes, look, the party sends a clear message, doesn't it? Zach Cohen, great to see you. Thank you very much.

So Taylor Swift says she is overwhelmed and mind blown as her new album breaks multiple records within its first week of release.

And breaking this morning, a new deal is on the table for a ceasefire in Gaza. According to US officials, Israel's proposal is "extraordinarily generous."

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