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Israel Presents Hamas with Proposal; Colleges Struggle to Regain Control; Neil Mehta is Interviewed about Brown University Protests; Trump Maintains Lead over Biden. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 29, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:32:02]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, Secretary of State Tony Blinken now says Israel has presented Hamas with a, quote, "extraordinarily generous" proposal for a ceasefire. He is in - he's back in the Middle East right now trying to push those negotiations forward to get hostages released as they are still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.

This assessment from Blinken comes after a call Sunday between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which President Biden also was focused in on those hostage and ceasefire talks.

Let's get over to the White House. CNN's Arlette Saenz has much more for us.

Arlette, what are you hearing about all of this?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent just under an hour on the phone yesterday. And a source familiar with the call said that the majority of the conversation did focus on those hostage negotiations. You really have heard U.S. officials speaking in a bit of an optimistic tone in recent days. A senior U.S. official, just days ago, said that they do believe there is an avenue for a deal. And this morning, while he was in Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel has offered a very generous proposal and said that the onus now is on Hamas to agree to this.

Now, Hamas officials are currently in Cairo where they are meeting with the Egyptians and Qatari mediator to talk through a potential deal. Sources have told our colleagues in the region that it could potentially lead to the release of as many as 33 hostages in exchange for a weeks-long ceasefire. But there still, of course, is much more work to be done.

Now Hamas, in recent days, has offered two proof of life videos for two of the living Americans who are believed to be still held hostage by Hamas. So, there is real - a real optimism that something could potentially come together. Now at the same time, the president also used that phone call to make

clear his position when it comes to a potential Israeli operation in Rafah. U.S. officials have been warning for quite some time now that Israel must go to great lengths to try to protect and move the more than 1 million civilians who are currently in Rafah. The U.S. has been offering their counsel and advice to Israel as they are considering this operation. But the president did bring that up in his phone call yesterday with a White House readout saying that he made clear his position. But officials did tell us that the majority of that phone call was about hostage negotiations. They are quite eager to get these five Americans and the other hostages out of Gaza as soon as possible.

BOLDUAN: And, Arlette, related to this, I know the White House has been facing continued pressure to respond or to take a stance on the protests that have - the pro-Palestinian protests that have engulfed campuses all across the country. What is the White House saying about this?

SAENZ: Yes, Kate, you know, the White House has really walked a very fine and delicate line when it comes to responding to these protests. We've heard U.S. officials here at the White House really condemn anti-Semitic rhetoric that has emerged around some of the protests.

[08:35:03]

But they've also been trying to stress that these protests must remain peaceful.

Take a listen to what John Kirby had to say just yesterday.

But - and I'm told now we don't have that sound.

It also comes at a time where President Biden is facing enormous political pressure as well when it comes to his handling of this war between Israel and Hamas. If you take a look at recent polling from CNN, it found that 71 percent of voters disapproved of the president's handling of this conflict. That is an even greater number of disapproval when you look at what young voters think, 81 percent disapprove of his handling. That's among those who are 35 and younger.

So, it comes at a time where you're seeing these very active protests on these college campuses while there's a lot of discontent also about the way that President Biden has handled this conflict.

BOLDUAN: All right, Arlette, at the White House, we'll see what comes from there today. Thank you very much. As Tony Blinken continues his trip in the Middle East related to all of this.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. And, look, you were just talking about the protests around the country. There are tents set up on campuses right where many of these universities are planning to hold graduation ceremonies within days. Could this force more schools to cancel commencements?

CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At university campuses across the nation, heated protests and some violent clashes between police and pro-Palestinian protesters.

MARTIN BERG, STUDENT ARRESTED AT EMORY UNIVERSITY: What I saw was unprovoked and severe brutality exacted by police.

ROMO (voice over): On some campuses, as fast as the protests popped up, universities called police to shut them down by removing demonstrators. A move that has been harshly criticized and not only by those protesting.

NOELLE MCAFEE, PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT, EMORY UNIVERSITY: The real problem here is that the administration called the Atlanta police.

ROMO (voice over): The University of Southern California has canceled its main commencement ceremony citing new safety measures in place. Dozens were arrested Thursday at Emory University in Atlanta, including Martin Berg. The third year law student whose expected to graduate in three weeks says their protest was peaceful until the police showed up.

BERG: Nothing was disrupted. And anyone saying that, you know, campus was disrupted doesn't understand what a campus is. A campus is a place for open expression and exchange of ideas, and that's exactly what folks were doing out there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are gathered here and we stand firmly.

ROMO (voice over): But some Jewish students say that the last few months since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, and Israel began its assault on Hamas in Gaza, they have been subjected to a hostile environment.

ALYSSA ACHIRON, VICE PRESIDENT OF JEWISH LAW STUDENT ASSN., EMORY UNIVERSITY: I believe everyone has a right to protest. The problem is when it becomes threatening, like holding up signs that say Jews are Nazis and things of that sort is not at all peaceful.

ROMO (voice over): Others, like this first year law school students say tensions within the student body have made it very difficult not only to learn but to attend school altogether.

AVITAL KESSLER-GODIN, FIRST YEAR LAW STUDENT, EMORY UNIVERSITY: When these people are chanting, excuse my language, in unison, "(EXPLETIVE DELETED) Zionists" on the Quad Lawn of Emory University, and I have to stand by and hear that, and we're told that we don't belong on campus because we don't identify with their movement, it - they - to me that says that they don't want to have a dialogue.

ROMO (voice over): As schools get ready for graduation, they're under intense pressure to bring the situation under control. And many students say that's also what they want. SUEDA POIAT, STUDENT NEGOTIATOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: It is in our

best interest to reach an agreement before commencement because we want students and families to be able to celebrate this milestone together on this campus.

ROMO (voice over): The volatile situation has also become a political issue with leaders such as Texas Governor Greg Abbott blasting protesters. "Students joining in hate-filled anti-Semitic protests that any public college or university in Texas should be expelled," he said on X.

KESSLER-GODIN: But I truly do think that dialogue is the only way we, as a society, are going to be able to come together to truly create lasting peace.

ROMO (voice over): But in an environment where the rhetoric is so loud, the few voices calling for peace are getting drowned out.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, I want to bring in Neil Mehta. He's the editor in chief and president of "The Brown Daily Herald."

First of all, yay journalism. Thank you for what you're doing at college on that front.

You're obviously here. It's a reading (ph) period right now a Brown, but what's your understanding of the situation on campus this morning?

NEIL MEHTA, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE BROWN DAILY HERALD": Sure. Well, thanks for having me.

Today is day six of the encampment protest at Brown University. And the protesters are showing no signs of stopping. They're very determined.

What's interesting about Brown is that this question of divestment has been going on for quite some time. It's not just in response to the encampments taking place across the country. In fact, in 2020 and advisory committee at the university advised the president to divesting the endowment from roughly a dozen companies with ties to Israel that it identified. And the president said no and argued that the endowment shouldn't be used to take stances on what she characterized as contentious geopolitical issues.

[08:40:09]

So, as a result of that decision, there's quite a bit of activism in 2020. And so this encampment protests taking place now is really a continuation of protests that have been taking place over the past three or four years.

BERMAN: And it's not shutting anything down. I mean I happen to know and be related to someone who took a tour of the campus not, you know, a week ago.

MEHTA: Right. So right now is reading (ph) period, like you said, at Brown, which is a week before finals where students don't have classes for the most part. So, yes, nothing is shutting down. Some classes and review sessions are still going and the university's functions are still going on.

BERMAN: What is the communication between the university and the people who are protesting?

MEHTA: So recently the university issued letters to protesters that are at the encampment. The university issued some charges from its student conduct office. And it's saying that the protesters have until 5:00 p.m. today to voluntarily accept some these charges or there'll be subject to a further hearing where charges might be more severe.

BERMAN: Are they willing to eat these charges if to voice their opinions?

MEHTA: So, it's unclear at this point. And there's so many protesters. But charges are not unusual for protests like these in the past. In December there were two sets of sit-in style protests at the university's main administrative building on campus. In total, 61 students were, in fact, arrested at those protests for trespassing after calling on the university to divest.

BERMAN: And commencement, which is still several weeks away, what happens if these protests are still going on during commencement?

MEHTA: So, it's also unclear what's going to happen by commencement. But where the university's commencement typically takes place is, in fact, where the encampment is taking place right now.

BERMAN: And in terms of the level of rhetoric right now, have there been incidents of anti-Semitism and violence?

MEHTA: So, there haven't been any reports at Brown of discrimination or anti-Semitism coming out of this encampment.

BERMAN: What do you think will happen and what are you looking for most closely the next days and weeks?

MEHTA: So, as this 5:00 p.m. deadline approaches for students, what our reporters that "The Brown Daily Herald" are trying to do is understand whether this is going to deter protesters or whether they're going to push forward. Protesters at Brown have shown a great deal of resilience to threats of arrests and conduct charges in the past. So, we're very curious to see what's going to happen next.

BERMAN: Glad you have reporters there working the scene. Stay with it.

Neil Mehta, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate it.

MEHTA: Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: Kate. BOLDUAN: A new look with new CNN polling at the presidential race this morning. What voters are saying about Donald Trump's advantage over Joe Biden nationally and the issue that now stands as a 70 percent problem for President Biden.

And the moment an NBA coach is taken out by his own player during an NBA playoff game.

We'll be back.

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[08:47:22]

BERMAN: World Central Kitchen resumes aid operations in Gaza today. This for the first time since seven of its volunteers were killed by an Israeli airstrike. In their announcement, World Central Kitchen said they are opening a new high production kitchen and calling it Damian's Kitchen after one of the aid workers killed.

Severe storms threaten parts of Texas and Louisiana this morning with flood warnings in place. Tornado tore through the southern plains over the weekend, leaving a trail of destruction behind. Four people, including an infant in Oklahoma were killed where 22 tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down.

Elon Musk just wrapped up a visit to China as he tries to get Beijing's approval to roll out Tesla's self-driving technology there. The China Association of Auto Manufacturers said Tesla's Model 3 and Y vehicles had past data security requirements. Some of Tesla's cars had previously been banned in parts of China because of spying concerns.

And a really scary moment in the NBA. Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley collided with the head coach, Chris Finch, right there. You can see it just was a brutal head-on collision. It resulted in Finch tearing his patellar tendon. I believe that's in his knee. The T-wolves played the final two minutes of the game without their coach, ultimately winning and sweeping the Phoenix Suns. It's not clear whether Finch will be available to coach game one of the second round.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Well, that does look so painful. Oh, my God.

So, we also have a fresh look at the state of the presidential race this morning. New CNN polling showing Donald Trump's - Donald Trump maintains his advantage over President Joe Biden in a national survey. And the interesting numbers also suggesting that absence is making the heart grow fonder for some voters.

CNN's political director David Chalian, he has the numbers and a deep dive for us.

So, David, what do the - what - tell me what you see in these new matchup numbers. Is their movement? DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, let's start with that overall national horse race again. This is a national snapshot right now. And you noted, Donald Trump maintains his lead. Here it's 49 percent among registered voters to Joe Biden's 43 percent. If you compare that to your question about movement to where we had this race in January, it's basically the same. Then it was 49 percent for Donald Trump, 45 percent for Joe Biden. That difference for Biden there, it's well within the margin of error. So that is statistically the same race you're looking at.

And, Kate, quite frankly, it's been the same for the last eight months that we've been polling this race in terms of our national surveys. This is pretty much what it has look like, a slight lead for Donald Trump for - over the last eight months.

BOLDUAN: And to my point of absence may be making the heart grow fonder for some, the view of success or failure, or how - how voters are viewing the success or failure of the two presidencies, if you will, what do you see there?

[08:50:12]

CHALIAN: Yes, there is no doubt that with some time between Donald Trump's administration and now his administration has grown rosier in the eyes of Americans. Look here, 55 percent of Americans in this poll say that Trump's presidency was a success. That's almost a complete reversal of where Trump was on that question when he actually left office nearly four years ago, or three-and-a-half years ago. Joe Biden, though, you see a completely different assessment by those polled here. Thirty-nine percent called Trump's presidency - Biden's presidency currently a success, 61 percent call it a failure.

And, Kate, I just want to show you his overall approval rating for the president right now. It's at 40 percent approval, 60 percent disapproval. This has just been a stubbornly consistently low approval rating for Joe Biden as he's now closing in on the final six months of this quest for a second term. There is no doubt that everyone in the Biden campaign in the White House would like to see this number move up a bit as voters start zoning in on their decisions.

BOLDUAN: One factor in this approval rating and basically any assessment of the current president is often linked to the economy. It appears this time as well. I mean how are voters feeling about the economy? Because rosier data is coming out.

CHALIAN: There's no doubt. But as you know, Americans don't assess the economy through the economic indicators and data that we all report on constantly. They assess it though how they feel about it. Thirty-four percent currently approved of Biden's handling of the economy. So, significantly lower than his overall job approval. Sixty-six percent disapprove.

And when you ask, how is the economy going today? What's your rating of it? Thirty percent - thirty percent of Americans say its good, 70 percent of Americans say its poor. I just want to note here that the economy is overwhelmingly the most

important issue for voters. This is not insignificant. And so, while there are a ton of other issues that we discuss, and even issues that the president performs worse on, the Israel Hamas war, immigration, the economy is still front and center for people. So, this is something you're going to hear Biden talk about day in and day out to try to boost those numbers up as well.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. It's great to see you, David. Thank you so much for jumping on this morning.

CHALIAN: Sure. Thanks.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, former communications director for the Trump administration, Mike Dubke. Also Democratic strategist and former White House aide to President Bill Clinton, Keith Boykin.

Keith, let me just start with you. You see these numbers as a Democrat who I presume wants to see President Biden get re-elected. Where would you advise them to do the work to turn it around?

KEITH BOYKIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think that the numbers don't necessarily indicate how people will show up at the polls. We know that early polls are not predictive. We also know that the abortion issue really hurts Republicans. And that's an issue the Democrats will be hammering from now until November.

In addition, we don't know the impact of Trump's trials. His first trial just began just last week. We don't know what's going to come out of that. If he's convicted, what happens with other trials? If he happens to have another trial before the fall election, that's a big issue.

The big advantage to Democrats - two big advantages the Democrats have, one is the popular vote. Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. There's no indication that they won't win the popular vote in this election. The Electoral College still skews unfairly toward the Republicans.

But the other issue is fundraising. Democrats have outraised Republicans in fundraising, both at the presidential level and at the party level. And in addition, they have made enormous ad buys going into the fall campaign. They've saturated the market and closed up the opportunities for Donald Trump and the Republicans.

BERMAN: Mike, do you buy that? Do the Democrats have Donald Trump right where they want them?

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: No, I don't buy that at all.

First of all, on the popular vote versus the electoral vote, the rules of the game are set. And it's a state-by-state contest. And so while these national polls probably are heartwarming for the

Trump campaign, more importantly when you look state by state, you're seeing advantages to the Trump campaign.

The other - the other issue here that David pointed out is the economy. Carville, James Carville, years ago, famously said, it's the economy stupid, and he's absolutely correct, most likely in 2024. And when you have high mortgage rates, you have the cost of gas up, you have the cost of eggs up, you have the cost of milk that is - that is rising, these are all problems for the Biden administration that they really don't have a lot of control over. And the economic factors worldwide that are driving these costs are something that they're going to have to contend with.

[08:55:03]

And most likely they're - no matter how much money they have to spend and how much of a cash advantage they have, it will be very difficult to roll against that tide.

BERMAN: You're shaking your head, Keith.

BOYKIN: Yes, because that - the economy is not Biden's weakest argument. I mean we've got 15 million new jobs created in the - in the Biden administration, more than any other first term of any administration, including Donald Trump, who lost jobs, by the way. We have 3.8 percent unemployment. The lowest black unemployment rate in history. Inflation is going down despite what we're hearing from the other side. Inflation is going down. And people are - people have to understand, I guess, you know, the Republicans, Donald Trump does a great job of marketing promotion, but he doesn't have any record. He's running a substance free campaign. What's Donald Trump's solution for the economy? What's his solution for the for the economy - for inflation? What's his solution for health care and wage increases? What's his solution for any of these issues?

The media, I think, have to - have to own up to our responsibility too. We have to start asking substantive questions, and not just ask all these horse-race questions. Donald Trump is running this substance free campaign because we're not asking him the questions about what are his policy positions. People don't seem to be paying attention to that because he doesn't have any policy positions.

BERMAN: So, Mike, what do you think Donald Trump's plan is to fight inflation.

DUBKE: Well, first of all I'm going to say I'm going to go back to this.

When a campaign - and I - and I had to deal with this in the - in the Trump administration, when you start looking at yourself and saying, well, we're just not explain - it's a communications problem. We're not explaining ourselves. So, the media's not doing their job good enough. The numbers that CNN put out today, 70 to 30 percent, when asked how Americans feel about the - about the economy and the Biden administration, that isn't a communications issue, that's a gut feeling. And that's really where this campaign is coming down to.

So, as the incumbent, the Biden administration has to explain to the American people why they deserve another four years. And they haven't.

BERMAN: That's always the case with an incumbent.

DUBKE: Absolutely.

BERMAN: But Keith - but Keith does raise a good - Keith does raise a good question, which is -

BOYKIN: He still didn't answer my question, though. What - what's - what's Trump's position?

BERMAN: Which is what is - yes, on inflation.

BOYKIN: What's Trump's strategy? What's he going to do?

DUBKE: Well, this is - this is exactly it.

BOYKIN: Thank you.

DUBKE: This is - this is why - no, no, no. No, what I'm saying is, this is exactly it. This is why the Biden administration needs to come out of the gate and explain it. I'm not here to represent the Trump campaign or to give you an explanation. What I'm here to do, I think, is to give you a little bit of sense of where these poll numbers, and as a political professional, give you a little sense of where, if I was running a campaign, I would continue to push. And as the Trump administration, I would continue to talk about the current administration and rely less on - and rely less on some of the other topics when the vast majority of Americans are concerned about the economy. And when you ask the American people, again to the CNN numbers, which way when looking at the economy would you vote, and Trump wins 62 to 30 percent over - over Joe Biden. So, this is where the - this is where this is going to be fought.

BERMAN: Keith, your -

BOYKIN: This is - this is -

BERMAN: Go ahead, Keith.

BOYKIN: This is why Americans hate politics because we're talking about strategy, we're not talking about any policy. I asked, what is Trump's position on any of these policy issues? I have yet to hear an answer from Donald Trump, the Republican Party, or from anyone else because no one seems to be talking about this. All he does is talk about nonsense issues and diversionary issues and talk about his - and talk about how he's a victim in his grievance campaign. It's a Festivus campaign. It's not a serious policy campaign. And Republicans know that. That's the reason why he couldn't come up with an answer when you and I'm, John, asked him, what is Trump's position on these questions.

BERMAN: Well, let me just ask, and Mike is not here to represent the Trump campaign, to be clear, but I am curious, do you think the Trump campaign, Mike, does have an articulated plan on inflation?

DUBKE: I do think that they will, as we get into the debate, and we should talk about the debates and whether or not they're going to happen.

BERMAN: But - but now?

DUBKE: I don't know that they need to - I don't need - I don't know this - six months out from the - from the election. And all these poll numbers are going to fluctuate and change. We are far out from the actual voting on November 5th.

I don't know if they - it is really even responsible for them right now to be talking about what their plans are, rather than putting a focus on the failures of the Biden administration. But as we get closer to the election, and we get into the presidential debates, this is where Joe Biden can directly ask Donald Trump on that debate stage, what are your policies? And that's the time to have this, when the American people are fully paying attention. But as of right now, the poll numbers do not look good for the president and his re-election.

BERMAN: Keith, 30 seconds.

BOYKIN: He was - Donald Trump was the president of the United States for four years and has spent the past four - three or four years campaigning for president again. And you're telling me we have to wait until October or November before we find out what his position is on - on what he's going to do about unemployment, what he's going to do about health care, what he's going to do about education and student loan debt, what he's going to do about affordable housing and criminal justice reform or climate change? What he's going to do about inflation? You don't have any answers for that. We just have to wait until October and November and trust you and trust Republicans. That's preposterous.

[09:00:04]

This is why I'm so fed up with the way we cover these campaigns because it's not substantive.