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Israeli Military Dropping Leaflets on Eastern Rafah Ordering Evacuation of Civilians Ahead of Possible Ground Invasion; Ceasefire Talks between Israel and Hamas Stall Due to Hamas's Demand Israeli Invasion of Gaza End; New York Criminal Trial of Donald Trump Begins Its Fourth Week. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 06, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Israeli military telling civilians in eastern Rafah, evacuate immediately as ceasefire talks stall once again.

A new week for Donald Trump in a New York courtroom. Who will take the stand after the dramatic testimony from someone that -- someone who was once one of Donald Trump's most trusted aides.

And tragedy in Texas, floodwaters sweep away a little boy as his parents trying to get the family to dry land. And today, millions are under threat of more severe weather.

I'm Kate Bolduan was Sara Sidner and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, a possible ground invasion of eastern Rafah in Gaza could be imminent with hostage and ceasefire negotiations teetering on the brink of collapse. We have brand new video, just in of a plume of smoke after a loud explosion.

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BERMAN: That is in Rafah. Israeli forces could soon launch what they are calling a limited scale operation. The IDF dropped leaflets with a map to so-called safe zones and the message "evacuate immediately." This has a direct impact on as many as 100,000 people.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem. Jeremy, what's the latest you're hearing from there?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, this morning, the Israeli military dropped thousands of leaflets on eastern Rafah, ordering an area were about 100,000 people are currently living to begin evacuating north to what the Israeli military is describing as an expanded humanitarian area where they say they've set up additional tents and brought in additional access to food, water, and field hospitals for the population that is leaving.

But this morning, people began to flee Rafah as a result of those evacuation orders. And certainly, there is enormous fear and anxiety among the population, not only those in that very evacuation zone in eastern Rafah, but in that at city more widely, a city where more than a million Palestinians are currently living.

And make no mistake, while the Israeli military is describing this as a, quote, "limited scale operation," this is certainly setting the stage for a major Israeli ground offensive into Rafah. We had expected that these evacuations, this ground offensive would not happen all at once but rather in stages. We don't know how far away we are from Israeli troops actually beginning to move into Rafah. But certainly, the evacuation effort has now begun.

But the question is now, well move that humanitarian zone, as it's being described, be sufficient for the population that is moving, not only the 100,000, but also this morning humanitarian aid officials raising questions about the possibility that widespread panic could be spreading in Rafah. And you will see people from other areas not in the immediate evacuation zone also beginning to flee, and that that humanitarian zone could quickly be flooded.

This is all, of course, happening because over the weekend there was a lot of hope and optimism around these ceasefire negotiations, but those negotiations have now stalled. Two Israeli officials telling me that the negotiations are not dead altogether. But certainly, there is a lot of concern that a deal cannot be achieved. I'm told that the main sticking point here is Hamas's demand that the war be ended altogether as part of this ceasefire agreement. That is something that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to agree to as part of these latest talks. John?

BERMAN: All right, Jeremy Diamond for us in Jerusalem, a lot going on there, Jeremy. Please keep us posted.

Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, with me now is CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. His new book, "New Cold Wars" is out right now.

All right, first, I just want to get your thoughts on what is happening right now in Rafah. What are the chances that this limited scale operation is going to turn into a major ground offensive when you look at what is going on now?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Sara, I think there, as Jeremy indicated, every possibility that's the case. Though the U.S. opposition to the operation and Rafah hinged on the question of whether the Israelis would provide to the U.S. and other allies a credible evacuation plan, a humanitarian way of taking care of feeding, providing medical care for those who would be displaced. And so far, the Israelis, according to American officials, have not provided that plan.

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So this may also be not only a first test of military operations, but our first test of whether the Israelis have thought out better than they did in the past how you would a million people in Rafah to a different part of Gaza, parts that were evacuated earlier. And we don't know yet that they have a system in place to go do that.

SIDNER: Now, we are seeing the bombing now in eastern Rafah, and there were pamphlets that were sent out. But a lot of people don't know exactly where they're supposed to go in the middle of this war.

I do want to ask you, because you talked about the Biden administration. If there is a -- there was already something happening in Rafah that President Biden did not want to see. If this gets bigger, what does Biden do? What do you imagine he does if there is actually a ground offensive that he has time and again told Netanyahu not to do?

SANGER: Well, this would be completely consistent with the other steps in which the president has issued warnings, asked Prime Minister Netanyahu not to take some step or to take an alternative step, and was, after some period of time, ignored. And I think you could interpret Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech yesterday where he went to the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem and said if Israel needs to, it will do this alone, as an indication that he was probably rejecting the president's advice.

So the president now faces the harsh reality of his own words. He said a few weeks ago before the Iranian missile attacks changed the tone and tenor or what was going on in Israel, that if Prime Minister Netanyahu did not begin to go along with American advice and did not pursue humanitarian assurances, and so forth, that he would begin to change the nature of the relationship with Israel. He did not say what that meant. Everybody assumes that meant some kind of limitation on the offensive weapons that the administration and Congress have been providing Israel. But no one has been that explicit. And that will be the pressure that will turn back on the president, particularly after the campus protests.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about the ceasefire, no ceasefire in place. We are sort of listening to Hamas saying, look, we are only going to do this if the war is over. In other words, not just a ceasefire, but stopping the war at all. Do you think that one of these issues is that Hamas doesn't even know where the hostages are, all of them?

SANGER: Well, we don't know. The hostages are down in the tunnels. The leadership of Hamas is down in the tunnels, or at least the few who can make this decision. Presumably Hamas has got some sense of where most of the hostages are.

But it is interesting that we have seen -- and tragic, that we have seen repeated cases in which we thought that the U.S. and the Arab states were on the verge of an agreement on the release of the hostages only to have it fall apart, largely because Hamas has not agreed to the terms. Israel by-and-large, did agree to the terms. And this may simply be that we're watching two hardline leaders Hamas leaders Hamas leader in Mr. Sinwar, and obviously an Israeli leader in Mr. Netanyahu, digging in, perhaps to the detriment of the future of their own people.

SIDNER: David Sanger, thank you so much for coming on this morning and reporting all of that out for us. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So who is next? Week four of Donald Trump's criminal trial begins shortly, and everyone waits to see who prosecutors called to the stand next after the dramatic testimony from Trump's former aide, Hope Hicks.

It's also a big week for the Republican House Speaker as Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is expected to make good on her threat and force a vote to try and force him out of the chair.

And a desperate search for a little baby believed to be kidnapped from the scene of a double murder.

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BOLDUAN: Donald Trump is about to return to a Manhattan courtroom, his New York criminal trial starting up into its fourth week. Where things pick up is with a big question mark. Who will prosecutors now call to the stand after the emotional and dramatic testimony from former Trump aide Hope Hicks? The big names that could be next, Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, or Karen McDougal. These will be wild blockbuster moments to watch.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is outside the court this morning to bring us back inside the court. What are we expecting this morning, Brynn?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, listen, nine witnesses so far had taken the stand for the prosecution, and you just gave some big names that we are expecting at some point. The question is, is that going to start up today with the Michael Cohens, the Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougals. It's really not clear. Remember, we don't know the order in which the prosecution is going to call these witnesses. They are keeping them from us and the defense because they worry about Trump going on social media and talking about these witnesses. So we'll have to see when court starts up at 9:30.

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But we are inching closer it seems with the prosecution's case trying to connect the dots for jurors about Trump knowing about this payment to Stormy Daniels and doing it to influence the 2016 election, and Hope Hicks was very dramatic witness for the prosecution.

She acknowledged for them that when "The Wall Street Journal" article came out about the payment to Stormy Daniels in 2018 team, that Trump said to her that it was better it had come out then than before the 2020 election. So possibly scoring some points there for the prosecution. She also said that regards to the 2016 payment, Michael Cohen wouldn't

have made that out of the kindness of his own heart, that he likely did it insinuating really that Trump was probably the one and who authorized that.

And then when cross examination came, Hope Hicks got emotional. She actually had to leave the witness box for a little bit as she started crying, but she spent her time with the defense essentially talking about Trump and how he is a family man and he never even wanted to embarrass his family or kind of showing jurors really that it is possible Trump did this because he didn't want his family to find out.

So we will see which way jurors read her testimony. Again, it was really a dramatic day in court, and we are looking to see who is going to come back up next on the stand.

Court resumes this morning at 9:30 -- guys.

BOLDUAN: Brynn, thank you so much for that -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson.

Joey, I want to read you very last thing, Hope Hicks said on direct examination in this trial on Friday. She said, "I think Mr. Trump's opinion was it was better to be dealing with it now (in other words, the payments to Stormy Daniels) and that it would have been bad to have that story come out before the election."

Then the prosecutor says, "No further questions." Literally almost dropping the mic, walking out. Why?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Why? Because now let's be clear: No one witness, right, generally is going to win a case, is going to lose a case. It is about connecting the dots, right? And now, let's look at this dot in response to your question.

What is the tie in? The tie in with respect to her testimony is what would motivate Trump, right, to direct Cohen to make a payment. That's the inference such that Trump has knowledge that his fixer did not go rogue, unlike defense claims, this is just the argument, but was doing it at the behest and the direction of Trump.

That is because there was mass concern. Why? Who was Hope Hicks? She is the press secretary for the campaign later, White House communications director. She would know what the campaign is all about. What they're doing, what their activities are, what Mr. Trump is directing people to do.

Access Hollywood tape comes out. Boom. It is a bombshell. What are we going to do to quell this fire? We cannot have another story come out that would diminish our campaign. Silence that story.

Trump tells Cohen, get this done. Payment is made, has his knowledge, case over. That's what the prosecution wants the jury to take from that testimony. BERMAN: Yes, we have someone very close to Trump saying that Trump

thought it was better than this come out after the election, which is key to the prosecution to prove the election interference part of their case.

JACKSON: Correct. Yes.

BERMAN: What part of the case we haven't heard about? Really anything about -- is the direct crime of falsifying documents -- when do you think, how do you think the prosecution will get to that? There are 34 counts here. Each one of them is a document that we really haven't seen yet.

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JACKSON: Without question.

So remember this, John, what happens is, is that a prosecutor has to tell a story. Now to be clear, the fence is telling their story. What's their story? Trump didn't know about this. Trump was not involved in this. This was Cohen going rogue. Trump loves his family. Of course, he wouldn't want information out.

And so an answer to your question, were seeing the buildup. The build up with Pecker. What does catch and kill mean? You take these stories, you bury them. Moving on to Davidson, the attorney for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, his interactions with Cohen. The payment is made, right? So this is building up.

When you look at a movie, John, or you read a book, you expect logical steps to ultimately get to that conclusion. I suspect that were going to have some, a little dry testimony, as it relates to your question.

What do I mean? I mean bank records, right, with respect to checks. I mean ledgers from the Trump Organization. I mean invoices, non-sexy stuff has to go in there. But the prosecutors, in telling a story need the other, right, this sensational stuff which will get us there and then we get to the Michael Cohens, the Stormy Daniels, the Karen McDougals, that I think will happen.

BERMAN: All right. Joey Jackson, great to have you here. Thank you so much for that.

I am vamping here so that Sara Sidner -- TV ready, Sara.

SIDNER: Hello, John. I am here for you at any hour of the day.

All right, potential vice president picks are making their case for Donald Trump. For Senator Tim Scott, does that mean repeating Trump's lies about the 2020 election? We will see, coming up were.

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BOLDUAN: It's a big week for Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, that is because Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says she is going to make good on her threat to force a vote that could force him out. And in the strangest of stretch twist, given how divided the House of Representatives has been and remains, Democrats are making it very clear now that they are ready to come to the speaker's help, to help the Republican Speaker keep his job.

CNN's Lauren Fox is in Washington. She has got much more on this.

Lauren, what is this week going to look like?

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LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, I mean, this is Motion to Vacate watch essentially. The earliest that Marjorie Taylor Greene could take action would be around 2:00 PM today. We are going to be keeping an eye, obviously, on the House floor to see when she goes down to force this effort.

Now, once she introduces this, it will be a privileged motion, then leadership could move swiftly as soon as 6:30 tonight to try and table this, essentially killing her effort.

What we know right now is that Democrats are willing to help table this motion to vacate. That means essentially they will help kill it. That means that Marjorie Taylor Greene's effort here is in some parts symbolic, but she and her colleagues who are supportive of this, there are two others, Paul Gosar and Thomas Massie, they say that this is about getting Republicans on the record, making clear who is supportive of Johnson and who isn't, and sending a signal to Speaker Johnson that if he were to win the majority again, he wouldn't have the votes to become the speaker, in their words, making him a lame duck speaker.

Now yesterday, Jeffries addressed this in an interview with "60 Minutes" saying that Democrats are willing to help kill this because they don't want to thrust the Congress once again into chaos.

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NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS: Has Speaker Johnson asked for your help?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): He has not, and our view would traditionally be, let the other side work its own mess out, but when that mess starts to impact the ability to do the job on behalf of the American people, then the responsible thing at that moment might be for us to make clear that we will not allow the extremist that throw the Congress and the country into chaos.

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FOX: And it is just good to point out at this moment that the Republican conference is largely united against Marjorie Taylor Greene's effort, but this small number of members who want to force this vote, who want to make the statement, some of their Republican colleagues are arguing they are actually putting the majority at risk. They are the ones that are casting doubt in the minds of the American people about whether or not Republicans can govern at all in this moment, Kate. So despite the fact that we expect to know the outcome of how this

ends, there is a lot to still be said and to be written about what this does to the Republican Party moving forward -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and pose an interesting question to these three, who are bringing this: Do they care about being in the majority? That can be a question for them this week.

It is good to see you, Lauren. Thank you -- Sara.

SIDNER; Thank you, Kate.

Ahead, a look at the life-saving rescues as floodwaters swallowed up parts of Texas and the danger now moving to the Central US. Hurricane- force winds and potential tornadoes.

A gun pulled on a pastor and the trigger pulled during his Sunday service How the pastor survived with the help from his deacon. We will have that coming up.

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