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Trump Lawyers Cross-Examination Of Michael Cohen Tomorrow; Miss USA Organization Under Fire Following Allegations Of Toxic And Abusive Work Environment; Businessman Donates Free Blankets To Homeless Shelters; Dow Hits New Intraday High. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 15, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:34:03]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Less than 24 hours from now, we could all see some of the most intense testimony yet in Donald Trump's criminal trial. Certainly, some of the most impactful. This is expected. It's expected that Trump's attorneys will take the full day to cross- examine the prosecution's star and final witness, Michael Cohen.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: He, of course, is Trump's former fixer and lawyer who has directly tied the former president to the hush money that was allegedly paid to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign about her allegations of an extramarital affair with Donald Trump. Trump, we should note, denies any sexual encounter.

CNN's Kara Scannell has been covering every twist and turn of this trial. So, Kara, how are the two sides preparing for tomorrow?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, as Trump's lawyers said, they expect to take most, if not all, of the day tomorrow on cross- examination. And I expect a lot of their focus will be to try to undercut Michael Cohen's credibility and paint him as a liar by looking at some previous statements that he has made under oath.

[15:35:04]

And yesterday, we got a sense they had about two hours of cross- examination. And the themes that Trump's lawyers were really pushing on, they were suggesting that Michael Cohen was obsessed with Donald Trump, that he was left behind when Trump went to the White House and has since been on a revenge tour.

And what his lawyers did is they used a lot of the words that Michael Cohen has used to insult Donald Trump, using that against Cohen, throwing it back at him. I mean, some of those insults that they read in court included when Cohen called Trump a Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain and also said that people will not be satisfied until this man is sitting inside the cell. And when Cohen was confronted one after another with these statements, he said repeatedly, sounds like something I had said.

Another theme that the defense was getting at is they were trying to show that Cohen was self-motivated, that he was willing to cooperate with prosecutors because he wanted to get something out of it. He wanted to shorten his prison sentence and shorten his supervised release. He was not successful in either of those endeavors.

And they also are trying to show that he was financially motivated because Cohen testified that he made $3.4 million from sales of two of his books that are focused on Trump. So expect we'll see a lot of that theme continue. And they say they will take the full day.

The prosecutors will get a chance to redirect. But Cohen is the prosecution's last witness. So the question will be, what kind of defense does Donald Trump put on? And does he himself take the stand? His lawyer yesterday saying that has not yet been determined -- guys.

MARQUARDT: And we know you'll be right back outside that court tomorrow. Kara Scannell in New York, thanks very much.

Still ahead, turmoil at the Miss USA organization. Why did these winners give up their crowns? The now former Miss Colorado USA will be joining us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:19]

KEILAR: The resignations of former Miss USA and Miss Teen USA just days apart are rocking the pageant world. The two women, Noelia Voigt and UmaSofia Srivastava, gave up their crowns amid allegations of toxic and abusive treatment within the Miss USA organization. Which was revealed in Miss USA's leaked resignation letter.

The women are still bound by non-disclosure agreements. And so their mothers spoke on Good Morning America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA SRIVASTAVA, MOTHER OF UMASOFIA SRIVASTAVA, FORMER MISS TEEN USA: We could not continue this charade. The girls decided to step down, give their dream of a lifetime, a crown, a national title. Why would two girls decide to give that up? It's about how they were ill- treated, abused, bullied, and cornered.

JACKELINE VOIGT, MOTHER OF NOELIA VOIGT, FORMER MISS USA: She was so upset. This is not what she worked so hard for.

SRIVASTAVA: The crown weighs heavy.

VOIGT: And then Miss Universe organization need to come out and speak to us or apologize or clean this mess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Former Miss Colorado USA, Arianna Lemus, is joining us now. She resigned that role last week in solidarity with Voigt and Srivastava. Thank you so much for being with us.

And if you could just tell us what you can. We certainly recognize there are likely NDA constraints for contestants. About your personal decision that was made in solidarity with these women.

ARIANNA LEMUS, FORMER MISS COLORADO USA 2023: Yes, thank you so much for the opportunity. My values were compromised. Silencing women is not the definition of pageantry.

I have been dedicated to this organization since I was 18 years old. And the current issue right now is with the current management. And I would love to see transparency from the current management owning Miss USA.

As a collective, the 2023 class, the Miss delegates came together in solidarity with Noelia. But that wasn't just enough for me. I just could not continue to represent an organization that is OK with silencing women. And that's why I resigned.

KEILAR: So you mentioned the management. What needs to go here? The management? The NDAs? Does the organization need to shutter entirely or not in your opinion?

LEMUS: Well, like their mothers said on Good Morning America, there needs to be a huge cleanup. You know, the previous owner, it was also a bad situation. I went into Miss USA with uncertainty.

And now with the 2024 title holders coming in, like there was just queens that were crowned last weekend. So there really needs to be new contracts for 2024 title holders. And Noelia and UmaSofia deserve the right to get their NDAs lifted so they can speak about their experience.

Because Miss USA is truly an amazing organization. But the current management right now is really doing a bad job of representing what it means to have woman empowerment.

KEILAR: You, I know, were on a call with a number of other contestants last week along with, I believe, the now former Miss USA's crisis manager and attorney. What was it like? And did you find out things that you didn't understand to be going on?

LEMUS: Absolutely. Because for majority of my classmates and I, we had a very memorable time at Miss USA. But the differences being Miss USA and competing at Miss USA are two completely different experiences.

Nobody really knew who the new owner was. But when she came in, we all had an amazing time. But to find out the things that Noelia and UmaSofia were going through and then to see the resignation letter come out and to, it was all pretty much valid.

And I understand there are two sides to every story. I truly do.

[15:45:00]

But at the end of the day, when Noelia's cryptic message said, I am silenced, I mean, that is a woman in crisis. That is a woman calling for help.

So I did what I did. That was my call to action to resign, to make a statement that what's happened at Miss USA currently is absolutely unacceptable.

KEILAR: You're referring to her note that she put out on social media. And when you looked at the first letter of each sentence, it's spelled out, I am silenced. It's clear as day there once you go looking for it.

As you look at what happened, would you describe it as verbal abuse, emotional abuse?

LEMUS: I mean, I can only imagine, right? I'm not in that position. You know, after competing Miss USA, we didn't really understand what was happening with current management.

So all of this came to light last weekend, last week. You know, I never thought in a million years that this is this is the way that I would depart from the USA organization. But truly in my heart and my soul, if I didn't, I couldn't live with myself.

You know, like Noelia and UmaSofia, they need community right now. They need support. Woman empowerment is giving women the right to use their voice, to have ownership and control over their bodies.

Like, what is current management saying with the current contracts in place to have clauses that include perpetuity? I mean, that is unacceptable. That should not exist in any pageant system and in any industry. Women should not be silenced in 2024.

KEILAR: Arianna, we thank you so much for being with us and for telling us everything that you have. Thank you.

LEMUS: Thank you very much for the opportunity.

KEILAR: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:10]

MARQUARDT: This week we are bringing you stories of ordinary people who are dramatically changing how we do business, in technology, the arts and commerce. We call them champions for change and they're quietly reshaping our world.

KEILAR: They are and today's champion is a businessman with a plan. For each blanket he sells, Bob Dalton donates another one to a homeless shelter. It's a simple idea and it is spreading warmth and dignity across America.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB DALTON, SACKCLOTH AND ASHES FOUNDER: What would you do if you ended up having a family member experience homelessness? That was the question that I really was wrestling with when my mom ended up on the streets. When I tried to help her and reach out to her, she kept saying, I'm on my own journey. With all of the emotion and all of the frustration that I was working through, it inspired me to do something. I started my company Sackcloth and Ashes with the goal of for every blanket that we sell, we'll donate a blanket to your local homeless shelter.

These blankets over here, these are all boxed up blankets, donation blankets that are going to be going out to shelters this week.

DALTON (voice-over): So far almost a half a million has been designated to homeless shelters around the United States. We wanted to localize the one for one model to encourage small businesses to get involved as well. I wanted to give people an opportunity to make a difference down the street from where they live.

MARCUS HARVY, PORTLAND GEAR OWNER: It's really awesome to know that every time someone comes in and purchases a blanket, that one gets donated to a local shelter, which happens to be tonight here at Night Strike downtown Portland under the Burnside Bridge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people that come in here, they don't have, you know, some of them don't have anything. And these blankets, they help save lives. They really do.

DALTON: There was a time where I just drove by people on the street and whispered under my breath, go get a job. But now there's an actual reality where I see people with dignity now. And, you know, that's what my mom inspired in my life.

Now when I do blanket drops every once in a while, my mom comes and joins me. She's gone through an entire recovery from coming off the streets, getting sober, and now she's helping people in a detox facility on their recovery journeys.

PATTY ZINK, BOB DALTON'S MOTHER: You know, you learn to start over again and live life.

DALTON: And she's living.

ZINK: I think the most important thing is to see that a homeless person or a person in struggle is somebody's mother or uncle or father or son or brother. These problems can happen to any of us. To step out of their comfort zone and ask for help is hard.

DALTON (voice-over): One of the things that I realized as I started doing blanket drops around the United States was that they're connecting me to people doing amazing work. That I get to go and see firsthand what they're doing to help the homeless problem.

DALTON: So I started asking myself the question, how can we use our brand, our platform, to highlight people and organizations that are doing good work in their communities.

So all of our blankets come in these boxes, Make a Local Impact. And we want our packaging to encourage people to take action in their community so they can scan this QR code and find ways to get involved. And they can also fill this box up with items and donate to their local shelter.

A lot of people want to make a difference, but they don't know where to start. And so we created loveyourcity.org for people to search your city, find organizations, and have the ability to donate financially. And you can also fill out a volunteer form and get involved.

If we all come together and do a small part, we're going to make a huge impact.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Great story.

[15:55:00]

Be sure to tune in on Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN for the "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE" one hour special. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: All right, some breaking news from Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Index hitting a new intraday trading high. There you see it, 39,904. Moments ago, it was 39,934, the highest it has ever been.

[16:00:00]

MARQUARDT: So with just a few seconds to go, we will see if it closes at a record high. The previous high close was 39,807. You can see that it is just under 100 points above that mark. The Dow has never reached the 40,000 point benchmark. But it is close.

The Dow Jones Index was founded in 1885. So history made for the index for the first time today, after 139 years of operation. Just seconds to go before the close.

KEILAR: And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.