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Naftali Bennett: Israel Rejects ICC Prosecutor Bid For Arrests; Soon: Trump Trial Witness Who Sparred With Judge Retakes Stand; Elvis Presley's Granddaughter Fights Graceland Foreclosure Sale. Aired 7:30- 8a ET

Aired May 21, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be on Capitol Hill. He is there to discuss the State Department's budget but, of course, will likely face a lot of questions about Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas.

Blinken blasted the International Criminal Court for requesting arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister Yoav Gallant, along with Hamas leaders. He said the U.S. rejects the prosecutor's equivalence of Israel with Hamas and called the move shameful.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is in Washington. Alex, what can we expect today? You know, this is Congress so things could get coo-coo.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: So we can expect all kinds of things. This is obviously a pivotal moment on a range of international issues. It's a very busy day for Sec. Blinken on Capitol Hill ostensibly, as you said, up there to talk about the State Department's budget. But really, he is going to get pressed on all of these international issues -- front and center, of course, Israel's war in Gaza. Questions over the U.S. support for Israel, particularly when it comes to military aid.

We have seen recently the U.S. hold back that shipment of 5,200-pound bombs for Israel over concerns about what Israel is doing in Rafah. Israel's ramping up its operations there. Concerns by the U.S. that could turn into a major operation, which the U.S. says it has still not seen. But President Biden, of course, has threatened to cut off more offensive weaponry for Israel if they do step up that operation.

We can expect Sec. Blinken to say that the defense of Israel for the U.S. is ironclad and that will continue.

But this pair of Senate hearings, Sara, coming the day after the ICC said it would seek those arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister and defense minister. Both Blinken and his boss, President Biden, have come out swinging against the ICC's moves. As you noted, Sec. Blinken saying that it -- that is was shameful. That he fundamentally rejects this equivalence between Israel and Hamas -- excuse me. But then, of course, there are a number of other international issues that we can also expect the senators to try to get to. We have the death of the Iranian president in a helicopter crash over the weekend. Major questions over the direction of that country both in the short and the long term because the supreme leader is getting older. Questions about succession there.

And then when it comes to Ukraine, of course, that fight is still raging. The U.S. has just said that it will commit another $60 billion in aid to Ukraine. Questions about where that aid will go as Russia advances more in the northern part of the country.

So plenty to get to for these senators as Sec. Blinken sits down in front of them twice today, Sara.

SIDNER: There are a lot of things going on around the world and we will surely hear some questions on all of those issues.

Alex Marquardt, thank you so much -- appreciate it -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And with me now is the former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett. Mr. Bennett, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

The ICC has a request now for an arrest warrant for the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. That puts him essentially in the same legal category, as far as the ICC is concerned, as Vladimir Putin and Muammar Gaddafi.

What's your reaction to that?

NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER AND DEFENSE MINISTER (via Webex by Cisco): It's a farce. It's a moment of shame for the ICC and for the international community if anyone supports that act.

We're a democracy and creating the false moral equivalent -- equivalence between a terror organization that deliberately went out and they murdered families, burnt babies, raped women -- a democracy that's defending itself against those very beasts. That's a moment of shame for the ICC and we fully reject this.

BERMAN: False equivalence is essentially the words that Antony Blinken and the White House used in their reaction to the ICC.

How do you feel about what the U.S. has been saying since this news broke?

BENNETT: Well, I think President Biden and Sec. Blinken -- they're on the money. They are absolutely right. I mean, it would be as if you'd accuse bin Laden and George Bush side-by-side. It's ridiculous.

We're a robust democracy, a vibrant democracy. As you can see, we have a free press and independent and strong judicial system. We don't need folks from Europe and the Hague telling us how to conduct a moral war. We have the lowest ratio of collateral damage in the history of urban warfare. We've been inserting thousands and thousands -- hundreds of thousands of tons of food and aid into the Gaza Strip. This is simply unacceptable.

BERMAN: The aid, though, international organizations say, is not getting to the people. And, in fact, this request for a warrant from Karim Khan accuses Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the defense minister, of intentionally causing death, starvation, and great suffering.

How much responsibility does Israel bear to get the food to the people who need it?

[07:35:00]

BENNETT: Absolutely, a lie -- none. Israel has allowed 24,000 trucks of food and aid into Gaza -- over 400,00 tons. That's 30 percent more than before the war, right? There's more food entering Gaza, but you do have Hamas who is raiding those trucks and using the food to starve its own people. So then comes the ICC and accuses us.

You know that we've lost soldiers that were defending the Kerem Shalom crossing that allows the aid in because Hamas was bombing that. How twisted a mind could you have to accuse Israel of what Hamas is doing to its own people?

BERMAN: A member of the war cabinet, Benny Gantz, has issued something of an ultimatum to the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, giving him a few weeks to come up with a formal plan for a post-war Gaza, among other things.

How much confidence do you have in the Netanyahu government? How much longer should he be allowed to lead your country?

BENNETT: Well look, I'm here speaking on national media, and I support whatever policy that the government of Israel has. I would say that I think we should have taken over Rafah and destroyed Hamas four months ago. I think we're waiting way too long. I think vacillation is not a good policy and we've just got to get it done and stop talking about it.

So if anything, I think everything should have been done much faster. But having said that, the country is united behind the most just war in Israel's history. We have no choice. We have a genocidal, savage Jihadi regime on our border. Obviously, we need to make it go away.

BERMAN: Naftali Bennett, former prime minister of Israel, we appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much for being with us.

BENNETT: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump has vowed to up the ante if reelected on a trade war he started with China during his first term, saying that he plans to impose aggressive new tariffs as a way of protecting the working class. But a new report suggests it would actually do the exact opposite. CNN's Matt Egan has more on that and he's here with us now. So what does this report say, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, Donald Trump -- remember, he loves tariffs so much that he called himself the tariff man, and he's promising that the sequel is going to be even bigger than the original. He is promising to impose a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods. That's massive. It would hit everything from toys and furniture to iPhones. He also wants a 10 percent tariff on U.S. imports.

As you mentioned, he's championed tariffs as a way to protect middle- class, working-class Americans. But this new research from the Peterson Institute finds it would actually do the opposite, saying that his tariffs would cost consumers $500 billion a year. That's 1.8 percent of GDP. That's huge.

Some context: that's almost five times bigger than the cost of the last tariffs during the Trump administration. And the average family -- the typical middle-income family would get $1,700 in costs here.

Now, it's hard to make out how much of Trump's tariff talk is just bluster and how much of it is real.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

EGAN: But we do know that the power -- the president has massive power when it comes to trade, so we do have to take what he says very seriously.

We reached out to the Trump campaign on this. They put out a statement saying, "The American people don't need 'papers' from alleged 'experts' to know Bidenomics has robbed them of thousands of hard- earned dollars. And they will have money back in their pockets with President Trump back in the White House."

Now, we should note that, of course, the Biden administration -- they are leaning on tariffs, too, right? I mean, President Biden -- he's had over three years to roll back tariffs. He hasn't done that. He's actually upped the ante, imposing new tariffs just last week on Chinese aluminum, steel, computer chips, electric vehicles.

But the big difference here, Kate --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: -- is this scale, right?

BOLDUAN: Yeah, the scale.

EGAN: Biden is targeting $18 billion of Chinese goods. Trump, $3 trillion of all U.S. imports. So the scale here -- the difference is massive, right?

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: One of them is surgical, the other one is basically taking a sledgehammer. The Peterson Institute estimates that the typical family would get hit by about $30.00 a year -- $30.00 in costs under the Biden tariffs versus $1,700 under the Trump tariffs.

Kate, the last point here is no matter who wins, tariffs are here, right? They're not going anywhere. They have become a bipartisan tool. Both parties have embraced them.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, and it's a -- it has also become, really, an important tool and an interesting part of the very contentious relationship between the U.S. and China.

EGAN: Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see. Thank you --

EGAN: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: -- so much, Matt -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. A dramatic day of testimony. Lies, stealing, and the judge clears the courtroom over disrespect. Trump's lawyers began their defense yesterday and things quickly got heated. At one point, the judge cleared the courtroom and threatened to remove a witness -- the defense witness -- from the stand.

[07:40:06]

Joining us now, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, our Joey Jackson.

Look, there is so many things that happened in court that were filled with drama.

I'm going to start with Cohen admitting during cross-examination that he stole 30,000 some-odd dollars from the Trump Organization. Now, the prosecution did bring this up in their direct. However, when a jury has heard this person who has admitted to lying and now admitted to stealing can a jury -- have you ever seen a jury get past those things and say OK, but I believe him in this instance?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: So, good morning, Sara.

SIDNER: Good morning.

JACKSON: Good to be with you.

The argument is going to be whether you believe him or not, there's so much else to believe, including your common sense that we don't want you to let go of. That you need to convict. That's going to be the argument.

The other argument is going to be who is going to be a person who is not going to front $130,000? A guy who is stealing, right?

SIDNER: Right. JACKSON: This is a person -- he's stealing money from you. He's going to front money for you? Are you serious?

So there's a way to --

SIDNER: Hmm, that's interesting.

JACKSON: -- flip that, right?

So there's no question about the fact, Sara, that Cohen is damaged goods. We all know that.

SIDNER: Right.

JACKSON: And that's why the prosecutor spent a lot of time corroborating him. What don't you have corroboration for? The essence of the actual meeting -- the events.

SIDNER: Right.

JACKSON: Did Donald Trump tell him, did he not? And that comes to the issue we're going to see on closing argument. Use your common sense and good judgment.

We know that Sharpie pen. We know about the reimbursements. We know about the "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD" tape and the lead-up to why he would not want another story out there. These are all arguments the prosecution is going to make.

So, yes, Michael Cohen was a detriment. The prosecution will try to resume him in some way and tell the jury you don't have to put your faith in him to convict. That will be what they say.

SIDNER: All right, I want to go to the defense now. They called their first witness, Robert Costello, who was Cohen's former attorney. And here's what the defense wanted the jury to hear.

He testified, saying, "I really want you to explain to me why -- what my options are." This is what Cohen was saying to him. "What's my escape route? That's the phrase he used."

And Costello says, "I explained to Michael Cohen that the entire legal problem that he was facing would be resolved by the end of the week if he had truthful information on Donald Trump and cooperated with the Southern District of New York" -- who was going after Cohen at that time. Had a case against him.

Costello says, "He made the same statement that he made about 10 or 12 times that day. Quote, 'I swear to God, Bob, I don't have anything on Donald Trump.'"

This is his attorney making this comment. How much damage did he do with this very thing? Because you would think as someone who was under the gun, being looked at for legal issues, that you would do anything to try to clear your name.

JACKSON: Yeah, without question. So the defense will argue and then we'll get to Costello on whether he was effective.

SIDNER: Yeah.

JACKSON: The defense will argue you're not going to believe a liar, a perjurer, a thief, a criminal, a disbarred person who has a motivation and animus against the president who literally rants about him. Who has made money off of him? Is this who you're going to trust? Is this who you're going to allow yourself, right, to convict the former President of the United States -- the 34 counts -- on his word? It's ridiculous.

And what? We've got Bob Costello who he's spoken to.

SIDNER: His own attorney.

JACKSON: His own attorney or whether he was his attorney or legal adviser --

SIDNER: Legal adviser, yes.

JACKSON: -- or whatever. But the reality is he told him he has nothing on Trump.

What else did he say? He said that he paid out of his own pocket and that Trump had nothing to do with it. So what story is it?

Now, here's what I don't like, Sara. What I don't like is the fact that if Mr. Costello just came in and just passionately said look, we had those conversations --

SIDNER: Um-hum.

JACKSON: -- Michael Cohen and myself. He said he has nothing on the president. That's what he told me. He told me numerous times that he did this on his own accord. That Donald Trump had nothing to do with it.

But instead, he comes in. He's got an axe to grind. He's glaring at the judge. He's saying jeez and this is ridiculous.

Look, when you're a witness --

SIDNER: And the judge admonished him, we should be clear -- admonished him --

JACKSON: Exactly.

SIDNER: -- cleared the court, and says you, sir, are about to be in contempt of court with this kind of behavior. Stop it.

JACKSON: That's right and, Sara, as it should be, right? The bottom line is look, you're a witness. You answer questions. Whether something gets sustained, objected to, overruled -- that's none of your concern. You're just there to do your job.

And so the reality is he could have had very favorable testimony. I don't know how the jury really connected with it just because of his demeanor and comportment.

SIDNER: That might have been for a party of one -- Donald Trump sitting in the court. Didn't do all that well for his credibility as well.

Joey Jackson, thank you so much. Appreciate it always.

JACKSON: Always, Sara.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, in a statement to CNN, an attorney for golfer Scottie Scheffler says the Jefferson County prosecutor's office -- that's in Kentucky -- has given no indication they plan to amend or drop the charges against his client. The attorney notes he believes Scheffler did nothing wrong and a plea deal is completely off the table.

[07:45:02]

Scheffler was arrested and handcuffed outside Valhalla Golf Club early Friday morning for not following police orders during a pedestrian fatality investigation.

The arraignment for Scheffler, which was originally scheduled for today, has now been moved to Monday, June 3 -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And fighting for Graceland now. Elvis Presley's granddaughter is alleging fraud. She's ready to go to battle over the foreclosure sale of Elvis' iconic Memphis home.

And did OpenAI rip off Scarlett Johansson's voice for the new ChatGPT virtual assistant. Johansson is threatening legal action over it now.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:50:41]

BOLDUAN: Actor Scarlett Johansson is threatening legal action against Chat GPT, claiming the AI platform used a new voice that sounded eerily similar to her own.

Here's Johansson in the movie "HER," a film which she voiced a super- intelligent AI assistant. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCARLETT JOHANNSON, ACTRESS, "HER": Good morning, Theodore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

JOHANNSON: You have a meeting in five minutes. You want to try getting out of bed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're too funny.

JOHANNSON: OK, good -- I'm funny.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I'm so funny.

And here is the now ChatGPT new AI assistant named Sky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, how's it going?

SKY, CHATGPT AI ASSISTANT: Hey, there. It's going great. How about you? I see you're rocking an OpenAI hoodie. Nice choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Johansson says OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman actually came to her in September asking her to be the voice of ChatGPT's new virtual assistant. She says she turned him down after "much consideration and for personal reasons." And now, lawyers for the Oscar-nominated actress tell CNN she's shocked, angered, and in disbelief.

The company, on Sunday, insisted the voice was not derived from Johansson's. Yet, come Monday, OpenAI reluctantly took down the voice of Sky -- John.

BERMAN: I was not expecting you to engage in the conversation as well with Scarlett Johansson.

BOLDUAN: Why? I can -- it was all very flirty. I didn't know all virtual AI assistants were flirty. Let's -- I'm going to do a pop-up video over this entire thing. Yes, John.

BERMAN: All right.

BOLDUAN: Moving on, maybe?

BERMAN: We're going to move

BOLDUAN: OK.

BERMAN: Developing this morning, Elvis Presley's granddaughter is fighting to stop his historic Memphis home, Graceland, from being sold in foreclosure. She says the company behind the sale does not even exist and the documents they have presented are fraudulent.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher has the latest here. I mean, we're talking about one of the most famous houses in the country, Dianne.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, John. In fact, Graceland is the second-most visited home in the country behind only the White House.

So, Elvis' granddaughter, Danielle Riley Keough, is fighting to stop a foreclosure sale of the famous Graceland property that's scheduled for later this week, alleging fraud and claiming that, look, the company behind the sale doesn't even exist let alone own the rights to sale her family's property.

Now, Keough is the current owner of Graceland after her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, died last year. According to court documents that were obtained by CNN, Keough has been able to obtain a restraining order against the sale of the property before any court can rule on her application for injunction.

So, how did we get to this point when it comes to Graceland? Well, in the lawsuit, Keough says that last year, Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC presented documents that claimed her mother had borrowed $3.8 million from the company and used the deed for Graceland a security -- collateral, if you will. The firm claims Lisa Marie defaulted on that loan so, therefore, Graceland is now their property.

But Keough's lawsuit says that those documents presented are fake. Her mother never borrowed the money and never used Graceland as collateral.

The court documents go even further, identifying a Florida notary whose name is on those documents presented to them. But that notary says she "never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any documents for her."

Now, CNN has tried to reach Naussany Investments. We sent an email to their address and received an out-of-office response that said they'd be back next week. We called the phone number and it was not there. We checked with the Missouri Secretary of State's office and there's no company listed by that name. We couldn't find one nationally.

A statement from Graceland DBA Elvis Presley Enterprises was sent to CNN. It read, "Elvis Presley Enterprises can confirm that these claims are fraudulent. There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the counter lawsuit has been filed is to stop the fraud."

John, that foreclosure sale is scheduled for Thursday of this week but there is a chancery court hearing on this lawsuit tomorrow morning in Shelby County, Tennessee.

BERMAN: Wow, so many unanswered questions there.

All right, Dianne Gallagher. Thank you so much for that -- Kate -- Sara.

[07:55:01]

SIDNER: Hi, John.

Stick around. Happening today, President Biden will return to the campaign trail with stops in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. This comes as his campaign is releasing new funding totals for last month and the results a bit mixed.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is live at the White House. Give us a sense of these numbers, Priscilla, and they are a bit mixed. PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Sara. And look, fundraising has been consistently a bright spot for the Biden campaign and they are continuing to tout that even though, as you see there, there was a drop in April compared to March. They raised $51 million in April. When you compare that to the month of March, that was $90 million in March, of course, that was also a month where they had their high-profile fundraiser in New York, and there's more of those to come over the course of the summer.

Now, if we break down these numbers, the campaign also noted that recurring donors contributed over $5.5 million last month. They also continue to tout those grassroot fundraising numbers. The majority of donations coming in under $200. Now, that's important. Oftentimes, when you talk to campaign officials, they point to those numbers to note that there is continuing enthusiasm among voters despite the low poll numbers.

Now, big picture here, the Biden campaign has $84.5 million cash on hand. That still outpaces the Trump campaign. And when you combine the campaign and affiliated committees, that $192 million. So they're still bringing in a lot of cash and they're using it to grow their ground operation, opening up more offices nationwide and hiring more staffers.

Today, the president will go to New Hampshire for an official event on veterans' issues, and then will follow that with campaign fundraisers in Boston -- Sara.

SIDNER: That is a huge amount of money.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now to talk about exactly this, CNN political commentator Karen Finney, who is former spokesperson for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. And Matt Gorman, Republican strategist and a former senior adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign.

Karen, you heard the reporting right there. I want to read you a headline from a month ago -- some headlines from a month ago.

"President Joe Biden raised more than $90 million for his reelection campaign and the Democratic Party in March, a whopping haul in a month that saw him pivot a general election posture. The campaign announced it has a war chest of $192 million in cash on hand, describing it as the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate in the history at this point in the cycle."

And now, a drop in fundraising for last month, Karen. A sign of a problem?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPOKESPERSON FOR HILLARY CLINTON'S 2016 CAMPAIGN: No. I think when you have $192 million cash on hand you're doing just fine. And as Priscilla was saying, when you're looking at those grassroots small donations that really does give you a sense of not just sort of countering the polls but enthusiasm. If people are giving and they are -- those are reoccurring donations -- which, again, those numbers are also quite high -- that's a positive sign.

And don't forget, we don't have -- the Democrats don't have to spend any money on legal fees which, unfortunately, that's what we're seeing on the side of the Trump campaign.

BOLDUAN: Matt, the Trump campaign said about their numbers in the last month the money he's raised April, along with the polling, show "The momentum is 100 percent on President Trump's side."

But when you've been outraised month after month after month, can this also be a sign that Biden just has so much cash on hand, like Karen is saying? He can campaign more and fundraise less?

MATT GORMAN, REPUBLICAN STRAGEGIST, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I think -- I think a couple of things.

It seems, according to reports this morning, Trump's saying he raised about $76.2 million. He was always going to get a bump once he got the official nomination and he could raise larger amounts of money. So he could really get about $800,000 a clip from the highest donations, right?

I think you couple that with the fact that the polls look a lot better for him. And I think there's been some depression among Democrat activists. But I'm having flashbacks.

Look, the dirty little secret is every campaign will spin their fundraising numbers however, right? So if you don't have an impressive amount raised you tout cash on hand and vice versa. And so, it's -- really, you can find anything in these sorts of reports to spin one way or another to make yourself look good.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about -- talking about flashbacks, let's talk about some tweets, Matt.

Truth Social media account reposted a video --

GORMAN: Yes -- yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- a video -- this one's Truth Social, of course. They -- Trump's campaign -- Trump's Truth Social account reposted a video yesterday that features hypothetical newspaper articles celebrating a 2024 win for Donald Trump with the line "The creation of a unified Reich" under the headline "What's next for America."

The Trump campaign has explained that it's not a campaign video. That's how they're explaining it, saying that it was reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word. Yet, it's still up on his account last time I looked.

Why, at this point, do you still have a mess-up like this if that's what that -- this is?