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Judge Warns Former Attorney For Michael Cohen Of Possible Contempt Finding Due To His Behavior On Stand In Hush Money Criminal Trial Of Donald Trump; Sudden Turbulence For Flight From London To Singapore Causes One Death And Several Injuries; Today: Giuliani To Appear For Arraignment Hearing In Arizona; Biden Slams ICC Arrest Warrant Request For Israeli Leaders. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 21, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Time I looked. Why at this point do you still have a mess up like this, if that what this is, and why even after the campaign admits it's a mess up and it's wrong do you still have it up?

MATT GORMAN, FORMER TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Good look trying to get Donald Trump to delete tweets. I think we've learned that over the last 12 or whatever years. No, look, I understand that. And I think the tough part is, right, when Trump is winning sometimes, that is when he can make these sorts of mistakes, right? And look, it's not going to affect the vote. It's not going to make a big, long thing. But they have to be careful, right. They're showing they're up in five of six swing states, they're doing pretty well. They have to be care of these sorts of little missteps along the way that can distract with press coverage from otherwise, we would have been talking more about the fundraising and things like that. These things just interrupt positive momentum for them.

BOLDUAN: Karen, what do you do with this? Matt's point is his rhetoric doesn't seem to be denting his poll numbers very much to this point.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, as you know, I'm a little dubious about public polls because if they were correct would be president, reproductive -- we would have had the red wave in 2022. So let's just keep that in mind.

BOLDUAN: Flashback fun. Flashback.

FINNEY: However, I think the problem for Trump on these kinds of missteps, I think Matt's right. It detracts from other things the campaign may want to talk about. However, the rhetoric that we're hearing from Donald Trump has shades -- when we talk about poisoning the blood, when we talk about shades of the Nazi rhetoric from time to time. And as we know, the Nazis actually studied Jim Crow here in the United States. So some of that language has very serious implications. And when it keeps piling on, it does have an impact on people, because then they are being reminded what it was like, that flashback, to have Donald Trump as president. And they're going to have to ask themselves, do you want to have to deal with that every day.

BOLDUAN: I had no idea that thematically this was all going to come together cohesively with the flashback.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: It's really good to see you guys. Thanks for really tying it up in a bow.

Flashing back and now flashing forward, a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: President Trump getting ready to head the court again. Will he take the stand? Highly not. Will the thermometer, though, once again be turned up as there was a dramatic time in court yesterday. All unlikely, but still possible as Trump's historic criminal trial nears its dramatic end.

And also today, Trump's former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, facing arraignment in Arizona for his alleged role and the fake electors plot after they simply couldn't find him to serve him until now.

And severe, deadly, turbulence, the terrifying scare in the sky that left one person dead and several others injured.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan. John Berman is now heading towards the site of Trump's trial for our special coverage. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: So the courtroom may be chilly in temperature, but the fireworks red hot and explosive and expected to continue very soon this morning when court resumes tombs for Donald Trump. Robert Costello will be back on the stand. His testimony was unexpectedly heated. Just 14 minutes into his time on the stand yesterday, an eye roll, an audible sigh prompted the judge to clear the courtroom. Also, he could issue a warning to Costello, who, as an attorney, should clearly know better about, quote, proper decorum in the courtroom.

Prosecutors say they have just 30 minutes left in his cross. After the that, the defense has signaled it is ready to rest its case today, meaning, not surprisingly, not likely Donald Trump will be taking the stand, but standby to standby. Twelve New Yorkers will soon decide his fate on 34 criminal charges.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is live outside court once more for us. Brynn, what were you learning before things start heading -- things start ramping back up?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, listen, we're hearing that, like you just said, Kate, we're not expecting the former president to take the stand today. We are expecting the defense to rest. And then we also know that, for sure, closing arguments are not going to happen until next Tuesday. That's because the judge said with the fact that he has already given when Friday off for jurors for the holiday vacation and the Monday off with the Memorial Day holiday, it's too much time in-between them getting their instructions and closing arguments to then begin deliberating. So when they come back on Tuesday, they are going to hear those closing arguments, and then they have open runway to begin their deliberations in this trial. But yes, we've still got little bit more testimony to get to before we

even get to that. That is Robert Costello. The prosecution says they've got about, like you said, 30 minutes or so to ask more questions of him.

[08:05:01]

Now, to refresh your memory who he is, he is an attorney who advised Michael Cohen after Michael Cohen's home was raided by the FBI in 2018. And it got very heated on the stand, and he didn't much like the fact that the judge was sustaining some objections with the questions that were being asked of him, so much so that he audibly said "ridiculous." He said, "geez," he let out a sigh. He rolled his eyes. The judge then yesterday removed the jurors from the courtroom and essentially said to him, you don't say "geez," you don't get me a side-eye, and you don't roll your eye. To which apparently Robert Costello gave the judge a long glare, and the judge did not like that very much.

He cleared the courtroom of the press and everyone and essentially gave him very strong instructions that he will be removed from the witness stand and his testimony would be striked if that behavior continues. And so the defense attorneys, of course, had to say that it wouldn't and then the rest of court went on without such events for the rest of the day yesterday.

So we'll see how it starts off today. We expect, of course, this testimony to not take long, and then the defense will rest its case, and then were waiting to hear from the judge about what's going to happen for the rest, really, Thursday, when court is expected to resume. Guys?

BOLDUAN: Brynn, thank you so much.

Sara?

SIDNER: And joining us now to continue this conversation, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, Jennifer Rodgers.

I'm going to start where Brynn left off. I want the audience to see what the judge actually said after their resolve, it's back-and-forth between him and the first defense witness Robert Costello who was a legal adviser to Cohen. Here is the exchange that sort of cleared the courtroom, and we'll pull this up. Judge Merchan says, look, he was very annoyed. He cleared the court. He says, "I'm putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand." Costello responds, "Can I say something, please?" Judge Merchan, "No. No. This is not a conversation."

What do you make that? The court is clear.

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, yes. Listen, I mean, Judge Merchan is very even keeled, so for him to get this bent out of shape, I think the behavior must have been really bad, right? We see what it is on the page, but for those people in the room, it must have been really contemptuous. That's obviously not an adjective that is used lightly. That's purposefully saying, I will hold you in contempt.

Listen, Bob Costello had one job. His one job was to get on the stand and say Michael Cohen told me that Donald Trump did nothing wrong. And now that is all mucked up in this really insolent behavior to the judge, his combative behavior with prosecutors. I think it has completely backfired because it really appears that Bob Costello has an axe to grind, and he's there with a strong bias towards the defendant. So I think actually jurors are now more likely to say, well, I think what Michael Cohen said about this relationship that he didn't trust Costello and he didn't tell Costello anything for that reason is much more likely to be believed.

SIDNER: It was interesting because he did bring up this whole idea that as Michael Cohen was facing legal problems from the New York district, he said he's never -- I told him, you can clear your name if you can just tell me what it is that Donald Trump has done. And Michael, he says, told him he didn't have anything.

But because of this back-and-forth, and the jury is sitting there watching this eye rolling and this staring and this whole thing, the judge clearing the court, does it discount in their minds him? Do juries typically not like it when a when a witness is rude to a judge?

RODGERS: Well, they really don't like it. The judge is their authority figure. He's their protector, so they always look up to the judge. But they, of course, can separate what's kind of what they don't like from what they need to believe based on the testimony.

The problem really is that Bob Costello seems to be heavily biased, right? He comes in. He very clearly doesn't like Cohen. He's testifying for Trump. I think he's testifying for Trump in a way. And I think the jury sees that, so they're like, well, who do we believe Michael Cohen's explanation, which makes a lot of sense in the timeframe that he's trying to get information out of Cohen -- out of Costello, right? What is the Trump-world doing? What do you know about, what can you tell me about my case? Thats what Michael Cohen wants to know. And he's not going to give up any information.

Remember, he doesn't pay Costello. He never signs an agreement with Costello. This whole time, I think it's very believable that he's trying to get information and not give information. And that's why he told Costello he doesn't have anything on Trump.

SIDNER: I'm curious just now that the prosecution is done with this case and closing arguments will be coming at some point in time, did they prove their case from what you have seen, and now you're seeing the defense witness come onto the stand?

RODGERS: I think they did. I mean, I think that Michael Cohen took enough hits, and legitimately so, that there could be a juror or two who is going to say, I can't credit him. But they proved every element of the offense, right, if you believe Michael Cohen.

[08:10:03]

And there is circumstantial evidence even if you don't, that Trump knew about the repayment scheme, given all of what they've shown. He's a penny pincher. He knows everything going in and out, all of that.

SIDNER: -- on the stand, too, talking about why this was --

RODGERS: Exactly. So I think that you certainly -- I'll put it this way. If there's a conviction, it will not be overturned on appeal for insufficient evidence. They have enough evidence to prove their case. The issue is, of course, when the jurors get in the room and start arguing about the credibility of Michael Cohen, some may say that they don't credit him, and without that direct evidence they might not be willing to convict.

SIDNER: You only need one for a hung jury, right? And so that is the sort of burden of proof they have to go beyond that and convince them all. Jennifer Rodgers, you're great. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

RODGERS: Thanks.

SIDNER: Kate?

BOLDUAN: So we're following some breaking news this morning. One person has died after severe turbulence on a flight. Several others are reportedly injured, and new video shows passengers being treated on the ground right next to the plane. The flight was going from London to Singapore. It was diverted to Thailand.

CNN's Marc Stewart is gathering the details for us and he's joining us now. Marc, what more are you learning? We're just seeing this new video in.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, all of this video shows just how serious of an incident this is. As we have been reporting, basically a whole army, a whole fleet of ambulances have converged on that airport in Bangkok. There are emergency responders there. We are still trying to find out the extent of the injuries, but it is very safe to say that they are serious.

This was a very big aircraft, a Boeing 777 300. It flies a lot of the long-haul routes between Asia, between Europe, as well as across both of the oceans. This particular flight had 211 people on board, a crew of 18. When based off of our calculations, looking at some online flight logs, around 29,000 feet, about halfway into this 13 hour flight is when this turbulence occurred. And the pilots then made this very rapid descent to the airport in Bangkok to get assistance.

Here's the thing about turbulence. Despite all of the tools, despite all of the technology, despite all of that, it can still be very difficult to predict. You could have the most gorgeous, perfect view out the airline window -- out of the airplane window, yet it can suddenly occur. Hence, this term, "sudden air turbulence."

We are hoping to hear from authorities in the hours ahead. This jet has been on the ground for about four hours or so to learn just how badly people had been injured. Again, one person died. And to have someone get killed because of turbulence, it does happen, but it's something that's very rare because pilots typically do have some kind of warning this happened. Let's also consider about how long this flight was. A 13-hour flight,

about halfway through. Even though the seatbelt sign may have been turned on, it would not be unusual for crew members to be walking about or for people to stand in line to use the lavatories. These are some of the questions that we are asking, hopefully hearing from passengers in the hours ahead about exactly how this all took place.

But Kate, based off of the images that we are seeing from the airport in Thailand, there's no question this is a very serious situation and these injuries are quite extensive.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Marc, thank you so much for gathering all this for us and continuing to bring updates.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right, this morning, we're watching for Trump allies to be in court, not in New York, but for the fake electors case in Arizona. Rudy Giuliani has been trying to evade being serve. He was finally served. So will he show up for court?

And a surprising name may be moving up the list of potential V.P. picks for Donald Trump. Yes, you're seeing it right, former presidential candidate Nikki Haley maybe?

And tourists behaving badly force a town to put up a wall to shut people from a hugely popular photo-op spot. We will take you there.

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[08:18:42]

BOLDUAN: So after weeks of an odd game of cat and mouse, Rudy Giuliani has officially been served and will face a judge today to enter a plea after being charged in the Arizona fake electors plot. Giuliani is facing charges there along with 17 other people, and today, 11 of those charged are expected to be arraigned.

CNN's Kyung Lah is in Phoenix following all of it. It is going to be a lot to follow today, Kyung. What is expected to happen?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well we are expecting it indeed to be a very busy day, but the person we are really going to be paying attention to because predominantly this drama about trying to serve Rudy Giuliani notice of what is happening today, all of this has sort of been the center of the circus, if you will.

What is happening today is indeed an arraignment, but it was three weeks for the attorney general of the state trying to track him down that really became the focus of trying to serve notice of this arraignment.

From what the Attorney General's Office tells us is over the last three weeks, they have been trying to serve this notice. They had seen in live streaming from New York, they went to New York, and then they saw him live streaming in Florida, so they went to Florida. What they didn't know is that they knew that he was at a particular

location because he was live streaming from this Palm Beach house. So they knew he was there. What they didn't know is that it was his 80th birthday party.

[08:20:05]

Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, Trump attorney was singing out on the front lawn singing "New York, New York" when he completed the song, and he was leaving his party, that's when he was served notice of the indictment.

I want you to listen to the explanation from the attorney general last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRIS MAYES, ARIZONA ATTORNEY GENERAL: We had attempted on multiple occasions in multiple ways to serve Mr. Giuliani. Our agents had traveled to New York City to try to serve him. We were not allowed in his building there where he lives.

We stayed there for two days. We mailed him a letter. We made phone calls; and ultimately, we had to send agents down to Florida where he went most recently to serve him. It just happened to be Friday night and it just happened to be apparently on his 80th birthday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: So 11 expected to appear here in court, half of them expected to appear virtually. Among that virtual appearance group will be Rudy Giuliani.

We are told although, Kate, that he will have to get his mugshot taken, as well as being fingerprinted with his local authorities -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's see what happens now. Good to see you, Kyung. Thank you.

So President Biden slamming the international Criminal Court as it moves to charge and try to arrest the prime minister and defense minister of Israel. Why Biden is calling the charges outrageous.

And Scarlett Johansson is threatening legal action now, after she says ChatGPT's new AI voice sounds way too much like her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:26:04]

SIDNER: This morning, the International Criminal Court, they are seeing more backlash from world leaders after the ICC requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli defense minister along with three leaders of Hamas.

President Biden called the ICC's efforts outrageous and said there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

France and Belgium are the only country so far to split from the western allies' response and support the ICC prosecutor's decision.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem.

Jeremy, I am sure there is backlash there from Israel. What is the latest?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it.

Across the Israeli political spectrum, both the prime minister's allies, as well as his adversaries and rivals, all striking out against this decision by the ICC to seek arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister as well as the defense minister.

This morning, we are actually hearing for the first time from the Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, since these warrants were sought by the ICC's top prosecutor and what he is honing in on is two things. First of all, arguing that Israel is indeed observing international law in his view, Israeli forces are and that they are also working to facilitate humanitarian aid into Gaza and he is also calling this parallel between Israel and Hamas that he believes is being drawn by the ICC seeking warrants for both Israel as well as Hamas' leaders in the same breath. He is calling that parallel "despicable."

The Israeli prime minister has made very similar comments, including in a video that he posted late last night in English, calling this an outrageous decision and they moral outrage, and again striking out at that parallel. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Mr. Khan creates a twisted and false moral equivalence between the leaders of Israel and the henchmen of Hamas. This is like creating a moral equivalence after September 11th between President Bush and Osama Bin Laden or during World War II between FDR and Hitler.

What a travesty of justice. What a disgrace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And the Israeli prime minister also said that he believes this is an attempt to deny Israel the right to self-defense, although Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor said that it is about Israel's means that they use to defend themselves, which he said in his view are criminal.

Now, meanwhile, the Israeli military beyond its activity in Gaza is also stepping up military activity in the occupied West Bank targeting Palestinian militants in the city of Jenin in the West Bank. Seven Palestinians have been killed so far today in an Israeli military operation there, nine others injured according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Among those who were killed is a surgeon who was on his way to work

according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Palestinian militants including the Al-Quds Brigade, which is in Jenin have said that militants are engaged in what they describe as violent clashes with Israeli forces. You can see this one video of an IED exploding in Jenin targeting Israeli forces, showing you just how intense these battles are between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces.

There has been stepped up Israeli military activity in Jenin, including on Friday when an Israeli airstrike killed a top commander of the Jenin Brigade, which is affiliated with Islamic Jihad -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, perhaps we do not talk enough about what is happening in the West Bank as everyone's attention has been what is happening in Gaza as well.

Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for your reporting this morning.

All right, how closely is your happiness tied to your age? And by the way, are you more likely to be happier the older you get? Get that might be a nice thing. We will talk all about that, coming up.

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