Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Donald Trump Campaigns In Bronx County; Nikki Haley Endorses Donald Trump For President But Donald Trump Has Yet To Respond To This Endorsement; Donald Trump Performing Well As Non-Incumbent Among Republican Voters; Justice Department: States May File Antitrust Suit Against Live Nation; NYT: Flag Flown At January 6 Riot Seen Outside Alito Vacation Home; Interview With Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired May 23, 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]

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Was associated with a 16 percent raised risk of cognitive impairment and an eight percent increased risk of stroke. And that risk was higher for black participants in this study than for white participants, 15 percent for black participants.

And of course, we know that ultra-processed foods are really everywhere in our food supply right now. If you don't know how to identify them, it's really when you turn over for the label on your food and you can't identify the ingredients included. They're including ingredients that you wouldn't cook within your kitchens. A lot of ingredients like sweeteners, emulsifiers, flavors, things like that. They make up 57 percent on average of the adult food consumption in this country, and even more for kids. So things like sodas, packaged snacks, chicken nuggets, things like that.

A lot of the research now is focused on trying to figure out which ultra-processed foods are worse for folks, but we are seeing study after study pile up warning about the health risks. So the recommendation is if you can eat more whole foods, that's the way to go, because they saw decreased risk in these neurological issues for when you ate less ultra-processed foods. Guys?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: It's great to see you, Meg. Thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: He is back on the trail and headed for a Democratic stronghold. Donald Trump is campaigning in the Bronx and says he could turn New York from blue to red. His campaign strategy and the surprising supporter he just gained just ahead.

Also, on the heels of settling one lawsuit against their hometown, families torn apart by the Uvalde tragedy are filing lawsuits against their school district and dozens of officers.

And at any moment, the DOJ could slap the country's largest concert promoter with a massive antitrust lawsuit. Could that end up making it easier for you to see your favorite artists on stage?

I'm Amara Walker with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This a CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

This morning, how about a thank you? Radio silence from Donald Trump after Nikki Haley said she would vote for him in the general election. Nothing out loud from Trump, nothing on social media as far as we can tell, nothing from his lawyers or kids. Admittedly, it was not much of an endorsement from Haley, but there are still a lot of Haley supporters casting votes for her in primaries months after she dropped out. Now, Trump could address Haley, or more importantly, her voters when he takes the stage in the Bronx later today. He holds a rally in a place where President Biden won 83 percent of the vote in 2020.

CNN political director and sometimes CNN NEWS CENTRAL anchor David Chalian joins me this morning. David, I know you are aware, the Yankees who play in the Bronx haven't won a world series since 2009. So what does Donald Trump think he can get out of this trip?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I don't think Bronx County is going to become a battleground county of this election season. But, first of all, let's set the stage here. Why is he doing a rally in the Bronx at all? Well, that's because his team thought perhaps that the trial would still be ongoing and that he would be in New York on a Thursday and not in this pause moment waiting for summation here. So making the best use of his geography. But there is also a clear strategy it place here to do this in the Bronx because, as you know, John and we've seen in survey after survey after survey, Donald Trump may be a Republican nominee for president who is poised to do better with the African American and Hispanic vote than we've seen in history here. And so this is clearly an effort to try and dig into some of Joe Bidens core support. And it happens to be core support where Biden has been showing some weakness of late.

BERMAN: Yes, it's interesting. Tom Suozzi, Democrat from Long Island, just told me a few minutes ago, he goes, look, Bronx voters care about the issues that Donald Trump is stressing, like immigration and whatnot, and Democrats need to pay attention to that.

Let's talk about Nikki Haley supporters. David, a lot of the campaigns we've covered, if an opponent had come out and said I'm voting for you, there would be all kinds of statements of gratitude and whatnot. I mean, what do we expect from Donald Trump? How much does he need to reach out to Nikki Haley supporters?

CHALIAN: Well, she reissued that challenge when she said she was going to vote for him, she's sort of reissued the challenge to Donald Trump to do exactly that, John, to reach out to her voters. As you noted, she's getting in some places 20 percent of a primary vote in a primary that she dropped out of months ago and isn't competitive anymore.

But I think, listen, I think this whole conversation since Nikki Haley dropped out about Haley voters has been a little inflated, right? I think for a large chunk of folks voting in a Republican primary, they end up going home to the Republican nominee. Now, obviously these are Trump resistant Republican primary voters, and they have questions around it.

[08:05:03]

But it's not about winning over all the Haley voters for Trump and Biden, right. Trump would like as many of them to come home as possible. Biden needs to collect some slice of them if he's going to piece together back his winning coalition from 2020. And where those Haley voters are in those battleground states, it's in the suburbs. That's where she has performed best. That is where Donald Trump is weakest and where Joe Biden is trying to exploit this.

So yes, Donald Trump, in any normal realm, you would say as a candidate should give a nod to this, say thank you, like you said, do some outreach to these voters. But of course, Donald Trump also feels like, hey, Nikki Haley just got in line, so I expect your voters to do the same.

BERMAN: I admittedly spend too much time on social media and have over the last 24 hours. And I detected in some corners --

CHALIAN: Not good for your health.

BERMAN: I know -- a hint of like dismay. How can Nikki Haley do this? How surprising is it really that someone who ran in a Republican primary is ultimately endorsing the winner of that Republican primary? And why do you think Nikki Haley is doing it in this way?

CHALIAN: So I don't think this is a terribly surprising development. If you do the political calculation for Nikki Haley, where else was she going to land in this race? It just doesn't make sense. Now, she has to combat all the videotape of her strong criticism of Donald Trump. But she told our Dana Bash just in January in New Hampshire that Trump and Biden are equally bad. Well, yesterday, when she when she said she was going to vote for him, she said Biden is of catastrophe. Trump is less than perfect in some of these issues she cares about. So I guess she no longer sees them as equally bad. What changed between January and now, that's a question for Nikki Haley to answer.

But I agree with you. It is not a surprise that somebody who wants a future in the Republican Party that we know is Donald Trump's Republican Party right now at the end of the de comes to the conclusion, she's going to cast her ballot for Donald Trump.

BERMAN: David Chalian, great to see you. Videotape, it can be a hell of a thing. Thanks so much for being with.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk more about this, and let's also show folks maybe the advice that Nikki Haley had for Donald Trump with regard to her voters this morning. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me and not assume that they're just going to be with him. And I genuinely hope he does that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Has Donald Trump done anything to win those voters over? They have clearly, they have clearly been a target to be won by the Biden campaign, as well. Hs Biden made any headway. Let's talk about all of this. CNN's Harry Enten is here with me. He's been looking into these questions. We've talked quite a bit about the large vote share that Nikki Haley has been bringing in even in the Republican primaries since she has dropped out. I mean, we're talking big vote shares in more than a dozen states since she dropped. But when you look at the historical context, how is Trump doing with regard to voters after their opponents drop?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Yes, I think this rhetoric over this protest vote, to be honest with you, Kate is a little bit overblown. So I want to take a look back through history, performance after opponents drop that. These are non-incumbents in presidential primaries. I want you to look through the years, right? Mitt Romney was getting about 71 percent of the vote after his opponent dropped out, Donald Trump back in 2016, 74 percent. Joe Biden last time around, 77 percent.

The one who is actually getting the highest share after his opponents dropped out is actually Donald Trump this time around with 81 percent. This is actually a very strong performance for a non-incumbent after his opponents dropped out. The protests vote is actually at a historic hello. So yes, Nikki Haley, sometimes getting north of 20 percent of the vote in these primers. But that's not unusual. What is unusual, Kate, is she's not doing it all over the place. Donald Trump's actually running historically strong for a non-incumbent in a presidential primary after his opponents drop out.

BOLDUAN: I think that then answers my next question, but then who is most likely to win over, as Nikki Haley is making the case that Donald Trump needs to appeal to her voters. Between Biden and Trump, some of them were talking about like voted for Biden in 20 and then they voted for Nikki Haley in this primary. Who is the most likely candidate?

ENTEN: Yes, Nikki Haley supporters are kind of actually a little bit split here. So this is the Biden versus Trump margin among Haleys primary supporters. If you go back to 2020, look, Joe Biden actually won these voters by 16 points. This is actually a fairly favorable Republican primary vote for Joe Biden.

But jump ahead to 2024, who they say they'll support. Donald Trump leads amongst them by about four points, which is actually an improvement for Donald Trump from where he was in 2020. So keep in mind that this four-point margin, Joe Biden is still getting a substantial portion of this Haley support. But this is in polls in which Donald Trump leads. This is impulse that Donald Trump leads. So it's not surprising that these folks are still voting for Nikki Haley because there much more likely to vote for Joe Biden than Donald Trump than the regular primary voter.

[08:10:03] But even so, Donald Trump is still doing better than he was four years ago, which mattress the polls overall.

BOLDUAN: Which is what David Chalian, that phrase of like coming home in the end is kind of what some of this suggests.

What about Joe Biden? How is he doing in terms of an incumbent in a primer?

ENTEN: Yes. Everyone is saying that down Trumps doing weak, weak, weak. It's actually Joe Biden in my mind in the primaries that's doing weak, weak, weak, at least relative to history because right now he's getting 87 percent of that primary vote for an incumbent. But that's actually the lowest, that is actually the lowest for any candidate since George H.W. Bush back in 1992 when Pat Buchanan challenged him. Of course, we all remember, at least I remember that George H.W. Bush lost reelection in the fall to Bill Clinton.

BOLDUAN: I think a lot of people remember that.

ENTEN: I'd like to think so.

BOLDUAN: I think a lot of people, maybe not in your generation, but I think people, people may remember that, Harry.

ENTEN: People my age don't remember that at all.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you.

ENTEN: Good to see you.

BOLDUAN: Amara?

WALKER: I don't remember that.

Panic in the crowd. Nine people killed after a stage collapses in Mexico at a campaign rally, and the candidate for president had to be taken to the hospital.

Also, Super Bowl champ Patrick Mahomes weighing in on his kicker, Harrison Butker, controversial commencement address. What the quarterback is saying this morning.

And a new look at housing prices shows the American dream of ownership is getting further out of reach.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:26]

WALKER: As soon as today, the Justice Department and several states are expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation.

Now, that is a company that owns Ticketmaster. The suit is expected to allege antitrust violations, in part due to

Ticketmaster's market dominance.

For more, I am joined now by CNN senior crime and justice reporter, Katelyn Polantz.

Hello, Katelyn.

So I guess the big question about this as will this benefit consumers? Could it and hopefully lower ticket prices for us?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, well, that's what the Justice Department is hoping to do by filing this lawsuit.

And if they are successful, they hope that they could reduce the prices of tickets for concerts, sporting events that Live Nation sells through its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, and that they also would reduce the service fees that this ticket provider has.

Now, Ticketmaster is dominant. Live Nation is dominant with venues, with ticket sales across the country, but they have said previously, their leadership has said that pricing for their events including things like Beyonce's tour of last year, Taylor Swift's Eras Tour where a lot of this caused public blowback and political blowback because of some issues they have, they've said that the pricing is set by artists and their teams and that they've been able to cut out scalpers with their process.

Now, the Justice Department is essentially going to be accusing this company of having an unfair monopoly that really hurts consumers. But while this is going to be a major lawsuit by the Justice Department, it is very likely to be fought extensively in court by Live Nation as that goes on.

We are waiting to see when that suit is filed, potentially as early as today, not just from the Justice Department, also potentially by states as well -- Amara.

WALKER: All right, we will see how this plays out.

Katelyn Polantz, thank you very much -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: All right, one of Harvey Weinstein's accusers speaking out in a revealing new interview with CNN. She says the same catch and kill practice that the "National Enquirer" used to protect Donald Trump was used to protect Weinstein and keep her silent.

New reaction this morning from lawmakers after reports found a second controversial flag used by January 6 rioters flying over Justice Samuel Alito's beach house.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:23:11]

BERMAN: Breaking overnight, nine people are dead and at least 70 hurt after a stage collapsed in Mexico.

Strong winds toppled the stage. This happened at a presidential campaign rally, sending people scrambling. The presidential candidate says crews checked the set's structure before the event, but the severity of the wind gusts caught organizers by surprise.

That's terrible.

This morning, school is canceled and a disaster declaration is in place after a tornado touched down just south of Waco in Temple, Texas.

The storm left thousands without power and blocked major roads there. Today, the risk for severe weather remains across the Central United States, including large hail, intense wind gusts, and tornadoes.

Cities in Oklahoma and New Mexico are expected to be the hardest hit.

And a second controversial flag that was used by January 6 rioters has been photographed outside of property owned by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. This time, "The New York Times" reports, an Appeal to Heaven flag was seen flying outside his New Jersey vacation home last year.

The flag does have revolutionary war origins, but has been most recently used by supporters of former President Trump. It is associated with a push to make US government more Christian-minded. Alito has not responded to requests for comment.

Last week, photo showed an inverted US flag, also a symbol used by rioters on January 6th. They showed that flag flying outside of Justice Alito's Virginia home -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now is Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, second highest ranking Democrat in the Senate, and the chair of the Judiciary Committee, which means we have a lot to get to, as always this morning.

Let's start with what John was just talking about though, Senator.

On Monday after that first flag was reported, you said Justice Alito should recuse himself from any cases involving Trump and his administration. Now, after this second flag situation, if he does not recuse voluntarily, what do you do? What can you do?

[08:25:10]

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): The recourses under the Constitution are very limited, but let's look at what we have before us.

The first flag flying the American flag upside down as a distress signal at home, he dismissed as a momentary emotional lapse of his wife making that decision. Now, we have the second flag, which has some symbolism on the radical right flown at his vacation residence, and you start to wonder, is this just chance in discretion or is it a conscious declaration of his MAGA loyalty? I mean that is not expected.

When it comes to the Supreme Court, we expect the men and women on that court to be above this sort of activity.

BOLDUAN: When you say when you start to wonder which do you think it is, Senator?

DURBIN: Listen, I don't think it is a coincidence in the second instance. I think he is speaking pretty clearly as to his political loyalties, and it is a shame.

When it gets right down to it, our courts and justices don't have an army to enforce their opinions. They don't have the money to establish an account for media control.

What they have is the respect for integrity of the American people and this really raises a serious question when we have someone in the Highest Court in the land who is supporting these political flags, flags at his residence and a vacation home.

BOLDUAN: It is something you've been pushing for more transparency and ethics reform in the Supreme Court, but it has been something you've been long vocal about, and that there is a long road ahead if any of that does come to fruition.

I want to ask you something about something else that is happening in the Senate today. You all are making a new push to bring the bipartisan border deal to the floor for a second vote, but Senator, you're now losing some Senate Democrats.

Cory Booker voted for the deal months ago, but he announced that he is not going to this time, noting that last time, it was attached to the foreign aid money that he said needed to get through.

If you're losing Democrats and you're not gaining Republicans, why bring it to the floor?

DURBIN: Even with all the Democrats, we are not going to pass it, we need 60 votes. What we are calling to the floor is Jim Lankford, the conservative Republican senator from Oklahoma work to create a bipartisan bill with Senators Murphy and Sinema.

This bill was accepted and in fact touted as the answer to our problems by many, and then along came Donald Trump's declaration that his loyal Republican should step away from it and that he would accept the blame for that decision.

Well, he should be blamed for it. This was a bipartisan effort. This should move forward. We never expected to get all of the Democrats. There are some differences of opinion, but with Republican help, we should be able to pass a good bipartisan bill like this one.

BOLDUAN: But when you talked about James Lankford, he even spoke out last week. He went to the Senate floor, this Republican senator and he called bringing it back to the floor, if you will. He called it a political move in a floor speech. He said it was unserious and a messaging bill. Is he wrong?

DURBIN: He is wrong. It is a very serious undertaking and we respected the whole work he put into it.

He really poured himself into this effort to make a bipartisan bill come before the Senate and let me tell you, when it comes to immigration reform. Clearly, on the face of it, we need bipartisan support for 60 votes, but any measure requires bipartisan support, and in this one, in particular, which has the support of President Biden, would do significant things to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States and to control the flow of people coming across our border.

I think those are two priorities which America would like to see us move forward on and unfortunately, the Republican leader, Donald Trump has told them do nothing, keep this issue alive until November. That is exactly the opposite of what the American people feel.

BOLDUAN: I will note though, James Lankford even pushed ahead to work through that deal, even when Donald Trump was telling Republicans that he didn't want them to vote for it that first time around.

DURBIN: Yes, he did.

BOLDUAN: Finally, we are learning that today the Justice Department is expected to sue Live Nation in what will be a huge antitrust lawsuit alleging that for years, the parent company of Ticketmaster as we know its abusing its industry dominance to harm concertgoers.

You have held hearings on this. I remember watching them even in January, do you think the Justice Department is right in moving on this? Do you think Live Nation is operating as a monopoly?

DURBIN: I won't make a judgment on the outcome of any case, but I will tell you, the action by the Antitrust Department is long overdue. It has been dormant when it should have stood up and spoken up and it is coming forward now at a time when consumers across America who are concerned about the cost of tickets, but also of many other things that are being controlled by corporate interest. I think it is long overdue.

BOLDUAN: Senator, thank you so much for coming on. Really appreciate it.

DURBIN: Glad to do it.

BOLDUAN: Amara.

WALKER: Families in Uvalde settle a lawsuit against the city, but more legal action against officers and the state is coming.

Also growing concern this morning over the bird flu. For only the third time ever, an American becomes infected. What you need to know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)