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Supreme Court Enters Final Stretch; Corral Wildfire 50 Percent Contained; Tom Glynn-Carney and Ryan Condal are Interviewed about "House of the Dragon"; Polls Show Limited Impact of Trump Verdict; Trump Warns of Breaking Point. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired June 03, 2024 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:34:02]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Supreme Court justices are getting ready for the final stretch of the terms. Still on their to-do list right now, several decisions, including important cases on abortion, guns, and, of course, former President Donald Trump's claim of absolute immunity. All still to be decided before the summer recess.
CNN's Joan Biskupic following all of this.
And, Joan, as is tradition, Joan, June is crunch time for this court especially. What's happening behind the scenes right now with that in mind?
JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure, Kate. It's good to see you.
This - they've just hit a major deadline. You know that since October they were hearing oral arguments. And those all ended in April. And then they took preliminary votes and all the opinions were assigned to individual justices. And the traditional deadline for circulating the first draft of those opinions was June 1st. That was Saturday. So as of today, everything has to be in circulation to the other justices, including the ones that were just heard in April that you mentioned having to do with either abortion or the Trump cases.
[08:35:07]
And then this is when things get tricky, Kate, because the justices have to then accommodate any kind of amendments changes, tweaks from their colleagues without alienating another justice who has signed the majority opinion. And what they call that is holding five. And it takes five votes for a majority of the nine to decide a case.
And this is when it, you know, they can - for a pretty easy question they can take, you know, maybe one or two drafts. But those tougher cases, eight or nine drafts gets circulated and it gets down to the wire, Kate.
BOLDUAN: In terms of impact, Joan, which cases are you watching most closely?
BISKUPIC: Sure. And we'll just start with the Trump ones, even though I don't think we're going to see those until the end of the month. But they're - they are the ones that I think most of our audience would be watching most closely. And the really overriding one is Donald Trump's claim of absolute immunity from criminal trial for four counts of election subversion in the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith on behalf of the Justice Department. A lower court said that that case could go forward, but the Supreme Court has stepped in and essentially delayed the trial. So, we'll see where that one goes.
The other one involves the January 6th defendants who are objecting to being charged with - under a statute that makes it a crime to corruptly obstruct an official proceeding. And the question there is, mostly an element b, destruction of actual evidence. But that one could also affect Donald Trump, but it could affect many more January 6th defendants.
And then we have two really important ones involving abortion access. And it was two years ago, Kate, as you recall, that the Supreme Court struck down all constitutional abortion rights. And the two cases in that area are, one, involving the federal Food and Drug Administration's expansion of access to the abortion medication drug known as Mifepristone. And whether the FDA's approval and wider access to that drug can stand.
The other one involves - applies to states, like Idaho, which is in the second case, that have bans on abortion, and how they might - must have to accommodate a federal law that insurers that women who - whose health is at risk, and might need an abortion in an emergency room setting, how they can still get that kind of emergency care, even in states that ban abortion, Kate.
BOLDUAN: Yes, a lot of impact and a lot of ripple effects from the -
BISKUPIC: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Especially from the cases you've just lined out.
Joan, thank you so much.
BISKUPIC: All right.
BOLDUAN: Good to see you.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, firefighters in northern California say they are making good progress against a wildfire that has burned more than 14,000 acres. The fire erupted Saturday in San Joaquin County. It is now 50 percent contained. Evacuation orders have now been downgraded to warnings, but residents are being told to remain vigilant and prepared for potential changes.
CNN's Derek Van Dam has the very latest for us this morning.
What are you seeing, Derek?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, John, this is really a product of - of having too much rain and snow during the course of the past two winters and then the atmosphere decides to turn off the faucets and all the grass that grew through this abundant amount of moisture over the winter is now drying out. And that leaves a lot of recipe for fire. And that is what we're witnessing here across the San Joaquin County region.
The good news is that the winds have died down. But the backdrop to this is that the mercury in the thermometer is skyrocketing. In fact, today we have heat warnings in place. Las Vegas could feel temperatures up to 120 degrees. That would be the heat index. But excessive heat watch across parts of Arizona and into the central valley of California, where the San Joaquin and the Corral Fire is currently ongoing. And 120 record high temperatures throughout the next couple of days. And you can see how triple digit heat will blanket places like Palm Springs, to Phoenix, to Las Vegas.
But right along this - this ridge of high pressure that's bringing the heat over the southwestern U.S., there has been active severe weather. And that's what we're monitoring for the day today.
We have another multi-day severe weather setup that is taking shapes. So, Chicago, Dallas, Little Rock to Jackson. And then for the day tomorrow, we see from Des Moines to Kansas City. Currently right now, a severe thunderstorm watch with some stronger thunderstorms moving into the Oklahoma City area by about noon local time.
So, we'll monitor the progress of both the fires and the severe weather going forward.
John.
BERMAN: All right, Derek van Dam, thank you so much for that.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: It is the most anticipated show of the summer. No questions asked. Don't even try to question me. Season two of HBO's "House of the Dragon" premieres June 16th. The epic fantasy prequel takes place two centuries before the events of "Game of Thrones" and is full of what you would hope and expect, epic battles, epic backstabbing, and, of course, dragons.
[08:40:09]
BERMAN: Just like CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
BOLDUAN: Stop it.
Season two picks up right where it left off. Here's a sneak peek.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aymond (ph) is my closest bloods and our best sowed. I welcome him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After Kings Landing is through the river lands, you must establish a toe hold there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paramore (ph), the river lords will either declare for me or they will meet vagar (ph) and sunfire (ph) together. And we can burn the blockade while we're at it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Renir (ph) has dragons as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mine are bigger.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we lose the dragons to war, there will be no calling them back. You must proceed cautiously.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Fat old lord Tully (ph) will either raise my banner or see his burn.
We should fly to River Run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Joining us right now is the king himself, Tom Glenn-Carney, and co- creator of the show and show runner, Ryan Condal.
It's great to have you guys here. Thank you so much.
King, it's wonderful to be in your presence.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Your highness.
BOLDUAN: Your highness. I don't often have to address people like that.
The first season ends with war looming. Pick us up. What can you tell us? Where do things pick up for your, king?
TOM GLYNN-CARNEY, ACTOR, "HOUSE OF THE DRAGON": Well, he's wearing his newfound fame and fortune and responsibility now. And you can see the spring in this step, I think. He's trying to embrace it. Yes, and we'll - we'll see if that continues.
BOLDUAN: Exactly. How springy is that step?
BERMAN: Ryan, obviously, there was so much anticipation for the first season. And there's been a wait before the second. And I'm saying that just as a fan, not as, you know, not as a statement of fact.
How much of a connection is there to what we just saw on the first season and to what we already saw on "Game of Thrones." Place us in the narrative.
RYAN CONDAL, CO-CREATOR AND SHOWRUNNER, "HOUSE OF THE DRAGON": Well, we're about still more than a century before the events of the original "Game of Thrones." So the connective tissue here is largely the expanding history of this world. And this is - what we're about to see is the worst civil war ever fought in the history of Westeros. So - and this has a major impact on the history to come.
BERMAN: A lot of deaths.
CONDAL: Lots of death.
BOLDUAN: How many people?
CONDAL: Thousands. But really this is - this is - this battle is coming - later called the dying of the dragons, because this, as you know, Daenerys comes into power in a world without dragons, and this war is largely the reason for that.
BOLDUAN: Tom, what do you lean on? Who do you lean on? Did you - I mean did you lean on watching the Targaryens of "Game of Thrones" era to inspire your character? I mean what do you - how do you prepare to be so mean and so wiley (ph)?
GLYNN-CARNEY: That's just natural. No, I didn't particularly lean on "Game of Thrones" and they way that they done it. I mean we were riding on the shoulders of giants from the word go. But I - it got - I mean the writers on this show are just so talented. Everything's there on the page already. All we have to do is just kind of lift it off and breath life into it.
BERMAN: It's just a story about families really.
GLYNN-CARNEY: Exactly.
BERMAN: Extremely dysfunctional families.
GLYNN-CARNEY: Yes.
BERMAN: I mean there are dysfunctional families, then there are the Targaryens.
GLYNN-CARNEY: Yes. And instead of having dogs for pets, you've got dragons I guess.
BOLDUAN: What is it like to ride a dragon? I don't know if you do.
GLYNN-CARNEY: I can't tell you that. I've heard it's a lot of fun.
BOLDUAN: I would assume so.
BERMAN: Did you just give something away to us? The whole idea - I mean, I guess we all knew there were going to be no dragons by - by the (INAUDIBLE).
BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE) are we about to get in trouble?
BERMAN: Well, yes, exactly.
BOLDUAN: Like, we thew a plot line.
BERMAN: I do want to say, you are among our favorite co-workers here at the HBO Max family here. BOLDUAN: It's great to see you. It's been a long time.
CONDAL: Thank you.
BERMAN: But - but so this will be a story about how the dragons disappear.
CONDAL: Yes, I mean, it leads to, again, there's 100 years of history, but this is the - this is the kind of seed event that, you know, that sees that through. And it's kind of a metaphor for a nuclear war. And this is the first nuclear war since the days of old Valeria, which was the old empire when there were thousands of dragons and dragon lords. And that's what the Targaryens escaped and came to Westeros and settled there.
BERMAN: This is mutually assured destruction -
CONDAL: Yes.
BERMAN: As they say in nuclear game theory.
CONDAL: Yes. Correct.
BERMAN: It's like nuclear dragon theory.
CONDAL: Yes, correct.
BOLDUAN: Which is so commonplace.
I often - I'm - I am often fascinated by - we work in a timespan of like we - we create content and it is on TV and two seconds later. And you work with such a lead time and I'm often fascinated with, how do you deal with so much anticipation, with something that has largely been filmed?
GLENN-CARNEY: Well, I think what you have to do is be completely focused and present at the time and then put it too bed. And kind of that's - that's that job done now. And, you know, this is why it's exciting doing things like this with Ryan and with the rest of the cast is because we get to enjoy what we worked so hard on and share it with everyone.
BERMAN: When did you film this?
GLENN-CARNEY: God, nearly a year ago now.
CONDAL: Yes. Yes, a year. We started in April and - and wrapped in the beginning of October.
BERMAN: And where is this part of Westeros?
GLENN-CARNEY: Where did we film it?
BERMAN: Yes.
GLENN-CARNEY: The majority - the majority of it is in (INAUDIBLE) in the studios and in Wofford (ph), just north of London. But we -
BOLDUAN: Is that your natural hair?
GLENN-CARNEY: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Not on your head now, but in the - in the - in the show?
GLENN-CARNEY: Oh, God, no. Absolutely not. No. People worked very hard to make it look very (INAUDIBLE).
BOLDUAN: You're like, who is this woman asking me about my hairstyle right now.
BERMAN: Well, it's the - it's the anchor who looks more like a Targaryen, let's be fair.
BOLDUAN: What?
BERMAN: Yes, exactly.
GLENN-CARNEY: You'd fit right in.
[08:45:00]
BOLDUAN: What did you say?
BERMAN: How much post-production work is there in this?
CONDAL: We're still going. Yes, we have - my post team is begrudgingly letting me go this week. We still have a few episodes to deliver. But that's the thing, making the show is incredibly complicated. It takes a - basically a year to film it between prep and production, and then post is another six months plus.
BOLDUAN: Oh, geez.
CONDAL: Yes. So, we're - we're still a few weeks away.
BOLDUAN: Give the tease, Tom. Give the tease for people of what to expect this season from the king himself?
GLENN-CARNEY: Oh, God. I mean, it's just nuclear. It's the - it's a cacophony of chaos. And the stakes are higher. Everyone's desperate. It's - yes, it's going to go off.
BOLDUAN: And I've got bigger dragons. I mean that's - that's - that's a line I love.
BERMAN: Yes. If I had a nickel for every time I heard that one.
BOLDUAN: It's great - great to meet you guys.
BERMAN: All right, listen, Ryan, Tom, thank you so much.
GLENN-CARNEY: A pleasure. BERMAN: Thank you for being such great co-workers as well. I could not be more excited for the premiere of season two of "House of the Dragon." That is June 16th on Max.
BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Donald Trump warns if he gets locked up for his criminal convictions, he's OK with it. But he just as quickly warns, the country will then hit a breaking point.
And retired - retired Dr. Anthony Fauci returns to Capitol Hill for what could be a - I mean, let's be honest, will be a very heated hearing over the nation's response to Covid.
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[08:50:35]
BERMAN: All right, we do have some breaking news.
Just a few moments ago, the first lady, Jill Biden, arrived at the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware. Jury selection has already begun. It was set to begin at 8:30. Beginning as we speak in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial. We did see Hunter Biden arrived earlier. He is accused of illegally purchasing and possessing a gun in 2018 while abusing or being addicted to drugs. That's the official charge.
Overnight, the judge overseeing the trial did deal a blow to his defense, blocking one witness and also a piece of evidence that his lawyers had hoped to use.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: A lot to watch in coming up with that, especially seeing Jill Biden now entering the courthouse there.
But there's also this, the guilty verdict in Donald Trump's New York trial, it was historic, but will it have an impact on his campaign remains a huge question. Two new polls just out show Americans largely agree with the verdict, but there's more to that.
CNN's Harry Enten is back with us.
What are you seeing on this, Harry?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, you know, the horse race. The big question we were talking about on Friday, would we see a massive change in the numbers?
BOLDUAN: Exactly.
ENTEN: Not really so far, right. This is the one poll that we have. It's a Reuters/IPSOS poll. The Trump versus Biden margin. Look, pre- New York conviction, the two of them were tied. Now, post-conviction, we see Joe Biden ahead. But, again, no clear leader. Well within the margin of error. Joe Biden plus two.
I should note, it will be interesting to watch, Kate, are there other polls that come out that show this same pattern, because a two-point movement, if it's shown across multiple polls, could be very problematic for the former president because this race is so tight.
BOLDUAN: OK.
ENTEN: But at this particular point, just one poll out, not very much movement at all.
BOLDUAN: Take us into the number, though. Why such little change?
ENTEN: Because I think it's basically what Americans expected or thought should happen. So, this is Trump's New York hush money case, right? Before the verdict, 56 percent of Americans thought Trump was guilty. After the verdict, 57 percent, pretty equivalent to this 56 percent, think that the jury made the right call, made the right verdict. So, basically what happened here, Kate, was most folks, or the majority of folks, thought Trump was guilty. And, of course, Trump was found guilty. And now the majority of folks think that the jury made the right call here.
BOLDUAN: Regardless, the good news for Donald Trump is that he raised a lot of money off of this.
ENTEN: Oh, yes, he did. If there was no real change in these numbers, there was massive change when it came to the amount of money that Donald Trump raised. So, according to Lara Trump, she said in the 48 hours post a New York conviction, look at this, Trump and the RNC raised 70 plus million dollars. To put that into some perspective for you, in the entire month of April, Trump plus the RNC raised 76 plus million dollars. So basically Trump, according to Lara Trump and the RNC, raised the equivalent of an entire month in 48 hours. There was a lot of Republican coalescing around the former president of the United States.
And I will just point out, Kate, it does seem that appearing in court does pay off for Donald Trump because look at the Trump big fundraising days. There was the New York arraignment back - back here in - last year. We had the Georgia indictment. These two dates are actually flipped here.
BOLDUAN: OK.
ENTEN: And then the New York conviction here. What do we see? We see again a huge, big fundraising day. Thursday's amount was about twice the amount of his prior record. So, the fact is, Donald Trump, seeing big fundraising. Again, look at this.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
ENTEN: In 48 hours, the equivalent of about a month.
BOLDUAN: Yes. Both men are going to have enough money to run for president.
ENTEN: That is -
BOLDUAN: That is one thing I think - I think we can conclude.
ENTEN: I think that that's exactly right. This race is not going to ultimately be about money, it's going to be about the message that's going to be driven home by the money.
BOLDUAN: It's still very interesting though.
Thank you, Harry.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: John.
BERMAN: All right, with us now, Pete Seat, former spokesman for George W. Bush in the White House, and vice president of Bose Public Affairs Group, and Keith Boykin, a Democratic strategist and former aide in the Clinton White House.
You both look way too young to have worked in either of those White House.
Gentlemen, let me play you some sound. One of the things that has happened since the guilty verdict against Donald Trump, Donald Trump has started talking about it and the possible implications in the country. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It could -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) face what that could look like.
TRUMP: I'm OK with it.
I don't know that the public would stand it, you know? I don't - I'm not sure the public would stand for it, with a -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you could try house arrest or -
TRUMP: I think it - I think it would be tough for the public to take. You know, at a certain point, there's a breaking point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, Keith, what do you hear in that?
KEITH BOYKIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I hear a desperate man who's extremely eager to try to prove that he's not concerned about this, but he really is.
[08:55:07]
He's melting down. And the polls don't show that there's a breaking point of Americans. Americans are pretty much assuming that the - that he is guilty. And Americans are believing, according to the polls, that the jury did the right thing.
So, I think Donald Trump is clear unstable. But what's really must - most disturbing, I think, John, is that the Republican Party has shamefully aligned itself with him. This was supposed to be the law and order party. Now they're comparing Donald Trump to Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and - and Jesus Christ even, because supposedly Donald Trump is a victim and a martyr. But, you know, they never have the same concern for black and brown people when we are wrongly incarcerated or with the Central Park Five, who Donald Trump has still never apologize to.
So, I think there's a lot of hypocrisy for Republicans to - to sort of line -align themselves with Donald Trump. And it indicates, once again, that they're no longer a governing party but they have instead become a grievance party all about Donald Trump.
BERMAN: Pete, in his statement where you hear Donald Trump saying they could reach a breaking point, his supporters, there are some people who see that and see there is the hint of the threat of violence.
PETE SEAT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Although some people are hearing what they want to hear, I think it is crystal clear what former President Donald Trump meant in those comments, and that is for a lot of Americans, even those who disliked Donald Trump and thought he was guilty, the incarceration or home detention of a former president is a bridge too far. That's what he is speaking to. And if it comes to that on July 11th, his belief is that those people will come out and potentially support him in November, or get off the sidelines to support him in November.
So, when we try to attach absent meaning to his words and phrases, look, he has said some outlandish things over the years. I will not deny that. This is not one of those times.
BERMAN: I do want to note that we don't know what the sentence will be, whether it's jail or house arrest or probation. I mean it could very well be that there's no jail time at all and it's extremely unlikely that he serves any sentence before the election anyway because the appeals process will need to work itself out.
Can I play some sound that deals with another investigation? Actually, x investigation in this case, because it happened on CNN, and I'm not sure if it caught a lot of attention, but it gets to some of the tensions within the Republican Party.
Our Manu Raju was talking former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Matt Gaetz, congressman from Florida, the issue around Matt Gaetz came up. And there had been a federal investigation into Gaetz into whether there was some kind of trafficking with under age women. That investigation, as far as we know, was dropped. And Gaetz denies it. Yet McCarthy, the former speaker, still seems really upset with Matt Gaetz over the fact that Matt Gaetz helped get him bumped from the speaker's chair.
So, listen to this exchange between Manu and the former speaker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN MCCARTHY, FORMER REPUBLICAN HOUSE SPEAKER: If you think about it, if there's anybody who should go to trial, I mean, Gaetz is one who should be convicted in a trial.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Why? Why do you say that?
MCCARTHY: Well, we all know the challenge here. You can't sleep with under age women and think you can get away with it. And -
RAJU: He denies that.
MCCARTHY: Well, the - the women don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Pete, that's a hay maker right there and I think shows you that there's still a lot of bad blood. I should say then obviously Matt Gaetz does deny this. But so much bad blood still within House Republicans.
SEAT: Bad blood is the understatement of the morning, John. Kevin McCarthy cannot stand Matt Gaetz. And we see that in all of his post- speaker activities. He is really targeting, in primaries, the individuals who ousted him, led the effort to oust him as speaker of the House of Representatives. And Matt Gaetz, obviously, is at the top of that list. So, I'm not surprised to hear the former speaker say these words, and I could see him starting a no Gaetz PAC in the very near future and putting all of his time, energy and effort into getting rid of Matt.
BERMAN: When you're talking about some of these primaries, Keith, it is worth noting that they're all pro-Trump candidates going after each other here in terms of who's being targeted by McCarthy and who's not.
BOYKIN: Well, that's true. And I think even Kevin McCarthy is being hypocritical because how many women have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault or sexual abuse? I think it's two dozen women. And where is the - where is the outrage about that? But when it comes to Matt Gaetz, because he has a political vendetta against him, suddenly he wants to call him out on national television. And the Republican Party really has to decide, you know, we - we already know they're no longer the law and order party. Are they really the family values party aligned with Donald Trump for paying hush money to a porn star to try to - to try to win an election? I think we have to really consider who the source is, and the Republicans have, I think, weakened their case to be in effective party that should be competitive in any election.
[09:00:05]
BERMAN: All right, Keith Boykin, Pete Seat, great to see both of you this morning.
