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Jury Selection Underway In Hunter Biden's Federal Gun Trial; Judge Expects Opening Statements Tomorrow In Hunter Biden Federal Guns Trial; Dr. Fauci Faces Lawmakers On Capitol Hill; Ukraine Says It Hit Missile Inside Russia Using Western Weapons. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 03, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Hunter Biden on trial. The President's son is in a Delaware courtroom today for the start of jury selection in his federal gun trial. What we're learning is a number of potential jurors are dismissed from the panel.

Plus, Dr. Anthony Fauci back on Capitol Hill, facing tough questions about the U.S. COVID response. The question that had Fauci overcome with emotion.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: And put me in, coach. We're going to talk to a golf fan who went from the crowd to caddy at the Canadian Open - at Canadian Open.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Right now, day one of jury selection in Hunter Biden's federal gun case is moving pretty fast. It's potentially on pace to seat a full panel of jurors by the end of the day today. The judge overseeing the case just indicated that opening statements are expected to begin tomorrow.

The President's son has pleaded not guilty to three felony charges related to a gun that he purchased back in 2018. He's accused of illegally buying and possessing the weapon while abusing or being addicted to drugs. CNN's Marshall Cohen has been inside of court during today's jury selection process.

And Marshall, there were a lot of questions to prospective jurors about drug addiction and guns and their particular experiences with both of those subjects. What stood out to you?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Brianna. You know, it has been personal and emotional at times for some of these jurors. This is a very weighty topic. And many of the prospective jurors did say in court that they have loved ones that struggled with addiction. Some of them were killed by overdoses or died from alcoholism.

That's in many ways what this case is about, addiction and Hunter Biden's drug use while he bought that gun in 2018. So the whole purpose of this exercise today is to pick a fair and impartial jury. And that means that the parties had to kick out some people that said that they frankly could not be fair.

There was one man who said that he believed it was every American's God-given right to own a gun and that there was no ifs, ands or buts about it. So because of those very strong views, he was excused. But then there was also someone from the other side of the political spectrum who said that she wishes that she could ban all guns in America. She also was excused.

And then, Brianna, there's of course the politics hanging over all of this. This is President Biden's son standing trial, of course, here in his home state. One man said that he only gets his news from Fox and Newsmax. And frankly, he didn't think he could judge the son of the Democratic president fairly. He was excused.

And there was another woman who said that she officially joined the resistance after Donald Trump took office in 2017. And she didn't think that she could be a hundred percent fair either.

But I do want to be clear, most of the people that have been brought in have said that they think they can judge this case on the facts and the facts alone. Brianna?

KEILAR: Really interesting. Okay. So like I said, this is moving pretty quickly. It sounds like we just learned opening statements are expected tomorrow. Tell us about how this is going to go.

COHEN: Yes, you know, the judge here, Maryellen Noreika, she kept things moving briskly today. They did not take a lunch break until like a quarter to 2 PM. But because of that steadfast commitment to moving this process along, we're almost done, which means probably opening statements tomorrow morning.

The prosecutors think that this case may only last four or five days. They have told the jury to be prepared to serve for possibly two weeks just in case. But we'll see, sometimes these things have a way of going a little faster than expected, but big day today here. The First Lady is in the courthouse. The son of the President is in the courthouse. And tomorrow morning, it will really, really kick off in earnest.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking for that. Marshall, thank you so much. Jessica?

DEAN: Let's talk more about this with defense attorney Misty Marris. Misty, there have been a lot of questions to potential jurors about drug addiction, with a lot of them sharing their own stories about family members who've struggled in the past.

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There are so many Americans who face a struggle with drug addiction.

How does that play into the type of juror that the defense would want, that the prosecution would want in this case?

MISTY MARRIS, TRIAL ATTORNEY: Absolutely. That is a central issue in this case. And that's why we heard the judge questioning on that very issue, because so many people have been touched by drug addiction, either in their family or people that they know. And so it plays into the case because it's expected that Hunter Biden will use the defense that he did not have the requisite intent at the time he was filling out the documentation. And by that, I mean, he will say that he didn't realize that he was a drug addict, because drug addiction is something that you don't really see clearly when you're the individual who's going through and suffering from those issues.

And so the issue of addiction and the - and how that plays into the factor of intent is really relevant to both the prosecution and the defense. So of course, it's a primary factor in jury selection.

DEAN: Yes. And we just heard that report from Marshall Cohen explaining that this process is moving quickly. Are you surprised by the pace?

MARRIS: Well, in federal court, the process often is pretty swift, and this judge has the reputation of really keeping things moving. So here, the judge does the questioning. So in state court, it's a little bit different. The lawyers will do voir dire. But here, the judge does the initial questioning and it sounds like she got down to the heart of the issues, where there were individuals who had really strong feelings either about politics or about gun rights on either side, whether it be conservative or more liberal views.

The - and they said that they could not be impartial, they were eliminated from the jury pool. So then we get down to these 36 individuals, and now it's time for both sides, the defense and prosecution, to use what's called their preemptory strikes.

This is when each side gets to eliminate certain jurors without making an application for cause, so they don't have to give a reason. But because we're at this situation, it sounds like opening statements are scheduled to go forward tomorrow.

DEAN: And so with that in mind, for the defense, what would you be focusing on most as a defense attorney, looking at the facts of this case? What would you be focusing on most as they move into the trial?

So it's a tough case for the defense, especially since they were dealt some blows in yesterday's evidentiary hearing and evidentiary decisions by the judge. First, the defense wanted to bring an expert on drug addiction into the courtroom to speak to that very central issue that we were just talking about, forming the requisite intent when Hunter Biden was filling out that form. The judge said, no, that expert is not going to testify.

They also wanted to question the veracity of the application itself, because a couple of years later, there was a doctored application. And so they wanted to say maybe this isn't valid or maybe this was not valid at the time, the actual form. So from the defense perspective, you are laser set and focused on saying the prosecution did not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, and focusing on that issue of formulating the requisite intent, that knowing intent to falsify that record at the time.

So that's going to be where the defense goes. And that's why I think we're seeing the prosecution say, well, we think this case is going to be about two weeks. We don't know whether the defense will actually put witnesses on or we'll just try and poke holes in what the prosecution puts forward.

DEAN: All right. Misty Marris, thanks so much for that analysis. We appreciate it. Brianna?

MARRIS: Thank you.

KEILAR: All right. CNN Senior Political Analyst, Gloria Borger, is with us now to talk a little bit more about this. What is the political fallout from this trial, do you think?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think the Democrats are trying to figure that out. Now, what the Republicans in the House, at least, have been focusing on or trying to focus on is financial improprieties, they allege, between Hunter Biden and his father.

Well, we all know that they haven't proven any of that. This trial is much more personal. It's about drug addiction. It's about misbehavior during drug addiction. It's - the one here is about purchasing a gun illegally. There's another one in California about not paying taxes. And how this will redound to the President is very difficult. He released a statement this morning saying, I'm the President, but I'm also a dad and I'm proud of my son for the way he's battled with his addiction and survived it, and continues to survive it.

So, it's very difficult to say, but I spoke with someone close to the President who said he doesn't care. He's going to continue to bring his son close to him, and political ramifications be damned.

KEILAR: He's been steadfast in that.

BORGER: Oh, yes.

KEILAR: Even, I think, when some close to him worry that perhaps it could affect him, but it really hasn't deterred the President.

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I wonder if, in some cases, could this actually create some - I mean, just look at the jury questions ...

BORGER: Right.

KEILAR: ... potential jury questions about addiction. Do you think this might actually create some kind of sympathy at all?

BORGER: It could. I mean, look at how many people in this country have struggled in their family with drug addiction. So, people can relate to this issue. They can also relate to Joe Biden being a caring father. I mean, Jill Biden is in the courtroom today as the jury selection goes on, gave her son a big hug.

So, I think that there could be some kind of an effect that is, look, I feel for this family. Look, Hunter Biden did some bad things, and the problem with this trial is that all the tawdry stuff is probably going to come out during the trial.

KEILAR: These jurors might also say, people need to be held to account.

BORGER: That's right.

KEILAR: You know, that may be their personal experience too, is that some people with addiction actually maybe do need to be held ...

BORGER: Need a tough love.

KEILAR: That's right.

BORGER: Yes.

KEILAR: So, it could cut both ways here. I do wonder, on the political side of this, you have Republicans who have argued that there is this two-tiered system of justice. You heard Tim Scott the other day talking about ...

BORGER: Yes.

KEILAR: ... how the justice system hunts Republicans while protecting Democrats. What do you think about that and how they sort of thread that needle when - I mean, look at Sen. Bob Menendez. Look at this trial.

BORGER: Well, that's what I was just going to say. I mean, look at these two trials. You know, there are lots of legal analysts, and I'm not one of them, but they say that this normally wouldn't go to trial. You know, don't forget, this was almost adjudicated in last July and that kind of blew up. But there are lots of folks who say, you know, this is abnormal and it would only happen because Hunter Biden is Joe Biden's son.

And so, when you want to talk about a weaponized justice department, you've got Menendez, you've got Hunter Biden. Well, who is it weaponized for and who is it weaponized against, you know? I don't think this helps that argument at all.

KEILAR: So, Donald Trump had said that he's okay. I want to talk about following his conviction here. He's okay, he said, with serving prison time. This is more of what he told Fox News.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The judge could decide to say, hey, house arrest or even jail.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It could ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you face what that could be?

TRUMP: I'm okay with it. I saw one of my lawyers the other day on television saying, oh no, you don't want to do that to the President. I said, you don't, you know, beg for anything. Leave it just the way it is. 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 (INAUDIBLE) house arrest for ...

TRUMP: I think it would be tough for the public to take. You know, at a certain point, there's a breaking point.

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KEILAR: What do you think he's telegraphing there?

BORGER: That there would be a loud outcry, however that would manifest itself. I mean, you don't want to think back to January 6th, but what he's saying is, you know, people will say enough is enough and they'll do whatever they have to do to show their allegiance to him.

And by the way, I don't believe that he's okay with going to jail, not for one minute. Do I believe that he - he wasn't okay with sitting in a courtroom. I don't think he's okay with going to jail. I think he's saying that as part of his martyr, I'm a victim, my grievances are your grievances. If they do this to me, they can do this to you and that's part of what he's saying there, which is that people would react badly because they would take it personally in their support for Donald Trump.

Now, is he predicting violence? I wouldn't go that far, but I do think that he is saying that there would be a huge public outcry.

KEILAR: In whichever way it manifests itself.

BORGER: That's right. And we don't know. We don't know.

KEILAR: Says Gloria Borger. Gloria, great to have you. Thank you so much.

BORGER: Thanks.

KEILAR: We appreciate it. Jessica?

DEAN: Let's turn now to today's fiery hearing on Capitol Hill. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the man who led the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, took a major grilling from House Republicans. Dr. Fauci spent several hours testifying about the government's response and the origins of the virus. And he got emotional when he was asked about the death threats he and his family have faced.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, FORMER DIRECTOR NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It is very troublesome to me. It is much more troublesome because they've involved my wife and my three daughters. REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): At this moment, how do you feel?

FAUCI: Terrible.

DINGELL: Keep your mic on.

FAUCI: Terrible.

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DEAN: CNN's Meg Tirrell is joining us now. Meg, this went on for several hours. Was there anything new that we learned from Dr. Fauci?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we had already sort of seen a lot of what he was going to say, because while this was the first public testimony that Dr. Fauci has given since he left the NIAID at the end of 2022, he did give two days of closed-door testimony in January, and Republican staffers for the subcommittee had released those transcripts just days before this hearing.

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And they had put out a memo focused on the things that they were really wanting to focus on today and that we heard a lot about. The chief of that was the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and the oversight that Dr. Fauci had in terms of any interactions with the grant that was made to a lab in China, some interactions between scientists and somebody on the NIAID staff, a lot of this came up.

But when Dr. Fauci got emotional there, that was part of an exchange with Representative Debbie Dingell, where she asked him about these threats and the implications for scientists wanting to go into public service. And he said that something that makes him worried is that fewer scientists do want to go into government work because of these kinds of threats. And he worries about the equality of the folks who will want to go into the field in the future.

Other than that, there's a lot of rehashing of things we have heard about, you know, about vaccines, about mandates. And Dr. Fauci talked about the fact that our understanding of how the vaccines work, how well the vaccines work changed over time. He said that there could be more study now and there should be more study now of vaccine mandates and the implications those have had for vaccine acceptance and hesitancy.

But really, this was a lot of politics. Folks I talked with going into today were not expecting necessarily to hear any scientific revelations and they probably didn't. Folks were really expecting this to be a pretty political hearing. And that's probably the most of what they got.

DEAN: All right. Meg Tirrell reporting for us. Thanks so much for that update.

Up ahead, breaking news out of Ukraine. For the first time, its forces have used U.S.-provided weapons to carry out a strike inside Russian territory. Could it represent a potentially dangerous escalation of this conflict? We're going to follow the reaction.

And growing pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A group that represents the families of Israeli hostages is demanding their government accept a ceasefire deal immediately. We have these stories and much more coming up right here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: We are following breaking news out of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces claim they successfully hit a Russian missile system using Western-supplied weapons inside Russian territory. This here is an image from the strike. It happened just days after President Biden gave Ukraine permission to carry out limited strikes using U.S. weapons in Russian territory around the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is with us now from the Pentagon.

Oren, what else do we know about this strike?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, this is why the change in policy from the U.S., even if it was limited, is such a big deal for the Ukrainian military because it allows them to hit at the forces that were lining up to carry out this Russian offensive just across the border from Kharkiv, a very short distance. But until now, they hadn't been able to hit those forces that were massing there and carrying out strikes from there.

So take a look at what the Ukrainian government minister had to say as she posted this picture on Facebook. She said, "It burns beautifully. It's a Russian S-300. On Russian territory. The first days after permission to use Western on enemy territory."

An S-300 is actually a surface-to-air missile that Russia had repurposed to carry out ground attacks. As a surface-to-air missile, it was a capable system, but as a ground-attack system, it is far less accurate and therefore creates a far greater danger to Ukrainian civilians when Russian forces have used it in this capacity.

So Ukraine claiming that in the days in which they were allowed to use U.S. and other weapons to strike into Russian territory, they were able to take out a fairly significant system, one with a range of dozens, perhaps up to a hundred miles, so a significant claim from the Ukrainians. We haven't seen a Pentagon statement about this at this time.

It's worth noting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Singapore for the Shangri-La dialogue. He met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. During his time there, he thanked President Joe Biden and the administration for making that decision, that change in policy, to allow them to carry out some limited strikes in Russian territory.

But when he was asked about it, he said it's not enough. Yes, he says they have the permission to use HIMARS. That's a precision U.S. system to carry out strikes in Russian territory. But what's really needed, he says, is to carry out longer-range strikes, and at least for now, at the time being, that's something the U.S. has explicitly forbidden the Ukrainians from doing, to carry out strikes with, for example, long-range ATACMS missiles deep within Russian territory. That is still not allowed.

According to these essentially limitations, Ukraine can right now use the systems they have to carry out strikes right across the border and to try to put pressure and to stop this Russian offensive near Kharkiv, Brianna.

KEILAR: How is Russia reacting here, Oren?

LIEBERMANN: Well, Russia has said that they will respond, that the U.S. will feel that response, but that it will be asymmetrical in nature. So they're not going to detail that, but asymmetrical could involve any sort of cyber attack or something like that. So Russia was obviously initially angry at the decision and said - accused the U.S. of escalating. That response has effectively continued here, saying the U.S. will feel a Russian asymmetric response as a result of this change in policy.

KEILAR: All right. We'll await that. Oren Liebermann, live for us from the Pentagon, thanks. Jessica?

DEAN: We have more breaking news this coming out of Israel where the IDF is telling the families of four hostages that those hostages are no longer alive. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem.

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And Jeremy, this sad news comes as talks continue and negotiations continue to play out about a potential ceasefire and hostage deal.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and this is absolutely heartbreaking news. You know, for nearly eight months now, the families of these four hostages have hoped and prayed that their loved ones would eventually emerge from Gaza alive to be back in their arms. And today, they got the worst possible news that they could get from the Israeli military, being informed that the Israeli military now believes that these four hostages were killed during their captivity in Gaza.

And now, Jessica, questions are arising about exactly how they may have been killed. And part of it has to do with the wording from the Israeli military spokesman. He explained that the Israeli military was now able to assessed through intelligence that there were killed a few months ago. And he said that they were killed while they were together, quote, "In the area of Khan Younis during our operation there against Hamas."

And we should note that one of these four hostages, Hamas actually said last month that he had been injured in an Israeli airstrike and had subsequently died of his wounds. And that Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman acknowledging that there will be, quote, "Difficult questions about exactly the circumstances of their deaths."

I want to read the four names of these men: Haim Peri, 79 years old; Yoram Metzger, 80 years old, his wife was actually released last year; Amiram Cooper, 84 years old. His wife was also held hostage and released last year. And then, Nadav Popplewell, that 51-year-old British-Israeli citizen who Hamas had mentioned in their statements last month.

Now, we should note that as the news of this emerge, the hostage and family forum which represents many of the hostage families, once again renewing their call for the Israeli government to make this deal that is on the table, this Israeli proposal to make it a reality to stand by despite the pressures that we are already witnessing beginning to bare on the Israeli Prime Minister.

Over the course of the last couple of days, we've watched as right- wing members of Netanyahu's governing coalition, namely the Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have been threatening to pull the rug out from under Netanyahu and to collapse this government if he follows through with this Israeli proposal.

A big reason for that has to do with the way in which President Biden framed this proposal on Friday night, framing it as a way to end the war, and the Israeli prime minister in the days since has been working to unwind some of that, insisting that he can still accomplish the goals of not only releasing the hostages but destroying Hamas before agreeing to a permanent ceasefire. There are a lot of questions about how exactly you square that circle.

But it is true that the first phase of this ceasefire, during that time, there would indeed be negotiations about getting to a permanent ceasefire, getting to the withdrawal of Israeli troops in the second phase of this deal. But, of course, once a ceasefire is underway, once you're talking about weeks, maybe even months of a ceasefire, the U.S. administration believes it will be very hard, if not impossible, for the Israeli war machine to get back into gear. And therefore, very likely that this will indeed lead to an end of the war. Now we await, of course, Hamas' response. Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Jeremy Diamond for us live in Jerusalem tonight. Thank you so much.

A birthday party turns into a tragedy after one person was killed and dozens of others injured in an apparent drive-by shooting. We know about the case, one of several mass shootings that took place across the country this weekend.

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