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Hundreds of Palestinians Reportedly Killed in Israeli Hostage Rescue Operation; Trump to Meet Virtually With Probation Officer; Closing Arguments Continue in Hunter Biden Trial. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 10, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:29]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Closing arguments under way in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial after we learn that the president's son will not testify in the case. Why did the defense decide not to put him on the stand? A verdict could come as soon as today.

Plus: Former President Trump does yet another thing no former president has done before, meet with a probation officer. It's a standard part of the process ahead of his sentencing next month. We will talk about what comes next.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And happening now, a high-stakes meeting in Israel, the U.S. secretary of state sitting down with Israel's prime minister, pushing for a cease-fire after IDF forces rescue four hostages in Gaza in a raid that reportedly killed hundreds of Palestinians.

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

KEILAR: We start with breaking news.

Closing arguments are now under way in the Hunter Biden trial. After calling three witnesses to testify on Friday, the defense chose not to call any more today instead, abruptly resting their case without the president's son taking the stand. Remember, Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to three charges related to illegally buying and owning a gun while either abusing or addicted to drugs.

CNN's Paula Reid is standing by outside of the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware.

And, Paula, we heard the courtroom is packed with Hunter Biden's relatives. What's happening right now?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I was in court for a few hours this morning, and I can tell you that the defense side of the courtroom was packed.

The first row, the poor Secret Service agent helping the first lady, she could barely fit on the bench because it was that tight in that front row. The first lady had on one side of her Hunter Biden's wife, on the other side, her daughter Ashley Biden, and then the entire row was filled with close family, the first three rows absolutely packed with close family and friends.

And that's notable because that is exactly where prosecutors started their closing arguments. They actually pointed to the gallery and said, these people, they don't matter, suggesting that they do not want the jury to be swayed by the fact that the first lady of the United States has been sitting in the front row for most of this case.

Instead, they repeated a theme of this case, which is -- quote -- "No one is above the law."

And then they started to focus on one of the most difficult things that they have to prove here. And that is this idea of knowingly doing something, that Hunter Biden knowingly purchased this gun when he knew that he was using or dictated to crack cocaine.

And they said -- quote -- "He knew he used crack at the time he bought the gun in question." Now, they also said that things that defense attorneys have tried to bring in, like, for example, the fact that they didn't collect the exact type of I.D. that they need for this federal form, that the store did not do that.

He said, look, that's irrelevant. Other evidence that has come in is irrelevant. They say he knew that he had a problem with crack cocaine. And they said, look, maybe if he didn't go to rehab, we could argue that he had no idea that he was an addict. But that is not the case.

Now, these closing arguments are still under way and will be for a while. But they're telling the jury that the evidence they have presented over the past six days was personal, ugly and overwhelming. And from my time inside the court over the last week, I can tell you the evidence has been ugly. It has been personal.

But it is ultimately up to this jury as to whether this was overwhelming and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

KEILAR: And, Paula, prosecutors revisited particularly two text messages from October of 2018. Tell us why.

REID: So the text messages that Hunter Biden was sending in the month of October, they are critical evidence, because there is no direct evidence, nobody who can testify that they saw Hunter Biden doing or using crack cocaine during that month.

They have witnesses who can testify to that at other times in 2018. But during the time that he owned the gun, there is no such evidence. But he did send text messages, for example, to his sister-in-law and one-time girlfriend Hallie Biden which suggest that he was either doing drugs or about to buy drugs.

Prosecutors have really focused on these. But so have defense attorneys. And they have -- they have said that, look, he wasn't necessarily doing drugs, he was trying to avoid seeing Hallie, and so he just made these up, and there's no proof that he really was, for example, on top of a car doing crack or meeting someone named Mookie to buy drugs.

So this timeline is significant. And, today, prosecutors introduced new evidence that would place him at a 7-Eleven that he mentions in some of these text messages. So this is more circumstantial evidence to bolster the prosecutors' argument that Hunter Biden was indeed using drugs during the time he owned this gun.

[13:05:11]

And, look, we will see what the jury thinks of it. It is possible, though, not probable, we could get a verdict today.

KEILAR: Possible, but not probable.

All right, Paula Reid, we will be watching.

And, Boris, the clock is really ticking here as this moves into its final phase.

SANCHEZ: Yes, absolutely. It has been a stunning case.

We want to break down the details now with CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig.

Elie, let's take a step back and talk about the key players here and the charges that the president's son is facing.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Boris, so this case is being prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice through the special counsel, a guy named David Weiss.

A few important things to know about him. First of all, he was a longtime federal prosecutor, served under DOJs of both administrations. In 2019, he was nominated to be the U.S. attorney for Delaware by Donald Trump, but important to note he had the support of both of Delaware's Democratic U.S. senators. He was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.

And then, in 2023, he was named special counsel by the U.S. attorney general, Merrick Garland. Now, let's talk about the charges in this case. One of the charges is quite simply that Hunter Biden possessed a firearm while an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance, fairly straightforward, rarely -- not never, but rarely charged federal crime.

That's one of the charges. And then related to that, there's two additional charges that allege Hunter Biden lied on the federal firearms form. Specifically, there's a question that asks, are you an unlawful user of or addicted to marijuana or any other controlled substance?

And you can see Hunter Biden circled no on that form. So those are the three charges facing Hunter Biden in this case.

SANCHEZ: So we're about to watch or at least get reporting from the courtroom... HONIG: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... because we don't have cameras in there.

The closing arguments, what should we anticipate from both sides?

HONIG: So the prosecution closes first in the federal system. Then the defense closes. Then the prosecution actually gets the last bite at the Apple. They get to go again in what we call the rebuttal.

Here's what I think the prosecution is going to stress in the evidence. First of all, a lot of the evidence comes from Hunter Biden's own words in his memoir. He admits to having the gun. He admits to being an addict. We also heard during the case the prosecutors called Hunter Biden's ex-wife, Hallie Biden.

And she testified about finding the gun in his car. She testified that he was a drug addict sort of throughout this period. And, finally, when the gun was recovered, it was in a pouch and there were traces of crack cocaine or cocaine residue along with the gun. So prosecutors are going to say, this is a straightforward case, open and shut.

But the defense is going to have its say too. And crucial to the defense is that the defense the timing. What the defense team for Hunter Biden has argued is that the prosecution has to show you beyond a reasonable doubt that he was an addict from the day he bought this gun, October 12 of 2018. He only had it for 11 days until the 23rd.

So they're going to say prosecution has to prove that he was an addict during that time and that he knew it. That's one of the key pieces of the defense. And also the defense called as a witness Hunter Biden's daughter, Naomi Biden, who testified he had just finished rehab a couple months before this. She saw him in October 2018, did not directly witness him using drugs. He seemed better, she said.

But she was also confronted with some text messages from Hunter Biden that seemed to suggest he was back to using drugs during that time.

SANCHEZ: And that's why the question of Hunter Biden's mind state in that window is so important.

HONIG: Yes.

SANCHEZ: So, once the closing arguments wrap up, what comes next?

HONIG: Yes.

So now we are in the stretch run here. When the closings are done, should be today, the jury will begin to deliberate. We never know how long a jury's going to take to deliberate. You and I have been through this.

SANCHEZ: Oh, yes.

HONIG: It can be quick. It can come out of nowhere.

(CROSSTALK)

HONIG: They may send notes while they deliberate, which would be asking for further legal instructions. They may want to see certain pieces of evidence. They may just have some logistical issues.

And, eventually, they will send a note saying, we have reached a verdict, at which time they will come out and announce their verdict. Now, that could be by the end of the show today, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Possible.

HONIG: Or it could be two, three days for now. Juries will take whatever time they're going to take.

And I do think it's important to keep in mind Hunter Biden actually has two federal charges pending against him. This is the firearm case, federal court in Delaware.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

HONIG: Separately, he has tax fraud evasion cases in California.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

HONIG: That case is scheduled for trial in September. So this is only the first of two federal charges against Hunter Biden.

SANCHEZ: Elie, as we remember from another high-profile case that was concluded fairly recently, jury instructions are part of that process at the end of a case.

HONIG: Yes. Yes.

SANCHEZ: Is there anything here in the jury instruction process that this judge will deliver to the jury that would stand out to you that could tilt the scale, so to speak, for the jury?

HONIG: The defense wants the jury to focus on the word knowingly. That's been the key of their argument all along, that he has to have known and there has to be proof that he knew he was an addict on those crucial dates. It'll be up to the jury.

The gun part of this case, by the way, is conceded by the defense. They are admitting he had a gun. They're focusing all on the knowingly and addict part of this case.

SANCHEZ: Elie Honig, thanks so much for the perspective. Appreciate it.

HONIG: Thanks, Boris. All right.

SANCHEZ: Brianna.

KEILAR: Today, former President Trump takes a significant step ahead of his sentencing in his criminal hush money case. He will meet with a New York City probation official for a presentencing interview. [13:10:03]

The interview will be virtual, Trump conferencing in from Mar-a-Lago. Trump attorney Todd Blanche will also be present. And it will be Trump's first meeting with a probation official since a jury convicted him of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

CNN national correspondent Brynn Gingras with us now on this story.

Brynn, what will happen at Trump's probation interview today?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, let's first point out the fact that this is a little unusual that this is happening virtually, Brianna.

After a defendant has either pleaded guilty themselves or been convicted of the crimes, this procedure happens all the time, this interview. It happens almost immediately. I mean, this trial just ended a couple of weeks ago, but, usually, the defendant goes actually to the same courthouse where Trump had his trial and has that interview face-to-face.

But as you just pointed out, this is virtual. And his defense attorney, Todd Blanche, will be present, which is also an exception that Judge Juan Merchan has made in this case.

But during that interview, this is the chance for the probation officer to get a sense about this person, the defendant, and essentially write a report that's going to be handed to the judge ahead of the sentencing. And so there's a number of questions that are asked during this interview, questions like the background of that person, the criminal history. Do they abuse drugs or alcohol? What is their family background like?

So these are all sort of the questions that the report is going to include. Of course, now we're talking about questions being asked of one of the most famous people on this planet, this former President Trump.

This will also be questions about -- he might be asked, what do you think your punishment should be? And, of course, he can plead for leniency. So it could get very interesting. Of course, we won't know everything that's happening behind closed doors.

But what I will tell you is that we do know the Trump camp is going to be handing in their own sentencing recommendation by Thursday. And then, of course, the sentencing is set for July 11. Let me just tell you quickly what the Trump camp has said about this.

He said: "Trump and his legal team, they're already taking necessary steps to challenge and defeat the lawless Manhattan DA case." Of course, we know also, in addition to that sentencing date next month, an -- appeals is certainly on the horizon, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, we will be looking for that.

Brynn, thank you for that report.

And ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, new details about the military operation that rescued four Israeli hostages, but killed scores of Palestinians, including many civilians, including claims IDF forces were disguised as Hamas fighters.

Plus, millions of Americans are currently under heat warnings and the heat is building. We're going to tell you when and where.

And Caitlin Clark glaringly omitted from the Olympics roster. Basketball's wonder woman responds, and quite graciously, at that.

But, first, breaking news out of Miami, where a massive fire is tearing through an apartment complex, as firefighters make multiple rescues. At least two have gone to the hospital. In a potentially sinister twist, we're told fire crews found a person with a gunshot wound to the chest. No word on their condition, but we will bring you details as we learn them.

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[13:17:28]

KEILAR: Happening right now:, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, trying to push for a cease-fire and hostage deal with Hamas.

Tomorrow, Blinken will be meeting with Benny Gantz, who resigned Sunday from Israel's war cabinet in protest of Netanyahu's failure to secure such a deal.

Also this weekend, Israeli forces launched a set of daytime raids in Gaza to rescue four hostages who were held in two locations nearby one another in Nuseirat. At least one IDF officer died during the raid, while scores of Palestinians were killed in the operation and many, many more injured.

I'm joined now by CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

You can see, as we look at this here, we look at the rescue, you can see part of this operation. And give us a sense here of the planning that this takes, but also the risks to civilians and to those carrying it out.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Brianna, this is absolutely, from that standpoint, an amazing operation, because what they had to do was take a lot of intelligence -- and as you see the helicopter lifting off, the Black Hawk lifting off there.

The group Shayetet 13, which is one of Israel's counterterrorism outfits had to work together with other elements of the IDF, with the Israeli security agencies like Shin Bet, with the domestic intelligence service, and they needed to find out exactly where these hostages were. And that very fact made it really difficult for them to really figure out, because, right here, you have Nuseirat, which is the place where this operation took place. So you're talking about an area that is basically at the borderline between the Israeli advance and the Hamas- controlled areas.

And whether or not they want to tell you it's Hamas-controlled, these are all Hamas-controlled areas. And that is really a very challenging aspect to this operation, because it's a very crowded place and it's an area where it was very, very difficult to get in there. And the way they did it was in part they disguised some of their operatives as actually being Hamas fighters.

KEILAR: Well, that's -- I want to ask you about that. That's reporting that's coming to us from CNN analyst Barak Ravid of Axios, reporting that some in the IDF were wearing basically civilian Palestinian garb. Some were also dressed as Hamas fighters.

Is that problematic at all?

LEIGHTON: Well, in these kinds of operations -- we have done similar things in the U.S. as well for certain counterterrorism operations. So it is a common practice for anti-terrorism forces to use that kind of a disguise to go into an area.

[13:20:00]

Now, from a law of war standpoint, a law of armed conflict standpoint, it could potentially be problematic. But, in this particular case, it was a counterterrorism operation, and it was -- fit within the norms of that kind of an operation.

KEILAR: So we see, for instance, this aerial. This appears to be where you have the three hostages, because there were the three men and then the one woman kept separately. Just tell us what we're seeing here.

LEIGHTON: So what you're seeing here is the troops advancing forward from Shayetet 13 into the helicopter. They are taking -- and here you see the extraction.

This is basically what's happening. They have safely transported the hostages to that helicopter. The helicopter takes off very quickly. And, of course, the one thing that they want to avoid is fire on these elements right here, these military elements of these troops moving forward with the hostages, as well as they don't want the helicopter to be fired upon as well.

So there are all kinds of efforts being made to make sure that none of the firing takes place from the Hamas side or that they can counter it, and that's basically what the Israelis did in this particular case.

KEILAR: Out of frame is actually the U.S.-built pier that is bringing in supplies.And you can see in other video of the supplies coming in. The U.S. has been very clear they were not involved in the actual execution of this, though there was some intel planning that they were involved in here.

The destruction is just awful. I mean, we look at the pictures here, differing accounts of the death toll, depending on who you're talking to, but even the IDF is admitting that there are -- pretty big death toll here.

So let's talk about what that means, especially during a daytime raid. That's part of why we're seeing this.

LEIGHTON: Yes, one of the big problems for planning one of these operations is that if, it's in the middle of a populated area, it's going to be very hard to extract a hostage that you're trying to get released.

And what you see here is really the destruction that results from something like this. What the Israelis did was, once they got in, once they knew exactly where the hostages were, and once they deployed their vehicles and moved into the area, they also used airpower, being bombs, to go after this area.

And, in essence, what they were trying to do is create a whole field of fire that prevented the Hamas fighters from firing at them. So, in essence, they're creating what amounts to the equivalent of a smoke screen to prevent the movement of Hamas fighters into an area where they could potentially go after the Israeli forces coming in.

The Israelis, on the other hand, of course, want to extract the hostages, and they don't want to be interrupted by Hamas shooting at them or potentially killing the hostages.

KEILAR: So, all of this -- and we have mentioned Tony Blinken is pushing again -- it feels again, right? We -- over and over again this push by U.S. officials, as well as other partners in this peace process or an attempt at some kind of cease-fire.

Does the IDF factor it all into that when they're looking at something like this? I mean, are they thinking at all about what this could mean for a potential cease-fire proposal?

LEIGHTON: At the highest levels of the IDF, they absolutely should be looking at this, because that's where the military and the political meld, and that is one of the key things.

So you have the different phases here, the first phase being the withdrawal of the IDF forces, the exchange in the second phase of Palestinian prisoners for the hostages, and, phase three, of course, the reconstruction of Gaza. So that's -- all of this is very much long term by the time you get to phase three.

But, for phase one, what the Israelis need to do is create the conditions so that they can safely withdraw IDF forces while maintaining the security of Israel. That should be their primary goal right now. And, operationally, that goes beyond the planning of a hostage rescue operation.

But the way they conduct those hostage rescue operations should be done with this in mind. You got to be able to do this safely. The more long-term approach, more long-term thinking is necessary in order to achieve the kind of peace goals that we have in this cease-fire proposal.

KEILAR: It's incredible to see these hostages with their families. It's also very hard to grapple with the cost to civilian life in Gaza.

So thank you so much for taking us through this, Colonel. We appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brianna.

KEILAR: Boris.

SANCHEZ: As the war in Gaza rages on, the political and diplomatic dilemmas for President Biden are now coming into sharper focus.

For months, the Biden administration has struggled to walk a fine line between supporting Israel against Hamas as the death toll continues to climb in Gaza and the White House ramps up pressure to get both sides to agree to a cease-fire deal.

But fallout from Israel's rescue operation, as well as the resignation of the country's top war cabinet minister, appear to be complicating Biden's efforts to engineer an end to the war.

With us now is CNN politics senior reporter Stephen Collinson.

Stephen, thanks for being with us.

There's no doubt that the White House is also looking at this conflict through the prism of November's election.

[13:25:00]

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: That's right.

And the White House is saying that the peace plan that the president laid out last week that Cedric was talking about there is even more important now, after the events of the weekend. It's the only way to stop these civilian deaths and to get the hostages back.

The problem is, is that the aftermath of the raid throughout the region and the United States, the resignation of Benny Gantz, all of this could make it more difficult for the White House to get this plan approved. And the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to be relying more on right-wing members of his coalition means that, even if he did agree to this deal, it would be more difficult for him to get it through.

And the Arab states on which the United States is relying to pressure Hamas have already said, the Egyptians, for example, that what happened at the weekend makes it more difficult for them politically to get behind this latest U.S. peace shuttle.

SANCHEZ: I wonder, as we have seen President Biden take a number of steps since October 7 after mistakes and attacks like the ones that we have seen that have created a large amount of civilian deaths, are people potentially overestimating his ability to influence what Netanyahu does, because Netanyahu's remained defiant?

Even in the face of attempts at incentivizing a two-state solution through normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia, he remains adamant that he's going to prosecute this war the way that he sees.

COLLINSON: There are big questions about whether at this point Prime Minister Netanyahu or Hamas have a political interest in moving towards a cease-fire.

Some people, some cynics in Washington suggest that Netanyahu wants to prolong this war as long as possible, because his own political situation is very delicate. There will be an accounting for what happened on October 7 at the end of the war. And he's in a difficult position himself politically.

Perhaps he wants to try and run out the clock so he can see what's next in the United States, who the next president is. He can expect more support from potentially a second Trump administration than he could from a second Biden administration. So this is all very bound up.

The problem with all of this, of course, is that President Biden would really like this to end before the election. He doesn't want protests, for example, from progressive pro-Palestinian supporters at the Democratic Convention in August in Chicago. That could play into the Trump narrative of cities out of control.

So the White House really wants this over. The problem is, it's been pushing this peace plan for months.

SANCHEZ: Right.

COLLINSON: And it's not really got anywhere.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we saw potentially a precursor to the kind of demonstrations and protests we might see at the convention in Chicago this weekend right outside the White House.

Stephen, do you think the prospects of Biden actually taking a stand to limit the kinds of arms that are sent to Israel is realistic?

COLLINSON: Well, we saw a month ago the president warned that, if the Israelis were...

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINSON: ... to go into Rafah, he would limit the supply of those massive bombs which were raising fears of real damage to the civilian infrastructure.

We haven't heard that after this weekend. In fact, the White House hasn't condemned the raid. It's bemoaned the level of civilian casualties, but hasn't gone that far, despite a lot of outrage in the region and among the progressive sectors of the Democratic coalition, which are going to be very important to the president, places like Michigan, key swing states, in the fall.

SANCHEZ: Right.

COLLINSON: So we haven't heard that yet, but the more pressure ramps up on the administration, we will see how that plays out.

SANCHEZ: Stephen Collinson, great to get your analysis. Thanks for being with us.

COLLINSON: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Some breaking news now into CNN. Hunter Biden's defense team has begun their closing arguments after the prosecution finished theirs.

Attorney Abbe Lowell said the jury should make sure that Hunter Biden is not -- quote -- "convicted improperly." He said that reasonable doubt -- quote -- "is not suspicion or conjecture" and added: "With this very high burden, it's time to end this case."

Of course, the prosecution does get a rebuttal, a last word after the defense's closing. The jury could begin deliberations as soon as today. We're staying on top of the case and we will bring you any new developments as we get them.

And still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL: The White House is blasting one of Donald Trump's rumored V.P. contenders over comments he made about the Jim Crow era. Hear what Congressman Byron Donalds said and what the vice president is saying in response.

And from former president to convicted felon. What we expect to happen when Donald Trump meets with a probation officer later today.

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