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Jury Currently Deliberating in Hunter Biden's Federal Gun Trial; Polling Indicates Hunter Biden's Trial Unlikely to Affect Presidential Election; Police in China Arrest Man They Say Stabbed Four Americans; Blinken: Netanyahu Reaffirmed Commitment to Ceasefire Proposal; Uncle of Rescued Hostage Speaks to CNN; Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 11, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The crossover, she can do whatever she wants, I would say.

Is it good for politics to take on Taylor Swift?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, this just goes into that bucket of weird and strange that we are seeing pop up almost every single day in this campaign, Kate. But again, I think the more than Donald Trump focuses and is obsessed with somebody like Taylor Swift, the better it is for Democrats, because I think we do know that she's liberal. We do know that she probably will not vote for Donald Trump. And she may even come out in and endorse Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the Democrats before the November election, which I think would be the Republicans and Donald Trump's biggest nightmare. And it's probably why he's injecting this question mark into this election for whatever reason he might think helps him.

But again, this just goes into the weirdness of what this campaign is, and it gives us the opportunity to talk about the weirdness of Donald Trump. And again, that does nothing to take away from his base, but we know that his base will probably never leave him no matter what. But it does go into that category of moderates and commonsense Republicans that are going to think, wow, this man just -- there's something not right up there. This man is not fit for office.

BOLDUAN: The biggest nightmare for Republicans and Donald Trump -- Taylor swift. You heard it here. It's good to see you guys. Thank you so much.

The next hours of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A verdict could come this morning, very shortly. The jury in the Hunter Biden's gun trial resumes deliberations.

The murder rate in the U.S. could be headed to its largest annual decline ever. Big drops in crime across the board. What the new data tells us. And the bombshell secret Supreme Court tapes, Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Samuel Alito's wife, the one with the flags. She even talks about flags.

Sara is out today. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan, and this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: Standing by for another historic verdict, very soon to 12 men and women weighing Hunter Biden's fate will resume deliberations after meeting for just over an hour yesterday. And any minute we could see the president's son for the first time today walking into the courthouse. That is where he's expected to have to wait, or nearby, as the jurors decide whether to convict him on three felony charges related to a 2018 gun purchase.

Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison if he is convicted on all three counts. It is, however, unlikely, we're told, that he would serve that kind of jail time. Still standing by to standby to here exactly what this jury decides, CNN's Marshall Cohen outside the court for us once again. How is jury deliberations going to look this morning?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Kate, good morning. It's 8:00 now, and the jury is expected back in one hour, 9:00 a.m. They got one hour of deliberations in the books yesterday before breaking for the night. And they will resume this morning. Now, the judge who has been overseeing this case said that she doesn't feel the need to bring the jurors into the actual courtroom at 9:00 and to wish them a good morning. They can go straight to the jury box, and once they are all here today, they can resume those deliberations on the three felony charges that Hunter Biden is facing for allegedly purchasing and possessing a gun while addicted to illegal drugs.

Now, I should note that, yes, there are three top line charges here, but underneath each one of those counts are a series of elements of each crime that the jurors need to deliberate and agree on unanimously for each element of each crime that's in this indictment. Look, you mentioned it. If he is convicted on all three charges he could face prison time up to 25 years. That seems highly unlikely, though, given the fact that he is a first-time offender.

But as we sit here and wait for the verdict, the fate of the president's son is in the hands of those 12 jurors from Delaware, six men and six women. They'll be back in about one hour to finish up.

BOLDUAN: And Marshall, we've seen the first lady going into court. We know that Hunter Biden's -- other members of Hunter Biden's family have also been in the courtroom, as any family does and can, to show their support for him. But that became part of the prosecutors closing argument. Why?

COHEN: Yes. It is, of course, common for defendants to have the support of their family.

[08:05:00] It's pretty rare for those family members to have their own Secret Service agents following their every move. But they really beefed up the presence yesterday for the closing arguments. Obviously, there was the first lady, Jill Biden. President Biden's sister, Valerie, was there, President Biden's brother James. Hunter's younger sister, Ashley, they were all there in the pews.

And the prosecutors noticed one of the very first things, Kate, OK that the special counsel, prosecutor Leo Wise, said in his closing arguments to the jury was that they may recognize some faces in the gallery from the news. They may recognize some of those VIPs from the community here in Wilmington. But respectfully, none of that matters. That's what he said, none of that matters. He wants them to focus on the evidence, which in the view of the prosecution is overwhelming. Kate?

BOLDUAN: The jury begins deliberation very soon. Marshall, thank you. John?

BERMAN: With us now, CNN senior data reporter, Harry Enten. Harry, we're talking about the Hunter Biden trial. What does the data show about what people think about this trial in terms of how Hunter Biden has been treated?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Yes. I think there's this real thing. Would Hunter Biden even be on trial if he wasn't the president's son? There are a lot of folks who are on Hunter Biden's side or on Joe Biden's side say they wouldn't even be brought. That's not necessarily the case, according to the public.

The legal system's treatment of Hunter Biden, now, this was after the criminal indictments of him, but before this most recent trial, look at this -- 66 percent of Americans say that the legal system treatment of Hunter Biden has been fair. In fact, according to the polling, if anything, they think it has been not harsh enough on him. Just 27 percent of Americans think that the legal system has been unfair. So the fact is, most Americans have no problem with Hunter Biden being on trial. His favorability ratings are quite low. And it's something, when you look at the polling, why the White House I think is genuinely worried, because he's definitely, in their minds, potentially a liability for them, at least outside of Joe Biden.

BERMAN: Well, the important thing to remember is that it's Hunter Biden --

ENTEN: Correct.

BERMAN: -- who is on trial here, not President Joe Biden. But there is some data in terms of what the public thinks about the president in how he views or is, I guess, connected to his son.

ENTEN: Yes. Sort of my leading question here. All right, Hunter Biden's legal troubles and Joe Biden. Hunter's troubles are related to Joe --

BERMAN: Unrelated to Joe. ENTEN: Correct, unrelated to Joe. Thank you. And 46 percent say that is believable that they were unrelated to Joe. That is the plurality believe it is unrelated to Joe Biden, just 37 percent of Americans believe that is not believable. That's a good number for Joe Biden.

How about this -- Joe Biden is a good dad by supporting his son. The clear majority, 54 percent, say that that is believable. And this is, I think the polling that Joe Biden sort intuitively is listening to, saying, you know what, first off, I don't necessarily care about the public, but secondly, I think the public thinks I'd be a pretty good dad by supporting his son.

BERMAN: Yes, he may not be looking at the polling at all when it comes to his public statements about this trial or his son, he may just be being a dad.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: Being a dad. What is the potential impact on the election?

ENTEN: Yes, probably not much at all because the clear majority of folks believed that Hunter Biden's legal troubles, they have no impact on their vote. Yes, there's this 23 percent who say they're less likely to vote for Joe Biden. But you know who those 23 percent are? They're Republicans who weren't going to vote for Joe Biden anyway.

BERMAN: And there are four percent --

ENTEN: There are four who say it's more likely to vote for Joe Biden, but you can get four percent of Americans to basically say anything.

BERMAN: Hard to see the logic there. All right, Harry Enten, great to see you. Thank you very much.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Police in China have now arrested a man they say stabbed four Americans in broad daylight. Video appears to show the victims on the ground clearly bloodied. A Chinese tourist was also interviewed. That video, though, not seen on social media in China as it was swiftly censored after being published. The four Americans injured are instructors from Cornell College in -- Cornell College in Iowa, who were in northeast China as part of an exchange program. Officials say they are all in stable condition, but it's unclear what motivated this attack.

CNN's Marc Stewart is in the city where this attack happened, joining us now. What are you learning about this arrest Marc?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An arrest has been made, Kate. Police confirmed it just a short time ago. This is a 55-year-old mad, and according to police, he said he was walking when he bumped into this group of four Americans, these four educators. And then somehow this stabbing took place that injured all four of them, as well as a Chinese tourist who stepped into intervene. We just got back from the actual stabbing side. It's about a 15-minute

hike from where we are now. And when we arrived, there was basically no evidence that anything ever happened. It looked like some of the blood on the ground had been washed away, a contrast to what we saw yesterday when we saw these people on the ground, bloody, clearly in need of help.

I should point out that this park is very similar to a park you would see in any suburb in the United States.

[08:10:05]

We've been here for just a few hours. There are hiking trails. There is a train. There is a temple. There is no reason but to feel safe here. So obviously, a lot part of holes in the story. The blanks need to be filled in.

Let's also look at the backdrop in China right now. There is certainly arise in nationalism. It's something that I hear in conversations with people that I have here in China. It's also apparent on social media. Yet at the same time, we have Chinese President Xi Jinping very anxious to welcome American students here as part of study abroad programs. In fact, when he was in the United States last fall, he mentioned bringing as many as 50,000 Americans. And just last week, he even made a personal reach out to an institution in the United States to have this kind of exchange. So it will be interesting to see if this incident has any kind of damper on things.

And finally, Kate, you alluded to this at the beginning. No one here knew about what happened for a good 48 hours. As soon as this happened, social media posts were scrubbed. It wasn't until we heard from officials in Iowa that this came to surface. In fact, just a few minutes ago, there were a group of people gathered around someone's cell phone, trying to get the latest information. That is the environment, the surveillance state atmosphere often that we see here in China, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Marc Stewart, thank you so much for your latest reporting. John?

BERMAN: All right, new statements this morning and the prospects of a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. Is there new reason for hope?

It is forecast to be one of the worst hurricanes seasons in some time. New worries that the government cannot afford it.

And a brazen porch theft caught on video. To be clear, the porch was not stolen. That's a relief. What was on it was.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:37]

BOLDUAN: This morning, Secretary of State Tony Blinken is now in Jordan for a gathering of leaders focused on getting more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Earlier, he was in Israel where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu. Blinken telling reporters that there is a consensus among Netanyahu and other leaders to move forward on a proposed ceasefire deal that was just approved by the UN Security Council.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is in Tel Aviv.

How much consensus really is there though? Where do things stand?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kate, this appears to be a more positive position than we've seen in quite some time now when it comes to the efforts to reach a ceasefire and a hostage release between Israel and Hamas.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken making a whirlwind trip through the region. First, he was in Egypt at the start of the week, then a series of meetings with Israeli leaders, the prime minister, the defense minister, the opposition leader, the member of the War Cabinet, who just resigned, and now, he is in Jordan and then will be going to Qatar.

So a lot of the key players needed to get not only the Israelis on board and the Biden administration is clearly confident that they have the Israelis agreeing to the ceasefire proposal. But now to try to push Hamas to agree to the ceasefire proposal that is on the table.

There have been some positive noises coming from Hamas, both in reaction to the UN Security Council resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire and to the proposal on the table. The question of course, is in the details and that remains to be seen because the process has fallen apart repeatedly on the details in the past.

Still, Blinken knows who he has to convince here and that is the head of Hamas' military in Gaza, the most powerful person in the organization right now, Yahya Sinwar. He is what Blinken said a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, US SECRETARY OF STATE: I think there -- there are those who have influence, but influence is one thing, actually getting a decision made is another thing. I don't think anyone other than the Hamas leadership in Gaza actually are the ones who can make decisions. That's what where waiting on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: Now, "The Wall Street Journal" was able to view messages written by Yahya Sinwar over the course of the negotiations and from the start of the war, and they give an interesting insight into his mindset and his perspective.

In one of these messages, "The Wall Street Journal" viewed, which CNN cannot verify, Sinwar says: "We have the Israelis right where we want them." Sinwar said in a recent message to Hamas officials seeking to broker an agreement with Qatari and Egyptian officials. On the big picture perspective on how many Palestinians have been

killed here, it is clear from these alleged messages that Sinwar views this as something almost necessary to push forward the Palestinian national cause.

Here is another quote from "The Wall Street Journal."

"In one message to Hamas leaders in Doha, Sinwar cited civilian losses in national liberation conflicts in places such as Algeria, where hundreds of thousands of people died fighting for independence from France, saying these are necessary sacrifices."

It is that mindset that Blinken is trying to work towards agreeing to a ceasefire here. It is a key question.

Again, Kate, we appear to be closer than we've been in quite some time now, and yet that doesn't mean the process is over or complete at all.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Great reporting as always. Thank you so much, Oren -- John.

BERMAN: All right, joining us now is Aviram Meir, the uncle of former hostage, Almog Meir, who was rescued over the weekend.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us. While we have you, just give us an update. How is Almog doing this morning?

[08:20:04]

AVIRAM MEIR, UNCLE OF RESCUED HOSTAGE, ALMOG MEIR JAN: Almog is generally okay and he is trying to digest what happened with him in the last eight months and specifically in the last three days.

BERMAN: You said when he was first released, what he wanted most was a hug and a shawarma. How many hugs and shawarmas has he had now over the last four days?

MEIR: Lots of hugs, one shawarma, but late that day.

BERMAN: That's a good ratio. I'll take that ratio any day.

What have you learned? What has he told you about his captivity?

MEIR: We haven't had the opportunity to talk quietly together. But generally, in the last six months, he spent time with two other hostages in the same place with Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv and at that time, they were like a team. They are very good friends. They have their own nicknames.

They have their own terminology. There were lots of time together and they really, really love each other.

BERMAN: I heard no daylight, kept in the dark for months. What can you tell us about that?

MEIR: I didn't understand -- I didn't hear the question, please. BERMAN: One of the things I heard you say is that he was kept inside

with no daylight, more or less in the dark for months.

MEIR: Yes. It's right. In the last six months, this is what I know. I don't know what happened in the first two months, but in the last six months, they haven't been allowed to leave the apartment.

So they saw sun from the windows, but they didn't go out.

BERMAN: What gave him hope while he was in captivity, while he was being held prisoner -- hostage?

MEIR: What I can tell you is that they were together and they empowered each other all the time. And his friends was his back and he was their back, and they supported each other.

I can tell you that in the 11th of May, we saw television in Al Jazeera and we saw the forum, the family forum in Tel Aviv rally and we saw a picture of him in that rally, so we understood that he is not forgotten and people are thinking about him.

But more than that, we didn't know too much.

BERMAN: Your nephew has now been rescued, but there are many others who are still being held hostage. What do you want to see from the Israeli government? What do you want Benjamin Netanyahu to do?

MEIR: In our personal family, the circle is closed and Almog is here and we are very happy, but there are still 120 families who is looking for their dears and what we want Netanyahu to do is to bring them by an agreement because we understand that operations like Almog have been rescued won't bring 120 others.

So we want to press all the governments, all the Hamas and on the Israeli government to sign this deal and to take out all the other hostages back home.

I have to tell, you the joy of the people of Israel when they saw four hostages came back, it was incredible. The joy is enormous and if the people of Israel will see 120 other hostages that will come back home, it will be a tikkun, it will be fixing Israel, it will do anything to do everything right.

It will be lots of energy for us if they just come back.

[08:25:00]

BERMAN: Aviram Meir, please, to your nephew, Almog, more hugs and many, many more shawarmas.

Thank you so much and we are so happy for you and your family. Appreciate you being with us -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Secret recordings of Supreme Court justices, even a secret recording of Justice Alito's wife. What happened and what Alito's wife is now saying about flying more flags at her home. And there are signs of some growing support for Robert Kennedy, Jr.

even in states where he is still struggling to even get on the ballot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, caught on tape, always provocative words, even more so when it is a Supreme Court justice and his wife and she talked about flags.

On a secret recording, Justice Samuel Alito appeared to endorse a call to return our country to a place of godliness. A liberal activist and filmmaker presented herself as a religious conservative and secretly recorded -- secretly recorded the justice and his wife at a Supreme Court Historical Society dinner.

The recording comes in the wake of the controversial flags being flown at Alito properties, and this is what Martha Alito had to say about that.

[08:30:29]