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President Biden to Meet with World Leaders at G7 Summit on Migration from Africa to Europe and Proposed Loan to Ukraine Using Frozen Russian Assets; Hezbollah Fires Approximately 200 Missiles into northern Israel from Lebanon; Pro-Trump Media Figures Dismiss Hunter Biden Conviction; Hunter Biden Convicted on Federal Gun Charges; Trump-Backed Candidates Sweep Critical GOP Primaries. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 12, 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]

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A convoy that has the latest weaponry that Vladimir Putin has at his disposal. So while it may not be a direct threat to the United States, it is very symbolic, because Vladimir Putin has been talking recently about how if the U.S. will deploy weaponry his borders, he could do the same to the U.S. certainly, meaning countries like Cuba or Venezuela. The Cuban armed forces, the government have said that these ships are not carrying any nuclear warheads, that they're not a threat, that this is a friendly visit, but we all know the history of course. It's only 60 years ago that, of course, there were Russian warheads based in Cuba.

No one expects that to happen now, but certainly this is a message that behind me, right now, this morning you have Russian warships coming into Havana Harbor, some of the most modern that Vladimir Putin has. You couldn't have expected, couldn't ask for a more high profile visit than this one that's taking place right behind as we speak yes.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's wild to see it right over your shoulder, Patrick. It's so great to have you there and it's great to see you as always. Thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden on his way to a crucial overseas trip. We are standing by at Joint Base Andrews where for the first time it is possible he could speak on the criminal conviction of his son, Hunter.

Confusion over the status of hostage and ceasefire talks in the Middle East as a barrage of missiles is fired into Israel. We are expecting to hear from Secretary of State Antony Blinken shortly.

And today, a vote that could change the future of the country's largest protestant denomination.

Sara Sidner is out. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan, and this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. President Biden will be making his way for Italy where he will be attending the high stakes meetings of the G7 summit. Biden heading up first from Delaware, where he was spending time with his family after his son Hunter was convicted just yesterday on federal gun charges. That guilty verdict is one of many things you could expect is on the president's mind as he is heading off to meet with world leaders with huge issues on their agenda -- the Israel-Hamas war, supporting a huge loan for Ukraine, and also the impact and future of A.I. for these major economies, among many other topics.

Another interesting fact, five of these eight leaders that will be meeting in Italy are all facing serious election challengers, Joe Biden included.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, Nic Robertson, joining us both on this. Priscilla, what is on the mind and the mission of President Biden today?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, as you just mentioned, elections in the United States and around the world could really change the geopolitics. And that is top of mind for President Biden, just as it was last week. And this time around, Donald Trump's shadow will loom large over this G7 summit in some similar ways that it did when the president was commemorating D-Day in France last week.

The president is going to be arriving three years almost two the day of when he attended the G7 summit in his first term. And at that time, U.S. officials said that the president was met with world leaders with relief and enthusiasm that he had won the election. And this is going to be part of what is part of the president's argument moving forward, because the U.S. is trying to strengthen its alliance and reaffirm its leadership on the world stage.

And it becomes quite clear when we're talking about Ukraine. That has been top of mind for the president last week, including this week, and that is something that's going to be discussed among the leaders, because there is, as the president says, the need to preserve democracies around the world, and that is clearest with Ukraine.

Now, we know that the United States is pushing for a $50 billion loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets. So the aid will be something, again, top of mind. And the president publicly apologized, in a rare move, last week to the Ukrainian president because aid had been stalled, given what had occurred in Congress.

So all of this is expected to come up. The president and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy are going to participate in a news conference. But of course, this is not the only thing happening around the world. You have this situation in the Middle East, climate change, China combating their influence around the world, and of course, A.I. So all of that is on the agenda for the president to discuss with world leaders. Pope Francis also will be there to talk about A.I. So the president meeting with all of them over the three-day visit to Italy. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Priscilla, thank you so much. Nic, you're in Italy. Take us into that agenda, those agenda items and what's at stake for all of these world leaders.

[08:05:07]

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, one of the big issues for the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is hosting this event, is, of course, the massive amount of migration, immigrants that have arrived in Italy over the last several years. And one of the ways that the G7 nations have typically tried to address this in the past is looking at development projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. So the first issue on the agenda will be Africa, will be development, as well as the climate, because of course, the changing climate is a driver for people to leave their homes where the economies are becoming less stable and move, in many cases, out of Africa towards Europe. So that will be a big issue. And of course, migration a familiar issue for President Biden, but the context in Europe is a little different. There will be on the second day, a specific agenda item of migration.

The second item, Ukraine, that funding of Ukraine through a $50 billion loan to be financed from frozen Russian assets. There are technical details here about how do you do it. Do you sort of push it all off on the E.U. to help underwrite it? They have collective budget of about $1.2 trillion. There are about $300 billion of frozen assets. How do you really finance it? The United States looks like it's going to shoulder some of that, some of that burden along with the European Union to sort of underwrite it, if you will, not to put forward the money itself.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Nic, and so great to have you there for these meetings. Priscilla, thank you so much. Much more to come on this.

John?

BERMAN: This morning, 200 missiles fired into Israel. How will that impact ceasefire and hostage talks? Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will speak at any moment.

Quote, "It throws a bit of sand in the gears of people suggesting the Biden Department of Justice has been engineered to go after Trump." What some Republicans are now saying that the president's son has been convicted of federal gun charges.

And then three comedians and the Pope walk into a bar. OK, it's not a bar, and it's actually more than three comedians. Stephen Colbert, Chris Rock, Whoopie Goldberg, and others all with Pope Francis. Why?

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[08:11:19]

BERMAN: All right, you are looking at live pictures from Doha in Qatar, these empty podiums right now. We are waiting to hear from the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken amid confusion over what is happening with the ceasefire and hostage negotiations in the Middle East. An Israeli official described the Hamas response to the most recent proposal as a rejection, but a diplomatic source tells CNN that Hamas has neither accepted nor rejected it.

Let's get right to CNN's Oren Liebermann live in Tel Aviv with the latest. So where do things stand as we're waiting on the U.S. secretary of state?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John, this will be an incredibly important statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken because it will give us the U.S. perspective and whether Blinken sees a path forward here. That is what we need to hear, as well as from the Qataris. How do they view the Hamas response?

President Joe Biden put forward a U.S.-backed proposal 13 days ago. Hamas finally responded yesterday according to a source familiar with the talks. They offered some amendments to the proposal. Israel, according to an Israeli official, viewed that as a rejection of the proposal, but it's unclear how Blinken, the Qataris, the Egyptians, the crucial negotiators here view that and whether there's a path forward. That is what we hope to learn, or whether once again this entire effort has fallen apart when it comes down to the details as it has so many times before.

Meanwhile, in the midst of this Blinken diplomatic flurry throughout the region, the U.N. has issued a damning report of the first months of the war. The most in-depth investigation carried out by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry to this point. And it concludes that both Israel and Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, have committed war crimes and violated international humanitarian law at the beginning of the war. The U.N. investigation looks at October 7th to December 31st, the end of last year, so the first two-and-a-half months, and in it the U.N. concludes the both Israel and Palestinian militant groups carried out acts of torture, committed sexual violence, and intentionally attacked civilians. The findings are based on interviews with witnesses, victims, media reports, as well as open source material that they were able to verify.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Hamas portion of the investigation focused on October 7th, and that is where the U.N. found that Hamas intentionally targeted civilians, carried out acts of murder and torture, outrages upon personal dignity, and taking hostages, including children.

Now it has to be noted that the U.N. found Israel has in systemic and widespread way targeted civilians in its campaign in Gaza, in its bombardment of Gaza. Israel did not cooperate with the report and dismissed it or rejected it earlier today as anti-Israel discrimination coming from the U.N. John?

BERMAN: And Oren, it's been an intense several hours between Israel and Hezbollah inside Lebanon over Israel's northern border. What, hundreds of missiles fired into Israel?

LIEBERMANN: Approximately 200 rockets at this point. This is some of the most intense fighting we have seen across that border in some times. And when it gets even close to this level, the fear, of course, is even further escalation in a region that has already seen escalation over the course of the past couple of weeks.

So last night the IDF says it carried out a strike in southern Lebanon that took out a Hezbollah commander Abu Taleb. In response, we are seeing this barrage of some 200 rockets that have sparked fires in northern Israel enforced evacuations. The fear here is a further escalation can open up another front in the war. And that's exactly what we're watching right now, and to see where this goes from here, John.

BERMAN: All right, Oren Liebermann for us in Tel Aviv, a lot going on this morning, Oren. Thank you very much for that.

New information about the man accused of hijacking a bus and killing a passenger while leading police on a chase in rush hour traffic.

And the reaction for right-wing media has been noticeably different to Hunter Biden's guilty verdict compared to another recent trial.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: This morning, President Biden's son, Hunter Biden, wakes up a convicted felon, and despite that, after the news broke yesterday, Donald Trump's staunch supporters, far-right media personalities still maintain justice was not served.

Donald Trump, Jr. even suggesting that the case was done in order to create the illusion of equal justice under the law.

CNN's Hadas Gold has much more on this.

Hadas, you're tracking all of the response from the Halls of Congress to the halls of right-wing media, what is going on here?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We saw sort of two themes really emerge. One was this was a case finally of justice served, a lot of praise for the judge who was a Trump appointee, but then there was sort of more sinister conspiracy theory emerging that this was actually all a sort of cover up for larger crimes, and that's what you saw, Don, Jr. pointing to.

But I want to start with sort of that this was a good trial, quite a different reaction from the sort of right-wing media sphere to what we saw in reaction to the Trump trial, which was also guilty verdicts also brought by a jury of their peers, but just take a listen here. This is Fox News host, Jeanine Pirro, the difference between how she reacted to the Trump trial to how she reacted to the verdict yesterday.

[08:20:24]

JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CO-HOST, "THE FIVE": This is a new era in America, and I think it goes against the ilk of who we are as Americans and our faith in the criminal justice system.

This will be very difficult to get a reversal on. It was handled by Judge Noreika, who is an experienced judge, who didn't play any games.

She was as fair to the defense as she was to the prosecution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: So quite a different sort of tone there for the exact same verdict from a jury of their peers. But then you go into further into the right-wing media sphere and you get something else, you get what they say is essentially a larger conspiracy theory, even though this was a guilty verdict.

Here is right-wing talk show host Charlie Kirk in a tweet, he says: "Hunter Biden, guilty. Yawn. The true crimes of the Biden crime family remain untouched. This is a fake trial trying to make the justice system appear balanced. Don't fall for it."

This is also something that the Donald Trump campaign touts. It is pushing the conspiracy theory that President Biden has taken money from foreign governments and that this whole trial was just to try to cover up for it, tried to give something to take away from what they say is a larger, unfounded conspiracy theory and this is something that Donald Trump, Jr. also spouting in a live conversation on X saying it is not even close to justice, saying it is trying to create the illusion of equal justice under the law.

And this goes to show you how the far fringes of the pro-Trump media world. They have drifted into just sort of automatic conspiracy theories, that the default is a conspiracy theory when the news does not justify their point of view.

BOLDUAN: That image of like hitting the automatic conspiracy theory button is just stuck in my head right now.

Hadas, it is good to see you. Thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with me now, Democratic strategist, former senior adviser to Bernie Sanders 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, Chuck Rocha, and former Trump administration official, Matt Mowers.

And gentlemen, what is so interesting here, there was a piece in POLITICO this morning in their playbook where you had both Democrats and Republicans saying the quiet part out loud when it comes to the Hunter Biden trial.

And Matt, I want to go to you first with Jason Roe, like a Republican strategist who does real Republican campaign says, "It throws a bit of sand in the gears of people suggesting the Biden Department of Justice has been engineered to go after Trump." We have this, I think. We've got a graphic of it up.

"One feature of the modern Republican Party is ignoring facts that don't support the argument and sometimes embracing the conspiracy theories that do." What about that? MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Although it can

mean, I know we just played the two clips from Fox News, but I imagine if I wasn't watching MSNBC last night, because of course I was watching CNN, but if we had, I've got to match them, it is noticeably more quiet than it would have been two weeks ago after the conviction in New York.

And so look, both sides are going to play the politics the way they feel they need to on this. Clearly, the Trump campaign is going to try to highlight the inadequacy they felt in their case and downplay what happened yesterday, the same way you're hearing pretty much silence outside of a pretty basic statement out from the White House yesterday about Hunter Biden's conviction yesterday.

And here is the truth of it all: This race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden right now is so static that both of these have had relatively little impact on the actual results of any poll right now. This election at the end of the day is going to be decided by a very, very, very narrow set of swing voters and those swing voters are likely going to say at talks in all their houses, they've already disapprove both candidates. This just adds fuel to that fire, and they are going to ultimately vote on what they believe is in the best interest for them and their families in November.

And I think the first campaign to recognize that and grab onto that is likely going to be the candidate that wins in November.

BERMAN: I mean, I will say the reaction for most Democrats has been respect the rule of law and to the Trump verdict, it was respect the rule of law. And with Republicans, the response to the Trump verdict was outraged and the response to that Hunter Biden verdict is conspiracy.

I mean, there is a vast difference here in those reactions. I do want to ask you, Chuck, Joe Crowley, if former congressman from New York, as far as making a statement, you know, Democrats saying the quiet part out loud says: "It's the silver lining they weren't looking for." Maybe suggesting in some ways this helps President Biden in his re- election.

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think that its distinguishable because the younger Biden is not the president, and so what you get to see is Joe Biden be a caring father for a son who had a substance abuse program, who was in one of those, who I think gets sympathy.

[08:25:00]

People always run to their corners on the right or to the left and that's right, a small group of folks would decide the outcome. But when you can personalize the president, who is demagogued on the right all the time because of his age or anything else they can find and he can become more human, as a political consultant who runs campaigns every single day, those are the little moments I'm looking for when a president can be more human and not just this thing that we see on the news all day long. BERMAN: All right, I want to get your reaction to something that Paul

-- I think we have the Paul Ryan sound also. Do we have Paul Ryan talking on Fox? We don't have Paul Ryan.

Well, Paul Ryan, the former speaker of the House went on Fox News, Matt, yesterday and said the types of things that Paul Ryan has really said, frankly, since 2020. He said that Donald Trump isn't fit to be president, and he said it right on Fox News for many conservative viewers to hear. This upset, I should say, supporters of Donald Trump, including Congressmen Troy Nehls. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TROY NEHLS (R-TX): Paul Ryan, you're a piece of garbage. You're a piece of garbage. And we should kick you out of the party.

For Paul Ryan to say he is not voting for Donald Trump, that's the problem with some of our Republicans. It's guys like that.

Don't go spouting your mouth, often saying you're a conservative. You're spitting in the face of the leader of our party, Donald Trump.

I mean, grow up a little bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It doesn't really sound like big tent there, Matt.

MOWERS: No. I mean, look, you mentioned that this is what Paul Ryan has been saying since 2020, that's been -- he may have been saying it publicly since 2020, but it is essentially what he has been saying even privately since 2016. And there's been literal books written on that, so I don't think this really comes as much of a surprise to anyone.

There are certainly going to be a sliver of the party, which is going to say they're not going to support Donald Trump as the nominee, and what is going to be interesting, and by honestly polling every single day what I am looking for is, which candidate is going to be able to hold onto the larger share of their own party going into November.

It is amazing. Despite talks like this, despite discussions of division in the Republican Party, despite high-profile Republicans saying they won't support Donald Trump, he still maintains actually much stronger course of work from registered Republican voters than Joe Biden does from Democratic voters, and that just gets the core of one, the bigger political challenges for the White House right now, is that it is upwards of over 20 percent of their core base right now is saying they may not support Joe Biden, whereas Donald Trump is holding almost anywhere between 85 to 90 percent of his own party right now.

And so despite Paul Ryan basically saying what he has been saying for almost a decade now, not much has changed that. Donald Trump still, as of today, has a stronger hold on the Republican Party than Joe Biden does on the Democratic Party.

And that's why you're seeing him ahead in the polls right now.

BERMAN: Chuck, what about Matt's point there? Paul Ryan is saying what he says. Who does that actually convince?

ROCHA: Well, I would push back on Matt just a little bit. We've had elections last night in Ohio, and every Tuesday, we've had an election in all of these states where Republican primary voters got to pick on who they wanted, and about 80 percent have picked Trump to his point, but 20 percent have picked Nikki Haley, who ain't even running for president no more. So I wouldn't say he has got that consolidated.

We've got our own problems with the Democrats, but our base is pretty secure where Joe Biden is the one who has been getting about 90 or 95 percent, and what do you see from Paul Ryan represents a lot of common sense economic driven Republicans in the suburbs who were sick and tired of Donald Trump.

BERMAN: You know, there was a primary, and actually a special election in Ohio yesterday. Ohio's sixth congressional district in a district that I think Trump won by like 29 points where the heavily financed Republican candidate won, but by around 10 points or even a little bit less.

Any source of concern there, Matt?

MOWERS: No. I mean, look, you're seeing a bit of a juxtaposition compared to special elections almost 10 years ago. Republicans traditionally have had habitual voters on their side, older voters, voters with college degrees. Lately, those are two groups that have been shifting to Democratic Party while the Republican Party is doing much better with voters without college degrees and even younger voters who are much harder to turn out in a special election scenario like we saw in Ohio yesterday.

I think you're going to see likely a Republican carry that district again by 20-plus points in the November general election. It is an interesting dichotomy though. You go back just a few cycles ago, Chuck and I are probably on opposite pages about looking at these special election results.

It is the scenario right now where Republicans are doing better in presidential elections because they're pulling out different voters who may not show up outside of the big show every four years.

BERMAN: No, there is really something happening interesting in the special election with the high and low propensity voters there. Thanks for pointing it out.

Matt Mowers, great to see you. Chuck Rocha, as always, nice to see you as well -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Right now, President Biden is headed to Italy ahead of the G7 Summit. Big issues on the agenda, of course, include the Israel- Hamas war, the war in Ukraine, the impact of AI on the world.

Now, with all of the political turmoil -- let me, we will talk about that in one second, but let's go to Doha right now. Secretary Blinken speaking there now.

ANTONY BLINKEN, US SECRETARY OF STATE: As you heard him say, we were together just yesterday in Jordan, had a conference to work to rally more international support to address the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

[08:30:14]