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Speaker Mike Johnson Meeting Donald Trump At Mar-A-Lago; New Joe Biden Campaign Ad Slams Donald Trump As A "Convicted Criminal"; Brutal Heat Wave To Grip More Than Half Of U.S.; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Disbands Israel's War Cabinet; U.N. Agencies: No Improvements In Gaza And Since IDF's "Tactical Pause". Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 17, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:26]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Going for the jugular, the Biden campaign slamming former President Donald Trump as a "convicted criminal." The first time the president has gone after him over his legal issues in a T.V. ad and this comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson is huddling with Trump discussing what it will take for Republicans to hold on to the House and implement Trump's agenda if he wins in November.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And a heat wave unlike anything Americans have seen in decades will send temperatures soaring for more than half the country. A reminder that when it comes to climate change, the worst is yet to come unless something is done.

And is social media as dangerous as tobacco and alcohol? The surgeon general is now demanding Congress take action and for social media companies to add a warning label for children. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Right now, a major strategy session going down in South Florida, House Speaker Mike Johnson is visiting former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort where the two Republican leaders are hashing out their plans, not only to win back the White House, but also hold on to the House of Representatives this November.

It comes just days after Trump held meetings with Republicans on Capitol Hill, the former president's first trip to the Hill since the January 6th insurrection.

CNN's Alayna Treene joins us now. And Alayna, this is a significant meeting for Trump and Johnson. What are you hearing about it?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, that's right. Well, when Donald Trump was in Washington, D.C. last week, one of the promises he made to lawmakers was not just to help the people in the room get reelected this fall. But also many of the candidates that they're hoping will get elected and can help them expand their majority. Remember, they have a very slim majority right now, it's very hard for

Mike Johnson to get done a number of the priorities that Republicans had hoped. They also don't have the Senate.

And so, what Donald Trump wants out of this is he wants to make sure if he is elected in the fall, that he has the power within Congress big enough majorities that they can help him implement that agenda.

And also, not push back on some of the big things that he's been planning. And we've been hearing him talk about for the past year or so -- year or so now.

Now, the other thing I'm also told is after Donald Trump's conviction in the Manhattan trial and 34 counts of falsifying business records. Days later, he called up Mike Johnson and he ranted to him about how he wants Republicans in Congress to do more to wage war on Democrats. Donald Trump is still very much caught up with this idea of retribution. It's something we heard some of his allies talk about this weekend in Detroit at a conservative conference.

And so, that's the other part of this. It's very hard as well for Mike Johnson with such a slim majority to try and push back on Democrats because he doesn't have that much power with such small numbers. And so, a lot of this is planning out how Donald Trump can help them win in November.

SANCHEZ: So, obviously, the first presidential debate next week right here on CNN, June 27th. What are you hearing about what Trump is planning on the schedule in the days leading up to the event?

TREENE: Right, so, tomorrow, he has a rally in Wisconsin, one of the states he's visited many times before. One of the key battlegrounds that he and his team think is absolutely necessary to winning in November.

Later this week, he's traveling with J.D. Vance, potential V.P. contender, they'll do a fundraiser in Ohio. He also has a rally in Philadelphia this weekend.

But look, when it comes to debate prep. When I talked to his campaign, they repeatedly insist that he doesn't need to do debate prep, that he has no plans to do. Some of the mock debates that we know President Joe Biden is engaged again.

However, he is still having these policy discussions with his team, gaming out how to respond to certain questions.

We know last week after he had met with House and Senate Republicans in Washington, D.C. He actually held a policy discussion meeting with Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Eric Schmitt. They talked about January 6th itself, thinking that that's probably something that will come up at the debate.

And so, they are of course, prepping, even though they're trying to argue that he doesn't actually need it.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's prep without the word prep attached to it.

TREENE: Yes, exactly.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene, thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: For the first time, a Biden campaign ad is calling out former President Trump as a "convicted criminal," highlighting that a jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts last month.

The Biden campaign says voters in battleground states will be seeing this message starting today as part of a $50 million ad buy. Here's a portion of the ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This election is between a convicted criminal who's only out for himself and a president who's fighting for your family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:05:09]

KEILAR: Let's talk about this now with CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

All right, and I should mention, the CNN debate which is going to be potentially critical is 10 days away.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Right.

KEILAR: And perhaps this could preview something of it. But I wonder if you see this as a bit of a turning point for the Biden campaign?

ZELENY: Without a doubt. I mean, they're investing $50 million into this one ad, which is a lot of money even across seven battleground states and nationally, in some respects.

Look, it shows that they are sort of doubling down on this idea. We've heard President Biden sort of talk about it in fundraisers initially, sort of tiptoeing up to this point.

But the bottom line is, the Biden campaign has struggled to break through this idea, sort of comparing the two and, you know, some call it Trump amnesia, that people have forgotten some of the exact things that Trump did in office, some of the chaos. So, they're trying to raise that point.

But, look, this has been the subject of much discussion among Democrats, among operatives and elected officials I've talked to, should they be spending so much time talking about Donald Trump or should they be talking about the Biden agenda, his accomplishments? We'll see.

But they're making a very big decision here to try and use these summer months going into debate to try and get people to focus on some of the negatives of Trump. And independent voters or who they're going after, because a lot of surveys after the Trump trial showed that it barely moved the needle at all, except among independent voters, there was more of a concern.

KEILAR: I think that's the real question is this is the idea of does character should matter? And traditionally, it has at times, right? And, you know, it matters for us. If we had to fill out a job application.

ZELENY: Sure.

KEILAR: This would be problematic for us if we had 34 felony convictions, we'd have to disclose that. President Obama was kind of lamenting this over the weekend. Do you see this though really motivating people?

ZELENY: Look, certainly not Trump's base, and certainly not probably half of the country because a lot of this is baked in for Trump. A lot of -- you know, what's so interesting and unusual about this, Brianna, both sides are using the exact same thing to make their arguments.

The Biden campaign is using the Trump's convictions to make the argument that he is unacceptable. Trump is using his own convictions to make the argument that he is the victim of this big persecution.

So, we will see which side wins but on the margin, with independent voters, perhaps it could move the needle somewhat. Likely not going to be a game changer, though, because the election after all, the economy is still listed as the number one issue in every survey, every voter conversation.

So, some people may just not be all that interested in this.

KEILAR: I want to turn to a piece in The Atlantic, which is looking at Biden campaign officials. And also Democrats sort of party insiders close to the campaign, who have been taking their battles with the media, the press that normally they might reserve for more of a private venue, that this is kind of spilling out into the public. And that it says these Biden backers say that the media are putting Biden's issues like questions about his acuity on the same level that Trump wants to be a dictator when he takes office.

A quote from the piece, the candidates are not comparable, but they're being covered as if they were. What do you think of this sort of fight that we're seeing?

ZELENY: Look, in every campaign that you and I have covered, the rules have changed a little bit. There's no doubt now, in the era of Donald Trump, who is, you know, a mastermind in terms of using the media in some respects and promoting himself. The Biden campaign is fighting back aggressively, more so than in any of the seven presidential campaigns I've covered, they are trying to game the reps here. They do it all the time trying to point out that, you know, you're not being fair here.

So, some of it is just the advent of social media. Some of it, its infighting, you know, just for the sake of, you know, sort of getting people to think about the coverage a little bit more.

But the point is, do voters care about this? My thought is no, the voters I talked to in Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania, other swing states and beyond. They don't necessarily are even online following how the candidates are being covered.

So, sure, there can be disputes about how much time President Biden gets on the air, are we covering Trump too much, these things are always the decisions every day.

But the fighting that the Biden campaign has been doing with the media, it's a bit unusual, but I don't know if the voters care.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a good point.

ZELENY: Or if they should care, they are living their lives, you know, get us a better economy, bring down inflation as opposed to tweeting out about, you know, something you said or I said on T.V.

KEILAR: Yes, maybe we care because obviously we're paying attention.

ZELENY: That's a very interesting piece.

[14:10:00]

KEILAR: Yes.

ZELENY: John Hendrickson, a very smart writer at The Atlantic makes a very interesting set of facts he points out.

KEILAR: Yes, I thought it was a really interesting piece to read. Even for people who may not be interested in this debate. I think they'll like the piece.

All right, Jeff, thank you so much.

ZELENY: You bet.

KEILAR: We appreciate it. Boris?

SANCHEZ: A dangerous heat wave not seen in decades is scorching more than half the U.S. population and over the next week, cities across the Midwest and Northeast are going to continue baking in record breaking temperatures.

Overseas, the unforgiving heat has claimed even more lives. At least 14 Jordanian citizens died during the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca as temperatures topped 115 degrees across the region.

CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir is in New York covering this for us where the temperature is also steadily climbing. Bill, these heat waves are also leading to deadly consequences across the world.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, across the world and here in the United States as we look at this heat dome as it settles in around the country, 260 million Americans will have temperatures over 90 degrees. It is the silent killer heat. It preys on older folks, usually an older structure. So, now is the time to check on folks. From Ohio to Maine, way up in the Northeast not used to these temperatures. You're going to taste it right now.

But as you mentioned, Boris, overseas the Hajj where literally hundreds of thousands of people are packed together. They're in Mecca, they reach temperatures near 125 degrees, it was deadly.

Of course, we expect hot temperatures like that in Saudi Arabia, in places like the Greek islands where people are missing.

They're not used to it up in Concord, New Hampshire and places up in the northeast, they won't get temperatures near that what they're seeing in Mecca right now. But again, a symptom of an overheating planet these days, Boris.

SANCHEZ: And Bill, I think I know the answer to this, but I imagine that this is just going to continue to get worse.

WEIR: Absolutely. This is the result of sort of planet cooking pollution in the air by 425 parts per million right now, way too much for the Goldilocks planet we grew up on. We've got this Godzilla made of carbon. He gets bigger by about 40 billion tons a year and a lot more of that happens, the more we're going to feel it here on Earth.

The good news is it seems like humanity is about to hit the peak of fossil fuel consumption maybe this year. It only went up about one percent last year, electrification is kicking in. The big story is how fast and how much life can be saved between now and then.

SANCHEZ: A Godzilla made of carbon. That is definitely a good way to look at it. Bill Weir, thanks so much for the update.

WEIR: You bet.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disbanding his war cabinet after his main political opponent quits. The latest on the political turmoil over the war in Gaza.

Meantime, the IDF announcing a so called tactical pause to allow aid into the region. But that doesn't mean a pause in fighting. We're going to explain and what UNICEF is now saying about the dire humanitarian crisis underway.

And later, Maryland's governor just handed down a mass pardon for marijuana convictions. We're going to speak to the state's attorney general about that.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[14:17:51]

KEILAR: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making major changes in his country's fight against Hamas. Today he disbanded his war cabinet -- Israel's war cabinet which was established right after the October 7th attacks.

Netanyahu's decision happening just days after the IDF announced daily tactical pauses in Gaza. An effort that they see is to provide a safe route for humanitarian aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is joining us now from Haifa, Israel in the north. Oren, what is Netanyahu's motive behind dissolving the war cabinet. House is expected to impact things.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, as with so many other things in Israel, there is some politics behind this. First on the functionality of the war cabinet. When former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz resigned just a few days ago, it effectively made the war cabinet unnecessary. And that's because the only other two members with authority there were the prime minister himself, Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister Yoav Gallant. They are from the same party, so they can work together. They didn't need a war cabinet to do so, nor they didn't -- did they need any sort of unity government format to be able to make agreements on how to manage the war.

The other part of this is that one of Netanyahu's far right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir had demanded to become a part of the war cabinet and he has made extremist demands on how to run the war in Gaza, saying Gaza should be resettled by Jewish settlements, urging the use of more force in Gaza and in Lebanon. And more of these demands.

One of Netanyahu's ways of simply avoiding the demand to join the war cabinet was to not have a war cabinet and so, it was disbanded.

According to an Israeli official, the war itself will now be managed in the security cabinet, which already exists as part of every government. Israeli officials said Netanyahu would conduct consultations. But it's not clear exactly with who.

Netanyahu has been in charge of Israel for years and knows how to manage the security cabinet. It puts him firmly back in the driver's seat. But, Brianna, that comes with its own challenge. And that's that the blame will be more squarely on him because there is no other party helping him to manage the war, and frankly, manage the country.

It's also worth pointing out that the U.S. envoy for Israel and Lebanon held meetings with not only Netanyahu but other senior Israeli leaders to try to avoid or head off a large scale confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah as we have seen more hostility on Israel's northern border.

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KEILAR: Yes, we're keeping a close eye on that. Oren Liebermann, thank you so much for the report from Haifa. Boris?

SANCHEZ: For more on the aid crisis in Gaza, let's bring in UNICEF Spokesperson Ricardo Pires. Ricardo, thanks so much for being with us. When it comes to these tactical pauses, are you seeing a difference in

the amount of aid that's actually getting into Gaza?

RICARDO PIRES, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: Thanks for having me, Boris. No, for the time being, actually, we're not. It's important for us to reinforce that, that even though any decision to drop less bombs and have less violence on the ground affecting, killing, injuring children on a daily basis across the Gaza Strip is welcomed by UNICEF. We need to be very aware that there's no evidence yet that these processes will work. And from what we're hearing on -- hearing on the ground, nothing has really changed.

So, we're welcoming it. It's a small step. But it certainly won't be the full solution to the problem, which is what we really need to address right now.

SANCHEZ: While these pauses are taking place, the IDF has vowed that fighting generally will not stop. Have you been given assurances about the safety of UNICEF and other aid workers in those areas?

PIRES: No, absolutely not. What we see actually is more and more fear spreading across the draft of Gaza Strip, because for over eight months now, children, families have been displaced. Displaced so many times, and across the north, to the south and are all crammed into small areas of land.

Now, in Al-Mawasi, Deir al Balah or the remains of Khan Yunis in the so called humanitarian zones where conditions are not humane at all, I would say that they're actually quite inhumane because there is not enough food reaching them, not enough water, not enough medicines, fewer hospitals are not being able to cope with the demands. There are very few centers that can actually treat for example, malnutrition.

So, again, it's a small step towards hopefully better days with this tactical pause. But what we're seeing on the ground, the evidence is not showing that it's having the impact that it should, considering the amount of time that these people have been suffering.

SANCHEZ: Have you been given any indication how long we should anticipate that this daily pause will last?

PIRES: No, we don't have any indication of that, Boris, and it's a good question. I think first we need to make sure that it starts, it starts well, and it holds to all its promises and that more aid is facilitated.

But again, it's not only about managing to move aid from -- aid through different or this one, de-conflicted corridor. It's also about distributing aid on the ground, once it hits and reaches warehouses, being able to pick up this aid, pickup medicines, malnutrition treatment, water, food, and delivering it to the points where the need is very huge.

And for that, we need more de-confliction, we need more corridors cleared and we need more tactical posits to spread across, so that humanitarian workers can do their work safely. SANCHEZ: So, your answer kind of echoes something that we heard from the IDF. But I think you don't necessarily mean the same thing. There was a spokesperson for the IDF who told CNN that they believed that there was enough food getting to Gaza, but they argued that the problem was with distribution.

I'm wondering what you think of that? What your response is?

PIRES: Well, the problem is indeed with distribution because aid is getting through even though it's not enough and trucks are getting less across the board. Now, that didn't have -- that they have in previous months. So, we're not getting enough.

But once we get them in the safety of those operations to distribute the logistics, the lack of fuel for trucks to pick up that aid that just crossed and go to areas where roads are destroyed, where conflict is still happening, and where families and children and communities are still waiting for that aid but not -- are not getting it with enough consistency.

So, no, the problem is indeed of safety on the ground for humanitarian workers to operate, and quantity. And none of those two factors are being fully met at the moment.

SANCHEZ: So, on the question of this humanitarian aid pier, U.S. officials temporarily shut it down. They wanted to avoid any potential damage from high seas. Do you have any clarity on how long it's going to be out of service?

PIRES: No, I don't. And I think that's actually a good example, Boris, of how some of these small steps that were very welcomed at the time, and for all of us, hoping that this nightmare will end at some point soon, that that was a good movement towards more aid getting in and more aid getting distributed. And we didn't see that, we saw a very small operation, with some participation from the U.N., not UNICEF, but our colleagues from WFP.

[14:25:10]

But then, after they picked up those supplies and took them to warehouses, we saw some of them being looted because there was not enough safety and the desperation on the ground is so -- is so high.

So, I think that's a good example of how we need to do a lot more than tactical pauses and piers of the shore to really tackle the issue of hunger spreading across the Strip of children getting killed on a daily basis of not being protective, of being traumatized, of having lost their parents, their families, their homes, and now, still not seeing a ceasefire, which is what we're really talking about here. We need a ceasefire. That's the only only element that can really make a change to this horror right now.

SANCHEZ: Ricardo Pires, we have to leave the conversation there. We appreciate you joining us.

PIRES: Thank you. SANCHEZ: Of course. Russian President Vladimir Putin is set for a rare

visit to North Korea. We're going to get you a live report from Moscow on this, just ahead.

Also, why the Surgeon General believes that social media should come with a warning label for kids. We'll discuss in just moments.

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