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Jury Selection Begins In Criminal Tax Fraud Case Against Trump Org; Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Temporarily Blocks Sen. Graham's Testimony In GA Probe In 2020 Election; NASA Team To Study Unidentified Aerial Phenomena; Rishi Sunak Set To Become Britain's New Prime Minister; One Adult, One Teen Killed In St. Louis High School Shooting. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired October 24, 2022 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:31:38]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Jury selection is happening now in the Manhattan district attorney's criminal tax fraud and grand larceny trial against the Trump Organization.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: The company is facing nine counts in connection with an alleged scheme dating back to 2005 to compensate executives, quote, "off the books."
CNN's Kara Scannell is outside the court right now.
Kara, we know that former President Trump has not been personally indicted in this case. So what is really at stake here?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon, Bianna and Victor. The former president has not been indicted in this case. And he's not expected to be implicated in any wrongdoing when trial testimony gets under way.
This is one of the most significant pieces of the many criminal investigations that have been circling around the former president. This is the company that he's built from the ground up, now on trial, like you said, on those nine counts, including grand larceny and tax fraud.
The Trump Organization has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
During the course of this trial, we're expected to hear testimony from several Trump Organization insiders, including its former CFO, Allen Weisselberg.
He's on paid leave from the company. But he's expected to testify and answer questions by both the prosecution and the defense in this case.
Now, it's important to remember, jury selection is just under way right now. They brought in a panel of 130 prospective jurors.
Just after the lunch break, they dismissed half of them. And they were dismissed for things such as medical reasons, scheduling, and some biases they may express. Now the selection is under way in earnest.
The judge is going to be polling the jurors until they're able to get a group of 12 jurors who are unbiased and several alternates.
The judge is signaling that this is going to take more than one day. He told the lawyers they should be prepared to seat a new panel of jurors tomorrow, that they will swear in.
Ultimately, what's at stake here, if the Trump Organization is convicted, they could face a maximum fine under the charges that they're faced with in New York State of $1.6 million. That's not a tremendous amount of money for a company at this size.
The bigger question will be if there's any collateral damage if the company is convicted. Will they have trouble finding business partners or any financing?
But that is some time away when -- as they work to seat a jury now on the questioning just beginning again now that we're back from lunch -- Victor, Bianna?
BLACKWELL: Kara Scannell, for us outside the courthouse, thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Another legal development. The Supreme Court has spared Senator Lindsey Graham for now at least. Justice Clarence Thomas temporarily blocked a lower court order that would have required him to testify in front of a Georgia grand jury investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
BLACKWELL: CNN's Paula Reid is with us now.
Explain Thomas' order and what happens next.
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Victor, this is just a temporary Victory for the Senator. Justice Clarence Thomas has halted a lower court order that said a Georgia grand jury could seek testimony from the Senator as to an ongoing investigation into interference into the 2020 election.
Specifically, investigators wanted to talk to the Senate about phone calls he allegedly made, asking for information about absentee voting in the state, as well as possible voter fraud.
In the original subpoena that went to the Senator, it is dated November 17th. So Senator Graham asked the Supreme Court to just put that subpoena on hold while these larger legal issues continue to play out.
[14:34:59:]
And they have granted him that. This is a temporary hold while the full Supreme Court will consider some of these bigger questions.
The Senator has insisted that anything that he did in the state of Georgia after the election, that it was part of his job as a Senator, as constitutionally protected activity. But lower federal courts have disagreed with that. And they have held
that, in fact, this grand jury can speak his testimony on some of the issues that it is examining.
We expect, over the next couple of weeks, the Supreme Court has asked those Georgia investigators to respond to this by Thursday. And over the next few weeks, we'll see what the Supreme Court does next.
This is a temporary victory for the Senator.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, this back and forth has been going on for months now.
Paula Reid, thank you.
Well, it may not be a bird or a plane or even Superman. But starting today, NASA's new team studying UFOs will try and find out what exactly it is.
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[14:40:29]
GOLODRYGA: So NASA has put together a team of people to study unidentified aerial phenomena.
BLACKWELL: Former NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly is part of the group of 16 that also includes scientists, astronomers, former Pentagon officials.
They'll spending the next nine months looking at unclassified data and examining how NASA can improve its analysis of these unexplained events. Then they'll release the findings to the public.
Adam Frank is a professor of astrophysics -- I have to work my way through that -- at the University of Rochester. And the author of "Light of Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth."
Professor, always good to have you on.
My overriding question here is, will I know whether there are aliens at the end of this probe or not?
ADAM FRANK, PROFESSOR OF ASTROPHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER & AUTHOR: I doubt, at the end of this probe.
What's going to happen here is really, they've only got eight months. They're going to really kind of begin to sort through the data and do that first part of science and ask, what do we have to work with?
GOLODRYGA: Really, you're telling us to lower our expectations here.
FRANK: Way low, yes. Way low.
GOLODRYGA: Talk to us about --
(CROSSTALK) FRANK: I'm sorry, yes.
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GOLODRYGA: t's all right.
FRANK: It happens.
GOLODRYGA: I'm also curious to know, these are millions of other people. But explain to us why this is an important study to do.
FRANK: The thing is, with UFOs and UAPs, in general, there's always been a lot of excitement. But the data has always been pretty -- it's not been very good. There's not been much that anybody can work with.
If somebody tells you that they saw something last night, they may be your friend and you believe them, but how are you supposed to turn that into anything you can draw a conclusion from?
We need to get past all of the excitement and the conspiracy theories and begin to look at what data is there and really whether we need to start collecting new data.
That's really what I think is ultimately where you're going to have to go.
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FRANK: This commission is really putting together really good people, really talented people. I know a few. I've worked with a bunch of them.
And, you know, they're smart. They are creative. And they're also very, very boring, which is very important for something like this. Boring in the scientific sense.
That they're really going to take the data that they have and just, without bias, just try and evaluate what's there to work with.
BLACKWELL: Yes, that's where I was going to go with this. You wrote a few months back, when NASA wrote that they were going to get involved and try to understand these UAPs, that they could, if handled well, do more than shed light on UAPs.
What's the definition of "if handled well?" What does that look like?
FRANK: The thing is, about science, there's the -- what I like to call the most important, most boring idea in the universe, and that's standards of evidence, right?
Science works on this very meticulous process of evaluating what's a good piece of evidence and what to do with it.
Of course, this works because I'm talking to you in my room right now through a box, right? Only because of all the work that's been done in science, can this computer actually be my image to you. So we have to apply the same kind of exacting and meticulous standards
to the UFOs and UAPs, or with the work that I do and my colleagues, looking for life on other planets.
The work here is to really separate the wheat from the chaff and get starting on asking ourselves, what would we need to really tell what UFOs and UAPs are all about.
GOLODRYGA: Quickly, Adam, what is your most pressing question out of this inquiry? What are you hoping to learn?
FRANK: Well, I really would like to see that -- I would like to see the next steps.
What I would like them to say is, what do we need to really answer this question? What kind of program would we have to put in place? What kind of data collection would we have to put in place to really go after this question.
Now I personally don't think this has anything to do with aliens. But I think science is about doing an unbiased job of asking that question.
So really, from a scientific point of view, well, what kind of equipment do you need? Where do you start?
BLACKWELL: Is there alien life? Tell me, Professor.
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FRANK: I don't know. I'm not sure --
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BLACKWELL: You wrote a whole book!
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[14:45:00]
BLACKWELL: If you don't know --
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FRANK: You know, it's the most pressing -- it's the oldest question we've ever had, are we alone? Are we the only time in cosmic history that this strange thing called life and self-conscious life has evolved? And the answer is, we just don't know.
I have my own personal opinion. There's so many planets, I think, yes, it's happened. But until -- it's possible we're not. It's possible we're alone.
BLACKWELL: All right, that satisfies me for today. You say, yes, because there's so many planets. I'll take it.
Professor Adam Frank, always good to have you on. Thanks so much.
OK. So the U.K. leadership race is over and Rishi Sunak is set to become the next prime minister, Britain's youngest in more than 200 years, and the first prime minister of color. We're live in London, next.
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BLACKWELL: Conservative lawmaker, Rishi Sunak. is set to become Britain's next prime minister. The former finance minister won the race after his only challenger dropped out.
And he'll make history as the first person of color to hold this top spot. And at 42 years old, he will be Britain's youngest leader in more than 200 years.
GOLODRYGA: CNN's Bianca Nobilo is live in London.
Bianca, what more can you tell us about the incoming British prime minister? He is a known quantity for those in Britain.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is best known perhaps for his role as the chancellor for the Exchequer during the coronavirus pandemic. He was lauded for slick and responsible performances and adjusting his policies and being pragmatic to try and support the country.
He's a trailblazer in many ways, as you two were just outlining. Britain's first Asian prime minister, fist prime minister of color, first Hindu prime minister, serendipitously going to assume that role during Diwali, one of the biggest Hindu festivals of lights and new beginnings.
We understand that he will become prime minister officially tomorrow after he goes to see King Charles III.
And around noon, he'll make a speech, just a meter or so behind me, behind the podium here at 10 Downing Street. And we'll learn about how he wants to define his premiership and what he'll be standing for.
Even though is those respects, he has also had a fairly conventional path to power. He attended a prestigious school, Winchester College here in England.
And then went on to Oxford where over half of Britain's prime ministers have been educated. And then onto Stamford for an MBA in the finance industry.
And he was only elected as a lawmaker only seven years ago. Even though it's, as you say, Brianna, a definitely a known quantity, but still quite untested in the historical arc of prime ministers.
And we have a lot to learn about how he's going to approach governing, whether he'll invite a broad church of cabinet members, and how he'll be able to approach this divided party, this economic calamity that's befallen the country being exacerbated by Liz Truss.
And also trying to restore any shine that's been dulled on Britain's international reputation over these last weeks, as, from several quarters of the country, has been ridiculed and becoming a bit of a laughingstock in terms of its politics.
BLACKWELL: Bianca Nobilo, thank you.
GOLODRYGA: We are following developing news out of St. Louis. There was a deadly school shooting this morning. What witnesses are telling CNN. That's up next.
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GOLODRYGA: Police are investigating yet another deadly high school shooting. The latest happening this morning in St. Louis.
BLACKWELL: Three people are dead, including the suspected shooter. Six others were rushed to the hospital.
CNN national correspondent, Brynn Gingras, has an update for us.
What do you know, Brynn?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yet another shooting inside a school. Authorities, both local and federal, are still on the scene investigating. No active threat anymore though.
This happening at Central Performing and Visual Arts School in St. Louis.
The police chief of St. Louis confirming there that this -- they responded, authorities, to a death scene at the high school with a shooter inside, after 9:00 this morning, engaged with that shooter and that shooter has been killed.
And we know that they think he's about 20 years old. They have not I.D.'d him just yet. And they're still trying to figure out how he's affiliated with the school.
But as you just mentioned, an adult was killed in the shooting, as well as a teenager, both females. And we learned that others were injured and brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds and shrapnel injuries of that sort, according to authorities.
I do want to bring up a harrowing story that my colleague, Paul Murphy, talked to a math teacher inside the school at the time who got his classroom into lockdown, was able to close the door.
Minutes later, he could hear a bang, bang outside of his door. And even heard someone outside the door -- he believes it was the gunman -- saying that he was going to "F'ing kill everyone" -- or sorry -- "You are going to F'ing die," is what he said, according to my colleague, Paul Murphy. But I also want to bring up that police chief again. He gave us many details about this shooting.
And I want you to hear how he responded to the question: How did this gunman get inside that school?
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MICHAEL SACK, COMMISSIONER, ST. LOUIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: The doors were locked. Don't be confused. The school was closed and the doors were locked.
The security staff did an outstanding job identifying the suspect's efforts to enter and immediately notified other staff and ensured that we were contacted.
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GINGRAS: So it appear that that quick reaction of that security official inside helped possibly to save lives here.
But again, two people killed in the shooting, guys. Yet another one that we are reporting on in American schools -- guys?
BLACKWELL: All right, Brynn. Thank you for that.
Just into CNN, the artist, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, just lost his powerhouse agent. A creative artist agency has severed ties with the rapper after his anti-Semitic remarks, prompted condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League and others.
A spokesperson for the talent agency confirmed to CNN that he is no longer a client.
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GOLODRYGA: He was also locked out of his social media platforms for his comments against Jews. He has not only refused to apologize but has doubled down on them in recent interviews.
CNN has reached to West's representative for comment. We have yet to hear back.
