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Jason Sudeikis Speaks Out; Banking Fears; Trump Lawyer Forced to Testify; U.S. Retaliates For Drone Strike. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 24, 2023 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Elian Gonzalez, the boy whose custody battle rocked the United States and Cuba, now poised to become a Cuban lawmaker.

The country is set to hold elections on Sunday. And, last month, the now 29-year-old Gonzalez was nominated for the National Assembly. Back in 1999, Gonzalez was rescued off the Florida coast when a boat carrying his mother and nine others capsized. It set off a monthslong, tense custody battle between distant relatives in Miami and his father in Cuba.

Thanks for your time today and this week on INSIDE POLITICS. Try to have a peaceful weekend.

Brianna Keilar picks up our coverage right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington.

The U.S. military strikes back. The Pentagon says an American contractor was killed and five U.S. service members injured when an Iranian-made drone struck a base in Northeastern Syria. The U.S. then retaliated with an airstrike to the south. This is video posted online that reportedly captures the strike on one facility linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard in Syria.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon for us.

Natasha, what more are you learning?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Brianna.

We are learning that those wounded U.S. service members are now in stable condition. And we are told that this drone, this suspected Iranian drone that targeted that coalition military base in Northeastern Syria, it was a -- quote -- "suicide drone." It was used kind of as a one-and-done-type drone just to attack and then depart.

And we are told that the U.S. did retaliate, of course. They did target facilities inside Syria that they believe that the Iranian proxy groups were using in order to store munitions, as well as gather intelligence. And this is not the first time that the U.S. has targeted Iranian proxy groups in the region. It has been done many times before, including as recently as August of

2022, when President Biden ordered yet another strike on Iranian groups in Syria. But this is happening with -- well, this is happening very often now. And that is what is really concerning to the United States, because the U.S. has about 900 U.S. troops in Syria who are part of the anti-ISIS coalition.

And so the U.S. has been trying to deter Iran from carrying out these strikes. But, at the same time, the U.S. does not want an escalation with Iran, and they certainly do not want a war.

Here's what National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, NSC COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: We don't seek a war with Iran. We're not looking for an armed conflict with that country or another war in the region.

We do seek to protect our mission in Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: Now, know General Kurilla, who is the commander of U.S. Central Command, he did say that it is a huge concern for the U.S. because they assess that Iran currently has one of the most sophisticated, largest and most capable unmanned aerial vehicle forces in the entire region, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Natasha, thank you so much for the latest on that story.

Former President Trump is ratcheting up the rhetoric overnight, warning that there could be -- quote -- "death and destruction" if he is charged by the Manhattan DA's office in this hush money probe. The grand jury is going to be reconvening on Monday.

And in another criminal case encircling the former President, Trump's defense attorney Evan Corcoran is testifying today to a grand jury in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation. Corcoran will not be protected by attorney-client privilege, after the Justice Department convinced a federal judge that Trump's interactions with Corcoran were part of a possible crime or fraud.

With me now is CNN senior political correspondent and the anchor of "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY" Abby Phillip.

Abby, how significant is Corcoran's testimony here today for the special counsel's probe?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna.

I think it's very significant. I start from the place of understanding that, when we talk about former President Trump as a defendant, he is someone who is not like a lot of other modern-day defendants. He doesn't e-mail. He doesn't often have much of a paper trail. He doesn't use text messages in the same way, historically, as other people might today.

And so what you're trying to establish what he was thinking, what he asked people to do, what he may have ordered them to do, it's really important to speak to the people who he would have given that information to. And I think, in this case, his attorney would be at the center of this.

And on top of that, you're talking about trying to -- I think the government is trying to determine whether Trump played a role in trying to obscure their knowledge of what was in Mar-a-Lago, what documents were there, how many were there, and whether they were trying to hide that from the government.

And the fact that they were able to get a judge to approve a crime- fraud exception, I think, says quite a lot about what they were able to show in court that would necessitate this kind of order.

KEILAR: All right, Abby Phillip, thank you.

[13:05:00]

We have former U.S. attorney Michael Moore, who is joining us now to discuss the legal implications of all of this.

Michael, it's not really a choice here, right? Evan Corcoran -- it's one or the other. If there was a lie, he either was witting or he was unwitting. And there are consequences for both, whichever way it is.

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: That's right. I'm glad to be with you.

And this is an unusual circumstance, when you have a lawyer who comes in to talk about what they discussed with their client. I do think it's a little different in this case, given that this is grand jury testimony, and this is done in a secretive format. There's no public hearing on this. And so that also gives some shield and probably gave the judge some comfort in thinking about sort of violating or allowing the openness of what's otherwise a pretty sacrosanct relationship, that is, between the lawyer and the client.

But Corcoran is caught in a little bit of a box. If he -- and the letter, the certification about whether or not documents were there is going to be key here. And he said there was not. So, if he signed the certification and didn't know the answer to that, he's got a problem.

If he signed a certification knowing that it was -- that was not the case and that Trump had told him to do it, he's got a bigger problem. And so, either way, he's in an uncomfortable position in front of the grand jury today.

KEILAR: So that's the case about classified documents.

You also have this Manhattan DA case. It's looking at these hush money payments to an adult film star, Stormy Daniels. You have the DOJ case about January 6, the Fulton County, Georgia, investigation of the aftermath of the 2020 election.

How do you see these cases fitting together?

MOORE: Well, I hate to see them move forward as the first case being the hush money case. It doesn't mean that what happened in that case was -- that there was nothing wrong with it. There clearly appears to have been something wrong.

But the issue for me is that that's a misdemeanor charge, and that they are having to think at this point about how to charge that in a certain way and present certain evidence to actually make it a felony. And I hate to see what I think is probably the weaker of the cases move forward first, because that oftentimes has a tendency to create bad law that can hurt good cases.

I liked the idea and I appreciate the fact that Jack Smith's special cast is moving forward quickly. By all accounts, he's got both feet on the gas. And that's going to be an important thing as we go. I think those cases, because of the sort of the nationwide jurisdiction that he has, the ability to look at all that, those, to me, strike me as the stronger cases.

Then, of course, you have got the Georgia case. And the district attorneys trying to make a decision about which, if any charges, she will proceed, given the special grand jury's recommendation. Again, she's not bound by that. She doesn't have to do a thing if she doesn't want to.

But all indications are that she will move forward with some indictment. We just don't know against which defendants or what charges specifically. She has a very clear case, I think, as it relates to the phone call to Raffensperger. That's another strong case.

But, again, we get into a situation where I just think from a -- maybe a historical perspective, and also as we think about looking forward, given the nature of this type of action, that there's some comfort in the idea of a nonpartisan special counsel looking at bringing charges, if those charges are in fact going to be brought, against a former president of the United States, not because it's Trump, but because I think about what happens 50 years from now.

Are we going to have local prosecutors indicting presidents when they leave office, or are we better off having a system that sort of centralizes that from an apolitical point of view?

KEILAR: If you look at this, though, I mean, if you had prosecutors coordinating what is really the bigger deal here, what should go first, how could you actually do that without then having leveled -- having -- seeing the allegations of politicizing this process being leveled against those prosecutors and the legal process?

MOORE: Well, I think it would be a great idea if all three of these folks, the three prosecutors involved, the DA in Manhattan, the DA Atlanta, and the special counsel, would go lock themselves away in a room somewhere and make a decision about how they want to move forward.

They need to look at the case. They need to look at whether or not they think they could get a conviction and, more importantly, whether or not they could survive the motions that are going to lead up to the trial. And then can they sustain a conviction appeal with the appellate courts in their particular jurisdiction?

And so that's going to be important as we think about it. We don't need to politicize it. And, again, it's not a question of treating him differently because he was a former president. It's a question of recognizing the fact that he was a former president and what it means going forward.

So I don't think that you have to necessarily come in and politicize it from the idea of, oh, we have got to change X, Y and Z. But you have to recognize that this is, in fact -- and there's just no way around it -- a historic prosecution. And this case is going to be subject to scrutiny like they have never faced before.

And so it's going to be important to take the strongest case that you have, and take the most direct shot at a conviction, if in fact they think they can get it. And so those things are going to be important.

[13:10:04]

A prosecutor's job is to do justice. It's also to make sure that the public can have confidence in the outcome or confidence in their decision-making. And so all those things have to be playing right now, I'm sure, in all three prosecutors' minds as they think about these cases.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly.

Michael Moore, thank you so much. It's great to have you.

MOORE: Always a pleasure.

And joining us now, we have Jake Tapper, CNN chief Washington correspondent, and of course, the anchor of "THE LEAD," as well as "STATE OF THE UNION."

So, Jake, as we see all of this sort of swirling around Trump, he's warning of death and destruction, in particular, if he's arrested in the Manhattan case. He's also holding this rally in Waco on the 30th anniversary of Branch Davidian. What's he doing here?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: I think he's doing what he has done historically, which is fan the flames as much as he can, while also having just enough plausible deniability so that nobody can accuse him legally of inciting violence.

I mean, yesterday, he posted something on TRUTH Social in which he was belittling the idea of protests needing to be peaceful. This is just what he does. He goes up to a line. And he -- it's a line that doesn't exist for any other politician, but he doesn't cross it. And he also causes a lot of his Republican friends on Capitol Hill to suddenly not have seen anything on TRUTH Social or not have their glasses on them at the time when reporters address them.

He's putting them in a tough spot, because obviously, if a Democrat were to make such a vague threat, it would be decried and derided by Republicans.

KEILAR: Yes, and to not join him as well at this rally that he's holding. I mean, how many Republicans are not going to be there is pretty amazing.

I also -- there are going to be some perhaps unusual optics that we may see here in New York. Trump's warning of death and destruction is coming as we're learning that the sequel to "The Joker" is going to be filming in the area around the Manhattan courthouse this weekend. So this is all happening.

And we're -- expected that there's going to be these scenes that include protests and cars on fire at this very time. What do you make of that?

TAPPER: Well, I don't know how comic book nerdy you want me to get right now, but I will...

KEILAR: Like, very.

TAPPER: Well, I mean, you came to the right place.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: I mean, I will say that if you -- those -- and you know, you know.

There's a lot in canon about the Joker, especially the film, the 2019 film, and the degree to which it's an allegory for modern political movements to tap into rage and anger, particularly among white men, not to mention, if I go into Frank Miller, the great comic book genius and his "Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child," there's a whole Trump character.

So, I mean, there is life imitating art imitating life going on here. But, again, I don't want to nerd out too much on the comic book thing.

KEILAR: Yes, I feel like I want you to write a column on that, so that you can really nerd out on it.

You did something else that is so fascinating. You sat down with the star and the co-creator of the wildly popular hit that we're huge fans of "Ted Lasso." You sat down with Jason Sudeikis for an interview that's going to be airing tonight on CNN tonight at 9:00.

So, before his "Ted Lasso" fame, of course, we know Jason Sudeikis of having spent nine seasons on "SNL," and you asked him about impersonating President Joe Biden on the show. So I want to play a little preview of that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON SUDEIKIS, ACTOR/PRODUCER: Oh, and live from New York, it's Saturday night!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: In my view, you have done the best Joe Biden that "SNL" has ever done.

SUDEIKIS: It's not a competition, Jake. It's art. It's art.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: For me -- for me...

SUDEIKIS: It's art. That's a more of a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) to say than anything.

Sketch comedy is an art. Yes. But, no, I appreciate that.

TAPPER: All right, I think -- but it was also a different era of Biden...

SUDEIKIS: Sure. Yes.

TAPPER: ... as you acknowledged when you did that skit not long ago.

SUDEIKIS: A hundred percent.

TAPPER: Is it weird meeting people that you have made fun of?

SUDEIKIS: See, I never thought I was making fun of him. I have never -- I don't think I have played anyone that I have made fun of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUDEIKIS: But, with all due respect, this is a bunch of malarkey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUDEIKIS: I don't think I can.

TAPPER: You're channeling him, channeling...

(CROSSTALK)

SUDEIKIS: But I'm playing my dad with, like, fake teeth in. They give me -- they give me nice big chompers. I got these little tiny teeth.

But I'm always playing a version of myself. Again, I'm not trying to fool anybody. I'm not trying to do prank phone calls and get people in trouble. Like, I met him, and he was great. He was gracious, you know, and as advertised. You know what I mean?

It's a gift to get to work somewhere like "Saturday Night Live." It's a form of superpower to be able to impersonate or empathize physically and vocally into someone, however you want to put it, channel someone, if you will.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Channel, not making fun of.

But we saw that photo, Jake, where he met with Biden. And it was actually to talk about a very meaningful topic.

TAPPER: Yes, they're talking about mental health and the importance of mental health.

[13:15:01]

TAPPER: They're talking about -- that's obviously an issue that's rising in attention nationally post-pandemic, but also you have individuals, whether it's Congresswoman Nancy Mace or Senator Tina Smith, talking about challenges, talking about difficulties, something important to this White House, and something important to Jason Sudeikis and the show to "Ted Lasso," which, in many ways, is a workplace comedy.

But, at its heart, there is this core about vulnerability and who we are, and the fact that we are all more alike than we generally acknowledge on a day-to-day basis. So, we talked a lot about the show. If you're a fan of the show, you will see us talking about different characters, but we also just talked about Jason's career, his arc, "SNL."

It was really fun to sit down with him.

KEILAR: I cannot wait. I am so looking forward to this, Jake.

And I just want to tell our viewers all about it. Your sit-down interview with Jason Sudeikis is going to be airing tonight on "CNN PRIMETIME." That will be at 9:00 p.m. tonight.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:38]

KEILAR: There's some more twists and turns in the banking sector today.

The calm after the Fed's modest rate hike this week was short-lived, because Germany's Deutsche Bank is now the latest domino that is teetering. There are fears of its collapse that are rippling throughout the banking system. American bank stocks are mixed on the news.

And right on cue, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is holding a closed- door meeting with regulators about all of this turmoil that we're seeing here.

Let's discuss this now with Moody's chief economist, Mark Zandi. Mark, thank you for being with us here.

This isn't what we wanted to see, right? Deutsche Bank's stock down more than 8 percent when markets closed in Europe. It's echoing what happened with Credit Suisse earlier this month. How fragile is the global financial system right now?

MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: Well, there's a lot of angst out there, Brianna, understandably. It's been a difficult two weeks in the global financial system, a number of failures, and, of course, what happened with Credit Suisse.

And so I think this just reflects a general angst among investors, folks that own stocks in banks and bondholders that invest in the bonds of these banks. And you can see it in the borrowing the banks are doing at the Federal Reserve, the discount window borrowing, the borrowing against their new credit facility, the bank term funding facility.

You can see it in the borrowing from the Federal Home Loan Banks system. You can see it in the borrowing at central banks with the Fed. So the system is obviously under a lot of stress. And I think investors are just really nervous about what's the next shoe to fall here, if any.

KEILAR: So if we see these big global banks at risk, smaller regional banks in the U.S., they still aren't in the clear.

What isn't at risk, and how worried should people be?

ZANDI: I don't think they should be worried.

Look, I think the system is in good shape. If you look at the amount of capital the system has, it's the cash cushion banks have to digest any losses on their securities or on their loans. If you look at their liquidity -- and, of course, you have got the government backstop, the Fed, the FDIC, the Treasury.

Over in Europe, the Swiss Central Bank and other governments are standing firmly behind their institutions. So I don't think there's any concern about this -- the banking system in general. But if you're a shareholder or stockholder in these companies, or if you're a bondholder, and you have lent money to these companies, there's -- I think there's some concern there about the -- not only about the viability, but more so about the long-term growth prospects in the context of the things that are going on.

So, for the average American household, for the typical depositor, there's nothing to be worried about.

KEILAR: We had CNN's Matt Egan speaking to one of the officials involved in the Fed's latest interest rate debate, and he explained why the Fed sees inflation as the clear priority over the banking situation.

Here is that moment. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS BARKIN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND: Inflation is high. Demand hadn't seemed to come down. And so the case for raising was pretty clear.

The one thing that I hear loud and clear from everybody is that they hate inflation, or they find inflation to be unfair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Do you agree with the Fed's calculation here?

ZANDI: No.

It's a judgment, obviously. And I don't know what the counterfactual is. But my sense is, the number one priority has to be the stability of the financial system, not only the reality of it, which, as I said, Brianna, I think the system is on very solid ground, but the perception of it.

And it just seems very incongruous to me that, last week, the Federal Reserve is establishing facilities to help support the banking system, give them the cash they need to meet depositors' demand, and then that's designed to take pressure off, and then, the next week, this last few days -- a couple of days ago, raise interest rates, which puts pressure on the banking system.

It just doesn't feel like that's consistent. And it isn't. And so I think it would make much more sense at this point to focus on the stability of the financial system, focus on restoring confidence. And once that's the case, and I think that should happen relatively quickly here in the next week, two or three, then take a look around, see what kind of damage this is all doing to the economy.

If it's not and inflation is still an issue, then you can pivot back and start raising interest rates again. But I think, at this point, that it's really critical that policymakers put at the top of the list of concerns what's going on in the financial system.

[13:25:01]

KEILAR: All right, some advice there, perhaps, to be heeded.

Mark Zandi, thank you for that.

A residential neighborhood, a sunny afternoon, and bullets fly. Philadelphia police searching for the gunman in this brazen attack, as two teen victims are fighting for their lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: About an hour from now, President Biden will address the Canadian Parliament, before holding a news conference with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Biden's first presidential trip to Canada is coming.