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CNN International: Israeli Police Storm Al-Aqsa Mosque; Macron Arrives In Beijing To Discuss Ukraine, Trade Issues; U.S. House Speaker Meets Taiwan's President In Coming Hours; Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Begins Official Visit To Poland; Blinken At Meeting Of NATO Foreign Ministers Today; Nicola Sturgeon's Husband Arrested In SNP Funding Probe; Donald Trump Facing 34 Felony Counts In Hush Money Scheme; More Than 85 Americans Under Some Form Of Weather Alert. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 05, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:40]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead.

(GUN SHOTS)

Violent scenes in Israel. Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque and hundreds are arrested. We're live in Jerusalem.

And historic meeting. The U.S. House Speaker and Taiwan's President is set to meet in the coming hours despite China's annoyance. We'll have reaction from Taipei.

And Ukrainian diplomacy on display. President Zelenskyy visits Poland, one of his country's staunchest allies during its war against Russia.

Israel's far-right security minister has made incendiary comments calling for heads to roll in Gaza. It's about Ben-Gvir's remarks come after rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel following a night of violence in Jerusalem. Israel says the majority of the rockets were intercepted or landed in open areas and no one was injured.

Israel has already conducted retaliatory airstrikes and what it says are Hamas targets. The strikes come just hours after police entered one of Islam's holiest sites. This video shows Israeli police entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque by force to break up a group of Palestinians, where they say were barricading themselves inside.

CNN's Hadas Gold has more on how the night's events unfolded.

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Dramatic scenes overnight in the Old City of Jerusalem at the holy sites you can see just behind me. We have the Golden Dome of the Rock. But over here, the building with the black roof that is the Al-Aqsa Mosque and that is where we're seeing dramatic videos of Israeli police entering the compound in the middle of the night.

They say they entered after they say hundreds of use barricaded themselves inside. Israeli police entering with their riot shields up and they say people inside fired fireworks at them. You can see them ricocheting off the walls. Israeli police responding with stun grenades and rubber bullets.

The Palestinian Red Crescent saying 12 people were injured, three of them were transported to hospital. Israeli police saying, one of their officers were injured but that they also detained at least 350 people as a result of the events overnight.

Now condemnation is raining in, because although it has been a tense time here for some time, and there was some level of clashes expected. I think the aggressive nature of what we saw from the Israeli police, that was a little bit unexpected.

And we're hearing condemnations from the Jordanians, the Egyptians from Saudi Arabia, because even just the Israeli police stepping foot into the mosque is seen as provocative and offensive, but then the way that they engage with the people there, we're seeing videos of people being arrested and being laid on the floor of the mosque while in handcuffs. That takes it to a new level.

And we're hearing from the -- alongside these condemnations things like saying that the Israelis are not allowing people to have freedom of worship and how dangerous it is that these sorts of escalations can explode into something further. And we did essentially see that overnight because shortly after these confrontations took place in the Old City, rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel.

Hamas, the militant groups that controls Gaza, saying that these sort of provocations will not be unanswered. Now, none of those rockets caused any injuries, although we do know that at least one of them fell on a factory while workers were inside. The Israeli military responding with airstrikes on what it says were Hamas targets. It's been a bit of a tense calm since then, but I have to say that there are a lot of concerns this could very easily spiral into something even bigger.

Hadas Gold, CNN, Jerusalem.

FOSTER: Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Beijing officially kicking off his three-day visit to China. The French president who will be joined by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday. Mr. Macron is expected to urge President Xi to use his influence to, quote, accelerate the end of the war in Ukraine. Also on the agenda, trade relations between China and Europe.

Meanwhile, in California, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen has arrived in Los Angeles after wrapping up her visit to Central America in the coming hours. She'll meet U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Will be the first time a Taiwanese president meets the House Speaker on U.S. soil.

[08:05:02]

China has previously said that its, quote, resolutely opposes the meeting. Beijing claims the self-governing island of Taiwan is part of his own territory.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Will Ripley joins us live from Taipei. What sort of reaction then do you expect from China as this trip continues, Will?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think a lot of analysts, Max, are saying that the reaction might not be as severe as it was when Nancy Pelosi visited this island last year in August, and then China encircled the island with unprecedented military drills, basically even launching missiles in the direction of Taiwan, a ballistic missile over Taiwan.

They basically erased the median line that was -- has been respected by both sides since 1954. That's the line in between China, the mainland and Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait, which is only about 110 miles wide. But this time around, yes, President Xi is meeting with the U.S. House speaker but it is happening in California and not Taiwan.

Also, as you mentioned, President Macron and the E.U. Commission President both in Beijing, Xi Jinping, perhaps not too keen to overshadow such an important moment of diplomacy at a time that China is trying to repair its frayed ties with Europe. There's also another interesting development that's happening.

You actually have for the first time since 1949, a former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, also in China, for a visit that coincides with this meeting between Tsai Ing-Wen and speaker Kevin McCarthy. And this is significant because the KMT party that Ma Ying-jeou is a senior official of is -- did very well in the local elections.

China likes the KMTV like working with the KMT. And they don't want to potentially do anything that could, you know, sway the vote here in Taiwan, which is happening relatively soon. This is President Xi entering the final year for two-term presidency.

Xi on the other hand, says she's not going to let external pressure from China interfere with her plans to meet with the U.S. House Speaker and welcome him or any U.S. lawmakers or others from like- minded democracies, as Taiwan puts it, who might want to visit in the future, Max.

So I think really, the one with -- the biggest amount to lose here would be China. If they push things too far, they already are pretty, you know, alienated from much of the West and they're trying to mend that relationship. So too much military action near Taiwan could have the reverse effect.

FOSTER: OK. Will, we'll keep watching the trip. Thank you so much for joining us from Taipei.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is on an official visit to neighboring Poland. Earlier, the Polish president welcome Mr. Zelenskyy and his wife to the presidential palace in Warsaw. The two men will hold talks and later give a joint address. This is described as Mr. Zelenskyy's most comprehensive visit to Poland since the war began. Poland one of Kyiv's closest allies has taken in more than a million Ukrainian refugees.

CNN Senior International Correspondent David McKenzie joins us live from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. This is as much a thank you, isn't it as well as working our way forward?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, it's definitely a thank you. And you had a clear sense of the closeness of these two leaders that have developed over these many months of this conflict. As you say, this was the most comprehensive visit by President Zelenskyy to Poland, with his first lady together there at the palace, that he was also given a very prestigious award by the Polish president.

And you could sense that Zelenskyy has a very warm relationship with President Duda. He also spoke about the opening arms of the Polish people to those more than million refugees that streamed across the border at the start of this conflict. And he clearly appreciates the Polish president's commitment on its western border.

You know, the next thing will be the concrete discussions they have, Max, and that includes, of course, helping to rearm and expand the armaments of Ukrainian military as this war drags on. Poland has been instrumental in pushing the envelope when it comes to the sophistication and the type of weapons and systems that are given to Ukraine including fighter jets.

So I expect there'll be more talk of that in the coming hours. It was interesting also today when it comes to weapons, the head of the state-owned arms manufacturer here in Ukraine gave a rare look into the impact of Russian shelling and rocket strikes on their facilities saying they've been hit more than 150 times since the beginning of this conflict.

Impossible to verify those numbers, of course, but it does speak to the pressure that the Ukrainian arms manufacturer is under in continuing to supply their own troops. There's been a lot of talk of course of arms and ammunition coming from the west, from the U.S. and Europe but it does talk to the impact here on the ground of those strikes on Ukrainian munitions and manufacturers.

[08:10:09]

They say they are able to continue manufacturing and they will expand their manufacturing. And we will see though whether they are concrete steps or news coming out of this press conference that is ongoing between President Duda and President Zelenskyy. Max?

FOSTER: OK, David McKenzie in Kyiv, thank you.

We are expecting NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to speak this hour. As Foreign Ministers of NATO countries meet today in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is amongst them. He's been holding talks with his counterparts from New Zealand and Croatia.

Finland became the military alliances 31st member on Tuesday and Blinken gave credit to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the move, saying this is maybe one -- the one thing to thank him for.

For more on this, we're joined by Nada Bashir. So Finland still a big talking point, but there are other issues at this meeting as well.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. And, of course, Russia is very much high on the agenda when it comes to the meeting between NATO foreign ministers, particularly for Antony Blinken, and he took part in a session this morning focusing on the threats and challenges facing the Alliance head of what is to be another NATO Summit, which will be very much focused on the war in Ukraine.

Now we know that Blinken met yesterday with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, where he reiterated and reconfirmed the U.S. government's support and commitment to NATO's cooperation with Ukraine and the Ukrainian Armed Forces and bolstering that support in their efforts to tackle the Russian invasion.

And, of course, we've also learned that the U.S. is now setting up another military assistance package for Ukraine valued at $500 million. So this will be a significant boost for Ukraine and that will certainly be another key talker today, of course, as Antony Blinken continues to meet with his NATO counterparts.

FOSTER: OK, Nada, thank you. We'll be following that press conference for you and bring you the highlights.

Police in Scotland have arrested the husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in connection with an investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party, that's according to British media. Peter Murrell was taken into police custody following an investigation into the SNP's handling of money that was slated for Scottish independence campaigning. The party says it is, quote, fully cooperating with police.

For the first time in American history, a former president has been criminally charged. Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a New York courtroom on Tuesday. The charges stem from a payment allegedly made on Trump's behalf to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Just hours after that historic arraignment, the former U.S. President gave a defined speech at his Florida Resort, airing a familiar list of grievances and making a number of false claims. Trump lashed out at the judge, the Manhattan district attorney and both of their families.

CNN's Kristen Holmes joins me now from West Palm Beach, Florida. I mean, what stood out to you because a lot of people are concerned about the very personal attacks on people involved in this case?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. And remember, the judge did not order a gag order, do not place a gag order on the former president or anyone involved in this case, but he did request that he stay off or at least suggest that he stay off social media.

But obviously, not even heating any of that advice. The former president not only has been all over his true social page, he has made those remarks last night in which he attacked the district attorney at a certain point. He also went after the judge and his family. And you're right. A lot of security experts are concerned about that.

If you ask people in Trump's inner circle, they say he's just airing his grievances. It's not meant to be a personal attack. It is not meant to in any way endanger those -- that district attorney or a judge there. But of course, that is in the eye of the beholder.

Now this speech was really filled with commentary about not just the New York case, but the multiple federal and state probes into Donald Trump. He spent an enormous amount of time talking about the Department of Justice's investigation into his mishandling of classified documents. It was very clear that that case in particular was on his mind.

We know that they have been upping, the DOJ has been upping their aggressiveness in that case while leading many to speculate that it might be wrapping up coming to an end. But it was clear that he was upset. And I spoke to a number of sources who are close to the president who spoke to him yesterday who said that, they said that he was -- it was an emotional day and we heard that in the speech.

And afterwards, I was told by a source who was with him that he surrounded himself by some of his staunchest allies, the people who adore him admire him and I asked why was that? Why did you decide to go out and do this? Wouldn't you want to be around 200 people who adore you after a day like today?

[08:15:03]

And that is really what we saw even in the room last night. I mean, he surrounded himself with no -- not just a spectrum of Republicans but a very small group of Trump aligned Republicans, is allies in the House of Representatives, as well as just groups from around the area that support the former president.

So, you know, I talked to another source who said they're concerned that this is going to be just the beginning of putting him inside of an echo chamber. But right now, we know one thing, Trump is going to use this indictment. He's going to use the arraignment as a political tool as he heads into 2024.

FOSTER: OK, Kristen Holmes in West Palm Beach. Thank you very much indeed for that.

Now still to come, Donald Trump's defense team has failed to challenge the criminal charges against him, of course. We'll take a look at what's next for the former president.

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FOSTER: Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records and has become the first former U.S. president to ever be criminally charged. So what's next for him, his legal team and the prosecution? We can look at some key dates here. Prosecutors expect to produce most of the discovery in the next 65 days. Trump's legal team has until August the 8th to file any motions. The prosecution has to respond by mid-September. The next in person hearing is scheduled for December the 4th, so quite some way away.

While addressing his supporters at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida Resort, Mr. Trump accused the Manhattan district attorney of targeting him politically.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election and it should be dropped immediately, immediately. I have a Trump hating judge with the Trump hating wife and family. They can't beat us at the ballot box, so they try and beat us through the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Joining me is Elie Honig, CNN Senior Legal Analyst. He is also a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. Thank you so much for joining us.

Just before we talk about what happens next, it was interesting there how uses familiar strategy of suggesting that the establishment was there to take him down and this court specifically was part of that?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, all too familiar strategy there from Donald Trump. But what I find particularly objectionable and dangerous is the personal attacks that Donald Trump has launched on the judge, on the prosecutor, on their associates, on their family members, their spouses, their children. This is just way beyond the pale.

A person does have the constitutional right in the United States to criticize a prosecutor or a judge. It's not a great idea, because you may need to be in their favor, but you do have the right. But what you don't do not have the right to do is to incite unlawful action, is to threaten and I think this just goes way beyond the pale.

[08:20:03]

FOSTER: And it's going to go on and on. If we look at that graphic that we showed everyone, he won't even appear next in December. And even then, presumably, he's asking not to appear because of all the security and the rigmarole that surrounded this appearance.

HONIG: This is a long timeline. I don't think I've ever had a case where a judge set the first in person conference for eight months away. I think that is largely because of just the logistical difficulty of moving Donald Trump around. Here in Manhattan, it basically caused gridlock down at the courthouse and up by Trump Tower.

But the timing really matters here, Max, because if we look at a December conference, you're not going to realistically have a trial for several months after that, at which point we'll be into 2024 when Donald Trump will be in the middle of primaries, he may be the front runner, he may even be the presumptive Republican nominee at that point. And it will be extraordinarily difficult to hold a trial for him as a political matter.

FOSTER: Do you think this will become part of Trump's election narrative?

HONIG: Oh, you can bet on that. We saw it last night when Donald Trump made his speech for Mar-a-Lago. He played the victimization game, claimed many of these prosecutors are just out to get me for political reasons. And all that said, Max, I mean, I completely disagree with his disparagement of prosecutors, but this particular charge brought by the Manhattan D.A., to me is not the most strongly supported.

The conduct is very old. It's only a fairly minor crime here in New York. It's either going to be a misdemeanor, or a very low level felony unlikely to result in jail time. And I think there are significant questions to be raised not only about the merits of the charges, but also the quality of the evidence that backs them up.

FOSTER: Do you worry that your former colleagues may become targets if he keeps attacking them like this?

HONIG: I do. I personal friends with and I used to work with Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan D.A. It does worry me and this is not just hypothetical. I mean, obviously we saw what Trump's rhetoric did to provoke or inspire January 6, but even more than that, when Donald Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago was searched by the FBI back in August, within a day, a devout Trump follower, stormed an FBI headquarters in Ohio and was shot dead.

So the fear here really is just for, you never know what a lone wolf is going to do. I was pleasantly not surprised, but I was very pleased to see that everything in Manhattan yesterday was very orderly. There were very limited protests. I was out by Trump Tower. I was down by the courthouse, but they were the kind of protests that we should have. People cheering and chanting and holding up signs.

And the law enforcement authorities here did a remarkable job of keeping everything neat and orderly but while also respecting people's legitimate First Amendment expressions, but I do worry about people crossing that line.

FOSTER: OK, Elie, thank you so much indeed for joining us from New York.

HONIG: Thanks, Max. All right.

FOSTER: Tornadoes, severe storms and hail the size of baseballs. We're live from Arkansas town under tornado watch, just ahead.

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FOSTER: More than 85 million people in the U.S. are under threat of severe weather right now as the storm front pushes eastward across the country. On Tuesday, there were more than 100 reports of hail and nine reports of preliminary tornadoes. This is the damage after tornado with up to 115 mile an hour winds hit the city of Colona in Illinois.

Tornado Watch is currently in effect in Little Rock, Arkansas where CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is standing by for us. Hi, Derek.

[08:25:08]

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Max, it's hard to believe that, you know, we're under the threat for more tornadoes after the damage you see here directly behind me was caused by what we call a long track, strong or intense tornado that tore through this region. It was on the ground for over 32 miles or roughly 50 kilometers. It was a very intense tornado for this town in Arkansas.

And now we're under a Tornado Watch. So we're watching storms that are just to our west that could threaten this very same region where we are. But let's talk about an immediate threat and bringing it to Chicago because I want you to see what the skyline of Chicago looks as we speak. You can see some darker clouds in the background.

And I think this is looking on Michigan drive here, but I want to advance the graphics. Hopefully, they're working. But, basically, this line of thunderstorms that is coming through has been producing wind gusts in excess of 40 to 50 miles per hour even higher.

Just in the western suburbs of Chicago, there has been hail. In Davenport, Iowa, just to the west, that was 4 inches in diameter, that's the size of a grapefruit. You can just imagine how dangerous that is. It's putting holes in cars windows, but it's also also produced tornadoes with this line of thunderstorms as well.

So we're going to be on the lookout for that as Chicago is currently in their morning rush hour. So flying in and out of O'Hare or Midway Airport, there are ground stops and delays that are being reported coming out of that particular region. And that line of storms will continue to move through Chicago within the next 45 minutes to one hour.

Now closer south, where I'm located in Little Rock, there are tornadoes firing to our west or at least stronger thunderstorms. And what they're doing is taking advantage of this very warm, humid and very windy air mass that we have in place here. So it doesn't take much for the atmosphere to start spinning. And that's what we look for as meteorologists for these long track supercells that produce tornadoes that caused the damage that you see behind me. Max?

FOSTER: OK, Derek, thank you very much indeed. Extraordinary scenes there and we continue to monitor those storms as they come through.

Thank you for joining us here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London. World Sport with Patrick Snell is up next.

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