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CNN International: Biden to Announce 2024 Presidential Bid; Georgia DA to Announce Charging Decision This Summer; Fox News Severs Ties with Host Tucker Carlson; New U.S. Says Warring Factions Agree to New Ceasefire in Sudan. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired April 25, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo live from London. Max Foster is out on assignment today. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After months of waiting, speculating, President Biden may be announcing his run for re-election. That announcement will come four years to the day after the anniversary of his first presidential announcement in 2020.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems that Fox at some point just said enough is enough, we're going to fire him from the network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Sudanese people are not giving up on their aspirations for a secure free and democratic future, neither will we.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

NOBILO: It is Tuesday, April 25th, 9:00 a.m. in London, 4:00 a.m. in Washington. Where in the coming hours U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to announce his bid for a second term in 2024. The White House has been ramping up preparations for the announcement. Sources close to the president confirm he's already picked a campaign manager and decided where the headquarters will be. But even though a reelection bid was widely expected, questions have been swirling about his age and a possible rematch with Donald Trump. CNN's Phil Mattingly reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: After months of waiting, of speculating, of everybody knowing it was coming but not necessarily knowing when it was coming, President Biden may, and I stress may, be announcing his run for reelection. Now, that "may" is contingent on the president himself. There is no question, over the course of the last 10 days, his closest advisers and outside allies have been laying the groundwork and accelerating efforts for a reelection announcement to come Tuesday morning. That announcement will come four years to the day after the anniversary of his first presidential announcement in 2020.

Now during that campaign, he took on and defeated incoming President Donald Trump. Donald Trump who is now the frontrunner for the Republican nomination once again. And therein lies some significant challenges for both, but in particular President Biden who is 80 years old and would be 86 at the time of his second term coming to an end. Americans very clearly in poll after poll after poll aren't enthused about the match-up. And according to an NBC poll only 26 percent of Americans actually want to see Biden run again.

If you look deep into the cross tabs of these polls, Democrats by a majority don't want Biden to run again, and those are some of the headwinds that the president will face. Their head ones, however, his team is confident he can overcome. Overcome in part due to the sweeping legislative agenda he was able to get past Congress in his first two years, an agenda he will spend much of the next year selling. And able to overcome because of who he will be facing, whether it's Trump or some other Republican where advisors are very clear, they believe they will have a crystal-clear contrast message that will resonate with the American people.

Now the president himself still not committing to announcing reelection, saying to reporters on Monday at the White House when he was asked about it, it would be coming really soon. But it is very clear that after months of closely guarded secrecy when it came to personnel, when it came to timelines, when it came to what they were actually planning, moves are being made. Donors will be in town later this week. Personnel announcements are starting to come into the forefront. A campaign manager appears to be Julie Chavez Rodriguez, a senior advisor for the president, here at the White House. Other personnel likely to be announced as well. All that is necessary at this point is the announcement, which is still expected on Tuesday.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Donald Trump has one more ally in his corner in his quest for reelection. U.S. Senate Republican Steve Daines, who's also the GOP s campaign committee chair, endorsed the former president on Monday. Speaking with Trump's son, Don Jr., Daines had nothing but praise for Trump's time in office, calling it the best four years he's experienced in the Senate. A source close to the Trump campaign says Daines also has ties to many wealthy Republican donors, which could mean a much-needed boost to Trump's fundraising efforts.

Donald Trump, of course, isn't the only Republican to announce his candidacy. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley are also running.

[04:05:00] And governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia are expected to enter the race.

But here is the problem, most of them other than DeSantis are polling in the single digits. And they have to walk a fine line, making a name for themselves without alienating very loyal Trump supporters. Ron DeSantis is trying to make a name for himself on the world stage. He's on an overseas trip that includes stops in South Korea, Israel and the U.K. In Tokyo on Monday, he met with the Prime Minister and push trade between Japan and Florida.

Donald Trump poked fun at the trip on social media, calling it an emergency round the world tour.

Not to be outdone, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is in Taiwan. He met with President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday to discuss trade and investment. Youngkin also signed an executive order establishing Virginia's first office for economic development in Taipei. He's also planning to visit Tokyo and Seoul during his time in Asia.

Nikki Haley will speak to an audience today in Arlington, Virginia, about her stance against abortion. So far on the campaign trail, she's been reluctant to provide specifics about what kind of abortion policies she would support as president. A spokesperson says Haley wants to reframe the issue in a way that will appeal to critical swing voters. A source says she's going to make the case that you can't be a prolife conservative Republican and win a general election.

North Dakota's Republican governor has signed a bill banning abortions at six weeks of pregnancy. The governor's office says there are no exceptions for rape or incest. In a statement to CNN, the governor says the bill clarifies and refines existing law and reaffirms North Dakota as a prolife state. The bill has an emergency clause and will become law as soon as the Secretary of State signs and files it.

The Fulton County district attorney investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia says she will announce this summer whether she'll bring charges against the former president or his allies. Fani Willis is already pressing the Fulton County sheriff for heightened security ahead of the announcement. CNN's Katelyn Polantz has the details from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: The prosecutor in Georgia that has been investigating Donald Trump and the actions he and others took after the 2020 election now has a time frame for announcing potential charges, charging decisions possible indictments even against potentially Donald Trump himself for those actions.

Now the reason we are learning this is because district attorney Fani Willis sent letters to several members of local law enforcement in Georgia, essentially alerting them that they may have a security concern that is coming in what is called the court's fourth quarter in Fulton County, Georgia. That would be specifically July 11th to September first of this year. So, that's when those indictments could be announced. Willis writes in her letter.

I am providing this letter to bring to your attention, the need for heightened security and preparedness in coming months due to this pending announcement.

She specifically talks about the criminal investigation into interference in the Georgia 2020 general election.

She also writes: Open-source intelligence has indicated the announcement of decisions in this case may provoke a significant public reaction. And then she signals that there are acts of violence that have taken place that would be outside First Amendment protests that would be protected speech.

Remember Donald Trump, the things that he is being investigated for doing did ultimately lead to that violence at the U.S. Capitol in January of 2021, the riot whenever his supporters tried to overtake Congress and stop the certification of the presidency, his loss of that election. And so, Fani Willis is signaling that that is all part of the thinking here, and also, she's taking into consideration the need for security around that courthouse, especially after Donald Trump already was indicted once for totally separate behavior related to hush money payments in New York. The allegations there caused him to say he was expecting to be arrested and then calling for protests.

And so, we do know that there was a lot of law enforcement coordination before that, locking down that courthouse. And Willis is clearly signaling to local law enforcement that they will need to be ready in summer and into the early fall of this year. Again, we don't know exactly what is going to be indicated, but it is quite clear, the charges are on the near horizon.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Some have questioned why this case in Georgia has taken so long and how all this could play out ahead of next year's presidential election. CNN legal analyst Elie Honig is weighing in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think there's a very fair criticism of Fani Willis for taking this long. Let's remember, Fani Willis became the DA down in Fulton County on January 1, 2021.

[04:10:00]

The tape of Donald Trump calling Brad Raffensperger that call actually happened the very next day and then became public within hours of that. And yet, here we are, we're now looking at an indictment if this timeline holds, at the earliest 2.5 plus years after the effect. I know investigations take time. This should not have taken 2.5 plus years. And now as a result of that, Wolf, Donald Trump supporters are going to say, first of all, we didn't we didn't see an indictment for 2.5 years until after Donald Trump, "A" announced his candidacy, and "B" is emerging as a frontrunner.

And second of all, if you look at this realistically, they're not going to get to a trial until the middle of 2024 at the earliest if we see a charge this summer. There's going to be discovery, appeals, motions and is a state judge really going to hold a trial of the potential Republican frontrunner or nominee that close to an election? I'm not so sure. And I think Fani Willis bears responsibility for taking this long to do this?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Former Vice President Mike Pence is soon expected to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Trump in Washington. On Monday, Pence suggested that his testimony won't include new information other than what he's already said publicly about the January 6th insurrection. Here's what he told News Nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will tell you, I can't imagine what else there is to tell. The American people lived that day. We saw it unfold in real time. And in my book and in countless interviews, I've told the American people what occurred that day, and I'll be telling the same story when I sit down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: In Sudan, a new three-day ceasefire is currently in effect between two warring factions. The U.S. brokered the deal after previous ceasefires failed to stop the violence. Before this latest truce, new clashes had erupted around the capital, Khartoum, which is one of many places where fighting has been reported in the last 10 days, and where it's been particularly concentrated.

The U.S. says that rival factions must restore calm immediately.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We also continued to engage directly with General Burhan, General Hamadi, to press them. To extend and expand the Eid ceasefire to a sustainable cessation of hostilities that prevents further violence and upholds humanitarian obligations. The Sudanese people are not giving up on their aspirations for secure free and democratic future. Neither will we.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: With the ceasefire in place, the U.K. has started a large- scale evacuation of British passport holders. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says priority will be given to the most vulnerable. The Secretary of State also acknowledged worries about Americans who want to leave Sudan after the U.S. closed its embassy in Khartoum over the weekend. But U.S. officials have repeatedly said that they don't plan to air lift Americans out of Sudan. They say that the security situation is not conducive to attempting a large military evacuation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COMMS. COORDINATOR: Our best advice to most Americans, who are still in Sudan, despite the warnings to leave, is to shelter in place. Stay somewhere safe and secure before moving about. That said, we are providing information to all those Americans we can reach and who wants to stay in touch with us about these convoys that might be leaving towards Port Sudan overground. And what the United States military is doing is providing overwatch, unmanned aerial assets of these convoys so that we can stay, have some level of situational awareness and stay informed about their progresses as they make this very, very long journey from Khartoum to Port Sudan.

We're only temporarily suspending our operations at the embassy. We're not walking away from Sudan. We'd love to get those diplomats back in. We'd love to get that embassy back up and running to provide services to our citizens there and two others. But we've got to do it when it's safe to do it, and it's not safe right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Let's get more now from CNN's senior editor for Africa, Stephanie Busari, who joins us. Stephanie, presumably this ceasefire is being considered to be fragile, given that the others have broken down so easily. It's for 72 hours. Is there any hope that something could be achieved in this time, which could lead to a calming of these hostilities?

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: Good morning, Bianca. Yes, these ceasefires are very fragile, indeed, as you said. Previous ones have not been kept, too. So, there's not much hope that this one will be. But many are hoping that this could lead to a permanent truce. But evacuations continue. Philippines in the last hour has managed to evacuate some of their citizens. And Britain, as you mentioned, has now focused -- despite criticism of focusing previously on diplomats -- now trying to get its citizens out. And those evacuations are continuing. People are hopeful that the ceasefire will hold for that to happen. And also, for much needed aid to the Sudanese people who are left behind, to get in medical supplies are urgently needed.

[04:15:00]

And Sudanese themselves are desperately trying to get out of the country. There's no one coming to save them. And then they're worried that once the foreign nationals have disappeared, this will fall off the global agenda.

So, we've spoken to some people who have made perilous journeys trying to get out of Sudan. One woman, an American with Sudanese background took a bus ride from Khartoum as one in Egypt. Take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAFA BABIKIR, FLED THE FIGHTING IN SUDAN: I think the most terrifying thing of the journey was just thinking about who would bury us if we were to get killed. When you're in the desert and the road, the darkest thought I had was, am I going to get killed in front of my family, or are they going to get killed in front of me? And if so, who's going to bury the bodies?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUSARI: Yes, just one of the many people who are attempting to make a tough choice. Do we stay or do we do we leave and go into the desert and facing an unknown. But what is most urgent and what people are hoping for is that this ceasefire will hold so that aid agencies who are trying to get help in for the Sudanese can begin to do so.

As we said earlier that medical supplies and hospitals are near collapse right now, so those are the key issues here -- Bianca.

NOBILO: Stephanie Busari for us in Lagos. Thank you.

Still ahead, it's the end of an era at Fox News is the network fires, one of its highest rated hosts. We'll hear from a former Fox employee, about what it's like to work with Tucker Carlson.

Plus, the police officer who fired the shot that killed Breonna Taylor has a new job with a badge. We'll hear from Taylor's mother on what she thinks about her daughter's killer back in uniform.

And a Russian missile slams into a school yard in eastern Ukraine, one of dozens of aerial attacks in the past day. We'll explain the extreme way that a top Ukrainian military official is describing Russia's tactics.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS FAULKNER, FOX NEWS HOST: We have some news from within our Fox family. Fox that and Tucker Carlson have mutually agreed to part ways. Tucker's last show was this past Friday. We want to thank Tucker Carlson for his service to the network as a host, and prior to that as a long-term contributor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Tucker Carlson was known for pushing conspiracy theories about the COVID pandemic, the 2020 presidential election and the January 6th Capitol insurrection. But text messages revealed that during the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, they may have been the final straw. They show that Carlson made disparaging comments about Fox executives who then made the decision to fire him on Friday evening. Carlson has not responded to multiple requests for comment about his departure. CNN's Brian Todd has more now from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A stunning and sudden break between Tucker Carlson and the network that had embraced him at his most outrageous moments, Carlson abruptly pushed out at Fox News.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, NPR: This was an action taken from the top levels of the network with the ascent of its corporate parent at minimum.

TODD (voice-over): So, ends one of the most controversial runs in cable television history. Carlson's show one of the highest rated ever on cable, but often full of xenophobic, anti-immigrant and conspiracy theory rhetoric, much of it propelled by the host himself.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: The outcome of our presidential election was seized from the hands of voters, where, of course, it rightly belongs.

FOLKENFLIK: He will be part of a chapter of Fox News where the hosts in the Trump era were unbridled and at times uncontrolled, defining their own direction.

TODD (voice-over): During the COVID pandemic, Carlson often railed on the idea of encouraging people to get vaccinated.

CARLSON: The idea that you would force people to take medicine they don't want or need, is there a precedent for that in our lifetime?

I honestly think it is the greatest scandal of my lifetime by far.

TODD (voice-over): Some of his more disquieting moments came in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th attack on the Capitol when Carlson repeatedly defended insurrectionists. Then laid out a baseless theory that it was an FBI false flag operation.

CARLSON: FBI operatives were organizing the attack on the Capitol.

FOLKENFLIK: That was something that really shocked many of his colleagues at Fox News. It led to objections from Chris Wallace and Brett Baier, both of whom were perhaps the top figures on the news side.

TODD (voice-over): In the end, some pieces of litigation could have been instrumental in pushing Carlson out. The Dominion lawsuit settled for more than three quarters of a billion dollars where text from Carlson were relieved showing he believed differently from what he said on air.

Saying about Donald Trump, I hate him passionately. There isn't really an upside to Trump.

And lawsuits filed by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg against the network claiming Carlson's show team engaged in rampant sexism, including texts she said were from Carlson using the C-word to refer to former Trump Lawyer Sidney Powell. Fox has said Grossberg's lawsuits were, quote, riddled with false allegations. ERIK WEMPLE, THE WASHINGTON POST MEDIA CRITIC: This has been a tremendously, I think, painful, even traumatic experience for Fox News to see all of their intercommunications get displayed out in public. They're one of the most opaque institutions in American society for a very good reason and that is they don't want people seeing in.

TODD: Tucker Carlson has not responded to CNN's repeated requests for comment on his ouster. A source familiar with the matter tells CNN he was informed of it on Monday. He will not have a final farewell show.

Brian Todd, CNN Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Jonah Goldberg is a syndicated columnist who worked at Fox News for 12 years before leaving the network. He spoke with CNN about Carlson's firing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: If you worked at Fox in the last five years -- and I haven't been there for a little while -- but he did some Tucker much.

[04:25:00]

Because you know, Tucker has been working out of private studios in Maine and Florida for much of the last few years. He rarely is in the Fox building. And I think that's contributes to some of the stuff that we're hearing because he's kind of been in a sort of a bunker bubble. He surrounds himself with sort of like-minded people. You can see how it would devolve into this sort of groupthink locker room mentality that, you know, the alleged sexist badinage, would be one aspect of it.

But also, this sort of -- this sort of, you know, transmission belt of conspiracy theory type stuff is also the kind of thing you get when you are secluded away, surrounded by people who all agree with you in your own kind of bubble. And I think that that's sort of informs a lot of what Tucker's programming was like the last few years.

Tucker lives to get the last word. He's going to say something. I'm sure he's talking to lawyers about what you're going to say. I'm sure he's going to come up with some venue where he says, you know, spin some version of all of this. And it'll be very interesting. I don't know how true it will be but it will be very interesting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: CNN is also saying goodbye to morning co-anchor Don Lemon. He's been on the hot seat since February over his controversial comments about women and age. Lemon apologized, and he denied subsequent reports about more troubling behavior in the workplace.

In an email to staff CEO Chris Licht wrote: Don will forever be part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years. We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.

Now to new details on the sudden departure of NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell. Comcast says it fired Shell after cooperating a female employee's allegations of sexual harassment. Now an attorney for CNBC anchor Hadley Gamble is acknowledging it was his client who filed a harassment and discrimination complaint against Shell that led to an investigation. Sources say that Gamble provided emails which backed up her complaints.

An Oklahoma college goes into lockdown after a deadly shooting and five people are shot in San Francisco. We'll have details of the latest gun violence in the U.S.

Plus, Republicans tried to kick these three Democrats out of the Tennessee state house but fails and they now have the ear of the U.S. President.

[04:30:00]