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CNN International: Federal Judges Appear Skeptical of Trump Immunity Claims; U.S. Defense Chief Treated for Prostate Cancer; Alaska Airlines and United report Issues with Door Plugs; Blinken Meets with Palestinian Authority President Abbas; Gunmen Storm TV Station in Ecuador During Broadcast, Hold Staff Hostage. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired January 10, 2024 - 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.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster, joining you live from London, just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former President Trump traveled to Washington Tuesday to watch arguments in a federal appeals court hearing over whether he should be shielded from criminal prosecution.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I feel that as a president, you have to have immunity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Significant new findings by investigators and airlines are putting the spotlight on bolts in the Boeing 737 MAX 9.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've had over 20 serious production quality defects since the plane rolled out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On Monday, Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency, a day after the government said notorious gang leader Adolfo Macias, known as Fito, escaped from prison.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM, with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
FOSTER: It's Wednesday, January the 10th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington, DC, where a federal appeals court is weighing arguments about whether Donald Trump should have immunity from prosecution. His attorneys say he was carrying out his presidential duties when he questioned the results of the 2020 election.
NOBILO: But the Justice Department's special counsel contends the former president was intentionally subverting the democratic process. Trump attended the hearing in person.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think they feel this is the way they're going to try and win, and that's not the way it goes. That'll be bedlam in the country. It's a very bad thing. It's a very bad precedent. As we said, it's the opening of a Pandora's box, and it's a very sad thing that's happened with this whole situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: We've got more now from CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Good afternoon --
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former President Trump traveled to Washington Tuesday to watch arguments in a federal appeals court hearing over whether he should be shielded from criminal prosecution.
TRUMP: I feel that as a president, you have to have immunity. Very simple.
REID (voice-over): Trump was not required to be in attendance, but was in court to witness the three-judge panel express skepticism of his legal team's claim that he cannot be prosecuted for his actions unless he is first impeached and convicted by Congress.
JUDGE PAN: Could a president order SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? That's an official act in order to SEAL Team 6.
JOHN SAUER, TRUMP ATTORNEY: He would have to be, and would speedily be, you know, impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution.
JUDGE PAN: I asked you a yes or no question.
SAUER: There is a political process that would have to occur under our structure, our Constitution, which would require impeachment and conviction by the Senate in these exceptional cases.
REID (voice-over): Trump's lawyers argued that when trying to overturn the 2020 election, Trump was acting in his official capacity.
SAUER: To authorize the prosecution of a president for his official acts would open a Pandora's box from which this nation may never recover.
REID (voice-over): Trump's lawyer also warned that if this near- absolute immunity was not recognized, there could be a possibility of vindictive prosecutions against political rivals.
SAUER: He would authorize, for example, the indictment of President Biden in the Western District of Texas after he leaves office for mismanaging the border, allegedly.
REID (voice-over): The special counsel rejected these arguments, noting that charges were brought in this case because of what they describe as extraordinary conduct.
JAMES PEARCE, ATTORNEY, SPECIAL COUNSEL: Never before has there been allegations that a sitting president has, with private individuals and using the levers of power, sought to fundamentally subvert the Democratic Republic and the electoral system.
REID (voice-over): And argued that impeachment and conviction through a political process should not be required before a criminal prosecution.
PEARCE: I think it would be awfully scary if there weren't some sort of mechanism by which to reach that criminally.
REID: The court here has been operating on an expedited schedule, so we expect we will likely get a decision soon. Whoever loses can then ask the entire circuit to hear the case. But that requires the majority of judges in the circuit to agree to hear it. It's not clear that'll happen.
Then, of course, there is the next step, which is appealing to the Supreme Court. And they're already weighing this question of ballot eligibility related to former President Trump.
[04:05:00]
So unclear they're going to weigh in. But, of course, the Trump strategy is as much about delay as it is about the merits of this case.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: CNN legal analysts seem to be in agreement that Trump's attorneys were facing an uphill battle with their claim of absolute immunity. Here's former assistant U.S. attorney Elie Honig.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Trump's team today took a surprising position that I think landed them in a spot where they were arguing that it could be that the president orders murder and cannot be prosecuted. They sort of invented this argument that first you have to be impeached by the House, then convicted by the Senate, and only then can you be prosecuted.
And I want people to understand there's no magic to these formulations. We're in new ground here legally. It's not like there's some code hidden in the Constitution. What the judges and maybe someday the justices are going to be asking is, is this workable? Does this lead to an outrageous outcome? And if it does, I think you're out of luck. And I just don't think Trump's lawyers are going to win based off that argument.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The countdown is on to the Iowa caucuses, now just five days away. Republicans Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis will face off at a CNN debate tonight, while Donald Trump takes part in a Fox News town hall.
NOBILO: Meanwhile, a new CNN poll of likely New Hampshire voters shows Haley has closed the gap significantly with Trump. She's now just seven points off the lead. It also shows DeSantis falling to fifth place with just five percent support. Haley is now on the campaign trail in Iowa, repeating a familiar line about her relationship with Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe President Trump was the right president at the right time. I agree with a lot of his policies. But rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him. You know, I'm right. Chaos follows him. And we can't have a country in disarray and a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won't survive it. You don't defeat Democrat chaos with Republican chaos.
And we also don't want to go through another nail biter of an election. We saw what happened in the midterms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: CNN will be hosting the Republican presidential debate tonight in Des Moines, Iowa, moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Don't forget to tune in at 9 p.m. Eastern time right here on CNN.
NOBILO: Amazing momentum that Haley's building.
FOSTER: Yes.
NOBILO: So do tune in for that.
So, the U.S. government is facing a partial shutdown next Friday and sources tell CNN that House Republicans are not yet ready to commit to a stopgap spending bill. Congressional leaders agreed to top line funding levels this week. And now negotiators will have to hammer out individual bills that fund different parts of the government.
FOSTER: The number two Senate Republican says he's looking at a March time frame. Minority whip John Thune also says he thinks lawmakers will eventually be able to reach a deal on border security policy that would allow them to approve aid funding for Ukraine and Israel.
Doctors disclosed Tuesday that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had surgery to treat prostate cancer back in December. They say his prognosis is good.
NOBILO: But questions do remain about why it took so long for Austin's staff to notify the White House. CNN's Oren Liebermann reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: There were major questions about the hospitalization of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and who knew what, when, based on the notification that should have happened. Part of those questions were about the medical condition itself. What was it that Austin went through and what were the complications? Those questions were answered. We'll get to that in one second.
The other questions were about the notification process that seems to have catastrophically failed. Why is it that President Joe Biden didn't know for three days after Austin himself was hospitalized? Those questions remain open.
So what we learned today in an extensive statement from Walter Reed Medical Center, where Austin still is at this point, is that Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in early December. He then went on December 22nd for what they call a minimally invasive surgery to deal with the prostate cancer. It was caught early. He was under general anesthesia and he was released the next day.
It's worth noting that it's unclear if anyone knew at this point that he was under general anesthesia. And that's significant because Austin is the Secretary of Defense.
Even if his powers were delegated, his responsibilities delegated to his deputy Secretary of Defense, it is still a significant statement, a significant happening that Austin himself was under general anesthesia. He then goes home to recover. And on January 1st, doctors say he felt significant discomfort, including nausea, pains.
He then had abdominal fluids that had to be drained over the course of the next several days. He was moved into the ICU on January 2nd, according to Walter Reed. And that is where he began to recover, although he was still in quite a bit of discomfort.
He was given medications. There was an infection there. That infection has since been cleared, according to Walter Reed.
[04:10:00]
He remains at the hospital now. Doctors have said his prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent. So that there, certainly the good news for Austin and for his recovery.
He assumed full responsibilities on Friday. He has, of course, been carrying those out from the hospital.
But then there's the bigger question on the notification here and how that failed to notify first, Biden himself, but other senior national security officials, including those in the Pentagon and for example, Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor.
The Pentagon says that primary responsibility fell to Kelly Magsamen, Austin's chief of staff, but she was sick with the flu, according to the Pentagon. What's unclear here is why no one else notified and carried on the responsibility of notifying the president and of others.
One also -- one bit of a stunning information that also came out today was how few people knew that Austin himself had been diagnosed with cancer. Even though Biden knew on January 4th, three days after Austin was admitted to the hospital that he was there, he didn't know until earlier on Tuesday that Austin had been diagnosed with cancer. So that was knelled very tightly, even from the Pentagon, even from others who are at the top levels of the U.S. government. Even the national security council acknowledging this shouldn't have been handled this way. Now the Pentagon promises to put out daily health updates.
Oren Liebermann, CNN at the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Conditions across much of the U.S. East Coast are improving after being battered by powerful winter weather and storms. More than 40 million Americans were under severe storm threats on Tuesday, with more than 300 storms reported in affected areas since Monday.
More than 1,400 flights were cancelled across the United States on Tuesday, and more than 600 have been cancelled today, and that is according to FlightAware.
FOSTER: Parts of Wisconsin say about 30 centimeters or one foot of snow, with parts of Iowa and South Dakota receiving even more. Winter weather alerts remain in effect in northeastern states until later this afternoon.
High winds and tornadoes were reported across southern states and up the eastern coast on Tuesday. The National Weather Service says more than 75 million people are under high wind alerts going into Wednesday morning.
NOBILO: Boeing's CEO is pledging complete transparency as the aircraft manufacturer works with federal investigators to determine what caused an Alaska Airlines fuselage door plug to snap off mid-flight.
FOSTER: He told staff at the company acknowledging his mistake, even though it's still not clear exactly what went wrong. CNN's Pete Muntean has the latest on the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun says the company is acknowledging its mistake, that and a just released excerpt from the company's all-hands safety meeting on Tuesday.
Here is the issue. Calhoun did not say exactly what the mistake is, if anything, and now investigators are scrambling to get to the bottom of it.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): After Friday's dramatic in-flight blowout, significant new findings by investigators and airlines are putting the spotlight on bolts in the Boeing 737 Max 9 designed to hold the part that ripped off in place known as a door plug.
The National Transportation Safety Board now says it blew out and up, triggering what investigators call a chaotic and loud explosive decompression.
PILOT: Alaska 1282, we just depressurized, and we're declaring an emergency, we do need to descend down to 10,000.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): In prepping their planes for FAA-mandated emergency inspections, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines both report issues with door plugs on an undisclosed number of now-grounded Max 9s. Alaska says mechanics found some loose hardware was visible.
United says it found possible door plug installation issues and bolts that needed additional tightening. Now investigators are searching for the door plug bolts from Friday's incident, potentially key evidence.
CLINT CROOKSHANKS, NTSB AEROSPACE ENGINEER: We have not yet recovered the four bolts that restrain it from its vertical movement. And we have not yet determined if they existed there.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): A Max 9 door plug is secured by high air pressure inside the plane, pushing 12 tabs on the door against matching tabs on the plane's frame. A total of four bolts at the top and bottom of the door can be removed for maintenance. But without them, the door could slide out of place.
CROOKSHANKS: By design, if the bolts are there, it prevents the door from translating upwards and disengaging from the stop fittings and flying off the plane.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Early reads from Alaska 1282's flight data recorder detail that cockpit alarms sounded, followed by the door plug blowout one minute later.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was a really significant event. It was terrifying.
MUNTEAN: The NTSB says it's also reached out to Spirit AeroSystems, that is the Boeing contractor that builds the Max 9 fuselage.
Those planes remain grounded until airlines can inspect them.
[04:15:00]
Airlines are waiting on inspection details from the FAA. The FAA says it's waiting on details from Boeing.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
NOBILO: Up next, another day of high stakes talks for America's Secretary of State. The latest by Antony Blinken on his trip to the Middle East.
FOSTER: Plus, a surge of gang violence has sent Ecuador spiraling into crisis, and it's putting the country's new young president to the test.
NOBILO: Then, why the NFL's most famous conspiracy theorist is refusing to apologize to a late night TV host after suggesting he had ties to a convicted pedophile. A closer look at that spat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Just in to CNN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is on a surprise visit to Lithuania. Landing in the capital Vilnius a short while ago. The Lithuanian president says he'll meet with Zelenskyy to discuss the war in Ukraine, as well as integrating Ukraine into the EU and NATO.
NOBILO: They'll also hold a joint news conference a couple of hours from now. President Zelenskyy says he'll also visit Latvia and Estonia on this Baltic visit.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has kicked off more high-stakes talks today and is currently meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
[04:20:00]
This comes a day after he sat down with top Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
FOSTER: During his meetings with Netanyahu and the Israeli War Cabinet, Blinken has stressed the importance of avoiding further harm to civilians in Gaza and protecting civilian infrastructure.
NOBILO: Blinken says Israel has now agreed on a plan to let the United Nations conduct an assessment mission in northern Gaza to determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to move back home. He also made clear the Israeli government must move toward a two-state solution if it wants the help of Arab partners in the region to ensure lasting security.
FOSTER: CNN's Paul Hancocks following developments for us from Abu Dhabi. We were covering quite extensively the meetings in Israel, but the focus does now turn to the Palestinian Authority, at least, even though, you know, it's got its control outside Gaza.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Max and Bianca. We know that the Secretary of State will be speaking to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader. And what we are hearing from Blinken himself and U.S. officials is that one of the topics of conversation will be governance reform, so pushing the Palestinian Authority to effectively change the way it operates, potentially change those at the top.
What we know at this point is that the U.S. would like the Palestinian Authority to play a role in the day after the war in Gaza ends to be able to govern the people of Gaza, but Israel has insisted that's simply not going to happen, saying that they don't believe that the Palestinian Authority has the credibility or has the power to be able to prevent a resurgence, for example, of Hamas or other militant groups within Gaza itself.
So, the problem for the U.S. Secretary of State is he has been very clear to Israel that a two-state solution an Israeli state alongside a Palestinian state is the only way forward to secure the support of Arab countries around the region. But at this point he does need to figure out, and so do those in the region, what exactly the governance of Gaza will be once Israeli military and Israeli soldiers pull out.
Now we do know that Mahmoud Abbas is 88-years-old, he's been in power for many years of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank but not Gaza. And he hasn't been taken part in an election since 2005, and it is believed that he does not have the support of many Palestinian people.
So he has specified that there does need to be governance reform. That the government needs to look at itself and reform in order to gain back that credibility, that power, in order to be able to put them forward to be able to govern in Gaza as well.
Another issue that will likely come up is of course the violence that we have seen in the West Bank. According to the Ministry of Health in Ramallah, at least 340 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers or military since October 7th -- Max, Bianca.
FOSTER: Paula nu Dhabi, thank you so much for that.
NOBILO: Now we turn to the Red Sea, where Houthi fighters in Yemen have launched a new barrage of missiles and drones. American officials say the U.S. Navy shot down 24 of them on Tuesday. According to initial assessments, there were no ships damaged and no injuries.
FOSTER: The Iran-backed Houthis have said their attacks target commercial vessels with any sort of link to Israel. But a U.S. naval commander said many of the ships attacked have no connection to Israel whatsoever.
Ecuador's president has declared a state of internal armed conflict and authorized the military to neutralize drug gangs behind a wave of violence which has left the nation in shock.
NOBILO: Yes, this is a remarkable story.
Two police officers were killed Tuesday in the city of Nobo and at least eight people were killed in Ecuador's largest city Guayaquil.
FOSTER: More than a dozen armed men stormed a state-owned TV station during a live broadcast. Gunfire could be heard as the armed men forced staff to the floor.
NOBILO: Police intervened, arresting all 13 of the gunmen and said all hostages and staff of the network were alive. One of the TV anchors at the station described the attack as extremely violent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORGE RENDON, TC TELEVISION ANCHOR (through translator): We heard something. We thought it was a fight that was going on outside the studio. But that wasn't the case. The producer told us, be careful. They are getting in. They are robbing us. The studio doors are very thick. They wanted to enter the studio so that we could say what they wanted. I guessed their message. Then we settled in a safe place.
But when they entered, they asked for us to go live. They insulted us. But we managed to get in a safe place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the head of the joint command of the armed forces says the future of the country is at stake.
[04:25:00]
NOBILO: As a result of the violence in Ecuador, neighboring Peru announced on Tuesday night it will declare an emergency along its northern border region.
FOSTER: Our CNN Patrick Oppmann has more on the unrest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As cameras broadcast live, armed gunmen take employees of a TV station in Guayaquil, Ecuador hostage.
The journalists are threatened and forced to the floor at gunpoint while viewers watch. The latest scenes of out of control gang violence plaguing the South American nation. Ecuadorians say they are in shock.
LUIS ARTURO BELTRAN, WAITER (through translator): All citizens are afraid. Today there were attacks in Quito, Cuenca and Quevedo, everywhere.
OPPMANN (voice-over): On Monday, Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency a day after the government said notorious gang leader Adolfo Macias, known as Fito, escaped from prison in Guayaquil before his transfer to a maximum security facility.
DANIEL NOBOA, ECUADORIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The time is over for when those convicted of drug trafficking and murder tell the government what to do.
OPPMANN (voice-over): The government implemented a curfew and mobilized a manhunt of 3,000 police officers and members of the armed forces to search for the escaped gang leader. The gang struck back on Tuesday raiding the TV station, taking police and prison guards hostage, setting off bombs and attacking a university.
Ecuador had long been spared the epidemic of violence carried out by drug cartels throughout much of the region. But as the country has increasingly become a key transshipment point for illegal drugs heading to Europe and the U.S., local gangs partnered with cartels have battled each other and the government for control. In 2023, presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was
assassinated after naming individuals he said were involved in the drug trade. And then the six alleged hitmen arrested for his killing were apparently murdered in prison as well. Villavicencio's running mate on Tuesday called on the country to unite to defeat the gangs.
ANDREA GONZALEZ, ECUADORIAN POLITICIAN (through translator): This is the moment that Ecuador stands and leaves behind political terrorism.
OPPMANN (voice-over): The country's president, Noboa, on Tuesday declared several of the gang's terrorist organizations in order to the armed forces to, quote, neutralize the violence.
Police at the TV station said they had arrested 13 alleged gunmen and rescued the hostages. As the government declares war, though, there's no sign the gangs are backing down.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now, more documents have been unsealed about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his relationship with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Details coming up after the break.
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