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Trump Campaigns in New Hampshire; Nikki Haley Claims a Two- Person Race with Trump; Haley Refuses to Take Debate Stage Without Trump; New U.S. Strikes on Houthi Targets in Yemen; Civilians Fleeing Nasser Hospital as Fighting Intensifies; Biden Invites Congress Leaders to Discuss Aid for Ukraine; John Kerry, Climate Change, Biden Campaign; China's Shrinking Population; Juries Selected in E. Jean Carroll v. Trump Case; Trump's Controversy Benefits A Small Businessowner; North Korea No Longer Want Peace With South Korea; Ecuador Seeks Help From U.S. and Other Allies. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 17, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States, around the world and streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead. Eyes on the prize. Donald Trump sets his sights on New Hampshire after a landslide victory in Iowa. But can he do it again? We will hear from voters ahead of the state's primary.
The U.S. carries out a third round of strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen and says it won't hesitate to take further action. More in a live report.
Plus, Donald Trump attends the first day of his civil defamation trial in New York, as his legal battles intertwine with his race for the White House.
Good to have you with us. And we begin this hour in New Hampshire, where voters will go to the polls for the Republican presidential primary in just six days. And after his landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses, Donald Trump is hoping another win will cement his position as the party's eventual nominee.
The former president visited the Granite State after a brief appearance in a New York courtroom for jury selection in his defamation trial. In New Hampshire, he appeared at a rally with former GOP rival Vivek Ramaswamy who's now backing Trump. The Republican frontrunner focused his harshest attacks on his former U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Nikki Haley, in particular, is counting on the Democrats and liberals to infiltrate your Republican primary. It's artificially boosting her numbers here, although we're still leading her by a lot. You know, as you know, I watched her speech last night. I thought it was inappropriate. But because it's bad for unity, it's bad for the party, what she said. But you'd almost think she won. She came in third, and she lost not a particularly great candidate, obviously, as you've seen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Haley and Ron DeSantis were also in New Hampshire on Tuesday. The former South Carolina governor has come under fire for claiming she's now in a two-person race with Trump, despite her third-place finish in Iowa. But she also got in some shots at President Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The majority of Americans think that having two 80-year-olds running for president is not what they want. You've got two people who put -- spent trillions of dollars, putting us in debt that our kids are never going to forgive us for. Biden and Trump both did that.
Then you go and you look at the fact that we've got all these issues around the country and around the world. And what are Biden and Trump both focused on? Investigations, past issues, things that aren't taking us forward. We can either have more of the same or we can say it's time to change and move forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The political landscape in New Hampshire is very different to conservative Iowa and recent polls show Nikki Haley gaining ground on Trump. CNN's Omar Jimenez spoke with voters about the upcoming primary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From a cold Iowa to a snowy New Hampshire, where voters here are in the final frigid stretch to their primary.
(On camera): How long you been voting in New Hampshire?
SHELLEY ROY, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: All my life.
JIMENEZ: Do you think what happened in Iowa is gonna happen here in New Hampshire?
ROY: I think that is a strong possibility of yes.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Former President Trump swept 98 out of 99 counties in Iowa. Some feel it's gonna be more of the same in the Granite State.
(On camera): And why do you feel that way?
ROY: There's a lot of people who are -- won't come out and actually say that they're gonna vote for him, but will vote for him.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The question is how that dynamic will play against Nikki Haley, who's jumped in recent polls, some that show her within single digits of the former president in New Hampshire. Despite her third place Iowa finish, she polled well with moderates, which New Hampshire has a lot of. And she's now trying to position New Hampshire's primary as a two-person race to voters.
GARY HOULE, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: We're here. Want some Baileys in that?
JIMENEZ (on camera): Oh, I know, yeah.
(Voice-over): Voters like Gary Houle, who says he's done with Trump for now.
HOULE: I believe in honesty. I watch all these things that are going on with him right now.
[03:05:00]
And I have to believe that lot of its kind of true. I am looking for an alternative Republican to run against Joe Biden. I'm leaning toward Nikki Haley.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): But he painted a crucial bottom line with the former president.
HOULE: I ruled him out in the primary, but you know, he worked to win the nomination. Then he'd be ruled back in.
JIMENEZ (on camera): You were surprised a little bit by the results in Iowa. Why is that?
KEVIN CLARK, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: I just didn't think he have that clear momentum.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Kevin Clark voted for Trump in 2016 wanting a change.
CLARK: We got a bigger change than I think any of us expected.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Years later, he wants a change again, but this time from Trump.
(On camera): You think it'll be different here in New Hampshire?
CLARK: I certainly hope so. I think New Hampshire people judge things on their own. They don't go by polls. They don't decide important elections by anything other than what they think is best for the country and for them.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Some Trump voters are confident he'll (inaudible).
UNKNOWN: You can feel it. There's no doubt in my mind. JIMENEZ (voice-over): Other independents are still making up their
minds.
KAYLYN CAULFIELD, NEW HAMPSHIER VOTER: Everyone here is different, so I'm not sure, you know, who's gonna, you know, feel which way.
JIMENEZ (on camera): Yes.
CAULFIELAD: So, it'll be interesting to see.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): To see whether it's more of the same or legitimate challenge to the former president. The countdown is on rain, shine or snow.
(On camera): Even with weather like this.
ROY: Oh yes. We're New Hampshire people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: And with the snow part of this weather, we've actually already seen a little bit of a similar dynamic to what we saw in Iowa. Some including Ron DeSantis have had to cancel at least one event due to treacherous road conditions because of this snow. That said, seven days is going to count down pretty quickly in this final stretch to the primary. And remember, the voting population in New Hampshire is much different than Iowa for one, many more moderates here in the state, which is a dynamic that at the very least, Nikki Haley, is hoping to take advantage of. Omar Jimenez, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.
CHURCH: And Nikki Haley is fighting off another controversy involving race and American history. Last month, she failed to mention slavery when a voter asked her about the cause of the Civil War. And on Tuesday she said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST: Are you a racist party? Are you involved in a racist party?
HALEY: No. We're not a racist country, Brian. We've never been a racist country. Our goal is to make sure that today is better than yesterday. Are we perfect? No. But our goal is to always make sure we try and be more perfect if every day that we can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Haley went on to say her goal is to lift everyone up, not to divide people based on race, gender or anything else. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was quick to criticize Haley during his CNN town hall with New Hampshire voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON DESANTIS, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The U.S. is not a racist country and we've overcome things in our history. You know, I think the founding fathers, they established a set of principles that are universal. Now, they may not have been universally applied at the time, but I think they understood what they were doing.
We've had challenges with how race was viewed. So yes, we've had challenges with how we've dealt with race as a society, but we are the best -- no matter what your background is. If you have one place you want to grow up and have the most opportunity, it doesn't matter your background. This is the best place to grow up and to pursue your dreams of any place in the entire world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And Nikki Haley says she will not take part in any more Republican presidential debates unless Donald Trump participates. Well, that has forced ABC News to cancel its debate on Thursday and provided another line of attack for Ron DeSantis. Take a listen.
(BEGKIN VIDEO CLIP)
DESANTIS: I agreed to do a debate with WMUR and ABC on Thursday and with CNN on Sunday. I'm the only candidate that actually agreed to come to New Hampshire to debate. And what does that say? We have four candidates for president now, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and me. I'm the only one who's not running a basement campaign at this point. You deserve as a voter to have the candidates come up, answer your questions in forums like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Again, the New Hampshire primary is just six days away, Tuesday, January 23rd. Be sure to tune in for CNN's extended coverage.
A third round of U.S. strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen has not stopped them from attacking vessels in the Red Sea. A U.S. defense official says American forces destroyed several anti-ship missiles on Tuesday that the Iran-backed militants were preparing to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
But just a few hours after the U.S. strikes, the Houthis claim to carry out a direct hit on another carrier, which they say was bringing missiles to Israel. The Houthis warn future strikes on Yemen will not go unanswered.
[03:10:04]
The Israel Defense Forces tells CNN about 25 rockets were fired into southern Israel from Gaza in one of the largest attacks in weeks. Most of those rockets on Tuesday were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defense system and no injuries were reported.
Hamas' military wing has claimed responsibility. Meantime, Qatar says it has brokered a new deal between Israel and Hamas. As part of that agreement, medicine and other humanitarian aid will be delivered to Palestinian civilians in exchange for the delivery of medicine to Israeli hostages in Gaza. Qatar says the aid is expected to leave Doha Wednesday and head to Egypt before being transported to Gaza.
Well, international doctors at the largest hospital in Khan Younis say people are fleeing the compound as the Israeli military moves closer to the city in southern Gaza. Videos show people carrying blankets, mattresses and personal belongings as they leave the Al Nasser hospital area where some have taken shelter.
In the background, explosions and sounds of small arms fire. Earlier Tuesday the Israeli military claimed Hamas had carried out a recent launch from within the hospital compound. And CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments. She joins us now live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, Paula. So, what is the latest on the U.S. and U.K. strike on Houthi militants and what's the Biden administration saying about what these strikes actually achieve?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Biden administration, Rosemary, is defending its decision to once again use the U.S. military to try and target these Houthi rebels. Now, we know in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the U.S. military targeted, they say they struck and destroyed four Houthi airship missiles, which were in preparation to launch. They said there was an imminent threat from those launches and they took them out.
Now, we have heard from the military as well that they believe that their first strike, this was back on Thursday into Friday overnight last week, they struck more than 60 targets but even then, they believe that they probably destroyed less than a third of the Houthis' military capabilities. So, that really just highlights how difficult it is for the U.S. and U.K. navies and those affiliated to be able to try and neutralize the threat of the Houthis continuing to target vessels in the Red Sea.
And that was highlighted once again just a few hours after they targeted those Houthi rebel areas. They actually launched another missile which hit a ship. It did damage, but not enough to stop the ship, so they were able to continue. This was a Greek-owned, multi- flagged ship in the Red Sea. So, it really does point out and highlight just how difficult it is to be able to combat the Houthi rebels trying to target vessels in the Red Sea because their military capabilities are spread out in a large area that they control in Yemen. Rosemary?
CHURCH: And Paula, to the conflict in Gaza where people are fleeing Al Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as Israeli forces approach, what is the latest on that war and of course the situation on the ground in Gaza?
HANCOCKS: So, when it comes to the hospital itself, Rosemary, we understand from doctors within the hospital, from eyewitnesses, that many have had to leave on foot to try and move away from the area. The videos that we see show that there are explosions nearby, presumably from Israeli airstrikes.
We also hear small arms fire in the background. So there does seem to be a particularly tense area there. And thousands would have been sheltering there, not just the patients within a hospital but many who are internally displaced and have nowhere else to go, believing a hospital would be safer than other areas.
Now, we've heard from Israel, they have said that they believe that Hamas had launched a missile, a rocket, from the area, from this compound, and that is why they were targeting this area. But you see people leaving there with everything that they can carry, mattresses, blankets, carrying their children to get to where they believe may be a safer area.
We heard from one American doctor who is in this hospital at this point saying, quote, "the hospital is shaking and there is panic." Now, we have heard from Israel's defense minister once again that the intensive stage of their bombardment of Gaza will end soon.
[03:15:00]
But we're certainly not seeing any indication of that at this point, Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right, thanks to Paula Hancocks joining us live from Abu Dhabi.
And still to come, CNN speaks with John Kerry about his plans to help campaign for U.S. President Joe Biden's re-election. Why he says it's too early to be concerned about the election right now.
Plus, China's population falls for the second year in a row, as Beijing reports on the health of the country's economy. Back with that and more in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to underline America's impact on the battlefields in Ukraine when he meets with a bipartisan group of lawmakers today. Additional U.S. support for Ukraine has been held up for weeks in Congress. Many Republicans are demanding any new aid be tied to tighter border security and immigration policies.
White House sources tell CNN President Biden will lay out setbacks that Ukraine could suffer in its fight against Russia without additional U.S. aid.
For months now, the front lines in Ukraine have barely moved. The country's much anticipated counteroffensive has stalled against Russian positions.
[03:20:00]
And now Ukraine's president is urging world leaders to prevent the war from becoming a frozen conflict. Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered his passionate plea in person at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday. He's calling on Ukraine's allies to deliver more weapons and resources needed to win the war. He expressed gratitude for their support, but also criticized them for not doing enough sooner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Full force of the sanctions could have forced Putin to concessions because of don't escalate time was lost and the lives of many, of many of our most experienced warriors who fought since 2014 were lost, some opportunities were lost.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And CNN spoke with U.S. climate envoy John Kerry on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Kerry recently announced he is leaving the role by this spring to participate in President Joe Biden's re-election campaign. He also told CNN's Julia Chatterley the U.S. has much to do to combat climate change. Here's part of their conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, U.S. CLIMATE ENVOY: President Biden has had an extraordinary record. He's the person who said to us, I want to make climate the top issue, I want to be pushing this. He gave us the license to move around and make the things happen that have happened. He passed the IRA, one of the most significant pieces of legislation in history. It's made a difference already.
His leadership globally has helped the United States come back from a place where the previous president pulled out of the agreement, didn't do anything, didn't put money in it. And now American leadership, I think, hope is being respected again on this topic. So, I think that we're behind globally in terms of what we need to do to meet the crisis of climate.
The president knows that and he's going to do everything he can in the campaign to be able to make this a key issue, and I'm going to do everything I can to help the president be able to be re-elected.
JULIA CHATERLEY, CNN ANCHOR: So, you're going to be campaigning for him. The whole place, I think, is talking about what happened in Iowa overnight with, as you mentioned, the former president's success in Iowa. Can I ask what you make of that? Because I think for many reasons, but in particular, as we've discussed, climate care is perhaps shuddering at this moment at the prospect of a second round of former President Trump in the White House.
KERRY: Well, it's way too early. Look, it's January, early January. And there's so much history to unfold still now between now and the election. So, I'm not going to get caught up in the election at this point. I think that that'll take care of itself. And later, when I'm not in this job, I'll have an opportunity to opine on that and other things. But for the moment, the crisis we really have to be paying more attention to is the climate crisis.
I mean, last year was the most turbulent year globally in history with record heat, record fires, record water, you know, disappearing, record numbers of people moving because of climate. So, we have a fundamental global challenge. And I'm pleased to say that in Dubai we're able to work with China and others to forget some of the other issues, not forget them, but to put them aside for a moment to do something that the world needs done that affects all of our citizens.
CHATERLEY: Secretary Kerry.
KERRY: Nice to be with you.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you. We look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail.
KERRY: It is cold out here by the way.
CHATTERLY: Freezing. Final question. Can Biden win?
KERRY: Oh God, absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The U.S. Senate has taken the first step in possibly avoiding a partial government shutdown. Senators voted to advance a short-term funding extension that would set up two new funding deadlines in early March. Right now, Congress has until Friday to stop funding from running out for priorities including military construction, veterans' affairs, transportation, housing and the energy department. The rest of the government is funded until February 2nd. Here's more from the Senate Majority Leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Now, while most Democrats and Republicans want to avoid a shutdown, a small group of hard right extremists seem dead set on making a shutdown a reality. With little leverage to actually enact their agenda, these extremists have tried again and again to bully the speaker, bully their own Republican colleagues, and bully the country into accepting their hard right views.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Now to China, where the government says its population declined for the second year in a row in 2023. And its economy saw one of its weakest performances in more than three decades.
[03:24:58]
CNN's Marc Stewart is live in Beijing. He joins us now. Good to see you, Mark. So how significant are these numbers and how might this trend impact the economy going forward?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Rosemary. These are two daunting challenges. Let's first talk about the economy. China's economy did grow by 5.2 percent but it's not as much as we have seen in the past and it's definitely a point of concern from Beijing. In fact, Chinese President Xi Jinping during a New Year's Eve address expressed concern that the Chinese economy is in trouble.
So, what's at play? Well, a real estate crisis has permeated through the last few months. Young people are having a hard time finding work, as well as an aging population. And that leads to the other issue, the population decline. It seems that young people don't want to have children as generations did in the past. They have other priorities, and it's a point of conversation that came up during a singles matchmaking event just recently in Shanghai. Let's listen to what one woman had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MISS YOJI, MIZER ATTENDEE (through translation): I'm actually paying attention to these marriage and childbearing policies myself, but I think many policies treat the symptoms further than the root causes, and don't really care about the real needs of young people. For example, real-life pressures like housing prices, work, and academic qualifications, which are improving, but in fact also delay the age of marriage and childbearing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: You know, for decades, China had a policy where families could only have one child. That policy has since been retired and now China finds itself in a much different situation. The population is still about one billion, but not as high as Beijing would like. A number of incentives, a number of programs have been unveiled, Rosemary, to try to encourage families to have children. But as we have seen, the birth rate still remains on the decline.
CHURCH: CHURCH: All right. And thanks to Marc Stewart bringing us that live report from Beijing.
Still to come from the campaign trail to the courtroom, Donald Trump comes face to face with the woman who accused him of sexual assault and defamation.
And as Ecuador struggles to stop a wave of violence, the country's president makes a plea for international support. Back with that, in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00]
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
New York's top court has dismissed an appeal from Donald Trump to remove the gag order in his civil fraud trial. The state attorney general accuses Trump of inflating the value of his assets to get better rates on loans. She is seeking $370 million and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
Meanwhile, the former president made an appearance in another courtroom on Tuesday.
CNN's Paula Reid has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Day one of the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial is in the books, and the lawyers, the judge, they were able to select a jury of nine people. Now, this jury will remain anonymous throughout this case, which is expected to last a few days. As we've seen, judges, court staff, and jurors working on cases related to Trump have faced threats, so it's not a surprise that they will remain anonymous.
Now, the former president attended most of the day on Tuesday. But he did not stay for opening statements when both sides laid out their theory of the case. E. Jean Carroll's lawyers argued that Trump unleashed his followers on her and that she lives in fear and should be entitled to significant damages.
Now, Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, said in fact, Carroll's career has prospered since she made these allegations against former President Trump. Now Trump is expected to attend some parts of this case. He is expected back in court on Wednesday.
On Thursday, his mother-in-law's funeral is being held. He's not expected to attend court on that day. No court on Friday. And then it's possible Trump could testify next week. But the judge has put some restrictions on what Trump would be able to say if he testifies.
They are not relitigating. Allegations of rape and sexual abuse. So he's also not allowed to attack Carroll. The allegations of what happened at a department store in the mid-90s, those were litigated in a trial last spring that Trump did not participate in at all. He chose not to attend. He chose not to testify.
And again, he's not required to be at this next phase of the defamation case. Here they're talking about statements that he made in 2019 while he was still in the White House denying E. Jean Carroll's accusations of rape in the mid-90s.
Last spring a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and awarded her $5 million. In this next phase she is seeking $10 million in damages and this is the only job that the jury has to hear from witnesses and assess how much she is entitled to in terms of damages.
Paula Reid, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Illinois is the latest U.S. state to consider whether Donald Trump should be on the ballot in this year's presidential race. The board of elections will meet in the day ahead to start the process. No decision is expected until after a hearing officer finishes an investigation.
An advocacy group claims Trump's role in the January 6th insurrection disqualifies him for office under the 14th amendment to the Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of Trump's ballot ban in Colorado.
Well, campaign memorabilia is nothing new, of course, nor is merchandise at bearing Donald Trump's name. But in one small Virginia town, those two things have come together in an all-consuming way.
CNN's Elle Reeve visited an old church that's now become Trump Town USA, a store mixing politics and the profane.
[03:35:01]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITEY TAYLOR, OWNER, TRUMP TOWN USA: The mugshot was really hot. And this stuff lasts probably about two months. It stays really hot. But the first week that we -- the mugshot came out, we sold like 2,000 t- shirts.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What's that?
TAYLOR: That's Trump's balls.
REEVE: OK. Whitey Taylor runs a busy Trump store in Boone's Mill, a town of fewer than 500 people in southwestern Virginia. We visited a week after Christmas, with the Iowa caucuses just days away. Taylor predicted Trump would win the Republican nomination and then business would really boom.
TAYLOR: You can only get these here.
UNKNOWN: How much are you --
UNKNOWN: Twenty dollars.
UNKNOWN: Twenty dollars.
REEVE: Customers were bullish, too. What the superfans bought offers some insight into what they want politically. The merch is not just simple campaign slogans. It's defiant, even vulgar, aimed at buyers who enjoy being mad at the state of America and think there's one guy who will fix it.
When Trump was indicted for all these different things, did people stop buying his merchandise?
TAYLOR: No, they bought it more.
REEVE: Why?
TAYLOR: Because they knew it was like Russia collusion. This is all just all (muted), made up (muted). Now he has gained a lot of people because of this administration that we have now, yes.
REEVE: You get people coming in saying that?
TAYLOR: Yes, definitely. Yes. They'll just come in and say, never again will I be that stupid, you know.
MELINDA WILLIAMS, EMPLOYEE, TRUMP TOWN USA: Hi, welcome to the Trump store. Hi.
REEVE: What have you observed about what people are looking for?
WILLIAMS: People want our economy better. They're very scared, I think, because of the way things are going. They feel like where we're at right now is not, is like stagnant.
REEVE: Were you interested in politics before Trump?
WILLIAMS: Yes. And you know, it's strange because I've always been Democrat.
REEVE: Really?
WILLIAMS: Yes. So, I am a firm believer in believing in a person and system that's going to make positive changes. I think in the past I made some quick judgments about my voting. And so, I'm very more selective, and it's more thought put into it.
REEVE: Why'd you come in today?
DALE COPELAND, SHOPPER FROM NORTH CAROLINA: To get some Trump stuff so I can advertise and, you know, support him. That '06, '08, I like lost everything I had.
REEVE: Yes.
COPELAND: But I barely survived on me. I don't know how I did, and this is leading up to the same thing again.
MARY-JEAN PALMER, SHOPPER FROM FLORIDA: I often wonder what encourages people to be a Democrat, because I don't see a lot of kindness. I don't see a lot of help for our country. And I see a lot of talk and no action.
REEVE: He got into this business at the very beginning of Trump's takeover of the Republican Party. Taylor is a serial entrepreneur and intention seeker, and he prayed to God to guide him while selling racing merch at the Daytona 500.
TAYLOR: My son said, Dad, what's God telling you? I said, came in my spirit. He wants me to help Trump. I said, I'm going to order a thousand t-shirts. He said, dad, but that's crazy. You know how crazy you get, just get 100. I said, go big or go home, boy. I said, if God's telling me, we'll sell everyone under the knot with the old trash can leave.
All we had was a white t-shirt. It said, hire the vets, fire the idiots Trump 2016 on the front, red, white, and blue. And on the back it said, finally someone with balls, Donald J. Trump, OK? And I became known as the balls man on the tour.
REEVE: Taylor opened the store in the fall of 2020 inside a hundred- year-old church. After the election, the big seller was stopped the steal.
Did you think the election was stolen?
TAYLOR: There's no doubt the election was stolen, yes.
REEVE: And what did you think of January 6?
TAYLOR: It was a bad thing, but if you look back, you actually look at the tapes and stuff. They were let in, but they still should have never went inside, OK?
REEVE: OK.
TAYLOR: You never go in somebody's house or a house, a public house like that, you know?
REEVE: Does that complicate what you think of Trump at all, that he --
TAYLOR: No.
REEVE: Why not?
TAYLOR: No, no. Definitely not, because he definitely didn't tell him go and storm the House.
REEVE: Would you have any interest in running the store if Trump weren't so controversial?
TAYLOR: I doubt it. I like his controversy. You know, we need something that we can laugh about and be happy about. There's liberals that think they can come in here and actually tell me what to do. The last one was a professor from UNC. She was just telling me what a great job Biden is doing. I tried to tell her to leave.
REEVE: But do you not appreciate, you know, her coming in and wanting to mix it up a little bit?
TAYLOR: I love it. Yes. But she don't want to hear what I have to say. She wanted me to only hear what she had to say.
REEVE: You said that you want to rename this town Trump Town?
TAYLOR: Why not? The boons are dead. The mills are gone. Let's change.
REEVE: Do you think other people support you with that?
TAYLOR: Not really, but it doesn't really matter. It's good controversy if it never happens.
REEVE: Elle Reeve, CNN, Boones Mill, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Coming up, North Korea says it's ending its policy of seeking reconciliation with South Korea. Why that has some experts worried. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:40:00] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. North Korea is taking an increasingly hostile stance toward its closest neighbor, South Korea.
On Monday, Kim Jong-un declared South Korea his country's quote, "primary foe and invisible principal enemy." He vowed to dismantle Pyongyang's arch of reunification, which signifies the possible peaceful unity of those two nations, calling it an eyesore.
And in recent weeks North Korea's military fired hundreds of artillery rounds into waters close to a disputed border with South Korea.
Sig Hecker is a professor of practice at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies of Monterey and the former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. I appreciate you joining us.
SIEGFRIED HECKER, PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE, MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES OF MONTEREY & TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: Thank you, it's my pleasure Rosemary.
CHURCH: Now, Sig, you recently wrote that the Korean Peninsula is the most dangerous it's been since 1950. So is Kim Jong-un preparing for war or is this just more saber rattling, do you think?
[03:45:02]
HECKER: So, I don't think it's saber-rattling this time. And to really understand that, you have to follow the North Korean situation, you know, quite a ways back. And that's what I've done. I was there first 20 years ago. My colleague Bob Carlin has actually been working in 50 years. So I think this time, Rosemary it's different.
CHURCH: And why do you think that? How is it different?
HECKER: So, what we've seen is that North Korea actually had one policy for some 30 years, 1990 to just about 2020, of trying to seek normalization with the United States.
And for a number of reasons, after a failed summit in Hanoi, the North Koreans and Kim Jong-un has sort of revisited what they want to do, and they decided they're going to give up on the United States. So, we've watched that now for a couple of years and now what's coming out is indeed what we've heard for these few years and that is they're talking about war. They're talking about war preparations for their country and so we're quite concerned.
CHURCH: And if Kim Jong-un were to go to war, as you suggest, what are South Korea, Japan and the United States doing to prepare for such an outcome? And how would they respond to a threat of war from North Korea?
HECKER: So part of the reason we spoke up at this time was I think it's essentially a warning for us, a shot across the bow to get our attention. What we're trying to do is to get the American government to understand, hey, look, this is really serious.
They changed the way that they want to work with us, and it is time to be prepared. Essentially how you're prepared, of course, that's our government's job.
CHURCH: Right. And what would a war waged by Kim Jong-un look like, do you think?
HECKER: So that's, you know, that's not at all clear. We can't really understand, you know, he has nuclear weapons, and of course that's what I've been looking at for a whole number of years. But it's not going to be nuclear weapons, certainly, at the beginning.
But we're just worried that indeed, that he may have decided, you know, in the end, we don't really understand what he's thinking. He may have decided that it is time to actually take some actions.
CHURCH: But he has to know that should he wage war with South Korea, Japan or the United States, that's potentially the end of his regime, isn't it? Really?
HECKER: So that's certainly what I've said all along, and I've always said, look, he's not suicidal. You know, he's not going to take on something where his regime and his country is going to end.
However, we don't really know how he's thinking, and there are a lot of things that have changed here in the past couple of years that he may believe that there actually, there is some way sort of what one would say, what's a path to victory? What would it mean? And that's what we're concerned about that he may be thinking very differently than what our conventional thinking is.
CHURCH: And do you see South Korea as the greatest threat of war at this juncture?
HECKER: So, yes, you know, before, we'd always thought, well, maybe if there is some more, it may just not be South Korea. But his recent statements, and those are the ones that have really gotten everyone's attention, you know, both in a party forum just a day or so ago and then the New Year's speech.
And what he's now said is that South Korea, they don't belong together anymore. And in the end, he thinks that indeed South Korea shouldn't even exist.
CHURCH: Sig Hecker, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it and your perspective.
HECKER: Thank you.
CHURCH: Just ahead, a call for help from Ecuador's president as the country cracks down on a crises of gang violence. We'll look at that on the other side of the break.
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[03:50:00]
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Ecuador's president is seeking international support in his country's fight against domestic terrorism, calling it a global problem. The comments from Daniel Noboa come after last week's wave of violence, which saw an attack on a local TV station, as well as prison riots throughout the country.
Here's what the president said Tuesday to CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL NOBOA, ECUADORIAN PRESIDENT: We need international cooperation. I would gladly accept cooperation from the U.S. We need equipment, we need weapons, we need intelligence. And I think that this is a global problem. It's not only in Ecuador. This is a problem that goes beyond borders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The government says more than 1,700 people were detained in the first week of a nationwide state of emergency against gang violence. More than 150 suspects are accused of terrorism.
Elon Musk is demanding an even larger stake in Tesla, the company that made him the richest person on the planet. Musk is Tesla's CEO, and he sold a large number of shares to buy X, the company formerly known as Twitter.
[03:55:01]
Now he says he wants around 25 percent of Tesla's stock, almost double the 13 percent he owns now. Musk says he is, quote, "uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in A.I. and robotics without having the voting control he wants."
Well, major turbulence for low-cost American carrier Spirit Airlines. Its shares plummeted 47 percent Tuesday after a federal judge blocked a $3.8 billion merger with budget airline JetBlue.
The U.S. Justice Department sued in March to halt the deal, marking the first time in more than 20 years that the government has sought to block a U.S. airline merger. It argued the deal would increase airfares for travelers and reduce competition in the market. Both Spirit and JetBlue told CNN they disagree with the ruling. However, JetBlue shares rose nearly 5 percent.
And thanks so much for spending part of your day with me. I'm Rosemary Church. CNN Newsroom continues next with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
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