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U.S. Sends Much Needed Humanitarian Aid Into Gaza; Trump And Haley Campaign Ahead Of Super Tuesday; Texas Wildfire Burns More Than A Million Acres, Kills 2 People; Authoritarianism Threatening To Derail The U.S.; Donald Trump Declares Himself A Proud Political Dissident; No Decision Yet On Trial Date For Trump Classified Documents Case; Trump Versus McConnell Over The Years. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired March 02, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:40]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

The U.S. made its first humanitarian aid drops over Gaza today. In a joint operation with Jordan, U.S. aircraft delivered some 38,000 meals. U.S. official saying they chose the drop zone based on need, believing a large number of people to be sheltering near that location. At the same time, a senior U.S. official now saying Israel has, quote, "basically accepted" the terms of a ceasefire deal to release more hostages and now the decision falls to Hamas to accept the deal.

Priscilla Alvarez is joining us now live from Washington.

Priscilla, the White House seems to believe this was a big success, this airdrop of aid today.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's been the resounding message from senior administration officials. Though, while they're touting it as a success, they are also cautioning that much more is needed as this dire humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in Gaza.

Now, as you mentioned there, there were 38,000 meals that were dropped in this region of Gaza that was delivered in 66 bundles. Now it only included food. There was no water or medical supplies. But since that has happened they have noticed, they being officials, that civilians did approach the assistance and have begun distributing it, factoring into them deciding that this was a success.

But this is certainly not enough. And that was the message from administration officials today. They're trying to flood the zone and they're doing that through these humanitarian aid drops, and also exploring other avenues, like a maritime corridor. But they're still saying that even with all of that, they need the land crossings to be available to continue to surge aid into Gaza. That's one of the hurdles that continues to remain as the situation unfolds in Gaza. The president himself saying in a tweet earlier today that this is not enough. Now, we expect that there will continue to be more humanitarian aid

drops. But again, the big question is how much is -- the big question is how whether this can meet the needs of the people of Gaza. Senior administration official saying this is just one of many steps that needs to be taken.

DEAN: And Priscilla, let's also talk about these ceasefire talks. Where are they standing at this hour?

ALVAREZ: Well, they're still ongoing hour by hour, minute by minute, but there was a bit of optimism today about the direction of talks. Senior administration officials saying that Israel has, quote, "basically accepted" the proposal that is on the table which includes a six-week ceasefire in Gaza. Now, what would happen over those six weeks would be that hostages that are deemed most vulnerable, being women, the elderly and the wounded, would be released, and aid into Gaza could be surged in.

Then also officials could continue to talk about some of the stickier points like the release of hostages that are IDF members, while also talking about, quote, "an enduring plan" in the region. But of course all of this is very sensitive and has been for some time, so no deal is a done deal until it crosses the finish line. But of course, this also comes as Vice President Kamala Harris is set to meet with Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz on Monday.

Now, during that conversation, they're expected to touch on the hostage deal, the humanitarian aid going into Gaza, but also critically the day after planning for Gaza. That has been a priority for Vice President Kamala Harris since the attacks on October 7th. The War Cabinet member also expected to meet with National Security adviser Jake Sullivan while he's in town. So everything moving very quickly to try to meet that Ramadan deadline that U.S. officials say they want to see this hostage deal come together by then. Big question remains that if it doesn't, what happens after that.

DEAN: I think that's just about a week now. Priscilla Alvarez for us, thanks so much.

Also today, Donald Trump trying to put the Republican nominating race to bed. The former president making a pair of campaign stops where voters will go to the polls on Super Tuesday, which is in just a few days now. Team Trump's hope that their candidate collects enough delegates to signal once and for all that Nikki Haley does not have a mathematical path to win. Trump adding to his probable insurmountable delegate lead today.

Well, Steve Contorno joining us now from Richmond.

Steve, what's the campaign's strategy heading into the biggest day of this election so far, Super Tuesday?

[19:05:07]

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, I spoke with the Trump adviser at this event today and they are very confident going into Super Tuesday, and even projecting a sweep of all the races that are at play on that day. And Trump himself is speaking behind me right now. He said, quote, "We don't need your vote," but he also said, we want to send a big signal on Super Tuesday.

And so he encouraged people to go out there and vote here in Virginia. But he also very quickly pivoted to the November election, making it very clear that they already have their sights set on President Joe Biden. You see the screens behind me where they're they displaying Trump's speech. These have also been flashing statistics about immigration, the border and Joe Biden's agenda and trying to get this crowd amped and ready for November 5th election.

This is a state that Trump has not won in all the two elections that he has so far in his two White House bids. However, he said, quote, "We're going to make a big play for it in November."

DEAN: All right. Steve Contorno traveling with former president Donald Trump tonight. Thanks so much for that reporting.

And let's bring in CNN's Ron Brownstein to the conversation.

It's always good to have Ron on, and get your thoughts. Let's start first with what you write about today that Joe Biden still has an opportunity to change the narrative on the Biden economy but these poll numbers we're seeing from "The New York Times"-Sienna poll are pretty bleak. 51 percent of voters rating the economy as poor. So how does the president break through? How does he change the narrative?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, he's got a situation that is a little ominous for him where you have seen consumer confidence in the big measures, whether it's the University of Michigan Consumer Confidence Index, Conference Board or the Gallup Economic Confidence Index. All of those have improved significantly since last -- last fall, you know, awareness that inflation is moderating is broader, and yet his approval is not going up.

You know, in the past, we have seen particularly in the cases of Reagan, Clinton, and Obama, improvements in Consumer Confidence foreshadowed improvements in their own approval rating, which ultimately carry them to successful reelections. And so the question really becomes, is there a point at which Biden is going to benefit from a similar movement? And I think the view in both parties is that the cumulative weight of inflation, the fact that even though inflation is slowing, the key, you know, essentials of life, groceries and rent, are significantly more costly than they were when he took office. That is the biggest impediment to him benefitting from these other positive trends in the economy.

DEAN: Yes, it's interesting hearing you talk through that because it's almost as if there are some Americans that just think -- I wasn't thinking about the data that we have on, do your policies, have they benefitted you, that's also in this polling.

BROWNSTEIN: You're right.

DEAN: And Trump is beating Biden on that as well. It's almost as if people want to go back they think fondly of 2019 and then we had the pandemic and all of these things happened and we can't go back to that time because so much has changed. So in a way, is it that Biden is kind of facing a weird headwind in that he doesn't have a time machine essentially for -- well, also for his age, but in terms of the economy.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. No, I think part of his challenge on the economy is the baseline that people are comparing it against is not something in the distant past. It's what they remember from the first three years of Trump when they fell, you know, you hear in focus groups, pollsters in both parties will say people will say that they have more money in their pocket at the end of the week in 2017, 2018, 2019 than they do now.

Having said that, Democrats think there is still a case to be made on the economy. Both a negative case that Trump's agenda is tilted too much for the people at the top, plus that his 10 percent tariffs as Nikki Haley has been talking about, that's not going to bring down the price of groceries. It has the potential to obviously increase costs for Americans, and Biden does have a lot of positive trends in the economy.

You can point to including an absolute boom in manufacturing, construction of new plants tied to the big three bills he passed in his first two years. But that inflation is just as -- has been throughout his presidency a cloud eclipsing all of these other trends that he might want to point to.

DEAN: Yes. And if we dig a little bit more into that polling, look, the top lines aren't great for the president's campaign. They would disagree with that. They think that they're still in a good spot, but if you're looking at that snapshot Americans do seem to prefer Donald Trump based on these numbers. And we see the core of Biden's coalition really softening women tied with women, voters of color, Hispanic voters.

What is -- what are you getting from looking into all of this a little deeper?

[19:10:00]

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. You know, there are some quirks in this poll, like any poll. But this is a good pollster and the results are broadly consistent with what we are seeing in other state and national polling, which is that Biden is behind right now. I think the scariest thing for Biden in this poll is that only 36 percent of Americans say they approve of his performance as president, 47 percent say they strongly disapprove.

As you note, only 18 percent, only about one in five roughly say his policies have helped him personally. Those are the kinds of numbers that have spelt defeat in the past for incumbent presidents. It's hard to dig out of a hole that deep. He needs to improve perceptions. He needs -- really there's two things to happen. He needs attitudes about the economy to continue improving. They're kind of stalled in one sideways in February in those big measures like University of Michigan.

And then he needs more of satisfied voters to give him credit. So far -- you know, that really is the dynamic that could possibly get him into the 40s where the contrast with Trump could become more valuable for him.

DEAN: And, you know, there are some Democrats obviously that are concerned about this. There's a lot of them, but there are other Democrats that I talk to you that say, look, look at all the special elections, look at the midterms, look at the special elections, look how Democrats have won, you know, even in this environment. And they say it's going to be OK. Do you I think that's true?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, there's a whole debate about whether Democrats are benefiting because they are now a more college educated coalition. And those voters tend to turn out more in these kind of off-year elections. I would say that the part that is true and should give Democrats some comfort is what we saw in 2022 in unusually and really an unprecedentedly large number of voters who are dissatisfied with Biden, who thought the economy was moving in the wrong direction, voted for Democrats anyway, because they view the Republican alternative as too extreme a threat to their rights, to their values and to democracy itself.

That dynamic is almost certainly going to be there again in 2024. It's there even in this poll, but it's not a get-out-of-free card. I mean, if you look at this poll, Biden is running further ahead of his approval rating than presidents usually get to do. You know, people, young voters, only 30 percent of them approve of Biden, but he's at 50 percent in the head-to-head with Trump. With independents he's 2-1 they have a negative view of his performance, but he's even with Trump's.

So the contrast with Trump is helping him, but it's not an infinite ladder, right? I mean, if his approval rating is so low, there's a limit to how many people will say, I don't think he's doing a good job, but I'll vote for him anyway because I find the alternative unacceptable. Clearly, there are people who will say that. We saw it in 2022 but, you know, it's not infinite. And if you're at 36 percent, that's a big hole to climb out of.

DEAN: All right, and I want to ask you before we let you go about some of these caucuses that are going on tonight. Just into CNN, we are projecting that Trump will win the caucuses in Missouri, in Michigan, and Idaho. And that makes his delegate count far and away ahead of Nikki Haley, 51 to four there.

And now we head in, Ron, as you well know, we head into Super Tuesday on Tuesday where so many delegates are up for grabs. What reason do you think Haley should continue to soldier on? She has said she's committed to staying in through Super Tuesday. How do you think Super Tuesday could push this dynamic forward?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. First of all, you know, no Republican other than an incumbent president has ever won every primary and caucus. Al Gore did it among the Democrats. So Trump is on an historic pace. But, you know, even as he's doing that, we are seeing this consistent 30 percent or so, higher in some states when she's had time to campaign supporting Haley. She has made that point. There is a portion of the Republican coalition, mostly college-educated suburban, that is still resistant to Trump.

Not sure there's much point in making that point beyond Super Tuesday. She's demonstrated it. The question of what she does next I think will be no different if she stayed in the race for a month, than if she got out the day after Super Tuesday

DEAN: All right. More to come. Ron Brownstein, great to see you. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: A rare blizzard is putting people in California and Nevada on blizzard watch as the snow totals pile up by the foot there with a whole lot more to come this weekend. We'll talk about it.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:19:00]

DEAN: We have a developing story out west. California's Sierra Nevada is buried under a rare and relentless blizzard with 10 to 12 feet expected in some mountain areas. The powerful storm wreaking havoc on Interstate 80 with drivers stranded, multiple collisions prompting authorities to shut down a major stretch in California near Nevada.

CNN's Elisa Raffa is in the Weather Center tracking the storm.

This is a big one, Elisa.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and it's really rare to get blizzard warnings like this for the California mountains. We're talking about extreme impacts. We were talking about impossible travel, really dangerous travel. No one should be out in this whiteout conditions, not just from heavy snow, but we're talking about damaging wind gusts, gusts have already been over 100 miles per hour and they'll consistently be over 60 miles per hour.

That's what gives you the blizzard conditions. Heavy snowfall rates over four inches per hour possible. We've already gotten over three feet of snow in this -- in some of these mountain areas, I mean, 42 inches Kingvale. Soda Springs nearing 40 inches. And we still have a couple of more feet to go.

[19:20:02]

The blizzard warnings continue through the night tonight and into tomorrow, where you see the orange because we'll continue to pump the snow. It hasn't really slowed down at all, and we'll get the lightning remarkable over Salt Lake City. And then more off the coast. It just shows you just how intense the storm is. You have all the rain coming to San Francisco. But as soon as you hit that colder air in the higher elevations, it is a snow machine that just keeps pumping and that's where you get some of those 12-foot totals in the highest elevations -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Elisa Raffa for us. Thanks so much.

Theres also just so much devastation in the Texas Panhandle tonight. Strong winds and high temperatures there are major concerns over the weekend as the wildfires in that state rage on. We know at least two people have died in the Smokehouse Creek Fire, which is now the largest wildfire in Texas history.

CNN's Camila Bernal is on the ground in Fritch, Texas.

Camila, so much heartache, so much destruction, and these fires are nowhere near contained.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're not. 15 percent for the largest fire in the state of Texas at the moment. And it's been so heartbreaking. It has been so hard for a lot of these families, and this is just the beginning of that mourning process and that cleanup process.

The Johnson family, they're here behind me. They're trying to look for anything they can. They're using metal detectors. This used to be the master bedroom of the home, which is why they're trying to look through the rubble here. But it's been extremely difficult for them. Take a listen to what Susan Johnson told me about first seeing her home after the destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN JOHNSON, HOME WAS DESTROYED: I'm sure that as time goes on I'll think about something and mourn it, if you will, but we -- can't take my memories away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And we're seeing that impact both emotionally and financially, not just for these families, but also for the ranchers in this area. 85 percent of the Texas cattle is raised here in the panhandles. So a lot of these ranchers are dealing with the deaths of their cattle. And so that's been very difficult for them as they continue to see the injuries and as they continue to just evaluate that damage.

So again, it's been extremely difficult for this community, but we've also seen people coming together to donate hay, to donate water, to do everything they can for his families and for the ranchers in this area -- Jess.

DEAN: Yes. The economy being affected, personally they're being affected. It's just a lot.

Camila Bernal for us on the ground in Texas, thank you so much for that reporting. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:09]

DEAN: Tonight a soul-searching opinion piece on what lies ahead for the United States and what America can learn from the bravery of ordinary Russians. Thousands this week lined the streets to say one last goodnight to Alexei Navalny. That's not him, of course. The Kremlin critic who perished in a Russian jail. They did so at extraordinary personal risk. They're merely standing in line to fight a decree from Vladimir Putin.

But here in America more and more people are falling in line to the steady drumbeat of would-be autocrats. That is the argument in the new opinion piece from Tom Nichols. "Democracy's Dark Winter," which you can read now in "The Atlantic." And Tom joins us now to talk a little bit more about this.

Tom, just for people who haven't read it yet, describe the central thesis in your new piece.

TOM NICHOLS, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: The idea is that it's been a pretty hard winter for democracy around the world and here in the United States. Putin has continued his war against Ukraine, murdering thousands and attacking civilians while the U.S. Congress and a small handful of people in the Republican Party hold up aid so that Ukraine can defend itself. Putin finally has what he wanted. Navalny died. Not just in jail, been in a Russian penal colony in Siberia. The Russian government says it's of natural causes, but there's no way to know that right now.

And here at home, I mean, people have just kind of tuned out on the kind of autocratic, unhinged language that's coming out of Donald Trump and some of his supporters in the Republican Party. They're just not thinking about it. And I think what the Russians have really shown us in this war is that they're not going to -- like authoritarians everywhere, they're not going to let up and what the Ukrainians are showing is democracy takes work, it takes a fight. And I think here in the United States, we've simply kind of shrugged our shoulders and given up on that.

DEAN: And you mentioned the former president who today at one of his rallies once again compared himself to Alexei Navalny, saying that he is, he, Trump, is also a political dissident. What do you make of that?

NICHOLS: It's obscene. It's an obscene comparison. It would merely be absurd except that for what Navalny went through and what Trump is accused of doing are in different universes. And Trump who has no particular affinity for someone like Navalny, and actually has a great amount of affection for Putin, it's really one of the only things Trump has ever been constant about in any of his positions is that he never -- tries never to cross Vladimir Putin.

It really is just obscene. Navalny went back to his native contrary to agitate for democracy. And he was thrown into prison on trumped-up charges by a regime where the rule of law really doesn't exist. Donald Trump is using the courts and the norms of American

jurisprudence against the American system. He is accused of trying to overthrow the government, and he is using every legal weapon in his disposal to avoid any kind of accountability in a court of law for his financial crimes, for defamation, for his accused financial crimes for his defamation, for anything that he has been accused of doing by Jack Smith.

These are two completely unrelated cases and it really is an obscenity for Trump to talk that way.

DEAN: I want to read part of your piece. You write in "The Atlantic:" "The world including America, is facing a panoply of dangers, but such perils mean nothing to a group of people for whom Congress is just a lark, a way to live in Washington, raise money, and be on television."

Who are you talking about there?

NICHOLS: Specifically, the reference to television was Nancy Mace. In a recent story, it was revealed to basically tell her staffers, I just want to be on TV, how we can make sure that you do that. But I'm thinking of other people in the Republican Party -- Matt Gaetz, Mace, Marjorie Taylor Greene -- there is a group of people for whom this isn't about governing, it is about living in Washington and raising money basically being celebrities and these aren't serious people, but they are dangerous people because of their incompetence and their inability to take anything seriously around them other than their own careers on their own professional prerogatives.

DEAN: And really the argument you're making is to the earlier point is that there is so much at stake right now and people will say, well, we've lived through this or we've lived through that.

We are in this really interesting confluence of events with some actors on stage across the world and it is serious. This is a very serious time, and you're saying like these are not unforced -- you're making the argument that the people that we have elected to Congress are not rising to the occasion.

NICHOLS: To use the Logan Roy, the Logan Roy comment, many of these people, not all of them, there are good people in Congress and a lot of people working hard, but these are not serious people and that wouldn't be such a problem, but the world has become an incredibly dangerous place, because again of authoritarians who are on the march and who aren't going to stop.

And these are just people that are completely unable to take these challenges seriously and really don't care about them. And that's a danger to all of us and to world peace really.

DEAN: And just quickly before we let you go, former President Trump is hosting Hungarian leader, Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago. What do you think that demonstrates to European leaders who are looking nervously at the upcoming US election?

NICHOLS: Well, I think we are already hearing it from European leaders that they fully expect that if Trump is elected, that NATO will be on the chopping block. The Russians will be able to do in Trump's words, whatever the hell they want, that their security will be endangered, which means eventually our security will be endangered.

Unlike Americans, I think the Europeans are actually listening to Trump and taking him seriously and believing what he says about what he is going to do. I think, in the United States, we have a normalcy bias. We just sort of wave it away and say nothing could ever really get that bad. Things can't change that fast.

This time around -- I mean, Trump got really close to some of this the last time around. This time around, he has people around him who have figured out how to work the levers and turn the knobs and that's going to be incredibly dangerous.

DEAN: All right, Tom Nichols, we will leave it there. Your piece, your latest piece in "The Atlantic." Thanks so much for joining us tonight. We appreciate it.

NICHOLS: Thank you.

DEAN: Former President Trump is following a familiar strategy: Delay, delay, delay in a bid to push the trial in his federal classified documents case until after the election.

What we know about the timing of Trump's legal woes. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:55]

DEAN: No decision yet on when exactly Donald Trump could go to trial for allegedly mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate. His attorneys are arguing for it to start later as part of their overarching legal strategy to delay as many of Trump's court battles as long as possible.

CNN's Paula Reid explains how Trump is balancing a presidential campaign and legal troubles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Former President Donald Trump at federal court in Florida for a high- stakes hearing to decide when he will be tried for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL: An indictment was unsealed. Charging Donald J. Trump with felony violations of our national security laws, as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

REID (voice over): Trump faces 40 felony criminal charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified information, some seen here improperly stored at Mar-a-Lago. DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They raided my house. They did it for publicity reasons. They did it for election interference reasons. They want to interfere with the election.

REID (voice over): The case is currently scheduled for May 20th, but Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, who is overseeing the case has signaled she may push the trial back.

[19:40:10]

In court, Cannon pressed prosecutors and defense attorneys about their suggested schedules. Special Counsel Jack Smith proposed a July 8th start date, but during the proceedings, Cannon suggested that aspects of Smith's proposal were unrealistic.

Trump's lawyers insist the trial should be pushed back. A trial that takes place before the election is a mistake and should not happen. Trump attorney Todd Blanche stated, saying it would be unfair to the former president and the American people for Trump to be in the courtroom and not on the campaign trail. That's something that former president has claimed as well.

TRUMP: All of this persecution is only happening because I am running for president and leading very substantially in the polls.

REID (voice over): Trump's attorney attorneys did concede if the trial has to go forward before the election, they would be okay with starting August 12th, but prosecutors pushed back saying, if Team Trump believes the trial before the election is unfair, those are fake dates. Why did they even propose those dates?

Cannon noted that Trump's upcoming criminal case in New York must be considered as she schedules this one. On March 25th, Trump's hush money trial begins in New York and is expected to last four to six weeks, an already busy court schedule for the former President Trump.

Prosecutors did clarify a key issue, how close to the election would they be willing to try Trump? Attorney General Merrick Garland has said a speedy trial is in the public interest.

MERRICK GARLAND, US ATTORNEY GENERAL: Cases were brought last year. The prosecutor has urged speedy trials with which I agree and this is now in the hands of the traditional system, not in our hands.

REID (voice over): In court though, prosecutors said that a Justice Department policy discouraging public investigative actions 60 days before an election does not apply to cases where charges had already been filed.

Prosecutor Jay Bratt told the court that when it comes to that policy, "We are in full compliance."

REID (on camera): Judge Cannon is expected to schedule at least one more hearing in this case, and then she will also likely put a date on the calendar. Now, she didn't seem open to placing this case in July, so it would likely be put on the calendar in August at the earliest, but that date is not a guarantee. The Trump lawyers or even the prosecutors could always come back and try to push it back further.

So at this point, it is still unclear if former President Trump will face either one of the special counsel's federal cases before the November presidential election.

Paula Reid, CNN, Fort Pierce, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: All right, Paula Reid, thanks so much for that reporting.

And former federal prosecutor, Renato Mariotti joins us now.

Renato, we just had Paula lay a lot of that out. But bottom line is we have multiple trials, a condensed calendar, which we are showing everyone right now.

How do you see this all unfolding ahead of the November election?

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Boy, you think that the Manhattan criminal trial is very likely going to go forward barring some unforeseen circumstance, like an illness on Trump's behalf, something like that, I think that the Manhattan case is going to go forward well before the election.

The question, I think is what is going to happen with the January 6 case? You know, the calendar you just showed had an immunity argument in the United States Supreme Court. Realistically, I am pessimistic that the January 6 case will go forward, that the trial will go forward before the election because as your calendar points out, it is literally the end of April when the Supreme Court hears argument. I don't think that the Supreme Court is going to release an opinion until June and at that point, there may be some work for the trial judge to do before trial would even get underway.

And realistically, I would say that would be in maybe September, October, and I just -- it is hard for me imagine her starting a trial then.

DEAN: All right, so that's the January --

MARIOTTI: As for Mar-a-Lago --

DEAN: Yes. That's what I was going to ask you about. What about Mar-a- Lago?

MARIOTTI: There are so many criminal trials that are upcoming and as far as Mar-a-Lago goes, you know, Judge Aileen Cannon has really shown a willingness to push this trial and to give as much latitude to Trump's team as possible, so it is just really hard for me to see her putting his feet to the fire, particularly given the fact that the classified documents at issue add an element of complexity give her opportunities to delay further.

I just think that realistically, it is unlikely that she is going to force them to go to trial before the election.

[19:45:00]

DEAN: And do you get the sense that the Trump legal team is angling to get one of these trials over another? Maybe one they prefer like for example, that DC federal case, the January 6 trial, if it is perceived as a bigger threat to them, are they trying, do you think to kind of manipulate the calendar and the rulings and all of that to protect themselves essentially?

MARIOTTI: So, I have often juggled multiple cases on behalf of clients and I typically want to have the weakest one first. So I think that they are happy that the Manhattan DA case is the first one. I do think that's the weakest case of all of these cases.

It still creates problem to the former president because it is felony charges. And I think there is some strong evidence there, so we'll see what happens, but I think they want that one going first.

DEAN: Yes.

MARIOTTI: Legally speaking, the Mar-a-Lago case is the most challenging for them.

DEAN: You think that one is? Not Georgia?

MARIOTTI: Georgia, I think is never going to happen before the election because there are so many defendants. We have this now, this whole sideshow regarding whether or not the DA is actually going to stay out in the case. I don't see that at a fast track.

DEAN: Okay. So I did want to ask you because we did watch that hearing with Fani Willis looking into whether or not she will stay on that case or not. What did -- what sense did you get from the judge as we watched those closing arguments yesterday?

MARIOTTI: Wow. Well, the legal standard is very favorable to Fani Willis. That's the good news for her.

The problem is, despite the very high legal standard that the defendants have to meet, the judge has been very interested in the details here anyway, which is bad news for her, because the more that the judge is digging into this, the more it suggests that he actually thinks that she could lose here.

And I would say the momentum is really on the side of the defendants. A lot of the testimony has not been very helpful for DA Willis, so I do think the judge is concerned and the question is he concerned that there has been a lack of candor towards him, which is one issue, it might not mean that her entire office is off the case or is he concerned that there is a conflict of interest, if that's the case, Trump may never see trial.

DEAN: All right, Renato Mariotti for us, thanks so much. We appreciate your time.

MARIOTTI: Thank you.

DEAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:13]

DEAN: With news that Senator Mitch McConnell will be stepping down as Republican leader comes the inevitable question of who will replace him? And ironically, one of his longtime political rivals, Donald Trump, may have an outsized say in who gets Mitch McConnell's job? Brian Todd goes through the history

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was a productive relationship, but a contentious one that soon devolved into mutual disdain. The courtly southern senator with a penchant for pragmatic conservatism and the bombastic hard-charging instigator who shook the Republican Party to its core.

TRUMP: Hi, everybody.

TODD (voice over): As Donald Trump's campaign gained momentum in the summer of 2016, Mitch McConnell said he thought Trump didn't quite have the stature yet to ascend to the White House.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): So my hope is that he is beginning to pivot and become what I would call a more serious and credible candidate for the highest office in the land.

TODD (voice over): Not long after that, at the 2016 Republican National Convention, McConnell crowed about being able to manipulate the selection of a new Supreme Court nominee toward Trump if Trump won.

MCCONNELL: And on that sad day when we lost Justice Scalia, I made another pledge that Obama would not fill this seat. That honor will go to Donald Trump next year.

TODD (voice over): Still, McConnell said this to KET after Donald Trump's shocking win that year.

MCCONNELL: I didn't think President Trump had a chance of winning.

TODD (voice over): But from that moment, one analyst says McConnell nuanced his approach to Donald Trump.

BROWNSTEIN: McConnell, I think, has always been someone who looked to see how he could benefit from Trump, rather than forcefully expressing his concerns about Trump. And that is really the story, I think of much of the establishment of the Republican Party during the first Trump term, they thought they could by the tiger and get benefits out of it and they did. TODD (voice over): Possibly their biggest benefit, drastically

changing the shape of the Supreme Court.

TRUMP: Mitch McConnell has been fantastic. He has been really great.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CO-AUTHOR, "THE EARLY 202," THE WASHINGTON POST: Alongside Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell placed three conservative justices on the Supreme Court and their biggest legacy at this time is overturning Roe v. Wade.

TODD (voice over): McConnell also successfully resisted two separate attempts by Democrats in Congress to impeach Donald Trump.

But then, a public scolding from McConnell for Trump's actions on January 6th.

MCCONNELL: Former President Trump's actions preceded the riot were disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.

TODD (voice over): Trump characteristically turned on McConnell even more harshly.

TRUMP: Mitch McConnell is a disgrace.

TODD (voice over): Even leveling a racist insinuation toward McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan and served as Trump's own Transportation Secretary, calling her in a tweet, McConnell's "China-loving" wife.

TRUMP: Coco Chow.

TODD (voice over): Now analysts say its Trump who is likely crowing over the 82-year-old's departure from leadership.

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CALDWELL: I'm sure Donald Trump thinks that this is another victory for him.

TODD (on camera): Another analyst says with Mitch McConnell's departure, some of the last remnants of resistance within the Republican Party to Donald Trump's agenda will likely have collapsed almost completely if Trump wins a second term in the White House.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Brian, thank you.

And thank you for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. I'm going to see you back here tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM.

Up next is "King Charles," followed by an episode of Jake Tapper's series "United States of Scandal." Have a great night.

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