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CNN International: Polls to Open in Super Tuesday Contests Across the U.S.; Supreme Court: Trump Can't Be Taken Off Colorado Ballot; U.N.: Convincing Information Hostages Were Sexually Abused; Hostilities Escalate Between Israel and Hezbollah; Ex-Trump Advisers Face Legal Peril, Prison Time; Delegates Gather in Beijing for Annual Parliament Session. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired March 05, 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]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first Super Tuesday polls are about to open now.
NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You got a job to do. I need you to vote, and I need you to take 10 people with you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former President Trump today claims the Supreme Court has unified the country by securing his place on the 2024 ballot.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Essentially, you cannot take somebody out of a race because an opponent would like to have it that way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A new United Nations report says there is clear and convincing information that Israeli hostages held in Gaza were sexually abused.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We also have reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may still be ongoing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world and the U.S. I'm Max Foster. Bianca has the day off, but it is Tuesday, March the 5th, 9 a.m. in London, 4 a.m. in the U.S. state of Virginia, where polls are open in just two hours for the state's presidential primary elections.
It's one of more than a dozen U.S. states and territories participating in Super Tuesday, a day with the most delegates at stake in the presidential primary calendar. It may be the last chance for Republican candidate Nikki Haley to gain an edge on Donald Trump, but he's not concerned with his rival today. He's flying high after an early victory handed to him by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.
They unanimously ruled Colorado could not unilaterally exclude Trump from their ballot for allegedly violating the insurrectionist clause of the U.S. Constitution. States like Maine quickly restored Trump's eligibility after the court's decision was announced. Colorado's Secretary of State disagrees with the ruling, though.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENA GRISWOLD (D), COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm disappointed. We believe that it's up to Colorado or any state to determine whether to disqualify oath-breaking insurrectionists from our ballots. The big concern is still there.
Donald Trump incited the insurrection. He incited that violent mob onto the Capitol to try to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power. And he has not stopped his attacks on democracy since then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, CNN's Paula Reid has more now on the court's unanimous opinion, as well as areas where the justices disagreed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former President Trump today claims the Supreme Court has unified the country by securing his place on the 2024 ballot.
TRUMP: The voters can take the person out of their race very quickly, but a court shouldn't be doing that. And the Supreme Court saw that very well. And I really do believe that will be a unifying factor.
REID (voice-over): In a unanimous opinion Monday, the court ruled that Colorado could not remove Trump from the ballot under the Constitution's ban on insurrectionists serving in office.
States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office, but states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency. The justices warned that allowing states to each make different decisions about ballot eligibility would result in a patchwork, creating chaos around elections.
The victory for Trump was expected after February oral arguments, where justices from both sides of the aisle appeared skeptical of Colorado's case.
ELENA KAGAN, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT: I think that the question that you have to confront is why a single state should decide who gets to be President of the United States.
REID (voice-over): And the Chief Justice, John Roberts, signaled where he would ultimately find consensus across the court.
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT: The whole point of the 14th Amendment was to restrict state power.
REID (voice-over): While the decision was 9-0 and applies to all 50 states, there was some tension below the surface with four justices writing concurring opinions. The three liberals saying their colleagues went too far by finding only Congress can enforce the 14th Amendment. Justice Barrett, a Trump appointee, agreed but didn't sign on to the liberal justices' language, instead highlighting unity on the court.
[04:05:00]
For present purposes, our differences are far less important than our unanimity. All nine justices agreed on the outcome of this case. That is the message Americans should take home.
The liberal watchdog group and longtime Colorado Republican, who brought the state lawsuit, disagreed with the court's decision and argued that the issue isn't settled yet.
JASON MURRAY, ATTORNEY FOR COLORADO ANTI-TRUMP CHALLENGERS: The issue of Donald Trump's eligibility for the office of the presidency remains very much a live issue.
REID: In less than two months, the justices will hear arguments in another major Trump case that could impact the outcome of the election.
There, the issue is whether Trump has immunity to protect him from federal criminal charges related to his efforts to subvert the 2020 election. Most legal experts agree Trump is unlikely to win on that case, but the fact that the justices even took it up could help him delay that case until after the presidential election.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: A former federal prosecutor and law professor says there's likely a reason for the timing of the Colorado ballot decision and why the Supreme Court decided to address it before Trump's presidential immunity case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA ROTH, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It was important that that decision be rendered as quickly as possible, given that the primaries are underway. There are a number of important primaries in big states underway.
And actually, both parties had asked the court to rule as quickly as possible on the ballot qualification issue. So it makes perfect sense to me that the Supreme Court would have taken the ballot eligibility issue right away and ruled as promptly as it could. And the fact that we have actually a fairly brief opinion from the Supreme Court, by the usual standards of Supreme Court opinions, speaks to, I think, their felt necessity of deciding the question as quickly as they could. Now, when we turn to the immunity question, it is rare for the Supreme Court to grant cert on a case where there's no circuit split on the issue and where there was no dissent from the lower court. And for that reason, including also the reason that I thought the D.C. Circuit opinion was very thorough and very well reasoned, I thought there was a very strong possibility that the Supreme Court would not take the case.
But that said, it is a novel issue, an issue of first impression, whether a president of the United States is immune from prosecution for acts committed while in office.
And although the Supreme Court did not have to take the case, there is a good argument that it is important that the highest court of the land rule on such a significant issue of first impression.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Nikki Haley reacted to the news of Trump's legal win whilst campaigning in Texas on Monday, though the numbers say otherwise. She told supporters she doesn't need the Supreme Court to beat Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY: We don't ever want some elected official in a state or anybody else saying who can and can't be on a ballot. This is America. This is America.
Look, I'll defeat Donald Trump fair and square, but I want him on that ballot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the former South Carolina governor again made her case that she is the strongest candidate to take on U.S. President Joe Biden. She also suggested Donald Trump may be the reason, quote, America keeps losing, urging voters to cast their ballots wisely.
Now, on Thursday, President Biden will deliver his State of the Union address, and it comes as the possibility of a Trump-Biden rematch this November is looking more and more likely. But what do the polls say of either candidate having a shot to clinch the presidency? CNN's John King breaks down the numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, where are we? Assuming Trump and Biden continue their path to the nomination, where are we? This is our CNN Poll of Polls.
Forgive me for turning my back. I just want to bring this up a little larger. 48 percent for Trump, 46 percent for Biden.
That is no clear leader. If you look at some of the late individual polls that go into this average, Trump has been running a little bit stronger. But if you average them all together, which is the smart thing to do, don't overinvest in any one poll, no clear leader.
But Trump has clearly been gaining a little bit of steam as we go forward. Why is he gaining steam? Well, these are the numbers that are troubling for the president. Here's one from the New York Times-Siena College poll.
Is President Biden too old to be an effective president? Among all voters, 73 percent say yes, 25 percent say no. Here's the troubling part. Even in his own party, the president needs big Democratic turnout in the fall. More than half, 56 percent of Democrats say they think he's too old to be an effective president. 43 percent say no. So that is one challenge for the president as he runs out the primary season, as he gives that big speech Thursday night. Address that.
The problems are deeper for the president. Again, he is the incumbent president. 24 percent of Americans say the country's on the right track. Two-thirds, two-thirds say it is not. 65 percent say the country is on the wrong track as the president prepares to deliver his State of the Union address.
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One more, incumbents are often judged by their approval rating. You start to get eight months out from an election, that's a problem. That's a problem. That's the number the president has to change. 36 percent approve of his performance right now in office. 61 percent disapprove.
That means a lot of Democrats. If 61 percent disapprove, that means Democrats as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: A new United Nations report, says there is clear and convincing information that hostages held in Gaza were sexually abused.
The report comes after a U.N. team visited Israel to gather, analyze and verify information on conflict-related sexual violence during the Hamas attacks and their aftermath. The U.N. Special Envoy on Sexual Violence spoke about the findings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRAMILA PATTEN, U.N. SPECIAL REP. OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT: We found clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment has been committed against captives.
And we also have reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may still be ongoing against those still held in captivity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: And she said there are reasonable grounds to believe it occurred during the Hamas attacks. CNN's Richard Roth spoke about some of the challenges the U.N. team faced.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: The investigative team talked about bad language skills of some of the forensic experts, that there were other challenges with inaccurate and unreliable forensic interpretations by non-professionals, extremely limited availability of victim survivors and witnesses of sexual violence, a lack of public trust and confidence in national and international institutions, the question about the narrow focus of this. Yet they did go to various institution facilities inside Israel as they tried to build a case as best they could as to what happened on October 7th.
The report does say that people who were held hostage or might've been attacked on October 7th did not want to come forward. Still, the trauma was too fresh.
Basically, this U.N. investigative team, that is not a criminal investigation that they insisted. They said, based on the information, we have reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the October 7th attacks in multiple locations across the Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape in at least three locations.
Across the locations, the mission team that found that several fully naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down were recovered, mostly women with hands tied and shot multiple times, often in the head.
Although circumstantial, such a pattern of undressing and restraining of victims may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence. And at that music festival, multiple incidents of sexual violence taking place with victims being subjected to rape and or gang rape and then killed or killed while being raped.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, in Washington, Israeli war cabinet member, Benny Gantz, is expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, in the coming hours.
But Israel is making it clear Gantz, a political rival of Benjamin Netanyahu, is not representing the government during his trip to the U.S.
On Monday, Gantz sat down with Vice President, Kamala Harris, who expressed her deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. The White House says Harris discussed the urgent need to reach a deal to release the remaining hostages.
She is also calling on Hamas to accept the terms of an agreement for an immediate six-week ceasefire, which would allow for more aid to enter Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The president and I have been aligned and consistent from the very beginning. Israel has a right to defend itself. Far too many Palestinian civilians, innocent civilians have been killed. We need to get more aid in. We need to get the hostages out. And that remains our position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The White House says Harris and Gantz also discussed the situation in Rafah and the need for a credible humanitarian plan before considering any major military operation there.
Now to the volatile situation on the Israel-Lebanon border. Israel's emergency rescue service says at least one foreign worker was killed and seven others injured on Monday when a missile hit northern Israel near the Lebanese border. It's the latest in a series of back and forth strikes.
This comes as a senior advisor to the U.S. president landed in Lebanon again on Monday to work on a diplomatic solution to the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. He warned that an escalation of violence is not in the interest of either country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMOS HOCHSTEIN, U.S. ENVOY: There is no such thing as a limited war. Escalation will not help the Lebanese and Israeli people return home.
Escalation will not resolve this crisis. And escalation will certainly not help Lebanon rebuild and advance forward at this critical time in Lebanon's history. But a temporary ceasefire is not enough. A limited war is not containable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: CNN's Paula Hancocks has been following the developments and has this report for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there, I see them?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CHILD: I see.
[04:15:00]
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The voice of a child narrating the sounds of conflict.
Israel's Iron Dome blocking another barrage of Hezbollah rockets. Billows of black smoke have become an almost permanent fixture on the horizon of the Israeli-Lebanon border. Near daily exchanges of fire, Israeli strikes pound parts of southern Lebanon villages.
Homes have been reduced to rubble, buildings burned to the ground. And tens of thousands of Israelis remain evacuated from the border out of reach of Hezbollah rockets.
Escalating tensions over recent weeks between Israel and the Iran- backed Islamist group Hezbollah, one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East, are sparking increasing fears of a wider regional conflict.
U.S. administration and intelligence officials tell CNN they're concerned Israel may be planning a ground incursion into Lebanon in the late spring or early summer. Israel's defense minister warned even if there's a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, it will continue and may even increase its attacks against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said their rockets would stop once a Gaza ceasefire is in place.
HANCOCKS: For the past few months, strikes have focused fairly close to the border region. However, Israel is now edging further north, hitting a town just last week over 100 kilometers from Lebanon's border. The deepest attack yet into Lebanese territory.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): The IDF now ramping up drills, releasing this video showing its forces conducting training exercises in the north. One former officer believes greater Israeli force is inevitable if diplomacy fails, which he suspects it will.
GIDEON HARARI, FORMER IDF OFFICER AND MILITARY ANALYST: If we want to make Hezbollah withdraw from the border, I don't see any other way to do it. Sadly, I'm saying it, I don't want to -- I don't think that it's good for us or even for the Lebanese. It will be ugly, it will be painful for both sides. It won't be short.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): A bloody war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 is still fresh in the region's memory. With concerns a repeat would be even more deadly.
AMAL SAAD, LECTURER, CARDIFF UNIVERSITY: This is Hezbollah 2.0. We don't know what Hezbollah is capable of today.
No one is, its a very secretive organization. And we can already see it has way more sophisticated anti-tank guided missiles, for example, and much more sophisticated drones.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Saad says that while Hezbollah may be war averse, it is not afraid of war.
While some in Israel's war cabinet appear keen to use a truce in Gaza as a chance to sharpen focus on its northern border.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Coming out with a man in charge of handling the Trump organization's finances has pleaded guilty to lying to prosecutors and look into the legal troubles that some of Trump's top loyalists are facing. Plus, China sets its economic targets for the year. I will tell you what they are and what they actually mean.
And a historic vote in France as it becomes the first country in the world to make abortion a constitutional right.
[04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The U.S. airman charged with posting highly classified intelligence on social media is going to prison for at least 11 years. 22-year-old Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty on Monday. Under the plea agreement, 11 years is the minimum amount of time that he'll spend in prison. Prosecutors want the judge to sentence him to more than 16 years.
Teixeira was arrested at his mother's home last April. He was charged with leaking U.S. military secrets on Discord, a platform popular with gamers. Sentencing is scheduled for September.
Two of Donald Trump's allies are discovering the price of loyalty to the former president. On Monday, the Trump Organization's former CFO pleaded guilty to perjury over lies he told in a 2020 deposition. He faces five months in jail.
And the U.S. Justice Department is urging an appeals court to send ex- Trump adviser Peter Navarro to prison as he challenges his contempt of Congress conviction. CNN's Brynn Gingras has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alan Weisselberg heading to jail again after serving 100 days in the notorious Rikers Island prison.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any message for Mr. Trump? Anything to say?
GINGRAS (voice-over): And not a word incriminating Donald Trump, the man who secured loyalty from Weisselberg for decades, even now after two more criminal convictions. The former Trump Organization chief financial officer and protector of the Trump family money raising his hand today and admitting that he lied under oath.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you familiar with that acronym?
ALAN WEISSELBERG, FORMER TRUMP ORGANIZATION CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER: I've heard of that, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
GINGRAS (voice-over): In a 2020 video deposition and on the stand during the civil fraud trial last year when the New York attorney general accused Trump of inflating his assets for his financial benefit. TRUMP: They are the fraud human beings. Because they ruled the house
that was worth 18, they put down as $18 million and it's worth maybe close to 100 times that amount.
GINGRAS (voice-over): It all comes down to the square footage of Trump's three-floor triplex in New York City. The Manhattan district attorney says Weisselberg knew Trump inflated its square footage by nearly three times, over-evaluating its worth by about $200 million. Yet Weisselberg lied for him anyway.
The 76-year-old joins a growing list of Trump associates whose loyalty to the former president landed them in hot water.
PETER NAVARRO, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: This is going to the Supreme Court.
Former White House adviser to Trump, Peter Navarro, appealing a four- month sentence for refusing to testify and provide evidence to the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack.
Steve Bannon, showing the same loyalty to Trump, the MAGA enthusiast --
STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: Trump won! Trump won! Trump won!
GINGRAS (voice-over): -- is also fighting his conviction on similar charges. Courts found separate convictions against Trump allies Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, but Trump exonerated both men.
TRUMP: I think the whole Manafort trial is very sad.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Then there are others formerly in Trump's orbit who have already seen the inside of a prison cell, like his once- campaign chairman Paul Manafort, sentenced to seven years but released early during the coronavirus pandemic.
MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: To the world, he wants to again appear to have this thick skin. He's not thick-skinned.
GINGRAS (voice-over): And the most outspoken former friend, now enemy of Trump's, Michael Cohen, who served time in federal prison after lying to Congress and violating campaign finance law.
COHEN: I believe that he will be found guilty on all charges.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Cohen now planning to continue his crusade against his former boss by testifying for the state at Trump's criminal trial in New York.
Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Thousands of Chinese delegates are in Beijing for the country's annual parliament meeting, the National People's Congress. The economy is top of the agenda on Tuesday. The Chinese premier has set an ambitious growth target of around 5 percent.
Here's a look at how markets are responding to that in Hong Kong. They're down pretty significantly, more than 2.5 percent, although the Shanghai Composite is holding pretty steady.
Kristie joins us from Hong Kong. We're hearing a lot about the economic turmoil in China. It doesn't, of course, just affect China, but do you think they can steady the ship?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, a lot of investors in Hong Kong don't believe so, and that's why you saw that big red arrow. Hong Kong markets are closing down 2.6 percent because investors are questioning just how is Beijing going to do it? How is it going to reach its economic target?
[04:25:05]
Earlier today, China's premier announced through its work report this ambitious growth target of around 5 percent this year. It also announced that defense spending this year will rise to about 7.2 percent from 2023, but the focus really is on China's economy because its top priority right now is stability.
And to get there, this is what we heard from the Chinese premier. Let's bring it up for you.
Li Qiang said this, quote: We must push ahead with transforming the growth model, making structural adjustments, improving quality and enhancing performance.
STOUT: So transforming, that's the key word here. So it signals that China's economic focus might be shifting away from, you know, just breakaway growth and more towards value and quality.
Now, China's economy has seen stunning growth in the last few decades, ever since 1978. It's reopening. But that growth has slowed down. And on top of that, it faces a spate of economic challenges, including deflation, including the property crisis, including high youth unemployment, including mounting local government debt, slumping stock markets, the list goes on.
And the work report released today addressed these risks, not in detail, but it did address them -- and I want to bring up a few bullet points, highlights for you.
And China says that it will, it pledges to, quote: Prohibit vanity projects and wasteful local government spending. It plans to tighten oversight on accounting at local government levels. Intensify efforts to attract foreign investment and achieve greater self-reliance in science and technology.
Now, Max, the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, is not going to be holding a press conference at the end of the National People's Congress, and that is very significant. It effectively ends a tradition that dates back decades, dates back to 1993, and also adds to the greater concern out there about transparency at this time of deep economic turmoil in China -- Max.
FOSTER: Yes, if that were to happen, questions of foreign affairs would come up as well, wouldn't they? Lots of people, you know, very much interested in any China change of strategy towards Taiwan, for example.
STOUT: Yes, Taiwan was briefly mentioned in the work report today. In the work report, China mentioned regards to Taiwan, they will promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations. They'll be firm in advancing the cause of China's reunification.
We compared those comments to previous work reports released by China, and it's pretty much in line. But we're also looking out for who is going to be leading China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. China's senior diplomat, the veteran diplomat Wang Yi, has been holding that post on a temporary basis ever since July.
That was when Qin Gang was ousted without explanation after he disappeared from public view. So who is going to be the new foreign minister? That is an open question. We'll see if we'll get any answer this week from Beijing -- Max.
FOSTER: Kristie, in Hong Kong, thank you so much.
Still to come, as states across the U.S. gear up for Super Tuesday, we'll head to one battleground state to hear what voters are feeling about the leading candidates.
Plus, Nick Paton Walsh spent more than four days on the Ukrainian front lines, where Kyiv's keeps forces under fire and short on ammunition. His report coming to you next.
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