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Biden Says, Outraged and Heartbroken Over Aid Worker Deaths; Deadly 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Taiwan's East Coast; Trump Calls Migrants Animals, Not Humans. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 03, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We begin with the fiery language coming from the White House over the senseless killing of aid workers by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Seven members of the non-profit World Central Kitchen lost their lives while delivering food to starving civilians.

In a statement, President Biden said he was heartbroken over their deaths. He also sharply criticized Israel's leadership, saying it has not done enough to protect Gaza's most vulnerable people. It's some of the most blunt language we've heard from the president and the White House since the war began.

Israel says the strike was a, quote, grave mistake and it's vowed to investigate. Meanwhile, the World Central Kitchen shared the names of the seven lives lost, calling them beautiful souls and heroes.

And CNN's Melissa Bell is live in Jerusalem for us with the latest. Melissa, what more are we learning about the victims and this investigation that the Israelis say they're going to conduct?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, we've been hearing from Jose Andres, the man who set up that charity, the chef who's set out the charity, calling them angels. We now have a better idea of exactly who the seven were. They came from a wide variety of different countries. Of course, amongst them, there were three British nationals that we now understand, Jim, were there to provide security, former military men who had moved on to security.

We have been hearing from the cousin of one of them, James Kirby, who has been speaking to British television, saying he was selfless, he would help anybody. He knew the dangers. He was no fool in that regard, but he just knew that he had to help people. And I think that's a reminder of the kind of people these aid workers were.

You know, World Central Kitchen has a particular place on the ground in places like Gaza, but elsewhere around the world, all the frontlines, the disaster areas. U.N. agencies, top-heavy as they are, bureaucratic as it can be, may struggle to get places. World's Central kitchen gets there and fast, their only aim, throwing pots and pans and food to people who desperately need it.

And that's always been their strength, and, in this case, sadly, proved to be their great weakness. They were simply in a part of the world where it is so dangerous to work.

Now, the Israeli authorities, Jim, taking it extremely seriously. We heard from not just Benjamin Netanyahu, but IDF leaders, the defense ministry over the course of yesterday, and it culminated in the end in this statement that we had from the general chief of staff of the IDF saying, not only that a preliminary investigation had found that this was a case of misidentification, but promising that there would be a full investigation, and I think, most importantly, that that would be made transparent for the world to see exactly what the IDF had found, Jim.

ACOSTA: And, Melissa, there have been these protests in Israel calling for new elections. Any chance of that happening? And these protests have gotten pretty testy.

BELL: I think they've been really impressive, not just the figures we've seen out on the streets of Jerusalem, but just a short while ago inside the Knesset, Jim, those images of, and we're talking here about family members of some of the hostages still being held inside the Gaza Strip. They managed to breach the public gallery of Knesset with yellow on their hands, bringing chants of bring them home now, and at one point being joined by the opposition politicians in their chants.

Now, the anger that we've seen these last four days here in Jerusalem, the first time these mass anti-government protests have come here, is to do with the fact that the Knesset goes off on its recess. And the point to these families is that nearly six months on, they are still without word and increasingly without hope about what's happened to their loved ones, a great deal of anger out here about the way authorities have dealt with this war and more specifically their attempts to get their love ones home, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Melissa Bell, thank you very much.

I want to take a moment to read part of this powerful op-ed published today by the founder of World Central Kitchen, Chef Jose Andres. He writes of the seven aid workers killed in his organization. We put this up on screen for our viewers. Their work was based on the simple belief that food is a universal human right. It is not conditional on being good or bad, rich or poor, left or right, we do not ask what religion you belong to. We just ask how many meals you need.

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Chef Andres says his team has communicated extensively with the Israeli military and civilian officials while doing their work. He then writes, Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It is better that blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who had coordinated their movements with Israeli Defense Forces. The Israeli government needs to open more land routes for food and medicine today. It needs to stop killing civilians and aid workers today. It needs to start the long journey to peace today, the words of Chef Jose Andres.

And CNN Military Analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton joins us now. Colonel Leighton, your response to what Chef Jose Andres is saying? I know you have analyzed countless conflicts all over the world, but in every case, in just about every case, there are humanitarian workers, aid workers, people like the heroes at the World Central Kitchen, people like the folks at the Red Cross who go into these war zones, and they're supposed to be allowed access to do the work, the important work that they do. That did not happen here without a high price for the World Central Kitchen organization. Your response to what Chef Jose Andres is saying this morning.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, good morning, Jim. One of the big things that Jose Andres has mentioned in his comments is the fact that they coordinated with the Israelis, with the IDF. And what that tells me is this tragedy could have been avoided. This tragedy would have avoided if proper communication procedures had been in place within the Israeli military. And if an organization like World Central Kitchen gives you their itinerary, in essence, their schedule, where they're going to, where their driving to, you know, which areas they are going and covering it, at what time, that's something that becomes a no-strike zone from a targeting perspective. And not only should it be a no-strike zone, but it should also be protected entity.

And the Israelis could have not done a better job with communicating, but they could have also helped to protect these aid workers and this really compounds the tragedy.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Colonel Leighton, Israel's military knows that everything that comes in and out of Gaza, the aid workers' cars were marked with the words World Central Kitchen, with the logo of the organization. How did the IDF get this so wrong?

LEIGHTON: Well, there are several possibilities. One of things the IDF said, Jim, was that this happened at night, but there are ways to look at things at night using night vision capabilities. If this was a drum strike, like it seems to be, you really identify the vehicles. You take a look them. you take pictures first and then you shoot, if it's deemed that it is a viable target. But the pictures will tell you even at night, you know, what the logos say.

And that's one of the things that really need to be investigated, how this could have gone so wrong. Because there is no reasonable in the modern world, at this point in time, there's really no reasonable way that this could have happened without there being some knowledge of where the World Central Kitchen folks were, where they were going, and at what time they would be doing that.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Colonel Leighton, Chef Jose Andres, he also posted a video of one of the aid workers who was killed in this strike. It shows some of work she's been doing out in field. Let's listen to a little bit of this, if we can show it.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Sindh, in Pakistan, where today we are serving the community, most of them have actually gone back to their tents, which are along this roadside here. And I am with Chef Ollie (ph), who has been busy --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes. Colonel, I mean, this is just one of the lovely people, I mean, just absolutely giving their lives, giving, you know, everything that they can possibly offer to just bring food to hungry people. This video was shot in Pakistan, I believe, and Jose Andres posted this.

The Israeli prime minister said this happens in war. But I have to ask you, Colonel Leighton, is Israel doing enough to protect civilians? Could they be doing more to protect aid workers and get humanitarian aid flowing, and they're just making a choice not to do those things?

LEIGHTON: I think they are making that choice, sadly, Jim. And I think what -- you know, yes, these things happen in war, but they don't have to happen to this degree. And that's really the big tragedy here. Not only, did it affect the World Central kitchen personnel, the seven who were killed, but it also really kind of puts a focus on what's been happening in Gaza all this time.

Yes, there were going to be civilian casualties regardless of how careful the Israelis were.

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But 30,000 is 30,000 too many. And that is something that really needs to be looked at from a targeting perspective, from an international law perspective. And these are the international laws perspective and these are the kinds of things that we really have to look at because the Israelis are basically operating as if it's 1950.

It's no longer 1950. We have far better targeting capabilities. We have far better chances of avoiding civilian casualties, and every country has an obligation to avail themselves of that kind of technology to avoid these kinds of incidents and these kinds of tragedies.

ACOSTA: All right, Colonel. And we did -- our team did reach out to the IDF to see if they could make a spokesperson available, but that did not happen. Colonel Leighton, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

Now, let's turn to Taiwan, where the death toll is rising from the most powerful earthquake to strike the island in 25 years. Nine people now confirmed dead, more than 900 people injured.

The quake struck Eastern Taiwan during morning rush hour, measured a magnitude of 7.4. Look at that video right there, this dashcam video. We can also show you captures the moment the quake struck sharply rocking these cars in a bus bringing traffic to a standstill, just unbelievable footage.

Take a look at this video as well. The quake triggered landslides like the one you can see right here. Rescuers have been working to free dozens of people still trapped in tunnels blocked by the debris.

And CNN's Ivan Watson has just arrived in Taiwan's capital. Ivan, I know it's very late there. What's the latest on the rescue efforts? What are you seeing?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, I mean, this is an earthquake-prone island, but it was still a scary morning for people here in Taipei, for example. My colleagues on the other side of the camera, one of them woken up and trying to hold the bookshelves up as the ground shook, another rushing to gather up his children as plates and glasses fell on the ground smashing.

There's still a hospital here in Taipei that is offline. At least seven hospitals reported some kind of damage to their ceilings and some glasses broken.

The epicenter is on the eastern coast in this rugged mountainous area that's popular for tourists who want to go and hike in these mountains, and that's where some of the buildings have collapsed, where you had dozens of people, scores of people trapped in tunnels, at least nine people killed mostly by falling rocks that fell either on highways or on some of those hiking trails.

And there are still more than 100 people that the authorities say they're working to try to rescue. We don't know how dire their situation is right now.

Take a listen to what several women in that area had to say about the earthquake.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very strong. It felt as if the whole house was going to topple.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the things fell off. Everything is damaged.

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WATSON: Now, those women are from that remote town of Hualien, the kind of tourist place that people -- many people travel to. Surprisingly, people there right now are saying that the electricity is on, that people are kind of going around doing their business, shopping. It's the eve of a holiday, the Tomb Sweeping holiday. But that said, there are collapsed buildings there and rescue workers working.

And finally, Jim, there are a lot of aftershocks right now, dozens of them, and some of them are very powerful, at least 5, 6 orders of magnitude. Back to you.

ACOSTA: And, Ivan, the video is just astonishing. All right, Ivan Watson in Taipei for us, keep us posted if there are any new developments, so we'll bring you back. Thanks so much.

This morning, we should also note a plane that was meant to take Secretary of State Tony Blinken to Brussels for a NATO meeting was grounded in Paris due to a mechanical issue. Instead, Blinken and the rest of the U.S. delegation were forced to travel to Brussels by car. We're telling you this not because it's been an inconvenience to the secretary of state, but Kylie Atwood joins me now at the State Department.

Kylie, this is the second time the secretary of state's plane had an issue, and this is a Boeing plane that we're talking about here. What more can you tell us?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. So, the secretary flies on planes that are part of the Air Force's fleet. And this specific plane is a version of the Boeing 737 aircraft. It had mechanical issues and, therefore, as you said, Jim, the secretary and those traveling with him, according to the press pool that's traveling with him, had to drive from Paris to Brussels for that NATO ministerial meeting instead of flying.

We'll watch to see where this goes. But as you said, there was a similar incident in January when another Boeing flight that the secretary was traveling on had issues, and so they couldn't fly on that plane either.

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So, it's an interesting development. It's lucky for the secretary, frankly, that he was able to drive to his next stop. And this didn't really upend his schedule, but we'll have to watch and see what happens with this specific aircraft given the challenges it has created for the secretary on this diplomatic visit.

ACOSTA: And, of course, all the questions are swirling around Boeing right now as well. All right, Kylie Atwood, thank you very much.

Still ahead, Donald Trump tells his supporters it's me or the end of the country as we know it. What? We'll talk about that next.

You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

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ACOSTA: A dark vision of a country allegedly on the brink, commenting on the southern border, former President Donald Trump described the influx of migrants at the border as, quote, Biden's border bloodbath, stoking fears about immigrants, Trump, once again, using hateful language associated with Nazi Germany. Take a look.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a border bloodbath and it's destroying our country.

They're country-changing, country-threatening, and they're country- wrecking.

We're going to end up with the largest deportation in American history.

They're not humans. They're not humans. They're animals. I'll use the word animal because that's what they are.

We don't want them coming into our country with contagious diseases, and they have it.

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ACOSTA: Trump also issued a dire warning illustrating in stark terms what he sees as the price of his losing re-election back to the White House.

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TRUMP: If we don't win on November 5th, I think our country is going to cease to exist. It could be the last election we ever have. I actually mean that.

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ACOSTA: Now, let's discuss with Republican Strategist and former RNC Communications Director Doug Heye and former special assistant to President Biden Meghan Hays.

Doug, your reaction to that language we just heard there?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Nothing that we haven't heard in previous weeks, months and years. This is stock language for Donald Trump. And it both works for him and works against him. But what we've seen, I think if you get outside of D.C., if you get out of the Beltway bubble, whether you're in Midtown Manhattan or Matthews, North Carolina, you hear serious anger at the situation at the border.

They see the same images and videos that we do, and they're willing to give Donald Trump a little leeway on the awful rhetoric he uses, because they want the problem fixed. And until the problem is fixed, Donald Trump won't be blamed by a lot of independent voters because of what they see and what they're seeing in their communities.

It's a very real problem for the Biden administration. As long as this problem is not fixed, Biden, because he's the incumbent president, gets the blame for that.

ACOSTA: Is there a danger in talking about migrants, even migrants who, you know, accused of crimes as animals?

HEYE: Well, it's terrible, obviously.

ACOSTA: But is there a danger to it?

HEYE: Politically, I don't think there's much of a danger because of independent voters who just -- ACOSTA: Morally for the country?

HEYE: Oh, absolutely. That's a different issue. And, yes, that's, that's a real problem. And Trump, whether it's on this issue or other issues, takes us to very dark places. But we're also operating in a political and campaign atmosphere where there's going to be one of these two people, presumably, who's going to win. And if Trump doesn't get blamed for it, then he's in an advantageous situation.

It also allows him essentially to act like a matador. When Donald Trump waves the red cape of this kind of language, it means we're not focusing on all those other things where he's really vulnerable with voters.

ACOSTA: Well, there's certainly a lot of bull, but, Meghan, how does the president handle this?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: So, I disagree with you on a couple points here. I think that using this type of rhetoric is horrible. I don't think it's dehumanizing to people. I think that if you take a look at women and children who are coming thousands of miles to cross the border, they are coming here for a hope of a better life.

Does something need to be done? Yes. Did Joe Biden work with the Senate to have a bipartisan bill? Yes. Did Donald Trump and his House Republicans kill that? Yes, they did. So, where he is trying to blame the president for this, this is not the president's issue.

ACOSTA: The president calling out Republicans enough, do you think, on that?

HAYS: I think he is trying to call them out, but I also think that 95 percent of the people have made up their mind of who they're going to vote for, and we know time and time again that this hateful language is energizing Donald Trump's base, but it's turning off swing voters, and those are the voters that he needs to convince to vote for him, and I just don't think they're going to turn out in November if he continues to use hateful language.

HEYE: I worked on immigration legislation in the House of Representatives. We never could have gotten this deal. This was a very good deal that Republicans should have accepted, but Republicans are the party of Trump. Trump said no. That flips the switch. And that's the reality.

ACOSTA: And Trump also claimed the country will, quote, cease to exist if he does not get put back on the White House, cease to exist.

HEYE: Well, it's obviously, one, untrue and, two, crazy. But, again, it distracts from all those things where Donald Trump has real vulnerability with voters, whether he can pay his own bills with the courts or everything that he's in, in this court or that court on. He uses this language, we all follow it, and Trump knows that. He does this on purpose.

ACOSTA: And people are cheering this, they're cheering it on.

HAYS: Well, I think his base is cheering it on, but I don't think that those are the voters that he needs to convince in November. It is time and time again that issues like abortion are winning issues for Democrats and losing issues for Republicans, but he can't seem to understand that this is not a strategy and using hateful language is not going to convince swing voters.

ACOSTA: Are the Biden people worried that there could be another January 6th, there could be another spasm of political violence around this upcoming election?

HAYS: I mean, it's I think it's definitely something to be concerned about. This language is terrible. It creates hate. It's unnecessary to use in our democracy.

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ACOSTA: I do want to talk about this Wall Street Journal poll. We know we love to talk about polls, a close matchup between Trump and Biden in key battleground states. Meghan, I mean, here are the numbers right here.

And, you know, there are lots of different ways to slice and dice this, obviously, you know, this is, we're talking about a March poll, and it's barely April. But when you look at Michigan, when you look at Pennsylvania, I mean, if the president does not win those states, lights out.

HAYS: True.

ACOSTA: Yes?

HAYS: So, at that day one suffer from the primary in 2019, you can't live and die by the polls or would have never made it to Iowa. So, I mean --

ACOSTA: But when there are good polls, they say, oh, look at the polls.

HAYS: True, but you can't live and die by them. I do think that there's a tremendous amount. The undecided voters here are the ones that are going to make the election. I mean, these are all within the margin of error. Yes, it's concerning. Yes, we should -- the campaign should take note and act accordingly. But I don't think that this is a big determination of who's going to win in November.

ACOSTA: And, Doug, I did want to show North Carolina. You're from the great state of North Carolina, Carolina blue runs through your veins, we can put that back on screen, plus six Trump. But Democrats think that that state is very much in play.

And we don't have Florida on the screen either because this poll was done probably before this abortion decision came down from the state Supreme Court, but, I mean, Democrats think that Florida might possibly be in play, as crazy as that might sound to a lot of Republicans.

HEYE: North Carolina was the closest state that Joe Biden lost. He lost it by like 1.7 points. We have a Democratic governor, traditionally have Democratic governors, traditionally have mostly Republican senators. It's a very purple state that because Republicans have won three times in a row and Obama barely won it in 2008, we just sort of assume it's red. Given our gubernatorial candidate, who's going to draw a lot of negative attention, now in education secretary candidate is going to draw, and is drawing a lot of negative national attention. The state is in play.

But the polls that you show on state by state, if you go issue by issue, especially on immigration and the border and on the economy, Biden is massively underwater. The only real bright spot for him is, as Meghan mentioned, abortion. Everything else he's underwater to Trump on. He has to fix that. He has to stem that bleeding.

ACOSTA: And we're not even talking about the third party factor. We have to go. Time is tight. But if you put in RFK Jr., Cornell West, some of these states, it just is going to be sort of edge of the seat stuff on election night, I would have to assume, in some of these states.

HAYS: Absolutely. And I think that the third party can is just like it did in 2016 are going to play a factor. But I also think the one advantage that the President Biden has is our the cash on hand, and that's going to be really helpful in a lot of these battleground states.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. All right, Doug, Meghan, thanks very much.

Now to a stunning development in former President Trump's classified documents case. Special Counsel Jack Smith is blasting Judge Aileen Cannon, saying her jury instruction requests reflected a, quote, fundamentally flawed understanding of the case that has, quote, no basis in law or fact.

CNN's Zachary Cohen joins us now. Zach, I mean, this is a pretty big admonishment from the special counsel. And, I mean, typically you don't go after the judge handling your case. That doesn't always work out. Taking a bit of a risk here? What's going on?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: A little bit. But there's been this simmering frustration on Jack Smith side with Aileen Cannon for several months now. I think we're seeing some of that come to the surface in this filing.

And, look, at issue here is sort of an unusual order from Cannon that she issued last month, and she wanted prosecutors and the defense attorneys to respond to these two scenarios for jury instructions. The first one deals with having the jury assess if records fell into the category of personal or presidential, as sort of laid out in the Presidential Records Act. This is an issue that Trump's attorneys have argued as one of their defenses and that prosecutors have argued have no basis in the law or fact, as they say here. But Aileen Cannon wants again the jury instructions is hypothetical to be addressed by both sides, so that's a point of frustration from Jack Smith.

And the second category is, assuming Trump had complete authority to take these documents from the White House, again, that's something Jack Smith's team has argued repeatedly, that that has no basis in law and fact. And Aileen Cannon still seems to be entertaining that idea.

So, ultimately, look, Jack Smith's team says, as a result of both of the court scenarios are fundamentally flawed and any jury instructions that reflect those scenarios would be error. He goes on to say that if allowed to be presented to the jury that it would distort a trial scenario, trial that we still don't know if and when it will actually happen. So, definitely some frustration coming to surface for Jack Smith.

ACOSTA: Yes. And it almost sounds as though we should anticipate the special counsel trying to have the judge removed from the case. I mean, you typically would not see these types of moves by a special counsel or prosecutor in this kind of circumstance unless they were thinking, okay, we want a different judge.

COHEN: So there's nothing explicit in here that says, you know, that that's where he's headed. But this is another example of Jack Smith documenting for the record, saying, hey, look, we are going to threaten to take this to the appellate court if these are the two scenarios that you want presented to a jury. We've seen that happen before. And, usually, if you do that enough times, you kick things up to the appellate court enough times, you can argue, look, this judge should not be overseeing this case.

ACOSTA: All right. Zach Cohen, thank you very much, we appreciate it.

All right, coming up, severe storms tearing a path of destruction through several states, multiple tornadoes reported.

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We will bring you the latest from the ground, next.

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