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CNN International: Judge Finds Trump Violated Gag Order Nine Times; Trump Team Cross-Examines Banker In Hush Money Trial; Protestors Barricaded Inside Columbia University Building. Aired 11a- 12p ET
Aired April 30, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. And right now, we are closely watching Columbia University. That's where protesters have barricaded themselves inside Hamilton Hall on the campus. The White House says that people occupying campus buildings are taking the wrong approach.
ERICA HILL, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": And I am Erica Hill outside the criminal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, Donald Trump, of course, inside behind me for the third week of his hush money trial. The former President this morning fined thousands of dollars for violating a gag order in this case. Welcome to CNN Newsroom.
A dramatic start to week three of Donald Trump's hush money trial, the judge finding the former President in contempt for violating the gag order in this case. Donald Trump fined $1,000 for each of those violations, for a total of $9,000. Judge Juan Merchan also threatening to put Trump in jail if he does violate that gag order again. The court is now in a quick break, taking their morning recess. This as testimony has finished for the third witness in this trial.
There are indications this morning the former President may not be happy with his lead attorney, who you see on your screen there, Todd Blanche. The New York Times reporting that behind closed doors, Donald Trump has been complaining repeatedly that Blanche hasn't been aggressive enough. He wants him to attack the witnesses, the jury and even the judge. I also want to remind you on the left side of your screen there, you can see key updates coming to us almost in real time from the trial from inside the courtroom. We have reporters in there to keep us up to speed on what is happening minute by minute. So, we'll continue to bring that with me as well.
CNN Justice Correspondent Jessica Schneider joining me now. So, Jessica, witness number three has now finished testimony. We're taking a morning recess at this point. What did we learn in that in that witness testimony this morning from Gary Farro?
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. It lasted about 90 minutes, Erica, just about a little more than two hours over the course of a few days. He is the banker who arranged for that home equity line of credit for Michael Cohen that Cohen used to pay off Stormy Daniels. So, what prosecutors focused on in their questioning today was just how hastily this money transfer happened. Within 24 hours, Michael Cohen set up this LLC. He transferred that home equity line of credit into the LLC account, and then just a short time later, he wired $130,000 to Stormy Daniels attorney for that payoff.
So, Farro testified, in his words, that everything with Cohen happened quote "urgently". So, prosecutors are likely focusing on all of this to show just how quickly the campaign believed they needed to act because remember, it was just days to go until the election, all of this money, this transfer, it happened on October 26, 2016, just days before the election.
So, Trump's defense team, they actually did a relatively quick cross- examination. And it was interesting that one of the questions they asked him toward the end of the cross was they asked Farro, did you ever have any communications with Donald Trump? And Farro confirmed he had never had any communications, any interactions with Trump. And this question actually came after Trump's sort of sidebarred with his attorney. So, really, it looked like Trump himself conferred with Todd Blanche, recommended perhaps this question, maybe Trump feeling he needed to really, in this line of questioning, separate himself from everything that happened with Michael Cohen, because remember, Trump's main line of defense here is that he was in no way involved with this payment to Stormy Daniels.
So, Trump's defense team trying to make that really crystal clear at the end of this testimony. So now, where do we go next? Well, likely prosecutors will call another witness. And Erica, I've been watching our feed from the reporters inside the courtroom, and I'm not seeing just yet who will be called next. So, it remains a mystery. Like we've said, prosecutors had been very tight lipped about exactly who they're calling and in what order because they say that Trump's penchant for just speaking outside of the court, especially during these breaks that we have right now, they say they don't want any more information to get to him than necessary because they're worried he is just going to talk about it on TV. Erica.
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HILL: Yeah. And so, we all wait sort of with bated breath to see who was in fact next. Jessica, appreciate it. Thank you.
Also with me as Michael Zeldin. He is a former federal prosecutor and was also a special assistant with the Justice Department. Michael, always good to have you here and get your insight. As we are waiting for that next witness, the fact that there remain to be concerns, as we know from the prosecution, about letting the defense team know too far in advance who the witnesses would be, I wonder whether you think the ruling from the judge this morning that Donald Trump in fact violated the gag order, do you think that could have any impact on that decision moving forward?
MICHAEL ZELDIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, it seems that prosecutors are going to continue to play very close to the vest about who they're calling and when they're calling them. I think they remain concerned about Donald Trump's potential intimidation of them. So, I think that what we have today is pretty much the status quo, except for the fact that Donald Trump is $9,000 poor. He still has the obligation to remain silent, except for one small point that he won, I guess in court, which is, if Michael Cohen or Stormy Daniels attacks him, he is allowed to respond in kind. So, I think that's a fair ruling on the judge's part.
So, onto the next case, we're in the middle, if you will, each case has a beginning, middle and end. Pecker was the beginning. He set out the broad conspiracy, the terms of it, what its objectives were. Now, we're getting the bankers who are saying how it is being given effect, will ultimately get to Michael Cohen, who is the linchpin in this. They will get all the bank records to support what Cohen said. So, so far so good for the prosecution. I think Todd Blanche is doing the best he can with the case he has available to him, irrespective of whether Donald Trump likes his lack of aggression or not.
HILL: It's interesting as we -- the jury has left the room. We're on a recess right now. There has been some discussion about additional evidence, some text messages that prosecutors want to bring in as evidence. We're now learning that one of the prosecutors said, if Donald Trump decides to take the stand that he wants to bring in those gag order violations during cross-examination. That's interesting too, because in the very beginning, when there was that hearing to decide what could be brought up if Donald Trump in fact does take the stand, the judge said that what could be brought in would be the fact that he violated a different gag order in this civil case, not very long ago.
So, I guess in some ways, it's really not surprising that the prosecution would want to bring that up. How much do you think that could weigh, though, on the defense's decision about whether or not Donald Trump should take the stand?
ZELDIN: Well, I'm one who doesn't believe that Donald Trump is going to take the stand, sort of full stop, unless it's a desperation, Hail Mary decision by Todd Blanche. I do think, though, that the bringing in of these contempt citations is sort of extraneous to what the point of the case is. I think the prosecutors really have to stay focused on the essentials of this case which is this is a case that involves the suppression of information that would be deleterious to the campaign and the business records violations that allowed it to go forward. I think that the more they deviate into the sidebars about whether Trump was contemptuous or not, distracts from what they're really there to do.
HILL: Does it also risk losing your jury, if you're the prosecutor there?
ZELDIN: Well, it's possible. I mean, I think you can think as a juror that, well, really, this maybe does show that the prosecutors have a political axe to grind against Trump bringing in all this extraneous stuff, and maybe that gets you the one juror who hangs up the whole jury, makes it a non-unanimous verdict. That's why I suggest, Erica, that if I were trying this case, my advice would be to myself, and the way I would proceed is stay focused on the essentials, and not get sidetracked on these frolics and detours. HILL: The prosecution saying here they want to interview some of this evidence because they want to show, right, in their mind, they want to show what they believe Donald Trump was trying to do that he was somehow -- this was a conscious recognition of his guilt if he is trying to dissuade witnesses, Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, through some sort of public pressure campaign, trying to dissuade them from saying too much. How do you think that argument is going to work out based on what we know about the judge, based on what we've seen so far in this case?
ZELDIN: I don't really find that very compelling. I really don't think that Donald Trump's efforts here to attack Cohen and to attack Stormy Daniels has much to do with the underlying merits of this case. I think that Trump is just a person who, as he describes himself, one who defends himself and this is one way he likes to defend himself.
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But, it really doesn't attack the merits of the case, which is, remember, from 2016, we're not talking about a case that's ongoing right now. We're talking about 2016, an imperative to get a story suppressed that it would -- so that it wouldn't impact your campaign and then to cover it up through the business record so that it wouldn't be revealed at a later point. That's what this case is about. It's not about Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, and whether they're likable or unlikable people. It's about the merits of the business records prosecution.
HILL: Michael Zeldin, always great to have your insight and your expertise. Thank you.
ZELDIN: Thank you.
HILL: Before entering court this morning, Donald Trump railing once again on the case, but also taking that opportunity to address one of the other stories that we are following today, the situation at Columbia University. Take a listen.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This whole country is up in arms, breaking into colleges, knocking the hell out of Columbia University. I mean, they took over. I know the building very well. They took over a building. That is a big deal. And I wonder if what's going to happen to them will be anything comparable to what happened to J6, because they're doing a lot of destruction, a lot of damages, a lot of people getting hurt very badly. I wonder if that's going to be the same kind of treatment they gave J6.
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HILL: Donald Trump also complaining about a lack of a statement from President Biden, which we heard from him last week as well.
Rahel, as I turn it back to you, the White House is now, though, speaking out about those protests.
SOLOMON: It is. Yeah. Thank you, Erica. Yeah. In the last few minutes, we actually heard from National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby, and he said that President Biden believes that taking over campus buildings is quote "the wrong approach".
Columbia University is the epicenter of campus protests across the U.S. Students at Columbia and elsewhere are protesting Israel's war in Gaza. Overnight, dozens of protesters barricaded themselves inside an academic building, as you can see in this video. So, this is Hamilton Hall. And you see one protester using a hammer to smash a window to put a chain around it and then block the door. Outside, students formed a human chain around the building. Look.
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All right. I want to bring in now Polo Sandoval, who joins us live from Columbia University. Polo, good to have you. Talk us through what's the latest on the ground right now from where you are, what you can see.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Rahel, first I'll sort of set the stage here, the scene for you. Behind me is what is supposed to be the only access onto the Columbia campus that will be used by students and faculty. However, the list of those who can actually gain entrance to the campus since last night grew smaller and that is because of the events that took place at Hamilton Hall. Now, if you look behind me, you can actually see that space that is used for the entrance here. The way this has been working all day, Rahel, is that you have people, mainly students and staff will go up with their Columbia ID. They will scan it. And the system, which has been adjusted since last night, will automatically tell them whether or not they actually are either essential workers or students who already live on campus.
There is an important question to be asked here -- to be asked and hopefully answered is exactly who or what is behind what took place yesterday. Of course, I'm talking about those pictures that we saw. You see that -- those stand in sharp contrast when you compare it to the situation that played out really the last couple of weeks with people that were forming as part of that encampment in the heart of Columbia University that we had seen relatively peaceful. But then, there was a dramatic and a seismic shift overnight, when you began to see these people advance on the building that you see behind me, still with a banner outside. But, there is still a question as to who they are, if they are affiliated in any way, shape or form, with the students that were occupying that encampment.
But, the other really important question here is, when will or if the NYPD actually be called in to assist and potentially reestablish order on campus?
SOLOMON: Yeah. Certainly a lot of questions, Polo. But also, help us understand what the protesters are asking for, and what we have heard from the university thus far.
SANDOVAL: It has been and continues to be divestment, which is basically what they're looking for is a complete severance of financial ties between the university and tech or weapons companies with Israeli ties, and that as we continue to follow the negotiations that basically came apart yesterday, that was the main demand. And look, this is a building that has a history of protests and occupations, and in some cases even proven to be successful, including in the 80s when Columbia University became the first Ivy League university to divest from South African companies during the apartheid, and I think that is really something that continues to be a main driving factor here, and one of the main reasons why some of these students who have occupied that encampment refused to go anywhere.
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SOLOMON: OK. Polo Sandoval live for us there on the campus in New York. Polo, thank you.
And Julia Vargas Jones is a student at Columbia University. She also works as a field producer with CNN. And she spoke to CNN anchor Sara Sidner a little earlier and brought us this rare inside look at the campus.
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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN PRODUCER: All classes have been moved to online. Only essential staff is allowed on campus and students who live here. I want to give you a little bit of a look of what the vibe is here. It's very calm. Obviously, everything that happened overnight, you saw those videos, all the craziness, this is right here. Let me show you how solid the doors are still barricaded. They are barricading about a few dozen students, is my understanding. That's what people here said.
Zip ties, rope, all of these picnic tables from other parts of campus, this is all pushed here. A little bit of damage to the property as well. They broke in the store. Unclear if this is how they got into the -- into this building. But, it's pretty calm right now, Sara. The great question on everyone's mind here is, will the university kick these students out and call on the New York Police Department again to help them, evict them out of Hamilton Hall?
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SOLOMON: All right. Out thanks to Julia there.
And the pro-Palestinian protests have also spread to schools elsewhere around the world. In Paris, for example, police say they cleared dozens of demonstrators from the courtyard of Sorbonne University quickly and without incident. The school says that fewer than 50 protesters had set up tents on Monday. One student claims that the protesters were forcibly removed.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Interpreted): We simply came to demonstrate. We've set up tents and the police arrived about 40 to 45 minutes ago to forcibly remove us from the courtyard. There were some altercations. It was quite violent. Some people were dragged on the ground. Others were simply forced out by being taken by the arms. Then, at the exit of the Sorbonne, there was an identity check. And now we are being prevented from leaving the demonstration.
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SOLOMON: We are going to follow that story. But, still ahead, we're going to have the latest on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip through the Middle East, as he promotes a ceasefire proposal between Israel and Hamas. We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Jordan this hour. America's top diplomat is on a tour of the region, discussing aid for Gaza, and also promoting the latest ceasefire proposal. His next stop is Israel. This comes amid rising concerns that Israel will launch its proposed ground offensive and promised ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that Israel will enter Rafah with or without a deal.
Let's go to CNN's Ben Wedeman, who joins us now. Ben, on this proposal, give us a sense on where the two sides are here.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a little confusing to understand, Rahel, where the Israeli side is at this point. Now, the United States, in the shape of Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, has been in the region, Saudi Arabia, Jordan. He is going to Israel, trying to work out a deal, originally proposed by the Egyptians, that would allow for the release of 33 hostages, accompanied by a pause in the fighting, followed by a second phase that would involve a longer ceasefire and the release of all the hostages.
But, we're hearing now from Prime Minister Netanyahu that he is going to -- they're going to go ahead with a Rafah operation with or without a deal. Well, if they go ahead with a Rafah operation, there is no deal. That's a violation of the deal. And it's -- the Israeli media indicates that he is tending to lean in the direction of those far- right extremist members of his cabinet who have threatened to leave the government, cause it to collapse, if he goes along with a deal and essentially ends the war if -- because part of the Egyptian proposal, the second phase is perhaps a year-long sustainable period of restoration of calm, as they say.
One diplomatic source told CNN it essentially means a permanent ceasefire to the extent you can have a permanent ceasefire in this very long conflict. But, certainly, it would indicate that the Israeli Prime Minister is wavering about whether he wants any deal at all, that his real priority is perhaps to carry on, continue this war, which has largely failed to win the release of any hostages, and simply continue this war and stay in power, the hostages in Gaza be damned. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Ben, Blinken has said that the deal as it currently stands is, I want to be precise here, extraordinarily generous. I mean, it appears that the West at least appears to think -- some in the West appear to believe that this is perhaps a good deal as could come.
WEDEMAN: Well, certainly, if you were sitting in Gaza, if you're one of the two million people approximately who have been displaced, this is a pretty good deal. It involves, in theory, the freedom to go back to your home in northern Gaza, even though most homes have been destroyed. Hospitals have been destroyed. Schools have been destroyed. The place is in shambles. But, you might be able to go home. There might be a cessation of the violence which has left more than 34,500 people dead.
But, as I said, it appears that the Israeli leader, despite the efforts of the United States, the suppose an ally of Israel, that he seems to be putting his political fate above the fate of the hostages, ignoring the efforts of the United States to try to bring the fighting finally to an end, because if this Rafah operation goes ahead, even though the Israelis are talking about moving the more than million people who have sought refuge in the Rafah area, there will be a huge number of civilian casualties, and that's obviously something the United States is trying to avoid. But, it's not clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu is taking that into consideration. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Certainly a lot to watch. Ben Wedeman live for us in Rome. Ben, thank you.
To India now where nearly a billion people are taking part in the world's largest ever general election. It's a massive exercise in democracy, but it's also happening amid growing tensions between the country's Hindus and Muslim minority. Allegations of Islamophobic rhetoric go all the way to the top of the government.
And CNN's Will Ripley has more now.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Varanasi, on India's holiest river, the Ganges, Hindus worship with the purifying power of fire. But, smoldering religious tensions risk igniting a dangerous conflict between India's Hindu nationalists and their Muslim neighbors, who tell us they no longer feel welcome or safe. We came here as tensions arising over this 17th century mosque. Hindu say it sits on lands stolen from them hundreds of years ago.
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Now, they're fighting in court to get it back.
SM YASEEN, MUSLIM LEADER: My community is very much worried.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Long-time Muslim leader SM Yaseen says Hindus are trying to take over their mosque.
RIPLEY: How difficult is it to fight this in court?
YASEEN: It's very difficult. Nobody is listening. Nobody.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Yaseen blames India's popular Prime Minister Narendra Modi for mixing politics in religion. Modi's political opponents say he is marginalizing the nation's more than 200 million Muslims.
YASEEN: They're treating us as second class citizens.
SWAMI JITENDRANAND SARASWATI, HINDU RELIGIOUS LEADER (Interpreted): If they're saying they feel like they are second class citizens, then this makes me happy.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Swami Jitendranand Saraswati is a Hindu spiritual leader with views on Muslims many would consider Islamophobic.
SARASWATI (Interpreted): In the blood of a Muslim, there is a desire to want to riot all the time.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Muslim shopkeeper Shamsher Ali feels like he is being pushed out.
SHAMSHER ALI, SHOPKEEPER (Interpreted): Anything can happen at any point. That is the amount of hate now. They say leave the country. Where will we go? We were born here. We will die here. This is my country.
RIPLEY (voice-over): A country where violence against Muslims is on the rise. A Delhi police officer was caught on camera last month kicking a group of Muslim men praying by the side of the road. The video went viral, the officer suspended. Another police officer arrested for killing three Muslims on a train, praising the Prime Minister while standing over their bodies. The worst was in 2020. Violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims in the capital New Delhi. Dozens of people died, mostly Muslims. It happened around the same time Modi was meeting then-President Donald Trump. Even those who survived one of the darkest chapters in India's recent history will never be the same.
Nasir Ali says a Hindu man shot him in the face near his home, the one place he should have been safe. He says the police did practically nothing, a charge they deny.
NASIR ALI, DELHI RESIDENT (Interpreted): Everyone was feeling unsafe. We can no longer rely on the police.
RIPLEY (voice-over): A court order called their investigation casual, callous, and farcical. Four years later, the case is still ongoing in a higher court.
RIPLEY: Is there justice for Muslims like you in India today?
ALI (Interpreted): No. Our only crime is that we are Muslims. RIPLEY (voice-over): The national spokesperson for Prime Minister Modi's party, the BJP, says people of all religions have the same rights.
RIPLEY: Is this a Hindu-first government?
JAIVEER SHERGILL, BJP'S NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: India, by fabric, by design, by structure, by Constitution, is secular. India's Constitution protects the Indian democracy. No political party in country is strong enough to bulldoze the Constitution, to bulldoze the will of the people.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Muslim-owned buildings are literally being bulldozed in what the government calls a crackdown on illegal construction and accused criminals. A brand of bulldozer justice all too common in India. Prime Minister Modi accused of adding fuel to the fire when he used a derogatory term for Muslims at a recent election rally.
NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER (Interpreted): Should your hard earned money be given to infiltrators?
RIPLEY (voice-over): He is running for a rare third term.
RIPLEY: What is the worst that could happen, in your view, over the next five years?
YASEEN: What happened? I don't know. But, that will be not good for our country.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Many Muslims in Modi's India say it doesn't feel like their country anymore.
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SOLOMON: OK. And our thanks to Will Ripley for that report.
Coming up next, we'll go back to Erica outside the courthouse in New York where we continue to wait to see who the next witness is in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial. We'll be right back.
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HILL: Welcome back. I'm Erica Hill in Lower Manhattan, outside the criminal court.
The judge back on the bench in Donald Trump's hush money trial, a short break -- just coming back from a short break. Trump supporters have been here outside the courthouse, waving their flags, putting up banners. They've also been driving around some vehicles decked out in pro-Trump slogans, blaring music as well and horns. I can tell you that I've been here most days. The crowd is definitely a little bit larger than what we've seen at the trial so far. You may recall, Donald Trump was railing on what he saw as a lockdown security in the area.
I can also tell you that, having been here, it is not a lockdown in the area, and the spaces available to protesters and supporters has been the same every day of this trial. But, it seems that message may have gotten through to some of Donald Trump supporters. It's definitely are more here today.
Earlier today, Judge Juan Merchan fined Donald Trump $9,000 for nine violations of the gag order placed on him in this trial, and ordered the former President to delete seven posts from these Truth Social account, and two from the his campaign website by 2:15 Eastern Time today. In that order, the judge also threatened possible jail time if the gag order is violated again.
CNN Justice Correspondent Jessica Schneider back with me now. And Jessica, we just have the fourth witness who is now been called to the stand, Dr. Robert Browning. And so, we are moving forward here, witness number four.
SCHNEIDER: We are moving forward, Erica. I would guess that this witness might actually be relatively quick. This is, like you said, Dr. Robert Browning. He is the Executive Director of C-SPAN Archives. It's likely that prosecutors will be using him really only to get certain pieces of video clips or other evidence admitted into evidence. It's likely that he doesn't know much, I'm guessing, about this hush money scheme since he was Executive Director of C-SPAN Archives.
But instead, he'll just be used as this person who can get in evidence, because of course, part of this trial isn't only eliciting testimony. But, prosecutors actually have to get a lot of hard evidence, whether we saw bank accounts, account records, invoices, but perhaps also video testimony or video records that will be put into the record that the jury will be able to use, and prosecutors can use to bolster their case against Donald Trump in this falsification of bank records case.
So, I'm guessing that this will be a very short witness. But, like you said, this is the fourth witness of this trial. We started testimony last week. We've gone through four witnesses. The biggest witness so far was David Pecker, the ex-publisher of the National Enquirer. We've gone through Trump's executive assistant. We've gone through Gary Farro now, the bank manager who really facilitated this home equity line of credit, so Michael Cohen could pay off Stormy Daniels. And now, we're really just looking at a witness who can help prosecutors get in some evidence.
So, it begins now, and we're expecting -- he said he traveled from Indiana for this. He said he is a little bit nervous. But, he is going to talk about how C-SPAN operates, and we'll see what they elicit from this. I'm kind of curious. I'm not really sure, actually, Erica.
HILL: I'm a little intrigued too to see how --
SCHNEIDER: Yeah.
HILL: -- this all fits into the puzzle. So, we'll be watching that.
[11:35:00]
Jessica, appreciate it.
Also with me, National Security Attorney Bradley Moss. Bradley, to have you back with us today. As we look at this, I am -- I spoke to Jessica and I was saying it's interesting, Browning is currently explaining to the jury what a network pool is, of course, something I'm familiar with as a journalist, but interesting that that's coming up. As we're putting these, build these bricks that the prosecution is using in their wall, do you have a sense of why Dr. Browning would be called, this witness from C-SPAN?
BRADLEY MOSS, NATIONAL SECURITY ATTORNEY, & PARTNER, LAW OFFICE OF MARK. S. ZAID: No. It's actually rather interesting. I'm sure it's going to be just riveting, riveting testimony coming from someone at C-SPAN. But, my expectation as the prior guest -- the reporter noted, this is likely just a -- is a basis to bring in certain archival foundational evidence with respect to comments that Donald Trump made while President, particularly on the issue of Stormy Daniels and what he knew about what Michael Cohen had been doing. Remember, those pool reports and those videos coming up on Twitter back in 2018 when the first stories broke.
So, that's my expectation. It's just -- it's a purely -- it's -- this is the realities of trials that there are some rather boring, basic blocking and tackling witnesses that do basic issues like this, and that's all I expect to hear.
HILL: And we should point out for our audience who may not be familiar with C-SPAN, really what everybody can watch here is what's happening in Washington live, what they put on TV. And so, he is also walking through that, for folks at home. It's really a -- a lot of people look at it as a real public service actually to have access, important access into what's happening on the daily in Washington.
When we look at what we've heard so far today, the third witness who finished out on the stand just before this short break and just before this fourth witness was called, Gary Farro, who was Michael Cohen's former banker. He was brought on by the prosecution to talk about when this account was established as equity line of credit, which that -- those funds were then transferred to pay that hush money payment. Walk through how that was established. Walk through how quickly everything was done, that there was a real sense of urgency with Michael Cohen there and that the funds were transferred also pretty quickly. What did you make of that testimony?
MOSS: Yeah. I remember, as I was reading these reports coming out from the journalists in the courtroom of how quickly this got pulled together, I think it was the 26th and the 27th of October, just a couple of days before the election in 2016, I remember being -- I was shocked by the speed of, I don't know of anybody who has ever gotten bank account set up that quickly with $130,000 wired in and wired out that fast without red flags going off, without due diligence, officials from the bank or financial institution intervening. It was rather surprising.
And that was brought up on cross-examination by Trump's attorneys. Did you fail here in some due diligence? And sort of the response from Mr. Farro was that basically Michael Cohen, obviously working at the behest of Donald Trump, had misled the bank about the purpose of this corporation, this entity, and he admits that's part of the reason that I remember Michael Cohen got in trouble originally with the feds back in 2018, was due in part to how he had engaged in effectively what sounds like wire fraud and bank fraud.
HILL: And as -- prior to that testimony too, for folks who are just joining us now, what are the other big moments of the day today? Was that the judge finally released that ruling? The hearing had been held a week ago about these alleged violations of the gag order the prosecution brought up, finding that nine of the 10, he agreed with the prosecution, that Donald Trump had in fact violated that gag order, ordered those posts taken down by this afternoon, also fined him $9,000 The fact that the judge went on to warn Donald Trump about the importance of following this gag order and threatened him with jail time if he doesn't, do you think that could actually play out here?
MOSS: It's not beyond the realm of possibilities at this point. I mean, look, this was actually a rather smart move by the judge, by Judge Merchan here, taking the middle approach, saying, look, this is the first contempt finding. If it was anybody else, they'd be in prison by now. But, this is Donald Trump. Put aside his money and power, it's a public -- it's a former public official who is now the candidate for President for one of the two major parties.
Judge is not going to just throw him in jail willy-nilly. He gave him a warning effectively here saying, look, all I can do under the law is give you these $1,000 per violation fines or jail time. I'm sticking to fines at the moment, but you pull this again with me, I'm going to pull the trigger and put you in jail, which may be what Donald Trump wants. He wants it for fundraising purposes, and for public relations purposes. But, that's seriously where the judge is leaning right now.
We'll see obviously if the posts get taken down by 2:15 p.m. today, which is the requirement, and then we'll see what he does in the days and weeks going forward as this trial progresses. This is not how he wants to spend his May. It's not fun sitting in trial and being judged like this, and I expect you will continue to lash out.
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HILL: We'll be watching for all of it. Bradley Moss in Washington, good to have you with us, as always. Thank you.
I want to go back to Jessica Schneider now. Jessica, we're learning a little bit more about why this witness was called to the stand. He is talking specifically about what does digital video library of C-SPAN's is and just how big it is, and also giving us a sense of what the video is that the prosecution was interested in. SCHNEIDER: Yeah, exactly. And C-SPAN, of course, really broadcasts all things of public note. They broadcast government proceedings. And in 2016, they broadcast a lot of Trump's rallies and a lot of his campaign appearances. So, Dr. Browning is testifying that the Manhattan DA's Office issued him a subpoena or issued C-SPAN, I should say, a subpoena to turn over recordings that they had in their archives of Donald Trump. In particular, there is a video recording dated October 14, 2016. That was a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, also October 22, 2016, a rally in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. And actually, in court right now, it looks like the prosecution is playing a clip from one of these rallies. There is also a clip from January 11, 2017, after Donald Trump was elected President, a news conference.
Now, what's interesting, the first two video clips that I mentioned, October 14 and October 22, those were just days after the Access Hollywood tape was released, and then they were just days before that payment was made to Stormy Daniels. So, it's unclear sitting here, watching the feed coming in from our reporters in the courtroom, if Trump made any comments during those campaign appearances about the Access Hollywood tape. Presumably he did. My memory doesn't go back that far. But, it's probably why they wanted to get this into evidence, to talk about the fact that Donald Trump knew about the allegations against his campaign.
And again, going to further this idea that Donald Trump's campaign, according to prosecutors, they were in scramble mode and they were trying to do anything they could to really clean up the mess that was made by the Access Hollywood tape, and then to stop any further issues or further accusations. Women maybe started coming out of the woodwork a little bit after this Access Hollywood tape. And as is evidenced by the Stormy Daniels payment, they had to get that under control, pay off Stormy Daniels in those crucial days before the election here.
So, Erica, that's what it seems like prosecutors are using this witness for just to get that video evidence into evidence.
HILL: And to your point, Jessica, in terms of that video being played in court, we're just hearing is that in a clip, Donald Trump says this clip from October of 2016, as you've seen right now, I'm being viciously attacked with lies and smears. It's a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are. So, setting that stage, as you pointed out. Jessica, appreciate it. Thank you. We're going to continue to follow these developments from inside the courtroom, of course.
And we're also keeping a very close watch on what is happening just a couple of miles uptown from where we are. It is the second week now of college protests escalating to some students now barricading themselves inside a historic building at Columbia University. We are there live just ahead. Plus, rescue teams in Kenya still searching for survivors. We're going to bring you the very latest on that rising death toll from devastating floods.
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[11:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
Columbia University is struggling to regain control. It's the epicenter of campus protests across the U.S., as some students there oppose Israel's war in Gaza. Overnight, dozens of protesters, as we can see in this video, barricaded themselves inside an academic building on campus. This is Hamilton Hall. Meanwhile, at the University of Texas at Austin, dozens of protesters have been arrested with organizers saying that police used flash bangs, mace and other chemical munitions. So far, hundreds of students have been arrested at major U.S. universities.
And these pro-Palestinian protests on American university campuses are being closely watched around the world. In Gaza, a banner was displayed in support of the demonstrations, thanking students for their solidarity with civilians in the devastated enclave. And in Iran, the U.S. protests in support of Palestinians are being praised. But, you also may remember that Iran cracked down on its own student protest movement which erupted in 2022.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports now from Tehran.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Pro-Palestinian protesters at U.S. colleges getting vocal support from Iran. Conservative students and faculty at Tehran University staging a demo this weekend, chanting "Death to America and Death to Israel", saying they stand with those occupying U.S. universities. We not only support them, we are one united voice, this woman says. We are like organs of the same body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: American students also came out. It's great. We didn't think that they would come out, but the fact that they came out shows that we're fighting for the same thing.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): This movement by American students shows that freedom seeking and support of the oppressed has expanded all over the world, this man says. The Biden administration ripped into Iran over its crackdown of protests that swept the country in the fall of 2022 after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini was accused of breaking the country's strict hijab rules.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The international community has come together to condemn and confront Iran's brutal crackdown, and we'll continue to act in support of the right of the Iranian people to speak out for their fundamental freedoms.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): But now, Iran says the U.S.'s support of Israel's operation in Gaza, killing tens of thousands of Palestinians and police action against some of those occupying campuses is tarnishing America's own reputation. PLEITGEN: Iran's leadership has been extremely vocal about the pro-
Palestinian protests going on, on some U.S. campuses. They say the arrests that have been seen undermine America's role as a leading supporter both of civil rights and of free speech.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): For decades, Iran has been the U.S. and Israel's strongest adversary in the Middle East. Iran and Israel recently trading direct military blows for the first time.
I went to a press conference of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the spokesman saying Tehran believes global opinion is now shifting their way. Public opinion of the world and free thinkers of the world will not tolerate this genocide and their loud voice won't be silenced, he said. And through police actions and violent crackdown policies, they cannot silence the voice of those that protest against this crime and genocide. Tehran ripping into the U.S. as the protesters on American campuses demand schools divest from Israel and want the Biden administration to pressure Israel to stop its attacks.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: OK. Let's go to Kenya now. Across Kenya, more than 170 people have died amid devastating floods. At least 71 of those were killed in a flash flood, not far from the capital Nairobi, when a surge of water burst through a clogged tunnel. The extreme weather there that's affected the country for several days has left more than 190,000 people displaced.
We want to go to CNN's Larry Madowo, who is on the ground in Mai Mahiu. It's one of the worst affected areas, and he joins us now. Larry, give us a sense based on where you are, what things are like on the ground. What are you seeing?
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, this is a school where some of the displaced families are getting temporarily housed.
[11:50:00]
In this region alone, we saw apocalyptic scenes here in Mai Mahiu, where this storm water kind of overwhelmed a clogged tunnel and swept everything its path. Homes, people that live there, everything they owned, this entire village almost completely wiped out. They're still counting the dead, and the people who remain buried here because several dozen people remain missing. This afternoon, back on the scene, we have seen neighbors, loved ones digging through heaps of dirt and furniture and roofing materials with their bare hands, hoping to find people that are still missing. In one location, they had detected a foul smell and they thought that somebody, one of their neighbors could still be under there.
So, the search for the remaining people that remain unaccounted for could take several more days until that's complete. But here, they are taking advantage of the offer from the government to house them temporary, to provide them with food. The people you see around here, many of them survived with nothing but the clothes on their back. One person we spoke to here lost nine family members. We had a woman who lost her three-year-old son on his birthday. The stories that we've been hearing here are harrowing. And across the nation, 170 people -- more than 170 people have been killed so far in heavy rains that have been hitting Kenya since March. And like you mentioned, 290,000 people are displaced. And the warning is that there is still more rain to come. So, people should be careful.
SOLOMON: And Larry, remind us, I mean, if I remember correctly, I mean, you have covered severe weather, certainly within the last few years in that very region. How does what you're seeing currently compared to some of your other reporting?
MADOWO: This is unprecedented, without a doubt, Rahel. In fact, it's the worst devastation Kenya has seen in recent years, and this is early on in what is called the long rain season. If this continues for a couple more weeks, I think the death toll, the devastation, the damage will be of a historical nature. President William Ruto, who is a champion across the African continent for climate action, has called these people the victims of climate change. Yes, there is extreme weather. There is a lack of infrastructure here. But, it's all been exacerbated by the changing climate.
And as African leaders have constantly pointed out, that even though Africa contributes about four percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions, the people worst affected by the effects of climate change are here on the continent. And from my own reporting being here and reported across up and down the continent in Nigeria, in Malawi, elsewhere, the people who are most affected are those who can least defend themselves. They're usually the poorest of people who live on just enough to subsist them for that day. They can't survive any longer than that, and they're the ones often that suffer the -- who bear the biggest brunt of (inaudible) like this, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Just devastating. Larry, we appreciate your reporting, both now and in the past on this really important issue. Larry Madowo, thank you.
Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: And before we go, one more thing from the world of American football. Jason Kelce has retired from the NFL, but he is not leaving the sport altogether. The Athletic reports that the 36-year-old is signing a deal with ESPN and will be featured on the network's Monday Night Football Countdown. Philadelphia thanks him for his service. Now, Kelce's young brother, also about to get a pay raise.
[11:55:00]
Travis Kelce has signed a contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs, making him the highest paid tight end in the NFL. It is reported to be worth more than $17 million a year. He is lapping all the way to the bank. And by the way, Travis Kelce has won three Super Bowls. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRAVIS KELCE, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END: Back at it again, baby. See a little Super Bowl right there, man. It feels good to be in KC. I remember coming here 12 years ago, man. It's an honor and a pleasure and I can't wait to get after it these next two years but no better than right now. I'm getting fired up for this year. I just got out on the field with the boys and we're back at it, baby. Chiefs forever.
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SOLOMON: It seems like he has a lot to smile about these days, both professionally and personally. Now, Kelce's teammate, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, well, he has joked about drinking beer and having the body to prove it. And now, the three-time Super Bowl champion is working with Coors Light, modeling the beer company's new T-shirts, promoting "Dad Bods". Proceeds from the shirts go to Mahomes' charity. Now, if you were like me, and you didn't really know, does Patrick Mahomes have a "Dad Bod"? Just Google it. You can decide for yourself. It's all relative.
All right. We know your time is money. So, thank you for spending some time with me today. I'm Rahel Solomon in New York. My thanks to my colleague Erica Hill. Stick with CNN. One World is coming up next.
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