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CNN International: Data Discussions At The Trump Hush Money Trial; U.S. Defense Secy. Warns Israel Over Rafah Incursion; Hamas: Studying Ceasefire Deal "With Positive Spirit". Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired May 03, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN HOST: The contents of a phone belonging to Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen has been under the microscope at the Donald Trump hush money trial here today. I'm Paula Newton at the courthouse in Lower Manhattan.
RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": And I'm Rahel Solomon, also in New York, where we are also following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks, today's U.S. jobs numbers, and the launch of a Chinese mission to the moon. This is CNN Newsroom.
NEWTON: And we do begin here at the courthouse in Manhattan where the Trump hush money trial is taking a morning break at this hour. Now, earlier, there was a back and forth over former Trump fixer Michael Cohen's cell phone. Digital evidence analyst Douglas Daus was on the stand this morning. Now, he admitted that there is a gap of a few days between the time Cohen agreed to turn over his phone and when the district attorney's office took it into custody. Defense attorneys also raised questions about a missing portion of an audio recording of a conversation between Trump and Cohen.
Now, the judge began the court today by telling Donald Trump that the gag order does not prevent him from testifying in any way, something the former President falsely claimed on Tuesday that seemed to reverse course, as he entered courtroom today. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will the gag order stop you from testifying?
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, it won't stop me from testifying. The gag order is not for testifying. The gag order stops me from talking about people, and responding when they say things about me. We have people saying things about me and I'm not allowed to respond. So, this judge has taken away my constitutional right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, on the left hand side of your screen, you can see key updates from the trial. We notice now that the judge is back in court and this is set to resume. CNN has reporters inside the courtroom. They're keeping us right up to date on what's going on. Everything they see in here will appear on that panel right there.
We want to turn now to CNN Justice Correspondent Jessica Schneider. I mean, it was a busy morning, Jessica, and you could really see the defense really trying to bring into question, even a conversation between the former President and Michael Cohen with what is supposedly supposed to be forensic evidence. Right?
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and that's the defense's job to really poke holes in the credibility of the witness and also the sanctity of the evidence. And they tried to do that with that data analyst talking about the chain of custody. There was a period of a few days where Michael -- between when Michael Cohen handed his phones over to when the data analyst actually got it. So, they were trying to say what happened in those in between days, again, just doing their best to cast doubt on some of the testimony and some of the evidence that's been presented by prosecutors.
So, we finished up just a little while ago our second witness of the morning. The second witness was just another procedural witness being introduced more evidence into the record. So, after the data analyst first thing, we then had Georgia Longstreet. She is a paralegal in the district attorney's office, getting her five minutes of fame up on the witness stand. She testified that she actually reviewed 5,000 to 10,000 social media posts. And really, her sole reason for being up on the witness stand this morning is that so prosecutors can introduce any number of social media posts into the record, as we move forward in this trial.
So, what we've seen today and a bit of yesterday are these witnesses who were just being used to bring that crucial evidence into the record, like those audio recordings from Michael Cohen. Likely, later, we'll actually hear directly from him in testimony, or this other witness that just was up who introduced the social media posts. So, now we just wait and see who the prosecutors are going to bring in. I'm looking at -- our reporters in the courtroom are updating us. This day is only lasting until 3:45, a little bit earlier than normal. And prosecutors, they just have not been releasing their witness list or the order that people will be called in. They say that's because they don't want Donald Trump talking about it publicly.
So, Paula, as we take -- we're coming off of this very short morning break. There is this question, who is the next witness? And we're just watching our screens and watching that tally on the left side of your screen. That's going to tell us, because at any moment, we'll find out who that next witness is. Presumably, Paula, the fact that the prosecution has brought in the last two witnesses have been relatively mundane and just talking about procedural issues. Maybe it's going to be somebody interesting. So, we will wait and see as we come off this morning break. Paula.
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NEWTON: Yeah. Definitely. All eyes to see on who that next witness will be. Jessica, thanks so much for that update. I appreciate it. I want to welcome now to this conversation, former federal prosecutor
Michael Zeldin, the host of "That Said with Michael Zeldin", and that is his podcast. Michael, thanks so much for joining us. I'm wondering what you -- if we just back up a little bit, what you made in the end of the testimony of the lawyer for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, the fact that on redirect, the defense went back at him, actually brought up the issue of whether or not the former President was being extorted in any way, shape, or form?
MICHAEL ZELDIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Right. So, when you start a trial preparation, it's not normal to think of it this way. But, at least, when I did it, I wrote my closing statement first and then I worked my way backwards to see what evidence I could get in to be able to argue my closing statement. And so, I think that the closing statement that was written first here in this case is reasonable doubt, reasonable doubt, and that the characters in this play are untrustworthy, and therefore cannot be relied upon.
And so, the defense was doing its best to paint Davidson in the way that they want to argue about him in closing argument. The prosecutor does the same, and wants to say that while this guy may not be the most wonderful person on earth, he is telling the truth. We can rely upon his testimony. You don't have to like him. You just have to believe him, and we will support what he says with other witnesses and evidence. So, I think that each side is getting in what they want in order to make their closing argument, and we'll see at the end which argument prevails.
NEWTON: Do you think the prosecution has done themselves any favors, though, with that witness at this point, just given the fact that even the word "extortion" was brought up?
ZELDIN: Well, I think that they needed him because he is the conduit between Trump and Cohen. He is the one who understands what the transaction was about. He is the one who understands the imperative. And while he wasn't perfect, in the sense that he didn't say I had this direct conversation with Trump or I knew that Trump was the payor in it, I think he is set up the foundation for Cohen to say those things, and they will argue, the prosecutions will, that in combination, Trump and Davidson, that all reasonable common sense tells you that this transaction was performed at Donald Trump's behest for his benefit to prevent bad information coming out before the election.
NEWTON: OK. So, the jury have heard some fairly mundane testimony so far in terms of where the prosecution might go next. How crucial is it that people from Donald Trump's inner circle actually testify? We know that Michael Cohen used to be someone who was in his inner circle. That corroborating evidence, how important will that be, as we continue to wait in suspense really to see who else the prosecution calls?
ZELDIN: Right. Because each witness is imperfect in one way or another, the cumulation of a lot of imperfect witnesses telling the same story is what the prosecution needs to do. So, all of these witnesses, whether it be Michael Cohen or Hope Hicks or anybody else who has direct knowledge of what was going on here, Weisselberg, for example, would have been a terrific witness, if he was willing to testify and tell the truth something he hasn't done previously, all those combination of witnesses is what the prosecution needs to do here because it is in some sense circumstantial. There is some direct evidence.
For example, the contents of the communications between Cohen and Trump has been the source of conversation this morning, is very damning evidence. If the jury believes that Trump had said to Michael Cohen pay her in cash, that's a hard piece of evidence for the defense to overcome. So, for example, what they're trying to do now is sort of cast doubt on the reliability that -- of that communication that may have been tampered with. But, if the jury believes that that was Trump on that phone talking to Cohen and saying, look, we don't want to finance this thing. We need to pay her in cash. That's a terribly bad piece of evidence for the defense because it's not easy to overcome the words of your own client.
NEWTON: Yeah. And again, the issue is it was going to be paid in cash, reminding everyone this -- at issue here is whether or not he falsified business records. Michael, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
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Now, still to come for us, the U.S. warns Israel's planned military operation in Rafah could result in a lot of civilian casualties unless Israel can evacuate hundreds of thousands of people properly. Plus, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have plenty to say about the latest snapshot of the U.S. economy. We will explain just ahead
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. An Israeli official tells CNN that Israel has yet to receive a response from Hamas to the latest hostage ceasefire proposal. A Hamas political leader says that the group is studying the potential deal with quote, "positive spirit". Meantime, the U.S. Defense Secretary had a warning Thursday over Israel's planned military operation into Gaza's southern city of Rafah. That's where more than one million people are taking shelter. Take a listen to what he said. All right, I had trouble hearing that.
But, let me bring in CNNs Jeremy Diamond, who is live in Jerusalem. Jeremy, I'm going to get to those concerns about Rafah in just a moment. But, talk to me a little bit about this new language that we're hearing from Hamas, positive spirit, the significance of that, and what sense of optimism is there that a deal might finally be reached here.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, you have to take this statement with a gigantic grain of salt, I think. I mean, we have yet to see Hamas' official response to this proposal, despite expecting that it could come as early as a couple of days ago. For now, what Hamas is saying is that they have received this latest proposal with a quote "positive spirit". Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh also told the Egyptian Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel, who has been heavily involved in these negotiations, that Hamas will send a delegation to visit Egypt as soon as possible to continue the ceasefire talks, and also says that he wants to reach an agreement that, quote, "fulfills the demands of our people and stops the aggression".
Those, though, are just words at this point, and there is nothing specific in them to indicate whether or not Hamas intends to accept these latest terms or at least to move forward with very serious negotiations to actually try and clinch a deal. We know that Israel and Hamas still remain quite far apart on the terms of this deal. But, Israel, in this latest framework, certainly has conceded a lot of the points that have been holding up these negotiations. But, we are still waiting for Hamas' official response. There are hopes that it could come perhaps as soon as this weekend, and that will certainly determine whether or not these negotiations can actually move forward with the aim of going into the more technical details and actually reaching a deal, or whether instead the Israeli military will move forward with a major military offensive in Rafah.
There is no question that that threat of a military offensive is certainly weighing on these negotiations, weighing on this potential response from Hamas.
[11:15:00]
And as that threat is continuing, we are still hearing concerns, including from the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, about the potential impact on the civilian population in Rafah, and the fact that the U.S. has yet to see the kind of levels of specificity that it would like to see about a plan to evacuate the civilian population to ensure that the civilian population is out of harm's way before any kind of massing of Israeli troops moves into Rafah. So, that plan remains to be seen. We know that the Israeli military has said that they have begun setting up additional kind of shelters for displaced people, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza as well as in central Gaza. But, again, we have yet to see the kind of details about those plans so far.
SOLOMON: Yeah, as officials continue to make those concerns known that they have real reservations about what an operation in Rafah would look like with so many civilians being there. Jeremy Diamond live for us in Jerusalem. Jeremy, thanks so much.
All right. And protests continue to build across the globe, as deep divisions over the Israel-Hamas war play out on university campuses. At the University of Sydney in Australia, for example, students held both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests on Friday, and in Paris, students supporting Palestinians rallied outside the Parthenon (SIC). Now, separately, riot police cleared protesters from the main hall of Sciences after pro-Palestinian protesters staged a sit-in.
Let's bring in CNN's Saskya Vandoorne, who was in Paris with more now on what's transpiring, Saskya, give us a sense of what we're looking at it and what things are like there in Paris.
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Yes, Rahel. Well, the protest is now largely fizzled out. But, they were here for about three hours. It was very peaceful. You had protesters that were from the Sorbonne University. You had protesters that were from trade unions. And you also had protesters that were from Sciences Po, now that very prestigious university that was evacuated this morning by riot police. Now, the students had staged to sit-in in Sciences Po Thursday evening, and then it was evacuated this morning. The students made their way here in front of the Pantheon.
Now, I just want to bring in a student who is vice president of a trade union here, and I just wanted to find out why you're here today, and if you've been inspired by what's going on in the U.S.
SALOME HOCQUARD, UNEF STUDENT UNION, UNIVERSITY OF PARIS 13: Well, I'm actually inspired by what's going on in Gaza. And we're here today for many reasons, first, to actually show our solidarity with the Palestinian people and to ask the end of the massacre of the Palestinian people by the government of Israel. We are also here to protest against our government who is actually sending police officers into universities to stop the student protests. So, we're here for many reasons, but the main one is actually to ask peace in the -- in Gaza, in the region, and to say that youth people all around the world are actually in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
VANDOORNE: Thank you so much.
HOCQUARD: Thank you.
VANDOORNE: And I think, Rahel, it's important to note that what has been happening here in France is very different to what we've been seeing in the U.S. We really are talking about small pockets of protests, blockades that have been happening in universities across France. Rahel.
SOLOMON: OK. Very important distinction. Saskya Vandoorne, thank you.
OK. Well, since mid-April across the U.S., as Saskya just mentioned, more than 2,000 people have been arrested at these protests in college campuses and universities. Now, the epicenter in the U.S. is New York. That's where police spent the morning, arresting nearly 60 people, as they cleared out encampments at both The New School and, or New York University. In Oregon, there was a scary moment at Portland State University. Police say a man, who has since been taken into custody, nearly drove into a crowd of protesters on Thursday.
And the Biden administration is ramping up its direct response to the college protests. The Education Secretary sent a letter earlier to colleges and university presidents, condemning what the Biden White House calls "abhorrent incidents of antisemitism on campus". The letter cites reports from Jewish students of being physically assaulted or harassed while walking on campus.
And while President Biden has condemned extremist behavior on campus today, he is also focusing on a key economic report, the U.S. jobs report, and he is welcoming the April employment numbers saying quote, "The Great American comeback continues." But, his likely rival for the White House, Donald Trump, is slamming the President, calling the report and slamming the report, calling the report horrible and the numbers a big miss. So, let's dig into these numbers and see what's what. The U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs last month. That is fewer than expected. And the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9 percent.
Let's bring in Nela Richardson. She is the chief economist of ADP. That's a private solutions giant in the private sector. Nela, always good to have you, certainly on a jobs Friday. So, obviously, Biden and Trump had very different perspectives and takes on this report.
[11:20:00]
What about you? What is your perspective? What do we learn from this report?
NELA RICHARDSON, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ADP: I think what we've learned, and it's great to be with you, is that, yes, the U.S. labor market did show a step down in hiring from that plus 300,000 we saw in March. But, 175,000 jobs is still quite healthy. And I think any President would take those numbers during his administration. It's also good news for folks who are worried that the labor market is heating up too quickly, in a way that could prop up inflation even more.
SOLOMON: Do you think that this changes anything for the Federal Reserve, Nela? It was hard to miss that Dow Futures surged 500 points when this crossed. The Dow is currently up closer to 350 points. What are investors seeing here?
RICHARDSON: I think investors are trying to figure out not the health of the U.S. economy, because I think that the labor markets still show some strength, and there is some pockets of worry which we can get into. But, overall strength, I think they're trying to translate the labor market into the inflation report. They're trying to look at wages as being that bridge from the labor market to inflation. And what we saw is that wage growth took a step back in this report. So, that was good news for the Fed. Remember, markets care about when and how many times the rates in the United States, and they're very laser focused on that. And so, sometimes, for the markets, good news is bad news. Sometimes, bad news is good news. But, right now, I think what they're seeing is as close to a Goldilocks report as we can get.
SOLOMON: Yeah. One thing that caught my eye is Citibank put out a report shortly after the report crossed. This is the title, Nela. "Jobs slow down keeps summer cut on the table", obviously, talking about the Federal Reserve. Talk to me a little bit about pockets of worry. What do you see?
RICHARDSON: I'm a little concerned that the government report doesn't pick up broad-based hiring. For a few months now, three or four months in a row, health and education has really dominated this report, accounting for about 40 percent to 50 percent of the job gains. I don't know how sustainable that particular sector is to see that amount of strength. I would like this report to show a little bit more broad-based in its hiring. I'd like to see manufacturing up, for example, and the goods sector. We saw construction take a step down. I'd like to see more of that goods sector rebound. We haven't seen that.
So, what's -- what could make this report better, is more broad-based hiring, evidenced in that report.
SOLOMON: And what would you say, Nela, for someone who may be graduating from school soon, or perhaps even thinking about switching jobs. We know even in the ADP report, when you see job switchers, they tend to see higher wages than if they were to stay in the same job. What's the read for people who are thinking about maybe leaving a job or who are about to enter the labor market?
RICHARDSON: I think what you're seeing is still a healthy jobs market, but it may be a little slower than folks who were looking in 2023, towards the end of 2022. Also, they're probably not going to see the big pay bumps from switching that we've seen over the last year, because, yes, wage growth is slowing a bit. But, overall, if I were to give this labor market a grade, it would be a B plus market. That's pretty good. It still means that there are job opportunities, though it may be take a little longer to find that right opportunity than it did last year.
SOLOMON: Nela, any sense based on what we've seen, and we can think about this week. We've gotten a lot of jobs data. We obviously got the ADP report. We got JOLTS, which showed that job openings are coming down, but layoffs still remain low. We got the weekly jobless claims, which shows that unemployment claims are still really low. Any sense looking ahead at what's ahead? I've seen some reports this morning from some of the banks that this is the beginning of the slowdown. And I just don't know if we're there yet. Well, what do you think?
RICHARDSON: The U.S. unemployment rate has been under four percent for more than two years. To see that kind of track record again, you'd have to go back to the late 1960s. So, we're still far from concerned in terms of the labor market. Is it going to slow later this year? I think so. I think that the labor market is coming into better balance. You're seeing some evidence of more people entering the labor market. But, we're still short of the labor force participation we saw before the pandemic, which means we have some room to grow on the supply side.
And I think also another dynamic at play here is a lot of retirements, that boomer generation, which we don't generally talk about the monthly claim. All this together means that we're probably going to see a pretty tight market going forward through 2024, certainly, and that's probably a healthy market for consumers right now.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Nela, we'll have to leave it here. But, it's just been so fascinating to watch coming out of the pandemic, all of the sort of quirks that the pandemic created in the labor market.
[11:25:00]
And as you say, it looks like things may be normalizing.
Nela Richardson, we'll leave it here. Have a great weekend. Thank you.
RICHARDSON: You too. Thanks.
SOLOMON: All right. And let's take a look at the Dow. As we said, the Dow is up on those job numbers, for all the reasons we just listed. You can see the Dow is up almost a full percentage point, up about 360 points. The NASDAQ, the best among the three averages, up 1.6 percent. And the S&P up about nine tenths of a percent. So, all in all, a pretty good day for the U.S. markets on the back of this Goldilocks report.
Taking a look at U.S. -- or European markets, you can see FTSE 100 up about half a percent, let's call it. The DAX up about the same. Paris up about the same, and Zera (ph), if we can call it a trend, up about the same.
And let's look at how stocks in Asia finished ahead of that employment report. We will get Asia pulled up here for you. We will get Asia pulled up here for you. We don't have it. But, again, we can take a look at European markets. We can take a look at U.S. markets, and it is green across the board.
All right. Still to come, my colleague Paula Newton live outside the Manhattan courthouse. That is where Donald Trump's hush money trial is still underway. Coming up, we're going to hear from a CNN legal analyst, who has been inside court, after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: And we do have breaking news just into CNN. Hope Hicks, one of Donald Trump's most trusted allies and aides, is taking the stand at this minute at Trump's criminal hush money trial.
Now, CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen is here with me. You were in court. I really want to give the viewers some context here. You were also the former House Judiciary Special Counsel in Trump's first impeachment trial. You were the former White House Ethics czar. Let's talk about Hope Hicks. And you give me your background with her, because for legal reasons, you interviewed.
NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, & FMR. HOUSE JUDICIARY SPECIAL COUNSEL IN 1ST TRUMP IMPEACHMENT: That's right, Paula. I was a Special Counsel in the first Trump impeachment. And one of the classic angle in American grounds to impeach a President is alleged corrupt procurement of office. That's what the DA is also alleging here. We looked at that, and a critical witness in our investigation was none other than Hope Hicks. I sat across the table from her and I asked her the same questions that those prosecutors are about to ask her today.
NEWTON: And Norm, if you had a second shot at this, what do you think the prosecutors are going to ask her right now?
EISEN: Hope Hicks is critical for what is act four of the five act drama of the alleged election interference conspiracy act.
[11:30:00]
One, David Pecker testified, forming an agreement to benefit the campaign with these secret payments. Act two, payment to Dino the doorman. Act three, Karen McDougal. Act four, the Access Hollywood tape. That sets up act five the Stormy Daniels payment. She will undoubtedly testify. What I asked her about and she told me the panic in the campaign when that Access Hollywood tape hit is setting up the imperative to make that allegedly illegal campaign finance payment.
NEWTON: She does not want to testify. Right? She was subpoenaed to be there. How did you find her as a witness? What can we expect?
EISEN: I found her to be honest and the questions that she answered. She did suffer from something that we often see in Trump World, selective memory. For example, there is phone calls in critical periods with David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer, who allegedly formed this conspiracy to get these illegal payments with Michael Cohen and with Michael -- and with Donald Trump. She didn't remember that. She didn't remember the phone calls right in the essential period with Michael Cohen. How could she be having calls if not remember?
NEWTON: I want to point out that she just said, I'm really nervous, and she looked directly at the jury when saying that I do not know this woman at all. I've seen her on TV a few times. You've been in a room with her. Does she look like the kind of person who isn't calm, cool and collected? Do you think she is nervous?
EISEN: It is nerve-racking for her and I -- the setting where we were in was with members of Congress in a hearing room. It was not televised, just as this trial is not televised, but there is a larger audience here. I thought she had some butterflies when she started with us. She quickly calmed down. She is a communications professional. But, look, it's -- she is being called to testify against her former boss, Donald Trump, running for President again. I can see why that would make her extremely nervous because she does have some very dangerous evidence for Mr. Trump.
NEWTON: Before I let you go, though, if you're capable of it, Norm, I have great confidence in you, act like you're the defense now. What can you do to take away the credibility of this witness for the prosecution?
EISEN: If I'm the defense, I am going to get Hope Hicks to say you have no proof today about any conspiracy to make payments. You didn't learn about that despite the fact you are with Donald Trump every day. He didn't mention that to you in real time. Michael Cohen claims he had these calls with you. But, you can't corroborate that, can you, and try to draw her away from the essential issues in the case and say to the jury, see, she doesn't help the prosecution prove their case. Oh, Access Hollywood was a big deal. We already knew that, ladies and gentlemen, of the jury. That's what I would do with Hope Hicks.
NEWTON: OK. They're telling me we have to go. But, I have to ask you, you've been sitting in that court for so long. Please tell us what's it like to be in there and what really sticks out to you.
EISEN: What sticks out to me is the American idea. No one is above the law. You have a jury and a judge who literally are sitting elevated above a former President of the United States. He is being held accountable like any other criminal defendant. But, the judge, the fairness of the judge, and the attentiveness of the jury, sticks out to me, and the judge is being very balanced. So, it's the most fundamental American idea of the rule of law, and of a fair trial and innocent until proven guilty.
NEWTON: Absolutely. Again, fair trial, and this is what the judge is making sure happens in that courtroom behind us. Norm Eisen, we're going to let you get back in there and hoping that you can come out again for us over the next few days at least.
EISEN: Always.
NEWTON: Appreciate it. Thanks so much.
EISEN: Thanks, Paula.
NEWTON: Now, CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider is live for us in Washington. She has been following all the action in court. I mean, Jessica, you and I were watching for this. We weren't sure they were going to actually call Hope Hicks on a Friday afternoon, but they did it. Just, can you follow up for us on what Norm was just helping us with in terms of how crucial someone like Hope Hicks, someone who was very close to the President, how crucial she could be for the prosecution here?
SCHNEIDER: Well, I mean, she had a front row look at Donald Trump the businessman, Donald Trump the campaigner and the presidential candidate, and Donald Trump the president. I mean, Hope Hicks has been with the Trump family for quite a while. She was actually plucked to join Donald Trump's presidential campaign because she had that close working relationship with Donald Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump. So, Hope Hicks was really in the thick of it. She was a very trusted advisor. She worked with the Trump campaign starting in January 2015.
[11:35:00]
That's when Trump named her Press Secretary for the campaign, and then she was Press Secretary, Communications Director, also a top aide throughout the administration. So, she really was front and center and had a first-hand look at everything.
Now, so far in this trial, we really only heard one real mention of Hope Hicks, and that was during David Pecker's testimony, and he talked about a phone call that he made to Michael Cohen, or actually, I'm not sure it was Michael Cohen, but it was a phone call to the White House in March 2018 where Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders were involved in this phone call because it was shortly after an interview with, I believe, it was -- let's see, Karen McDougal. She gave an interview to our outlet CNN about her reported, her alleged affair with Donald Trump, and that the three of them were talking about maybe extending her agreement so she wouldn't talk anymore.
So, we know at least one instance where Hope Hicks was sort of brought into this situation where they were looking to quiet or cover up more talk about allegations of affairs with Donald Trump. So, it's going to be interesting to hear how much she actually divulges because she was subpoenaed to be here in the courtroom today. She admitted, off the bat, as you mentioned, Paula, to the jury that she is nervous. I mean, presumably, even though she hasn't worked for Donald Trump in several years, she has gone off into the private sector. Presumably, he is the guy who gave her, her professional start really, after she was a model. And presumably, she still has some allegiance to him.
And it's going to be interesting how much she heard about. Particularly, I think the key will be not necessarily what she heard when she was at the White House, but she was very involved in the presidential campaign, and no doubt in those crucial weeks after the Access Hollywood tape came out in early October 2016, leading up to the November election, that scramble inside the campaign when all of these women and their stories were sort of popping up and the campaign needed to tamp down on them, that is what she is going to be key to talking about, and that's what we're going to be listening for, Paula.
NEWTON: Yeah. Absolutely. Everyone waiting on this witness right now. Jessica Schneider, you'll continue to give us updates throughout, as she continues on the stand. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
Now, job growth slowed considerably in the United States last month. Just ahead, we'll dive into why that has investors apparently so excited. Plus, the aftermath of a tornado in Texas, several families now without homes. We will have you the details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. And here are some of the international headlines we're watching for you today.
Three people have been killed following Russian strikes in several regions of Ukraine on Thursday.
[11:40:00]
14 people were injured, including children. In Kharkiv, around 15 settlements were attacked by Russian forces. And in the Donetsk region, police said that they recorded more than 1,900 Russian strikes throughout the day.
Two Red Cross workers have been killed by gunmen in Sudan. Three other staff members were injured during the attack. The team was attacked traveling in South Darfur in Western Sudan to try to assess the situation of the area amid the ongoing violence. Now, following the attack, the International Committee of the Red Cross stressed the importance of protecting all civilians, including humanitarian workers.
Now, kibbutz has announced the death of Israeli hostage Dror Or. A statement says that he was apparently killed on October 7, and that his body remains in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli officials say that the body of the man thought to have been a hostage has been found in Israeli territory, also killed on October 7.
And the Committee to Protect Journalists says that the months since October 7 have been the deadliest period for media workers since 1992. At least 97 journalists and personnel have been confirmed killed since the war started last October. And today marks World Press Freedom Day. It's a time to reflect on those who risked their lives to get the story out.
And CNN's Nada Bashir introduces us now to some of the journalists doing just that in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): What should be a moment of reflection, reduced to a hurried memory recorded on an iPhone. A young girl, now an orphan, pays her last respects. A drop in a sea of tragedy marking its witnesses and victims alike. But, this is the story of the person behind the camera, one of many risking their lives for the truth.
KHADER AL-ZANOUN, JOURNALIST IN GAZA (Interpreted): One scene I'll always remember was in Al-Shifa Hospital in November last year. It was during a siege.
BASHIR (voice-over): Khader al-Zanoun has been documenting the assault on Gaza since the war began, sending material to CNN, our gateway into a war zone sealed off by Israeli authorities.
AL-ZANOUN (Interpreted): They were taking this woman to be buried in a mass grave, and I saw this little girl following the crowd. She told me her mother was a victim and she wants to say goodbye to her. She really affected me a lot. Tears were falling when I saw her running after her mother.
BASHIR (voice-over): Living with his wife and children in Gaza City in the north, one of Gaza's worst affected regions, he shows us his home, largely destroyed in the onslaught, (inaudible). Everything is a challenge, from the search for signal to transmit the day's footage to the search for food.
AL-ZANOUN (Interpreted): There have been days when we've eaten donkey and horse food, porn and fodder as well as barley, just to stay alive.
BASHIR (voice-over): For journalists in Gaza, the biggest challenges are the most basic ones. Sami Shehadeh is a photo journalist for Turkish based broadcaster TRT. He was filming at a refugee camp in central Gaza.
SAMI SHEHADEH, TRT JOURNALIST (Interpreted): We went to cover the movement of displaced people. And as soon as we arrived at the place, we were targeted.
BASHIR (voice-over): Sami had to have his leg amputated above the knee, and is now awaiting medical evacuation to Turkey. At least 97 members of the press have been killed in what the Committee to Protect Journalists has termed the deadliest period for media workers since its records began. But, that figure, according to the CPJ, is likely to be much higher. And yet, despite the risks, Palestinian journalists in Gaza keep doing their jobs, working in groups of protection, covering stories, even if it means getting there on a donkey and cart. AL-ZANOUN (Interpreted): Every day we wake up, we thank God that we
are still alive and that we are still able to continue documenting the events in the Gaza Strip.
BASHIR (voice-over): In the belief that one day, his work and the work of Palestinian journalists like him won't have been in vain.
AL-ZANOUN (Interpreted): Our hope is that this war will end, God willing, and that we will be able to save and protect our children after these targeted attacks and this continuing war, because they want to live like the rest of the world's children in security and peace.
BASHIR (voice-over): Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And our thanks to Nada there. If you want to help journalists around the world, working in dangerous conditions, check out cnn.com/impact.
[11:45:00]
Our "Impact Your World" team has been at several charities and created a pledge page so you can help.
All right. We are turning now to one of our top stories today, the latest snapshot of the U.S. economy, added just 175,000 new jobs in April. That was below economists' expectation. It was also far below what we saw the month prior. The unemployment rate, that ticked higher, slightly, to 3.9 percent.
Let's bring in CNN's Siemens Matt Egan. So. Matt, you have unemployment ticking up. You have job growth slowing down, and you have the markets apparently liking what they see. What's happening here?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Rahel, we learned that the jobs market, maybe it's not a runaway train after all, because 175,000 jobs added, I mean, in any other environment, that's a fine number. But, this jobs market has been so hot that this actually qualifies for a cool down, right? I mean, this is almost half the pace that we saw in March. It was slower than expected. In many ways, this does look like the Goldilocks jobs report that Wall Street was rooting for, that the Fed was rooting for, that maybe even the White House was rooting for. Right? Not too hot. Not too cold.
And we see that play out in the wage numbers. Right? We saw annual average earnings up by 3.9 percent year-over-year. Now, that is the first time it's been below four percent in almost three years. So, that is a good thing from the sense that it's going to make the Fed less worried when it comes to inflation. But, at the same time, 3.9 percent, that's not a terrible number. We know inflation is running at three percent, 3.5 percent. So, that means that paychecks are still growing faster than prices. That is good news for workers. And this kind of report and these numbers, they do keep alive hopes on
Wall Street, that the Fed is going to be able to start lowering interest rates, not right now. Right? Probably not in June, but maybe later this year if inflation continues to cool off, as it has been, although that progress has been kind of leveling out.
One other point here, though, Rahel, is the historic nature here, the unemployment rate, yes, it did tick up to 3.9 percent. But, it's still below four percent. And this is now tied for the longest streak in U.S. history where the unemployment rate is below four percent. You have to -- anything matching this, you have to go back to the one in 1967 to 1970. So, more than a half a century ago. Pretty incredible.
SOLOMON: Yeah. It's been a long time. But, to that rate cut a debate, Citi said something earlier that caught my attention that the job slowdown keeps summer cut on the table. So, that certainly seems like the investors like to hear that.
Now, while I have you, on a separate topic, we're hearing that Trump's media accounting company has apparently been accused of a massive fraud. What are you learning?
EGAN: We're talking about BF Borgers. The SEC just accused BF Borgers of quote, "widespread fraud" and operating what they described as a quote "sham audit mill". Now, among other things the SEC says that BF Borgers, they fabricated audit documentation. They had deliberate and systemic failures. Now, this is noteworthy because even though BF Borgers is not a household name, it is the accounting firm that is used by hundreds of companies, including Trump Media, the owner of Truth Social. Now, we should note the SEC did not allege that Trump Media had any wrongdoing here, Trump Media, Truth Social, Donald Trump, none of them mentioned here in the SEC charges.
But, this action from the SEC effectively shuts down the accounting firm of Trump Media. Right? They've been permanently suspended from doing business before the SEC. So, that means public companies like Trump Media, they're going to have to go out and look for a new accounting firm. We reached out to Trump Media and they say they are going to do just that. They said that they look forward to working with new accounting partners in accordance with today's SEC order.
Rahel, this is just the latest development in the Trump Media saga, where this stock price has gone up. It's gone down. Donald Trump has gotten more and more shares. His stake in his company is worth billions and billions of dollars, and now we learn that his accounting firm has been accused by the SEC of widespread fraud.
SOLOMON: Yeah, certainly raises a lot of eyebrows if for no other reason because of that judgment in New York because of the Trump company sort of inflating the value of its assets. Just certainly something that adds to, as you say, the clouds surrounding the company. Matt Egan live for us in New York. Matt, thank you.
EGAN: Thanks, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Now, let's turn to severe weather now sweeping across the state of Texas on Thursday, with at least one tornado confirmed. You see here scenes from the town of Hawley, which was hit by that storm, just devastating. The officials there say that several families lost their homes. The state may see another round of severe storms later today.
Meanwhile, parts of Southeast Texas are underwater after heavy rainfall, flooding, submerging homes and sweeping away vehicles.
[11:50:00]
Areas in and around Houston saw some of the biggest downpours. Evacuations have been ordered in several areas.
OK. Overseas now, China successfully launched a lunar probe Friday. The unmanned mission is seen as a milestone in Beijing's push to become a dominant space power. It plans to put astronauts on the moon by 2030, and is even aiming to build a lunar research base.
CNN's Marc Stewart was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is China's latest leap in the global quest to put a human back on the moon. CNN was there invited by the Chinese government for a behind-the-scenes look at the Wenchang launch site here on Hainan Island along the South China Sea.
The goal of this mission to bring back the first samples ever collected from the moon's far side, part of China's ambitious plan to send astronauts by 2030 and build a lunar research station.
YAN ZEHUA, SPACE PHOTOGRAPHER: It made us feel we are the strong country because we have the power to launch the big rocket to the moon.
STEWART (voice-over): What's happening here has critics. The Chinese government maintains space should be a peaceful place. Yet, the head of NASA expressed concern China may be using its civilian program for military purposes, even suggesting a Chinese takeover of the moon.
STEWART: Why does the journey to the moon matter so much?
LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: I think it's symbolically important. It's, again, why does any country get into the spaceflight business, particularly human spaceflight? It's for national prestige. It's for to show the world their technological prowess.
STEWART: This isn't just about space and science. It's also about national pride and profit. Space tourism is big here. That includes these rocket-shape water bottles.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first time or so we are very excited.
STEWART (voice-over): The space presence here is palpable, as families take pictures and shop for souvenirs. STEWART: It's not just snacks at this hotel gift shop. It is
backpacks, rockets, even a model of the Chinese space station. Even afternoon tea comes with a taste of space.
STEWART (voice-over): Celebrations aside, this is a cosmic competition to make a mark on Earth and beyond.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: OK. Our thanks to Marc Stewart there.
When we come back, an update on the Trump hush money trial. Longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks is on the stand. Paula Newton will be live, coming up.
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NEWTON: And welcome back. I'm Paula Newton. We are outside the courthouse in Manhattan where Donald Trump's hush money trial is ongoing now. At this hour, longtime Donald Trump aide Hope Hicks took the stand just short time ago.
Our Jessica Schneider has been following all of the developments from Washington for us. I mean, it is interesting here because she is really bringing into sharp focus the fact of how intertwined she was at the very early stages of Donald Trump's political campaign in 2015.
SCHNEIDER: Very early stages, Paula. I mentioned before that Hope Hicks came on as Press Secretary in January 2015. Remember, that was about six months before Donald Trump made that infamous dissension on the escalator at Trump Tower to officially announce his candidacy. So, she was with him six months before he even officially announced.
[11:55:00]
She has talked a little bit about how Trump just said, you're going to be my Press Secretary. She was a little bit taken aback because she didn't have any of that experience. And that he said, alright, let's go to Iowa in January 2015, and she went along and just sort of learned the ropes from him by being a real integral part of the campaign in its early stages.
Now, prosecutors right now, they're really going through and sort of just like laying the foundation of who Hope Hicks is and her involvement with the campaign. They've also asked her briefly about what she knew about Michael Cohen. And she kind of brushed it off. She said, she didn't really know that much about him. So, she is talking about her very close relationship with Donald Trump, how she was really the right hand person to him. They were constantly in touch by telephone. She was constantly in and out of his office, even when he took meetings.
So, they are all building on this to probably get to some of those more interesting interactions that she might have had with Michael Cohen, and then the more interesting interaction she had when the Stormy Daniels news came out, Karen McDougal as well. So, we're just building up to that right now, Paula.
NEWTON: It will be riveting testimony, for sure.
I am Paula Newton in New York. Stay with us. "One World" is next.
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