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More Than 200 People Rescued From Flooded Texas Neighborhoods; USC: Police Clear Pro-Palestinian Encampment; Campus Remains Closed; Outrage Grows After Viral Video Shows Confrontation At Ole Miss; Former Trump Aide Hope Hicks Testifies In Hush Money Trial; Greene Says She Will Force A Vote Over Speaker Johnson's Ouster; Hamas Delegation Leaves Cairo As Latest Round Of Negotiations Ends. Aired 2- 3p ET

Aired May 05, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:38]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone, and thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield with this breaking news.

Widespread floods devastating much of Texas. Today, millions in the southeastern part of the state are under flood watches after five straight days of heavy rain. Entire neighborhoods are inundated with water. More than a third of Texas counties have been declared disaster areas.

And Texas Governor Greg Abbott could expand it to include more counties. As the flooding spreads, the high water rescues have surged as well, so far in Harris County, which includes Houston, more than 200 people have been rescued from homes and vehicles. And more than 150 pets have been pulled from the flood waters.

In North Houston, an officer was able to save a man and three dogs from rising water using a jet ski. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on. I'm trying to get him out of the water. He's trying to make it. It's OK. Who's black dog over there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Oh, yes. This is your dog's (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You all right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. (INAUDIBLE) You're a good touch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're good. All right. Let's catch a breath a little.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. You can have a seat up here. All right. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Officer Scott. Now we're friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Pretty incredible. I mean, we have team coverage now from CNN correspondent Rosa Flores and CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers.

Rosa, let's begin with you there in Texas. You're on the ground in Harris County, where evacuation orders are still in place. What have you been seeing?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, water has swallowed roads. It has inundated communities and created very emotional and tense moments for people who had to be rescued.

Let me set the scene for you. I'm standing at probably less than a foot of water on a street that leads to a community behind me. You can see a restaurant back there. There is a community that people call home.

This street is not passable at the moment. This is part of the mandatory evacuation zone. And you can see that the water levels are still very high.

We can't get back there in a car. So what we did is we went on a ride along with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. We have video of this. Take a look. And you'll see we saw floating debris.

We literally went over fences because the water is way deeper back there. And also over mailboxes. We saw stop signs at eye level.

Now, the team that we were with says that they started rescuing people last Wednesday. And they rescued close to 100 people. They also rescued their pets. We made several stops. They tell me that yesterday they were going door to door, asking people to evacuate. Some people decided to evacuate. Others did not want to.

And they said that they also evacuated their pets. And they explained how difficult it is when individuals refuse to be evacuated, refuse to be rescued when the conditions are life-threatening. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID JASPER, HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: We've been evacuating people since last Wednesday and all day yesterday in this area here. And there are still some people that they don't want to leave for whatever reasons.

We do have mandatory evacuations. As you can see, it's extremely flooded here. And unfortunately, we're getting more rain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And as you take a live look, this is giving people hope. The water levels have receded. You could see the debris line on this fence.

However, officials here still saying that people should evacuate this area for obvious reasons because the water is very high.

Now, Fred, just to put this under perspective, Harris County is one of the largest counties in this country. And according to the latest estimates, only several hundred homes are impacted. And officials are still urging people to evacuate if they are in these mandatory evacuation zones because I've got to tell you, there's still people back there who refuse to evacuate.

Now, when I see you next hour, I'll let you know why officials say that even though it's not raining right now --

WHITFIELD: Mm-hmm.

FLORES: -- they are still worried about the water levels rising.

Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right, Rosa Flores. We'll check back with you.

Chad Myers in the Weather Center. So, how much more rain should they expect?

[14:05:01]

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's done.

WHITFIELD: No more rain?

MYERS: Hit the hammer.

WHITFIELD: Really?

MYERS: It's over.

WHITFIELD: OK. But the waters could crest.

MYERS: But it rained all morning long.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MYERS: Two to three more inches. On top of the some spots, Fred, 24 inches of rainfall came down in the past 10 days.

And to give you an idea, in West Texas, there have been 10 straight days of tornadoes on the ground.

This has been a violent couple of weeks here, a week and a half, for parts of Texas.

Yes, all the flood watches, flood warnings. The rivers will still rise. The closer you get to the Gulf of Mexico, we still have water in the system, which means that the water is still going to be going up until it dumps into the Gulf of Mexico. So farther up along the line, yes, the water's going down. Farther down the river, the waters could still be going up and more rainfall expected.

Later on this afternoon into Louisiana, this is now moved away, but eight places in rivers are in major flood stage. Any different rivers are in major flood stage. But here it goes.

The best news I can show you --

WHITFIELD: Mm-hmm.

MYERS: -- is that there's not rain over Houston. There's not rain really over Texas. And by tomorrow morning, there won't even be rain in Arkansas. It's gonna be moving all the way toward Georgia.

There will still be the chance of a tornado or two today, which would make 11 days in a row with tornadoes on the ground.

So far, the past 10 days, Fred --

WHITFIELD: Mm-hmm.

MYERS: -- 224.

WHITFIELD: That's a huge number.

MYERS: On the ground confirmed. Not just --

WHITFIELD: Wow.

MYERS: -- you know, warnings or something like that. No. Chasers have been out there risking their lives, trying to --

WHITFIELD: And many of them have been pretty significant.

MYERS: Yes, they have.

WHITFIELD: There's been real damage.

MYERS: Down there.

WHITFIELD: All right. Chad Myers, we'll check back with you. Thank you so much.

I got some good news though, that no more rain in the forecast, but you got to get rid of all that water.

I mean, it's still a big problem.

MYERS: Yes, still.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Chad.

All right. New today, police are cracking down on a large campus protest. The University of Southern California says police cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment early this morning there.

The campus remains closed as the school announced a family graduation celebration after canceling the main ceremony.

CNN's Camila Bernal is on the campus there at USC. Camila, what happened when police moved in?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred, so police moved in. And they were able to clear that encampment.

And what's interesting here is that the University is saying not a single person was arrested. They call this a successful operation. And it is completely different from what we saw about two weeks ago on April 24th when authorities told people to disperse or face arrest.

At that point, you saw the tense situation. It was chaotic. It was violent. There were many confrontations. And authorities then said that this was essentially not the school, that this was just extreme violence what we saw on April 24th.

Yesterday, though, it was a very different scene. Take a listen to how one student described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS CORRAL, USC STUDENT: Seemed like the people in the encampment followed LAPD's orders. They evacuated through the north side of campus, through the Trousdale side. Some of them chanting or playing drums. And as they went, some bringing their personal belonging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: So as you heard, these protesters were still passionate. They were still chanting. They were still trying to express what they're trying to get through this encampment, but they listened. They dispersed when authorities said to leave the area.

That's obviously, again, in comparison to April 24th. Officials here in the school say that 93 people were arrested on the 24th. And they say out of those 93, 51 were students, three were faculty, three were staff.

So as you can see with those numbers, there were a lot of people that were arrested that were not associated with the school. The people that are associated with the school. The school now saying that they're starting a disciplinary process to figure out exactly what the punishment could look like for the people that were arrested on the 24th. They're also saying that they violated the school policy and they violated the law.

And we just heard from the university moments ago, they're saying that the university is open for students, but that no one is allowed to bring any camping material into the school, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. And, Camila, the main, you know, commencement ceremonies has still been canceled, right? BERNAL: Yes.

WHITFIELD: But there will be a smaller scale one for the family. Explain what that's going to be like.

BERNAL: Yes. So they announced this family celebration on May 9th. And they said there's going to be drones and fireworks and a marching band, but it will not be that main commencement, that huge commencement ceremony that normally happens here at the school.

And what the university is saying is that the individual schools will hold or give out the diplomas and the -- and so it will be smaller and it will be separate into the schools within the university.

But, again, this is clearly something that the university wants to avoid because they are worried about more protests during the commencement and during the celebrations. So that's why they sort of shifted gears, Fred.

[14:10:04]

WHITFIELD: All right. Camila Bernal, thanks so much. They're at the USC campus. We'll check back with you.

All right. For more now on all the demonstrations that we've seen on college campuses, I'm joined now by Shamil Idriss, the CEO for Search for Common Ground, a global peace building organization.

Shamil, great to see you.

So, I understand that, you know, see these demonstrations, these protests as an important display of what today's youth leadership looks like. What do you mean by that?

SHAMIL IDRISS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SEARCH FOR A COMMON GROUND: Well, Fred, thanks for having me on.

I mean, I think one of the things that we've seen in this country and globally is that youth movements, especially the ones that attract a huge diversity across race, religion, ethnicity, like this one has, make the world a better place, eventually.

And we've seen, I think in this country, one of the most consistent patterns over the last, you know, 60 years has been that those movements manifest through college campus protests, that at the time of the protests is oftentimes, you know, opposed, ridiculed, kind of set aside or violently even kind of suppressed.

But then years later, it's looked back upon with a lot of credit and recognition that they were onto something that's happened with the civil rights movement and the Freedom Riders. That's happened with the Vietnam War movement. That's happened with the anti-apartheid movement.

That doesn't address the charges of anti-Semitism with these protests, but I think that is one of the most consistent patterns. That's why where we work everywhere in the world, we not only work with the top leaders, heads of state, et cetera, but also always with youth activists.

WHITFIELD: So demonstrators today are vowing, you know, to keep these protests up.

What challenges do you see for students with opposing views to coexist on campus?

IDRISS: Well, you know, there should be certain things that kind of go without saying or beyond the bounds, you know, violence and threats of violence. And I think, you know, some of the things that we've seen publicly, like the -- you know, the testimony and congressional testimony of university leaders when -- even the specific question was asked, if somebody explicitly threatens genocide against the Jews, is that bullying or harassment? And there wasn't just a clear an obvious yes.

That really is given people pause and concern that universities aren't handling this well. I think to answer your question, one of the difficult things with this conflict, with all conflicts, but we definitely see it here, is that the very same words and slogans mean really very different things to different people.

What does the word Zionist mean? What does the word intifada mean? What is from the river to the sea mean?

I'm seeing very confident statements by critics across the board of what those things mean when other people say them.

But I know, for example, I know self-described Zionists who were among some of the most kind of persistent and courageous defenders of Palestinian rights, but also think that Israel has a right to exist and needs to be safe.

I know people who talk longingly about the first intifada, which was a non-violent movement that mobilized young people and women and men in equal measure, and look at that in that way and look differently on the second intifada.

So I think when we hear these things, the only way to really get to the bottom of them is through dialogue.

When I hear somebody describe themselves or use one of those terms, my first instinct I don't think should be to project onto them my biases of what they mean, but to ask them what they mean.

WHITFIELD: Mm-hmm.

IDRISS: And I think we really have to re-initiate that kind of dialogue in questioning process among young people.

WHITFIELD: Right. Because perhaps among a lot of young people, some don't really know, I guess the history of everything that they're saying or from, you know, what the derivatives are and they're learning as they go. So then, given these things are happening on college campuses, places of learning, how -- do you see campuses trying to foster harmony while allowing various voices of dissent to be heard?

What should they do differently perhaps? Or how does --

IDRISS: Yes. Well --

WHITFIELD: everyone learn from what has -- what has been transpiring?

IDRISS: Thank you. Yes. I think there's three very clear things that campuses can do.

Before I say that, I just said, I think we should give some of these young people more credit than we are.

I don't think the older generation, my generation and up, certainly the political leadership of our country, I don't know that we've set the best example for the current up-and-coming generation of how to deal with difference.

In fact, I know we haven't. In terms of -- and so when I see the Jewish student at Yale talking about the discussions that were had about how certain slogans land differently and are hurtful and those slogans then weren't used on the Yale campus, I think there's a lot more of that kind of dialogue and cooperation going on.

But there's three things campuses can do and should do. I think the first is to build relationships of trust across the dividing lines on your campus. There's a saying in the humanitarian sector that you don't exchange business cards in the middle of a hurricane.

So doing this in the middle of the most heated conflict is hard. But the first time that the Halal (ph), the student association leader and the Muslim Student Association leader on your campus meet shouldn't be on opposite lines of a -- of a picket line or a demonstration.

[14:15:01]

And, you know, campuses that are organizing in ad hoc committees. Committees about anything, the meal plan on the campus, how to make the campus safer. Anything that can involve students, especially across some of those, you know, divided communities. They should be brought in so that they can collaborate on common issues that have nothing to do, perhaps with the conflict of build their trust.

I think the second thing campuses could do is teach and train and dialogue. And, frankly, not just the students, but the faculty and the administrators as well.

We just are -- my own organization invested in some surge capacity just to meet the demand that we're getting from campuses for training.

And how do you have, and how do you facilitate dialogue across difference? And we have some really powerful thing that we can do rather than just put more rules down on young people, actually invest in their capacity and think of the fact that these capacities to navigate difference as well.

And I think the third thing is we have to acknowledge that the way that we've been teaching, I think, about identity and oppression and these issues has been, you know, necessary in some ways, but oftentimes overly simplistic.

Just had an example, you know, very close to my family where a student was asked to write a paper about oppression and wanted to write about his grandparents. And I was told that because they were white European Jews, they didn't count as oppressed, despite the fact that they survived the Holocaust.

And I think that the lens of oppression that's very reductive, that sees everything through a U.S. lens of race isn't really very helpful in understanding the complexity of what's going on in the world. But those are three things that can be done.

WHITFIELD: Mm-hmm.

IDRISS: Build those relationships across difference. You know, train your students and your faculty in dialogue skills. And look again at how we're teaching about identity and oppression so we can capture the complexity of what's happening in the world.

WHITFIELD: All right. Advice, we'll see how or when or where it might be applied.

Shamil Idriss, thank you so much.

IDRISS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. A new witness will take the stand tomorrow in the Trump hush money trial. Who might it be?

A preview of week three of testimony, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:36]

WHITFIELD: All right. New today, the University of Mississippi is opening a student conduct investigation after what officials call actions of hostility and racist overtones.

We're about to show you some of that confrontation. And a warning, you might find some of this disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING AND PROTESTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Adding to the outrage, that video was shared on social media by Georgia Republican Congressman, Mike Collins, who posted quote, "Ole Miss taking care of business." CNN's Rafael Romo has been looking into all of this.

Rafael, CNN actually spoke with the woman being taunted in that video. And what did she say?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. First of all, she confirmed that she was indeed the woman that appears in the video. And she also explained what happened on that moment.

And, Fred, there are multiple videos circulating online showing the protests at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. But there's one video, the one that you showed up a moment to go, that video in particular that has gone viral and is at the center of this controversy.

Before I show you the video, we need to warn again our viewers that it may be offensive to some people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING AND PROTESTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: As you can see, the video shows a group of mostly young white men in the counter-protest yelling at a black woman. At least one counter-protestor is seen on video and appears to be making gestures at the woman.

We now know who the woman in the video is. Her name is Jaylin R. Smith and she's 24 years old. She confirmed to my colleague, Dianne Gallagher, that she is the woman seen in the video.

Smith said that during the protests, pro-Palestinian demonstrators were kept in an enclosure which police said was for their safety. She also said that she briefly stepped out of the enclosure to go live on social media. And that was when the confrontation took place.

CNN has made efforts but has not identified any of the counter- protestors seen in the video.

We have also learned that the University of Mississippi has opened an investigation into student conduct, but didn't say who or what they were specifically investigating.

In a letter, Chancellor Glenn F. Boyce says university officials are and, here I quote, "Aware that some statements made were offensive, hurtful and unacceptable, including actions that conveyed hostility and racist overtones."

Smith tells CNN she said some insults back to the counter-protestors, but adds the following, and here I quote again, "People calling me fat or Lizzo, I should say, didn't hurt my feelings because I know what I am. I am so confident in my blackness. I am so confident in my size in the way that I wear my hair and who I am. They do not bother me. If anything, I feel pity for them." She goes on to say for how stupidly they acted.

[14:25:03]

And, Fred, the controversy took another turn when U.S. representative, Mike Collins, a Republican representing parts of Georgia, shared the viral video on X the following day, saying, "Ole Miss taking care of business."

CNN has reached out to Collins office, but there hasn't been an answer so far.

And then yesterday, Congressmen Collins tweet prompted the double the N -- the NAACP to send the letter to congressional leadership, asking for an investigation into Collins' conduct.

In part, the letter says the following. "These actions conducted by a member of the House of Representatives, regardless of intent, legitimize and propagate racism and undermine the principles of equality and justice -- that justice -- that our government is sworn to uphold."

And finally, Fred, some of our viewers may remember that the University of Mississippi has a long history of racial incidents including the deadly riots that broke out there in 1962 when James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the school.

Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rafael Romo, thanks so much.

All right. Tomorrow morning, court is back in session in former president Donald Trump's hush money case. Who will be the next witness for the prosecution? We'll break down what to expect when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:48]

WHITFIELD: All right. Former President Donald Trump will be back in court tomorrow morning as testimony in his criminal hush money trial enters its third week now. Friday's proceedings wrapped up with a day of dramatic testimony from one of his top and most trusted former aides, Hope Hicks.

CNN's Zach Cohen joining us now.

Zach, how does the testimony from Hope Hicks fit into the prosecutions case against Trump?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Fred, with the testimony of Hope Hicks, prosecutors did inch closer to addressing the alleged crimes, the center of this case, which is, of course, the allegation that Donald Trump obscured the way that Michael Cohen was repaid for this $130,000 hush money payment made to stormy Daniels in order to keep that story about their alleged affair from coming out before the 2016 election.

And look, Hope Hicks did two important things during her testimony. One was allowing prosecutors to introduce a transcript of the "Access Hollywood" tape, the now infamous "Access Hollywood" tape, which prosecutors to argue is what fueled Trumps concern about this alleged affair coming out before the election. And it could hurt his election chances. The other important thing that she did is she described for the jury about this chaotic and this crisis that happened inside the Trump campaign as rumblings about the story potentially coming out happened. She talked about the action amongst campaign officials as they tried to stop this or this information from coming out and concerns about how it could impact Trump's potential presidential bid.

And the last thing is she described this interaction in 2018 when the story was inevitably going to come out, Michael Cohen gave a statement to "The New York Times" and she raised suspicions that she didn't believe that Michael Cohen would have just paid Stormy Daniels this amount of money out of the goodness of his heart. I want to read what Hope Hicks said. She said, I didn't know Michael to be in especially charitable person or selfless person. She goes on to note that Cohen is, quote, the kind of person who seeks credit. So she's addressing this statement, Michael Cohen gave, saying Trump knew nothing about the payment. Of course, now that sets the stage for prosecutors to argue through that Trump not only knew about the payment, but facilitated its -- the reimbursement of Cohen and tried to obscure it by falsifying his business records.

WHITFIELD: Okay. So then who might some of the potential witnesses be upcoming this week?

COHEN: So we're really looking to see if these individuals who have first-hand knowledge of this reimbursement do take the stand. We don't know who will be first with some big name star out there, including Stormy Daniels herself, as well as Michael Cohen.

And look, Michael Cohen is the witness that really we have all been waiting to take the stand, prosecutors every witness they put on the stand, and they even warm the jury in there opening statement that Michael Cohen is a little bit of a difficult witness of sorts. He is somebody who has lied in the past. They're trying to set the stage for him and in his mind or the jury to know that he has lied, but tried to take the facts as they come out of his mouth.

WHITFIELD: All right. Zach Cohen, thanks so much.

Lets talk more about all this now with Michael Moore, he is a former U.S. attorney and CNN legal analyst.

Great to see you.

MICHAEL MOORE, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's good to be with you.

WHITFIELD: Okay. So let's begin with that dramatic moment involving Hope Hicks testimony. What might the jury have been thinking about all weekend long as it pertains to her testimony?

MOORE: Well, I'm happy to be with you here on set. Anytime that you have a witness, its close into the organization. If there's a trial about a group or an organization, this case, an alleged conspiracy when you have somebody that's sort of an inside player that's a big deal to the jury.

And so my guess is that they were watching to see what did she felt like she had to be loyal to Trump that felt like she was maybe caught in the middle between the prosecution and Trump, and they were probably watching to say who did she look at? How did she react during the time, sort of the off-script times when she had a chance that she look over at the defense table.

I mean, they're watching their body language is much frankly, as they're listening to her testimony.

And so there'll be drawing their inferences from that. They'll also be then count sort of compare in what she says with what other witnesses may have said ultimately, was she a good prosecution witness, at this juncture, week two of testimony.

MOORE: Yeah. I mean, nothing really unexpected from her, but I think she was probably a good witness for them.

WHITFIELD: What did she help establish for the prosecution?

MOORE: You know, I think that she's -- yes. She laid out some of the reasons that the payment would have been made. She did a little bit to sort of disarm the mystery of what was going on in the White House during this crisis or during the campaign, rather, during this crisis when the tape -- when the tape came out.

[14:35:05]

I mean, people who are non-Trump people thought it was a crisis, right? I mean, you thought this is a big deal. She could imagine what was happening with the campaign.

WHITFIELD: Right. She helped establish that the campaign was worried.

MOORE: That's right.

WHITFIELD: But she also helped establish that, you know, the former president was also worried about his family.

MOORE: And I think that's --

WHITFIELD: Was that important?

MOORE: That's important for the defense. I mean, because there's another reason and so you say this in other cases where they have charges and that is I wasn't just trying to do this to keep it from the American people in the voter and to help the campaign. But I had another reason and that can be enough to give a juror a doubt to say, well, he may have been doing it for some other reason as opposed to just trying to hide it as a campaign costs and expense.

WHITFIELD: So, thus far, that the witness testimony is kind of set a mood, right? I mean, its been kind of the outer fringes of what is it, the crux of the prosecutions case. So now, entering week three, how important is it she continued to engage the jurors is it to call witnesses who will fill in the blanks, who will lean now more toward the alleged crime of falsifying business records?

MOORE: Well, I mean, paper cases and that's what this is really are not interesting once they get him to the weeds about looking at the documents and when a check was written, does it show up on a letter? Those just aren't interesting cases. This one has a little nuance in that it's a former president. And so there's so much hype about it that it wont remain initiative.

The prosecution now is going to have to schedule their witnesses in a way that keeps the jury's interests. So they've thrown the bait out, they've set the hook in the mouth and now they've got just want to keep them reel them in and to tell a story.

WHITFIELD: So, you know, it's time for like a Michael Cohen?

MOORE: It maybe.

WHITFIELD: Or is it time for a Kellyanne Conway and the White House, how are things -- you know, how was the former president feeling or is it Stormy Daniels herself?

MOORE: They're going to have to think about which -- who's the most vulnerable witness and they're also going to have to think about the trial calendar and that is this there's that whole corn on Wednesday, so they don't want to end on a Tuesday with a weak witness, nor did they want to end on a Friday where the week witness?

So they're going to be thinking how long will this witness be on the stand is something that we can get through quickly and then move to a stronger place, or do we have a weak witness? We need to deal with quickly, and then move on to a stronger witness.

So all those calculations will be going on oh, but I think were really logically at a place where were talking about maybe Kellyanne Conway, Michael Cohen, maybe Ms. Daniels. I mean, she's not something that really has a lot to do with the paperwork, but she's obviously a central figure in the story. And they might want to put her up and get going to get her testimony.

WHITFIELD: You're looking for fireworks this week.

MOORE: There might be some I think it would be a mistake disorder. Have written up the Hope Hicks testimony and had this emotional moment and then to drop back down and have some paper pusher testify. I think they made the map kind of build on up. They've built their case a little bit and so it seems like to me like it its time to put up a strong witness.

WHITFIELD: Spice things up.

All right. Michael Moore, good to see.

MOORE: Great being with you.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.

All right. According to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, this will be the week that she tries to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, but does she have enough support to do that?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A dramatic, showdown is expected on Capitol Hill this week as Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene vows to force a vote to expel House Speaker Mike Johnson, a move that Democratic leaders say would be dead on arrival in the House because they plan to support Johnson keeping his job. A floor vote to oust Johnson would require a majority to succeed.

For more on this, I'm joined now by Mychael Schnell, congressional reporter with "The Hill" and Juliegrace Brufke, Capitol Hill reporter with "Axios".

Great to see you both.

So, Mychael, you first.

I mean, Greene wasn't even in Mar-a-Lago this weekend. She often spends time there. So we're also learning that, you know, from sources that Donald Trump is rather annoyed by this whole saga and finds that it hurts the party's image. So where is the momentum behind what Congresswoman Greene is trying to do?

MYCHAEL SCHNELL, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE HILL: Yeah, truthfully, Fred, there isn't much momentum behind it at all. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is leading right now, an army of three. It's just her, Congressman Paul Gosar and Congressman Thomas Massie, are the only three Republicans who have publicly said that they will back this motion to vacate.

Notably, there have been a number of opponents. Top of that list being for president Trumps saying a number of times that he supports Mike Johnson. He stood behind beside Mike Johnson at Mar-a-Lago a few weeks ago, and said, I stand with the speaker and the number of other conservative Republicans, including many of whom are in the Conservative House Freedom Caucus, even some who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, are saying that now is not the right time, there's no clear alternative.

Really, they just say that they want to bite their tongue. They're not thrilled with Mike Johnsons leadership, but they want to hold off on a rash decisions, right now, let the election in November come and then hold those leadership elections after the November elections.

So as I said, at the top, Marjorie Taylor Greene, not much momentum, but nonetheless, she's valley to move ahead with it this week. So we are expecting to finally see that vote on the House floor.

So, Juliegrace, could this potentially be a costly risk for the congresswoman?

JULIEGRACE BRUFKE, CAPITOL HILL REPORTER, AXIOS: I mean, I believe so. I think there could be a lot of backlash from Trump world on this. I spoke to sources that are very annoyed with her behavior. They're worried about how its going to impact November vote up and down the ballot. They are the fear that it could hurt Trump on the ticket come November. He's dealing with enough chaos with his own trial right now. And I think she's definitely going to face some rap from her own party.

[14:45:01]

WHITFIELD: Okay. So we're seeing these deep fissures, you know, within the Republican Party at a time. And Democrats say they will back Johnson.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): We've made clear this is a vote of conscience. It's time to end this chapter of pro-Putin obstruction amongst the extreme MAGA Republican wing on the other side of the aisle, and we're prepared to do just that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Now contrast that with what we heard from Congressman Thomas Massie, who is one of only three Republicans that's actually backing Greene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): This is unprecedented that somebody's foe in leadership, the leadership in the Democrat Party would offer to save the leader of the Republican Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, Mychael, I mean, foe. I mean, he's already sending the signal there that there is no I guess, love in anything bipartisan. Does this also underscored the divisions are only getting worse within the GOP?

SCHNELL: Yeah. I mean, absolutely. And that those remarks right there from Thomas Massie. He's sort of laying the foundation of what the messaging is going to be from MTG, Massie and Gosar when this vote happens and when Democrats are undoubtedly expect to come in and save him. Essentially, MTG and Massie, and are going to say that there is a cohort of Republicans in the conference who voted to vote to support a Republican speaker who's being propped up by Democrats.

This is going to be MTG and Massie's way of sort of saying that these are not true Republicans, that they are not hardcore enough of Republicans because they, at the end of the day ended up voting for a man who was being supported by Democrats. Now of course there are a lot of factors that have been leading to this moment right now, and extremely slim majority, the fact that there was already three weeks of paralysis back in October when the House voted to oust Kevin McCarthy, nobody really wants to go through that again and the fact that we are so close to the elections.

And finally, Mike Johnson put the foreign aid package on the floor with billions of dollars for Ukraine, that's something that Democrats said needed to happen for him to win their support. So, while Democrats have their reasonings here for supporting Mike Johnson and Republicans do as well, MTG and Massie are sort of playing their own messaging playbook here and saying, hey, I don't care about those other factors. The fact that you supported a man who got Democratic votes, that means that you're not a true Republican.

WHITFIELD: And then, Juliegrace, I mean, look at the election. I mean, several reported members on Trumps vice president shortlist are members of Congress. They're now putting themselves in the position of both defending Trump while he is on trial and upholding the electoral process.

How are they going to navigate that? What's the messaging that they will convey on where there real allegiance is nothing?

BRUFKE: I think it's going to be interesting to see how they navigate this. Now, I've spoken to a number of Republicans and I think we've heard from some members, including Tim Scott, some people that have kind of just said that they're not necessarily completely committed to its second year election results in November. So I think there's a lot to kind of watch out for their and well kind of see how it plays out as things kind of get closer to election day.

WHITFIELD: All right. Juliegrace Brufke, Michael Schnell, we'll leave it there for now. Great to see you, ladies.

SCHNELL: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. New developments in Israel as the Israeli government closes a key Arabic news channel in the country, stopping the correspondents from reporting and confiscating their broadcast equipment.

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[14:53:15]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

The Hamas delegation has left Cairo after the latest round of hostage negotiation talks ending. The militant group said in a statement that it had delivered its response to Israel's proposal and that, quote, in-depth and serious discussions took place.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the Hamas counter- proposals, calling them unacceptable.

CIA Director Bill Burns, who has been a key figure in the talks, is now on his way to Doha for a meeting with the Qatari Prime Minister.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is in the Middle East for us.

So have the talks essentially broken down at this point, has there been any progress whatsoever?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we don't understand that they have broken down at this point. This is not the information or the impression that were being given. It's certainly not progressing further this evening though. The fact that Hamas has now left, they have responded to this really Egyptian lead proposal that was given well over a week ago now for this hostage ceasefire deal.

According to Ismail Haniyeh, the leader -- the political leader of Hamas saying that they have had in-depth and serious discussions but when you hear from the Israeli side -- the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel is the one that has been willing to go much further saying that Hamas has not moved from its extreme positions, at pointing out Hamas still once a complete end to the war, something Israel is not willing to give. And also once a complete withdrawal of it the Israeli military from Gaza, when this temporary ceasefire takes place.

Again, something Israel's not willing to give the prime minister saying that would effectively give Hamas a chance to regroup, to take over Gaza again, and to become militarily strong once again, and a threat.

[14:55:13]

So it does appear as though there are some key differences that is still in place at this point, we have heard from the U.S. side, Secretary of State Blinken saying that this was a very generous offer on the table on behalf of Israel and Hamas should accept it. If it doesn't, then it is Hamas who was standing in-between a ceasefire and the lack of a ceasefire.

So at this point, there isn't the feeling that things have collapsed, but certainly that this round of negotiations has ended and it has not ended as positively as some may have hoped.

WHITFIELD: All right. Paula Hancocks in the Middle East, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much.

All right. Still to come, the campus of the University of Southern California is now open to students hours after police cleared out a pro-Palestinian protest encampment.

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