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Helicopter Carrying Iranian President Raisi Crashes; Rescue Operations Hampered By Weather; Jake Sullivan Meets With President Netanyahu To Discuss The War In Gaza; Israeli Airstrike Kills 31 In Central Gaza; Biden Appeals To Black Voters For Support; Helicopter Carrying Iranian President Crashes; Jessica Dean Interviews Ron Brownstein; Trump Hush Money Trial Continues; Blue Origin Launches Six Tourists To The Edge Of Space. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 19, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Here in the "CNN Newsroom." Hi everyone, I'm Jessica Dean in Washington and we begin with breaking news overseas. A frantic search and rescue operation is underway in northern Iran after a helicopter crash involving Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Officials say they have now detected the exact location of the crash site after hours of struggling to find it due to extreme fog and bad weather there.

That crash happening early this morning after the president and other officials attended a ceremony for the opening of a new dam near the border with Azerbaijan. CNN's Nic Robertson is tracking all the latest developments from London and Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann is here in Washington with us with reaction from the U.S. Nic, let's start first with you and what we're learning about this search.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The search has been hampered because there's dense fog and that's the reason it's understood that the helicopter crashed in the first place. It's raining. I've been looking at video that's been posted on social media by some of the rescue services in Iran and the weather is absolutely atrocious there. The rescue team are sort of struggling up the mountainous hillside in rain. They're sort of leaning into the rain that obviously it's nighttime there and it's dark.

So, although we understand from the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in eastern Azerbaijan, that province right up in the northwest of Afghanistan in the mountain, northwest of Iran in the mountains there, they say, although they say that they pinpointed the location, it's actually difficult it appears for them to get in there because it's mountainous.

They have to get over high mountains to get their vehicles close. It's been raining a lot. It's the end of the rainy season. The roads are muddy. It's difficult conditions for the rescue workers to move in. There's medics. There's police. There's army. There's the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps. There's even mountaineers on the rescue and recovery team.

And the reason that the IRGC says they've been able to locate the helicopter is they say they got a signal from the helicopter and they were able to get a signal from a cell phone that was aboard that helicopter. A few hours earlier, an Iranian official had said that actually had some sort of communication on a couple of occasions with a passenger on the president's helicopter and one of the crew members from the president's helicopter. And they were saying at that time that it appeared that the impact may not have been traumatic.

But obviously, the concern is now the middle of the night, high mountains, we're talking close to 600 feet, some of those mountains. It's very cold. It's raining. It's foggy conditions. The Iranians have actually called on the Turkish authorities to lend them a helicopter with night vision to, again, better aid them to get into the exact location.

So, anyone who survived a crash up there, and that's about 11 hours ago when this first all got triggered that the president's helicopter had gone missing, will have had to survive some pretty harsh conditions. So, the president -- the supreme leader in the country is calling on Iranians to pray for the president right now.

DEAN: All right, Nic Robertson, thanks so much for that reporting. Let's turn now to Oren Liebermann to talk more about what the U.S. is doing. It's monitoring this situation, but that's about the extent of it at this point, it sounds like.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Of course, President Joe Biden was briefed on this earlier today, according to the White House press secretary. But you haven't seen any public statements, not from Biden himself or from anyone else in the administration, but of course, the White House, the National Security Council, the State Department, the Pentagon, monitoring this very closely.

The reason we haven't seen a statement first, the U.S. is trying to figure out exactly what happened here. And that's difficult, not only because of the remote region where this happened, but also because it's simply difficult to get information, and much of that will come from Iran. In addition, the U.S. doesn't want to be seen as involved in this in any way.

So, at this point, at least, best to keep an arm's length away from this and wait for Iran and Iranian state media here to clarify exactly what happened here. In terms of the consequences here, the U.S. watching that very closely as well, of course. And in a de-stable region, how this could further destabilize the region.

We have seen Iranian proxies there carry out scores of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. Even if that hasn't happened recently, that's a lever Iran could very easily turn on again.

[17:05:02]

The Houthis, meanwhile, another Iranian proxy who are closely aligned to Iran, could also carry out further attacks on U.S. naval assets and commercial vessels in the region. So, there are many good reasons for the U.S. to watch this very closely.

In terms of the indirect relationship between the U.S. and Raisi, he has been under U.S. sanctions from back in 2019 when he was the head of the judiciary there. He was sanctioned because of the oversight he had as the judiciary carried out executions of juveniles. So, the U.S. has had him under close watch for some time now, as well as his movements and his role in Iran's diplomacy.

He is viewed as much more hardline than his predecessor, Rouhani, from several years ago. When he was inaugurated, had a much harder line of negotiations to try to renew the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal, which ultimately fell apart. There was perhaps a bit of a breakthrough back in September when under Raisi there was the release of five American hostages in exchange for the White House and the Biden administration unfreezing some six billion in Iranian assets. But that didn't lead to some major breakthrough in relations here.

So, the U.S. watching this again, but unlikely to say anything until there was a much better picture of what happened.

DEAN: There's a lot of dynamics at play. Oren Liebermann, thanks so much for that reporting. And joining us now, CNN National Security Analyst and former Deputy Director of National Intelligence Beth Sanner, CNN Military Analyst Spider Marks, a retired major general in the U.S. Army, and Holly Dagres, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, where she edits the Iran source blog.

Great to have all of you here. Beth, let's start with you. I'm just curious what you think the immediate fallout is from this crash, knowing that there's a lot we don't know right now.

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Exactly. It's so easy to try to get ahead of ourselves here and start talking about all the things coming down the road and we don't even know if he's dead yet. But I think that, you know, there are a couple of things to keep in mind here.

One is that we really know that the Iranian leadership is quite concerned, obviously, about looking like they are very, very much in control of this. I think that's why we're seeing this kind of unprecedented amount of transparency. They want to be seen as competent and they do not want to be seen as vulnerable.

We've seen on social media that there are fireworks going off in parts of Iran celebrating a purported death of Raisi. So, you know, they're trying to warn both the public and also any adversaries, particularly Israel, that you better not dare, we're in control here.

DEAN: And General, we're looking at images right now of the search and rescue. This was before it got dark there. And even still, it's so foggy, really hard to see. Hours have passed now since that chopper went down. Now it is dark. What is a search like this look like? They're in really difficult terrain.

JAMES MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yet significantly difficult terrain, excuse me, and the conditions, as you can see by these images, it's very soupy, a lot you can probably see no more than 20 to 30 feet in front of you. And look, any search and rescue have a significant reliance on a ground component. First of all, you want to know where it's located and if you can airlift something into that location, great.

What we've seen is that that's not possible yet. So, the ground component is absolutely essential and it's been delayed. Any search and rescue, it's all about time. When you're notified and when you can get there to initially provide some first aid and then to try to rescue and evacuate personnel from the site. This is going to take some time.

It's obviously at night. You're going to need the light of day. You're going to need this micro weather pattern to go away. They may launch aircraft, recovery aircraft like helicopters from a very nice piece of terrain and a very nice weather pattern. And then you get into one of these micro patterns and it's entirely different.

So, a lot remains to be seen. And as Beth has indicated, it's all about at the strategic level to make sure that everybody understands, friends and the opponents, understand that they're trying to breathe through their nose as they go through this. But there is a lot that we do not know and won't know for a while.

DEAN: That is absolutely true. And Holly, to that end, I do think immediately people start to question and say, how could this affect the broader region, which is obviously a tinderbox right now?

HOLLY DAGRES, SENIOR FELLOW, THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Well, I think it's important to note that Article 131 of the Islamic Republic's constitution denotes that the vice president of the country takes over the helms. And so, we'll be expecting elections in the next 50 days. But the key decision maker here is the supreme leader himself, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

And so, the president of the country will not change any decision making without his blessing. And as long as Khamenei is in office, you won't see much change in the region for the time being.

[17:10:00]

DEAN: Right. And that's such an important point, because the president isn't the commander-in-chief, doesn't have a lot of the power like we're used to seeing presidents have.

DAGRES: Correct. And that's why it seems like this will be a smooth transition. But I think the key here is to emphasize the fact that this is a country that's marred by systemic mismanagement, corruption and repression. The people on the ground want the Islamic Republic gone. And as Beth noted earlier, Iranians are celebrating. I watch social media, I get a pulse on society on social media, and all the memes online are talking about celebrations.

And I just want to highlight one example, Mino Majidi, who was killed by security forces during the Women Life Freedom uprising. Her daughters, who have since fled the country, are posting a video of themselves online celebrating with alcohol in the event that Raisi, the president, and the foreign minister have died in this plane crash. So that should really give you a sense about the mood on the ground there for sure.

DEAN: For sure. And Beth, the Iranian government, as you mentioned, trying to control this message and make sure that they are, in their way, they think, trying to be transparent. Obviously, with state media, that can be a difficult thing to achieve. But what do you make about how they are releasing the information, what they're releasing, their strategy here?

SANNER: This government is not known for competence or, you know, like being on top of emergency events. I mean, we just look back a few months ago when they had this largest terrorist attack at the funeral of a senior IRGC leader, officer, general. And you know, this was just preceded by the attack in Moscow by ISIS-K. We warned them, and that still took place. They've had multiple kinds of natural disasters. They never do well.

And so, I think that part of this is to really show that they are competent. And as Holly mentioned, you know, to try to put a veneer on, again, this idea that they know what they're doing and that people should think of them as a competent regime. But, you know, if he does end up being dead, we have really some rough days ahead of us in terms of Raisi.

Even though he wasn't the decision-maker, he was this kind of point of just steadiness and the person who was going to help provide continuity for the Iranian regime through an upcoming succession of the 85-year-old supreme leader. And so, you know, the regime right now is going to be really, really careful because they know that things are going to be kind of rough in the coming days.

DEAN: And Holly, you're talking about, you know, social media keeping an eye to what's happening actually on the ground in Iran. And Beth's talking about how the government, how the regime wants to project competence and that they're in control. Do you think they're succeeding in that right now?

DAGRES: It's hard to say because I would say this is itself, it's a big headache right now. It's a headache they didn't need. We were just talking about the tinderbox situation in the region and the domestic situation on the ground. I think it's worth also noting that Raisi was seen as maybe being a top contender as the next supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.

And that means that opportunity is gone. And yes, the political situation, domestic politics is not changing, but just the fact that this person that was a top contender for this role might shift the dynamics on the future of the Islamic Republic itself. And so, I think that's also key to note.

DEAN: Yeah, that could have some broader implications. General?

MARKS: Jessica, can I jump in just a second?

DEAN: Yeah, please.

MARKS: I think it's important that when we get beyond the domestic turmoil that has just been described so emphatically and clearly, the key thing in my mind is that this won't affect Iran's burgeoning relationship with Russia and Russia's efforts in Ukraine in terms of the delivery of munitions and drones, et cetera.

So, I think it's important that we realize there's going to probably be, as described, some internal turmoil. I don't think there will be any change in terms of Iran's perspective and what it's doing in terms of prosecuting war by proxies in the Mideast, elsewhere in the Red Sea, and its efforts, Russia's efforts in Ukraine.

DEAN: And Beth, I did want to ask you, yeah, about that, what your thoughts were on that line of thinking.

SANNER: Yeah. I mean, I think, as Spider mentioned a couple of times now, I think this idea of Iran's reliance on proxies and its alliances, you know, big A, little a, however you want to look at it, with Russia and to a slightly lesser extent with China, those dependencies, I think, are going to be even more, right?

[17:14:58]

So, the idea that anything would change in a positive direction, I think, you know, we could get caught up in wishful thinking. I think that a regime that's feeling vulnerable is dangerous, and they're going to double down on these relationships, and as Spider kind of started us off with, we might even see an uptick in some of the behavior by the proxies in order to distract. Not a direct, any provocation by Iran, because they wouldn't want that, they're not prepared for that, but we could see some wag the dog (inaudible).

DEAN: And Holly, what's your interpretation of all this?

DAGRES: Well, it's really hard to speculate on where things are going to go. I think they're going to try to make this as smoothly as possible, given the regional dynamics. But, again, it's been an interesting few months in the region with the Islamic Republic. I think it's noteworthy that we're in a situation where the Islamic Republic attacked two nuclear armed states, Pakistan and Israel, in the span of a few months. So, I think that there is some instability and unknowns there.

DEAN: All right. Wonderful analysis and context from all of you. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

And ahead in the "CNN Newsroom," a White House envoy makes an urgent trip to Israel --

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DEAN: New today, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The U.S. is urgently trying to broker a deal that will lead to a ceasefire in Gaza and a return of Israeli hostages. Negotiations are underway, even as War Cabinet Minister and Netanyahu critic Benny Gantz issued an ultimatum for a comprehensive war plan by June 8th. CNN's Scott McLean is joining us now from Istanbul with more developments from today. And Scott, Jake Sullivan has been shuttling between Saudi Arabia, Israel. What are you learning about his meetings?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so yesterday he started in Saudi Arabia, where, of course, the situation in Gaza was being discussed, but also the two-state solution and what the Saudis described as a credible two-state solution. We know that the U.S. has for quite some time wanted to normalize relations between the Israelis and the Saudis. But since the war began in October, the Saudis have made very clear that they would not agree to that unless there was a credible irreversible pathway to a two-state solution.

But as recently as this weekend, you have the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making abundantly clear that he does not support the creation of a Palestinian state. Those discussions in Saudi Arabia, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, according to the Americans, brought with him to Israel to brief the prime minister on those and potential for what could happen if there was some kind of a normalization deal.

What's interesting is that this normalization deal is also one of the demands that Benny Gantz, the opposition leader, is one of the demands that he is making, that more progress be made on that. But even Gantz does not support the creation of a Palestinian state, but he insists that the Saudis aren't necessarily asking for that. They are asking for the pathway to one.

Of course, the situation in Gaza was also brought up, according to both the Israeli side of the meeting and the American side as well. The Americans said that they discussed ways to minimize civilian casualties there, and they also want not only more aid to be getting in, but they also want the Israelis to connect their military efforts there to some kind of an endgame, something that they have been pushing for for quite some time.

What happens the day after the war actually ends, this is also something that Benny Gantz has been pushing Benjamin Netanyahu on as well, Jessica.

DEAN: And Scott, Palestinian health officials say at least 35 people died in an airstrike in central Gaza overnight. What are we learning about that airstrike?

MCLEAN: So, this was the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, and people there, according to our stringer on the ground, who was shooting video of the aftermath, said that people heard one very loud explosion that was big enough and powerful enough to essentially level most of five houses in that area. People were digging through the rubble with barely more than their bare hands. They don't have heavy machinery to get people out. And so, the chances of finding survivors in time are greatly, greatly diminished. We also got video from the morgue there where you have the floor

literally filled with bodies, some of them literally stacked on top of one another. And some are very clearly women and children. Of course, we know that some 800,000 people have fled Rafah seeking safer areas of Gaza. Some have gone to that humanitarian zone along the coast. But given the lack of infrastructure to accommodate that volume of people, others are trying to find safety in other places.

Clearly, they did not find it here. Some bystanders say that people who were there, some of them had recently come to Rafah. What exactly -- or come from Rafah, I should say. What exactly were the Israelis trying to hit in this strike? We don't know. We have reached out to them for comment. They wouldn't comment on specifics other than to stress that they follow international law in their efforts to dismantle Hamas. Jessica?

DEAN: All right, Scott McLean for us in Istanbul. Thank you so much for that reporting.

[17:25:01]

Ahead, it's been a busy weekend for President Biden, who is pushing for support among black voters as numbers suggest that crucial voting bloc may be softening for him.

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DEAN: We continue to follow breaking news at this hour. Iranian officials say they pinpointed the site where the helicopter carrying Iran's president crashed in a remote part of Azerbaijan and crews are on their way. The White House saying President Biden has been briefed on his way to Detroit for a campaign stop. And joining us now is senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak. Kevin, what more can you tell us?

[17:29:59]

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the president was briefed on Air Force One as he was coming here to Detroit. We learned that from the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre. But otherwise, White House officials aren't saying a great deal about the situation as the details are still coming in, as they're working to ascertain what exactly happened on the ground there.

But I can tell you, Jessica, officials at the White House, at the State Department, sort of across the government watching this very, very closely, because it certainly does add another level of volatility to what was already quite an uncertain situation, both in Iran and the wider Middle East.

Of course, President Biden still confronting that war in Israel between Israel and Hamas. And that conflict was something of a backdrop for the speech that the president delivered earlier today in Atlanta at Morehouse College. There had been some controversy ahead of the president's visit there. Some students and some faculty disagreeing with him, certainly on his approach to Israel and the broader sort of conflict that's unfolding there. There were thoughts that there could have been protests at the speech.

In the end, the president's speech was not interrupted although some students did turn their back on him while he was speaking. And in his remarks, he did address the situation in Gaza head on. Listen to a little bit of how he framed it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: What's happening in Gaza and Israel is heartbreaking. Hamas's vicious attack on Israel, killing innocent lives and holding people hostage. Innocent Palestinians caught in the middle of all this. Men, women and children killed or displaced in the spite and desperate need of water, food and medicine. It's a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. That's why I've called for an immediate ceasefire, an immediate ceasefire to stop the fighting --

(APPLAUSE)

-- bring the hostages home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So, the president acknowledging some of the frustrations surrounding this war. And I thought an interesting line, Jessica, was when he said that even some members of his own family were frustrated by what's happening on the ground there.

Of course, his audience at Morehouse College was young Black men. That's a voting constituency as well that the president is hoping to win back. Some polls have shown Black voters sort of flocking away from President Biden, at least compared to where they were in 2020, and that will be his mission here in Detroit as well.

He'll be speaking at a dinner for the NAACP, certainly in Michigan. It will be imperative for President Biden to consolidate support among Black voters when you think about the other main voting bloc in this key battleground state, Arab Americans who have expressed sincere displeasure with the president for his handling of the Middle East crisis, Jessica.

DEAN: I remember during the primary, so many people voting uncommitted, but seeing the president there in Detroit with Kevin Liptak tonight following him. Thank you so much for that reporting, Kevin.

And for more, I'm joined by CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron, great to see you. I want to back up and go back to Iran for a second --

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hmm.

DEAN: -- and just get your take on -- obviously, we don't know a lot of things right now, but as Kevin kind of eloquently pointed out, it's just another layer, another destabilizing factor in a region that is very destabilized right now. What kind of ramifications do you think we might potentially see coming out of there?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think both in the U.S. government and in the region, people feel like they essentially dodged a bullet with the cycle of escalation between Iran and Israel that began with the Israeli attack on the facility in Syria, the Iranian attack, and then the Israeli response. That kind of did not escalate to a dangerous level.

It does not appear that this will change policy in Iran very much, both because the president was a hardliner to begin with and also because power resides in the supreme leader with the one, unless, unless Iran concludes this was -- concludes this was not entirely an accident. And obviously, until we know how they are judging this event, there is always that very potentially destabilizing possibility.

DEAN: Right. We just need more information at this point. Let's talk domestic politics for a second. You've got a new piece on CNN.com arguing that after -- that four years -- about four years after he has left office now, voters are warming to Trump's presidency. Why do you think this is?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, I mean, this is clearly a challenge for Biden. I mean, the retrospective job approval ratings that voters are giving Trump in both national and state polls is often higher than his actual job approval at any point during his four years in office.

[17:34:53]

And I think the key reason this is happening is because of the contrast with Biden, the discontent with Biden over inflation, particularly and to some extent, immigration, are causing voters, I think, when looking back at Trump, to focus more on those issues than on the other aspects of his presidency that they didn't like when he was in office. I mean, the openly racist language, the confrontation, the chaos.

And you can see the Biden approach is beginning to change. I mean, largely they have been looking forward, not back. But you notice recent advertising aimed at Latino voters focusing on family separation, advertising aimed at Black voters, focusing on Trump's attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the appearance in Wisconsin when he talked about Trump's failure to deliver the new Foxconn plan.

Basically, I think they are stepping up their efforts to remind voters of the other aspects of the Trump presidency they didn't like because right now, those are being overshadowed by this sense that things didn't cost as much when he was president and, therefore, I think he did a better job.

DEAN: Uh-hmm. It is interesting how -- how humans brains work. And you're mentioning that when he was in office, he didn't have those approval ratings that he now has out of office.

We also saw Senator Marco Rubio today saying that he will support Trump's plan for mass deportations of migrants. Yet we see Biden's support slipping among Latino voters at the same time.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

DEAN: How do you square all of that?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, a really important development. I think Rubio's comments today basically should be a very clear signal to everyone that if Trump, in fact, attempts to implement the promise or threat of mass deportation that he has been putting out, that there would not be meaningful pushback in the Republican Party.

And then in all likelihood, if he is elected, the plans that he and Stephen Miller have been talking about for mass roundups, internment camps, deputizing red state National Guard troops and sending them into blue cities to remove people, all of this will unfold. And so, it really does kind of raise the question.

Now, if you look at what has been happening, as with Black voters, Trump has been gaining among Latino voters in almost all polling largely because of discontent about the economy and inflation.

And the question, as I've written, is whether he can sustain those inroads all the way through November when Democrats are able to focus more attention, particularly in the southwest states of Nevada and Arizona, on some of these ideas about mass deportation which, by the way, would be, as I've written, exceed anything we've seen in American history.

Even the Eisenhower example that Trump cites did not attempt to remove a fraction as many people --

DEAN: Yeah.

BROWNSTEIN: -- as Trump is now talking about. So, this is kind of the high wire act that Trump is on. On the one hand, he is proposing a lot of really racially polarizing policy proposals that are energizing his core base of white cultural conservatives.

On the other hand, he is depending -- he is relying on inroads in non- white communities, largely around the economy, and whether he can sustain both of those things through November. If he can, he's going to be the next president. But it's not clear that, in fact, he can maintain those inroads all the way through the finish line as these other elements of his agenda, I think, get more attention.

DEAN: Yeah. I do keep coming back to -- it is May, and to your point --

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

DEAN: -- there's all these dynamics that could play out. So, we have time to see it evolve, but it will be interesting to see when people start to really click into this race.

BROWNSTEIN: Or what they prioritize more, even when they do.

DEAN: Yeah.

BROWNSTEIN: I mean, that really is the question.

DEAN: For sure. All right, Ron Brownstein, always great to see you. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Coming up, Donald Trump due back in court tomorrow. Is the hush money trial entering its final phase? Now we're going to discuss what's to come this week.

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[17:40:00]

DEAN: Tomorrow, the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump will resume in Manhattan with the prosecution's key witness, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, back on the stand for cross-examination. If the defense does not call witnesses, closing arguments could start as soon as Tuesday.

CNN's Marshall Cohen is in New York with more on this. And Marshall, a big question right now is who, if anyone, will the defense call to the stand.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, that's up to them. They don't have to put any witnesses on the stand if they don't want to. The burden, of course, is on the prosecution to prove its case. But, Jessica, we're starting to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel here. After five weeks of testimony, we are nearing the end. Michael Cohen, as you mentioned, will be back on the witness stand tomorrow.

They are in the middle of the cross-examination. He's being questioned by Donald Trump's attorneys, who are trying to undermine his credibility. They don't want the jurors to believe his testimony, which implicated Donald Trump in the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and the allegedly criminal way that they reimbursed Cohen and allegedly falsified the records on the ledger of the Trump Organization.

Look, he's the last one for the prosecution. They don't have any more witnesses. So, we're expecting them to rest their case after Michael Cohen, and then it's up to the defense to decide if they want to put on a case or not. They may have an expert on campaign finance.

[17:45:00]

They may have another attorney who could try to undercut some of Michael Cohen's testimony. And by the way, they have not said yes or no whether Donald Trump himself will take the witness stand. It's still theoretically possible but seems really unlikely. So, looking later into the week, the judge has signaled that closing arguments could happen as soon as Tuesday which, of course, would pave the way to the jury deliberations that we've all been waiting for. Jessica, it's another three-day work week, so the exact timing is not crystal clear, but things are starting to wrap up here in Manhattan.

DEAN: All right, Marshall Cohen, the latest for us as the hush money trial continues. Thanks so much for that reporting.

A growing and urgent rescue operation in Iran is underway right now after a helicopter carrying the country's president crashed. But extreme cold, thick fog, and the dark of night are all complicating those efforts. We're going to have more on this breaking story ahead.

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[17:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Five, four, command engine start, two, one, zero, ignition starts (ph).

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Whew! Let's go to space.

(APPLAUSE)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): New Shepard (INAUDIBLE) tower.

(APPLAUSE)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) heading up to space.

DEAN: Blue Origin this morning launching six tourists to the edge of space from West Texas. It marks a return to space tourism for Blue Origin after a failed un-crewed test flight nearly two years ago. But this time, as you saw, everything went according to plan.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): We have just opened the hatch of the crew capsule.

(APPLAUSE)

UNKNOWN: Here comes Ken Hess (ph).

DEAN (voice-over): The New Shepard rocket capsule landing safely after its journey to the edge of space. The crew, who were also customers, included the founder of a craft brewery, a retired accountant, and a retired U.S. Air Force captain selected back in 1961 as the first Black astronaut candidate. No word on how much each person paid to fly on the rocket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: A wildfire is now threatening a national forest near Phoenix. Take a look at this video of Tonto National Forest in Chandler, Arizona. That fire was first reported Saturday morning, and the National Forest Service says since then, 5,000 acres have burned. Officials are asking people not to fly drones in the area while air tankers like the ones you're seeing are being used.

The idea of a fantastic art heist with a handsome cat burglar breaking through museum security has long captivated the imagination. It's the subject of movies and books. And sometimes, the stories are rooted in real life. CNN's Randi Kaye takes us back to 1990s Boston for a closer look at one of the biggest art heists ever.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eighty-one minutes. That's how long it took to pull off the biggest art heist in history. It was St. Patrick's Day weekend, 1990. The two thieves posed as Boston police officers and convinced one of the security guards at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to buzz them in. It was about 1:30 in the morning.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): The path is interesting. They took the guards after they handcuffed them and taped them and brought them into the basement. About 24 minutes elapsed before we see them again.

KAYE (voice-over): Motion detectors placed throughout the museum picked up their trail for nearly an hour and a half.

UNKNOWN: And it's in this hallway where we see the first motion detectors go off. So, it's about 1:48. And they're walking down this hallway together, and they enter the Dutch Room.

KAYE: Which is right there.

UNKNOWN: Exactly. And from the Dutch Room, they took six pieces. And that's where --

KAYE (voice-over): Including the Rembrandts.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): The three Rembrandts, the Vermeer, the Flink and the Chinese vessel.

KAYE (voice-over): Uh-hmm.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): And that's where -- in terms of dollar value, that's where the lion's share of the theft occurred.

KAYE (voice-over): As the clock ticked, one thief stayed behind in the Dutch Room and cut some of the paintings out of their frames. The other thief headed back down the hallway.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Same path backwards. Goes through the Early Italian Room, the Raphael Room, all the while passing incredibly priceless art, and walks back through to the short gallery where the thief takes five sketches by Degas and a Napoleonic finial from a top of a flag that Napoleon's First Regiment carried.

KAYE (voice-over): Later, this oil painting by Edouart Manet was taken from the Blue Room on the first floor. UNKNOWN: It hung right below Manet's portrait of his mother. It was about 8 by 10 and it was in a gold-gilded frame, and it was here.

KAYE (voice-over): Adding to the mystery, even though motion detectors picked up the thieves' trail by the entrance on the first floor and all throughout the second floor, there are no records of anyone entering the Blue Room. And if the thieves knew how to evade the motion detectors, why would they only do so in the Blue Room?

At 2:41 a.m., the door to the museum opens and closes and, then opens and closes again four minutes later. It must have taken the thieves those two trips in and out to load up the art. Then just as suddenly as they arrived, the thieves were gone.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Boston.

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[17:55:01]

DEAN: And tune in tonight at 9 for "How It Really Happened," "Gardner Art Heist: Stealing Beauty." We'll be right back.

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[18:00:00]

DEAN: You are in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jessica Dean in Washington, and we're following breaking news overseas.