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New Video of October 7 Attack Released; Interview With Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL); Norway, Ireland and Spain to Recognize Palestinian Statehood; Mar-a-Lago Documents Hearing. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired May 22, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Back in 2019, Alice invited me up to Harvard, where she had a fellowship, to talk to the students there.

[11:00:04]

There was one pro-Trump student who was giving me a hard time at this event. After the event, Alice told me I was being too nice to the guy and that she would have let him have it. It was just her way of letting me know I did just fine.

Alice was always caring, always looking out for others. When she walked out on set, Alice would have a big, bright smile on her face, eager to start mixing it up on whatever the political news of the day might be.

I imagine Alice looking down on all of us right now from that big roundtable in the sky, making her case with a smile and a kind word. Yes, Alice's views might not have aligned with yours, but we need more Alices in the world, not fewer, no -- need to figure out how to settle debates without tearing each other apart. We need that.

Alice knew that. And that's why we are grateful for her, grateful for her legacy, and that will stay with us in the days and weeks and years to come.

Alice, we love you and we miss you.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Serious (AUDIO GAP) various countries that announce plans to formally recognize a Palestinian state.

And the Trump classified documents case is clearly heating up right now. Happening right now, indeed, the judge is holding the first hearing since delaying the trial, and it comes as new photos show Trump's personal aide moving boxes around Mar-a-Lago.

And happy to be alive, that's what a passenger on that turbulent Singapore Airlines flight told reporters before leaving the hospital. We have new details on what happened and why.

Hello. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Right now, a federal judge is considering whether to dismiss some of the criminal charges against former President Donald Trump. Along with his co-defendants, the former president stands accused of retaining highly classified documents after leaving office.

Last night, an unsealed opinion from another federal judge revealed that Trump's attorneys found additional documents in his bedroom four months after the FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid. And take a look at this. Here in new footage -- there's new footage from the Department of Justice. A Trump aide has seen moving boxes just days before Trump's lawyers searched his Florida residence.

CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez is outside the courthouse.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, right now, at the federal court here behind me, Judge Aileen Cannon is here, is having one of two hearings, motions by former President Trump and his co- defendants seeking to dismiss the charges.

Walt Nauta, the former president's aide and still employed by the former president and one of the co-defendants, is asking for charges against him, obstruction mostly, to be tossed, because he says this is a vindictive prosecution by the government.

In the case of the former president and the other co-defendants, they're asking for evidence to be suppressed, to be tossed from this case. Donald Trump says that evidence from the FBI search should be removed because of mistakes that they say occurred on the part of the government, as well as suppressing testimony from Evan Corcoran, a former lawyer for the former president.

He's the one that received the subpoenas from the government seeking to turn over these documents, these classified documents, that were being stored at Mar-a-Lago.

Now, ahead of the hearing, we saw hundreds of pages of documents released as part of this case. And it really explains a lot of the behind-the-scenes machinations, a lot of the fighting that was going on and why a judge in Washington ruled that Evan Corcoran, the former lawyer for the president, for the former president, why he needed to provide testimony and documents.

Very unusual for a lawyer to be forced to essentially testify against his own client. One of the things that we saw in these documents, for the first time, we saw these images of Walt Nauta moving boxes after that subpoena had been received, again, according to the government, trying to conceal documents.

We also saw evidence, according to the government, that the former president had documents, classified documents, in his bedroom and in an office at Mar-a-Lago months after that extraordinary FBI search.

Here's what Judge Beryl Howell said to explain why she required Evan Corcoran to provide evidence against his own -- his own client. She said that: "The government has proffered sufficient evidence that the former present used Person 18" -- that's Evan Corcoran -- "as a front man to obstruct the investigation."

[11:05:09] Again, that hearing is still under way today. And one of the things we're waiting for, Wolf, at this point is whether we might get a new trial date from Judge Aileen Cannon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We will wait and see what happens.

Evan, thanks for that report.

I want to turn now to the very bold move by three European countries in the midst of the Israel-Hamas war. Norway, Ireland and Spain have made a landmark announcement that they will formally recognize Palestinian statehood in the next few days. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Next Tuesday, on the 28th of may, Spain will approve as Council of Ministers the recognition of the state of Palestine.

JONAS GAHR STORE, NORWEGIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): This is an investment in the only solution that can bring lasting peace in the Middle East. It is a strong call to other countries to do the same as we are doing today.

SIMON HARRIS, IRISH PRIME MINISTER: In the lead-up to today's announcement, I have spoken with a number of other leaders and counterparts, and I'm confident that further countries will join us in taking this important step in the coming weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is strongly denying allegations that he's starving Palestinians in Gaza as a method of war.

He blasted the charges brought by the International Criminal Court in an interview with my colleague Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: They're outrageous. They're beyond outrageous.

And the first false symmetry is, he equates the democratically elected leaders of Israel with the terrorist tyrants of Hamas. That's like saying that, well, I'm issuing the arrest warrants for FDR and Churchill, but also for Hitler, or I'm issuing arrest warrants for George Bush, George W. Bush, but also for bin Laden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to bring in Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. As you know, the White House responded to this announcement from those

three European countries that they will soon recognize Palestinian statehood saying -- and I'm quoting the president's -- the White House now: "The president is a strong supporter of a two-state solution and has been throughout his career. He believes a Palestinian state should be realized through direct negotiations between the parties, not through unilateral recognition."

Congressman, do you agree with the Biden administration's position right now?

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Well, thanks, Wolf. Thanks for having me.

Yes. No, I agree with President Biden. And that's always been the position. First of all, these -- these latest announcements are nothing new. There's already 140 countries that have gone out and unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state.

I mean, there is no Palestinian state. I am for a two-state solution. I think there should be a Palestinian state, but it's only going to come with direct negotiations.

Let's not forget a little bit of history here, which is, we tried to create a Palestinian state in the '90s. Remember, President Clinton worked on that, offered East Jerusalem, right of return, 95 percent of the West Bank. And the Palestinians said no, and that led to the intifada.

And so this is only going to happen through a direct negotiation between the Israelis, the Palestinians when they get new leadership, with the United States at the table, to make it happen. And I hope, one day, it does happen.

But this move actually is going to hurt the Palestinians. Norway was involved in making sure the dollars that are collected through taxes from the Palestinians go through Norway to get back to the Palestinian Authority. Now that Norway has made this move, Israel has pulled back their ambassador. Now Norway can no longer be a partner.

So this move actually doesn't get us closer to peace. It gets us further away.

BLITZER: The U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told Congress yesterday that he will work with lawmakers to penalize the International Criminal Court after it issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, including the prime minister and the defense minister.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We want to work with you on a bipartisan basis to find an appropriate response. I'm committed to doing that. As you say, the devil's in the details, so let's see what you have got. And we can take it from there.

But, given the events of yesterday, I think we have to look at the appropriate steps to take to deal with, again, what is a profoundly wrong-headed decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Congressman, what action do you think should be taken against the International Criminal Court?

MOSKOWITZ: No, well, look, I agree with the secretary there. There is bipartisan support here on Capitol Hill to have a response.

I'm working with my colleagues across the aisle to have a very strong response. It's outrageous what the ICC did. First of all, Israel is not a party to that, nor is the United States. But let's talk about credibility for a second, right?

Assad in Syria gassed his own people. He used chemical weapons. He killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, hundreds of thousands of civilians. No arrest warrant was ever issued for Assad. Yet now they want to issue an arrest warrant for the leader of Israel. It's a double, triple, quadruple standard.

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Everyone sees right through it. And so now, obviously, the ICC is going to be further isolated by the United States on a bipartisan basis taking action against them.

BLITZER: Some members of the House and Senate, as you know, Congressman, they have actually supported the ICC's decision, including independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who said this.

And I'm quoting him now: "The ICC prosecutor is right to take these actions. These arrest warrants may or may not be carried out, but it is imperative that the global community uphold international law."

Congressman, how do you respond to Senator Bernie Sanders?

MOSKOWITZ: Maybe -- maybe I missed it, but, hopefully, Bernie Sanders is calling for the ICC to issue arrest warrants on Assad, the leader of Syria.

And so, look, there are people still here, Wolf, saying that Israel is committing a genocide, even though the president of the United States has said there's no genocide, even though Jake Sullivan has said, the national security adviser, there's no genocide, even though the secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, has said there is no genocide.

There are still people here, for political purposes, saying it's a genocide. Of course, no one's saying that about what's happening in Darfur, where there's actually ethnic cleansing. There's no protests in the street. There's no campus protests, right? There's nobody walking around Capitol Hill fighting for the people in Darfur. It's always Israel. And so, look, again, there's a double, triple,

quadruple standard. But there's going to be a bipartisan vote on a bill sometime in the House, sometime probably either at the end of this week or next week condemning what the ICC did.

BLITZER: Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida, thanks so much for joining us.

MOSKOWITZ: Thank you.

BLITZER: And still ahead this hour: the Biden administration releasing one million barrels of gasoline from a never-before-used emergency reserve. But will it actually make a dent at the pump?

Plus, the jury in Donald Trump's hush money trial is at a weeklong break right now. Why our legal experts say the time away could be absolutely critical in their decision to convict or acquit the former president.

Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:16:58]

BLITZER: Turning now to Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, both sides are sharpening their closing arguments after Trump's lawyers wrapped up their case.

The defense rested after calling only two witnesses. Notably absent from the witness list was Trump himself. Despite repeatedly hinting he was willing to take the stand, he did not do so.

The jury will now move forward without hearing directly from the former president at the center of this criminal trial. They will have six days to digest what they have heard just ahead of next Tuesday's scheduled closing arguments.

Joining us now, CNN senior legal analyst the former assistant U.S. attorney Elie Honig.

Elie, how unusual is it for a weeklong break now before these closing arguments and the jury deliberations begin?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: It's unheard of, Wolf, because, typically, what happens is, the -- the evidence closes, as it did yesterday, and then you go right, essentially, into closing arguments.

Sometimes, you will have an overnight, maybe a two-day weekend, and then you go right from closings right to the jury instruction, and then the jury's deliberating. Here, we have a week between the end of evidence and the closing arguments.

Now, it's nobody's fault. It's sort of just an accident of the calendar. I think the judge did the right thing by moving all the closings to after the Memorial Day weekend, because, otherwise, the risk would be you split up the deliberation around the weekend, which is not a good idea for anybody.

But I think what this does, Wolf, is, it really heightens the importance of closings. Now, closings are always crucial, but, here, the parties are going to have to really bring the jury back to the evidence, some of which is over a month ago that the jury heard it.

So, closings are always crucial, but especially here, when you have this kind of gap.

BLITZER: The 12 jurors and the six alternate jurors, they can -- they can go home, right?

HONIG: Yes.

BLITZER: So, over the next week, they can watch television, they can read the newspapers. They can do what they want, but are they being instructed, don't follow the news media at all, don't read anything about this case?

HONIG: Exactly.

From the first moment they were chosen as jurors, they were told, you are not to take in any media about this case. Now, it used to be easy in the old days. Judges would say, if you see it on the TV, change the channel. If you see it in the newspaper, flip the page.

Now, with the way social media is, with the way everything is on the phones, there's an extra risk. Now, that has not happened so far. There's been no hiccups with the jury. No juror has come forward and said, I saw something I shouldn't have seen.

But I would be mildly concerned about coming back from the Memorial Day break and someone says that. But, if it happens, you just slot in an alternate. We have six alternates.

BLITZER: Their family, their friends are going to be talking to them as well.

HONIG: Yes.

BLITZER: So, you don't know what they're going to be saying.

HONIG: They should shut it down if that happens.

BLITZER: Yes.

HONIG: Yes.

BLITZER: It's obviously a very sensitive moment.

Walk us through what you're expecting during next week's closing arguments from both sides.

HONIG: Yes.

So, the defense is going to go first. That's the way it works in New York state court. I think the defense, first of all, they're going to stress the burden of proof, as every defendant does and is entitled to do. They're going to say, this isn't about what do you think is more likely or who has a better story.

This is about, did the prosecution prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt? The other thing I think that the defense is going to do is, they are going to really focus on Michael Cohen. They're going to say, you cannot convict unless you believe Michael Cohen. They're going to say, he has no credibility. He has a history of lying. He has a financial motive. He has a strong personal bias against Donald Trump.

[11:20:05]

And I think they're going to attack the testimony he gave in this trial. They're going to say, he got caught in that one conversation where he said it was about the Stormy Daniels payments, but it looks like it was actually or maybe also about these harassing texts he was getting.

They're going to stress the fact that Michael Cohen stole money from Donald Trump during this transaction. So they're going to say, can't prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt unless you believe Michael Cohen. You shouldn't believe Michael Cohen.

BLITZER: But they did introduce documents that tend to back up what Michael Cohen was saying.

HONIG: Right. So, that -- that's what the prosecution is going to say.

They're going to say, you don't have to believe Michael Cohen in a vacuum. You don't have to take his word for anything because there's crucial documents that back him up.

For example, there are the checks signed by Donald Trump. There are the ledger entries, the invoices that say retainer. There are handwritten notes showing the way that Michael Cohen worked with Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney, two of the financial people in the Trump Org, to come up with these numbers.

And so I think the prosecution's pitch is going to be, look at all the evidence as it all ties together. You don't have to rely on Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen is backed up by the other evidence.

BLITZER: This is the first time in American history that a former president has been criminally charged and gone to trial.

HONIG: Indeed.

BLITZER: Give me a sense, a guess, from your perspective, and it's basically a guess. How long do you think the jury will deliberate?

HONIG: So, you never know what a jury is going to do. I have seen juries deliberate for less than an hour on more simple cases than this. I have seen juries deliberate for two weeks. I don't think the jury is going to come back with a verdict in the

first day. I think they're going to be cognizant of the historic stakes that you mentioned, Wolf. So I think they're going to take their time. There's a lot of evidence.

I wouldn't expect a verdict until at least the second or third day of deliberations. We're guessing here. But I think they're going to understand that the world's watching and that their verdict needs to be careful and well-supported.

BLITZER: Yes, I think you're absolutely right. We will see what happens.

We will be all on jury watch...

HONIG: I'm ready.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: ... as this unfolds.

HONIG: Exactly.

BLITZER: Elie Honig, thank you very much.

Still ahead: extreme turbulence at 37,000 feet. One passenger aboard that Singapore Airlines flight says all hell broke loose.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:26:55]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: There's breaking news coming into CNN right now. Families of seven female Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hamas terrorists have released graphic video showing their abduction back on October 7.

We want to warn our viewers, these images you're about to see are very disturbing.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is joining us live from Jerusalem right now.

Jeremy, what can you tell us about this new footage?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this footage was filmed by Hamas on October 7 at this Nahal Oz base where seven women were based, seven of whom were taken hostage by Hamas, five of whom, we understand today, are likely alive and still being held hostage by Hamas.

In this footage, of which we're just showing you still images for now of this video, you can see several of these young women, all 18-, 19- year-old Israeli soldiers. They are bloodied. Their hands are bound. They are being lined up against a wall.

You can hear some of the Hamas militants in the video shouting at them, some of the young women trying to understand the situation, trying to show these militants that they are people.

One of the young women, Naama Levy, it says: "I have friends in Palestine."

The young woman next to her, Liri Albag, asks for someone who can speak English. And you can just see the fear on the faces of these women as they are being taken into captivity by Hamas on October 7.

Two of the seven women who were taken captive on October 7 by Hamas have -- one of them is Noa Marciano. She was killed in captivity, according to the Israeli military, and her body has since been retrieved by Israeli forces.

Another one of the women, she, Ori Megidish, was actually rescued in an Israeli military operation in Gaza. But five of these other women are still being held captive. And their families are the ones, we understand, who decided to release this very graphic video today because they want to bring back attention on the plight of their daughters and try and pressure the Israeli government further to secure a hostage deal that could secure their release.

The Israeli government, for now, is also sharing this video, actually, on its accounts on social media, and so questions about how much this will actually help pressure this government. But, certainly, Wolf, it is bringing back attention on the plight of these five women, all 18 and 19 years old at the time that they were taken captive.

We know, of course, that those hostage negotiations are stalled at the moment. They have been for the last couple of weeks. And, for now, there is no clear possibility of getting over the gaps that remain between the two sides -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, so disturbing, those images, indeed.

All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much for that report.

Right now, I want to bring in David Sanger for some analysis. He's a CNN political and national security analyst. He's also a correspondent, of course, for "The New York Times." He's the author of a very important brand-new book entitled "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West."

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