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DOJ to File Antitrust Lawsuit Against Live Nation; Interview with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Another Controversial Flag Spotted Outside Alito's Home; Trump's False Assassination Claims; Haley to Vote for Trump; NOAA Releases 2024 Hurricane Season Outlook. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired May 23, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Back to our top story, the Department of Justice is expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, the owner of Ticketmaster. Joining me now to talk about this, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. She is the chairwoman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights.

Senator, your reaction to, I think, what a lot of Americans have been waiting for for some time, for somebody to do something about these insane ticket prices.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): Exactly. For anyone who has had to pay their kids -- high school kids' tickets to their favorite band and find out that 30 percent of them are added fees or for anyone who stood in line or waited all day online to try to get Taylor Swift tickets or anyone who's gotten to a concert venue and this does happen, Jim, and find out that they have actual fake tickets, this has to change.

And so, this is about a major monopoly. They control 90 percent of major billboard ticket sales top 40, 80 percent of major arenas, and they control 70 percent of all ticketing. They also own venues. They locked the venues into seven to 10 years. And wait a minute, three- headed monster when it comes to monopolies. They also promote the acts.

And so, big surprise the Justice Department is filing a major action today. Our hearing brought out a lot of evidence, including from artists, from fans about why this is such a problem. And we've filed a bill on this, Senator Cornyn and myself, on putting fans first. But really, the meat of all this is going to happen with this Justice Department lawsuit that we are soon to find out about today.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, I -- it's not just concert tickets, Senator. I mean, I took my kids to March Madness. I thought I needed a second mortgage for that.

KLOBUCHAR: Totally. ACOSTA: What kind of changes can happen here realistically to get a handle on this?

KLOBUCHAR: Yes. So, when you have a monopoly, and time and time again, whether it's way back in the old days with Teddy Roosevelt and the railroads, when you have a monopoly, at first, it seems OK. Hey, it's easy to use. But then over time, the fees and the money goes up and up and up because there's no competition.

Our whole economy is based on good competition, capitalism. That's how it works. So, that's the first thing they can do to guarantee competition. That brings prices down, provides better services. The second thing is the work that Senator Cornyn and I and others are doing to say, hey, got to do something much more about the bots, more transparency so the prices can't go up while you're online. Automatic refunds, if a concert is cancelled, come on.

[10:35:00]

And so, all of these things combined, legislative action and this lawsuit, is going to make a difference. And it doesn't matter if you're a Swifty or if you're a fan of Bad Bunny or Bruce Springsteen, people have experienced this problem, not to mention, as you know, sporting events.

So, I'm pretty excited that they're moving forward today. It is a big, big company to take on because monopolies are never easy to beat out. They've got a lot of power. They get a lot of people that they hire to go and lobby you and do things like that. We've seen that all over Congress, but I've been more than willing to take on this fight and I'm not going to give up until it's done.

ACOSTA: And, Senator, I know, I did want to ask you a subject that's a little off topic. I know you're on the Judiciary Committee and you've probably seen in the news lately there's been a lot of coverage of the flag choices of Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito, not only at his home in Alexandria, Virginia, but out at the beach, another flag apparently that's been embraced by the far-right and election deniers.

What's your response to that? And is there anything realistically that can be done about it?

KLOBUCHAR: Sure. When we have had this breakdown of trust in the court, of course, Justice Thomas' involvement, his refusal to recuse, his wife's involvement in all of this, when he's been recusing himself from other cases along the way. And now, this with the flag. I think the best thing is to set high ethical standards and to go out there and say, you know what, we're going to recuse ourselves when there's what we call, there is any kind of indication of a conflict. Because you lose trust when that happens. There's other justices on that court that can make decisions. People recuse themselves all the time.

The second piece of this is clear ethics laws. While Justice Roberts, chief justice and the court has come out and say that they're going to do some -- their own rules of conduct, I think we need to enshrine this in law. All the other judges in the federal system abide by a set ethical rules of conduct. We need to have the same applied to the Supreme Court. I think those things would go very far in terms of building trust in the court's decisions.

ACOSTA: But, you know, if Justices Thomas and Alito don't recuse themselves, for example, in cases that pertain to January 6th, for example, or the upcoming election, those kinds of cases, doesn't it for -- in the minds of some Americans call into question the legitimacy of whatever decision is handed down by the Supreme Court, perhaps further eroding trust in the high court?

KLOBUCHAR: Yes, it does. And that's what bothers me. I believe in our court system. I believe in a system of checks and balances. And just today, a court case came out on gerrymandering where you have Justice Alito talking about partisanship, all of this, the decision in Dobbs, that willingness to overrule decades and decades and decades of precedent and create chaos across our country, all of these things make people lose trust in what's happening over at the court. And this is just one more thing.

And if you have something in your life, and this has happened all the time with judges, they recuse themselves from a case because either an actual conflict or the appearance of a conflict is enough to make a judge say, you know what, my fellow judges will be able to make this decision, fine, and I'm going to recuse myself from this case, and this is exactly what he should be doing.

ACOSTA: All right, Senator Amy Klobuchar, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

KLOBUCHAR: It's great to be here.

ACOSTA: Hope you get a handle on those ticket prices --

KLOBUCHAR: I am ready to go. I'm thinking about you with that potential mortgage, but I'm thinking about all my people in Minnesota. We love music.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

KLOBUCHAR: We're the home of Prince. People deserve to be able to go see a concert with their families.

ACOSTA: No kidding,

KLOBUCHAR: No kidding.

ACOSTA: And afford to do it. All right. Thanks, Senator. Appreciate it. We'll be right back.

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[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: Overnight, Former President Donald Trump continued to spread the baseless conspiracy theory that President Biden wanted to assassinate him during the FBI's Mar-a-Lago search for classified documents.

In a past midnight Truth Social post, Trump even insinuated that the Secret Service detail that he has would have been "in the line of fire." Here's a fact check, authorizing the use of deadly force during an FBI search is standard protocol. In fact, the search of President Biden's home included the exact same provision.

That's not stopping Trump, though, from fundraising off of his lies. In an e-mail titled, they were authorized to shoot me. Yes, that's what it says. His campaign falsely claimed Biden was "locked and loaded, ready to take me out." Let's discuss with CNN Political Commentator Van Jones and CNN Political Commentator Geoff Duncan.

Van, to you first? I mean, you know, there are times when I'm reading the teleprompter, I'm reading this stuff, and I can't believe the words that are coming out of my mouth. And this is one of those cases, because it almost seems foolish to ask you, Van, what do you think about this? I mean, obviously, it just boggles the mind.

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, it's very dangerous. I mean, we can kind of put in a cartoon clown nonsense from Donald Trump. But what he's doing is consistently undermining the American public's faith in America's government. America's government is not authorizing anybody to kill Donald Trump. And -- but you start putting these conspiracies out there over and over again.

This is termite politics. You're eating into the foundational confidence of the people in the government. That's delegitimating America's government. That's what foreign adversaries try to do. That's what Iran is trying to do. That's what Russia is trying to do. Donald Trump is eating into the legitimacy of American democracy and he does this type of stuff and we don't know where it ultimately leads, but it's not a good place.

ACOSTA: Yes, Geoff, I mean, what do you think? I mean, obviously there are some folks out there who believe this stuff otherwise they wouldn't put it in a fundraising e-mail.

[10:45:00]

GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND FORMER GEORGIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: It's par for the course for Donald Trump. We watched this play out with the 2020 election cycle. We watched this play out over and over and over again.

And quite honestly, it's one of the reasons why I, as a lifelong Republican, have decided to change my support, to support Joe Biden, even though he's a Democrat, lifelong Democrat, because we cannot take four more years of this chaos and lie and the willingness to just do anything to remain in power. It's dangerous, it's reckless. And as a country that is expected to be a part of leading this entire world, we cannot put people in powerful positions that are willing to do and say anything to stay in charge.

ACOSTA: Yes. And you can't put your head in this sand and pretend like he's not saying this stuff when he's saying this stuff. And, Van, I did want to ask you, to that point that Geoff was raising, I mean, Nikki Haley said yesterday, she's going to vote for Donald Trump. Let's listen to what she said yesterday, how she characterized the former president earlier this year, a little compare and contrast. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will be voting for Trump.

The herd mentality is enormously strong. A lot of Republican politicians have surrendered to it. I feel no need to kiss the ring.

I put my priorities on a president who's going to have the backs of our allies and hold our enemies to account.

He's all but said he's going to abandon Ukraine. That's a massive gift to Vladimir Putin.

Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me. I genuinely hope he does that.

He says they'll be barred from MAGA permanently. That's not the way you win elections.

He's not qualified to be the president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: You know, and Van, I'm sure you've been watching this just like the rest of us have been watching these primaries come out where you see these big chunks of Republicans voting for Nikki Haley, even though she's been out of the race for a long time now, where -- are those voters Haley supporters or are they just Republicans who want an alternative to Trump? And I guess, Geoff, I'll ask you the same question as well. What's your sense of it, Van?

JONES: Well, this is probably a mix of both. I want to tell you, this kind of stuff turns people off. It makes it seem like politics is just like professional wrestling that, you know, you turn heel this moment, you turn another way another moment, that nobody really believes anything, there's no principles, there's no values anymore.

You know, I respect Republicans like our guests here, our colleague here who actually says what he means and means what he says. If you don't think this guy is qualified and you spent a year telling the country he's not, you can't turn around two seconds later and say you're going to vote for him and start defending him.

This is dangerous because it makes a lot of people think this whole thing is a farce, this whole thing is a sham. She's doing a disservice to her, her party, and her country by making this reversal, which is, you know, I think very, very, very unprincipled and disappointing.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Geoff, I mean, she was saying you don't want a president who abandons allies and takes on adversaries. I mean, if you look at the situation in Ukraine, I mean, he's -- I mean, Trump has said that he has a plan to end the war in Ukraine and it basically involves giving much of Ukraine to the Russians. I mean, so there's a clear inconsistency there, but your reaction to this Haley news.

DUNCAN: Yes, it's hard to listen to just like all the other folks that have been along the way that ran against him and really stuck their heads up against all the chaos that he's sewn across our country and our party. But it is what it is. And either folks are going to get in line just because he's got an R next to his name or they're going to genuinely get to the spot where I'm at and know that the only way our party gets back on its feet and in a position to lead is to get rid of Donald Trump.

If we hired a room full of really expensive consultants and said, how do we fix the Republican Party, every one of them would come back with you've got to get Donald Trump out of the mix. And for me, I think that's putting my trust in Joe Biden and working with his administration to drag him back towards the middle on immigration, inflation, Israel, all these issues that are close and that there's separation from. But it's hard.

And everybody in Donald Trump's life, we're watching this play out in the courtroom, whether it be personally, professionally or politically. Everybody that gets to know Donald Trump ends up regretting it. That light at the end of the tunnel turns out to be a freight train that just bowls you over.

And I do truly believe long-term this will be a negative for Nikki Haley's political career. I'm not saying she can't overcome it. I'm just saying she will regret, in my opinion, putting her brand and stamp that she's worked hard to build behind Donald Trump.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Van, I mean, just a short while ago, I was talking to Senator Amy Klobuchar about this flag controversy when it comes to the Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito. He had the upside-down flag at his house in Virginia, and then another flag outside his beach house, the flag that's been embraced, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but it was embraced by election deniers around January 6th.

[10:50:00]

She says Sam Alito should recuse himself. And I'm just wondering, Van, we've seen in the polls a lot of Democrats sort of disillusion this election cycle, younger Democrats. Might the Supreme Court issue sort of energized things on the Democratic side, do you think? Is that something that maybe the Biden team should be emphasizing a bit more?

JONES: Well, I mean, I don't think that would energize younger voters. Some of the more disaffected voters aren't paying attention to that kind of minutiae. I think they're more concerned about just a sense of lack of hope or direction, which I think Democrats need to be better about inspiring the young people.

I do think that Sam Alito is also playing with fire here. What are you doing? It makes zero sense for you to be flying hyper partisan political symbols outside of your house. Who does that? What judge on planet Earth does that? That is literally the definition of you are not a judge, you are a political activist.

And so, there's really no reason for him to do something like that and it puts, it -- again, it puts the country in jeopardy when people no longer believe in even the Supreme Court, which is where we're headed.

ACOSTA: All right. Van and Geoff, guys, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.

DUNCAN: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, the upcoming summer season also means hurricane season. The new predictions. They don't sound good. That's next.

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[10:55:00]

ACOSTA: The upcoming Atlantic hurricane season is set to be a busy one. That's according to the National Hurricane Center, which just released what it says is the most active preseason forecast in the agency's history. With me now at Meteorologist Elisa Raffa and CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir.

And of course, Bill, you have a new book out, "Life as We Know It (Can Be): Stories of People, Climate, and Hope in a Changing World." Right up your alley, Bill.

Lisa, let me start off with you real quick. What are we looking for here in this forecast?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Incredibly active season ahead. NOAA is calling for up to 25 storms, up to 13 of which could be hurricanes. Four to seven of those could be major hurricane, that category three strength or higher, all well above average and in line with Colorado State's forecast that they issued a few weeks ago.

And then what I find remarkable is the confidence that this is going to be an above normal season is that 85 percent. There's only a 5 percent chance that this could go the other way and be a below normal season. There are a couple of factors that really have us honing in on this above normal season. The first is that we have a La Nina, that's that cool ocean circulation in the Pacific. Well, it can move that jet stream to the north. The jet stream is that path to storminess. It has a lot of wind in it.

So, with it out of the way, that decreases the wind energy where we need those storms to develop hurricanes. Hurricanes hate wind shear. They hate that wind energy. So, with less of it around, more storms can develop.

Another huge factor detailed in this report is record ocean temperatures. We know that as our climate warms, these oceans just continue to be incredibly warm. That fuels more storms, it makes them stronger and can also make them wetter.

ACOSTA: Yes, Bill, I mean, this does not sound good for the upcoming hurricane season. What are you looking for? I mean, we always talk about the gulf temperatures. That doesn't sound good, but look what's happening out in the Atlantic, as Elisa was just saying.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Just the idea, Jim, of four to seven category threes this season is scary to think about, and it's all comes down to ocean temperatures. Records at the surface below the surface. And a reminder, we have a graphic to show you that that is what hurricanes feed off of. So, that's their fuel, their steroids. It makes them bigger and stronger. It makes them last longer. It brings heavier rain, higher storm surge.

And in recent years, we've learned this new term rapid intensification, where a storm will go from a category one or two to a four or five in a matter of hours catching communities off guard. And so, obviously, the most vulnerable state these days, the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana vulnerable, it's warm there as well. But Florida, already still reeling from Dahlia and Hurricane Ian, the most expensive in state history a couple of years ago.

And ironically, even as they hit a heat dome with temperatures in the keys of over 115 degrees for a week there, the government of Florida, the DeSantis administration stripped the words climate change out of future consideration for lawmakers. A symbolic sort of culture wars move. He's also rejected federal aid that would make Florida homes more energy efficient. And so, it's really interesting, the nature and the human nature that's on playing this summer.

ACOSTA: Yes, it just feels like we're sticking our heads in the sand at the beach as these big storms are churning up for the summer. Bill, I guess we'll be seeing you out there covering these hurricanes. And Elisa, we know you'll be in the weather center covering them as well. Thanks to both of you very much. We're going to keep our eyes on all of that as the summer gets going here. Guys, thank you very much.

And thank you for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of "Newsroom" with Wolf Blitzer, it starts right now. Have a great day.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening this hour. We're watching several important news stories unfolding live right here on CNN. At any moment now, the U.S. attorney general, Merrick Garland is expected to announce that the Justice Department is suing Ticketmaster's, parent company.

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