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At Least 19 Killed After Storms Rip Through Central U.S.; Tomorrow: Closing Arguments In Hush Money Trial; Biden Delivers Memorial Day Address At Arlington. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired May 27, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:43]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: And that was the President laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just a few moments ago at Arlington National Cemetery. Our Kevin Liptak is still with me right now. And as we were mentioning just a few moments ago, before this got started, a few minutes early, we should note, we were talking about how this is very personal day for President Biden as well as son, Beau, died at the age of 46 years old from cancer after serving in Iraq with the Delaware Army National Guard. The President talks about this from time to time, how this personal sacrifice is, obviously left a tremendous mark on his life. Kevin, your thoughts?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, very much. So on the ninth anniversary of that death, just coming up later this week. And I think for President Biden, when he's standing there in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, certainly thinking about the decisions that he has made an office, the very responsibility that he holds to men and women in uniform in this country of protecting freedoms at home and abroad. And certainly, that's a responsibility that weighs very heavily on President Biden.

And, you know, Jim, I was in driving into work today, I drove past the World War II Memorial. And you'll remember we're coming up now on the 80th anniversary of D Day, in about a week and a half time. President Biden will be there in northern France next week, remembering the thousands of American and allied troops has -- who died as part of the Normandy landings, all in the eye of protecting democracy in Europe.

And I think that has been such a consuming focus for President Biden, it's particularly in this election year, talking about the importance of defending and protecting democracy. And I thought it was interesting what he said at West Point over the weekend, telling those cadets that democracy isn't guaranteed that every generation has an obligation to defend it, and to choose it. And certainly that's a very resonant message on Memorial Day, particularly at such a fraught international moment, the President dealing with those grinding wars in Ukraine and Gaza. He has made a commitment not to deploy American troops to those conflicts, but certainly the risks of Americans abroad very real for this President, Jim.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. Kevin, that's an excellent point about D Day, the 80th anniversary of D Day coming up on June 6th, those remembrances will be taking place in Normandy in France. The President will be there and you know, there are two sites probably on this earth that symbolizes America sacrifice for freedom and democracy around the world. That would be Arlington National Cemetery in Normandy. Kevin Liptak, thank you very much for all of that. Really appreciate it.

In the meantime, more than 120 million Americans are in the path of severe weather on this Memorial Day after powerful storms including tornadoes swept through the central U.S. over the weekend, at least 19 people were killed across four states. Oklahoma was one of the hardest hit with homes reduced to rubble. There's still a state of emergency in Arkansas due to extensive damage from the storms. Eight people there were killed.

This tornado you're looking at right there tore through Kentucky on Sunday leaving behind a trail of devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's awful. Lost everything. But at least my dogs OK, my husband OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And seven people were killed in northern Texas, including two young children. A tornado destroyed homes and snapped trees and power lines. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Cook County, Texas, just north of Dallas. Ed, what can you show us?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the gentleman you see standing behind me, I was just speaking with him, Jim, and this is just a devastating scene. What you see here is left the foundation of their home. That's where he was on Saturday night. Everything blown apart. All of the debris landed on top of him. He's somehow able to be here today because in this other area that you see right here, this is where three of those seven victims including two of the four children that were killed in the storm, that's where their bodies were found.

Their home was blown from all the way where you see those two trees, more than 100 yards away. And so that is just, you know, you see, we talked about kind of the big picture of what is unfolded here, and what has happened, but it's the individual stories of people who survived and those who were less fortunate did not survive really kind of puts everything into perspective. And this is an area where as I mentioned, seven people killed 100 others injured the storm ripped through here just before 11 o'clock Saturday night.

[11:05:27]

So you can imagine in the darkness everyone here trying to figure out what path exactly the tornado was taking. Several miles over this way is Interstate 35. And that's where people were also scrambling trying to find some sort of shelter. More than 100 people ducked into a convenience store, only to find themselves in the path of the storm. And we also spoke with one resident, a young man by the name of Frank Garcia was home with his family. Thankfully, his father had built their own storm shelter out of cinderblock in a large storage building behind their house. And that's what saved their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK GARCIA, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Right in there. There's nothing but really just the hole. So you can actually get some air in but I mean, you could definitely -- that's where you could feel the pressure that you could really feel it in here.

LAVANDERA: So this is where you rode out the storm.

GARCIA: Yes, yes. Here with my family --

LAVANDERA: Wow.

GARICA: -- dogs. And we could hear that there's wind going, we're like, all right, well, it's probably coming. It's probably coming. And then again, you just kind of feel where it just goes quiet for maybe a minute, just nothing. And then out of nowhere, you just hear the wind start wailing hard. And at that point, we knew that we were going to have some damage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And Jim, you know, the various storm systems that ripped through here Saturday night, we'd spoken official from the Red Cross, we talked about how, you know, a lot of the destruction path is seen over a stretch of 150 to 250 miles in North Texas, you know, obviously this is one of the most severely hit spots. But just the breadth and the magnitude of what the storm systems are leaving in its trail is really just breathtaking to see here this afternoon and this morning.

ACOSTA: Absolutely, no question. All right, Ed Lavandera, thank you for all of your work out there. Really appreciate it. Still to come and just minutes from now, President Biden will speak at a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery as the nation remembers those who've made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:12:05]

ACOSTA: We're now less than a day from closing arguments of Donald Trump's unprecedented criminal hush money trial. Jurors will be back in the courtroom after a week off. They'll hear from prosecutors and defense lawyers one last time before deliberating on a verdict. Trump's attorneys are expected to focus heavily on his former fixer Michael Cohen, who prosecutors will try to convince the jury that Trump committed felonies to save his 2016 campaign.

Joining me now, CNN senior political commentator, former Trump campaign adviser David Urban, lawyer and jury consultant Linda Moreno and defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Shan Wu. Guys, great to see all of you. Thanks for coming in. Shan, let me start with you first. I mean, what do we think is going to happen tomorrow? We'll see obviously the defense go and then the prosecution. There has been some talk that these closing arguments could take all day. That sounds like a long time. Does it really need to take that long?

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It could. Certainly the prosecution goes second. But they really have to summarize all of the evidence. So this could take a while. I'm very interested to see what the defense is going to do. I mean, to me, they've done sort of a poor job because it's too much of a scattergun strategy. It's kind of like a throw everything at the kitchen wall, see what sticks, with Trump's favorite foods being with they're throwing, insults and shame. That hasn't presented a really coherent way of attacking the prosecution.

They could do a better job by weaving together some strands of what they didn't cross really focusing on this one issue, which is insufficient evidence perhaps that Trump really directed the way the reimbursements were covered up in the accounting that can help them manage Stormy Daniels thinks she doesn't really know anything about it. And that could give them a smaller target on Michael Cohen instead of just claiming he lies, he lies.

For the prosecution, if the defense completely focuses on Michael Cohen lying --

ACOSTA: Yes.

WU: -- that's a gift horse. Because I don't know if you can do this in New York, but we could walk behind the defendant, walk behind the state, if you don't like what Michael Cohen does, if you find them distasteful. Look at this guy. That's who hired him.

ACOSTA: Yes. That was his boss. Yes. And, Linda, I mean, let me ask you this. I mean, the jurors have been out of the courtroom for, gosh, for some time now. What do you think that does to a jury at this point?

LINDA MORENO, LAWYER & JURY CONSULTANT: Well, I think also the reason why they were out was this very special holiday that we're commemorating today. And as I've said before that the reason we commemorate this day, is to protect the principles that are protecting Mr. Trump in getting his third trial. Frankly, one never knows about juror misconduct if they've been looking at outside news until either after the trial, or during deliberation, when perhaps one of the jurors might mention well I've seen or Google tells me, or I've read in the newspaper something.

And then other jurors typically will send a note out and tell the judge that there is a problem. So that can happen, one never really knows except what you know about these jurors is that they've been very committed. You haven't lost one juror since the 15th of April. And I suspect they're trying very hard to do their job diligently.

[11:15:16]

ACOSTA: Yes. And, David, I did want to ask you, I mean, what do you think, has been the fallout from all of this for Donald Trump? Have you had any contacts with his team? Do they feel like this has damaged him in any way? Do they think it's helped him in some way? We were talking with some folks in the previous hours, and maybe this helped Donald Trump because, you know, other things haven't been the focus.

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, Jim. So interestingly, poll after poll, right, we just come out during this trial is shown has zero impact on this, right? Zero impact on the on Trump's favorability rating, et cetera. And, you know, we'll see what the outcome of the case is, ultimately, if it's a hung jury, or there's an acquittal or full outright acquittal, which I think is unlikely in this case, because I think the prosecution has failed to meet their burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump, you know, did these events. This isn't a hush money case. This is an accounting case.

And I think they failed to carry their burden here by even presenting, you know, Michael Cohen, could have been the star witness, but Allen Weisselberg is going to loom large in these closing arguments, I think, from the from the defense's perspective, saying, no, if there's one person you want to hear from the man who calculated these payments, whose handwriting is on these notes, why didn't the prosecution call him because presumably, he would have rebutted Michael Cohen's testimony.

So I think at the end of the day, Jim, this is going to have very little impact on the election overall, and perhaps even a positive impact if there's acquittal or hung jury.

ACOSTA: So you're -- when you see these polls that say, if he's convicted, that this could be a negative for him, and that voters may shift from Trump to Biden, you're not buying into that?

URBAN: Yes. So, you know, Jim, I'm not quite sure the methodology behind those polls, if they're asking about the January 6th case, the documents case, this case, right, that's a pretty generic question. And so I think, perhaps, maybe on some of the more serious cases, but I would, you know, I would hazard a guess that a lot of people think this case and the Georgia case, were politically driven, politically motivated, and that weigh heavily in their minds in discounting the seriousness of this -- of a conviction that case if in fact happens.

All right, well, we'll see what the jury decides. They're the ones doing the work on all of this. David, Linda Moreno, and Shan, I have to bail early on this. The President will be speaking shortly from Arlington National Cemetery. I hope you'll forgive me. Guys, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

URBAN: Thank you.

ACOSTA: We're going to hear from the President at Arlington National Cemetery in just a few moments. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:22:29]

ACOSTA: This morning, there are more questions about a deadly incident along Egypt's border with Gaza. Egypt says one of its personnel in charge of security was killed earlier today in a shooting but didn't offer any more information and follow swift and strong a reaction to a deadly Israeli airstrike in Rafah that hit a camp for displaced Palestinians.

Retired Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt joins us now. He's former Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs. General Kimmitt, always good to talk to you. Really appreciate it. Your reaction to this airstrike on this -- it was sort of a camp of displaced Palestinians. Israel says they're investigating, what's your sense of what took place there?

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, I think the right thing to do is investigate this because there are reports that they were going after terrorist leaders, the terrorist Hamas leaders from the West Bank. But it would seem to me that that's pretty close to a populated area, in terms of collateral damage, and what we just seen happen. So I think I'd wait to see the outcome of this investigation. But it does seem like this was pretty close to a civilian area. And there's some very, very clear rules in international law against that type of operation.

ACOSTA: Well, and this goes right to some of the concerns that we've heard about some of these airstrikes in civilian areas. General Kimmitt, if you could stand by we're going to go to the President at Arlington National Cemetery right now. He is speaking. Let's go to the President now.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One hundred and sixty years ago this month, in the midst of the Civil War, the first American soldier was laid to rest at these hallowed grounds. Private William Christman, a farmworker from Pennsylvania, had enlisted just seven weeks before. There was no formal ceremony to consecrate this new sanctuary, no fanfore -- fanfare. It came at a turning point in the war. As fighting shifted east, the casualties quickly mounted in the bloody, grinding campaign.

Over the next year, William would be joined in death, as he was in life, by his brother-in-arms in this final resting place. And these hills around us would be transformed from a former slave plantation into a national strine -- shine for those American heroes who died for freedom, who died for us.

[11:25:16]

My fellow Americans, Jill, Vice President Harris, the Second Gentleman Emhoff, Secretary Austin, General Brown, most importantly, the veterans and service members, families, and survivors, we gather at this sacred place at this solemn moment to remember, to honor, honor the sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of women and men who've given their lives for this nation.

Each one, literally, a chain in the link, a link in the chain of honor stretching back to our founding days. Each one bound by common commitment, not to a place, not to a person, not to a President, but to an idea unlike any idea in human history, the idea of the United States of America. Today, we bear witness to the price they paid. Every white stone across these hills, in every military cemetery and churchyard across America, a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister, a spouse, a neighbor, an American. To everyone who has lost and loved someone in the service of our country, to everyone with a loved one still missing or unaccounted for, I know how hard it can be.

It can reopen that black hole in the middle of your chest, bringing you back to the exact moment you got that phone call, heard that knock on the door, or held the hand when the last breath was taken. I know it hurts. The hurt is still real, still raw.

This week marks nine years since I lost my son, Beau. Our losses are not the same. He didn't perish on the battlefield. He was a cancer victim from a consequence of being in the Army in Iraq for a year next to a burn pit, a major in the U.S. National -- Army National Guard, living and working, like too many, besides that toxic burn pit.

And as it is for so many of you, the pain of his loss is with me every day, as it is with you, still sharp, still clear. But so is the pride I feel in his service, as if I can still hear him saying, "It's my duty, Dad. It's my duty." Duty. That was the code of my son lived by and the creed all of you live by, the creed that generations of service members have followed into battle.

On the grounds around us lie fallen heroes from every major conflict in history to defend our independence, to preserve our Union, to defeat fascism, built powerful alliances, forged in fires of two world wars. Members of the Greatest Generation, who 80 years ago next week, took to the beaches of Normandy and liberated a continent and literally saved the world.

Others who stood against communism in Korea and Vietnam. And not far from here, in Section 60, lie over a thousand, a thousand, 7,054 women and men who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan and Iraq, who signed up to defeat terrorists, protect our homeland after 9/11.

Decade after decade, tour after tour, these warriors fought for our freedom and the freedom of others, because freedom has never been guaranteed. Every generation has to earn it, fight for it, defend it in battle between autocracy and democracy, between the greed of a few and the rights of many. It matters.

Our democracy is more than just a system of government. It's the very soul of America. It's how we've been able to constantly adapt through the centuries. It's why we've always emerged from every challenge stronger than we went in. And it's how we come together as one nation united.

And just as our fallen heroes have kept the ultimate faith with our country and our democracy, we must keep faith with them. I've long said we have many obligations as a nation. But we only have one truly sacred obligation, to prepare those we send into battle and to prepare -- take care of them and their families when they come home and when they don't.

Since I took office, I've signed over 30 bipartisan laws supporting servicemen, veterans and their families and caregivers, and survivors.

[11:29:59]

Last year, the VA delivered more benefits and processed more claims than ever in our history.