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Republicans Attack Biden Over Age; Interview With Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA); Senate to Vote on Contraception Access; Hunter Biden Trial Continues; Starliner Launches. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired June 05, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: You had Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, the space shuttle, SpaceX's Crew Dragon, and now Starliner. So, this is a relatively rare event in the history of spaceflight.

And just listening to and Butch and Suni talk about how much being assigned to this mission has meant to them, but they have also had to wait a really long time to fly this thing. I mean, for Suni Williams, she was assigned to this flight nine years ago. She has been waiting nine years to fly on this mission.

And then we had all those recent scrubs. First, there was that scrub, Alisyn, May 6, which was caused by a faulty oxygen valve on the Atlas 5 rocket here. But this scrub on Saturday had nothing to do with the capsule or the rocket. It had to do with an issue with the ground computer that instigates that automatic launch sequence.

And, so, so much has to go right for the launch that we just witnessed here. The weather has to cooperate. Everything has to go perfect right up until the moment of liftoff. And so, right now, the Centaur engine, I believe, has ignited.

So what we're seeing right now is these two stages still mounted together. So you have the bottom half of the Atlas 5 rocket and these two solid rocket boosters that have separated from the rest of the spacecraft and will essentially never be used again.

They're totally expendable, but these two now continuing on into space and then just the capsule in about 24 hours, hopefully, rendezvousing with the space station, and that crew up there excited to finally see those astronauts and their friends in person, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Well, Kristin Fisher, so good to have you walk us through this for all the context and for your expertise in this field.

What an exciting thing for all of us to witness live. That was really great. Thank you very much.

I want to bring in my colleague Wolf Blitzer now, who helms the next hour.

And that was really exciting to see that live.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I totally agree, Alisyn. It was really exciting. No matter how many times you see a launch like that, it is so, so powerful.

And so glad that Kristin is on the scene for us, helping us better appreciate the enormity of this moment right now, the launch of this NASA -- this Boeing Starliner spacecraft.

Let me play, replay the actual launch right now for viewers here in the United States and around the world who are watching just to get a sense of the enormity of all of this. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Release.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston, Starliner roll.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger roll.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Kristin Fisher, you're our expert on this. You're our space and defense correspondent.

What was it like for you to actually observe the launch of this Starliner?

FISHER: Oh, boy, well, it was a long time coming, Wolf.

We have been down here for every failed launch attempt. First, it was several years of delays due to issues with Boeing and the Starliner spacecraft itself. Then, on May 6, there was an issue with a faulty oxygen valve on the Atlas 5 rocket, which just propelled the Boeing Starliner spacecraft into space.

And then, just last Saturday, there was an issue not with the Starliner spacecraft, not with the rocket. The hardware was fine, but the issue was with just kind of a faulty, pesky ground computer, something that United Launch Alliance has seen in the past, but is pretty rare.

So, for everything to finally come together now, it was quite a treat to watch, the launchpad just about four or five miles behind me, so a little bit farther away than what you normally see during a launch here. But, boy, you could feel it.

You could really get a sense for just how momentous this moment is here at the Kennedy Space Center, all the employees walking out to witness this launch a decade in the making.

And so, what's happening now, Wolf, this is a model. Bear with me. It's an older model, so not totally accurate, but you will get a good sense for what we're dealing with here. This is the Atlas 5 rocket, the solid rocket boosters on either side. They have now separated away, fallen away from the rest of the spacecraft.

[11:05:15]

So, right now, this is the Centaur, second stage of the Atlas 5 rocket, and it is propelling the Boeing Starliner spacecraft up into orbit. And this little capsule right here is where the two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are sitting and enjoying this ride of a lifetime, Wolf.

BLITZER: And you say it's going to take, what, about 24 hours for them to reach the International Space Station? How long will they remain up there?

FISHER: So they will be staying up there for about eight days, seven days, before returning to Earth.

And this capsule, unlike SpaceX's Crew Dragon, which lands primarily in the water, the Boeing Starliner spacecraft actually lands on land beneath parachutes, somewhere in the Southwest of the United States.

And so that's where these astronauts are going to be touching down in about a week, Wolf, but, for now, we're -- all eyes really just focused on this ascent and one more critical moment, when that capsule separates from the second stage of the Atlas 5 rocket still ahead, Wolf.

BLITZER: We will watch it together with you.

Kristin Fisher, thank you very much for your excellent, excellent reporting. And we will get back to you as this space -- this Starliner spacecraft continues its mission. Appreciate it very, very much.

There's other important news we're following right now as well here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Day three of Hunter Biden's federal gun trial is under way. The prosecution's leadoff witness, an FBI agent, just finished her testimony. The jury heard opening statements yesterday, with prosecutors using Hunter Biden's own words against him. They played parts of an audiobook of his 2021 memoir. Listen to this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

HUNTER BIDEN, SON OF JOE BIDEN: I possessed a new superpower, the ability to find crack in any town at any time, no matter how unfamiliar the terrain. It was easy.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BLITZER: The defense leaned into the president's son's past struggles with addiction while pushing a key claim that the evidence does not show he was using drugs when he actually bought the gun.

CNN's senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez, and CNN's senior legal analyst, Elie Honig, is joining us right now.

Evan, first to you.

What are you hearing, first of all, out of the courtroom this morning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, right now, we're in a very short break, and we expect that Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden's ex-wife, will take the stand right at the end of this break this morning.

And, look, I mean, the prosecution has an overwhelming amount of evidence, and they have displayed it. As you pointed out, they have played the audiobook, more than an hour of it. They have shown the infamous Hunter Biden laptop. They have shown pictures. They have shown video. They have shown drug paraphernalia, a crack pipe.

They have shown text messages with people who the prosecutors say Hunter Biden was buying drugs from. And all of that is to show that Hunter Biden was struggling with drug addiction at the time that he bought this gun in October of 2018.

What prosecutors do not have, though, is any evidence that on the day Hunter Biden bought the gun that he was on drugs that day. And that's where Abbe Lowell, his defense attorney, is focusing his energy. As I pointed out, there's a lot of evidence, including that from Hunter Biden himself, about his addiction struggle.

So the government really has the upper hand here. And Abbe Lowell is working with the very little that he has. And that is to try to draw some -- at least focus some doubt on some of the transactions that the FBI agent who's been on the stand since yesterday was being used to sort of describe on some of those drug purchases and so on.

What we expect, Wolf, is that Kathleen Buhle will take the stand. And she is the first of three exes, the women that were involved in his life, who will testify about that drug abuse, the drug abuse that they witnessed while they were with him, Wolf.

BLITZER: Evan Perez outside the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, for us.

Evan, thank you very much. And we will check back with you, of course, to be sure.

Let me go to Elie Honig right now.

Elie, let me get your analysis. What are your takeaways, first of all, from the testimony of this first witness, this FBI agent?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Wolf, the prosecution is trying to establish essentially one of the two pillars of this case. The two pillars are he had a gun while he was an addict.

And it seems that the testimony that came in, really the FBI agent was a vehicle for other evidence, for text messages, for the book excerpts we just heard, is trying to establish that Hunter Biden himself has made quite clear in his public statements that he was an addict during the relevant time period in 2018, both before, during and after he had the firearm.

[11:10:01]

So that's the main gist of the witnesses that we have seen so far. They're really trying to pin down for the jury that he was an addict and that is a part of the crime charged here.

BLITZER: Did anything from the defense's cross-examination, Elie, stand out to you?

HONIG: So it seems that the defense is trying to focus specifically on two things. One is the issue of timing. As Evan said, there was this moment in 2018 when Hunter Biden goes into a gun store, he buys the gun, he fills out forms, required forms, that ask, are you an addict? And he checked no.

Now, I guess the argument is perhaps he wasn't addicted at that very moment. Now, he ends up possessing the firearm or owning it for a matter of days, for less than two weeks. So I suppose they're trying to argue that maybe, if he had addiction problems throughout the year, perhaps he wasn't an addict at that specific moment.

Another thing that I think is coming through in the defense strategy here is the statute, the law only applies to people who are addicted to controlled substances, to drugs, but it does not apply to alcohol abuse. And so it seems like Abbe Lowell, the defense layer, is suggesting that, if Hunter Biden had problems at the time, they were more alcohol and less controlled substances.

BLITZER: Elie Honig, we will stay in close touch with you as well. Thank you very much.

HONIG: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up: Democrats making a push on reproductive rights right now, the Senate expected to vote on a bill today that would guarantee access to contraception nationwide. I will speak to the bill's sponsor.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:16:19]

BLITZER: Senate Democrats are today taking up the fight to protect birth control access nearly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade.

In a letter to his colleagues, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said lawmakers will vote some time later today on a right to contraception bill. Schumer called the overturning of Roe one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of modern times. He also warned that state abortion bans are just the tip of the iceberg and claimed the Republican agenda extends to contraception as well.

Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts is a sponsor of this new bill. He's joining us live from Capitol Hill.

Senator, thank you so much for joining us.

I know you and your colleagues will soon be holding a formal press conference on the right to this contraception act. Tell us what's covered in this bill and what forms of contraception are included.

SEN. EDWARD MARKEY (D-MA): Well, obviously, in the Dobbs decision, Clarence Thomas made it very clear that he wants the Supreme Court to revisit contraception protections as well.

In other words, Roe v. Wade in 1973 was not bad enough. Justice Thomas said the Supreme Court should go all the way back to the Griswold case in 1965 guaranteeing a right to contraception.

So, for all those people who thought that a threat to Roe v. Wade was absolutely out of the question, it's real. And that's what Donald Trump's goal was in appointing three very conservative right-wing judges to the Supreme Court of the United States.

So contraception is now in the crosshairs of the MAGA Republicans. And our goal is to put back on the books statutorily a right to access to contraception for all Americans and also the right for providers to be able to provide contraception without any threat or risk of legal action against them.

BLITZER: As you know, Republicans are calling this bill that you're introducing unnecessary. They're calling it a huge overreach.

Senator John Cornyn, for example, said -- and I'm quoting him now -- "It doesn't make any exceptions for conscience. It's a phony vote because contraception, to my knowledge, is not illegal. It's not unavailable."

What's your response to him?

MARKEY: No, this actually protects the providers. It protects the individuals so that they can get access to contraception.

In no way does it infringe upon anyone's religious rights. If you don't want to have access to contraception, it's your right. It's the same thing is true if you're a provider. You are protected. This just goes to the right for someone to get it if they want it, the right for a provider to issue -- to provide a contraception if you want it.

So that is absolutely an erroneous attack upon this piece of legislation.

BLITZER: The topic of contraceptives was on the front page of "The Washington Post" today, saying -- and I'm quoting now from "The Washington Post" -- "Far right conservatives are sowing misinformation that inaccurately characterizes IUDs emergency contraception, even birth control pills, as causing abortions." How are Democrats, Senator, pushing back on this false information?

MARKEY: Well, that's what we're going to do today. We're going to have this debate.

And, of course, it's about all forms of contraception, including IUDs. We know that, over in the House of Representatives, there's a whole caucus that wants to put radical restrictions upon access to contraception, including IUDs.

[11:20:09]

So this is going to be an historic vote. And this election in 2024 is going to have abortion, it's going to have contraception, it's going to have IVF on the ballot. There's a sharp divide between the Democrat and Republican parties on this issue. And we are going to begin today the clarification of whose side each of these parties is on.

BLITZER: Senator Markey, polling shows that about a third of Americans consider contraception threatened right now, likely potentially to be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court as well. That's about 10 points higher than back in 2022, when Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land.

What's your message to Americans with those concerns?

MARKEY: This threat is real. The Dobbs decision was just a preview of coming atrocities.

They're coming for contraception. They're coming for same-sex marriage. They're coming for all of the progress which has been made over the last two generations. That was the promise that Donald Trump made when he picked his three Supreme Court justices, and that's the promise that Donald Trump and a right-wing House and Senate Republican-controlled MAGA Congress will, in fact, begin to implement if they are successful.

So that's why this election is so important. It's all on the line. It's on the ballot this year. And if you care about contraception, or abortion, or IVF, or any of these privacy issues that should only be a decision made by the individual, by the family, then this is a voting issue, and you should get out there and make sure you exercise that right.

BLITZER: Very quickly, before I let you go, Senator Markey, I suspect you have the votes of the Democratic majority in the Senate, but how does it look in the Republican majority in the House?

MARKEY: Well, again, we know that the MAGA Republicans control the House.

And there are many Democrats that, of course, want to bring it out onto the floor of the House. When they attempted to do so when it was still in Democratic control, the Republicans opposed it. So we know that Republicans are going to block it. When I brought it out in 2022 onto the Senate floor, the Republicans

objected. When I brought it out in 2023, they objected. So now here, in 2024, we're going to force the vote. And the same thing is true over in the House. The Democrats are going to try to force a vote over there, but I think the MAGA Republicans are just going to block even having a vote.

BLITZER: I know the White House is supporting what you're doing.

Senator Markey, thanks for joining us.

MARKEY: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And still to come: President Biden is in France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Meanwhile, a controversial new report zeros in on the president's age and memory.

Stay with us. Lots going on here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:27:58]

BLITZER: Right now, President Biden is in France to commemorate tomorrow's 80th anniversary of D-Day, when U.S. and allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy to help defeat Nazi Germany.

The White House says the president will deliver a major speech on Friday focusing on the threats to democracy. And it's all part of a very high-stakes visit to stress the president's commitment to U.S. allies in Europe as he looks to draw a contrast with his likely Republican opponent. That would be Donald Trump.

Here in Washington, meanwhile, a new piece, new article in "The Wall Street Journal" is dredging -- dredging up one of the president's most sensitive political liabilities. It alleges he is -- quote -- "showing signs" of slipping behind closed doors.

"The Journal" says it spoke with 45 Washington insiders for the article, but acknowledged that most of those critical of the president's performance were Republicans.

The White House is hitting right back, accusing Republicans of -- quote -- "making false claims" as a political tactic. And it's noting they have -- quote -- "made clear in their own words that President Biden is a savvy and effective leader who has a deep record of legislative accomplishment."

Let's discuss this and more with CNN political analyst and White House correspondent for the "PBS NewsHour" Laura Barron-Lopez, former RNC Communications Director Doug Heye, and CNN political commentator Maria Cardona.

Maria, what are you hearing from Democrats? How concerned are they about these suggestions that the president's age is a problem?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: They're pissed off more than anything else, Wolf, because if you look at the story -- and you had it exactly right -- most of the people that are going on the record and, frankly, most of the sources are all Republican.

And I spoke to some of the senators, Senator Reed, Senator Murray, who were in the same exact meetings that "The Journal" describes, and they told "The Journal" exactly the opposite. They were not quoted. Gee, I wonder why.

And the ones who were quoted, specifically Kevin McCarthy, he is known, and you have other journalists who are saying that they have heard on the record completely the opposite. He says that President Biden in his negotiations was smart, was savvy, was tough.

And so I guess, if Senator McCarthy -- or -- sorry -- Kevin McCarthy.