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Today: Trump To Appear At Virtual Interview With Probation Official; Soon: Closing Arguments In Hunter Biden Gun Trial; Hailstorm Severely Damages Austrian Plane Mid-Flight. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired June 10, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

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[11:32:32]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Former President Trump is set to have his first meeting with a probation official since becoming the first U.S. president to be convicted of a felony. The interview is standard as part of the pre-sentencing protocol. And it will be virtual.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is joining us right now. Brynn, what will this interview involve for the former president of the United States?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. Well, let's underscore here. This is part of the routine after the defendant has either pleaded guilty or someone is found guilty like we are having here in the case of the former president. What's different here, though, is that it's happening virtually. Usually, the probation officer will meet face to face with that former defendant and go over a whole list of questions as it prepares a report for a judge.

Some of those questions include what is your background? What's your family background, your criminal history? Do you use drugs? Do you abuse alcohol? Your employment background?

These are some of the standard questions that they basically would try to get answers from. What's also different here in the case of the former president is that his attorney will be president. Now, the judge in this case, Judge Juan Merchan has allowed that. So, that is why the former president, he is in Mar-a-Lago. He's going to be having this interview via, you know, not Zoom, but virtually to answer all these questions with a probation officer.

And then, of course, a report will then be compiled. And this report will be given to the judge to take a look at it before he actually sentences Donald Trump. It's just one aspect of the sentencing package that that judge will receive.

Now, we did reach out to the former president's camp. And they said that you know, he and his legal team are already taking necessary steps to challenge and defeat, as they say, the lawless Manhattan DA case. Of course, we know an appeal is on the horizon. But we also know that the sentencing date, Wolf, is on July 11. Wolf?

BLITZER: That's just a few days before the Republican convention in Milwaukee.

GINGRAS: Right.

BLITZER: We'll see what Judge Merchan decides to do on July 11. Brynn Gingras in New York, thank you very much.

GINGRAS: Yes,

BLITZER: Meanwhile, Trump's surrogates are casting his conviction not as a stain on the presidency, but as the latest sign of the supposed messianic martyrdom. During Trump's weekend rally in Las Vegas, for example, the head of the Nevada Republican Party said his supporters should "Worship him." And Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene compared him to Jesus. The former president did not return that praise. Instead, he told his supporters exactly how he felt about them. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everybody was so worried yesterday about you. And they never mentioned me. I'm up here sweating like a dog.

They don't think about me. I'm working my ass off. I don't care about you. I just want you to vote. I don't care. It would be suicide before Biden, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:35:13]

BLITZER: All Right. Let's discuss what's going on. Joining us are CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and Republican strategist Rina Shah. Rona, has anyone other than Trump's hardcore buying his convictions as a martyr and all of this?

RINA SHAH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: That victim playbook that Trump loves to run every day of the week doesn't seem to play with those he needs the votes from. He hasn't locked it up not just with the middle. But again, that in undecided segment, that sits in the swing states, right? We know they're the ever-important demographic. But these are the folks that it's just not worked with so far.

And so, what he continues to do is defy logic. And I think his campaign team is probably going to grow pretty tired of him using again, a certain line of reasoning. It's not reasoning, we know that.

It's not logical. But at the rallies is where he feels emboldened to take it a step further. It's just not going to work. We're almost in July. We're almost at the convention. He's got to try something else and start focusing on the other segment of the Republican Party.

BLITZER: Trump and his supporters, Maria, they continue to compare him to Jesus. I assume that could be offensive to Christians out there who are watching. MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: As a practicing Catholic, Wolf, it is so incredibly disturbing that his supporters would say that and use that kind of language. It is offensive. And what -- the clip that you just showed, I'm so glad that you showed it because that demonstrates right there, first of all, it's just how far from the teachings of Jesus he is.

But just how focused and selfish and egotistical Donald Trump is, which we always knew that, right? But for him to say to his rally -- it's one of the few times when he's told the truth, he has said to them, I don't care about you. I just want your vote. I don't care about you.

That to me, is indicative of everything that voters should know about in terms of Donald Trump. A president should be focused on what he can do for the American people. That is what Joe Biden has been focused on for the last four years. That is what he will be focused on for the next four when he gets reelected. It's the case that he's making to the American people.

And frankly, Donald Trump just now helped him make that case because voters don't want to hear that it's all about you. They want to hear, what are you going to do for me? And Donald Trump has made it very clear that he is only in this to stay out of the prison, especially now that he is a convicted felon 30 times over -- 34 times over.

BLITZER: You know, Rina, Trump is now also suggesting that those individuals who stormed the U.S. Capitol back on January 6 are "warriors." I want to play a clip. Listen to this. He just said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP" But those J six warriors -- they were worried, but they were really more than anything else. They're victims of what happened. All they were doing is protesting a rigged election. That's what they were doing.

So, when we get in, it's going to go very rapidly, we're going to do a lot of things. We're going to look very strongly at J six, those people. There's never been people treated more horrifically than J six hostages. What a setup that was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What's your reaction to that?

SHAH: the country loves to move on. And Donald Trump doesn't. And that is a problem for the Republican party that has persisted since 2020. And therefore, you see the elected officials at the highest perch not break away from him because they also feel that they are victims in a way.

And that's just something that's so unusual in this -- in this era. I've never seen anything like it in the years that I've been in doing politics, for two decades now. There's been a sense that we will talk about the kitchen table issues every four years. We will be disciplined.

That message discipline is not there because these people on Capitol Hill also feel some kind of victimhood, which is just bizarre, because on January 6, 2021, we all know how they acted. They were all scared. They all push back on Donald Trump.

They said that he was the problem. He could write the course. He hasn't decided to do any of that.

And so, by again, saying that these J six defendants, hundreds of them that have met the law and have faced the consequences, have gone behind bars by saying that they are victims too, I don't see who is winning. And that, again, is a political problem of the moment. He's got to get on board with what his consultants want him -- want him to do.

They don't want him to do this. They need him to turn around and stop trying to court the base to turn out because they're going to turn out for him no matter what in November. He needs to turn it around.

BLITZER: He's also denying, Maria -- I don't know if you heard it, but I'll play a clip, that he's called the fallen U.S. service members suckers and losers despite so many multiple eyewitness accounts that he did precisely that. Listen to what he's now saying.

[11:40:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They made up a story. They are just out of thin air. I'm standing there with generals and military people in a cemetery. And I look at them, I say these people are suckers and losers. Now, think of it. Unless you're a psycho or a crazy person or a very stupid person, who would say that anyway?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Go ahead. You're smiling.

CARDONA: A psycho and a crazy person would say that. Because he said that, he is a psycho and a crazy person. I hope that in the next debate that they play -- CNN plays that tape for him when he calls them suckers, when he calls them losers, to see what he says about that.

We all know how incredibly important military service is to our nation. The Gold Star families who have given the ultimate sacrifice. This is a slap in the face to them.

And especially now when we do have so many things going on around the world, and our military is the best in the world, the most prepared in the world, but we have to honor them. And this is something that Joe Biden does better than anyone. He was over in Europe talking about D- Day focusing on the massive service and what families gave up in order to keep us safe and in order to keep our democracy, something that is thriving. That is going to be a huge contrast going in to this coming election. Because the more that Donald Trump focuses on denying that he insulted Gold Star families and our military members, the more that Joe Biden is going to be able to make that contrast between somebody who is a massive threat to our democracy.

BLITZER: Maria Cardona, thank you. Rina Shah, thanks to you, as well.

SHAH: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Up next, we'll get back to our top story. Closing arguments are set to begin very shortly in the Hunter Biden federal gun trial. We're live outside the court. Stay with us. You're on the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[11:46:29]

BLITZER: We're following breaking news on our top story. Any moment now, jurors in the federal gun trial of Hunter Biden will hear closing arguments. This is a video of the president's son arriving at court this morning. And the last hour. his defense attorneys rested their case and announced that he will not take the stand to testify in his own defense.

CNN's Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez is outside the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware for us. Evan, what are the jurors likely to hear in these closing arguments?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we're going to come back from this lunch break -- this early lunch break that we have right now. And after the judge completes the jury instructions, we're going to hear both sides try to put forward their case. The government believes that Hunter Biden knowingly violated the law. That he knew he was struggling with drug addiction.

He knew he was struggling with crack addiction. And he went and bought a gun in October of 2018. And they believe that based on all of the evidence, all the text messages, the photographs that show him with drug paraphernalia that around this time in October of 2018, that there was plenty of evidence to show that he was using drugs.

Now. the defense believes that based on what you've seen so far, that the -- you can put -- you can place Hunter Biden using drugs in September of 2018 and in November of 2018. And so that's the point they're going to drive home with the jury to try to sow some doubt that at the time that he filled out the form to buy this gun that he knew he was addicted to drugs. Wolf?

BLITZER: Evan Perez with that update, thank you very much. We'll stay on top of the story.

Also coming up. A Mayday in the skies. An Austrian Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing after the plane suffered significant damage. Pete Muntean, our aviation correspondent is here. We'll get to the latest developments right after this.

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[11:52:46]

BLITZER: Passengers on an Austrian Airlines Flight endured a harrowing experience in flight when a severe hailstorm hit the plane en route from Spain to Austria on Sunday. The storm heavily damaged the front of the plane taking off part of its nose leaving a dent in the cockpit and cracking several glass windows. The plane with 173 passengers on board was able to make a safe landing in Vienna and thank God no one was hurt.

Our aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is joining us right now. Pete, what more are you learning about this truly scary incident -- scary. And there have been so many scary incidents lately.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It's very true. You know, passengers describing so relieved to be on the ground. The good news here and the images are really a testament to the strength of this airplane, this Airbus A-320 that was able to make it onto the ground, you can see it there, in Vienna.

Part of the nose cone where the radar is housed is damaged pretty heavily there. And that's something you see pretty commonly when an airplane flies through a severe hailstorm like this. And that is what officials in Austria are describing this as.

I just want to give you a little bit of context here. There is a definition for a severe hailstorm when it comes to encountering hail in an airplane. I've got some props here.

These are coins. A dime is about seven-tenths of an inch in diameter. That's at the top here.

The FAA says just a few seconds of dime-sized hail, about a half-inch in diameter, can cause severe damage to an airplane. Severe hailstorm, that starts at about a quarter size. That's a little bit bigger.

And then of course we're all familiar with golf ball size hail. That's about one and three-quarters inches in diameter. That's probably close to what these passengers on this plane experience.

Everybody was able to get off OK. But just want you to imagine the sound of this hail hitting the front of the airplane. This is really incredible.

So, the fact that this formed in such an incredible way and the pilots were not able to avoid it, that is something that's not terribly uncommon. You can see the damage to the windscreen there. The good news is there are multiple panes of glass there. So typically, it doesn't actually penetrate into the cockpit.

But hail forms when there were droplets of water inside a thunderstorm cell. And then they get up drafted to the top of the cell where they may refreeze. And then they sort of go through this cycle, top to bottom, top to bottom.

[11:55:04]

You've seen a hailstone on the ground that sort of reflects looks like rings of a tree bisected in two. And that is what happens. These layers of water keep freezing over and over again.

Now, why could the pilots not see this? That would be the big question that investigators will have here. And they have their work cut out for them.

The issue with hail is that it can be very dry, meaning there's no longer liquid. Meaning the radar on the airplane can no longer pick it up.

So, in some cases, if a pilot's trying to shoot the gap between two different thunderstorm cells and there is hail in between it, they may not be able to detect it until it's too late. It could be what happened here.

BLITZER: Very scary indeed.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

BLITZER: I'm sure these passengers are frightened big time. Pete, thank you very, very much.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining me here on the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. I'll of course be back later tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM," right back here tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Dana Bash starts right after a short break.

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