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CNN International: Trump Meets GOP Leaders in First Visit to Capitol Since January 6; Ukraine Dominates Day One of G7; U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Mifepristone; South Florida Under Flood Watch After Heavy Rainfall; Ceasefire in Limbo as Palestinians Struggle; Justice Clarence Thomas Took More Trips Aboard GOP Megadonor's Jet. Aired 4:00-4:30a ET

Aired June 14, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's great unity. This is an outstanding group of people. I'm with them a thousand percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a pep rally environment for President Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're showing unification of the Republican Party behind the presumptive nominee.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You cannot divide us and we'll be with Ukraine until they prevail in this war.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No issue looming larger than Russia's continuing assault on Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has taken more trips on a private jet than he has disclosed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clarence Thomas continues to receive these gifts. He's come up with every excuse. I'm surprised he hasn't blamed his wife.

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ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Max Foster. This is Friday the 14th of June. It's 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington, D.C.

Two U.S. presidents take center stage just two weeks before their election debate. It's a glimpse of the next five months of politics and division in America before the presidential election, which is in November. President Biden sending his message at the G7 summit in Italy, vowing that democracies can deliver as he helps Ukraine fight the war with Russia. Meanwhile, his predecessor, Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill. In Washington for the first time since the January 6th insurrection, the former president now convicted felon, reconnecting and shaking hands with GOP allies. His visit comes as Republicans push votes against women's rights and the U.S. justice system. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more from Washington.

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TRUMP: We have to take this beautiful place and we have to make it really something very special again. Right now, it's not special.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former President Donald Trump returning to Capitol Hill as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and a convicted felon.

TRUMP: This is an outstanding group of people. I'm with them a thousand percent. There was me a thousand percent.

HOLMES (voice-over): Hoping to rally congressional Republicans and streamline the messaging ahead of the presidential election. House Republican leadership, unsurprisingly, giving the meeting positive reviews.

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): We just concluded a very successful special political conference with our special guest, President Donald J. Trump. We are 100 percent unified behind his candidacy.

HOLMES (voice-over): The Trump team said his meetings were expected to focus on policy. But sources inside the House meeting told CNN Trump tore through a list of complaints, lamenting about his legal woes, calling the Justice Department, quote, dirty, no good bastards. Wondering about Taylor Swift's endorsement of President Joe Biden, quote, why would she endorse this dope? Calling Milwaukee, the site of the upcoming Republican convention, quote, horrible. A comment allies said was in reference to crime in the city.

But Republicans said Trump did also talk about some policy, offering guidance on how Republicans should discuss abortion rights.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (LA-), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: He said, make sure that you exercise your own conscience, talk about it, share your conviction and do that in a way that makes sense to people. And I think he had made a good point. He has said that after the Dobbs decision that the states are handling the issue right now, and that's where he's comfortable keeping it.

HOLMES (voice-over): And Trump addressed interparty politics after a year of infighting over the speakership.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREEN (R-GA): He saw me in there and he was like, hello, Marjorie. He's always so sweet and recognizes me. And he said, are you being nice? He was joking. Are you being nice to Speaker Johnson? And I said, nah, and he said, OK, be nice to him.

And I nodded my head. HOLMES (voice-over): After the meeting with House allies, Trump moved on to the National Republican Senatorial Committee for another closed door meeting.

TRUMP: Everybody here, you're all either elected or you're going to be elected again and reelected and I'm with every one of you and you know that.

HOLMES (voice-over): Ahead of Trump's return to Capitol Hill, the Biden campaign releasing a new television ad, seeking to remind voters about Trump's role leading up to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is nothing more sacred than our democracy, but Donald Trump ready to burn it all down.

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FOSTER: CNN's Kristen Holmes reporting for us there.

Now, President Biden will hold meetings with G7 leaders over the next few hours, including Italy's Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.

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And later today, he'll meet with Pope Francis on the sidelines of the summit.

On Thursday, he signed a long-term security pact with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and G7 leaders agreed to a $50 billion loan for Kyiv to be paid back with interest from Russian assets frozen during the war.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Would we stand with Ukraine? Would we stand for sovereignty, freedom and against tyranny? The United States, the G7 and countries around the world have consistently answered the question by saying, yes, we will. We will say it again. Yes, again and again and again. We're going to stand with Ukraine.

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FOSTER: Live to CNN's international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, who is in Italy for us. I mean, this is a huge sum, isn't it? And it was a very complex deal. So this was a big show of support, wasn't it, from the G7 for Ukraine?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, a real multilateral show of support. There is still some fine-tuning to be done on precisely how this is underwritten and how some of the funds are made up. And it's going to be split between the United States and the European Union.

So this is something that European Union leaders will also have to sign off on. So it's not quite there. But the idea is to really accelerate it and push it forward, this $50 billion loan, so it can be in Ukraine's hands by the end of the year, which would mean, you know, once the loan is handed over, obviously, Ukraine has an obligation to pay it back over time.

But once they have the money, they can begin to spend it. And once they have the money, it can't be taken back should Donald Trump become the U.S. president and decide that he wants to reverse some of the United States' policies on NATO and on Ukraine. So this was a very, very big effort. And both President Biden and President Zelenskyy spoke about this at their joint press conference.

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BIDEN: This week, the G7 signed a plan to finalize and unlock $50 billion on the proceeds of those frozen assets. Put that money to work for Ukraine. Another reminder to Putin, we're not backing down. In fact, we're standing together against this illegal aggression.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: America supports both fair compensation for the damage caused by Russian strikes and working out ways to ensure that frozen Russian assets are used to protect and rebuild Ukraine.

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ROBERTSON: So the working session that is underway right now, because the agenda moves forward, keeps moving forward. Immigration is the top ticket this morning. Immigration, not talking about the Mexican border in the United States, but here in Europe, Africa, climate change.

There will be a small protest expected later in the day by activists wanting to draw attention to the plight of sub-Saharan Africa, of immigrants wanting to find a place to escape. The effects of climate change precipitated by the world's globe -- by the world's sort of leading democracies and other powers. So they feel that they are the losers and that's why they would want to move to Europe and the United States in some cases.

So this is something that the leaders look at, this immigration issue, as not just how do we defend ourselves, but how do we help and support these countries that are facing the effects of climate change.

And then this afternoon, of course, the moment that everyone's waiting for here, the historic G7 arrival of the Pope, and he will be helping lead a discussion about AI, something he feels strongly about. He was meeting with comedians this morning at the Vatican.

But AI, he feels, can be a force for good and I think that's going to be his message here, with necessary controls, of course.

FOSTER: OK, Nic, live in Italy. Thank you, back with you through the day.

In the U.S. Senate, Republicans have blocked a bill that would have guaranteed nationwide access to vitro fertilization. Vitro fertilization, the Right to IVF Act needed 60 votes to advance, but only got 48. The vote was part of a Democratic push to draw a contrast with Republicans over reproductive health care, two years after the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights.

But Republicans say the IVF legislation is unnecessary, it's overreach and just a political show.

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SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Today's vote is disingenuous, pushing a bill haphazardly drafted and destined to fail does a disservice to all who may pursue IVF treatments.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): They're deceiving the American people because they're afraid the hard right wing of the MAGA Republicans will come down on them if they vote. And believe me, if they get power, they have said they want a national abortion ban, they have said they will follow the MAGA hard right.

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No one anymore can believe that they defend any women's reproductive rights after what they've done and today's vote proved it.

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FOSTER: Well, in its first abortion decision since Roe versus Wade was overturned two years ago, the US Supreme Court unanimously rejected a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration's approach to regulating the abortion medication Mifepristone. The court ruled the doctors and anti-abortion groups that filed the legal challenge did not have standing to sue. Paula Reid has more.

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PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It is rare to get a unanimous decision on an issue like abortion from the high court, but here the justices collectively decided to sidestep the question before that, which is whether the FDA had exceeded its regulatory authority when broadening access to this drug Mifepristone.

There are a lot of stakeholders watching this very closely, including women who would need access to this drug, the FDA as any possible decision restricting their regulatory authority would have an enormous impact on many industries, including, of course, the pharmaceutical industry. And of course, depending on which way this went, it also could have had an impact on anyone seeking office this year.

Right now, they have effectively preserved the status quo, but because the justices did not decide the issue and instead just sort of tossed it out based on standing, it is possible, even likely, that this issue could return to the high court in the coming years.

Now, for anyone who has concerns about Mifepristone but does not have standing to bring a lawsuit, here is Justice Kavanaugh's advice for them. Quote: Citizens and doctors who object to what the law allows others

to do may always take their concerns to the executive and legislative branches and seek greater regulatory or legislative restrictions on certain activities.

So now all eyes on another abortion case before the justices as they release most of their key opinions over the next few weeks. This next case is out of Idaho and deals with what you do when you have a state with more restrictive abortion laws and that comes up against the more permissive federal laws. All eyes on that case, certainly one of the top ones the justices will decide for the next few weeks.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

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FOSTER: In Broward County, Florida, part of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of the gruesome Valentine's Day shooting in 2018, is scheduled to be demolished today. The school's 1200 buildings where a former student killed 17 students and faculty members was originally scheduled to be torn down yesterday but was postponed due to severe weather. The gunman is currently serving a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

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DANIELLA LEVINE CAVA, MAYOR, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA: We are anticipating some of the flooding will not have much time to recede before the rain starts again. It will not take much time to already exacerbate the saturated conditions in the hardest-hit areas. So unfortunately that water is not being fully absorbed and additional rains will lead to more flooding.

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FOSTER: The mayor of Miami-Dade County there, after much of her area, has seen more than a foot of rain in the past few days and it's not alone. Parts of the Everglades had more than two feet of rain. Fort Myers has seen three straight days of daily rainfall records broken just this week.

Our Carlos Suarez gives us a closer look at what's been happening.

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CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More rain moved across parts of South Florida Thursday afternoon and into the night. In this one neighborhood near Port Everglades in Broward County, the flooding did not recede. The forecast called for another three to six inches of rain here in the city of Fort Lauderdale and in neighboring Hollywood.

That's on top of the more than a foot of rain that fell in Fort Lauderdale in the past 48 hours. For a part of Thursday afternoon, a flood warning was in effect for parts of Broward County. Now south of here in Miami-Dade County, the forecast was calling for the heaviest rain to move through the early part of Thursday night. Some residents in both counties spent the day trying to dry out their homes and cars. Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in five counties, including Miami-Dade and Broward. Now, once the rain clears and some of the flooding out here recedes, well, the forecast on Friday is calling for more rain.

Carlos Suarez, CNN, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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FOSTER: Ahead, a ceasefire plan in limbo as Palestinians in Gaza struggle to survive. We'll have a live report.

And new claims about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. A top Senate Democrat says Thomas has taken more trips than previously disclosed. Trips paid for by a GOP megadonor.

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FOSTER: Nearly a million Palestinians have been displaced by ramped up Israeli military operations in southern Gaza. A new report from the Norwegian Refugee Council says displaced people in Gaza are finding it harder to relocate due to overcrowding, clogged streets, a surge in transportation costs. Those trying to escape the fighting arriving in places, at least partly in rubble or tent cities with nowhere else to go.

Meanwhile, President Biden is pushing for Hamas to commit to the ceasefire plan, saying the militant group is the biggest hang up towards reaching a deal.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live for us in Tel Aviv. I mean, the situation is going from bad to worse. And we're getting a picture of that, aren't we? People are moving back into areas they were evacuated from and they're in rubble.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I mean, the issues are just insurmountable at this point, Max. You have the lack of food, the lack of water, the lack of shelter, and some of the conditions that those displaced are having to live in are just abysmal.

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The al-Mawasi, for example, the so-called humanitarian zone that Israel has been calling on people to move to when they did decide they were going to do an operation in Rafah has been described as uninhabitable by humanitarian groups. And on top of that, you also have this sense that the negotiations, when it comes to this ceasefire and hostage deal, are going backwards.

We have heard from Hamas this week. On Tuesday, they had their official response with a number of amendments to this proposal. And we had the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in the region this week. And you could sense the frustration in his voice, as he said, that Hamas was going over territory they had already covered and pushing for things that they had already agreed to, making him question whether or not they were even negotiating in good faith. And at the G7 in Italy, the U.S. president, Joe Biden, was asked about the ceasefire. This is what he said.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Biden, did you all have a chance to discuss a possible ceasefire?

BIDEN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you confident it's going to be done soon, sir?

BIDEN: No. I'm not. I haven't lost hope, but it's going to be tough.

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HANCOCKS: Now, Biden has -- Blinken, excuse me, has said that some of these changes are workable, some are not. So, with the mediators from both Qatar and Egypt, they have been going through these amendments to see what could possibly be done and if there is a deal that could be salvaged.

Now, when it comes to Hamas, from their side, they have said that they believe that they have shown necessary positivity, saying that the changes they're asking for are in the interests of the Palestinian people.

They have, for example, asked for a more specific timeline on a permanent ceasefire. Now, that is something that, from the Israeli side, they have been quite keen to keep vague. It is a three-stage proposal, this deal. And in the first stage, it would be a six-week ceasefire, which, in theory, should evolve into a more permanent cessation of hostilities. But it appears as though Hamas is looking for more clarity and more guarantees that there would be this complete ceasefire.

Also, they're calling for a complete withdrawal of all troops from Gaza, whereas in this proposal, in the first phase, it would just be from the populated areas.

So, there are gaps that remain. And as I say, Blinken says some of those gaps can be bridged. He says that he does believe it is bridgeable, but it doesn't mean that the differences will actually be bridged.

FOSTER: OK, Paula Hancocks live in Tel Aviv. Thank you.

The Israeli military and Hezbollah have exchanged more fire. Lebanese media say one person died from a strike in southern Lebanon and 10 others were wounded. The IDF says 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights, setting off at least 10 fires. Meanwhile, Israeli troops have an unexpected new weapon of choice, and that's a type of catapult known as a trebuchet. It's been used to fling at least one fireball towards Lebanese territory. Israeli media say the likely goal is to burn shrubbery and make it easier to spot militants trying to reach the border.

One of the world's biggest religious gatherings currently underway in Saudi Arabia. More than 1.5 million people are now in the holy city of Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, according to official estimates. Muslims from all over the world are braving the extreme Saudi heat to circle the Kaaba, the black cube extractor at Mecca's Grand Mosque and Islam's most sacred shrine.

The faith requires every Muslim who is physically and financially able to make the trip at least once in their lifetime.

Now coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, new claims about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He took more trips abroad. He took more trips aboard a GOP megadonor's private jets than was previously known.

Plus, Apple has retaken the top spot as America's most valuable company. Who's in second and third position up next?

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FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us here are some of our top stories today.

President Biden is set to hold bilateral meetings with G7 leaders. In the next hour or so, he'll meet with Italy's prime minister. On Thursday, Biden signed a security pact with Ukraine, providing military support for 10 years.

Republican lawmakers in Washington embraced a visit from the former president. Donald Trump meeting with allies to renew his grip on the GOP. Thursday's meeting was the first time that Trump was on Capitol Hill since the January 6th riots.

And South Florida is bracing for a fourth day of flooding after consecutive days of heavy rain pounded the area. Flood watches remain in effect for more than 7 million people into tonight.

There are new claims that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has taken more trips than previously known on the dime of a Republican megadonor. CNN's Melanie Zanona has the details.

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MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the hot seat once again as we learn about several previously unknown privately funded trips that the justice took. This according to new evidence released by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, according to that evidence, Clarence Thomas flew on the private

jet of GOP megadonor Harlan Crow multiple times, including in 2017, 2019 and 2021 for various trips around the United States.

So this just adds to a growing pattern of Clarence Thomas accepting lavish gifts and going on privately funded trips and not disclosing that information.

Now, Thomas has yet to comment on this latest revelation, but in the past he has said that he was disclosing information by the rules as he understood them at the time.

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And meanwhile, Harlan Crow's camp continues to insist that the two of them have never discussed matters before the Supreme Court.

But this is, of course, adding to the growing scrutiny on the Supreme Court, especially as there are other controversies swirling amongst other justices, including Samuel Alito and his wife.

Now, in the wake of all these controversies, Democrats are renewing their calls to reform the Supreme Court. Senate Democrats did try to pass a bill on the Senate floor that would impose a code of ethics on the Supreme Court, but they were denied by Republicans.

Melanie Zanona, CNN Capitol Hill.

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