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CNN This Morning
Man Suing Paltrow Testifies Today; Ian Bremmer is Interviewed about Protests Around the World; Historic Final Four Set. Aired 8:30- 9a ET
Aired March 27, 2023 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The actress was asked about Taylor Swift.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you good friends with Taylor Swift?
GWYNETH PALTROW, ACTRESS: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're not good friends with Taylor Swift?
PALTROW: I would not say we're good friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK, welcome back, everyone.
So, there you see him. There's Prince Harry. He is back in the U.K. Made a surprise appearance at London's high court just this morning. It was for a preliminary hearing against the publisher of "The Daily Mail." The Duke of Sussex is one of seven high profile individuals, including Sir Elton John, actress Elizabeth Hurley, who are accusing associated newspapers of phone tapping, hacking into financial and medical records, and other serious breaches of privacy. The media group has denied the allegations of illegal behavior by its staff.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, a court is going to resume in the Utah civil trial that involves the actress Gwyneth Paltrow and a 2016 ski collision. The man who is accusing Paltrow of crashing into him is expected to take the stand today. That's Terry Sanderson. He claims the accident left him with lasting injuries and brain damage. He's seeking more than $300,000 in damages, as Paltrow is counter suing him for just $1.
[08:35:03]
CNN's Chloe Melas joins us now.
I mean this trial has been bizarre so far.
CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: To say the least. COLLINS: I think there have been moments that you've seen. What are we expecting today?
MELAS: Well, like you said, Terry Sanderson, the man who has been after Gwyneth Paltrow for the last seven years claiming that he suffered four broken ribs and a concussion and brain trauma for years after this ski collision. Now, remember, Gwyneth maintains that he barreled into her. We heard her testimony on Friday. And so it doesn't -- it looks like the cases has rested when it comes to Gwyneth. She won't be testifying anymore. Although I think TikTok and social media with loved Gwyneth to get back on the stand because there were so many viral moments on Friday. But we will hear from Gwyneth's children potentially later today or tomorrow.
LEMON: He originally sued her for $3 million already (ph).
MELAS: Yes, 3.1 and now it's 300 grand.
COLLINS: Yes, then they downgraded it.
But when you talk about these bizarre moments, you know, one of the ones she was asked about Taylor Swift at some point. This is what Gwyneth said in response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you good friends with Taylor Swift?
GWYNETH PALTROW, ACTRESS: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Relevance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're not good friends with Taylor Swift?
PALTROW: I would not say we're good friends.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've never given Ms. Swift personal, intimate gifts for Christmas?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: What? Why is that relevant?
LEMON: Huh?
MELAS: OK. So it's sort of relevant. So, Taylor Swift sued a DJ several years ago because she claimed that he -
COLLINS: Who groped her.
MELAS: Right, he groped her. And she sued him for a dollar. And it was a symbolic moment. And so what the lawyer for Terry Sanderson was saying was, did you get that idea to sue for a dollar from Taylor Swift. You had a gift guide on Goop, which is Gwyneth Paltrow's website, in which you created a Christmas bag for Taylor. You two are friends. Is this how you got the idea? Look, I think a lot of people found the line of questioning from Terry's attorney to be a bit absurd at points, asking Gwyneth, how tall are you? What kind of ski outfits she has. Complimenting her at one point, but then, on the other breath, calling her a liar. And I think that some people also found a strange that Gwyneth appeared to be amused the whole time, kind of smiling and smirking.
LEMON: As soon as they -- it's all in her face. I mean she's like, OK, right?
MELAS: I just think that, you know, if you thought Friday it was weird, I think it's going to get weirder today. But there -- it is serious stuff because Terry does alleged that he had a lot of medical issues after this ski collision. It's all going to come down to, who does the jury believe because there were no cameras there. There's just witnesses on both sides. And we'll see who wins.
LEMON: Obviously she believes in her case, right, because $300,000 for Taylor Swift would be a nuisance amount -
COLLINS: For Gwyneth Paltrow.
MELAS: Well - yes, it -
LEMON: I'm sorry.
MELAS: For both of them.
LEMON: Yes.
COLLINS: Yes, yes.
MELAS: It's like -
LEMON: For both of them, but for -
MELAS: It's like - it's like, you know, a dollar for us, right? So, for her, it's like, no big deal.
LEMON: It's the principle.
MELAS: So, the principle to take it this far and be so public. And Gwyneth clearly looks like she's not having the best time up there. You can imagine that this being so public that Gwyneth could have done without it. So, clearly, she truly believes that she is right.
But Terry, we'll hear from him. Who knows what he'll say.
COLLINS: Yes.
MELAS: He's been waiting for seven years to get up there.
LEMON: Maybe a win (ph). We'll see.
COLLINS: We know you're going to be watching.
MELAS: I will
COLLINS: So, we'll see what the highlights are.
Chloe, thank you so much.
MELAS: Thanks.
LEMON: Thanks, Chloe. Appreciate it.
This just in, all flights canceled at Munich Airport as a massive strike by Germany's transport workers. That strike is putting all travel to a halt. All these protests around the world.
COLLINS: I know, it's a remarkable moment on the international stage.
We're also closely watching what is happening in Israel. You are looking at a massive crowd protests in Jerusalem, all of -- why all of these people -- this is a shot from overhead, as you can see just how large these protests are. Why those people are taking to the streets. What's the response going to be from the White House? We'll talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:42:41]
COLLINS: All right, this morning, as you can see there, mass protests underway in several different countries for several different reasons. We're tracking all of them.
In Israel, it is a full blown political crisis that you are waking up to this morning that's unfolding over the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's, proposed judicial overhaul. Workers at airports, malls, hospitals, even McDonald's all striking this morning.
In France, hundreds are protesting outside of The Louvre over the government's move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. (INAUDIBLE) have been happening for almost two weeks now.
In Germany, also more than 400,000 transport workers are striking, basically bringing the transportation across that country to a standstill. The last time we checked, all flights have been canceled at Munich's airport.
Joining us now is Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group and author of "The Power of Crisis."
LEMON: Hey, good morning. It's good to see you.
IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP: Good to be with you.
LEMON: You know, this has a sort of retro feel to it. You know the great protests of the '70s that were happening around the world. But first up, we'll get to that. But what will Netanyahu do? You think he's going to have to back off on this? BREMMER: Well, they were supposed to give a speech that hasn't happened yet. And I think the reason for the delay as, he's trying to ensure that all of his ministers are going to stick with his government if he suspends the judicial reform. At this point it looks like that's what he's going to do.
Critically, the judicial minister, who was the pen on this reform, he's the mastermind behind it, has said that he's going to stick with Netanyahu if they decided to suspend. The national security minister, far right wing, has not. Earlier he'd say he'd try to bring down the government if they decided not to go ahead with it. I suspect that Bibi, right now, is working that national security minister very, very hard.
This is unprecedented in terms of the economic and security implications for Israel itself since they've been an independent state.
LEMON: You think he puts it on ice temporary?
BREMMER: I think. If you made me bet right now, you're asking about that, that's where I would go, yes.
COLLINS: The White House. Netanyahu has been invited to speak virtually at a democracy -- and appear virtually at the democracy summit that they're holding. Critics of this say that if they continue with it, it is basically putting Israel in the path toward authoritarianism because it effectively removes the checks on the power - on the balances of power there.
What does the White House do here? Because we've seen them say they're concerned about what's happening, but does Biden need to come out and speak forcefully about this? How does he navigate this?
[08:45:00]
BREMMER: I think in a few hours, assuming there's a suspension, Biden's able to express his solidarity with the democracy of Israel, the people of Israel, and be glad that Bibi decided to back off of it. That's where I hope we are going right now. But, I mean, look, if you want to look at the Middle East, we know that there aren't a lot of democracies right now in the region. And the big story out of the Middle East over the last months, of course, was that Iran and Saudi Arabia were in Beijing doing a peace deal that's very different than the previous peace deal under the Trump administration, which was, Israel and the UAE and Bahrain, the Abraham Accords. This is -- this feels like a very, very different Middle East than what we were looking at five years ago, 10 years ago. The United States not playing as much of a role. So, I don't think Biden really wants to scupper(ph) -
COLLINS: To weigh into this.
BREMMER: If he can avoid it/ And I think he can probably avoid it.
COLLINS: So you think Netanyahu still speaks at that democracy summit that they're hosting?
BREMMER: Let's see what happens in the course of the next six. 12 hours. I'm not sure Bibi's even going to be there, right? I mean he only has an eight seat majority in the Knesset. It's possible given what we're seeing with these demonstrations. They may continue. He can suspend, and the people may just say, you know what, we've just had enough of this government. We don't like the danger to democracy. (INAUDIBLE) less than 10 million people. You've had 500,000 people on the streets. You have a general strike called by a union with 800,000 members. This is like 25 percent of the entire Israeli workforce you're talking about here. So, you've never seen anything like this.
The consul general here in New York just tendered his resignation hours ago. The minister of defense was sacked after coming out in opposition. The ahead of the Tel Aviv police forces was seen demonstrating with the protesters. Yesterday, lots of members of the Israeli military are saying, we refuse to serve. This is a country, remember, where you have mandatory service, and it's an enormously patriotic thing to do, men and women in the country, saying they won't serve because what Netanyahu is trying to push through with his government right now.
LEMON: Let's broaden this out a little bit. I mean, look, it's not just Israel, right? You've got Germany. You've got France. You've got all over. I'm wondering if -- what does this mean for us here at home, especially because I would imagine that China and Russia, it's something that they're happy to see.
BREMMER: They're happy to see democracy's weakening. They're happy to see anti= establishment sentiment making western governments say we don't have the model for the world.
Now, there's a really big difference between a country like the United States, Mexico, Brazil, where there are strong anti-democracy sentiment that gets beaten down because the institutions ultimately are really resilient, whether it's January 6th in the United States or January 8th in Brazil.
In a country like Hungary, or a country like Turkey, where you've had anti-democracy leaders that have been able to literally break institutions, and you can't describe those countries as full democracies anymore. The real question with Israel is, which of those two camps Israel's in. And I suspect we will find that it is strongly in the former camp.
COLLINS: Yes.
One other thing we wanted to get your perspective on is Putin saying they are going to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus? Do you think he's bluffing? And if he's not, what's the significance of that?
BREMMER: Irrespective of whether he's blustering or not, he is rattling nuclear sabers yet again after being told by the Chinese repeatedly, we don't want you to do that. So interesting that comes after - COLLINS: Which he did after Xi left.
BREMMER: After Xi left. You know, Belarus only nominally sovereign as a country . It's not like President Lukashenko has any choice if Putin says he's going to put them there. This is, in principle, a response to the decision of the U.S. and U.K. to send depleted uranium shells to Ukraine to be used in battle against the Russians.
Having said all of that, the problem here is, for the Americans, is that no matter where the Ukraine war goes, the fight that the west has with Russia is deep, it's abiding.
LEMON: Yes.
BREMMER: This is a rogue state that is has massive nuclear weapons. They're not in the START negotiations. There's no arms control with the Americans anymore. There's no communications happening at a high level. So, God forbid you have mistakes and accidents, as we have historically. How are you going to respond to them?
LEMON: That's really -- that's really the crux of that - what it - that it what this (ph)
BREMMER: I think that's the real deal. That's what this story is really about, the Belarus story.
LEMON: Yes.
COLLINS: Yes, (INAUDIBLE) communication.
BREMMER: Sure.
COLLINS: Thanks, Ian.
LEMON: Thank you, man. Always a pleasure.
BREMMER: Yes.
LEMON: Madness, indeed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Upset after upset after upset.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: After upset after upset. Final Four is set. And it just might be the most random in NCAA history. Speaking of random, Harry Enten is - that was the fake laugh if I've ever heard one.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: That's not fake.
LEMON: Harry, on the other side of the break.
COLLINS: Thank you. That was great.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:53:45]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's looking for someone. (INAUDIBLE) going to put it up. And (INAUDIBLE). The Owls of Florida Atlantic, they are headed to the Final Four.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: As I crunch the peppermint I'm eating right now.
And then there were four. For FAU, Miami and San Diego States, this was history in the making. It is the first time those schools have made the NCAA men's basketball Final Four. UConn, of course, is no stranger to the stage in the dance and is now effectively the team to beat. Right, Kaitlan, not -
COLLINS: I'm telling you it was not a good Friday - it was not a good Friday night for me. Luckily, I went to the Taylor Swift concert after Alabama lost, so it helped me like deal with the pain.
LEMON: Oh, gosh (ph).
COLLINS: OK, no one seeds, though, no two seeds and no three seeds are in the Final Four. This is so bizarre.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: This is so random. This morning's number is four, because it is the first time ever all final four seeds were four or worse. And, you know, just giving an understanding of how random this is, the pre-season -- the pre-20 brackets that had these teams in the Final Four, less than 10 percent, less than 5 percent, only about 1 percent for FAU.
[08:55:00]
SDSU, just 1.2 percent. Less than 40 - 40 brackets out of 20 million on ESPN had all four of these seeds going.
You know, you pointed out, UConn's the team to beat. The chance of winning the title, right now, UConn at 43 percent. But, still, less than a 50 percent chance of winning. Why is UConn the favorite? I think this gives you an understanding. Won first four tourney games by 15 plus points, UConn is one of them. Gonzaga, 2021. UConn, 2004. Those are the only ones in the 2000s.
FAU, if they were able to pull it off, the worst seeds to win the tourney, they're a nine seed. They would be the first ever nine seed ever to win it all.
COLLINS: To win.
ENTEN: So, this has been random. It's been crazy. And I don't know what's going to happen because, the fact is, the math is out the window. COLLINS: Also, I feel like if you've never seen a Final Four games or been to one, this is the time to go.
ENTEN: Yes.
COLLINS: Because like the tickets are probably going to be less expensive now, right?
ENTEN: Maybe so because these - but maybe it's more expensive because these schools have never been there. They would want to watch their teams.
LEMON: Yes.
COLLINS: I know. We've been planning to go. My dad and I were talking about how expensive tickets were and what we were going to do. Now it's like, well, guess we'll save some money.
ENTEN: Just enjoy it.
LEMON: Well, the women - LSU women. They're still there.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes.
ENTEN: There you go, Don.
LEMON: Yes.
COLLINS: Yes, Iowa, we - the women's Iowa team, amazing game yesterday.
All right.
LEMON: All right, everybody, thank you.
ENTEN: Thank you.
LEMON: Thank you, Harry.
We're so glad you watched. Thank you. We'll see you tomorrow.
COLLINS: Thanks, Harry. Thanks all of you.
CNN "NEWSROOM" starts right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
