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Suspect Detained in Cafe Blast in Russia; Ben Smith is Interviewed about the Trump Indictment; Idaho Hospital Stops Delivering Babies; Trump's Rocky Relationship with Supreme Court; LSU Runs Past Iowa for Title. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 03, 2023 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can see why when you look at those video - that video of the cafe and its fronts being completely blown off by the force of the explosion.

There has been an arrest already. A young woman. Her name is Daria Trepova. And she was at the event in which Tatarsky was a guest speaker. And she actually handed him a gift. A small statue. A small figurine. Which eyewitnesses say was the source of the explosion. And that's what Russian investigators say now they're looking at most of all, that this statute that was handed to Tatarsky by this -- this woman, Daria Trepova, was actually an explosive device, and it detonated and caused all this destruction.

There's been an announcement from the Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee as well. They're the organization that are investigating what's going on here. They're calling it a terrorist act, as is the Kremlin, and they're blaming the Ukrainian special services for carrying this out, for planning it, in conjunction with agents, they say, from Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption campaign. So that's what the official line is at the moment.

This was a Ukrainian special services act in conjunction with Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption campaign. The Navalny Group, by the way, has categorically denied any connection.

Don.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Matthew Chance in Moscow this morning. Thank you, Matthew.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Also back here in the U.S., in just a few hours, former President Trump is expected to leave Mar-a-Lago. You can see a live look at his plane there. He is going to fly then to New York, where he is going to be arraigned tomorrow. We are learning this morning that the former president is expected to spend the night at Trump Tower and then returned straight to Florida after his appearance. That is where he's going to be speaking tomorrow night.

Right now he is facing what we believe are about 30 counts related to the business -- to business fraud and this historic indictment by a Manhattan grand jury. We're still waiting on it to be unsealed. But we should note that his indictment is the first of a current or former president in U.S. history. It stems from that alleged 2016 hush money payment covering up - cover-up involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels.

And it appears that Trump is preparing to capitalize politically on this, with sources telling CNN that as he was playing golf over the weekend, he was also strategizing with his allies about how to use this to his advantage. It's certainly working when it comes to fundraising. His re-election campaign says they've already raised more than $5 million since news of the indictment came down Thursday night.

Trump is expected to give a speech at Mar-a-Lago tomorrow night.

So for perspective on all of this, I want to bring in the editor in chief of Semafor, Ben Smith.

I think Peter Baker has it right in the way he's talking about how Trump is flourishing this morning. On the front page of "The New York Times" he says, the ex-president is at home in the indictment's glare.

BEN SMITH, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "SEMAFOR": You know this has always been, to some degree, of the core of Trump's appeal, that the establishment hates him, that they're out to get him, that he sort of -- you know, that he's transgressive and stands for people who feel really alienated from the establishment. And so, yes, I mean, I think this is in some ways back to basics, back to him coming down the golden staircase and saying things that are incredibly offensive.

COLLINS: I mean look what he's fund raised.

SMITH: Yes. I mean, I saw -- and I think -- it's -- you know, I do think there's a second question of, is there anybody who says, now I like him more? I don't know. But in terms of just keeping the faith with the people who really, you know, fell in love with him in the first place, who are already on all his email list and clicking to whatever he's asking them to click for to give him money, I mean it's obvious -- that's obviously working. And it also just lets him totally blot out the sun in terms of the Republican primary. There are these other Republicans whose names everyone has now forgotten running for president while Donald Trump just absolutely dominates the conversation, which is where he likes to be there.

COLLINS: Yes. And if they're speaking, they're speaking about Trump right now, DeSantis and everyone.

LEMON: And it shouldn't be a surprise that people are clicking, especially his hardcore supporters, that's what they do, the small donations, small donations, which adds up to a whole lot of money always.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: $4 million in 24 hours after the indictment.

LEMON: Yes. Yes.

So, can I ask you about this because what's going to happen tomorrow because we know the reporting is expedite arrangement, that he probably won't be in a holding cell. That was part of my reporting from last week. Definitely fingerprinting. But then mug shot part is up in the air.

His -- there's a reporting that Trump's advisers thought that putting his mug shot on t-shirts and merchandise, they were concerned about that. Not sure about what happens with the mug shot.

But this all leads to the spectacle. Is he going to want that in order to continue to raise money, in order to continue to have people, you know, I love you, just a drum things up? What do you think of the spectacle of all of this?

SMITH: I mean you've got to assume he's kind of staring at the mirror, practicing exactly which, you know, kind of eye contact he's going to make for the mug shot.

LEMON: Yes.

SMITH: I mean that's very much his -

LEMON: Do you think he will do that because, you know, he's going to do something at Trump Tower, scheduled for Tuesday night after the arraignment. Do you think -- Mar-a-Lago, excuse me, after the arraignment. Do you think that he's going to make a spectacle at the courthouse?

SMITH: No, I don't -- I don't know. And I think that - and I think that is a really good question. I mean it sounds like he wants to pick his place and time to do it, wants to look like the president, not look like a felon. So - and, you know, and I do think the -- you know, the way the New York justice system works, he'll -- he'll have a lot of control over, as he often does, over his appearance over the situation.

[06:35:07]

I think he'll make the most of that.

HARLOW: Can we talk about the "60 Minutes" interview last night that Leslie Stahl did with Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene. I think we have a clip. Let's play it for people who didn't see the whole thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESLIE STAHL, "60 MINUTES": Are you saying that you don't stand by what's on your social media?

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Well, of course I stand for what's on my social media. But at times not -- you're not always in control. We have all kinds of people that work on our social media.

STAHL: Did you apologize for your position on Parkland, Florida?

GREENE: What was my position on Parkland, Florida?

STAHL: That it was a false flag. GREENE: I don't know if you actually have my - no, I never said Parkland was a false flag.

STAHL: Did you -

GREENE: No, I've never said that.

STAHL: We fact checked before I got to this interview.

GREENE: Have you fact checked all my statements from kindergarten through 12th grade, and in college.

STAHL: The Democrats are a party of pedophiles.

GREENE: I would definitely say so. They support grooming children.

STAHL: They are not pedophiles. Why would you say that?

GREENE: Democrats -- Democrats support -- even Joe Biden, the president himself, supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries. Sexualizing children is what pedophiles due to children.

STAHL: Wow. OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: She is someone who in just her second term in Congress has got a lot of power, a lot more power than she had before thanks to Kevin McCarthy, fund raises a lot of money. So, yes, there are critics who are saying why did "60 Minutes" give her that platform? I think Leslie Stahl did a good job in that interview, and I just wonder what you took away from it.

SMITH: Yes, I mean, as a fellow Leslie Stahl fan, yes, I can't fault them. I mean "60 Minutes" has interviewed, you know, rapists and hit men and all sorts of people, you know, who are -- who are in the news.

I mean, I think the -- one of the most interesting things that's happening here is that Marjorie Taylor Greene, who, obviously, as you say, is a significant figure, whatever you think of her, has a lot of power in Washington -

HARLOW: Right.

SMITH: Is - you know, has made a decision to attempt to kind of get to a more mainstream place by doing things like "60 Minutes." We have a big story of (INAUDIBLE) coming out this morning at "Semafor" about - really about how this is part of her media strategy to embrace the media. She criticizes Ron DeSantis for not talking to the media enough. And yet, at the same time, as she's trying to become more mainstream, she's still calling Democrats pedophiles.

HARLOW: Right.

SMITH: And she's - and she - and in I don't know if you can do both of those things at the same time. She is trying to sort of say, look, this is the Republican Party now. Sort of, take us or leave us and you have to deal with us on our terms. But she -- but she is also walking away from some of the crazier stuff she said.

HARLOW: Some of it. Some of it. Apologizing for some of it.

SMITH: And saying she was misled - saying she was like a normal American. Well, that's basically true, a normal American who was reading all sorts of nonsense on Facebook and believing a lot of it.

HARLOW: I also found it really interesting that she told Leslie Stahl that the reason she got in and ran and left the construction business, et cetera, is because of her fellow Republicans, not because of Democrats.

SMITH: Yes, I mean, she -- you know, I think she really does embody this kind of new Trump movement in the party, whether it totally takes over the party or not is an open question. But I think the idea, which was a bit of -- always a bit of a fantasy that journalists, that Democrats just sort of can ignore that wing of the Republican Party is totally over.

HARLOW: Yes.

SMITH: And the "60 Minutes" interview sort of codifies that in a certain way.

HARLOW: Yes.

COLLINS: And just to be clear, you're not putting her in that group with -- when you're talking about who else "60 Minutes" has interviewed.

SMITH: Oh, no, I'm saying -

COLLINS: I just know how people will respond to that.

SMITH: Yes. I'm - thank -

COLLINS: Sorry, I just wanted to say -

SMITH: Thanks for letting me clean that up, Kaitlan.

LEMON: Yes.

SMITH: No, I'm just saying, they've interviewed people far more controversial than Marjorie Taylor Greene.

COLLINS: Right. And Poppy's point is - is her prominence in the -- in the Republican Party.

SMITH: Yes.

LEMON: But that is a constant struggle that we have been dealing with since Trump, or Trumpism, is, who do you give a platform to? Who's legitimate and who's not in this, especially when you have election deniers and people who are just, you know, making things up as they go along with no -- not based in fact. Do you actually put them on traditional media to elevate them? That is a struggle that, you know, that we all face. So, I can understand why, you know, someone -

SMITH: Yes, and you have to be fast on your feet as a journalist, the way -- the way Leslie Stahl is.

LEMON: Yes.

HARLOW: Yes.

COLLINS: Just as interesting why she did it as why they did it, to your point.

LEMON: Right.

COLLINS: Ben Smith, thanks for bringing at the table with us.

SMITH: Thank you.

LEMON: Thanks, Ben.

HARLOW: A hospital that cannot deliver babies. Why a facility in Idaho is joining a concerning growing list of these hospitals that are closing their maternity wards. We'll have to talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:43:03]

LEMON: Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING, everyone.

A hospital in Emmett, Idaho, says it will no longer be offering labor and delivery services starting June 1st. Valor Health says the decision is due to staffing and financial challenges. This comes after another Idaho hospital announced that it would close its labor and delivery department just last month.

CNN's senior medical correspondent is Elizabeth Cohen, and she joins us now.

Elizabeth, good morning to you.

Two hospitals shutting down the services for mothers and babies. What on earth is happening here?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, it's really a problem. We have spoken with many hospitals that are shutting down their labor and delivery services. And it comes down to the two things that you mentioned, not enough staff, not enough money.

Let's take a look at a statement from Valor Health, which you just talked about in Idaho. This decision was made in response to continued staffing and financial challenges that Valor Health is facing due to various factors, including Covid-19 impacts, inflation, staff shortages and decreasing reimbursements. Now, I want to zero in on that last one there. Birth do not pay well.

If you've got a bed in a hospital, you are better off giving it to a patient who needs bypass surgery -- financially speaking -- bypass surgery or someone who needs an artificial hip. Births don't pay well, especially because nearly half of all births in the U.S. are paid for by Medicaid. Medicaid only pays about $6,500 for birth, whereas employer-sponsored insurance pays about $15,000. In the past 12 months, these are all the places we found, Don, that have shutdown either their labor and delivery or their entire hospital. That's a lot of places just in the past 12 months. And we probably don't even have all of them.

Don. Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes, it's a scary thought.

Elizabeth, thank you very much for that reporting.

Next, we have new reporting from our Joan Biskupic that goes in former President Trump's relationship with the Supreme Court, the moment some of the justices thought the former president was, quote, setting them up, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:49:07]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

As former President Trump prepares to face criminal charges tomorrow here in New York, we're getting some new insight into the challenges the judiciary faced during his presidency. Over the course of his term, the Supreme Court navigated unprecedented politicization and polarization and it was ultimately transformed by him.

With us now on this new reporting is our Supreme Court CNN senior analyst Joan Biskupic. Also the author of a fantastic new book, "The Nine Black Robes: Inside the Supreme Court's Drive to the Right and its Historic Consequences," which is out tomorrow.

And it's such a great read. And it has rave reviews. And it's just so perfect to talk about this part of your reporting from the book, Joan, in this moment as Trump literally prepares to go before a judge in court.

You start your piece this morning on CNN this way, quote, some Supreme Court justices thought Donald Trump was setting them up.

[06:50:00]

Tell us more.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. This was back in October of 2018, after the very contentious Senate confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh. President Trump wanted all of the justices to come over to the White House for a celebration of the Kavanaugh confirmation.

Now, in the past, when presidents had invited the justices over, they resisted going because they didn't like the optics of, you know, a political event and breaching the separation of powers, but the -- some of the justices encouraged the chief, Chief Justice John Roberts, to check with the White House Counsel's Office for what kind of ceremony it would be. And they were persuaded that it would be a reserved, you know, fitting session for them to attend. So, they all go over there, and it opens with President Trump first announcing all of their names and bragging that he was able to draw all of them to the event. And then he goes on and offers a public apology to Brett Kavanaugh. You know, so a very political moment. They all just sat there stone faced.

HARLOW: Right.

BISKUPIC: They later -- later confided that they regretted going. And only Justice Thomas was noticeably enthusiastic. And he was the only justice who then went two years later when President Trump had a celebration for Amy Coney Barrett.

HARLOW: That's right. That's right.

You know, looking at what President Trump said over the weekend about the judge that he will be before in Manhattan tomorrow and criticizing him publicly, as he has done too many judges -

BISKUPIC: Right.

HARLOW: It's notable to look in your book where you write, Trump treated the judiciary as if it were his to command from his early weeks in office to his final weeks after he lost the 2020 election. And that is where he and the chief justice, John Roberts, really butted heads.

BISKUPIC: Yes, Poppy, you probably remember it was really an unprecedented clash a few months -- actually, a few weeks only after the Brett Kavanaugh hearing when President Trump was complaining about a judge who ruled against him in an asylum case, and he referred to the judge as an Obama judge to, you know, deride him. And that was the only time the chief justice decided to say something public. And he issued that statement that said, we have no Obama judges. We have no Trump judges. We don't have Bush or Clinton judges. We just have these neutral judges. And Trump then fires back. But it was just so -- I thought it was so symbolic of exactly what finally pushed Chief Justice John Roberts over the edge to say, I have to speak out against him, because the point was, and as we see right now with these proceedings that are going to be held tomorrow, Poppy -

HARLOW: Yes.

BISKUPIC: Donald Trump is always trying to undermine judges who will be handling cases, and the judiciary more broadly.

HARLOW: Yes. And we'll see if Trump's legal team is going to ask for a change of judges. They wouldn't answer that question over the weekend. So, we'll see what they have to say given what their client has said about this judge.

Joan, thanks very much.

Congrats on the book again. It's out tomorrow.

BISKUPIC: Thanks, Poppy.

LEMON: And, go Tigers! The LSU women's basketball team, of course, has won the NCAA championship. We're live with the highlights for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:36]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Angel Reese with four to shoot, pool, going for the dagger, you bet! LSU has captured its very first national championship!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: An incredible game last night.

LEMON: You see her there pointing to her ring finger.

COLLINS: How happy are you? I know. I know.

LEMON: Oh, it's good.

COLLINS: It was so cute. Such a great game. I mean, like, amazing, competitive spirit there we were watching.

Don's LSU Tigers, if you did not see, put on a show for the ages. They ran past Iowa to win their first national championship for the women's team in school history.

Coy Wire is live in Houston with this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Coy, I mean, it was an awesome game just to see these athletes going back and forth. Obviously, seeing Iowa's Caitlin, she's amazing in her game, but also just watching them go back and forth.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Absolutely. It's been so exciting. The games have been breaking viewership records as well. I am shocked Don Lemon is not wearing purple and gold today. His LSU Tigers, led by Hall of Fame coach, with players full of confidence and swagger, outshining Iowa in historic fashion.

LEMON: Oh.

WIRE: Speaking of fashion, would you rock this, Don Lemon?

COLLINS: Yes.

LEMON: Did you not see me for New Year's Eve? WIRE: Coach Kim Mulkey, trendsetter, Tiger whisperer, leading with a palpable passion, taking on Iowa and national player of the year Caitlin Clark. The generational talent was once again lights out, hitting threes from way downtown, dropping a game high 30 points. Eight three-pointers, setting a new record for most points in any NCAA tourney.

Now, LSU's total team effort just too much. How about the buzzer beater three before halftime. Unexpected hero, Jasmine Carson, coming off the bench to score a team high 22 points when she hadn't scored a single point in their previous three games. The Bayou Bengals scoring a championship game record 102 points. LSU star sophomore Angel Reese rallying with a record 34th double-double. And Coach Kim Mulkey, Louisiana native, former Olympic gold medalist player, becomes the first women's coach to win two different schools a national title.

Now, all eyes will shift right here to this court, Don and Kaitlan. The men's title game tonight. San Diego State, they're coming off an iconic March Madness moment. Lamont Butler's game winning buzzer beater sending the Aztecs to their first ever championship game. Coach Brian Dutcher's building something special in San Diego.

[07:00:02]

UConn are conquerors, winning by an average of 20 points per game this tournament led by one of the most fiery leaders you'll meet, Coach Dan Hurley.