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30 Million Under Winter Storm Warnings Across Northeast; Senate Voting on $95B Foreign Aid Bill; Trump Asks Supreme Court to Block Ruling Against Immunity; Police Learning More about Megachurch Shooting. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 13, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:03]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. So glad you're with us. I'm Poppy Harlow with Phil Mattingly in New York, where it is snowy right now, the biggest snowstorm in years blanketing this city.

By the end of today, some parts of the Northeast could see up to eight inches of snow. Our weather team is outside tracking all of it.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And Donald Trump is once again pressing the Supreme Court to resolve a question that could undermine his own campaign. He's now asking the nine justices to block the ruling that he lacks immunity in his January 6 criminal case.

Could the high court taken up and, happening right now, senators, well, they're voting on the Senate floor on that $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. It has the votes to pass that chamber, but it will likely hit a brick wall in the House while the speaker says it's going to kill it.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

HARLOW: And we'll get to politics in a moment, but we start with this powerful winter storm, blasting the Northeast this morning with more than 30 million people in its path.

This is a live look right here at Manhattan as New York City braces for the most snow that we've seen in years. We are expecting up to eight inches here. Parts of New England could see a foot of snow.

MATTINGLY: And more than 1,000 flights are already being canceled today as this fast-moving Nor'easter intensifies. Aside from that heavy snow, more than 20 million people are under coastal flood warnings.

Our meteorologist, Derek van Dam, is live for us in Central Park. Derek, what are you seeing? What are we expecting over the coming hours?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Phil, good morning.

You know, this snow is going to drastically change the landscape here in New York City where I'm standing, but also in places along the New England coastline, because we're getting walloped with these really big snowflakes at the moment.

And it's almost getting the feeling -- you're talking to some of the locals within Manhattan -- that this is a snowstorm they almost yearned for, because it has been so long since they have seen snow on the ground. It has to go back to January of 2022 when the last time a winter storm warning was issued for this city.

And we actually may receive so much snow today that it will be more than what we've received in the past couple of years. In fact, we may see so much snow in just one hour's time, coinciding with rush hour traffic this morning, than what we've seen in any given day within the past couple of years.

So it's going to change drastically changed the landscape. We've got a temperature right now. You can see just underneath the Nordstrom sign there, 33 degrees big fat snowflakes.

There have been over 700 salt trucks already deployed across the city before the first flake even fell. And I want to show you the graphics, because this is really important.

The snow actually came earlier than anticipated. The National Weather Service had thought that there would be more rain associated with the system on the early onset of the storm. That's not the case. So that could potentially up our snow totals here in New York City, for instance.

This snowstorm, as we zoom in a little bit closer towards New York, having a tough time seeing that transition in Philadelphia. So there's rain right now. But do anticipate that, to change the snowfall by later this morning, you'll get a couple of inches of snowfall there, as well.

The winds, the other factor. Heavy wet snow. We call this heart attacks snow because of that moisture content. You can almost squeeze out the water from this. It is very heavy. It is very dense, very wet. So be careful if you have to get outside and shovel it, because it is very, very difficult and could be very, very strenuous, as well.

Water temperatures just off the coast here, a major factor in what type of weather we're getting. So the coastal areas maybe not as much snow, but as you just work your way inland by a couple of miles, you get that heavy wet snowfall here.

So we're dealing with one of the warmest winters on record across many Northeastern cities. This is going to change the landscape, perhaps welcome for some.

HARLOW: Yes.

VAN DAM: Poppy, Phil.

HARLOW: Derek, thanks.

Over the Central Park to Capitol Hill, where you see it. We have breaking news. That's actually live pictures right now. The U.S. Senate is voting after a marathon night of speeches, drawing

out the debate with the last speaker, Republican Senator Mike Lee, wrapping up his speaking time at 5:12 a.m.

The Senate is now poised to pass the $95.3 billion foreign aid package. Now the vote, as you can see, is still underway, but the unofficial tally, as of now, stands at 66 yes votes. It's more than enough to clinch the bill's passage with significant bipartisan support.

[06:05:12]

CNN's Eva McKend joins us now from Washington.

Eva, the big question right now, this has been kind of on cruise control the last couple of days. What's the House going to do?

EVA MCKEND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so right now, we're expecting between 16 to 18 Republicans to join with Democrats on the vote. More Senate Republicans seem like they're going to reject this, Phil.

It includes 60 billion to Ukraine, 14 billion to Israel, 9 billion in humanitarian assistance, 4 billion to the Indo Pacific.

Now, as for the House. In telegraphing his next moves, Mike Johnson. He's already signaling that this is dead on arrival in the lower chamber.

He said he won't put this foreign aid supplemental on the floor, because it is silent -- Those are his words -- on provisions on the Southern border. He again repeated that America has to secure its own border before sending additional foreign aid around the world.

But as you all know, he rejected a bipartisan bill where Democrats made significant concessions on immigration.

So all this to say right now, despite what is happening in the Senate, more than $95 billion in foreign aid, it remains uncertain. What we saw in the last few days is a number of Trump allies, really forcefully pushed back against their leader, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the passage of this bill.

Among the loudest voices in Congress opposing this foreign aid, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. Let's listen to his objections here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH): The United States Senate has deprived them of the debate and why. You know, I don't know why. I think maybe the reason why we are pushing this so quickly is because a few of my colleagues are desperate.

They are desperate to get to Munich next weekend and tell the leaders of the world that, yes, they did not secure their own Southern border, but they did the most important thing they got the $61 billion to Ukraine. It's shameful. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So Phil, as you well know, some Republicans in the House could try to band together with Democrats to try to creatively pass this measure.

But it will be a lengthy and difficult process ahead if they try to forge that path.

MATTINGLY: Yes, there are procedural options. None of them are very good or fast. Eva McKend, thanks so much.

HARLOW: Trying to talk about discharge petitions.

MATTINGLY: Would love to.

HARLOW: I be you would.

Donald Trump bringing the Supreme Court into the presidential race. He has asked the high court to pause a unanimous D.C. Circuit Court ruling that rejected his claims of immunity in that federal election subversion case.

Trump wants justices to issue a stay while they consider whether to hear his appeal. Under that scenario, Trump would likely not be tried until after the election.

But if the justices deny his request, the proceedings in that criminal trial will resume as they were going.

Katelyn Polantz joins us now. Morning. Explain to us the options here. And I'm just so intrigued by if you think the court's going to take this up.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's the Supreme Court, so they can do what they want.

Right now, we know that they're being nudged by the appeals court below them to act quickly. And there is a question of how quickly they will act on this application from Donald Trump.

Right now, the special counsel still has to respond to Trump going to the Supreme Court and asking to put a pause on his case. He's done what he needs to do to not have his case get back onto the path to trial.

But what is happening before the Supreme Court right now, Phil and Poppy, is that Trump is waiting and hoping that this will delay, delay, delay further so that he doesn't get back on the path to trial with this federal case, January 6, related to his actions after the election before Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C.

But it's all going to be up to the Supreme Court and how fast they want to look at this application to keep his case on hold if they want to address the bigger questions of presidential immunity and if they resolve this quickly. MATTINGLY: I understand, Katelyn. We can't predict how quickly they will decide one way or the other. But if the court does decide to take this case, does that essentially push any consideration of this criminal trial until after the election?

POLANTZ: Well, if your question is, when will Donald Trump go to trial, we're not going to have an answer to that. We're going to have to take that week by week, especially in this case, this January 6 federal case.

But this week, we have check-ins on all four of Donald Trump's criminal cases. And so we are seeing some on the books. His case in New York, his hush-money criminal case, is on the books for late March. That could hold.

We're going to hear from the judge later this week. There is a hearing on that. But a lot of what's going on right now could be up in the air. Things could move around. That happens in court.

One of the things, though, that I should mention in this Supreme Court application that Trump's team filed yesterday, they did sneak in a reference to their wish that Donald Trump should not be stifled from his campaign, that he shouldn't go to trial before the election.

[06:10:10]

They wrote to the Supreme Court -- this is his team -- "Permitting the Biden administration to put its leading political opponent on trial in the middle of the campaign for president would do just that, stifling President Trump's campaign speech for months on end with the election date less than nine months away."

HARLOW: Katelyn, thank you. You got your hands full, as usual, but especially this week. Thank you.

Next, the new reporting that we have on how the Biden administration feels about the Israeli operation that rescued two hostages from Hamas, but more than 100 Palestinians were killed.

MATTINGLY: And Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi, both sitting down with CNN, proving they are not, in fact, the same person. What the GOP presidential candidate says about the 2024 race and what the former Democratic House speaker makes of the dysfunction on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What do you think of Speaker Johnson? I mean, you would not have brought a bill you didn't have the votes for.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Never.

COOPER: Did you offer to help him count votes?

PELOSI: (LAUGHS)

(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): A perfect operation, a perfect execution. And I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you. I'm proud of you, of the Shin Bet, the IDF. You worked together like an oiled machine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:15:05]

HARLOW: That was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, praising the Israeli military and the intelligence arm for what they did to rescue those hostages.

But sources tell CNN President Biden is growing more frustrated with Netanyahu and his efforts to block attempts at easing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. This includes the Israeli mission that did succeed in rescuing those two hostages out of Rafah.

But at the same time on that same day, we saw the deaths of 100 Palestinians, according to a senior administration official.

Also, after meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House yesterday, President Biden expressed caution as Israel maps out a potential ground invasion into Rafah. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The major military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan. A credible plan for ensuring the safety and support for more than 1 million people sheltering there, exposed and vulnerable.

They need to be protected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You could see, by the way, King Abdullah nodding behind him as Biden said that. Biden also saying a deal to release the remaining hostages is on the table, one that calls for a six-week pause in fighting.

And this comes as the director of the CIA, Bill Burns, is in Cairo today, meeting with many people in the hopes of brokering a deal.

MATTINGLY: Well, also this morning, Donald Trump defending how he handled NATO during his presidency. Last night on Truth Social, he wrote, quote, "I made NATO strong after so many years in the United States, picking up the tab. It was a beautiful sight to see, but now without me there to say you must pay, they are at it again."

His post was a response to the backlash from these comments over the weekend. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, Well, sir, if we don't pay and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us?

I said, You didn't pay? You're delinquent?

He said, Yes, let's say that happened.

No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You've got to pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says U.S. credibility is now at stake because of those comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. CHARLES Q. BROWN JR., JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: I think we have a responsibility to uphold those alliances. U.S. credibility is at stake with each of our alliances. And U.S. leadership is still needed, wanted, and watched.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: With us now to discuss, CNN political analyst and historian Leah Wright Rigueur; national politics reporter for the Associated Press, Michelle Price; CNN political commentator, Errol Louis.

And Michelle, to start with you, because you could spend three hours on the show explaining that delinquency is not an actual thing when it comes to what he's talking about. He's talking about spending 2 percent of GDP, which is an agreement reached by all NATO allies back in 2014, progressively starting with President Obama; continuing through President Trump.

More nations have hit that mark. There are still woefully few that have. I think it's at 11 right now. It is a fair concern and complaint. How Trump describes it is not how it actually works.

I think what's so striking to me is Republican hawks on Capitol Hill defending him and saying, wow, this is -- this is just what he wants. He's just trying to get them to do something here. He doesn't actually mean it.

MICHELLE PRICE, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Right? I mean, what's striking is A, are they not -- they're not even correcting that there is no bill. They don't owe money to America. This is not how NATO works. You know, we have debates in the presidential candidates about their understanding, how sharp they are. This is a big, willful -- seems willful misunderstanding.

Setting that aside, you know, I think it shows a lot about where Donald Trump's grip is on his party, that some of these hawks are not only not criticizing him, but they say, well, he didn't do it. So we don't think he'll do it.

People who worked for him -- John Bolton, Nikki Haley -- say in private, he's made it very clear he did want to pull out of NATO.

HARLOW: Can we listen to Bolton on that? OK. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: I was there with him in the spring of 2018 at the NATO summit in Brussels, where he damn near did get out of NATO. He is serious about it. And whether you're a Trump supporter or Trump opponent, don't -- don't think he's kidding about this one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRICE: I mean, he was with him. His memoir is in the room with him. Some of these Republicans, Marco Rubio, they say, well, look at -- he didn't pull this out of NATO. This is just tough negotiating tactics.

But I mean, people who worked for him, who worked on these issues with him has said -- they've made it clear that he -- he's very serious about pulling the U.S. out of this.

HARLOW: He can't do it, though, Errol, without Congress now, largely because of part of what Marco Rubio did.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, we -- we should remember that our treaty obligations are not just a nice idea. They have the force of law.

And so he can't do it lightly. On the other hand, he is signaling what he intends to do.

And by the way, so was Vladimir Putin. All right? I mean, in a recent interview he gave with, you know, an American commentator, he mentioned Poland like 30 times. He kept talking about how Poland is a target. Poland has done wrong. Poland might be on his hit list. It's -- it's unbelievably dangerous.

And for -- you know, for members of Congress to sort of try and play to the cheap seats, try and do the easy thing, try and get past the next election without understanding that, you know, really, security of -- of the whole world is at stake, is really quite shocking. And in some ways a failure of our system.

[06:20:09]

I mean, this is where, as we're picking a president, we're supposed to be able to talk about these big questions, like, why did we keep 25,000 troops stationed at great cost in Germany for a couple of generations? It was to keep the peace.

Why do we pay so much money for NATO? It's to keep the peace, and it has worked for 75 years. The idea that someone would, a former president at that, would get up

and say, You know what? Let's just rip that all apart. Let's just tear that all apart, because I have a relationship with his dictator; and I'd like to even encourage him to invade other countries or - or play with the NATO treaty. It's really just shocking. You know?

So we should really just make sure we don't lose our capacity to be alarmed by this, to be shocked by this, and to -- and to do something. Marco Rubio is not the guy to do that. It's going to have to really be up to American voters, not -- not the politicians.

MATTINGLY: As all this was playing out, we saw the president last night -- the former president last night endorse his pick for the next RNC chair, as well as the RNC co-chair. His daughter-in-law, which is strange because Ronna McDaniel sent out an email to donors last week saying nothing's changed. We've just keeping our head down and working, despite everything that you've read that says I'm definitely getting bounced after South Carolina. She's getting bounced after South Carolina.

When it comes to who Trump endorsed, is there anything we should read out of that? What does it tell you about what's going forward in the Republican Party?

LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND HISTORIAN: So I think Trump has actually been very straightforward from the jump, and that the problem is that to our detriment, we continue to say that, you know, he's just putting on an act. This is not real. This is -- these are these are politics, writ large, when in fact Trump is like, no, these are the things that I believe in.

One of the things that he believes in his getting rid of NATO. The other thing that he believes in getting rid of -- that he believes fundamentally in is putting people in positions of power that are directly related to him. You know, I think his policy is one of nepotism. He firmly believes in that.

And part of it is because it's a way of enforcing an agenda and an outlook that hones close to him. What better way than to have a daughter-in-law or a family member in a position of power when you need them to be in a position of power?

And I think this is actually -- it's not just to the America's -- America's detriment. It's to the Republican Party's detriment. They still, after all of these years, after people who have seen the sausage getting made, who have tried to rein Trump in, still have this kind of delusional belief that they can control Donald Trump; when the reality is, you cannot control Donald Trump.

This is Donald Trump's party. And right now, he is putting things in position -- in place and in position to ensure that you cannot control him.

HARLOW: One of his biggest gripes with Ronna McDaniel was that she didn't do enough to try to overturn the election results in 2020. The guy up for it now is a name, maybe not a household name yet. Michael Whatley, chairman of North Carolina's Republican Party.

Our K-File team dug up some really, I think, relevant sound. This is what he said in 2020 about the challenges that the president put forward and the false statements about the validity of the election.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WHATLEY, CHAIRMAN, NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY: Regardless of how these lawsuits come out around the country with the presidential race, we do know that there was massive fraud that took place. We know that it took place in places like Milwaukee and Detroit, and Philadelphia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Errol.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Regardless of how the courts have ruled? You know, there were dozens of cases. This was litigated up, down and sideways in state courts and federal courts and all -- in individual jurisdictions and overall.

For him to sort of say that and say, we know what happened in Milwaukee, in Detroit, and so forth. I don't know if he was even in a position to know that, sitting in North Carolina and spouting this kind of nonsense.

So I mean, look, we've said it -- we've reported repeatedly: democracy is on the line. Democracy is on the ballot. People like that make clear that respect for the rule of law and for the decisions of courts is also on the ballot.

MATTINGLY: All right. Guys, stay with us. We've got a lot more to get to in this hour.

Also this morning, a Georgia judge says the district attorney could be disqualified in the Trump election case. How her relationship with the lead prosecutor is going to be examined. That's next.

HARLOW: Also, disturbing new details about the woman who went in and shot up Joel Osteen's Houston mega-church. What police have learned about her criminal history and possibly a motive; and why she took her seven-year-old son with her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:28:19]

HARLOW: New video this morning captures the panic and the fear at Joel Osteen's megachurch on Sunday. Police say a 36-year-old woman armed with two rifles and with her 7-year-old son, opened fire.

This unfolded as the congregation ducked for cover, and they ran for the exits. MATTINGLY: Off-duty police officers killed the shooter, but her son was hit in the gunfire, as well. He's listed in critical condition. Police are trying to pinpoint a motive for the violence.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is live for us in Houston. Ed, when we spoke yesterday, there were so many unanswered questions, some questions about whether any of them could be answered. Investigators are learning more, though, right now about the suspect. What do we know?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've learned more. It is a complex picture.

What police describe as a 36-year-old, Genesse Moreno, who had -- with a long history of mental health issues that investigators say that have been documented with the police department.

But despite all of that, she was still able to legally obtain the firearms she brought here to the Lakewood church.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Gunfire blasts ring out just before a Spanish- language service was about to begin at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston Sunday afternoon.

Police say a 36-year-old woman entered the prominent megachurch with her 7-year-old child. She was wearing a trench coat, carrying a bag, two rifles, including the AR-15 she used to unleash the barrage of gunfire.

That firearm the shooter used in the attack had a sticker with the word "Palestine" written on it. Police say she started firing the AR- 15 the moment she walked into the Lakewood Church building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mom was screaming and then my mom said, "Come, come," and we ducked.

[06:30:00]