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Arizona Court Upholds 1864 Law Banning Nearly All Abortions; Blinken Calls Out "Lack Of Outrage" Toward Hamas; 30 Million People Facing Severe Storm Threat In The South. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 10, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:38]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, April 10th.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:

Outrage in Arizona and blowback for Republicans after the state Supreme Court ruling effectively bans all abortions there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It remains astounding to me that the world is almost deafeningly silent when it comes to Hamas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Secretary of State Blinken questioning why there's so much outrage against the Israelis rather than the terrorists who attacked them.

And House Republicans delaying their attempt to impeach Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

(MUSIC)

HUNT: All right. Five a.m. here in Washington. It's 2:00 a.m. out in San Francisco, a live look there as looks the middle of their night.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Wonderful to have you with us.

Just a day after Donald Trump tried to solve Republicans' abortion problem, it got a lot worse for them. The Arizona Supreme Court reinstating a Civil War era abortion law the bans nearly all abortions in the state. It includes just one exception for the life of the mother.

Arizona's Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs vowing to fight the ruling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATIE HOBBS (D) ARIZONA: Well, Arizonans across the state are reeling from this decision that reinstates the most draconian ban in the country. This is a ban that as you said, was passed in 1864, before we are a state, before women had the right to vote, and it is a near-total ban with no exceptions for rape or incest. It requires prison time for doctors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Hobbs went on to underscore that Arizonans will have the chance to vote on the issue in November. That could present a significant political problem for Republicans, Arizona is a critical race in November, it could control -- determine control of the Senate, and that's before we even get to the presidential stakes.

Mychael Schnell, congressional reporter for "The Hill", is joining me now to talk more about this.

Mychael, good morning. It's wonderful to see you. Thanks for being here.

MYCHAEL SCHNELL, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE HILL: Thanks for having me.

HUNT: So the Senate race in Arizona again, just to score for everyone, the Senate is balanced right on the edge, right? Fifty-fifty could easily go either way, Republicans very much hoping to take it back, and it could hinge on this race in Arizona between Ruben Gallego and Kari Lake.

So, Kari Lake, the Republican, very Trumpian figure, if we remember back to how she conducted her politics last time how much he was running for governor. She writes this: I wholeheartedly agree with President Trump.

Okay. A personal issue that should be determined by a state and her people. But then she says, I opposed today's ruling. I'm calling on Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, and the state legislature to come up with an immediate common sense solution that Arizonans can support.

I think it's worth noting here that there is a 15-week ban in place that has exceptions in Arizona. So there is what many politicians will refer to as a middle ground solution on this.

What does it tell you that Kari Lake is taking this position on this?

SCHNELL: That abortion is throwing politics into whack, right? Kari Lake right here. And she had previously endorsed this near-total abortion ban back in I believe it was 2022.

Now, she's turning around and moderating her voice. And this is something that we've seen. Its a common theme that we've seen throughout this Arizona Senate race in general, both Ruben Gallego and Kari Lake trying to be more of a moderate voice.

But particularly on abortion, it shows that Republicans are nervous about how this is going to affect turnout at the ballot box, how it's going to affect ultimate results. I mean, we saw it in 2022. Everyone spoke about that red wave that was going to calm Republicans, were going to pick up a number of seats in the House and the Senate that didn't happen because better-than-expected results from Democrats blunted that red wave largely in part because of the Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade.

Now this abortion politics is a winning message for Democrats. They know how to run on it. They know what brings them results. Republicans, I think the fact that is back in the news, Arizonans going to have one of those ballot initiatives to try to enshrine abortion rights come November, Republicans are nervous that once again, this could upend their momentum.

HUNT: Yeah, and this is also a strategy that Democrats have pursued to try to put abortion rights on the ballot, not just certainly it makes sense in the context of each individual state, but it also has the potential to impact -- Arizona is a critical swing state --

[05:05:07]

SCHNELL: Oh, it's huge.

HUNT: -- for President Biden.

Let's put up on the screen what has happened in states where abortion has been directly on the ballot in these ballot initiatives. It's happened in California, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Kansas. And if we can get that, we can show you.

Now, this is the one that has kind of shows across the country, the state of play for each of these states. But there is another one, there it is, that will show you -- so, the light blue is where people rejected a measure to restrict rights and the darker blue is where it was explicitly protected.

And you'll notice that states on this map include Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, which has historically swing has not been a swing state lately. So what does this tell you about the possibility for the ballot initiative in Arizona, which has become a very purple state?

SCHNELL: Yeah, it could really affect turnout at the ballot box. And, of course, turnout doesn't just matter for that ballot initiative, but it'll matter if you get more Democrats voting, that could help President Biden, that could help Ruben Gallego, that can help with all these down-ballot races.

So when you put this balance sheet of on the ballot, and up for grabs come November that could galvanize a lot of Democratic voters. Again, it's the dynamic that we saw back in November. So I think that a lot of Democrats, while they're not happy with the substance of the ruling yesterday, of course, they don't want to see abortion -- abortion rights being curtailed politically speaking, this is going to give them the momentum and its going to be able to supercharge their messaging as we get closer to November.

HUNT: Let's talk about Trump himself for a second because he did a lot of sort of public hemming and hawing. He would say 15 weeks, 16 weeks will say, oh, this is what people think. Then he, all of a sudden, he said out loud, I'm going to make a statement on abortion, a little bit to the surprise of his team.

He did it on the day of the eclipse and the NCAA men's championship.

SCHNELL: And he's trying to bury the news a little bit.

HUNT: Sort of bury it. You know, coincidence. There are a few coincidences in politics.

But the bottom line here is that the Biden campaign was able to put up a tweet now that says this is what leaving it to the states looks like. There is a state with a ban that is literally from the Wild West, and the Civil War era. For Trump himself, what does this mean? Because on the one hand saying -- he didn't say one way or the other in that video, whether he would or wouldn't sign a national abortion ban.

But that saying you'll sign a national abortion ban hands a gift to Democrats. And in this case, you can hold up an example of, hey, this is what a state would do. How -- what is his next move here?

SCHNELL: And again, this is why Democrats are happy, because Republicans still haven't figured out their messaging on this issue since 2022. They still have not figured out how to thread that needle to pick up support and have a winning message there.

Look, this is not a good scenario for Trump because as you mentioned, he said that this should be left to the states. He said that whatever states decide, that'll be the land of the states, essentially endorsing those rulings.

And Democrats, the Biden campaign beforehand were already pointing out those states and those specific rulings and decisions in those states. Now they're going to do it even more with this Civil War era law now on the books. Of course, there's the 14-day waiting period to see if there'll be some appeals.

HUNT: Likely to be appealed.

SCHNELL: Right. But again, this gives the Biden campaign ability to say, well, Donald Trump essentially endorse this because he said that he supportive and he said that this is the decision of states and whatever states decide, that's going to be the law of the land. Well, this is a decision and Arizona, a key swing state, when that could determine some -- could determine the balance of power in the Senate next year.

So, were Democrats are really going to run on this and say, well, is this what you want? This is what happens when it's left to the states.

HUNT: All right. Michael Schnell for us, starting us off this morning, Mychael, thank you. Great to have you.

All right. Just ahead here, why Republicans decided not to move forward this week with the impeachment of homeland -- the homeland security secretary.

Plus, former Senator Doug Jones is here with a warning for states that still protect abortion rights.

Plus, and next on Antony Blinken not holding back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLINKEN: The world is almost deafeningly silent when it comes to Hamas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[05:13:20]

HUNT: Welcome back.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, showing some frustration with the international response to the war in Gaza. During a joint press conference with a UK foreign secretary yesterday, Blinken condemned Israel's humanitarian efforts in Gaza, and also passionately called out the lack of outrage toward Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLINKEN: It would also be I think important that so much of the understandable passion outrage and anger directed at Israel for the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. But some of that might also be reserved and directed for Hamas. It remains astounding to me that the world is almost deafeningly silent when it comes to Hamas. Where's the outrage there?

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HUNT: "Where's the outrage?" he asks.

CNN international anchor Max Foster joins me now, live from London.

Max, good morning. Always wonderful to see you.

What do you make of Blinken's remarks there, especially as President Biden seems to have been intensifying his criticism, or at least his harsher words toward Netanyahu and the conduct of this war?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think has been quite deafeningly silence, hasn't there? There's been a huge amount of criticism of Hamas around the world, here in Europe as much as any other place. So, I think that was a bit confusing to a lot of people.

The other thing that was confusing is that you have this defense of Israel in the Blinken speech, but then at the same time, you've got President Biden saying what are the basically sharpest rebukes really of Israel's handling think of the war in Gaza.

[05:15:17]

So, I'm just talking from an outside America point of view that there are, you know, as ever, so many more, so many conflicting views on Israel and Gaza and Hamas, and a lack of clarity really about where America stands on a lot of these issues. I mean, the arms issue is still a really live one here, you know, supplying arms to Israel. Is that right or wrong? Criticizing Israel at the same time as supplying arms to Israel.

I think a lot of people are getting really lost in a little the language here.

HUNT: Yeah, I have to say as I watched Blinken say what he said, I couldn't help but thinking of his family history and his stepfather was a Holocaust survivor, and you saw a lot of that in the early days of the war and after October 7 from Blinken. I kind of wonder if that wasn't at play here.

But, Max, I also wanted to ask you, Thomas Friedman, a columnist in "The New York Times", historically influential former Mideast bureau chief for them, he writes this about Israel. If Israel is not going to partner with the Palestinian Authority and moderate Arab states to create different governance in Gaza and create conditions for normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia, Israel needs to get its hostages back, and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, get out of Gaza, have a new election and do a deep rethink.

Please, Israel, do not get sucked into Rafah and permanently occupy Gaza. It will be a disaster.

This is an interesting reminder to me of the state of play before October 7, which was that Saudi Arabia was on the brink of signing this normalization agreement with Israel. Israel was potentially occupying a very different place in the region, and on the world stage.

What's your view of the implications of all of this?

FOSTER: Well, I think, you know, the point there is let's deal with what's happening in Gaza right now and then build those diplomatic relations afterwards. I don't want to put words into his mouth, but there are two things going on here, isn't it what's actually she gave me on in Gaza right now and the immediate strategy and whether or not refer as part of that. And then broadly what happens after all of this and whether or not cheap stay within Israel, for example Saudi Arabia will obviously have a say as a major Arab country in what of structure should be rebuilt their, and it'll be really important one for Saudi Arabia to be working with Israel.

So that was a really important piece of progression and the Middle East, the wider Middle East peace process but there are two different elements here. The long-term, the short-term, and the short-term challenges we spoke about yesterday for Netanyahu, is that the extreme right insist that he does go into Rafah, or they will topple its government.

HUNT: Yeah, very -- very central driving force behind what is playing out here. Much, of course, with the people of Gaza caught in the crossfire. Max Foster for us in London -- Max, thank you. I really appreciate it.

FOSTER: Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: Up next here, independent candidate Cornel West about to announce his pick for his vice president.

Plus, upheaval in the House. Speaker Mike Johnson still struggling to keep his job.

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[05:22:44]

HUNT: Twenty-two minutes past the hour. Here's your morning round up.

The state of Missouri executing convicted murderer Brian Dorsey after last-minute appeals for clemency to the governor, and the Supreme Court failed. The 52-year-old died by lethal injection just after 6:00 p.m. Central Time.

Six white former police officers from Mississippi known as the Goon Squad will be sentenced in state court today for torturing two Black men. They've already been sentenced to lengthy federal prison terms.

Independent presidential candidate Cornel West is set to announce his running mate on Tavis Smiley Show at noon today. Critics say both he and RFK Jr. won't win but could put Donald Trump back in the White House.

All right. Time now for your morning weather. Thirty million people faced severe storm threats from Texas to Georgia today. Jackson, Mississippi, was hard hit on Tuesday with a confirmed tornado just west of the city and more flash flood warnings this morning.

Our meteorologist Allison Chinchar, tracking the system for us.

Allison, good morning. What are you seeing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Already, some ongoing storms even at this hour, we've got a very strong line. It's just starting to push into Houston and Galveston, Texas. You've also got some strong storms sliding in from eastern Louisiana in towards Mississippi as we speak a lot of lightning with these.

But also the potential for strong to severe thunderstorms. You've got a severe thunderstorm watch that includes Houston. We've also got this new tornado watch that includes a good portion of Louisiana and that's valid until 9:00 a.m. Central Time this morning as these storms are expected to continue to slide east, we could in turn end up seeing additional severe thunderstorm watches for even tornado watches, put out later on into the day.

The main concern for all of these areas you see here, regardless of the color, is going to be strong tornadoes. The potential for damaging winds, and even some large hail. But the real focus point is going to be the closer you get towards the

Gulf Coast, especially when we talk about tornadoes because this hatched area you see here has a pretty decent chance of EF2 tornadoes or even stronger. So again, not just some of the smaller ones, but some of the more potent tornadoes as well.

Here's a look at the storms. Once we get towards lunchtime, the bulk of those really strong storms are really focused over areas of Mississippi. By the evening, rush hour commute, it's focused more over Alabama, so Birmingham, Montgomery, Huntsville likely to deal with a very soggy commutes.

[05:25:00]

By the evening time, that's when we really start to see those slide into places like Atlanta, and then eventually into Charlotte during the overnight and the morning hours tomorrow.

So this is going to be a multi-day event. There's also going to be a flood threat, and take a look at this. They're already significant areas that have seen four to six inches of rain already, more on the way. So we also have the potential for flooding is we go today and tomorrow.

HUNT: All right. Allison Chinchar for us -- Allison, thanks very much for that.

Ahead here, the political implications of the Arizona Supreme Court's decision to uphold a civil war era ban on abortion.

And former Democratic Senator Doug Jones of Alabama joins me to talk about Donald Trump's latest loss in court.

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