Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Arizona Supreme Court Upholds 1864 Law Banning Abortions; House Delays Sending Mayorkas Impeachment to Senate; Flash Flood Emergency Declared in Texas. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 10, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. It's Wednesday, April 10, right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

[06:01:19]

A Civil War-era abortion law reinstated in Arizona, igniting a problem for Republicans that Donald Trump was trying to tamp down.

President Biden questioning Israel's war strategy against Hamas and elevating his criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

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

All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. There's a live look at the nation's capital on this Wednesday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

Problem solved: Leave it up to the states? That was Donald Trump's big announcement on abortion rights on Monday. But it didn't take long for voters to be reminded what "leave it up to the states" actually can look like.

The state Supreme Court in Arizona upheld an 1864 -- Yes, that's correct -- 1864 law that bans all abortions with only one exception: for the life of the mother. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.

The law was written before Arizona became a state and before women had the right to vote.

Trump's announcement earlier this week was seemingly designed to help Republicans appeal to a broader array of voters. It may have backfired just seven months before the election.

Voters in Arizona, of course, a key swing state that could decide who wins the presidency, will go to the polls in November with reproductive rights on the line and in their hands.

Trump has -- former President Trump has repeatedly expressed pride in the fact that he orchestrated the demise of Roe versus Wade, something that the White House is more than happy to remind voters about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: One-third of all

women of reproductive age now live in a state with an abortion ban.

When the president's predecessor handicapped three Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, it paved the way for the chaos and confusion we're seeing play out across the country today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Abortion rights have not lost a single time when the issue has been left to voters, Arizona's attorney general calls the ruling a stain on the state. And Governor Katie Hobbs says she's ready to fight for the fight over reproductive rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATIE HOBBS (D-AZ): And the near total Civil War era ban that continues to hang over our heads only serves to create more chaos for women and doctors in our state. As governor, I promised I would do everything in my power to protect our reproductive freedoms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Our panel's here now: former Senator Doug Jones; David Frum, staff writer for "The Atlantic"; and Shermichael Singleton, former deputy chief of staff at HUD in the Trump administration. Welcome all. Thank you very much for being here.

David Frum, I want to give you the first word on this as you look at how this played out in Arizona. It's -- it's almost the perfect storm and encapsulation of this issue in a single situation. A law from 1864 being reinstated.

DAVID FRUM, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Well, the abortion debate is one of the rare cases in 20 -- America 2024 where American democracy and politics are working the way they're supposed to.

So long as Roe v. Wade was in place, it created perverse incentives for everyone in politics. It radicalized people who wanted to restrict abortion rights and gave them very unrealistic ideas of what they could achieve.

And it made defenders of abortion rights complacent, because they looked to the courts to do the job. And the controversy never went away. It never -- never was resolved in any way. Because there was this background law that everyone assumed would always be there.

Now, the background law is gone, and voters have to go to the polls and decide what is a resolution that America can live with.

[06:05:08]

And we're discovering that America is a 70-30 nation on abortion rights, with 70 percent wanting some version of abortion rights and 30 percent wanting very restricted. And the 70 percent will win. It will have ramifications up and down the ballot in 2024. A lot of Republicans who, in years past, counted on Roe v Wade, took extreme positions that they themselves did not believe because it was -- it was a free vote. Why not? There was no -- no downside risk. Are now discovering, wait a minute, I may have to act on these words I said. And then when I've acted, I've discovered I've banned in vitro fertilization. And women across the country and men, too, who want to be fathers are angry at me.

And what we're going to see is an energized Democratic Party. And I think after the chastening lessons of 2024, a Republican Party that is less radical on the issue than it used to be.

HUNT: So to your point about the way people would take this as something that they could could say, I do want to show, Senator Jones, what Kari Lake had to say in the immediate aftermath of Dobbs being overturned. This was back in June of 2020.

And she was talking about the Arizona law that has now been put back in play. Watch what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARI LAKE (R), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE (via phone): I'm incredibly thrilled that we are going to have a great law that's already on the books. I believe its ARS 13-3603. So it will prohibit abortion in Arizona, except to save the life of a mother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Senator Jones, so she said, it's a great law and she's incredibly thrilled.

This contrasts significantly with what she said when this happened yesterday, when she said, "I oppose today's ruling, and I'm calling on Katie Hobbs and the state legislature to come up with an immediate common-sense solution that Arizonans can support."

That seems to crystallize.

DOUG JONES (D), FORMER ALABAMA SENATOR: And you're asking seeing me if that makes sense?

No. It absolutely does not make sense, except in the context, as David was saying, of folks that are now realizing that the dog has caught the car, and they don't know what to do. They don't know what to say. They did not think through what they were saying.

And in the moment, because they were simply pandering to a base of voters in the Republican Party. A very extreme pro-life movement. And now they're caught.

And all of a sudden, the same thing we saw happen with the IVF ruling in Alabama. State legislators were running around with their hair on fire saying, Oh me, oh, my, we didn't anticipate this. We didn't see this coming. Well, they're right. They didn't, because they don't think it through.

They didn't think it through. And that's exactly where we are, as David described a minute ago. And you're going to see more of that, I think, in the near future.

HUNT: Shermichael, is this the issue that will -- put it how you want -- save Joe Biden, save Donald Trump?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's possible. I mean, you're looking at a 10,457-vote difference in Arizona.

Now, granted in 2016, former President Trump had a higher vote margin than President Biden in 2020. Yet, I'm not certain that that will really make much of a difference.

Donald Trump's path to the White House in November will be through a handful of battleground states. He has to maintain North Carolina, regain Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin.

He cannot afford to lose one of those four states, either Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, and expect to win.

So this idea that abortion is back at the forefront, again, is -- is insanity to me.

And I understand the former president wanted to say return it back to the states. And I would have argued just hit return it back to the states and allow voters in those states to vote on it.

Because what we're seeing is when people vote on the issue, they say, Look, we want to protect this right. And it's not just Democrats, Kasie. It's Republicans, as well.

HUNT: So let's remind everyone just where and how Donald Trump has talked about this issue over the years. We're going to start in 1999. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT/2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm very pro-choice. I hate the concept of abortion.

I'm pro-life.

There has to be some form of punishment --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the woman?

TRUMP: Both sides will come together, and for the first time in 52 years, you'll have an issue that we can put behind us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the federal level?

TRUMP: It could be state, or it could be federal. I don't frankly care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: "I don't frankly care." I mean, that is -- he's all over the map. I mean, that's -- the Biden campaign can use that pretty easily.

JONES: Absolutely. There's no question about it, because every one of those will -- will be seen over and over and over again, I think, in states.

And you name it. It's going to be seen. And not only that, you're going to have their surrogates out there who have said the same thing. You're going to have Lindsey Graham. You're going to have Tim Scott. You're going to have all of these folks.

Every surrogate that Donald Trump puts out there has the exact same position. And I'm -- I'm like -- I agree with you. I think it is going to be a killer.

FRUM: Senator Jones used the analogy of the dog that caught the car, I think this is more like the coyote running off the edge of the cliff. And suddenly realizing he's 10,000 feet up, and there's beneath him.

HUNT: We'll have to give you that Wile E. Coyote animation next time you come up here.

FRUM: But it's not just Donald Trump. This is -- this is -- the Republicans have, over the past generation, been pushed by their own internal dynamics into positions that are unsustainable they don't believe.

[06:10:11]

I mean, Donald Trump, you can see this is one of the rare cases where you can actually feel sympathy for him.

So Donald Trump's in politics to collect applause and to steal. He has no views on abortion whatsoever, any way you want to do it. He doesn't care.

He just was -- what he learned was the incentives within his party were to be as extreme as possible in a completely insincere way. And now suddenly, words have meaning, words have results, and therefore, words have costs.

And once words have costs, politicians measure their words. Before now, words did not have cost, at least on the Republican side. And they didn't measure their words.

SINGLETON: Yes, but the incentives -- really quickly, for the evangelicals, should be if you want to win in November, you better leave this alone. Women don't want you coming after their reproductive rights. It's that simple. Republicans need to understand that.

HUNT: All right. We are -- obviously, we've got a lot to talk about here. We're going to keep talking about this throughout the show.

But up next here, why House Republicans are holding off on sending the homeland security secretary's impeachment to the Senate.

Plus, a longtime Trump confidant facing sentencing today for perjury.

And dramatic footage of a bishop saving a child from a fiery crash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:45]

HUNT: Welcome back. House Republicans delaying plans to send the Senate impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

It was supposed to happen today, and now it's not going to be till next week. Senate Republicans want more time to make the case for a full impeachment trial. Democrats sticking to their plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Look, we're going to try and resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So Senator Jones, you obviously were around to see the impeachment trials in the Senate. What's going on here in terms of this -- this really does feel like -- and I remember I went on maternity leave during the first impeachment of Donald Trump. And I thought to myself, Oh, my gosh, I'm never going to get to cover for an impeachment trial in my whole career.

And lo and behold, a year later, I was proven wrong. And you've heard critics like Ken Buck say impeachment has just become a social media stuff, right?

JONES: It is. It's just totally weaponized. This is a policy difference. And I think what's going to happen ultimately is they're going to figure out a way to give maybe some time to the impeachment managers to come in, make a quick case, get the vote over and get this over with.

This is -- this is just wrong. I mean, this is absolutely wrong to put policy differences on the floor in the form of an impeachment trial.

HUNT: You -- you really think it's going to get that far that we're actually going to see people making statements on the floor?

JONES: It's possible. I think it's very possible. It doesn't have to. I mean, they could clearly take one vote and have these charges dismissed.

But I think, in order to make sure that -- that Republicans, Democrats have some semblance of work, some semblance of procedure, there's at least a chance there will be some small trial, not necessarily even at trial, but at least statements on the floor. It gets it over with pretty -- pretty quickly.

HUNT: David Frum, how do you think about this? The fact that this would be the first time in history something like this would happen.

FRUM: Well, imagine that the Social Security Administration was under- invested in computers for decades. And as a result, there's a crisis, and all the checks were late. People would be mad.

So you say, I have an idea. Let's impeach the Social Security Administrator. What will that accomplish? The computers will still be broken. And the checks will still be late.

And it's not actually that one person who made the relevant decision that you care about. It's -- it's decades of poor -- which fortunately, is not true of the Social Security Administration.

So the border doesn't work. The immigration system doesn't work. You have massive over-stressing of the asylum laws. That's all true.

But this guy sitting at the top of the bureaucracy, he couldn't fix it if he wanted to. And I don't know whether he wanted to or not. It doesn't matter. It's not a person's malfeasance or misfeasance or error or mistake. It's just a system breaking down.

So vote the money that is needed to get people at the border to have the trials of asylum claimants rejected -- heard and rejected more quickly. Do the real work to fix the system. You're not -- the day after this impeachment ends however it does --

HUNT: Yes --

FRUM: -- every problem will be there, will still exist.

HUNT: All right.

Coming up next here, Marjorie Taylor Greene facing backlash for trying to oust the speaker of the House.

Plus, a new privacy compromise that could change how companies use your online data.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:16]

HUNT: Welcome back. A developing story now, a life-threatening flash flood emergency has been declared in Texas. Let's get straight to our meteorologist Allison Chinchar in our weather center.

Allison, what are you seeing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So a lot of rain has fallen in this area. About five to eight inches has already fallen just in the last few hours across portions of Kirbyville, Texas. That's where the flash flood emergency is. Law enforcement reporting feet of water into people's homes. They are trying to organize some water rescues there.

It's one of many areas that's dealing with some of those flash flood warnings. But not surprising, the Pin Oak Cree -- that's in Kirbyville -- rose ten feet in just six hours, now bringing that up to major flood stage.

And again, it's one of the few -- several areas that have already reported at least four to six inches, not just in Texas, but also areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, as well.

We've also got severe thunderstorm warnings and even a couple tornado warnings possible. One right now in Mississippi. And the other one you can see down in extreme Southeastern Texas, just East of Houston, ongoing.

That is likely to continue throughout the day today, because we have a severe thunderstorm watch in effect for East Texas. We also have a tornado watch that's in effect until 9 a.m. Central Time across portions of Louisiana.

This is all part of the greater scope today of severe weather as this system is expected to move Eastward. So that also means those threats will shift Eastward, as well.

So the potential for strong tornadoes, damaging winds, large hail and, yes, even flooding is going to be significant, especially down here along the Gulf Coast region, essentially from East Texas all the way over into portions of Southern Georgia.

There's also an increased threat for EF-2 sized tornadoes, or even stronger. So again, that's going to be a concern today. Again, as this system continues to progress Eastward into states like Louisiana, Mississippi by lunchtime, Alabama by the evening rush, and eventually, into Georgia by this evening.

[06:25:04]

HUNT: All right. A lot to look out for there. Allison Chinchar for us. Allison, thanks very much.

All right. It's 24 minutes past the hour. Here's five things you have to see this morning.

A Virginia bishop saving a child from a fiery crash on a Maryland highway. The mother pulled herself out. You see the bishop here carrying the little boy away from the smoke and fire.

Mexico has released this video of an Ecuadorian police raid at its embassy in Ecuador's capitol. Men forcibly carried out Ecuador's former vice president and pushed a Mexican diplomat to the ground.

An escaped mountain goat rescued from a ledge under a Kansas City bridge. The goat wound up falling nearly 80 feet, and he was knocked unconscious, but a vet and firefighters were able to revive him. The UCONN men's basketball team returning home to a hero's welcome. Fans lined the streets as the team's buses left the airport. There's also a victory parade scheduled for Saturday.

Dramatic video of officers in Florida rescuing a man who got swept 100 yards into the ocean by a rip current during spring break. The victim was originally unresponsive but made a full recovery.

All right. Up next here, President Joe Biden has new criticism for Israel's strategy in Gaza. Ahead, hear what Biden called a, quote, "mistake" by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Plus, how a new bipartisan bill could affect your online privacy. I'll discuss with House use Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]