Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Trump Says He Would Not Sign Federal Abortion Ban; Israel Defense Minister: We Plan To "Flood Gaza With Aid"; Flash Flood Emergency In Effect For Tallahassee, Florida. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired April 11, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:37]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, April 11th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Would you sign a national abortion ban if Congress sent it to your desk?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Donald Trump seeming to go back and forth on the abortion issue, claiming he won't sign a federal abortion ban after supporting one for years.
Israel's top military official promising to flood Gaza with aid, claiming it's a new phase in the war with Hamas.
And House conservatives revolting against their own leadership. They have rejected new surveillance rules at the urging of Donald Trump.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington.
Here's a live look at the Washington Monument on this Thursday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Just days after saying that he believes abortion rights are up to the states. Donald Trump finds himself at the center of Arizona's controversial civil war era ban. On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court revived a law written back in 1864, which bans abortion statewide, with the only exception being for the life of the mother.
On Wednesday, Trumps signaled he believes that the law goes too far. He also insisted he won't sign a national abortion ban. If he becomes president again, despite the fact that he did previously support one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Yeah, they did, and that'll be straightened out, and as you know, it's all about states' rights, and it'll be straightened out, and I'm sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason, and that will be taken care off, I think, very quickly.
REPORTER: Would you sign a national abortion ban if Congress sent it to your desk?
TRUMP: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So that's what Trump said yesterday.
Joining us now to now discuss is Stef Kight, political reported for "Axios".
Stef, good morning.
One second, I want to show everyone there. You saw at Trump, make this comment where he said, oh, it'll be straightened out in Arizona. This is a video that he put out overnight last night, just a brief clip of it and trying to explain again where he stands.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land -- in this case, the law of the state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So that was at Donald Trump on Monday when he put out his statement about supporting a national abortion ban or not, where he was going to be on this, it did generate some criticism from the right.
This is what he had to say overnight last night on Truth Social, which, of course, was in the wake of the 1864 law being revived in Arizona. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: People forget, fighting Roe v. Wade was right from the beginning all about bringing the issue back to the states, pursuant to the Tenth Amendment and states' rights. It wasn't about anything else. That's what it was. We brought it back to the states and now lots of things are happening, and lots of good things are happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Lots of good things are happening. That's the part that I want to underscore because, Stef Kight, he also seems to say, well, Arizona is going to fix this, implying that he doesn't like what's going on in Arizona.
This seems to be a place and in the rest of that video, he also goes on to say now, Republicans can run on other issues. They are free to talk about abortion and other things. But this is something that seems like it is going to dog Republicans throughout.
The Republicans in Arizona blocked and attempt in the state legislature just last night to try to reverse this law.
STEF KIGHT, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: I mean, certainly, and Republicans have known that this is going to be their most vulnerable issue going into this election cycle. And we know that Donald Trump, in particular, four years now, has been very concerned about the politics of abortion. He is concerned about how that's going to impact his reelection, how it's going to impact Republicans across the board.
We've seen tried to find some kind of path through this, which is why we see this kind of muddied, what do you support, what don't you support kind of reaction from him, and, you know, many of the Republicans sources that I've been talking to you on the Hill and elsewhere actually feel like his strategy has been smart this week. They are happy to see him take a step back and leave it to the states.
[05:05:02]
They don't want the pressure to have to back a particular number of weeks at this point because they know that this is a very vulnerable issue for them, and they have lost the ballot with ballot measures time and time again. It's a key reason why they've done so poorly in recent elections as well, because it's such a motivating issue for Democrats.
And we're seeing the polls show that the American can public is not moving in the direction of wanting any kind of restriction on abortion anywhere.
HUNT: Right. Well, I mean, there is polling does show that people will support some sort of restriction potentially, but a lot of that it was also based in a world where Roe versus Wade was the law of the land. And we are seeing a lot of these consequences take Republicans by surprise.
I've seen a lot of Democrats pushing back at how Trump handled yesterday, basically trying to say like he's trying to whitewash what came before all the things that he did on this issue, the fact that he brags about overturning Roe versus Wade. What is your view on that?
KIGHT: I mean, yeah, of course Democrats are going to be pushing back on this narrative and the reality is Donald Trump is the president who nominated Supreme Court justices in order to overturn Roe v. Wade.
That is something that he has unspecifically touted about his record, and so, there's no way for him to get around that.
What we're seeing from Republicans is trying to say, no, we don't want federal restrictions, but this was always about states. That's what they're trying to say. And Democrats are pointing out that. Sure, but they are the reason why hi, were seeing these kinds of harsh bands such as an Arizona come into place because this is what happens when you leave this to the states.
HUNT: One thing to that is obviously a central part of this is the dynamic where there may be ballot initiatives and in some cases there are already ballot initiatives planned in some of these critical swing states come November and we can show you how these ballot initiatives have done in other states, including red states when abortion has been directly on the ballot, it states like Kansas and Ohio, and Kentucky, where voters have said, either were going to vote against restricting it, or were going to vote in favor of protecting abortion rights.
How do you think that is going to affect like, lets take Arizona for example, with that on the ballot, how much harder is it for Donald Trump to win?
KIGHT: I mean, look, especially when you're talking about these swing states, these battleground states, where, you know, who's going to win is going to be a very small number of votes were talking about thousands sense thousands of votes that could decide who wins that state of the presidential level. And so anything including potentially a ballot measure that's addressing abortion is going to impact that outcome especially if it motivates Democratic voters to come to the polls to vote for that ballot measure.
Then that's potentially more Democratic voters then going to go ahead and vote for Biden, even if they're not enthused about him as the candidate, as the person on the ballot. I mean, that's really the concern from Republicans right now, is not that the ballot measures are going to change people's votes, but that it's going to juice turnout for the wrong voters for them.
HUNT: Interesting. All right, Stef Kight. Thank you very much, Stef, for coming in this morning. I really appreciate it.
All right. Coming up next here -- Israel's top military official promising to flood Gaza with aid.
Plus a possible tornado tearing up neighborhoods in Louisiana.
And Republican leaders encouraging supporters to vote by mail while their party sued to make it harder to get those votes to count.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:12:55]
HUNT: Welcome back.
Israel says they're preparing to launch what they're calling a new phase of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza. Israel's defense minister telling reporters Wednesday: We plan to flood Gaza with aid and we are expecting to reach 500 trucks per day.
The U.S. has been pressuring the Netanyahu administration to allow more aid in. Israel's top military official insisting his country, quote, takes the United States very seriously.
CNN's Max Foster joins me now with more Max.
Max, good morning. Always wonderful to see you.
HUNT: So how do you read this? Them saying were going to flood Gaza with aid. Their actions have been quite contrary to that, to great criticism from the international community.
Do you read this as something of an acknowledgment that this has become enough of a problem for them on the world stage that they feel like they have to do something about it?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I just -- you know, I think if you just want to look at it, look at the facts. It seems like a direct response to the huge amount of pressure that President Biden has finally put on the Israeli administration in terms of getting aid into Gaza, other leaders have set the same as well. You've been reporting on David Cameron being there in Washington, but this is really about the U.S. and tough calls between Netanyahu and Biden. So I think it was a direct response to that.
A lot of cynics, cynics looking at it saying, well, if you cared that much, you would have done it sooner. Other cynics as well saying, even if you do try to get 500 trucks in, its going to be really difficult because of the war you're carrying out there.
HUNT: Yeah. And it's one of these things. I mean, it's the piece of it that I have struggled to wrap my head around the most, if -- they're saying they want to defeat Hamas, they want to get the hostages back, all understandable considering what happened on October 7. But the blocking of food to people who desperately need it seems very, very difficult to understand. And I think that it's definitely the message that the administration has been sending.
Max, there's also the logistical challenges of this.
[05:15:00]
I mean, saying you're going to do it as one thing and actually doing it as another. I know you've done some reporting on this.
FOSTER: Well, speaking this morning to a worker with UNICEF, who was trying to deliver aid in Gaza. She had left Rafah and she was going northwards, got to a check point and suddenly the IDF were firing in her direction. Now her feeling wasn't that she was being targeted, but they were targeting someone else, but she was in what was meant to be a safe area. And that really does illustrate the sort of environment that these aid workers operating. And it shows how difficult it is to deliver the aid. Now, she's also pointing out that Israel may be saying there's lots of
trucks. So Israel have blamed the U.N. effectively for not distributing the aid that they're sending into Gaza. The U.N. have been telling me that there's a discrepancy here.
Israel says trucks have gone into Gaza, once they've gone into the screening process. But you don't really count as aid until it gets into their warehouses. So when Israel says trucks are going in, the U.N. says that's not necessarily true. U.N. blaming -- when Israel blames the U.N. for not distributing it, she did accept its incredibly hard to distribute aid in Gaza, particularly when, you know, previous missions have been bombed and this one got caught in some crossfire.
But they are doing their best. And if there wasn't a war in place, they would be able to distribute it more easily. So there's a real war words between the U.N. and Israel, which doesn't help anyone because obviously the U.N. is trying to be an independent non-political body. But there's political background between these two organizations as well.
HUNT: Yeah, a real lack of trust between Israel and the United Nations for sure, but lets not forget this also all takes place just a short while after that World Central Kitchen convoy was heatedly hit by the Israeli, something that really does seem to have shifted the ground for the Israelis here.
Max Foster for us in London, Max always love having you. Thank you so much. See you tomorrow.
Coming up next here, after a decade of trying, is the U.S. ready to drop its prosecution of Julian Assange?
Plus, Republicans sinking a bill to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act basically, on orders from Donald Trump.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:21:48]
HUNT: Welcome back.
A developing weather story right now. There's a flash flood emergency in effect right now for Tallahassee, Florida. It's the same storm system that's slammed the South on Wednesday, killing at least one person in Mississippi and pummeling the Gulf Coast with heavy rain and flooding. A tornado ripped off roofs and collapsed buildings in Louisiana, injuring ten, cutting off power to thousands of people.
Our meteorologist Elisa Raffa is tracking all of it.
Elisa, good morning to you. Where does this threat head next?
ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We are looking at a continuing to push up the east coast as we go through the day today. You're looking at damage from Slidell, preliminary as an EF-1 tornado that struck there. I mean, just look at how busy we've been would oldest storm reports at least five reported tornadoes? Surveys are ongoing as we go through the day to day.
Heavy rain has been really big problem with this system. New Orleans got over six inches of rain in just a few hours yesterday. That's more than a months worth of rain. Same thing is happening this morning in Tallahassee we're in just to three hours, they got more than a months worth of rain, a flash flood emergency continues this morning until about 6:00 because were looking at heavy rain coming down so quick that they're watching things rise pretty quickly, and that causes that flooding threat.
Flash flood warnings, those stretch into southern Georgia as we get the range are really just come down very heavy with these storms. There is all that lining, the southern end of the storm system, but the shower stretch all the way up into the Great Lakes from Chicago then over into New York as well.
Here's that severe risk for today. We've got that slight level two out of five risk along the Big Bend of Florida, getting into southern Georgia than another area of concern for a few tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail up from Ohio, going into Pennsylvania, that enhanced risk level three out of five there.
The flood threat continues as we go through the day today, again, running up the East Coast, you could see that slight risk from D.C. over towards Columbus and then tomorrow up in New England, because the storm system is just packing a lot of moisture. So, we'll have to give you your watch that threat for heavy rain.
HUNT: All right. Elisa Raffa for us on whether, thank you very much for that.
All right. Twenty-three minutes past the hour here. Here's your morning round up.
An Idaho man accused of planning attacks on churches and pledging allegiance to ISIS, pleading not guilty to terrorism charges. Court documents show Alexander Mercurio told an undercover FBI source that he supported the terror group.
President Biden says he's considering Australia's request to drop charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Prosecutors have been trying to extradite Assange from the UK for a decade for publishing in classified US military documents online.
In a few hours, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida will address Congress underscoring a strong alliance its with a us and the need for a unified approach to China. It comes ahead of a trilateral summit with President Biden and Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
All right. Coming up next here, new comments just in from the FBI director about an indispensable tool to keep America safe he says that Republicans just rejected.
Plus, Donald Trumps reversal on abortion.
[05:25:00] What he is now saying about a federal ban.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: Good morning.
We've got a live look this morning at Charlotte, North Carolina. Good morning to you. Thanks for waking up with us. It is just before 5:30 here on the East Coast. I'm Kasie Hunt.
Just in, FBI Director Christopher Wray preparing to tell Congress that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, this is known as FISA, is, quote, an absolutely indispensable tool, end quote, for national security, calling this moment.
