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Trump Hush Money Trial Begins Today; Israel Delays Rafah Offensive Plans Amid Heated Debate Over Response to Iranian Attack; Congressional Leaders Still Unable to Come Together on Aid for Israel or Ukraine. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 15, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING: It's Monday, April 15th, right now on CNN THIS MORNING. History unfolding in a New York courtroom. Donald Trump abounds, become the first former President to stand trial on criminal charges, the U.S. and the world react as Israel plots its next move after an attack by Iran.

And congressional leaders still unable to come together on aid for Israel or Ukraine. It's 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, here's a live look at New York City, good morning, everyone, I'm Jim Acosta in for Kasie Hunt, it's great to be with you. This has never happened before, just a few hours, Donald Trump will become the first former U.S. President to face a criminal trial.

Jury selection begins this morning in the hush money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The historic trial centers on a potential sex scandal cover-up that took place just days before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors alleged Trump falsified business records to hide the reimbursement of hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to influence the vote.

Last night, Trump went to his social media site to sound off, calling Bragg a corrupt prosecutor, and the judge in the case totally conflicted. He also mentioned the case during a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What Bragg -- Alvin Bragg is trying to do is enforce federal campaign finance law which he doesn't have any authority whatsoever to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining us now, CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson. Joey, good morning, a lot of stuff happening and in just a few hours from now, what are you going to be watching for when Trump goes into that courthouse?

JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, Jim, good morning to you, a very big deal, a very historic occasion, and initially what I'll be watching for is the ability for a trial jury to be selected. That's fair and impartial. You know, Jim, that the Trump team has done a significant amount of polling already in their effort to get the case delayed.

Polls indicating, of course, in Manhattan, according to their polling, voted overwhelmingly for Biden, which is in fact, a fact in 2020 and Clinton in 2016. But using that to indicate that they could not select a fair jury as a result. Remember in doing that, it leaves out the whole notion that when you have voir deir or voir de-i-r, some call, that's the selection of a jury.

You do have the ability really to select the fair jury based upon you being able to exclude jurors who just raised their hand and say, you know what? This case is not for me, I can't be fair. I can't be impartial. And then of course, you have a host of the challenges that you could make to jurors for cause if you feel and further questioning, they can't be impartial.

And then you have another set of challenges, Jim, in which you can discretionarily remove them. So, it's all about the selection of a fair trial, that's what I'll be looking for and I'll also be looking for Trump's team if they can't to find the pool of jurors, not to be impartial, to be making further motions to delay or perhaps change the venue. That's what it's going to be all about, at least initially as the trial gets underway.

ACOSTA: Yes, Joey, how is this jury selection going to work? I mean, do the -- will the prosecutors and defense team tried to ask, do you like Trump? Did you vote for Trump? I mean, those kinds of questions to sort of fish and poke and prod to see who is on their side, who is not.

JACKSON: Yes, so, it's largely scripted. The judge has a host of and came up with the defense team as well as the prosecution of a host of 42 questions that are going to be fair game for the jury. Those questions you cannot ask who you voted for, who you intend to vote for, are you a Democrat, are you a Republican?

But to me, you know, that's largely irrelevant. And the reason I say that is because there are other questions certainly that really flush out what your leanings and bentar(ph). If you're part of a number of groups that you'll be asked about QAnon, et cetera, you will know the political leanings, certainly, asking about podcast you watch, shows that you watch, is it CNN or is it in another news network?

[05:05:00]

Whether or not you attended Trump rallies? I think that will give the indication of really what side you're on here, in terms of your leanings. But it's not about that. It's whether you can be there. Yes.

ACOSTA: Yes, and Trump faces -- my goodness, 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. How important is that to the case, and how will prosecutors have to prove he's guilty?

JACKSON: Yes, I think that's the essence of it, right? I think the reality is, is that they are New York City in the Manhattan DA's office, my former office. There are about in large measure, these business crimes, financial crimes, and really election bill style as interference crimes.

And so, what they will do is indicate that there were false invoices that were created in order to advance this scheme to hide from the public information that could have been damaging right to Trump to 2016, they'll talk about ledger entries that were false with respect to the Trump organization.

They'll talk about these checks that we use for reimbursement. And a lot of people, Jim, look at this case is -- oh, Michael Cohen is a star witness. He's damaged good. It's really in large measure, not about him. People say, what do you mean it's not about him?

Look, it's something called corroboration. You could be the most convicted felon and perjurer, but if this corroboration for what I say, because you do find these ledgers, you do find text messages, you do find e-mails, you do find communications that lead to the notion that this was occurring, guess what?

What you're saying if it's largely corroborated, you become less significant and your word becomes less significant because the proof, the evidence, and the documentation is there, and that's what I'll be looking for during the trial, and I think that's what the jury needs to see in order to find Trump guilty.

Everyone presumed innocent until they're found guilty. But that critical evidence will make all the difference.

ACOSTA: Yes, and Joey, I mean, Trump is going after the DA, the judge, overseeing this case. I mean, how might that play into things? He's going after the former -- his former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen. He just talked about, he wrote about Cohen, I think on one of these Truth Social posts, and it says has "disgraced attorney and felon Michael Cohen, been prosecuted for lying.

Only Trump people will get prosecuted for -- by this judge and these thugs." I mean, some of that's rhetoric of course. But I mean, it seems that, you know, if the lawyers are always playing for the audience of one, they're going to go after Michael Cohen.

JACKSON: They will. And so, a couple of things to keep in mind. The first of which is listen, it's a political season and he's running for president. And so, of course, there's a political imperative to spend. It's a witch-hunt, it's an unfair system. I am the victim of this unfairness.

You can't believe the weaponization of prosecution as we look at Cohen. So, that's all political fodder. And I think that might help him to some extent --

ACOSTA: Yes --

JACKSON: You know, with people who really buy into him. On the other hand, is this gag order. So, be careful because you can't go after, you know, family members. You can't go after witnesses. Michael Cohen is one of them. And so, it'll be interesting to see the main -- Jim, is how the judge enforces the gag order.

Will it be monetary fines or will he in effect put Trump in? That is incarcerate him for a period of --

ACOSTA: Yes --

JACKSON: Time in order to get heed to the notion that there are things you can't say, you can't intimidate witnesses. You can't really impair or affect the trial. We'll see what the judge does.

ACOSTA: All right, Joey Jackson, it's going to be interesting to watch. Thanks a lot, really appreciate it. Good to see you this morning.

JACKSON: Always, thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: Coming up next, the U.S. warning Israel about an offensive response to the attack by Iran, plus four arrests in the case of two moms who disappeared last month while picking up their kids. And we're on today's big story. Former U.S. President about to appear in court to face a criminal trial for the first time in history.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:10:00]

ACOSTA: Today, Israel's war cabinet is set to meet again as it considers its next move in response to Iran's weekend attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The IDF says nearly all 350 drones, rockets and missiles were intercepted from Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Syria. Diplomatic push has started to avoid further escalation in the region. The G7 meeting virtually, speaking with their global counterparts, and CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now from Abu Dhabi.

Paula, good morning. President Biden, he's been making it pretty clear to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the U.S. will not join any retaliatory strikes. That call may have delayed retaliation for now, but if you can, bring us up to speed. Where do things stand?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, we are expecting that Israeli war cabinet meeting to start once again in less than two hours. This is the meeting that also happened on Sunday. So, yesterday, it went for several hours until it ended in the evening and a decision could not be made.

Now, we're hearing there is a split within the cabinet as to what the response should be to the Iranian attacks over the weekend. Now, we understand that there is agreement that there should be a response. We're hearing many leaders around the world calling on Israel to not respond in an attempt not to escalate the situation and the tensions in the region.

But we are hearing that Israel's cabinet is intent on responding. It's just the timing and the scope of that response that's being looked at, at this point.

[05:15:00]

Now, we understand also that the Israeli military was asked to put more options on the table. So, what they were discussing yesterday, they wanted more options to figure out what exactly they wanted to do. Now, a senior Biden administration official says that the impression they have from Israel is that they are not looking to escalate the situation in the region.

They are looking to defend themselves. We have heard also from Iran, the Iranian President saying that if Israel does respond, and if there are attacks against Iranian assets and people, then the Iranian response will be even stronger.

And this is the concern here, Jim, this tit-for-tat, retaliation, which really does escalate the situation. There are concerns that this conflict will become a wider regional conflict, especially when you consider that this was the first time that Iran had carried out an attack from its soil to Israeli soil.

And certainly, once the first time has gone, it is easier to be able to do that again. So, there are great concerns that this could escalate, and there are calls across the world, including from the U.S. President that this should not escalate, that there should be cool heads determining what will happen. So, we will wait to see what Israel decides to do next. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, Paula Hancocks, thank you very much for that. Coming up, and today, Donald Trump has been eager to delay, in just a few hours, jury selection will begin in his first criminal trial, plus, the latest on the deadly shooting of two police officers in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:20:00]

ACOSTA: All right, it's 20 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Four people arrested and facing murder charges in connection with the disappearance of two moms in Oklahoma. Two bodies were recovered on Sunday, but they have not been identified.

Two New York police officers shot and killed as they tried to make a traffic stop for a stolen vehicle investigation. Officials say the suspect was also killed. Australian police revealing the Sydney mall attacker may have been targeting women.

Five of the six victims killed were female, 12 others were injured, including a nine-month old baby. More than 40 million people facing severe storm threats across parts of the central and eastern U.S. this morning, and fire danger ramps up from Texas to Nebraska. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam tracking two systems for us. Derek, good morning.

DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning. You know, we are in the heart of the severe weather season, and today is no different. We're starting off the work-week with a bang. You could see severe weather chances today. I want to just highlight this across the east coast.

This is near the coastal areas of Virginia. A -- just a marginal risk of studying across the Ohio River Valley. But this is the area we're going to pay close attention to. The central and northern plains, that shading of orange, that's an enhanced risk.

Parts of Kansas and into South Dakota, very large hail, a few tornadoes and damaging winds. But I really believe that the hail threat is greatest here. You especially -- where you see that hatched locations overlaid on top of these colorings, that is where we're indicating the greatest chance of 2-inch-size hail or larger.

So, the potential for baseball-size hail as it falls from the sky is a real possibility within those locations. Now, we have a 5 percent probability of tornadoes, so, the tornado threat is not as great as what we had anticipated late last week. That's the good news.

Still, the severe weather threat, the strong gusty-winds as the system evolves over the next 48 hours. This is a multi-day system, so, we're going to focus our attention tomorrow across the state of Iowa and into parts of Missouri and Illinois, large hail tornado threat shifts a little further eastward.

Here's our rainfall forecast total, could get a quick 1 to 3 inches of rain in some of those storms that move over the same locations, and then behind it, we've got a dry line and very gusty winds. So, what that's doing is it's taking advantage of the dry conditions on the ground, critical fire danger in place across the eastern plains.

Look at this, you can see that extends into the Texas Panhandle as well as portions of New Mexico winds-gusting here, anywhere from 40 to 50 miles per hour. Not what we need to see, especially in this area of the country. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, Derek Van Dam, thank you very much. Coming up next, we are just hours from the start of Donald Trump's first criminal case as the former President and presumptive Republican nominee is set to stand trial in Manhattan. Plus, Israel holding back on a response to Iran's attack after a phone call from President Biden.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:25:00]

ACOSTA: And there's a live look at Capitol Hill, good morning, thanks for waking up with us, I'm Jim Acosta in for Kasie Hunt. Donald Trump is just hours away from becoming the first former U.S. President to face a criminal trial. Jury selection in his hush money case begins in New York this morning, Trump faces 34 felony surrounding a potential sex scandal cover up that took place just days before the 2016 presidential election.

Prosecutors alleged Trump falsified business records to hide the reimbursement of hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to influence the vote. The trial will take Trump off of the campaign trail, but the former President has been known to turn courtroom appearances in the campaign events. Here's what he said to supporters in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: On Monday in New York City, I will be forced to sit fully- gagged. I'm not allowed to talk. Could you believe it? And I'm proud to do it for you. Have a good time watching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining me now is Hugo Lowell; political investigations reporter for "The Guardian". Hugo, a good morning. Good to see you. What are you going to be watching for when Trump heads to court later this morning, I have to think he is going to try to turn this into a bit of a circus.

HUGO LOWELL, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER, THE GUARDIAN: Yes, two things. Political and legal. And I think on the political front, it will be to see whether Trump makes any sort of statements outside the courthouse, outside the courtroom, there is a camera position right outside the courtroom, and Trump in his New York civil fraud case has been making all sorts of statements previously about his case.

And one wonders if he'll make the same sort of comment.