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Jury Selection Begins in Trump's Hush Money Trial; Israel's War Cabinet Considers Actions on Iran Attacks; Timothy Heaphy is Interviewed about Trump's Trial. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 15, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:31:11]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump is about to become the first former American president to face a criminal trial. Jury selection begins this morning in the hush money case brought by Manhatton District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Prosecutors allege Trump falsified business records to hide the reimbursement of hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential elections.

CNN correspondent Brynn Gingras is outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan.

Brynn, what can you tell us? What do you - are their folks down there yet? I guess it's pretty early. What can you tell us?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, pretty early, Jim. There are a few protesters setting up, putting up their signs at this point. We do expect a big crowd here, both protesters and supporters.

The former president expected to be here, or at least leave Trump Tower, at about 8:30. He'll be led by the Secret Service, of course, here to the courthouse, where you just said it, jury selection is going to begin.

Let me walk you through sort of how that works here in lower Manhattan at the criminal court. Five hundred people will report for jury duty. Now, not all those people are for this case in particular. There's other cases that they will be disbursed to. But 100 people at a time will be brought into the courtroom were Judge Juan Merchan is. And immediately we're told that if they have any sort of conflict with this six to eight long expected trials, like childcare or some other conflict, they are immediately going to be dismissed.

After that group is vetted out, there are going to be 42 questions that are going to be asked of these jurors. And these questions include things like whether they have attended or worked a rally for the former president. Where do they get their news? Do they have any affiliation with these sort of fringe groups like QAnon or the Proud Boys. And after those questions are sort of vetted out, then each side, the prosecution and Trump's side, they get to have ten strikes against any of the jurors -- these jurors.

So, this process is going to take a while. Of course, they need to find an impartial jury of 12 people and six alternates to make up this jury. So, it's going to take a while. We are expecting jury selection to last about a week, possibly even into two weeks.

ACOSTA: Wow.

GINGRAS: And then, of course, that's when this trial, this historic trial, is going to begin.

Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Brynn Gingras, live in New York for us. Thank you very much.

Ahead of today's trial, here's what Donald Trump posted online last night. Yes, he posted. He said, "tomorrow morning I'll be in criminal court. I'll be fighting for myself, but much more importantly I will be fighting for our country. Election interference like this has never happened in USA before, and hopefully it will never happen again."

My panel is back and Jamil Jaffer joins us. He's a former counsel to the assistant attorney general for national security and former associate counsel to President George W. Bush.

Obviously, when Trump says election interference like this has never happened before, that's not true.

JAMIL JAFFER, FORMER COUNSEL TO THE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: Yes.

ACOSTA: But, I mean, he's going to bloviate online. He can't do that in a courtroom. He can't do that with this judge or else there could be consequences.

JAFFER: There's no doubt there could be consequences, but he's going to use this trials as an opportunity to say, look, this isn't about Stormy Daniels, this isn't about Karen McDougal, this is about Donald Trump and about an effort to keep me out of the White House. This is going to be political hay for him across the board. It's going to motivate his MAGA base. It's going to - it's going to lay out the claim that this is all about Alvin Bragg and politics, not about real problems.

These business records, why are we talking about business records? He's going to say, why are we talking about things that should be misdemeanors. These aren't really felonies. This is all a bootstrap case. That's going to be his argument. It's going to be all about politics, not about the law and not about the hush money payments.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, Stephen, you know, to bounce off of Jamil's point there, I mean, you know, he is going to push the boundaries. I mean that's what Donald Trump does, I have to think. And it does raise this prospect, well, what does the judge do with this? What does he do about this? I mean Trump - a lot people thought, oh, the mug shot, that's going to be the end - we hear this 100 million times, that's going to be the end of it.

[06:35:05]

I wonder if he wants to push the envelope just a little further.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The judge has to keep order in his own courtroom, and this is true with any client, any defendant. But the fact this is Donald Trump, a former president, possibly the most famous man in the world, makes the stakes for this a whole lot higher. Obviously, he could find the former president if he doesn't tow the line. In the civil case again, the judge was very keen to stop Trump turning the courtroom into another stage of the campaign trail. Probably will be the same in this situation. But these judges in these cases are in massive public scrutiny. And it's not just what happens in this case, but they're going to be looked at, you know, throughout generations to come about how they handle these crucial issues.

ACOSTA: Yes, Matt, I mean, how do you see this playing out? I mean we've seen the campaign trail become the courtroom. The courtroom become the campaign trail. This is what Donald Trump wants to do with all of this. And you have to think this is all sort of rattling around in the back of his mind that he wants to provoke things. He wants to see what he can get away with. He wants to see if he can capitalize on this.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Absolutely. It goes back to - I point to his audience here - is, not the jurors.

ACOSTA: Yes.

GORMAN: He's not interested really in totally making sure there's decorum in the courtroom. It's, he wants to get elected. And I think, number two, one thing also keep in mind is, two, he has a fundraising gap to make up with Joe Biden and the Democrats. So, a lot of what he's been doing the last month, whether it's involving the court cases are not, are ways that he can raise money from his base. So, as we kind of progress through here, things he does things, things he says, it's important to keep that in mind. He has a fundamentally different incentive structure than the judge and the other court officers than - and almost any other defendant in history.

ACOSTA: Yes, Kate, I mean, if you're the Biden folks, do you want to see Donald Trump behave himself, or do you want him to turn this into even more of a circus and potentially pay the consequences for it?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, I think you want it to be a circus. I mean anytime the narrative is focused on Donald Trump, that's inherently a good thing for the Biden campaign. We saw it over the course of the last week in the wake of the abortion decision in Arizona. You know, and again, I think, you know, anytime Donald Trump is in the courtroom defending his behavior, that is not a good thing for Donald Trump. I mean, remember, throughout the Republican primary process we saw a significant number of Republicans vote for Nikki Haley, refuse to vote for Donald Trump. I mean there are - you know, his - his MAGA base is strong, but they are - they are - numerically, they're not going to get him there. So, anytime he's out sort of making the most bombastic Donald Trump arguments, I think that's probably a good thing for the Biden campaign.

The other thing to remember here is, you know, we've been talking about these cases, you know, stacked up on top of each other. And, obviously, the legal implications of that. But there are - you know, there are political implications of the accumulation of these events over the last, what now, eight years. You know, the Stormy Daniels -

ACOSTA: Right, and the one thing we haven't seen is a conviction. We haven't seen that.

BEDINGFIELD: Well, but this - but think about - think about -

ACOSTA: Yes. Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: In people's minds. I mean when the Stormy Daniels case first emerged, we hadn't had January 6th, right?

ACOSTA: Right.

BEDINGFIELD: But now, if you're the average American voter thinking about, who do I want to send to the White House, you have - you have the backdrop of January 6th in your mind I mean that is - that is part of the picture of Donald Trump's behavior and potential criminality in your mind. So, I think, you know, the Biden campaign will probably continue to focus on their core message about what Joe Biden's second term will look like, abortion, is broader issue of democracy. They're not going to be focused, I would expect, on the ins and outs of what's going on in the courtroom. But it will be beneficial to them to have Donald Trump on display in this way.

ACOSTA: Yes, and Jamil, I mean, how big how - I mean how big is the spotlight on Alvin Bragg right now? I mean we've been talking about this. This may be the only case that goes to trial before the election. And for folks out there who want to see Donald Trump finally pay some kind of a price, suffer the consequences for once in his life, this may be it.

JAFFER: I think that's right. And I think this following is going to be right on Alvin Bragg.

ACOSTA: Yes.

JAFFER: I think it's going to be centrally focused on him. And the problem is, and the benefit for Donald Trump is, despite all that Alvin Bragg says, this is all about the politics. He ran on prosecuting me. Now he's in office, he's doing it. He's bootstrapping this case. He's calling these felonies. He doesn't even - he doesn't explain what the underlying legal issue is that he's prosecuting me for, right? These are just records violations.

You know, and - you know, I think the challenge with I think Kate's point is that, look, this is going to be a turnout election, right? If Trump gets the MAGA base out, it might not be enough to win him the election. But if he gets enough of them out, that can move the numbers. It's going to be a very close election. It's going to be about turnout. And if he motivates that base, that's a real problem. And this case will out motivate that base. And that's the real challenge I think.

ACOSTA: Yes. And - go ahead. Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: Well, except that we know that Trump has a ceiling. I mean he essentially has run for federal - in federal office twice. He essentially got 46 percent of the vote both times. Once it was enough to make him president. Once it wasn't.

We know he's effectively at his ceiling. So, it is a turnout election in the sense that, yes, he has to get his MAGA folks out, but they've - they've shown that they're going to do it.

[06:40:03]

Biden has - Biden is the one who has the room to grow. Biden's the one who has the room to peel off some of these independents and turn them out.

ACOSTA: Yes, Matt, I was going to say, you know, we constantly talk about the couch being a problem for Democrats. Could the couch be a problem for Republicans?

GORMAN: Well, I think - I think, first of all, you know, as of last -

ACOSTA: People staying home because they're like, you know, I'm sick of this. Yes.

GORMAN: I think the key is going to be the people who hate both candidates. And what do they do?

ACOSTA: Yes.

GORMAN: Do they stay home? Do they pull - you know, hold their nose and vote for one or the other?

I mean, look, as we saw last week, "The Wall Street Journal" came out with a series of swing state polls. Trump's leading in six of seven of them as we go into today. And, look, that could change certainly.

ACOSTA: The gap's been shrinking a little -

GORMAN: The gap's been shrinking. Absolutely.

ACOSTA: A little tighter, yes.

GORMAN: But, you know, the - he's facing four indictments and he's leading in swing states. I mean that's something. I think what - how, you know, the Biden campaign leverages this and how the Trump campaign leverages this, candidly, far more impactful, I believe, will be the issue of abortion two Republicans, candidates, both at the top of the ticket and down-ballot than these court cases, as it states ends today. BEDINGFIELD: I agree with that.

ACOSTA: Yes, Stephen, I mean are people - are people tuning this stuff out or do you think, when this gets going, everybody's going to be watching. They're going to say, you know what, OK, this - it's happening now. He's going on trial.

COLLINSON: Well, one fact is, this is not going to be televised, the actual courtroom action.

ACOSTA: Yes.

COLLINSON: I think that's going to play a big role. It's not like - Trum will come out after every court break and give his press conference, but I think that's going to get old fairly quickly. But you can bet that once there's a verdict, everyone's going to be tuning in.

ACOSTA: Yes.

COLLINSON: Just the fact that, you know, we're all sitting here gaming out how this trial could, you know, unfold politically, we may have to step back and realize, this is a former president going on trial. No American has ever seen a former president go on trial. This is not the kind of thing that happens in stable democracies. It's, I think, testimony to the wild ride that Trump has taken us all on over the last nine years. Another norm crushed. And we don't know how this will play out during the election and in the years to come, what precedence have been created. I mean Trump has already said that if he's president, he's going to go after the Biden family legally. There's no case, as far as we can see, to answer, but that has changed the way presence interact with their predecessors.

ACOSTA: Yes, and of all the cases that he's up against, I mean, folks might say - might be able to say, this is the most Donald Trump of all of the cases that we're going to see go on trial.

COLLINSON: Yes.

ACOSTA: All right, guys, thank you very much.

Jamil, thank you.

Coming up next, sentencing day for the gun supervisor on the movie set of "Rust."

Plus, now President Biden is pressing Congress to pass additional funding for Israel. That's coming up.

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[06:46:41]

ACOSTA: It is 46 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

A New York state police officer and a sheriff's deputy shot and killed at a traffic stop as they investigated reports of a stolen vehicle near Syracuse. The suspect was also killed.

Sentencing day for "Rust" movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed. She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of the film's cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin. She faces up to 18 months in prison.

Tonight, Iowa's Caitlin Clark is the favorite to be the number one pick in the WNBA draft. She better be, right? The Indiana Fever, by the way, they have the first pick. And barring a trade, they are expected to select Clark.

And just hours from now, Israel's war cabinet is meeting again to discuss the time and scope of retaliation after Iran's weekend attacks. U.S. Central Command says American forces intercepted more than 80 drones and six ballistic missiles from Iran and Yemen. And Majority Leader Steve Scalise says the House has shifted its scheduled to consider a foreign aid package that's been stalled for weeks.

CNN's Katie Bo Lillis joins me now.

Katie Bo, I mean, the timing of all of this is fascinating to me in terms of how this is going to get unpacked up on Capitol Hill, this aid package, because before this past weekend there were - I mean there are a lot of Democrats who are very uneasy about giving more aid to Israel. But after an attack by Iran, that becomes a more difficult challenge, I would think.

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN REPORTER: Well, that and also, Jim, I think there's a possibility here that Iran has done Ukraine a big favor here because, of course, the stalled Senate supplemental package that the Senate has passed includes both aid for Israel, including a lot of air defenses aid, the kind of aid that you would need to defend against exactly the kind of attack that just took place this weekend. It also includes a significant amount of assistance for Ukraine. And that's been the holdup, or part of the holdup in the House.

And so, if, as you have seen already, you've already seen Republican leaders in the Senate sort of urging the House to go on and take up this package. And so I think if - House Speaker Mike Johnson is sort of able to kind of use the urgency and the momentum here and just sort of take up the Senate package and -

ACOSTA: Push the whole thing through.

LILLIS: And push the whole thing through, right?

ACOSTA: Yes.

LILLIS: Like this could dramatically change the calculus on Ukraine aid in a sort of very unexpected way that I don't think anyone necessarily saw coming.

ACOSTA: Yes, and President Biden urging Congress to pass additional funding for Israel after Iran's weekend attack. The funding has been held up by some House Republicans who are against including Ukraine aid in the package. But the White House is now saying the need is urgent. President Biden spoke with congressional leaders on Sunday. And here's how the White House characterized it. It says, "President Biden convened a call to discuss Iran's unprecedented attack against Israel. On the call, the president discussed the urgent need for the House of Representatives to pass the national security supplemental as soon as possible."

Now it's up to House Speaker Mike Johnson to decide what to bring forward. He says he hopes the House passes additional Israel aid this week.

And my panel is back.

And, Katie Bo, just to - just to follow up on this. I mean the president said over the weekend, U.S. support for Israel is ironclad. But, you know, at the same time he said to the prime minister, reportedly, that the U.S. might not get involved if Israel pursues another offensive strike against Iran. What do you - what did you make of that when you saw that?

[06:50:03]

I mean it's hard to think that he would have done that had Gaza not been going on right now.

LILLIS: Well, you know, remember, the Biden administration was caught off guard by this Israeli attack in Damascus that was sort of the immediate reason that Iran launched this attack over the weekend, right, in response to this Israeli attack in Syria that killed some senior Iranian commanders. The Biden administration caught off guard by that. And in general, what they want to see is de-escalation, right?

ACOSTA: Yes.

LILLIS: They do not want this to spiral into a wider regional conflict. And at the same time, of course, they would like to see - the Netanyahu administration would like to see Israel shrink their operations inside Gaza and take a much, much more careful approach to civilian casualties, something that Israel has essentially rejected, right? Like, we have seen a very deep rift in between Netanyahu and Biden. We have seen Israel sort of actively defy the Biden administrations wishes.

So, I think one of the big questions coming out of this weekend is the amount of support that the United States gave to Israel in defending against this attack, right, does that by them any leverage in trying to urge the Biden administration to take a more restrained approach in Gaza and to take a restrained approach in how it responds to Iran. I think that's a big, open question, honestly. I mean Netanyahu under a tremendous amount of pressure from his own right-wing to retaliate again against Iran here. And so I think we are just in this unwritten moments, right, that is full of uncertainty.

ACOSTA: Yes. Well, and, Stephen, I mean one of the things that - it's early on a Monday morning, but we should appreciate and underlying, is the fact that Israel was, I mean, in just an incredible way, able to, along with the U.S. and the U.K., stop all of these missiles, rockets, and drones coming into Israel. Just an amazing feat on the part of the IDF.

And I have to think, as Katie Bo was saying, that what took place over the weekend is going to persuade a lot of Democrats and Republicans up on Capitol Hill to perhaps strip away some of the politics here and just get this aid package done.

COLLINSON: Right. I think there's going to be a lot less talk of conditioning aid to Israel, even though the administration makes a distinction between the front with Iran, if you like, and what's going on in Gaza.

I think the G-7 statement was significant yesterday that the president got all these leaders, including some of whom have been increasingly critical of Israel over what's happening in Gaza, behind them. There were a few British and French assets involved in this operation on the night of the attacks. Potentially that gives the president a chance to go to Netanyahu and say, look, you've alienated a lot of countries, but now they're behind you. Don't squander that.

But it looks a lot different inside Israel that it does out in the outside world for countries that want to avoid escalation. For many Israelis this is an existential threat that security has been shattered twice in the last six months, on October 7th, their sense of security, even though most of those missiles didn't land. That plays with the politics in Israel.

ACOSTA: Yes.

COLLINSON: And history shows that when Israel feels like its security is an existential threat, it acts whatever the U.S. says there was, you know, past raids on nuclear reactors in Syria and Iraq, for example. So -

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, people miss - miss that point sometimes that a lot of people in Israel, I mean they are consuming news in Israel. And after October 7th, they were consuming, obviously, everything that was taking place in Israel after October 7th, and they're doing that once again.

And, Kate, I mean, one of the questions I have this morning as we've seen this pretty frosty relationship sort of get frozen into place between the prime minister and the president, might this - I mean might what took place over the weekend, give that relationship perhaps a, I don't know, maybe a fresh start, maybe not a totally fresh start, but -

BEDINGFIELD: Well, you know, look, I think the - I think what the - what President Biden and the White House and the administration did over the weekend was demonstrate ironclad allegiance to Israel. And I think the president has been unwavering about that since October 7th and prior.

ACOSTA: Right. BEDINGFIELD: You know, I think he has grown increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu. I would expect that you will - would continue to see him express that. I think, you know, he and his team are working to try to get to a post-conflict plan. I won't even say resolution because that feels like too big a word. But they are trying to get to, you know, what is the post-conflict plan look like? They feel like Netanyahu and his team have not come to the table in earnest on that. And I - you know, we can't lose sight of the fact that that is what they're continuing to drive towards.

So, you know, I would imagine that he will continue to express his frustration with the way that Prime Minister Netanyahu has prosecuted this war, but he is not going to stand down from helping our Israeli ally, ensuring that this conflict does not spiral into a bigger, broader conflict.

ACOSTA: Yes.

[06:55:06]

BEDINGFIELD: So - and he's going to continue, as you've been discussing - he's going to continue to push for the supplemental, which, you know, he and his team have been aggressively pushing for from day one. And really the question now falls to Speaker Johnson, is he going to move forward on this?

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, Matt, I mean, it's going to be a lot harder to play politics with this, with all of those rockets and missiles and drones coming down on Israel over the weekend. I mean it - it is a clarifying moment.

GORMAN: Yes, and the key, in my opinion, even before these attacks were, when Johnson got kind of a of backing of Donald Trump, so to speak, down in Mar-a-Lago on Friday. I thought that was very, very notable. And I think for now what - even before these attacks, what you'll see is that something will pass. Whether Ukraine, Israel, it will pass. The question now is, how does it affect Johnson, not before the election, but come November with the leadership elections. Whether Trump wins or loses, that's when this fight will be fought again, not necessarily right now.

ACOSTA: Yes, and, even though you hope cooler heads prevailed when it comes to, you know, debating weighty subjects like those aid package. At the same time, you have members of Congress who are thinking, I might get primary if I vote for this Ukraine aid, and that's where -

GORMAN: Yes, with one vote marketing (ph) is very tough.

ACOSTA: Yes, all right, guys, thank you very much. Thanks for the great discussion this morning. And all of you, really appreciate it.

Turning back now to the historic day in New York City where the first criminal trial of an American president will begin in just hours from now. This weekend, former President Donald Trump attacked the judge and prosecutor he will come face-to-face with this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What Bragg, Alvin Bragg is trying to do is enforce federal campaign finance law, which he doesn't have any authority whatsoever to do.

On Monday in New York City, I will be forced to sit, fully gagged. I'm not allowed to talk. Can you believe it? They want to take away my constitutional right to talk. I have a crooked judge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: While the trial is likely to keep Trump off the campaign trail, it is unlikely to hinder his fundraising efforts. Trump raising money off the trail over - or off the trial, I should say, over the weekend with emails warning that if there is not a, quote, "massive outpouring of peaceful patriotic protests, all hell will break loose."

Joining me now is Timothy Heaphy. He's the former lead investigator for the January 6th Committee and a former federal prosecutor.

Tim, great to have you on. Great to talk to you.

What do you think of that language coming from Trump? All hell will break loose. I mean, obviously, it sounds reminiscent. But, you know, when we see Trump go down to the Manhattan courthouse, it's not like you saw the crowd on the ellipse there waiting in lower Manhattan.

TIMOTHY HEAPHY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Yes, it's eerily reminiscent of the speech on the ellipse. And look, we've seen repeatedly that there is a bit of a call and response that happens between the former president and a lot of the people that zealously support him. And he knows that. That kind of rhetoric is really incendiary and dangerous. And throwing in peacefully and patriotically doesn't detract from the main message, which is outrage and very strong criticism of the process.

The one difference is that we weren't really ready for that at the Capitol. We'll be - they'll be ready for that at the courthouse, right?

ACOSTA: Yes.

HEAPHY: They - everybody knows that this is coming and I expect there will be a great deal of security apparatus in place to prevent any kind of violence. But it is - has the same effect, Jim, as he - and he knows this - that it has had repeatedly.

ACOSTA: And, Tim, I guess, what is your thinking on this, if he goes over the edge during this case, would you like to see the judge incarcerate him, send him a message, put him in jail for a little bit to think about what - what he's doing, or, as a prosecutor, does that worry you?

HEAPHY: Yes, look, I - as a prosecutor, I do think the rules ought to apply evenly to everyone. Look, the judge will give him a long leash here. But if he blatantly goes beyond the terms of the gag order and explicitly violates them, then there needs to be a consequence if the rule of law is to stand for anything. And that could be a fine, it could be incarceration, as you said. The best remedy to prevent those kind of prejudicial incendiary out-of-court statements is resolution of the case. The more he does this, Jim, the more he speaks out in public about the outrageousness of these cases, the more the prosecutors can use that to hasten their resolution. So, the sooner we get through this and to the other side, the better.

ACOSTA: And does it bother you at all, Tim, that this is the case that's happening, that this may be the only case that happens because of all the delay tactics that have been implemented successfully by Donald Trump. We might not see a January 6th case. Trump's trying to use this case to knock out the classified documents case and delay that. What do you think about all that?

HEAPHY: Yes, look, I mean, in orders of relative culpability or magnitude, I think the Jan. 6th case, the federal case that Jack Smith has brought in Washington, is arguably the one most serious, the one that corresponds most closely to, you know, the work that I did, the work that the committee did in investigating the riot and the attack on the Capitol.

[07:00:04]

Arguably, the most serious case should go first. But look, these are different judges in different jurisdictions with different laws that apply. This was the first case that was brought, and it is relatively straightforward in terms of the simplicity of the issues. And it's not - I wouldn't write off the chance of a trial in the Jan. 6th case in the fall if the Supreme Court quickly disposes of the immunity argument, as I and a lot of experts think that they should. This case could get scheduled before the election.

ACOSTA: All right, Tim Heaphy, great to talk to you. Hope we can do it again soon. Thank you very much.

And thanks to our panel and everybody else for joining us this morning.

I'm Jim Acosta. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now. Have a great day.