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Protesters Disrupt Campuses from Coast-to-Coast in the U.S.; Biden Warns Netanyahu About His Plans to Invade Rafah; Tornado Breaks Out in Oklahoma. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 29, 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]

KASIE HUNT, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING: It's Monday, April 29th, right now on CNN THIS MORNING. Protesters disrupting campuses from coast to coast, demanding schools cut ties with Israel as police start cracking down.

President Biden delivering a warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about his plans to invade Rafah. And a tornado outbreak in Oklahoma. Four people killed and millions from Texas to Missouri, now in the path of deadly storms.

All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, a live look at the nation's capital on this Monday morning. Good morning, everyone, I'm Kasie Hunt, it's wonderful to have you with us. Protests against the war in Gaza expanding across the country today after a weekend with more unrest.

Heavy police activity reported on Virginia Tech's campus last night as officers worked to remove protesters from an encampment. Demonstrators began to occupy a campus lawn on Friday, and by Sunday, the university said the situation had progressed and had the potential to become unsafe.

Meanwhile, police in riot gear were called to the UCLA campus yesterday after demonstrators breached a security barrier that was meant to keep opposing protest groups apart. Tufts University in Boston threatening to cancel their commencement ceremony if a protest encampment is not removed.

University staff are expected to reach out to protesters today. And here in Washington with President Biden in attendance, a sizable protest outside the White House Correspondents Dinner in D.C. on Saturday night. These scenes do present a political challenge for President Biden's re-election bid.

And a new CNN poll, 60 percent say they disapprove of how Biden is handling his job overall. And this issue weighing him down his handling of the war in Gaza, just 28 percent say they approve of that, 71 percent disapprove, that includes 81 percent disapproval among people aged 18 to 35.

Still only 26 percent say that this issue is extremely important, compare that to others at the top of the list. Meanwhile, in head-to- head match-up with President Biden, Donald Trump leads the president 49 percent to 43 percent. That's not a significant change from CNN's last national poll, which was conducted in January.

And joining me now to discuss, Marianna Alfaro; national politics breaking news reporter for the "Washington Post". Marianna, good morning to you.

MARIANNA ALFARO, NATIONAL POLITICS BREAKING NEWS REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: Right --

HUNT: These obviously have been -- these protests have been getting more intense. The challenges and clashes between university administrators and the protesters also intensifying. How is this issue, how is the White House looking at this issue as they try to figure out where it falls in terms of what they have to deal with as the president runs his re-election campaign?

ALFARO: I mean, there's been a lot of calls from the White House to say that these protests must remain peaceful, that there -- you know, has to be a way to continue having this discourse without getting violent. But I think what we've seen so far is this very strong police crackdown on a lot of these campuses.

And I think that even as you know, it's not the White House calling in all of these officers to come into these -- you know, camps and go after these students. I think that, that is creating this image that, you know, the police, the government-run DOJ is trying to come after these students, and I think that that's not really going to help him among the youth.

But even then, you know, there's still this push by the White House to say we are trying to do our job. We respect free speech, but also we don't want to, you know, veer into violence or anti-Semitism. And it's really hard to messaging for Biden here, especially because again, not much has changed and what's going on over there in Gaza.

HUNT: Well, I mean, and the other -- the other reality here that I keep coming back to for President Biden, is that at the end of the day, the election is going to be basically a binary choice, and is in fact, Joe Biden going to be that much -- is Donald Trump going to be better than Joe Biden on this for some of these young people?

I mean, I got full I think, but I guess we'll find out. Let's look at NCO -- what John Kirby, spokesman for the president had to say about this over the weekend, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER, WHITE HOUSE: Now, the president knows that there are very strong feelings, Georgia, about the war in Gaza. He understands that. He respects that. And as he has said many times, we certainly respect the right of peaceful protests.

Now, people should have the ability to air their views and to share their perspectives publicly. But it has to be peaceful.

[05:05:00]

Now, we'll leave it to local authorities to determine how these protests were managed. But we want them to be peaceful protests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And of course, this has been up to local authorities basically in each administration at trying to decide, but the -- you know, I think one of the big challenges too, is the places where they veer into anti-Semitism, right? And you saw there were some video there of a woman wrapped in an Israeli flag being kind of yelled at, confronted by the protesters.

Those are the kinds of scenes that potentially risk making these blow up into confrontations. What is your sense of how much of this is kind of organic to each campus versus how much of this is coordinated nationwide?

ALFARO: It really depends. I think I've been seeing a lot of coverage from my own campus of Leicester University, and there's, you know, a lot of these grassroots, you know, formations on the dearing matter, which is our big area there. That is organic institute and you know, pro-Palestine students showing up there.

And then there was like a counter-protest that a lot of the Jewish groups on campus said we didn't plan this. We were not the ones that scheduled. This is like a national organization. They're saying a national organization did it. So, again, it's that thing where like the transparency is a little unclear, and I think even then, like some groups are saying, you know, we don't want to like take credit for this.

We really want to continue having these youthful conversations and the agitation is not something that we're looking for.

HUNT: When it comes to young voters, I mean, there's other issues obviously on the table for them, including student loan debt, which people seem to approve of more than in this, but still are in negatives, handling of healthcare policy, 45 percent. His handling of student loan debt, 44 percent. I mean, what else can Biden do to try and reach out to young voters?

ALFARO: I mean, there is a hope I think amongst a lot of Democratic strategists. You know, Summer is coming up on the campus, they're going to clear out, maybe that will mean that these protests are gone and -- or maybe they quiet down a little bit. That's the hope, we don't see that yet.

But then, they can kind of double-down on this, you know, Biden has done so much, and XYZ form to do the student loans and lower them. And there's also the issue of abortion that, that's what, you know, Democrats are really banking on, they can help get them with the youth vote.

But again the Summer is coming up and we don't really see this, you know, toning down, so, I don't think --

HUNT: Well, I mean, certainly the administration at these campuses is just trying to get through commencements and hoping it kind of goes away. Quickly, RFK Jr. who is running as an independent, was on Bill Maher, "Real Time with Bill Maher" over the weekend, and I was asked about and pushed about whether he's going to be on the ballot. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN & TELEVISION HOST: You're going to be on the ballot in three states.

ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY JR., INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FOR 2024 ELECTION: Me?

MAHER: Yes, aren't you?

KENNEDY JR.: Yes, that's a different question.

MAHER: Well, that's a path. You've got to be out here --

KENNEDY JR.: Well, I'm going to be --

MAHER: You've got to be on the ballot too.

(APPLAUSE)

KENNEDY JR.: I'm going to be up -- I'm going to be on the ballot.

MAHER: You're going to be on the ballot and all this --

KENNEDY JR.: I can guarantee you, I will be on the ballot in every state.

MAHER: Really?

KENNEDY JR.: Very quickly.

MAHER: There's news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Well, of course, the challenge is that RFK Jr. does not have any problems, simply saying things that are not true. Unlikely he's going to be on the ballot in all 50 states. But he is on the ballot in some critical places.

ALFARO: He is on the ballot in places where you know, even 3 percent of the vote could make a big difference. And I'm looking, you know, seeing states like Michigan, those are places where you can't lose, you know, 4,000, 5,000 votes if you're Joe Biden or Donald Trump.

So, again, it really still depends to see where he's really pulling all of these supporters from. But those are the key states where he really, you know, risks hurting one of the candidates on the general election. HUNT: Again, the question of who he pulls from, it seems like

increasingly it may be Donald --

ALFARO: Yes --

HUNT: Trump and not Joe Biden, but I guess we'll find out. Marianna Alfaro, thank you very much for being with us this morning. Right up next here, reining in Israel. A readout from a Sunday phone call between President Biden and Israel's Prime Minister.

Plus, Republicans in Arizona selecting an indicted fake elector as their National Committee member for the Republican National Committee. And how Donald Trump plans to carve up his week so that he can be in court and on the campaign trail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:10:00]

HUNT: Welcome back. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Saudi Arabia this morning. He's meeting right now with Mid-East leaders about Israel's new peace proposal for Gaza. President Biden spoke Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the plan.

And for the first time, Israel says it's willing to consider a sustainable ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages. The White House says a hostage deal was the primary focus of the call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRBY: We're going to get this hostage deal in place, and we are still working at that. Hamas has not fully rejected it. They are considering this proposal on the table. If we can get that in place, then that gives us six weeks of peace. It gives you no fighting for six weeks, and that includes no fighting in Rafah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: CNN's Max Foster is live for us in London. Max, good morning, always good to see you. Rafah, of course, is critical to all of this. And on Sunday, Biden reiterated, we are told, his clear position that Israel must have a plan here to try to avoid this. What do you see here in terms of the -- any shifts from the Israelis in terms of how they are willing or not to make this ceasefire last longer in exchange for the hostages?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, Mahmoud Abbas, you know, from the Palestinian Authority has said that America is the only country that can block this invasion of Rafah. I think the question for Antony Blinken whilst he's there is just getting a better sense really of what that invasion might look like.

And being able to -- and what the plan is really to protect the civilians, because, you know, no one really has a proper sense of this, and if Americans didn't have a proper sense of it, is a problem because it will need American support, of course, to be able to do that, and it plays into a much wider conversation about how to handle this entire war.

So, I think if Antony Blinken -- is how do you protect the civilians if you're going to go in, and that's a really hard thing to answer because inevitably, there will be casualties when it's such a densely- populated area with, you know, a lot of Gaza currently relocated there.

[05:15:00]

HUNT: Yes, Max, there was a column from Thomas Friedman in the "Times" over the weekend. He of course, a long-time Mid-East Bureau chief for the "Times", very knowledgeable about the region, basically saying that Israel has to choose between going into Rafah or making some sort of security agreement with Riyadh with Saudi Arabia that could potentially mean that their long-term security is in a different place than it might be otherwise.

What do you make of kind of that decision that Israel has to make to continue to kind of go it alone or try to resurrect what was an emerging security framework in the region before October 7th?

FOSTER: Well, there is going to be -- have to be a plan for after all this and Saudi Arabia will be involved in it. And I'm sure Israel accepts that and a lot of the people in the government would accept that, and they've got a lot to contribute here.

The question is, when do you deal with that? Do you deal with that too without before Rafah, and you know, which is part of the Israeli strategy to defeat Hamas. They say they have to go into Rafah in order to get -- to get to those remaining pockets of Hamas, and I think that, you know, it's short-term versus long-term.

They're very much focused on the short-term defeating Hamas, that's the priority along with getting the hostages out. So, I think those conversations are serious, obviously, involving Saudi Arabia, but whether they happen now or not is a different question, but I'm sure Antony Blinken will bring -- will be bringing that message very firmly to Israel after his visit to Riyadh, which is ongoing as we speak.

HUNT: Yes, well, Max, well, speaking of that, we just do have this just in from Tony Blinken. He did say that there's been "measurable progress in getting aid to Gaza", that's a quote, but that it's not enough to address the humanitarian crisis.

And this of course, comes also, as there's a headline in New York Times" this morning, that the top Israeli officials are bracing for possible arrest warrants from The Hague, they're about blocking humanitarian aid. I mean, at what point is there so much pressure on Israeli officials?

This is -- this is the part that I can't get my head around like they could -- Israel could be doing more to allow more humanitarian, more food aid into Gaza. And so far, they have not done enough, at least, not in the view of many in the international community.

FOSTER: Yes, I mean, there's a problem for the international community because, you know, there -- you know, we've seen Palestinian protests, haven't we? In the U.S., across Europe in a lot of these allied countries to Israel, and all of this pressure is mounting on allied governments.

And if they can't answer why, you know, the very minimum amount of aid isn't getting into Gaza, it's a problem. They're seen as weak and they're not using their leverage, and away from, you know, how to resolve the war. The one priority for, you know, so many protesters is just to get food to people in Gaza.

So, it is a big problem. And Europe and America are putting as much pressure on Israel as they can, and they're not making as much progress as they want, as Antony Blinken has been describing there. One of the reasons why America is taking it in from the sea, of course.

HUNT: Yes, all right, Max Foster for us in London, Max, always grateful to see you, thank you very much. All right, coming up next here, nearly two dozen deadly tornadoes sweeping across the Midwest, plus the support that student protesters are getting from lawmakers and this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(TAYLOR SWIFT MUSIC PLAYING)

You left your typewriter at my apartment, straight from the tortured poet's apartment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Taylor Swift adding another number one to her name with "Tortured Poet's Department".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:20:00]

HUNT: Welcome back. At least, four people, including an infant are dead after a tornado outbreak in Oklahoma. Nearly two dozen tornadoes touched down over the weekend in that state in Sulphur, Oklahoma, about an hour south of Oklahoma City. An EF-3 tornado was reported, leaving behind a large path of damage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KEVIN STITT (R-OK): I just haven't seen this much destruction from my time as governor. It looks -- I mean, you just can't believe the destruction. Like it seems like every business in downtown has been destroyed now here in Sulphur.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now with the latest here. Derek, those pictures just incredible and so much devastation. What are we looking at today? DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and hearing him say that every

business has been destroyed, I mean, just think about the lives that have been impacted by this and the kind of a snowball effect that, that has down the line. Here's one of the mini tornadoes this weekend.

This is coming out of Lincoln, Nebraska, overturned semi-trucks, this is just an incredible amount of power behind these tornadoes that ripped through Marietta, Oklahoma. All in all, there were 137 tornado reports over the past three days. Look at that blank at the Midwest and into the southern and central plains.

That is a tornado outbreak, especially on Friday. And this has bumped us very close to the average year-to-date. We were running slightly before that up until this weekend, of course, things skyrocketed and changed. And going forward this week, we'll likely approach and exceed the average number of tornadoes year-to-date.

Now, we still have a lot of active weather right now, and I want to focus in on the deep south, southeast of Houston, we're talking Harris County. There was just recently a tornado warning reported, and that is valid here for the next 20 minutes or so, not impacting Downtown Houston, but nonetheless, still a tornadic, at least radar- indicated tornadic storm.

There's a few other tornado warnings in southeastern Texas and southwestern portions of Louisiana to the other ongoing threat is the flash flooding from these heavy rain bands that continue to move over the same locations. Hundreds of lightning strikes per hour here across much of the deep south, still an ongoing, very fluid situation, but that's where our severe weather setup is for the day.

[05:25:00]

This will be the last for the week, and then we start to ramp things up by the end of the week once again, Kasie.

HUNT: All right, Derek Van Dam for us, Derek, thank you very much, I'll see you next hour --

VAN DAM: OK, all right.

HUNT: All right, it's 24 minutes past the hour, here is your morning roundup, Arizona Republicans choosing state Senator Jake Hoffman as their National Committee man for the RNC. Hoffman is fake elector who was indicted last week for being a fake elector and accused of working to overturn President Biden's 2020 win.

The WNBA's Candace Parker retiring after a stellar 16-year career. She spent 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, winning three titles, two MVPs. Parker is the only WNBA player to win MVP and rookie of the year in the same season.

Taylor Swift's "Tortured Poet's Department" debuts at number one on the billboard 200.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (TAYLOR SWIFT'S MUSIC PLAYING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: This is Swift's 14th album to claim the top spot, she's now tied with Jay-Z for second most number ones just behind The Beatles. They have 19. All right, coming up next here, pro-Palestinian protests spreading to more campuses.

A growing number of schools calling on police to crack down. Plus Vice President Harris traveling to Atlanta with a message for black men.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)