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Hush Money Trial Revelations Continue; Trump's Remarks on Election Raise Concerns; Another Round of Severe Storms, Flooding to Hit Texas. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired May 03, 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: It's Friday, May 3. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, secret tapes, extortion claims, and one blatant lie. It's all in a day's work in one day at Donald Trump's hush money trial.

[06:00:59]

President Biden paving the way for thousands of DREAMers to receive Obamacare benefits.

And a massive tornado strikes central Texas with damage and some injuries reported. Ahead, we'll have the latest details and the forecast as more severe storms could be on the way.

Six a.m. here in Washington. Here's a live look at New York City and some -- man, look at that beautiful sunrise. Love it. Great way to start the weekend.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's great to be with you.

Sex, lies, and Donald Trump on audio tape as the first ever criminal trial of a former president continued for another sordid day. The jury appearing to hang on every word as that they heard a call between Trump and his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, that Cohen had secretly recorded.

Here's the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David. I spoke to Allen about it when it comes time for the financing, which will be --

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What financing?

COHEN: We'll have to pay --

TRUMP: So pay with cash.

COHEN: No, no, no, no, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: "I have to pay with cash."

Trump and his lawyer were seen conferring and studying the transcript as this played.

As for the sex and the lies, earlier in the day, Stormy Daniels's lawyer was pressed on why her statement back in 2018 denying a sexual and/or romantic affair with Trump was, technically speaking, accurate. Davidson's answer, quote, "I think you'd have to hone in on the definition of 'romantic,' 'sexual' and 'affair.'

Davidson said, "I don't think that anyone had alleged that any interaction between she and Mr. Trump was romantic."

Anyone else wondering what the definition of "is" is?

Let's remember, it was Jimmy Kimmel who pressed Stormy Daniels about this very question back in 2018.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, ABC'S "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": Am I getting at anything? Did you sign this letter that was released today?

STORMY DANIELS, ADULT FILM ACTRESS: I don't know. Did I?

KIMMEL: Wait a minute. That you can say, right?

DANIELS: That does not look like my signature, does it?

KIMMEL: It doesn't look like your signature. So you're saying perhaps this letter was written and released without your approval?

DANIELS: Hmm.

KIMMEL: Do you know where it came from? Do you have any idea?

DANIELS: I do not know where.

KIMMEL: You do not know where it came from?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Here was Kimmel last night, celebrating what is apparently a national milestone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMMEL: I don't want to brag, but first time a late-night talk show has been introduced into evidence at the criminal trial for a president of the United States. Johnny Carson didn't get that with Nixon. We got it here.

Why was I not asked to testify? It's outrageous. I'm going to start soon, people. I don't know. I really -- and I think I could keep Trump awake during the trial. One of the --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right.

Our panel's here. David Frum, "The Atlantic"; Shermichael Singleton, former deputy chief of staff at HUD and Republican strategist; former White House senior policy adviser, Ashley Allison, also Democratic strategist.

David, I just decided that the only way to deal with any of this is humor, because you know, I mean, the -- the litany of things we learned yesterday at this trial, taking us all back to this time where Trump was grappling with this. The -- Michael Cohen --

DAVID FRUM, WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Pleasant words (ph).

HUNT: OK. Sorry. It's Friday. Why don't I just hand the floor to you?

FRUM: Embracing. He was embracing it.

OK. I'm going to make a serious point, because it is an absurd and squalid and kind of repulsive situation. Here's the serious point. And for people who are thinking about the future and how they're going to vote.

The American political system has found it possible, the American legal system, to hold Trump to account for all of his squalid playboy "Apprentice"-era gross stuff. So what -- we're good at that.

[06:05:08]

What we're not able to do is to hold him to account for trying to overthrow the government of the United States. Those trials are going to be indefinitely postponed.

Now, Trump is nearing 80. He's probably passed his squalid playboy hijinks era. Maybe not, but probably.

HUNT: I'm not even going to --

FRUM: Modern -- modern medicine is impressive. So he may be able to do other gross stuff.

But he's not past his attacks on government of the United States. So when people tell you, well, the -- if he returns to office, the system will be able to hold him to account, the institutions will be able to hold him to count, look at what the institutions are able to do and look, at what the institutions are not able to do. And ask yourself which of those behaviors is likely to be repeated in a future Trump presidency.

It's the anti-institutional, the anti-constitutional things that he may repeat. And those are the things we have not been able to hold them to account for. HUNT: Yes. I mean, Shermichael is actually -- it is a very, very good

point. And this is the reason why everyone who has looked at all of this has viewed this particular trial as potentially the least damaging to Trump.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

HUNT: Because if -- if any -- if anything, it plays into, you know, the hands of him kind of saying this is all ridiculous, right?

SINGLETON: Oh, it does.

HUNT: And it does deny that the delays in these other trials denies the Americans the opportunity to know whether or not the justice system convicted -- has convicted him of crimes conducted on and around January 6.

SINGLETON: Yes, but on one point, David. Hugh Hefner was over 80. I'm just throwing that out there.

FRUM: Yes.

SINGLETON: But with that said, Kasie. I mean, you look at our own polling only around 30, 35 percent of Americans say that this trial actually matters, particularly when you compare it to the other three. It's almost certain that the other three are not going to occur until after November.

So far, this has been salacious, has been interesting. It's like watching a live reality show in real time.

But I'm not necessarily certain whether or not it's going to make a difference, because most voters look at Trump. And they say, Well, I'm not surprised. Maybe had a couple of mistresses.

It's this billionaire guy hanging out with a lot of Playmates. I mean, it's kind of like some guys' dream, to be the rich guy hanging around with beautiful women.

So I'm not certain that that's going to translate politically to people said, well, I don't know if I'm going to necessarily vote for Donald Trump. So it is in his favor. And I do wonder quickly here, will he get a hung jury? Because if he does and that gives him the ability to say see this is a political witch hunt.

Well, and Ashley Allison, I think we should -- I want to bring in something that we heard from Donald Trump on the campaign trail when he did -- when this trial took a break on Wednesday. He went to swing states in Michigan and Wisconsin.

And he made a rather startling admission about something that happened on January 6, which was that he actually did say that he wanted to go to the Capitol as these rioters were poring there. Watch Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Remember the person that said, I attacked a Secret Service agent in the front of the car. It's not my deal. I'm a lover, not a fighter.

This is crazy stuff. I sat in the back. And you know what I did say? I said I'd like to go down there, because I see a lot of people walking down.

They said, Sir, it's better if you don't.

I said, Well, I'd like to.

It's better if you don't.

All right. Whatever you guys think is fine.

That was the whole tone of the conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And on this trip, Ashley, he gave an interview to "The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel," where he was asked whether he would accept the results of the election. And he says, quote, "If everything's honest, I will gladly accept the results. I don't change on that. If it's not, you have to fight for the right of the country."

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. One thing on the hush money case, I will just say is that I appreciate there might be a lot of men who want to deal with whatever you said, but there are a lot of women who don't want their husbands to cheat on them.

So there's a whole other part of the electorate that don't care about this case for different reasons.

To this, on a more serious note, Look, I feel like this is Groundhog Day a little bit. He is literally telling us he is going to try and do January 6, 2.0, maybe even in a more escalated way that he wanted to go to the Capitol.

We need to be paying attention. I know that in these cases, there are so many. And I know that they can become confusing, and you can kind of just become numb to them, but we cannot. This is our country. This is our democracy we're talking about.

And Donald Trump is literally lighting a flare saying, I told you once. You didn't believe me. I'm telling you twice. It's going to be your fault if you don't an act accordingly.

HUNT: Yes. I mean, David, I kind of go back to January 6 when, you know, we sort of learned there were all of these clues out there, what was going to happen that day and they were missed.

FRUM: One of your -- one of your colleagues had on J.D. Vance on the air, who said he seriously doubted that the vice president was -- was in danger of death that day. So first, that's the bar. The question is, we are now debating whether the president of the United States was intending, actually, to murder his vice president. Maybe, yes, maybe no.

But the denial also conceals what the plot was on that day. And it was to get Pence out of town and to get somebody else into the presiding chair who could say yes to what the vice president correctly was saying no to.

[06:10:06]

It ended up in violence, because the plot didn't -- went awry. But there was a plot. And although it was farfetched, it was not impossible. Trump's goal was to throw the election to the House of Representatives, where -- where the states vote, not by person, but by state numbers. Republicans --

HUNT: Each delegation gets --

FRUM: Each delegation. The Republicans have fewer -- in those days, had fewer representatives, but more states. They could have done it.

And that's the plan, by the way, for the election that they have ahead, is to -- is one of Trump's backup plans is to create these third-party ringers, which are funded. The third-party super PACs, not the candidates themselves, the super PACs are funded by Republican donors, again, with the hope of denying -- if Trump can't get a majority, deny it to somebody else, throw it in the House of Representatives, and then use chicanery or even the threat of violence to create a result that is not the result that the people are going to vote for.

SINGLETON: But Kasie, if I could --

HUNT: Quick last word, yes.

SINGLETON: -- just quickly say, with -- with all of those facts, the fact that Donald Trump and President Biden are in a statistical dead heat says something.

And I wonder, as I assess politics here, electorally, what -- what are we missing? Why is there such a substantial number of Americans who are saying this matters, yet, I'm still willing to support the former president over the alternative. And that's substantial.

HUNT: Ashley, I'm going to give you a very quick last word on that. Why do you think that is?

ALLISON: If I had the answer to that, I wouldn't be sitting in this chair. I'd be living in a mansion.

HUNT: Fair enough.

ALLISON: No, I think that it is because of the way that people consume media. I think that it is the way that Donald Trump, from the very beginning, has attacked institutions and so has sowed this doubt, so that when the truth does come out, people are skeptical.

HUNT: All right, we have a lot more to talk about today. Our panel's going to stick around.

Up next, the Biden administration moving to make DREAMers eligible for Obamacare benefits.

Plus, stunning video as a tornado touches down in central Texas, one of the five things you've got to see this morning.

And two admissions from Donald Trump. One about January 6. And the other about what might happen after the election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:18]

HUNT: New this morning, the Biden administration announcing they're going to extend coverage under the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare to DREAMers.

That means that benefits for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as young children. Health and Human Services Secretary Javier Becerra says this, quote, "We're committed to making health coverage accessible for all Americans, including DACA recipients, DREAMers who have worked hard to live the American dream. And today, we take a major step toward meeting that goal."

The new regulation likely to get pushback from Republicans who opposed the idea last year. Our panel is back.

Ashley, let me just go to you on this. This clearly, of course, in an election year is something that is going to be viewed through a political lens. But there are a lot of people who are going to have access to something that they previously didn't have.

ALLISON: Yet, and I just want to point out these individuals who are going to get that access can actually vote in this election. So this is actually just the government doing good work for people who, I think, overwhelming majority of Americans believe that DREAMers should have a pathway to citizenship. They were on that pathway for some time.

And many of these folks have been living in limbo without coverage because of the rollback of DACA.

So this is good policy. It will obviously, on the political side, play well with people who support immigration reform.

And I don't think that this should be the fight that Republicans take on, because every time they go against talk -- talking about the Affordable Care Act and Donald Trump says he wants to roll it back.

Americans like their health care. They want more health care, and they think DREAMers should have access to citizenship and also health care.

FRUM: Understand what President Biden is signing up for. When President Obama introduced the DACA program now a decade and a half ago. We're still in the depths of the Great Recession.

At that point, illegal immigrants were leaving the United States. The illegal immigration population, which had been maybe ten or 11 million in 2007, was down to about nine. So about a million people went back to Mexico.

So President Obama could present DACA as -- as a way of tidying up a problem of the past. We were left behind in the era of illegal immigration, which people assumed had -- was coming to an end. These people left behind, let's tidy it up.

Under President Biden, and the borders open, the illegal population is surging again. We're on our way to an illegal population of about 18 million people if Biden serves two terms.

There are going to be more and more and more people in this situation. So to -- to --

HUNT: That's the Republican argument, too. They're basically saying --

FRUM: It's true.

HUNT: -- if you do this, it's going to draw more people.

FRUM: They're all -- they're already on their way here. And if President Biden is re-elected, that population will continue to grow, assuming no major economic catastrophe.

So how, if you're going to tidy up the leftover of the illegal immigration population of the past. You have to make sure that the border is now closed. And you're not doubling and redoubling this problem for the future.

But right now, we are doubling and redoubling this problem in the future. And nothing serious is being done about it. And President Biden's strategy for the election year, is to say, well, the Republicans shot down the bill I had. Now I don't have to think about this, and the border is open.

HUNT: Well, I mean, it certainly is potential as -- if we talk about the politics of it. Some fodder for Republicans to work with us. They focus on immigration heading into the fall.

All right. Ahead here, we've got severe storms bringing major flooding, evacuations, and a tornado to Texas. This is one of our five things you have to see this morning.

Plus, President Biden breaks the silence on the campus protests.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:52] HUNT: All right, 23 minutes past the hour, five things you have to see this morning.

Cars burning and black smoke filling the sky in Southeast Connecticut after a gas tanker caught fire on Interstate 95. Authorities say that a bridge that was damaged in the blaze will have to be demolished and that the road will remain closed until at least Monday. Yikes.

These images from the UCLA campus showing the trash, graffiti, posters, and other things left behind after police cleared the protest encampment.

The LAPD says more than 200 people were arrested Thursday for failure to disperse.

And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To a live feed from Wenchang satellite launch center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: -- liftoff for China's latest moon mission. The uncrewed rocket is headed to the far side of the moon. They aim to bring back samples from there.

China hopes this will be their first step to a manned lunar mission by 2030.

A tornado was spotted in the tiny town of Hawley, Texas, near Abilene, along with baseball-sized hail. Officials say some injuries were reported there, and a number of homes are either damaged or destroyed.

[06:25:00]

Heavy rains and flash floods forcing mandatory evacuations and a state of emergency near Houston. About 7 million people are under flood threats from Texas to Louisiana today.

And West Texas could see some severe storms today with another round. Our meteorologist Derek van Dam tracking all of it for us.

Derek, what should these folks expect?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Kasie, I think right now the main threat, the immediate threat is certainly the flooding that is ongoing.

And we have currently 59 counties across Texas declared a disaster declaration. And then on top of that, we've got many inundated roads.

You're looking at Highway 59. This is what it appeared like yesterday. But look at these trucks, these 18-wheelers completely stuck with this flooded zone. And, you know, when we talk about record-level territory for these river gauges, that comes with a lot of weight, considering the history of the flooding that's inundated Southeast Texas.

But this is what I want to draw your attention to. Here's the Trinity River near Romayer (ph). And the forecast crest for this is 44 feet, and the record crest is 43.5.

So not only are we surpassing Hurricane Harvey levels from 2017, this could be an all-time river crest for that location. There are nearly 40 river gauge across Louisiana and Southeast Texas currently under floodwater or some sort of flood stage.

And that is the reason why rainfall totals over the past month have almost approached 30 inches. And guess what? We've got more rain falling on these hard-hit areas just North of Houston. A story we'll cover all morning long -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Derek van Dam, our meteorologist for us. Derek, thank you very much for that.

Coming up next here, President Biden standing firm on his Israel policy, despite the protests on college campuses across the country.

Plus, new comments from Donald Trump about what he did and did not do on January 6.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)