Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Trump Seethes as Stormy Daniels Testifies in Hush Money Trial; Trump Classified Documents Case Indefinitely Postponed; 145M+ Under Severe Storm Threats from Texas to Maine. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired May 08, 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 Wednesday, May 8. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, a tale of two candidates. One in court and one on the campaign trail. A stark contrast, six months out from election day.

[06:00:47]

Plus, why the judge in Trump's classified documents case just postponed that trial indefinitely.

And a state of emergency declared in Michigan after a devastating round of tornadoes.

All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. The sun coming up over the White House, Washington Monument. Beautiful view down the National Mall. Good morning, everyone.

I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Wednesday morning.

It was a split-screen that told the story of two starkly different candidates and campaigns. As President Biden was delivering a speech against antisemitism at a Holocaust remembrance event in Washington on Tuesday, Donald Trump was seething in a New York City courtroom as Stormy Daniels described in lurid detail her alleged sexual encounter with the former president. Testimony that made Trump visibly uncomfortable.

The judge told Trump's attorney, quote, "I understand your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually, and that's contemptuous. It has the potential to intimidate the witness, and the jury can see that."

Trump's attorney replied, "I will talk to him."

Then the judge continued, "I am speaking to you here at the bench, because I don't want to embarrass him."

Trump's lawyer repeated, "I will talk to him."

And the judge said, "You need to speak to him. I won't tolerate that."

Our panel's here: Axios senior contributor Margaret Talev; Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts; and Matt Gorman, former senior advisor to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Margaret Talev, I want to start with you, because the details that --

were shared that had Trump swearing, and the judge actually saying like, this is too much, including -- included silky pajamas in the Lake Tahoe hotel room. She, Stormy Daniels, recalls joking, "Hey, does Mr. Hefner know that you stole his pajamas?" she asks.

And then she remembers her hand shaking as she tries to buckle her shoes as she's leaving this encounter, which he describes as, while not coerced, something that -- that she clearly was very shaken by.

What did we see unfold yesterday? I mean, it's like on the one hand, it's something that seems to line up so much with everything we've talked about with Donald Trump for so many years now that I think there are a lot of people that are inured to it that almost feel like it's normal.

But like, I'm sorry, it's not normal. What -- how are people going to view this.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't know how voters are going to view it, but --

HUNT: We talked to a lot of them, in fact. The young ones, anyway.

TALEV: But I don't -- look, it now reinserts this thing that would have been a bombshell if it had happened, if it had been revealed before the 2016 race. But it was not until afterwards it -- it now puts it back, front and center, in a presidential campaign.

And one of the political questions is, is that going to matter? We know that there are somewhere around 10 percent of voters who say they're truly undecided, which seems kind of crazy, because like, all this time, with all these years with these two guys, you still don't know how you feel, but there are about 10 percent of voters who say they're undecided. There are about a quarter of voters who say maybe they are persuadable. So they're not that enthralled with either choice. They could change their mind.

If even a fraction of those voters were -- if their decision were shaped, either by Stormy Daniels's testimony or by the outcome of this case and the race were very tight in a key state, that could make a difference.

So politically, it's possible that this will make a difference, but I think there's so many things going on. There's the kind of sordid, lascivious drama and the sort of details that have been recounted.

Then there are the technical parameters of the case. The prosecutors felt that they needed to put her out there in order to establish sort of the tenets for -- for what is a business crime case.

HUNT: Right.

TALEV: And then there is the question. It's a separate legal question about whether her testimony was over the top in a way that, were Trump to be convicted, it might help him on appeal. HUNT: Sure.

TALEV: Not -- I think that is, as we course towards November, that last part is sort of -- it may not be besides the point for prosecutors, but it may be besides the point for voters.

HUNT: Yes. Sure. Well, so one of the elements of this, of course, is that Donald Trump denies it all happened in the first place, right? So he's sitting in they're swearing, talking about this along these lines. Let's just, like, reflect on -- Mitt Romney had this to say about the whole situation a couple of weeks ago. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): I think everybody has made their own assessment of President Trump's character. And as far as I know, you don't pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Congressman, do you agree with Mr. Romney?

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): I agree with Senator Romney. I mean, that's -- that's true.

A lot of people have made their decision. And you're right. We've known these people for -- we've known these two candidates for a long time. It's even hard to imagine, as Margaret said, that 10 percent of America hasn't made up their mind.

I think there's a question as to who shows up? You know, some people say those values voters -- well, you know, I like what Trump has done for traditional American values. We hear that. This is not traditional American values, folks. Are they going to actually show up and vote for him at the end of the day?

And then of course, this question is being asked on the left. All these college protesters who -- who were concerned about the situation in Gaza, which will get immeasurably worse -- let's be clear -- if Donald Trump is president again. But will they show up to vote for Biden? We don't know.

HUNT: Matt Gorman, I mean, the value -- I feel like the values voters question is probably asked and answered at this point.

MATT GORMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I feel like we could transport this conversation back to 2015 minus the courtroom drama and have a very similar sort of conversation.

And look, there was a large swath of those voters who were out in Iowa who were behind DeSantis, whether it's Bob Vander Plaats or the like, who tried to get someone different. They couldn't.

And look, I think you -- they will eventually consolidate, because I think, as we saw in 2016, they do want to win. And I think, to Margaret's point, I mean, this is essentially -- I'm not a lawyer, but it's a business records case.

And so, to the extent that this becomes a titillating sort of thing, and it becomes very lurid, I think Democrats -- the prosecutors risk losing the plot of this whole thing.

And that, as we all know, what does Donald Trump love to be almost more than anything else, is a martyr. And so does that paradigm flip a little bit, too? I'm watching.

HUNT: Yes, Margaret, how do you think what we heard yesterday plays with women voters in particular? Because they really are the reason why Trump lost the election in 2020. And I mean, some of the -- some of the lawyers we were talking to as were covering this live yesterday suggested that the women jurors may actually be the toughest ones to crack on things like this.

But you know, I'm -- I'm kind of -- I'm just interested in whether this doesn't -- it doesn't do anything to remind them of what they don't like about Trump. Or again, is it just so baked in that it doesn't matter?

TALEV: I think there is a baked in element to this. There are issues on the ballot that are motivating the way a lot of women are feeling about turning out at the polls this year. And abortion, particularly in states where this has become an issue.

But abortion is an animating issue for many women voters. There are women who are -- are not abortion supporters. There are women who are strongly pro-choice. And that is going to animate turnout, perhaps more than this. Because I think this element of Donald Trump is baked in with women.

What you're hearing in terms of Stormy Daniels's testimony yesterday, I think if it were going to have an impact on voters, it may go more to the question of voters who are trying to figure out whether to vote for Donald Trump or not vote.

HUNT: Right.

TALEV: And I'm not sure how many of those are women voters whose views would be changed by this.

HUNT: Yes, interesting. All right, Margaret, thank you very much --

TALEV: Yes. Of course.

HUNT: -- for sticking around for us.

TALEV: Thank you.

HUNT: I appreciate it.

All right. Coming up here, a ruling in Donald Trump's classified documents case that could delay the trial beyond the November election.

Plus, Marjorie Taylor Greene and House Speaker Mike Johnson meeting privately again.

And wildfires spreading across Arizona. One of the five things you have to see this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:34]

HUNT: Welcome back. The Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon has indefinitely postponed the former president's classified documents case, citing issues with classified evidence.

It is a major win for Trump, because the move makes it incredibly unlikely that any trial would unfold before he faced his voters in November of 2024.

Last night, Trump attorney Alina Hubba argued that the case should be tossed out entirely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALINA HUBBA, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: Jack Smith changing covers, sloppy with evidence that he's now trying to blame President Trump when it was his hands in the cookie jar. Let's be clear on what is happening.

Their plan is falling apart. It's going in their face, and frankly, all of these cases should be dismissed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: However, former White House attorney Ty Cobb had this perspective. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TY COBB, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ATTORNEY: This is direct; this is clear. All she's really done today, though, is make official what everybody, including Jack Smith, already knew, which was she had no intention of getting this case to trial, and she wasn't competent to get this case to trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right.

Were joined now by Zolan Kanno-Youngs, "New York Times" White House correspondent, who joins our panel.

Zolan, there -- when -- when I have spoken to -- I am not a lawyer, full disclosure. But many of my esteemed colleagues who are here at CNN have raised significant questions about how she has gone about this.

When I talk to Republican strategists, they would often say that they thought this classified documents case was potentially the most damaging to Trump ahead of the election. What does this say to you about the judge and about the politics?

[06:15:10]

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, so we know that a strategy for the former president, as well as his legal team, in various cases, or even -- in various cases, has been to delay; has been to try and file and delay these cases as much as powerful [SIC].

I think it's important to remind the public that, for this case as well, in terms of the stakes, delaying this past the election also does have a huge potential outcome here.

Because if the former president were to win the election, he could then order the Justice Department to dismiss this case outright. So the stakes there are huge.

There are also specific things to point to when it comes to this judge. Now, she is saying right now that we need more time here for -- in order to litigate this case for the choices at hand.

But also there's been specific choices she's made here that have contributed to these delays. Having sort of hearings for each of these decisions that are filed by Trump's team, rather than having it just decided based off of a court filing and writing, which would speed the trial up that you would think.

HUNT: Yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS: So there's also specific choices that you can point to here under scrutiny.

HUNT: Yes. I mean, and Congressman, Donald Trump repeatedly talks about how he thinks the system is rigged against him. Do you see this as an instance where it seems to be raked in his favor?

MOULTON: Absolutely I mean, he appointed this judge. She's clearly working for him. And that obviously doesn't have to be the case. But every step of the way is pretty transparent. She's been clear from the beginning. She's going to underlay this until pass the election. That's exactly what she's doing.

HUNT: I mean, I should be clear. I mean, I think it's important that we all trust our system of justice, that it is not rigged.

But the president has worked very hard, Matt Gorman, to convince Americans that the whole system is rigged against him. I mean, how big of a relief is this for them? I mean, it seems like it is exactly what they want. She's doing exactly what they want.

GORMAN: It's certainly a win for them. I mean, this was always the weird bargain with someone -- with several of these cases, right?

You had the New York one, where that's going on right now. It's one of the weaker and weirder cases of the four. But obviously, finding a Manhattan jury pool very hard to find one that was going to unanimously acquit Trump just because of the politics of Manhattan, him getting what, I think, 12 percent of the vote there.

On the other hand, this among the four is one of the stronger cases. And I think those Republican strategies you're talking to are on the right track here.

But you're right. You're doing it with someone presiding who is a Trump appointee. And so I think that was always the weird navigation of all of these four cases.

HUNT: You want to jump in?

MOULTON: Look -- look, I think that -- I think that's right.

But the thing is that, even when people say the Stormy Daniels case is not the best case, it's still serious. I mean, all this stuff is serious, and Americans should be taking it seriously.

And frankly, this judge should be taking it seriously.

KANNO-YOUNGS: When we talk also just about why, you know, this case worried some of those Republican strategists, as well. I mean, it's important to remind folks, as well, when we talk about classified documents, some of these documents reporting has found contains national -- sensitive national security information, as well.

HUNT: Right.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's why this has made so many around the Trump camp and Republican strategists nervous this specific case.

HUNT: Right.

KANNO-YOUNGS: It also makes it even more -- again, just to remind you about the stakes that pivotal of a delay that could go beyond the election.

HUNT: I mean, it's pretty -- the Republicans I've talked to you basically argued, like, this is very easy to understand. I would not be allowed to take classified information home with me. Neither should the former president.

All right. Ahead here, President Biden taking on a ferocious spike in antisemitism in America.

Plus tornadoes tearing through Southwest Michigan. And there could be more on the way.

Plus, a crash that could be straight out of Hollywood. It's one of the five things you have to see this morning. Yikes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:02]

HUNT: All right, 22 minutes past the hour, five things you have to see this morning. Portland police investigating a pro-Palestinian group's online

statement claiming responsibility for a dozen police cars set on fire last week.

The group said it was a preemptive act against law enforcement to prevent officers from shutting down a protest.

And check this out. A surveillance camera capturing an out-of-control car going airborne in Phoenix Monday night. Police say no injuries were reported, but the driver ran off. They are searching for him now.

In the NBA playoffs, the Boston Celtics cruising to a game one v new again won victory over Cleveland, defeating the Cavs 120-95 last night.

The Celtics, led by Jaylen Brown's 32 points, connected on 18 three- pointers.

Arizona's Flying Bucket Wildfire doubling in size in 24 hours, burning 4,000 acres West of Maricopa. Officials believe it was started by people firing guns.

Parts of Michigan under a state of emergency after a tornado swept through, injuring at least a dozen residents of a mobile home park and trapping another 50 people in a FedEx building nearby as it tore the roof off.

And more of that weather on the way across the Central and Eastern parts of the U.S. Our meteorologist Allison Chinchar here to break it all down.

Allison, good morning. What are you seeing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

Yes, that line that triggered some of those tornadoes and damaging winds yesterday is still ongoing. You can see those strong storms stretching from upstate New York all the way back to Arkansas. Lots of lightning with these, some of them still strong at this hour.

That's why you've got this tornado watch in effect here. You can see a couple. It almost looks like it's split there.

That will expire here in about the next 40 minutes or so, but it's very likely we'll get additional tornado watches as we go through the rest of the day.

And that's because we have yet another threat for severe weather today. It's just going to shift a little bit further East and a little bit further South than what we saw yesterday.

The main focus point is going to be right here across the mid- Mississippi valley. So Louisville, St. Louis, Nashville, back over into Little Rock. But really, any of these areas you see here have the potential for the damaging winds. A tornado. And yes, even some very large hail could also be an option for several of these areas. [06:25:15]

And that's just going to add to the total number.

Looking at just the last 48 hours, we had 47 tornado reports, almost 300 damaging wind reports and 138 hail reports, some of them quite large. Larger than golf balls.

And again, even just specifically tornadoes, we have now had several days in a row -- 13 to be exact -- of tornado reports, for a total of 290 tornado reports just since April 25th.

So it's been very active across the country, and that's going to continue even into tomorrow as that main system continues to spread Eastward.

HUNT: All right. Lots to look out for. Allison Chinchar, thank you very much for that.

All right. Coming up next here, President Biden denouncing the rise in antisemitism in the wake of the October 7th Hamas attacks.

Plus, an indicted congressman refusing to resign. We've got your morning roundup ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]