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CNN This Morning

Trump Team Grills Cohen During Cross-Examination; Biden Admin Advances $1 Billion Arms Deal With Israel; Severe Storm Threats For Parts Of Florida, Carolinas, Plains. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 15, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:42]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, May 15th.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:

Donald Trump's lawyers grilling Michael Cohen, trying to convince the jury he's a man on a mission to destroy Donald Trump.

Plus, the Biden administration moving forward with a new $1 billion arms deal for Israel.

And Secretary of State Antony Blinken, making an unannounced visit to Kyiv, laying out a vision for victory with Ukraine in its war with Russia.

(MUSIC)

HUNT: Five a.m. here in Washington, D.C. A live look at New York City early on this Wednesday morning.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

Michael Cohen was in the hot seat and under pressure. Donald Trump's former fixer facing hours of grilling on cross-examination from defense lawyers yesterday. Their goal, it seemed, was to paint Cohen as a liar bent on revenge.

Attorney Todd Blanche at one point confronting Cohen with how his tone regarding Trump has evolved, shall we say, over the years. He asked Cohen about comments that were made back in 2015. Quote, you said he's a man who cares about his country, right, Blanche asked. I said that, Cohen responded.

And later, Blanche continued: And at the time, you weren't lying, right? Cohen responding: At the time, I was knee-deep in the cult of Donald Trump.

Trump's lawyers then trying to contrast that by asking Cohen about recent insults and taunts he's leveled at Trump, including Cohen saying, quote, people will not be satisfied until the man is sitting -- this man is sitting inside the cell. Outside the courtroom, Trump appeared with a group of Republican

allies standing behind him, tried to project confidence during the cross-examination, while again criticizing the gag order.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, we had a very -- I think a very good day in court. You see what's happening. You have to report it, but this I can't talk about it too much. But I think was a very, very good day.

Can you believe I've been in for five weeks instead of campaigning it's a shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining me now is White House correspondent for "Bloomberg News", Akayla Gardner.

Akayla, good morning to you. Thank you so much for being here.

So a lot of drama here for Cohen on the stand. He first walked through his eventual break with Donald Trump. All the events that led up to him deciding he was going to take a plea deal and start talking to prosecutors.

But, of course, the defense getting a chance to try to undermine his credibility at -- what was your sense of how today played potentially for the jury, but also in the court of public opinion?

AKAYLA GARDNER, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG NEWS: The prosecution is hoping that even if people don't like Michael Cohen, he's clearly had this bombastic personality. He was a staunch supporter of Trump. They're hoping that they believe him, they really trying to paint him as a credible source here as Donald Trump's former fixer.

But I think something that was very interesting about yesterday is a prosecution has really upholding Cohen as their star witness, and we saw Donald Trump with really his strongest showing of allies yesterday. He had potential VP picks outside the courtroom and he had the speaker of the house which was very stark, not only because of the stature of his position, but also because Johnson is someone who's really painted himself as this person with traditional values, and yet he's outside this courtroom for allegations of someone who is delivered hush money payments to an adult film star.

So --

(CROSSTALK)

HUNT: Not just painted himself as someone who has those values, but someone who has really, if you look at the way he's lived his life, his roles in his church, other things along those lines. There does seem to be an explorer most it rejection there of some of the conduct that he seemed to be at least associating himself with --

GARDNER: Right.

HUNT: -- at the courthouse.

So one of the things that I also think is interesting about that reality is that if you look at people who have demonstrated loyalty to Trump over the years, you also see that Trump doesn't always repay that. I mean, Michael Cohen because the prime example of that honestly. And we were sort of digging through the archives, kind of see how people talked about Michael Cohen in his past life as he was a supporter of Donald Trump's.

Another character in this mix who didn't really come out very well at all, that was Michael Avenatti, who at one point when served as Stormy Daniels' attorney.

[05:05:04]

Here's what he had to say back in, I believe, 2018 about Michael Cohen.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL AVENATTI, FORMER STORMY DANIELS ATTORNEY: The problem here is that the president has put a lot of faith on the shoulders of Michael Cohen and his ability to withstand a considerable amount of heat and take a lot of heat, potentially lose his license, et cetera. Michael Cohen does not strike me as the kind of guy that at the end of the day will do that. Anytime a guy has to repeatedly tell you how tough he is and referred to himself as Ray Donovan, that's really not a tough guy at the end of the day. That's more like a purse puppy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: A purse puppy. But look, Avenatti was right. Michael Cohen did flip and that's why we find ourselves in this situation today.

How do you think the American public is viewing Michael Cohen's decision here and the way it's played out? I mean, there are cases that are prosecuted all the time with witnesses who you'd have to be brought out of jail, or admit -- you know, have admitted to all sorts of crimes. There are big comparison some of our legal experts have compared this to a mob trial.

But at the end of the day, there really are questions. One phrase that Blanche used yesterday toward Cohen was to say, well, you're obsessed with Donald Trump. No?

GARDNER: Yeah, I think its certainly fascinating the way that Cohen has flipped. But the prosecution is really hoping that jurors will believe him, not the American public. They really only need to convince those people in the courtroom. But you're absolutely right in saying that loyalty is a biggest test of Donald Trump looks for when he's looking for anyone on to work with, but particularly for his VP candidates. And I think he's known to be someone who takes track of people who stand up for him, people who fight for him.

I think that's exactly what he's doing with some of these potentials VP candidates that we saw yesterday -- Doug Burgum, Vivek Ramaswamy, Byron Donalds. These are certainly things that he's going to be testing, especially because we saw Mike Pence, obviously, broke hugely with Donald Trump in the final days of his presidency.

HUNT: All right. Akayla Gardner this morning, Akayla, thanks very much for starting us off.

All right. Coming up next, House Speaker Mike Johnson doing what Donald Trump can't do as we were just discussing outside that New York courtroom.

Plus, President Biden moving forward with more for arms for Israel. This in the wake of him with holding a shipment of bombs and earlier shipment.

And the first official portrait of King Charles unveiled. Do you love it? Do you hate it? Certainly talkable.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:11:54]

HUNT: Welcome back.

The Biden administration is moving forward with a $1 billion arms deal for Israel. The sale still in its early stages, we understand, but it comes right after the president paused a shipment of bombs over concerns with full-scale Israeli operation into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We are continuing to send military assistance and we will ensure that Israel receives the full amount provided in the supplemental. We have paused a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs because we do not believe they should be dropped in densely populated cities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Joining me now is CNN international anchor, Max Foster.

Max, good morning. Always wonderful to see you.

The president, obviously, came in for a lot of criticism from his right on pausing that shipment of bombs. But this clearly sends a different message that they are still with Israel, even if they don't want them to use a particular set of tactics. How's this likely to be received?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, a little pro-Israel supporters weren't happy about the fact that that weapon was withheld obviously, the main concern is how be used in or Rafah what we've got here is, you know, a president who's saying, we are showing his long-term commitment, if you like, to supporting Israel. This latest still hasn't even gone to Congress yet. It could be years away before it's delivered to Israel, but it allows them to be able to say, we do support Israel. We just don't like what it's doing, you know, in the short term or potentially doing the short in Rafah. But the broad idea of supporting Israel's military is still very much there.

HUNT: One, this comes as it seems like the Israeli build-up in Rafah is increasing, no?

FOSTER: It certainly is. And they seem to be getting a position to go in for a ground invasion. We don't know whether or not they are, how widespread that'll be, but it's causing a huge amount of concern, obviously, where you are.

HUNT: Yeah.

So, Max, in addition to being an anchor, you are also are royal correspondent here at CNN. I have to say that the thing everyone in my social media feeds is talking about, it seems because I was inundated with it last night, is this new portrait of King Charles that has just been unveiled. I think we can show everyone.

Wow, it is rather stunning. What do you make of this? It is very outside the norm for a royal family that is typically very careful about adhering to tradition.

FOSTER: Well, in the past, I think artists could be headed for actually doing a bad portray.

I think this is art. He's a big art fan. Everyone's allowed to have their own opinion.

(LAUGHTER)

HUNT: That's your -- you're also our chief diplomatic correspondent this morning.

FOSTER: I'll just explain the thinking and the number one, you know, the face is done brilliantly. It is a real likeness. I know that Camila spoke to that as well. She said, you've got him. I think that, you know, the artistry you on deny.

Away from that, it does sort of have a lot of tradition to it.

[05:15:02]

Actually, when you think about a sitting in a Welsh guard's uniform and a formal pose. What you're probably talking about is the redness. Welsh guard's uniform is red. People have said he looks ghoulish. He looks like his head is floating

and it looks like he's in hell.

HUNT: Yeah. We saw that in Instagram.

FOSTER: I think more than the idea but, you know, I don't think he cares what is to be interpreted or whatever it means to people. And I think he's probably going to quite like the fact that people are talking about it.

HUNT: Well, that's fair. Now, can I ask you, Max, will have seen this before he pulled the fabric off of it when this was unveiled?

FOSTER: Well, he must have done, right. Because, I mean, they always talk about how a nerve wracking to unveil to portray. I think that's because they wait the reaction and you just given them a big one. They do get, of course, they do a look at it because if it's really bad, I don't think the artist wants to be beheaded, rather have them unveiled --

HUNT: Well, they're not going to be beheaded anymore, thank goodness. I had not even -- I had not thought of that, but it does make sense in the British tradition.

Yeah, I mean, look, I actually think it's a pretty stunning piece of art. I am -- I am stunned that they went ahead with this.

FOSTER: Well, it's -- the idea is that you're modernizing, right? It's a new monarch. You're not going to do -- you're deliberately not doing anything that looks back, something looks forward and so it's meant to be a modernized version of what they normally do.

And then after that, it's up to the artists how they want to interpret that. And I think that he probably wouldn't barely even if he didn't like it because, you know, he's got art schools and he does believe that artists a way -- you know, should be able to express themselves and their interpretation of how they see him.

I don't know if he likes it, but I think he likes the fact they'd want to talk about it.

HUNT: Fair enough. All right. Max Foster, thank you very much for that. You're a good sport. I appreciate it.

All right. Coming up next here, America secretary of state rocking out at a bar in Ukraine. Look at that.

Plus, the underfunded underdog who just won a tense Maryland Senate primary.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:21:32]

HUNT: All right, 20 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. The Department of Justice says Boeing has violated the terms of its

2021 deal to avoid criminal charges in the wake of two deadly crashes that involved its MAX 737 planes more than five years ago. Officials say the company after a series of safety missteps is now subject to criminal prosecution.

Hunter Biden's gun charges case goes to trial June 3rd after a judge rejected his bid to delay the case. Also, a three-judge panel dismissed his efforts to get his tax case thrown out. We will now go to court on June 20th.

CNN projecting West Virginia Governor Jim Justice as the state's Republican primary winner. This sets Justice up as the favorite to succeed retiring Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. That is, of course, a seat that Republicans hoped plan to flip from red to blue in November.

CNN also projecting that Angela Alsobrooks will win Maryland's Democratic Senate primary. She defeated three Representative David Trone, and will face off against former Republican Governor Larry Hogan in what is likely to be a pretty competitive general election in that blue state in November.

All right. Time now for whether. Severe storm threat is ongoing in parts of the Carolinas, the Southern Plains, and Central Florida, where a new tornado watch was issued this morning.

Our meteorologist Allison Chinchar here to explain.

Allison, good morning.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And good morning.

Yes, we have not one, not two, but three separate areas of severe weather. So it's going to be quite a busy day today you can see from the map again, we've got several different regions. We're keeping an eye on.

In addition to that, it's also just the pesky brain showers that were dealing with across portions of the Northeast and the Ohio Valley. But the real active weather right now is the area down in Florida. We've got that line of strong to severe thunderstorms already making its way sliding into Daytona Beach, eventually into Tampa and Orlando. This tornado watch where you see in red is valid until 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time today.

But it's one of three total areas that we were looking at the potential for some severe storms that does include Florida, also this area around the Carolinas, and then the target point really is going to be the central portion of the U.S. Damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes possible for the this particular regions as we go through the rest of the day and another concern is going to be flooding. That's going to be focused mainly along the Gulf Coast here because this is what were anticipating a lot of rain over the next several days.

In fact, through Saturday, take a look at this. You've got that wide swath of about three to five inches of rain. The key here though is that grounded has already saturated for a lot of these areas. So adding even more is just going to exacerbate the flooding potential. So that's why on Thursday, you can see a lot of these target areas, but yes, even a moderate risk that's a level -- at a level three out of four.

Same thing for Friday, a very similar area where were going to see the bulk of that rain, and we talked about the ground is saturated. Look at how much train has already fallen in just the last 72 hours.

So, Kasie, you've got some of these areas that have already had four to six inches, now you're adding another three to five on top of it. So flooding is going to be concerned going into the weekend.

HUNT: All right. Allison Chinchar for us with that update -- Allison, thanks very much.

Coming up next here, Michael Cohen's explosive testimony wouldn't be enough to convict Trump.

Plus, Republican Congressman Cory Mills was at the courthouse yesterday will join me live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right, 5:28 a.m., just before 5:30 here on the East Coast.

Live look at Washington, D.C., our capital.

Good morning, everyone. Kasie Hunt, it's wonderful to have you with us.

A key day in Donald Trump's hush money trial on Tuesday with Michael Cohen facing cross-examination from defense lawyers for the first time.

Trump's lawyers attempting to use Cohen's own words against him and to portray him as a man bent on revenge against his former boss.

Cohen being asked: On your first podcast, "Mea Culpa", you referred to president Trump as a boorish cartoon misogynist, didn't you?

[05:30:00]