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Trump Team Grills Cohen During Cross-Examination; Blinken Vows U.S. Support for Ukraine as Russia Hits Kharkiv; Severe Storm Threats for Parts of Florida, Carolinas. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired May 15, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, May 15. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, tense moments in court with Michael Cohen on the stand.

Donald Trump's lawyers trying to convince the jury that the ex-fixer is bitter and not to be believed.

Plus, the Biden administration moving ahead with a new plan to send $1 billion worth of arms to Israel.

And old-school Republicans joining forces to try to fight Donald Trump's bid for a second term in the White House.

All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the White House on this misty Wednesday morning here in Washington.

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

Donald Trump's defense team had months to prepare for this particular moment in history: their chance to cross-examine Michael Cohen to try to attack his character, tear down his credibility, and convince 12 jurors that he can't be trusted or believed.

Trump's former lawyer and fixer faced intense scrutiny on the stand on Tuesday. The defense tried to paint him as bitter, filled with rage, and motivated by revenge.

Cohen was confronted with a string of insults that he has leveled at the former president in recent years, including calling him a "Cheeto- dusted cartoon villain" and "Dictator D-bag."

In direct examination from prosecutors earlier in the day, Cohen testified in detail about the 2018 FBI raid on his home, hotel room, and office as investigators sought evidence related to the hush money payment, based on information that was uncovered in the Mueller probe.

Here was how then-President Trump reacted to learning about that raid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, good man. And it's a disgraceful situation. It's a total witch hunt. I've been saying it for a long time. I've wanted to keep it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Trump later called Cohen -- this is in this period -- to reassure Cohen, with Cohen testifying Trump said, quote, "Don't worry. I am the president of the United States. There is no -- there is nothing here. Everything is going to be OK. Stay tough. You are going to be OK."

Cohen, of course, later flipped, pled guilty, and here we are today.

Our panel's here: CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny; Matt Gorman, former -- former senior adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign; and the former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams. Welcome all.

Elliot, fascinating day yesterday.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.

HUNT: This -- this call that he gets, what did it say to you?

WILLIAMS: I mean, I have sort of been turning it over and over in my head, because it really does -- you know, when the president of United States tells you that they'll take care of you. There are powers that the president has at their disposal.

We also learned about another apparent instance where, I guess, Jeff Sessions was said to be in President Trump's pocket, et cetera. What did you see in the direct examination here, and how do you consider this narrative and how it's going to play with the jury?

WILLIAMS: Well, the most important thing that came out there was this question of loyalty for the former president. It's been a narrative through the trial. This is an individual that tries to keep people close, likes to keep people close, and ultimately, punishes those who stray from the fold.

Now, in terms of the evidence that was submitted, it wasn't the most persuasive evidence that we saw over the course of the day. There was quite damning documentation of, for instance, the payments to Michael Cohen and how they were structured, all of the checks. And then, of course, other witnesses that corroborated much of the things Michael Cohen said, except for the meeting that he had with the president one- on-one. And we can talk about that, too.

But --

HUNT: Yes.

WILLIAMS: -- this was more of the interesting color about the former president that we've learned over the course of the trial, that I think is news to many people at times. HUNT: Yes. I mean, it's quite something.

WILLIAMS: The specifics are new. As of course, people knew what they got with the former president. But I mean, the specifics of how the conversations played out is what I meant.

HUNT: Yes, for sure. And some of these these insults, of course, that Cohen had levelled at the president, we can -- we can put them up. This is -- this is in the cross-examination: "On your first podcast, 'Mea Culpa,' you referred to President Trump as a boorish cartoon misogynist, didn't you?"

Cohen says, "It sounds like something I would say."

"You recall the first one in 2020 as a 'Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain.'"

Cohen: "That also sounds like something I said."

"You think you might've said, quote, 'I truly F-ing hope this man -- ends up in prison. Is that exact?"

Cohen, "It sounds like my language on 'Mea Culpa.'"

[06:05:10]

Jeff, this of course, the podcast that Michael Cohen has been hosting. He hasn't necessarily done himself any favors in buttressing his own credibility, which they tried to highlight here. Did they do it successfully?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, we'll see. There are hours and hours and hours of things that Michael Cohen has said about everything, but certainly about his former boss, Donald Trump.

I think the question is, are jurors going to sort of look beyond the "D-bag" word that you said and other things that he has said and listen to the heart of the matter?

And what happened during the testimony is that, for the first time, he tied the former president directly to those payments.

HUNT: Yes.

ZELENY: And that Oval Office meeting, I think, is so interesting. And when they showed the -- the picture of Michael Cohen standing in the White House briefing room, that was a pretty interesting day. It was back in February 2017. The former president had been president for only a couple of weeks.

And we all remember Michael Cohen coming into the White House sort of like what are you doing here? That was interesting.

So I think the -- you know, he's not believable necessarily or likable, I should say. He's not likable. We'll see if he's believable. I think that Michael Cohen has given enough -- he's kept his cool, which we've all been watching to see if he would.

HUNT: There he is. I love his -- his picture apparently generated laughter in the courtroom. This is him taking that photo.

ZELENY: At the time in the briefing room, because we're like, OK, like, what are you doing here?

HUNT: Were you there that day?

ZELENY: I was there that day. It was February. I believe it was February 8. There's been some testimony it was February 5. But in any case, it was the first week of February in 2017. And the White House was still being filled up with staff.

There was always a revolving door of staffers. But at that point, it was still sort of unclear. It's like is this the new Sean Spicer? What's Michael Cohen doing here?

HUNT: Sean Spicer had already been fired by that point?

ZELENY: No, no, no. He'd not been fired, but I mean --

HUNT: Or left.

ZELENY: -- that certainly was coming at some point. No, he was still the press secretary.

But anyway, the point is, are they going to believe Michael Cohen? I think so far, you know, his credibility is pretty good in the sense that, you know, what does he have to lose at this point? I mean, he's been convicted and other things.

HUNT: Honestly, the only thing he has to lose is --

ZELENY: We'll see. The cross is not finished.

HUNT: Right.

ZELENY: We'll see.

HUNT: Right. Right. That's going to continue on Thursday. I mean, it's -- the reality is Michael Cohen, he lies on the stand, he risks going back to prison. That does seem like a motivator.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Again, yes. He's lied to every other branch of -- he's lied to every branch of government. Like, he's been found to executive congressional subpoenas (ph). It's not like a stretch for him.

WILLIAMS: You get -- you get a prize at your third branch.

GORMAN: Is it a merit badge?

WILLIAMS: It really is.

GORMAN: He's trying to pose -- he's posing like an intern at the -- at the press briefing thing.

WILLIAMS: And more to the point, they don't -- and just correct me if I'm wrong, the folks who worked in the White House. They don't typically allow people --

GORMAN: They don't.

WILLIAMS: -- to photograph behind the lectern typically, right? It's usually in front of it.

ZELENY: That's not necessarily true. I mean, if you come in as a -- an appointment to the West Wing. I mean, he had a meeting in the Oval Office. So you do. And certainly after hours, you can.

HUNT: Yes. I mean, I've -- I have a lot of friends who have, like, small kids. And they'll let them be behind it. It's not -- it's not really considered terribly -- anyway, Matt.

GORMAN: Look, look, I think the jury, obviously, is one thing. Also, I guess I struggle also to kind of take it -- take the step back and see how much voters are actually following kind of the ins and outs of this and whether it's going to be persuasive to them.

As of right now, it doesn't seem to be, according to a lot of the polls, both specifically asking the question, where do you fall in this trial; will it affect it? Doesn't seem to be. And certainly with the aggregate in terms of polls in the states, doesn't seem to be; seems to be very tribal.

But certainly, Cohen is giving the defense a lot to cross-examine here. I'm sure we'll see more.

HUNT: Matt, we're going to dig into the Republicans who stood by Trump a little bit later in the show. But there -- there was one question I sort of had for you off the top, which is that these people are making this calculation that what they're -- what they want to do right now is -- is what they need for their own political futures right now.

It doesn't seem to have a ton of regard for the future. I mean, our colleague -- my colleague Stephen Collinson wrote, "These Republicans' desperation to move into the former president's inner circle is ironic, since Cohen has offered a cautionary tale in describing himself; how he turned himself into a bullying, lying clone of Trump to grab a piece the power; and his efforts ended with him in prison, right? What did we see from that yesterday?

GORMAN: I think it -- look, it's a fair point. I think stepping back, right? Take kind of all the -- all the pageantry out of it. What we've seen kind of consistently is Republicans rushing to -- to TV to either talk to Trump -- kind of campaign for the nomination. Sure, they can defend him.

HUNT: The V.P. nomination?

GORMAN: Yes. And so look, you're going to go where the cameras are. Right now, they are stationed outside a courthouse in Manhattan. And so, it's -- in terms of a communications stunt --

HUNT: I hope they realize what they're doing. I mean, it's like he's on trial. And what if he gets convicted and --

GORMAN: But again, but they're also making the calculation that right now, he's leading in the polls for presidency. And if the election was held today, it's likely he would win. So there's another calculation there, and they're going to where the cameras are.

ZELENY: I think --

GORMAN: Yes.

ZELENY: Sorry to interrupt. I think equally interesting, people who aren't going, like -- like Lindsey Graham said, "I'm not going to go to New York." Several senators said, I'm not going up there. So that's kind of an interesting split, you know, because he's been very close to the former president.

[06:10:08]

HUNT: I mean, normal -- the normal rules of politics would say that you should not go to a courthouse and defend someone without knowing if they're going to be guilty or not.

ZELENY: Of course, we threw those out in 2015.

GORMAN: Oh, my God. Exactly.

HUNT: They've been gone for so long that here we are. Let's just not lose sight of that.

Coming up, we will talk to one of the people that went and did this, Congressman Cory Mills. We'll ask him what the calculation is and why he did go to that courthouse to support Trump.

Plus, we'll also get to this. Secretary of State Blinken is in Ukraine with a message of hope at a desperate time for them.

And a security guard training in an Amazon warehouse tries to shoot his supervisor at point blank range. Oh, my God. This is one of five things you have to see this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:16]

HUNT: Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Kyiv for a second day, trying to reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine after the U.S. recently greenlit more than $60 billion in military support.

But that aid's pretty late, and it comes just as Russia launched another round of ground and air attacks on Northern Kharkiv this morning. Officials say about 8,000 people have been evacuated from the area.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, thanking the U.S. but pleading for even more help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: It's air defense, the biggest deficit for us. Really, we need today two Patriots for Kharkiv, for the Kharkiv region, because they are -- the people are under attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us now, live from that region of Ukraine.

Nick, good morning to you. We're just learning that's Zelenskyy is also postponing his participation in all international events in the coming days because of the situation on the ground there in Kharkiv. What can you tell us?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, that is just the reflection, frankly, of how grave it's getting North of Kharkiv.

Part of his job, as you were saying, to go round allies and make the urgent case for more, better aid quickly.

Now, what we're seeing North of Kharkiv -- let me make sure people understand the context of this -- is not another active front line where the Russians are seeing success. They've been seeing success and moving forwards in the East quite dramatically over the past weeks.

What they did on Friday is launch a significant new invasion, frankly, from their territory into parts of Ukraine that they'd been kicked out two years ago.

And it's frankly depressing to be back here. This is the front line, two years ago that we worked around, to see now this potentially under threat again.

Now the Russians have come at this with force and resources. They've not found the Ukrainians ready. We've not driven past significant fortifications on the way to here. Two places where they're being urgently built, we did see.

And key to all of this is a town called Vovchansk. Now that is on the border. We were there when they were kicked out two years ago, but now the Russians are back, it seems. A local police chief talking about hearing gunfire in and around the city.

So it seems at most generous to Kyiv, the Russians are certainly on the outskirts.

And Ukraine's military talking about how they'd moved to more favorable positions over the last 24 hours. That's sort of their euphemism for a form of retreat.

So clearly on Russia, on the forefoot there. They have other key settlements in their sights, too. One of which Lyptsi, might potentially enable them to shell Kharkiv, Ukraine's second biggest city. Remember, a place of millions that have felt for a while calm, the ability to get back to normal life, and is now facing the possibility of continued shelling. They've had airstrikes over the past days or so.

And so all of this a reflection of how Russia appears to have got its resources together, to have turned its economy into a wartime one, and regained its focus and its manpower, while Ukraine has been left with its morale cratered, because of the six months it's had to wait for that $61 billion.

Back in December, people were talking about how, if they didn't get it, they were finished. They've had to wait five or six months. That's starved them of ammunition on the front lines to stop Russian advances. That's left them questioning where they have to essentially devote what little they have left.

And at a key moment like this, where Russia has launched an entirely new offensive in a different direction, they now have to make choices about where they send the troops to hold that back.

And we're also seeing Russia making advances in the East, too. So this is, frankly, a catastrophic moment for Kyiv, a change in the war and something reflected in Zelenskyy deciding not to make those urgent visits to allies in the days ahead.

We're into a very grave moment here, and the aid simply cannot come fast enough, if indeed, it's not too late for some parts of Ukraine -- Kasie.

HUNT: Yes, sometimes it can be hard to wrap your head around the real ramifications of the delays here in Washington as you're covering bring them day-to-day.

I really appreciate that very clear reporting about where we are right now and the real ramifications that that has had that now puts us in this position.

Nick Paton Walsh for us in the Kharkiv region. Nick, thank you very much.

Ahead here, Angela Alsobrooks defeats a record-breaking self-funder in the Maryland Democratic Senate primary.

Plus, some mixed reaction, shall we say, to King Charles's latest official portrait. This is definitely one of the five things you well have to see today. Everyone's got an opinion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:50]

HUNT: All right, 23 minutes past the hour, five things you've got to see this morning. A dramatic escape in Normandy, France. At least two gunmen ambushed a

prison convoy and freed an inmate who was being driven back to prison from court. Two prison guards were killed. and the suspects are still on the loose.

Showing surveillance video of a security guard trainee at an Amazon warehouse in Ohio, trying to shoot his supervisor at point-blank range. The gun misfired, and the bullet missed.

Police shot and killed the suspect.

A dramatic police chase in Peru. A truck struck -- a truck in Lima, Peru, smashed multiple police cars. The 33-year-old driver was allegedly trying to steal that truck. Yikes.

You also have to see this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE (singing): Keeping on rocking in the free world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Antony Blinken rocking out during his trip to Ukraine for the free world. The U.S. secretary of state picked up a guitar, and you will recognize this as Neil Young's "Rocking in the Free World." He was in Kyiv.

And King Charles unveiling his first official portrait since his coronation at Buckingham Palace. Public reaction to this six-foot painting, which features a red background with Charles in uniform and not the Welsh guards, apparently, has been -- the script just says, it's been mixed. That is a major understatement.

[06:25:13]

We'll just show it to you. You decide. There are lots of feelings.

All right. Time now for weather. Severe storm threats ramping up in three regions of the U.S.: Central Florida, the Carolinas, and the Southern Plains this morning.

Our meteorologist Allison Chinchar tracking these systems for us.

Allison, good morning. What are you seeing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

Yes, it's going to be quite an active day today as those three separate areas all having the same threats. You're talking damaging winds, the potential for some hail, and also tornadoes.

Now, here's where the active weather is, as we speak. The bulk of it is really over the Southeast and especially in Florida. This severe line of thunderstorms right here has a tornado watch in effect until 11 a.m. Eastern Time today.

That includes Daytona Beach, Orlando, as well as Tampa as that line moves through.

Another threat is going to be flooding over the next several days because the area along the Gulf Coast is going to get a tremendous amount of rain, the thing they don't need.

You're looking at an additional three to five inches of rain expected over the next several days.

Given the ground is already saturated, that's what's got these -- both of these days, Thursday and Friday, looking at a moderate risk. That's a level three out of four for excessive rainfall, mainly along many of the same areas.

And the key thing here is because of how much rain they've had the last few weeks. You look at this in just the last 72 hours alone, a lot of these areas, you see that orange and red color. You're talking at least four inches. It's four to six inches for a lot of these places, Kasie.

Now we're talking about adding three to five inches more on top of it. So it's no wonder we have the potential for flooding over the next few days.

HUNT: All right. Allison Chinchar for us in our weather center. Allison, thank you.

All right. Coming up next here, inside President Biden's decision to move forward with a $1 billion arms deal with Israel.

Plus, former GOP Congressman Charlie Dent is here to tell us about a new group he's forming of Republicans determined to move the party away from Donald Trump.

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[06:30:00]