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CNN This Morning
Storms Leave 4 Dead, Path of Destruction In Houston; Cohen Grilled During Cross-Examination Over Phone Call; U.S. Military Begins Delivering Aid To Gaza Via Floating Pier. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired May 17, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:39]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, May 17th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
A break in the Trump hush money trial after a tense confrontation in court between the defense and Michael Cohen. How badly damaged is Cohen's credibility in the eyes of the jury.
Hurricane force winds and torrential rains lead having four dead in Houston. Parts of the South now facing life-threatening flooding and power outages.
And the defense strategy in the bribery trial of Bob Menendez coming into focus. The embattled senator blaming everything on his cancer- stricken wife.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, a live look at New York City, very early on this Friday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Wonderful to have you with us.
Developing story right now in Houston, Texas. Hurricane force winds cutting a deadly path through the area, leaving at least four people dead and nearly a million people across the region without power.
Wow, those wins taking down powerlines, trees, and residences in the city.
Downtown Houston hit hard. So you here, the Wells Fargo Plaza where debris and remnants of buildings are still swirling. We're going to get much more coverage from our weather team coming up in just a few minutes, but stay safe out there this morning if you are in the Houston area.
All right. Let's turn now to law and politics because there was a pivotal day for Donald Trump, and it might have honestly been his best day yet in the course of his hush money trial.
The prosecution's star witness, Michael Cohen, faltering on the witness as Trump's attorney Todd Blanche needled him over inconsistencies in his previous testimony.
Earlier this week, Cohen testified to an October 2016 phone call with Trump on his bodyguard's phone in which Cohen said they discussed the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. On Thursday, however, defense lawyer revealed text messages that Cohen had sent to Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schiller, immediately before the call. Those texts asking for help with a teenager who had been prank calling Cohen.
Blanche then asked Cohen, quote, on Tuesday when you were under oath and testifying, you were certain it was accurate, you had a phone call to President Trump but now you're saying you're not certain it was accurate. Cohen responding I believe I also spoke to Mr. Mr. President Trump and told him everything regarding the Stormy Daniels matter was being worked on. And it's going to be resolved.
Blanche firing back: We're not asking for your belief. This jury doesn't want to hear what you think happened.
Outside the courtroom, Trump was joined once again by a crew of Republican allies eager to defend him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BOB GOOD (R-VA): This is a crooked sham trial to try to hurt the nominee who's going to be the president United States, whether or not they like it.
REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): This is a scam. It is a sham, it is a show. And we are here to expose every bit of it. Mr. President, we stand with you.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): We're here of our own volition because there are things we can say that President Trump is unjustly not allowed to say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Okay, joining me now, "Axios" politics reporter Stef Kight.
Stef, good morning to you. Thank you so much for being here.
STEF KIGHT, AXIOS POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning.
HUNT: This really in some ways feels like it could have been a turning point yesterday in this trial as we were watching this unfold in real time here in the studio yesterday. It -- it really did I think show potentially that Cohen may not have been consistent in this moment, right?
The prosecution went out of their way to say yes, he has lied before. He has lied to all of these different bodies, to Congress to other places. But they were saying to the jury he is telling you the truth now, and Todd Blanche does seem to have exposed Michael Cohen here.
[05:05:00]
How important do you think this is going to be?
STEF KIGHT, POLITICS REPORTER, AXIOS: Yeah, I mean, it goes to show how risky it is when you are resting most of your case on someone like Michael Cohen when someone who has a history of lying under oath and the jury is going to take that into account. And what we saw yesterday was a very aggressive effort by Trump's attorneys to, you know, bring into question Cohen's credibility and poke holes in this anterior point and actually raise real questions about whether what he's saying -- whether what he's saying about Trump being involved in knowing about these hush money payments is actually true.
And again, this is so reliant on Cohen's testimony. Everything about this, he is the one person connecting Trump to the other evidence we've seen laid out so far in this trial. And so to have any kind of questioning about his credibility could be a huge moment for Trump moving forward.
HUNT: Yeah. I mean, it seems like if they're going to plant reasonable doubt, they only need one juror to potentially have this end in a hung jury. So let's talk about the politics of this. We showed those freedom caucus members who were the ones we showed calling this a sham trial. They said that they went up their of their own volition. That was Matt Gaetz's phrase.
They were not -- the Trump campaign didn't pay for them to be there, which we have seen in other instances, they have the Trump campaign has brought people in. They did not do that in this case.
What, what do you think this particular crew doing this says? And isn't any sort of statement that the Trump campaign didn't ask for these guys to go, that they just kind of showed up.
KIGHT: I mean, I think this particular group of members is not surprising. These are some of Trump's loudest advocates and have been for a long time. These are also many of the same members who are part of the oversight committee who have made attacking the justice system, attacking the department of justice central focus of their efforts on that committee and so even the fact that they were in New York yesterday delayed so a hearing and a vote on holding and content attorney the attorney general, over these -- over Biden's classified documents case.
So this particular group of people isn't surprising, but it is notable that we have now seen so many Republicans make this move. We saw Rick Scott, we've seen other senators kind of make the voyage to show their solidarity with Trump.
This is clearly becoming a theme and something that Republicans feel like they need to do to kind show that they're on the former president's side. And this is all within the context of 2024 elections.
HUNT: Yeah, it's worth noting that Matt Gaetz tweeted this photo of himself behind the president and he says, standing back and standing by Mr. President, lets not lose sight of the fact that that is a reference to the proud boys and all of the white nationalist themes that go with that.
Stef Kight for us this morning, Happy Friday, Stef. Thank you very much for being here.
All right. Just ahead here, at least four people are dead as severe storms slam the Houston area.
Also developing this morning, police grants say they took down an armed man who was trying to attack a synagogue. We'll have more details ahead.
And Arizona prosecutors are trying to indict Rudy Giuliani in their 2020 fake electors case, but they can't because they say they can't find him.
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[05:12:43]
HUNT: Welcome back.
We've got a developing story now out of northern France, police shooting and killing an armed man who was trying to set a synagogue on fire. According to reports, the suspect was armed with a knife and an iron bar and was shot when he moved toward police. Fire damage inside the synagogue described as significant.
All right. Now to Gaza where it's just past noon and where desperately needed humanitarian aid is being delivered at this hour through the floating pier built by the U.S. military. Central Command says trucks have started moving ashore with international aid and the maritime corridor is entirely humanitarian in, in nature. Part of an ongoing multinational effort to deliver more aid to Palestinians.
Officials say, no, U.S. troops went ashore in Gaza.
CNN's Max Foster joins us now live from London.
Max, good morning to you.
This pier, a step in the direction that Palestinians need, but still so that invasion of Rafah is -- seems to be ongoing, if not escalating.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So you've got thousands and thousands of people leaving Rafah, going to wherever they can find really. And there aren't many places to find where they can settle down. So it's getting the -- you know, keeping up with them, getting the aid to them but all the aid workers are suffering from the same problems, of course, as well because they're having to move around.
The big issue currently is obviously see that the Rafah crossing is closed and that's where much of the aid was coming through. That's not possible, which is why this is seen a such a lifeline then just thinking. And, you know, just thinking about what you said there, Kasie, about no U.S. boots actually touching the beach there. They don't want to be seen to be going in or being involved in this invasion, but they've managed to build a $300 million pier in stormy seas and actually get it connected to the land without actually touching the land. So all credit to the U.S. forces involved here and they're hoping to get 90 trucks a day into Gaza.
It's not enough and they're going to struggle to get out to the people, but it's positive news for Palestinians, at least.
HUNT: Yeah, what -- what an engineering project, those pictures are just absolutely remarkable. Nice to have a little bit of good news on that front that that is underway.
Max, I also have to ask you, we get the new edition of "The Economist" lands on our desks on Fridays and they ask, in this issue, is America dictator-proof?
[05:15:10]
And you and I have spent some time talking about this and the view from Europe, especially on the possibility that Donald Trump may be reelected, and what that is going to mean for the world and they write this. The answer is if Americans believed their constitution alone can safeguard the republic from Caesar on the Potomac, then they are to sanguine, preserving democracy depends today as it always has, on the courage and convictions of countless people all across America, especially those charged with writing and upholding its laws.
This just really struck me, especially as we've watched images of people who are charged with writing the laws going and criticizing -- standing behind Donald Trump criticizing the proceedings that are in theory is supposed to be upholding them.
FOSTER: Yes. So, there's that big debate in America. I mean, what were seeing this side is how a lot of those ideas really are translating into other countries. You've seen in Georgia, people in a lead is being accused of being dictators and also in other countries as well around the area, had this assassination, didn't we, as well, this assassination attempt.
There's this idea that to be a strong leader, to be in inspired by Donald Trump, you have to be autocratic. I'm not -- I'm not trying to imply anything on Donald Trump here, but there's a movement that he's inspiring is seen by many protesters, at least to be undermining democracy. So, the scene is undemocratic and dictator-like.
I'm not sure that's how it intends it. I'm not sure that's how he wants to be, but that's how it's being interpreted in parts over here.
HUNT: Yeah. I mean, look, it's clear his affinity for strong leaders is something that is a central piece of how Donald Trump led when he was president in United States and how he interacted with Vladimir Putin, Xi, his affinity for Viktor Orban in Hungary in particular. Orban traveling here to a major conservative conference. It is all connected as you say.
Max Foster for us in London -- Max, thank you very much. Have a great weekend.
FOSTER: Thank you, Kasie. Thank you.
HUNT: All right. Still ahead here hurricane-force winds leave four dead and a path of destruction in Houston.
Plus, the corruption trial of Senator Bob Menendez off to an explosive start, shady characters and a defense strategy that blames his cancer- stricken wife.
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[05:21:48]
HUNT: All right. Deadly storms, powerful winds, and a possible tornado blasting through parts of Texas and Louisiana overnight.
Wow, winds up to nearly 80 miles an hour and torrential rains have left at least four people dead in Houston. Flooding streets across the city and knocking down trees and power lines across the region. Nearly 850,000 customers across Texas still in the dark this morning according to poweroutage.us.
Our meteorologists Elisa Raffa has been tracking it all.
Elisa, good morning to you. We're also seeing windows blown out and skyscrapers.
These scenes are just intense.
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's -- it's incredible what we have seen overnight in Houston. I mean, you can see the damage lining the streets of the city, their traffic lights that are toppled over, holes in skyscrapers were windows have been blown out.
We also have video of customers and Costco totally losing power. Look at them in the dark as those storms blew through.
We had wins upwards of 84 miles per hour at the airport in New Orleans at two miles per hour at a different airport, a couple of wind gusts already over 75, 80 miles per hour over parts of Texas will need to survey the damage in Houston to figure out what those wins speeds were there.
This is the storm system as it continues to progress east. It does have a weakening trend here this morning, though it does pack a lot of lightning just south there, Panama City and some heavy rain as well right now, no watches in effect.
But we'll continue with the severe threat along the Gulf Coast as we go through the day today. Here's that level two out of five slight risks. There you can see in the yellow from New Orleans to mobile up towards Montgomery damaging winds, large hail, additional tornadoes, all still on the table, as these storms can continue to fire up and progress eastward, an additional line of storms as we go into Saturday morning as well for hard hit New Orleans areas, and then along the Florida panhandle.
All of this coming with excessive heavy rain, we have that moderate level three out of four risk for heavy rain and a lot of this area is already so saturated, the ground simply cannot take any more, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Elise Raffa for us on this Friday -- Elisa, thank you very much.
All right. Twenty-three minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
Former Trump attorney John Eastman said to be arraigned in an area Arizona court later this morning for charges he is facing related to the 2020 fake electors case.
Rudy Giuliani also due to appear in court, except prosecutors have not been able to locate him in order to serve him.
In Texas, Daniel Perry is now a free man. Governor Greg Abbott pardoned the man convicted of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020. Perry shot and killed 28 year-old Air Force veteran Garrett Foster after driving into a crowd of demonstrators in Austin.
The Secretary of State Antony Blinken set to meet with Palestinian and Arab leaders this evening, the Biden ministration has been trying to reach out to Arab American voters good rising tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.
[05:25:02]
All right. Just ahead here, prank phone calls, a porn star and a revenge podcasts. Just another day with Michael Cohen on the stand in New York.
How do you top that? How about these middle school insults in a House committee hearing?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, girl, baby!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, really?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't even play.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Baby girl, I don't think --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to move and we're going to take your words down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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