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CNN This Morning
Today: Trump Criminal Hush Money Trial Resumes; Biden Blasts ICC Over Arrest Warrants For Israeli Leaders; Today: Giuliani, Meadows To Be Arraigned In Arizona. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired May 21, 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 Tuesday, May 21st.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
An explosive admission from Michael Cohen, and a dramatic clash between the judge and a witness in the final hours of the Trump hush money trial.
Plus, an angry response from President Biden after the International Criminal Court decided to see an arrest warrant for Israel's prime minister.
Plus, growing uncertainty in the Middle East. What's next for Iran after the sudden death of their president?
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HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at New York City on this Tuesday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
In just hours, Donald Trumps criminal hush money trial set to resume in New York. This comes after an explosive Monday in court. Former Trump fixer, Michael Cohen, admitting to stealing thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization. Another hit to the credibility of the prosecution's key witness.
Plus, a dramatic exchange between Judge Juan Merchan and a defense witness. Robert Costello acted as a legal adviser to Cohen after the FBI searched his home and office, Cohen's home and office. He complained, Costello complained when the judge sustained an objection to a question he was being asked.
The judge warning, Costello, quote, when there's a witness on the stand, if you don't like my ruling, you don't say, "Jeez", okay? And then you don't say strike it, because I am the only one that can strike testimony in the courtroom. And then if you don't like my ruling, you don't give me side eye and you don't roll your eyes.
After court ended for the day, Trump made his now standard complaints about the case and the judge and he added this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Republican Party, one of the two great parties, nominated somebody to be their candidate, and their candidate has been sitting here for almost five weeks, in a freezing cold ice box.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Joining me now, "Wall Street Journal" White House reporter Catherine Lucey.
Catherine, I feel like it's normally us complaining about things that are too cold. The man in their seats are usually fine, but I ever that that courtroom is particularly -- particularly chilly. So --
CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: When he stays (INAUDIBLE). I mean, it's -- I would have a hard time falling asleep in an icy cold box.
HUNT: Right. That's fair. That is a fair point. So lets talk about where we stand in this trial because I'm sure that you worked with Michael Cohen as you've covered politics over the course of the last decade or so, I certainly did.
I think we all kind of looked up when he actually did acknowledge yes, he stole money from the Trump Organization. Eric Trump tweeted about it in real time.
LUCEY: Yeah. I mean, that was a noteworthy moment and that is a real issue here because -- I mean, the biggest thing as we go into the it seems like the end of this trial is his credibility, and what the jurors make of this because it's so much of the story rests on Michael Cohen's testimony and Michael Cohen's word, right?
And so that does really I think, you saw prosecutor is really trying to sort of steer it back to explain why this might have happened. But this is an issue I think.
HUNT: Yeah, let's walk through that. I mean, because we did see the prosecution, what's called redirect, Michael Cohen in the wake of the cross-examination, what did you particularly hone in on in terms of what they focused on to try to rectify any mistakes that might've been made?
LUCEY: You think you saw them trying to explain why this might have happened and what they really want to go back to and focus on is the core, the case, right? Which is Trump's -- is the payments to Stormy Daniels, Trump's repayment, et cetera? And so, I think they're trying to get it back in that direction, but it is just this is a problematic piece of information, obviously.
HUNT: Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk about Robert Costello. So this guy is a lawyer who shows up in Michael Cohen and the Trump campaign's orbit after Michael Cohen's home office hotel room have been raided by the FBI. This is in 2018 and the Trump team is trying to convince Michael Cohen not to start working with prosecutors, right?
[05:05:05]
Not to flip as they put it. So Costello, we can show you a little bit. Obviously, it's a huge challenge. There's no cameras in the courtroom, so we can't show you who these people are actually yesterday, I really wish we had them right now, especially after some of the juicy details that came out, but we can -- Costello testified on Capitol Hill just in the last week or so.
So let's show you a little bit of what he said on the Hill, gives you a little bit of a flavor. Here -- this is again, the guy who's rolling his eyes at the judge that gets admonished yesterday. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT COSTELLO, FORMER MICHAEL COHEN ATTORNEY: What he tries to do is he picks out, cherry-picks certain emails or text messages and tries to make them look like something else.
The story he told yesterday was that Rudy Giuliani and I wish somehow conspiring to try and keep him quiet, to try and keep them come from flipping. That's the term we use in the trade for cooperating. That's ridiculous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So that was the guy that we saw on the stand yesterday. Were you surprised how far he was willing to go? I mean, he's a lawyer. He should know how judge would react to this kind of behavior.
LUCEY: Also saying, jeez, I mean, I'm I super helpful. I mean, the -- we haven't really seen a moment like this in the courtroom yet, right? Reporters were cleared from the room. The judge was clearly very angry, use the kind of language as someone who's my kids.
HUNT: That was not a suit. I flashback to, I was like clip of Ferris Bueller or something, teenagers rolling their eyes.
LUCEY: Yeah. Yeah. Don't you know, don't roll my -- I get to make the ruling. You don't get to roll your eyes. It felt like a real parental moment.
Yeah, it doesn't seem like that was helpful, obviously, for the defense. What they are trying to do is pick apart as we've seen throughout -- pick apart Cohen's case, suggest other reasons, you know, some of these conversations might have happened, suggest -- get question, the version of events that his putting forward.
HUNT: Yeah. I will say a kind of big picture here. Obviously, the jury is going to get to decide the legal answer were not in the jury's heads right now.
But politically speaking, there does seem to be something of a tie that has turned a little bit in terms of thinking about the trial considering some of the holes that that seemed to have appeared in Michael Cohen's testimony.
Do you think that does the Trump team feel like they have more ground to stand on, saying that this trial or these charges shouldn't have been brought.
LUCEY: Certainly, that's the argument. They're making -- they're really and they have I think we saw this yesterday, he's been fundraising off of this. They make the arguments that all of these cases are political, or unfair and he's raised a lot of money doing that.
So I think there is certainly sympathy at least for some voters, for that idea. And I think you're going to continue to see them really trying to steer it in that direction.
HUNT: Yeah. All right. Catherine Lucey for a start us off this morning, thank you so much for being here.
All right. Coming up next --
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whatever these warrants may imply, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: President Biden slamming the ICC's decision to seek an arrest warrant for the prime minister of Israel.
Plus, Rudy Giuliani expected in an Arizona court this morning to face arraignment on election subversion charges.
And Senator Ted Cruz introducing new legislation to protect IVF. Why is he doing that now?
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[05:12:28]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
President Biden is slamming the International Criminal Court after they announced in an exclusive interview with CNN that they're seeking warrants for war crimes against Israeli leaders and several Hamas leaders.
Biden called the move outrageous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Let me be clear: we reject the ICC's application arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.
Whatever these warrants may imply, there's no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. It's clear that Israel wants to all -- do all it can to ensure civilian protection. But let me be clear, contrary to allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice, what's happening is not genocide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So the decision from the court puts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the company of Russian president Vladimir Putin, and the late Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
Joining me now is CNN international anchor, Max Foster.
Max, good morning to you.
There is a line to walk here in that the U.S. administration does support an effort against Putin here to investigate alleged war crimes in Ukraine but at the same time, very strong words there from President Biden.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's obviously meant to be an independent court. I mean, it's this idea, isn't it, of false equivalence? So comparing a terrorist organization as it seen by Israel and the U.S., of course, Hamas to legitimately elected government of Israel. I think that's -- part of the issue here is the optics, the way that they've been put into the same ruling, if you like. And its difficult for President Biden because he wants to support exactly what the ICC has done in relation with President Putin, as you say, and have a huge issue about trying to compare effectively pres -- Prime Minister Netanyahu to President Putin.
So it's all of these equivalencies that have appeared as a result of this, which has made it extremely difficult. But the ICC, of course, we should point out, isn't anywhere near actually issuing a warrant or indeed finding any of the people here actually guilty. So were some way off, but it's the idea that that could potentially happen which has caused a lot of diplomatic tension.
HUNT: Yeah. Well, and Biden was pretty clear there in saying that what's happening here is not genocide.
I mean, that strikes that, you know, what the ICC is looking at here. And also from a political perspective here at home, that is obviously what at many who are say protesting on college campuses are saying about what it's going on in Gaza.
[05:15:08]
So that's a choice from the president in that regard.
FOSTER: Yeah. And who -- who does -- who's the arbiter on what is genocide? I mean, people are going to disagree, aren't they? I have -- as they have done for the whole of human civilization, about wars and whether or not its a genocide or a fight for freedom in terms of who decides a genocide, a lot of people would hold the ICC as the ultimate arbiter is the best example they've got all of an Independent International Court that's been set up to decide exactly this sort of thing.
Either governments leave them to make those independent choices, or they get involved and President Biden has decided to get involved because is pretty clear. It does not see what Israel is doing as a genocide. There are many of course, who will disagree in seen that, of course, some protests, as you say.
HUNT: Yeah, well, I mean, I think there's always of course the question of intent here and of course the focus seems to be on is, are the Israel is doing enough to protect the civilian population? They, of course, say that they are intending to do that. Whether that's actually what's happening, another question.
Max Foster for us -- Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you very much.
All right. Coming up next year, the Supreme Court is allowing one state to ban assault rifles, at least for now.
Plus, a heated exchange change in Congress now spilled onto social media and we now have workout videos. Yeah.
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[05:20:58]
HUNT: All right. Twenty minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
Later on this morning, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and others will face a judge in Arizona. They will be arranged on charges related to that states 2020 election subversion case. The charges include conspiracy and forgery.
The Supreme Court allows Maryland's ban on assault style weapons to stand at least for now. Justices declined to hear the case on Monday and the law bans dozens of guns, including the AR-15.
Trump Media says they lost more than $300 million last quarter and generated little revenue. The company owns the Truth Social platform with of course the former president as the majority owner, and a frequent user. Stock was down 5 percent at the close.
All right. Coming up next here, a bombshell admission from Michael Cohen on the stand.
Plus, Marjorie Taylor Greene clapping back by pumping iron.
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HUNT: All right, 5:26 a.m. here on the East Coast.
A live look at the Statue of Liberty on this Tuesday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
A bombshell revelation from Michael Cohen as he wraps nearly 17 hours of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial. Cohen admitting he stole tens of thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization.
That led Trump attorney Todd Blanche to ask: So you stole from the Trump organization? Cohen responding: Yes, sir.
On the redirect examination with the prosecution, Cohen explained he did so because his annual bonus had been slashed, saying quote, to have my bonus cut by two-thirds was very upsetting to say the least, I just felt it was almost like self-help.
Trump's son, Eric, weighed in. He posted this in real time, quote, this just got interesting. Michael Cohen is now admitting to stealing money from our company.
Let's bring in former January 6 investigative counsel Marcus Childress.
Marcus, good morning.
Quite a day in court yesterday. This admission from Michael Cohen, and I guess my first thought was, oh man, its getting himself in trouble by admitting this. It sounds like the statute of limitations means that that's no longer the case. But were you surprised that he was as clear as he was and saying I stole from the Trump Organization.
And what impact do you think it has with the jury?
MARCUS CHILDRESS, ATTORNEY, JENNER & BLOCK LLP: Not surprised at all, actually, because it came out on direct. This has already come out already. And if we saw one thing that was consists about Michael Cohen was that he was comfortable with his lies. He was comfortable with his past acts.
He kind of owned it, which is actually was a wildcard going into this direct examination was whether Michael Cohen's going to keep his cool and own his past acts. And I think he completed his testimony without blowing up on the defense or trying to minimize his prior conduct. And I think that might give him, in a weird way, credibility with the jury? Well, we'll see.
HUNT: Yeah, speaking with the jury, I mean, our reporters in the room noted that they seem to be shifting in their seats kind of near the end of the cross-examination. It's obviously impossible to know exactly what that means, but it was the first time that they had reported that. And I think our sense was maybe that it showed that they were a little bit over what Todd Blanche was doing. Do you think he's spent too much time on these kinds of things?
CHILDRESS: So there's two ways you can typically approach a cross- examination at tight cross where you're just hitting the points that you want to highlight in your closing argument. And then there's an approach that we saw from Blanche over the past couple of days where you're throwing out lots of theories and kind of drilling a witness on every lie, every ms de that they might have done because you don't know what's going to stick, right?
And so what I took from the cross-examination is that they're looking for one jury that they can one juror like in hanging their hat on one of the pieces of cross to maybe hold out and get a hung jury whereas when you see the tighter crosses, you're looking for an acquittal because you know that your case is strong to maybe get an acquittal. And so that's the way I look at this longer, more meandering type cross style.
HUNT: That's interesting. I hadn't thought about it that way. So the other thing that we saw yesterday that turned a lot of heads was the defense put a witness on the stand, Robert Costello, an attorney. And the judge actually, the questioning of Mr. Costello became so contentious that the judge actually, through the audience out of the courtroom, which included many reporters.
But there were exchanges that we witnessed in then obviously we learned from the transcript later, he had a couple of.
