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Defense Witness Clashes With Judge At Trump Trial; Lawmakers Blast International Criminal Court Over Warrants; Funeral Ceremonies Begin For Iranian President Raisi. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired May 21, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: And the judge actually -- the questioning of Mr. Costello became so contentious that the judge actually threw the audience out of the courtroom, which included many reporters.

But there were exchanges that we witnessed and then obviously we learned from the transcript later he had a couple of warnings. One of them was that he was putting him on notice about his conduct being contemptuous. "If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand," Merchan said.

In another one, Costello tries to interject. He says, "Can I say something, please? And Merchan says, "No. No. This is not a conversation."

What was going on with this witness?

MARCUS CHILDRESS, FORMER JANUARY 6 INVESTIGATIVE COUNSEL, ATTORNEY, JENNER & BLOCK LLP: I actually have no idea because typically, right, it's the judge's courtroom. And so the fact that you have a witness showing up the judge in any type of way is honestly, probably what we expected from Michael Cohen, which is why I was saying in some weird way Michael Cohen had credibility, especially when you compare him to Costello's conduct after the fact.

And one thing I think I always worry about as someone in the courtroom is the witness going to be poor reflection of me, right? They can be a poor --

HUNT: Um-hum.

CHILDRESS: -- reflection of themselves but is he going to be a poor reflection of me? And that's what I think the defense counsel has to be worried about here with Costello.

But it was quite a contrast to talk about how Cohen testified last week --

HUNT: Um-hum.

CHILDRESS: -- and yesterday compared to how Costello, who is an attorney and prior was a prosecutor -- how he acted yesterday as well.

HUNT: Yeah. I mean, and this went on, too.

Judge Merchan: "When there's a witness on the stand, if you don't like my ruling, you don't say 'jeez.' You don't give a side eye and you don't roll your eyes."

I mean, have you been in a situation where you've had witnesses rolling their eyes at the judge or, I mean, like --

CHILDRESS: Yeah, I -- you have. I have, unfortunately.

And we've seen the judge control the courtroom. He's given former President Trump a little bit of leeway because he's a defendant. But now you see the judge saying look, you're a witness. I'm not going to give you the kind of -- same kind of slack that maybe the former president gets at the defense table.

And he got control of the courtroom pretty quickly in a way that's keeping this trial moving efficiently and in an orderly fashion. I thought it was a pretty impressive display of keeping the court in order and keeping everyone focused and not wasting the jury's time.

HUNT: Yeah. We've talked to some of our legal experts here who actually have had cases before this judge, and they do speak of him in that way.

CHILDRESS: Yeah.

HUNT: That he runs a real tight ship.

CHILDRESS: Yeah.

HUNT: So, Marcus, what do you expect today? I mean, this trial -- we do seem to be nearing the end. I mean, the question -- the looming question still is will Trump testify, but we seemed to mostly get an answer to that yesterday. And then we don't move to closing arguments until next week.

CHILDRESS: Right. So I expect there might be one additional witness from the defense -- an expert from the Federal Election campaign -- Federal Election campaign. So I think that might be the last person who testifies and that would just be to talk about the law of campaign finance -- the definitions and things of that nature. But I don't expect to see very many more witnesses and the defense will probably rest here soon and start moving towards summations next week.

HUNT: Do you have a sense of where you think the jury is going to go?

CHILDRESS: It's really -- so, I was talking in the green room just now about how it's a case of like either you look at the whole picture of the prosecution -- what they displayed -- or you look at the singular acts that the defense highlighted.

I think one of the critical timelines is going to be -- and I talked about timelines with you a couple of weeks ago --

HUNT: Yeah. CHILDRESS: -- this October 24 to 27 period, and that was with the 14- year-old text message that was highlighted on cross.

If you look in October, Cohen talks to Trump 20 times. There was a phone call on the 26 for about -- two times at 8:30 a.m. before Michael Cohen opened up the LLC. He then followed that up by transferring the money on the 27th and then paying Stormy Daniels on the 28th. And he says that I didn't open up the money or transfer it without talking to the boss, and those phone calls corroborated, and we didn't see any cross on those specific phone calls.

So I would expect the prosecution to really hammer that home through any remaining crosses or even in their summations. But it's going to be whether the jury looks at the full picture of the conspiracy or whether they focus on individual bad acts of Michael Cohen in making that decision.

HUNT: Yeah, a really interesting way to think about it.

Marcus Childress for us this morning. Marcus, thank you.

CHILDRESS: Thank you.

HUNT: I really appreciate it.

All right, now this. Widespread condemnation from both sides of the aisle. Democrats and Republicans furious over the International Criminal Court's decision to seek arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and seeming to put an equivalence with him and leaders of Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The ICC prosecutor's decision seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders alongside Hamas terrorists is not only profoundly unfair but it is reprehensible.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The ICC has succeeded only in discrediting itself even further as a rogue kangaroo court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. House Republicans now threatening the ICC with sanctions. House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote this on the platform formerly known as Twitter. "Congress is reviewing all options, including sanctions, to punish the ICC and ensure its leadership faces consequences if they proceed."

With me now, Punchbowl News reporter Max Cohen. Max, good morning. Wonderful to have you.

[05:35:00]

What does this sanctions situation actually look like in practice?

MAX COHEN, REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Right now, it's not clear. What is clear is that Republicans want to force Democrats into another tough vote on Israel. Mike Johnson, for the past couple of weeks, has tried to bring up bills to the floor which divide the Democratic caucus, right, which some members are strongly pro-Israel, and some members support what the ICC is doing.

So we're not sure what the outline of this legislation is yet, but they want to have a response to show Republicans united against what the ICC is doing.

HUNT: Right.

So, Bernie Sanders, yesterday, said this. "The ICC prosecutor is right to issue arrest warrants for political leaders who engage in war crimes. The global community must uphold international law."

I think it's worth also showing -- and I'm going to give everyone a second back there because I'm not sure we have it stacked -- but what President Biden had to say about this yesterday because his condemnation was pretty strong.

But Max, Bernie Sanders -- are there others who are with him in this? I mean, how deep is the group of people that are willing to say that right now?

COHEN: Yeah. I'd say it's pretty limited. You have members of the Democratic squad in the House, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who also support what the ICC is doing. But with key statements from all four top party leaders, right -- Jeffries, Johnson, McConnell, Schumer all on the same page condemning the ICC, that gives a sense of how Congress is mainly united.

They do not like what the ICC did in terms of, as you mentioned at the top, seemingly inequivalence between Hamas, a terrorist group, and the government of Israel. No matter how critical people like Chuck Schumer have been of Benjamin Netanyahu, they don't respect what the ICC did putting it on the same level appearing -- when they had the announcements together.

HUNT: Yeah. Let's watch how President Biden put it. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And let me be clear. We reject the ICC's application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. Whatever these warrants may imply, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. And it's clear Israel wants to 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 he's very clear there what's happening is not genocide which is, of course, what the ICC zeroed in on. That's not the language that people like AOC and others use. COHEN: Yeah, it is a big divide on the left here. And what we're seeing is that Democrats, especially young Democrats, are seeing what's happening on college campuses and saying our party's shifting on this issue. There's a huge generational divide among voters on support and views for Israel, and the next generation of Democratic leadership -- people like AOC -- see the tide shifting.

So the old guard, like Joe Biden, might have a different view. But among younger voters there's more pressure to condemn Israel in more forceful terms.

HUNT: Yeah.

Max, let's switch gears here to -- we saw an effort in the last week or so from Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Katie Britt, two Republicans, on IVF (in vitro fertilization) which, of course, in the wake of the fall of Roe has become a lightning rod, especially after that ruling in Alabama.

Here's what Ted Cruz had to say about this earlier this week as he makes this push. Watch and we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I think that's a moral decision any person can make, and that's a decision they can make with -- according to their faith and according to their understanding of God's teachings. But as a matter of law, this should be a choice that is available for parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Interesting that it's Ted Cruz that's out there doing this. There are some layers here, including the fact that he's up for reelection.

COHEN: One hundred percent, and this is very much an election year gambit.

In my opinion, Katie Britt is a figure who is from Alabama, the state where, as you mentioned, the Supreme Court threatened access to IVF, so that is -- that makes sense. But Ted Cruz is someone who is facing a challenge from Colin Allred and Republicans nationwide know IVF is an issue for them.

Women voters, suburban voters are shifting away from the party in many ways because of the stance on abortion. And when the abortion stance expands to things like IVF, which many Republicans support and many Democrats and Republicans say on the Hill this is not a partisan issue. Conceiving a child should not be something that's restricted by the government.

So it's a sign that they know this is a vulnerability. And Ted Cruz, as being the spearhead of it, is a sign they know it might be an election year issue, too. HUNT: Well, so to zero in on that for a second, I mean, there are some big differences between Cruz's opponent and situation now than when we have talked about it in the past. Texas is a red state, right? The idea that Democrats could win a Senate race there has been something that -- there's been a lot of hope and a lot of money poured into that, but it's never really actually panned out.

Colin Allred might be a little bit different. He has a much different profile as a candidate. Why?

COHEN: Well, Colin Allred is someone who is exciting the Democratic base in Texas and he's also someone who has experience winning a tough seat. He flipped a Republican House seat in 2018. And he's raising an incredible amount of money -- even more money than Beto O'Rourke raised when he first challenged Cruz six years ago.

[05:40:05]

So, the DSEC (the Democratic campaign committee) is very excited about Colin Allred, and they think even if he doesn't win Texas he can try to divert Republican resources to that safe red state, probably away from other states where Democrats might be threatened.

HUNT: Yeah.

All right, Max Cohen for us this morning. Max, very grateful to have you. Thanks for being here.

COHEN: Thank you.

HUNT: All right, time now for weather. Severe storms are threatening more than 25 million people across the Midwest today. Thunderstorms, heavy rain, hail, and strong tornadoes could be in the mix.

Let's get to our meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Allison, good morning. What are you seeing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. So we do have that other threat again -- back up to a moderate risk yet again across portions of the Midwest and we're talking some pretty big cities here -- Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, stretching all the way back down through Dallas. We're talking about significant wind gusts that could be in excess of 70-75 miles per hour. Very large hail -- larger than golf balls. And yes, the potential for some strong tornadoes there.

We'll push this forward here and we can kind of see we do have that severe thunderstorm watch that's in effect until 7:00 a.m. Central time today -- so 8:00 a.m. Eastern time -- as this first round of thunderstorms continues to make its way through the area.

Here you can see the forecast for the rest of the day. You really start to see more of those thunderstorms begin to ramp up this afternoon. Those will continue into the evening hours, especially for states like Illinois, Wisconsin, southern Missouri, and even portions of Arkansas. And then tomorrow morning, still dealing with some of those lingering showers. So that does mean overnight tonight we are still going to have that potential for severe thunderstorms.

It's also not a very fast-moving system, so there is the potential for some isolated flooding. Most of these areas expected to get maybe about one to even as much as three inches. You've already got some flash flood warnings there. Widespread, Kasie. We're talking about two to four inches. But again, some of these areas could pick up as much as five inches of rain total.

HUNT: All right, Allison Chinchar for us this morning. Allison, thanks very much.

All right. Coming up next here, what to expect next from Iran after the sudden death of their president.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAITLIN CLARK, GUARD, INDIANA FEVER: If not, you're not a true baller, I guess. I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Caitlin Clark now a true WNBA baller after an injury scare on the court.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:46:20]

HUNT: Right now, in Iran, funeral ceremonies beginning for President Ebrahim Raisi after he, along with several other high-ranking officials, were killed over the weekend in a helicopter crash.

You are looking at the procession and official prayers held this morning in the northwestern city of Tabriz. The bodies of the victims will be taken to Tehran for large ceremonies tomorrow.

As tensions simmer in the Middle East, Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin insists the U.S. had no part in the crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTION, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The United States had no part to play in that crash. And so -- and that's a fact, plain and simple.

REPORTER: And Israel? Are you afraid they're going to blame Israel?

AUSTIN: I won't speculate as to what they'll -- what they'll blame. Again, they have to conduct an investigation to see what the cause of the crash was. It could be a number of things -- mechanical failure, pilot error, you name it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The Islamic Republic is now facing an uncertain future Raisi's sudden death. An election has been scheduled for late June.

Joining me now, CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier. Kim, good morning.

Election in quotation marks. This is obviously going to be something that is closed. But what is next for Iran?

KIM DOZER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, you're going to have a bit of a scuffle positioning as various actors vie for this opened up area of power. The big question will be who becomes the obvious successor to Ayatollah Khamenei. It was President Raisi. Now there's talk of maybe Khamenei will make his some the successor. It's the kind of uncertainty that -- you know, for right now, Iranian policy doesn't change. Just because the president and foreign minister are gone, the Ayatollah makes the policy -- the supreme leader makes the policy, and so that won't change.

But in this skirmish for power, who will rise to the top? Will it be someone as extreme, more extreme? And uncertainty in politics is never a good thing, and that has the White House concerned.

HUNT: Yeah.

So, Politico wrote this Monday about this -- and this is a U.S. official they're quoting. "There was fear that Tehran might quickly allege that Israel and the U.S. had sabotaged the transport, even though there was no initial intelligence to suggest anything other than a crash in bad weather. For a little while, it was not a crazy question to ask, 'is this how World War III begins?' said one of the officials."

Was that a valid fear, and what are we seeing now? I mean, the Iranian -- the official explanation coming out of Iran does seem to be weather, although there are some conspiracy theories swirling. Are we out of the danger zone that this official kind of posits?

DOZIER: Until they found the crash site and the debris this was a major fear because if there had been any sign of foul play, like a sign of an explosive device or something scorching and hitting the craft. But it seems like the worst Iran has alleged so far is that because of sanctions they weren't able to update some of the radar systems and things you need on an aircraft to fly safely in bad weather. But that doesn't seem to be sticking. I think you'd see a lot more of messaging across the board from different Iranian officials and we're not seeing that so far.

HUNT: And what does it tell you about Iranian interests that they don't want to try to take advantage of the situation more aggressively?

DOZIER: They are very carefully threading the needle not to trigger and all-out conflict with Israel, with the U.S., with anyone. They'll use these kind of things to their advantage. But if they were to try to blame Israel for this, for instance, then they would be crediting Israel with taking out two of their top leaders. They don't want to do that. [05:50:00]

Also, then they would set up the expectation in their public of some sort of response. They also don't want to do that right now. It is a situation where things are unstable in this post-Raisi age, so until they get leadership settled, I don't think they're going to be making risking moves.

HUNT: So when you say in terms of settling the leadership and you kind of went through will this leader be extreme or be more extreme, what kind of policy areas are we looking at in terms of, especially, the West, and questions like the nuclear program? I mean, what are the -- what are the ways in which a new leader -- a new president -- a different president would take Iran in a different direction that might concern the U.S.?

DOZIER: Well, the president's influence is mostly -- they do what the supreme leader tells them, but they do have influence in that they have access. Then again, the person that looks like the next in line is the vice president. He's a former Iranian Quds Force member. It's sort of much over muchness. They're all the same level of extreme and they want to -- a little bit like Putin threatens using a tactical nuke, they want to threaten the world that they might build a nuclear weapon.

HUNT: Um-hum.

DOZIER: And they find it useful to have that threat out there. I think you're going to see that policy continue.

HUNT: Yeah, all right.

Kim Dozier for us this morning. Kim, always grateful for your perspective. Thank you so much --

DOZIER: Thanks.

HUNT: -- for being here.

All right, time now for sports. The Oilers ice the Canucks to win a game-seven thriller in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Carolyn Manno has this morning's Bleacher Report. Carolyn, good morning.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kasie.

For the second time in three seasons, Edmonton is going to the Western Conference Final with a chance to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993.

The Oilers looked like they were in cruise control after scoring three straight in the second period. Cody Ceci got things started. It was Zach Hyman scoring on a tip-in after that before Ryan Nugent-Hopkins putting another through the net. But the Canucks would not go quietly into the night. They struck halfway through the third period of this game and then again just four minutes later to make it a nailbiter to the final horn. The Oilers hang on to win 3-2.

Next up, a series against the Dallas Stars that begins on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONNOR MCDAVID, CAPTAIN, EDMONTON OILERS: We know how to make it stressful. I thought we played a great 15 minutes -- excuse me -- and, you know, kind of give one away there and make it interesting. And they're a great team. They're going to keep battling. So we took the head well. We played two really good games. Our backs were against the wall and we responded, you know. I'm really proud of the group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Meantime, a scary moment for WNBA rookie sensation Caitlin Clark. She had to be helped to the bench in the second quarter of the Indiana Fever's game against the Connecticut Sun after appearing to suffer an ankle injury. Clark battled. She ended up dropping 17 points, including one of those trademark logo threes. But it wasn't enough as the Sun went on to take the 88-84 win, dropping the Fever to 0-4 for the season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARK: Ankle injuries -- every basketball player has had an ankle injury. If not, you're not a true baller, I guess. I don't know. So it'll be a little stiff but I'll be good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: The Eastern Conference Finals in the NBA starts tonight with the top-seeded Celtics taking on the six seed, the Pacers. These two last met in the playoffs in 2019 when Boston swept Indiana. And Boston did own the league's best regular season record. This is their third- straight trip to this stage of playoffs and their sixth in eight seasons but that title is what has alluded them.

Indiana's got a young, talented squad coming off a hard-fought series with the Knicks, and they are led by their all-star point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYRESE HALIBURTON, GUARD, INDIANA PACERS: We expected to be here. This ain't a surprise for us. You know, it's no fluke. We expect this from our group.

JAYLEN BROWN, GUARD, BOSTON CELTICS: And everybody loves to say it's the same thing, same team. But, like, each and every year we've grown, each and every year we've learned, and each and every year we've gotten older and mature, and it's a different mix.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Tipoff is set for tonight at 8:00 Eastern in Boston.

And staying with Boston now, to say the Red Sox and Rafael Devers is on a hot streak is an understatement. The third baseman set a team record yesterday after hitting a home run for the sixth straight game. The two-run shot in the fourth inning against the Rays putting him ahead of six other players in Boston history, including Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx and, of course, the great Ted Williams. The Major League record for homers in consecutive games is set at eight.

And here's the play of the day coming from Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich who literally stole a run against the Marlins last night. Check it out. The former National League MVP caught Miami's defense off guard here and stole home plate in the sixth inning to make it a 2-0 game. But the Marlins ended up having the last laugh, winning 3-2 in 10 innings.

I know that now that we're starting to talk about baseball, Kasie, this has you very excited as a proud Baltimore fan. We're starting off -- we're going to have to start forcing these O's highlights in to keep you happy.

HUNT: Yes, please. I -- especially because, you know, I go to bed too early to see all the night games. You've got to, like -- you've got to be there for me in the morning and tell me what happened.

[05:55:00]

MANNO: I will.

HUNT: Sadly, they lost last night.

MANNO: I will. We're on it.

HUNT: But I love seeing the stolen -- the more stolen bases. I don't know if it's all to do with the rules or what but it's so much fun to see more bases stolen. There were a bunch of these --

MANNO: Yeah, it is.

HUNT: -- at Camden Yards this weekend.

All right, Carolyn, thank you. Always great to have you.

Coming up next here, the Trump hush money trial nearing its end. Any chance the former president will testify? He promised but let's just say we're skeptical.

Plus, why Scarlett Johansson's lawyers are demanding answers from Open AI.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

HUNT: It's Tuesday, May 21.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, an explosive admission from Michael Cohen and a fiery clash between a witness and the judge as the Trump hush money reaches its final days.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Whatever these warrants may imply, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: President Biden outraged by an international court's decision to seek an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu.

And, Rudy Giuliani expected to appear today in an Arizona courtroom to face arraignment on election subversion charges.