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CNN This Morning

The Defense Rests, No Trump Testimony; Giuliani, Ten Others Plead Not Guilty in Arizona; Tornadoes Flatten Homes, Businesses in Iowa; Today: Funeral for Iranian President in Tehran. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired May 22, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, May 22. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, the defense rests. Twelve jurors a week away from deciding the fate of Donald Trump in his criminal hush money trial.

[06:00:42]

And --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's somebody here.

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HUNT: Neighbors searching house to house after a devastating tornado flattens a tiny town in Iowa.

Deadly turbulence. One passenger killed, dozens more hurt after a passenger jet runs into some very rough air.

And law enforcement launching an investigation into the death of actor Matthew Perry.

All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at New York City, where the defense has rested in the Donald Trump hush money trial.

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

As we said, the defense rests. Former President Donald Trump's hush money case soon to be in the hands of the jury, who will have to consider whether he paid off a porn star to influence an election. They'll have to do it without hearing from the candidate himself.

No surprise there, really, unless you made the mistake of believing Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I would testify. Absolutely. It's a scam. It's a scam. That's not a trial.

I'm testifying. I tell the truth. I mean, all I can do is tell the truth.

GREG KELLY, HOST, NEWSMAX: Are you more or less likely, you think, to take the stand in the Manhattan case right now? I know --

TRUMP (via phone): Well, I would if it's necessary.

TRUMP: Probably so. I would like to. I mean, I think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I guess he listened to all the people who told him it would be a bad plan to get up there on the stand.

Instead, Trump, of course, spoke outside the court, and he escalated his attacks on Judge Juan Merchan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The judge, he's down on Trump. He's -- take a look. Take a look at him. Take a look at where he comes from. He can't stand Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: "Look at where he comes from." That is not the first time that Trump has questioned a judge's impartiality because of his heritage.

Our panel's here: Molly Ball, senior political correspondent at "The Wall Street Journal"; Matt Gorman, former senior adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign; and former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams is also here.

Elliot, I guess it should have been a forgone conclusion that Donald Trump wasn't going to testify in this case, but he clearly didn't actually want that to be the story, even though he acquiesced in the end.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: there was no universe, either real, unreal, metaversal, whatever else, in which it would have made sense for Donald Trump to testify.

Defendants very rarely do take the stand for obvious reasons. They can be picked apart. Past statements they've made, past conduct of theirs, past -- There's a gag order in this case, where the president had been told, based on his misbehavior, that there are certain things he couldn't say in public. He alluded to there.

All of that could maybe have come in. They would have spent more time at a hearing before Trump testified talking about all the things that could get into court that he'd said in the past, than he would have been on the stand for.

And it would have been a disaster for him. He would have been eviscerated on cross-examination.

Now, I recognize that defendants often want to clear their name. Jurors, in fact, will often say and come back with a question saying, why didn't the defendant take the stand? If I were on trial, I would want to take the stand to clear my name.

And I get it. I get it. It's a human impulse. However, it is an awful idea. God bless his attorneys for getting through to him to tell him not to.

HUNT: Yes. I mean, it's -- managing the guy is clearly something that many, many powerful people had a lot of trouble with.

But Molly and Matt, I mean, this is -- Donald Trump has been sort of oddly obsessed with defendants testifying in their own defense over his many years in public life.

Like when Martha Stewart was on trial, for example, he went on "Larry King," and he said this. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I am devastated that Martha didn't testify. I would've said testify.

And I think that jury of 12 people is saying, like, tell us you didn't do it. Don't -- I wouldn't want to hear from all the secretaries and everything else, many of whom were nullified and badly nullified. You've got to get up in the stand -- and I know it's tough. She has to get up in the stand, and she has to say, I didn't do it. I'm innocent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOLLY BALL, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, that's exactly what --

HUNT: It's amazing. I mean --

BALL: That's exactly the attitude that Elliot's talking about, right? There is this -- this sort of common perception.

[06:05:03]

And I think for Trump, you know, he's always looked at this with two different incentives in mind, right? There's the legal incentive, and then there's the political incentive.

And as a political matter, I think he definitely wants to message to people exactly what he saw. He said in that old interview that he would have no problem getting up and telling the truth.

Now, in practice, he doesn't want to get convicted, and that's got to be the bottom line. He does not want to get convicted in this case. And it is the unanimous opinion of the legal profession that he would dramatically increase that risk if he were to take the stand.

But I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people out there think he did testify, just because he's always out there speaking before and after court, and he's been messaging around the trials so aggressively. So I think he wants to create the impression in people that he isn't afraid to speak at the same time as again, he does not want to get convicted.

WILLIAMS: One thing I should clarify. I jumped right into the would it be good for his case? Would it not? Is it a good idea? What does it play?

Most important, far more than anything else, is that he has a right not to testify. The Constitution, when we hear, quite frankly, when you watch cop shows, you have the right to remain silent. That's right out of the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees a defendant the right to not just not testify, but not put on any evidence at all at trial.

And we often get quick to, well, would he have won if he testified? Well, he's exercising a right that every criminal defendant, even politicians that are grossly unpopular in the jurisdiction that they're being tried in, still have a right. And frankly, we ought to celebrate.

MATT GORMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes. I mean, look, I'll talk from a purely political perspective, right? And just take the name away. When is it more advantageous placed for you to make a political case, where you have a -- the entire megaphone to yourself or you have a highly skilled person ready to rebut you on a moment's notice and who is guaranteed -- you're in -- you're entering their domain, right?

Like, it's -- politically, it just makes all the sense to not have Donald testify, and it's just a great call (ph). The days of, like, Trump -- we all forget, he was like a talking head. In the early days of Twitter, like 2013, he was popping off on Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. He's talking about the Martha Stewart trial. That was that was a blast in the past. I'm having flashbacks to my childhood watching that clip right there.

BALL: Well, the other thing you have to do if you take the stand is tell the truth. And that's not really part of Donald Trump's skill set.

HUNT: A good point. Molly, I do -- I don't want to let this pass without just taking a second to focus on what he said about the judge in this latest set of attacks, where he said, take a look at where he comes from. The judge is Colombian.

This is not the first time that Donald Trump has used this kind of an attack. If you remember Judge Curiel, for example, in another case.

What do you hear him saying when he says that? And in some ways, it's almost surprising to me we haven't heard and make this more aggressively before now, considering his history around these things. But now it's coming right at the end.

BALL: Yes, I mean, I kind of felt the same way, that I was sort of surprised it took him this long to get to this point. Keeps it sort of ambiguous. Maybe he's talking about other aspects of the judge's perspective besides his actual, you know, ethnic heritage.

But it definitely does echo that old incident with Judge Curiel. I think it reminds a lot of people of how he tends to see the world, which is in terms of the -- these kinds of perceptions, these kinds of prejudices.

WILLIAMS: You know, it's once again time for our daily reminder of how far we've fallen as a nation; that it is remarkable to us to sit here and say, wow, it's been a month, and he hasn't used a racist dog whistle yet, even as a former president the United States.

It's just he has shifted norms of how we talk about and what we expect of leaders so far that it's almost remarkable that he hasn't made fun of this man's ethnic heritage. And -- and it's just -- it's just mind- boggling at this point, 2024.

HUNT: 2024, good point.

All right. Coming up, deadly tornadoes in the Midwest, with millions now bracing for severe weather from Texas to New England.

Plus, a passenger killed by turbulence. Now, investigators want to know if there was a problem with the plane.

And would you buy coffee from this man? Rudy Giuliani's new business venture, ahead.

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[06:13:38]

HUNT: Welcome back. Turning now to Arizona, where former New York City mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani pleaded not guilty yesterday to nine felony charges, including conspiracy, fraud, and forgery, for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election there.

Giuliani, who was arraigned over video call, was not happy about being ordered to pay a $10,000 bond.

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RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER DONALD TRUMP ATTORNEY (via phone): I've been sued about 20 to 25 times by a very, very similar movement to this one, which is the -- let's see what we can do to destroy Donald Trump movement.

COURT COMMISSIONER SMITH: OK. Give me just a moment. OK, sir -- sir --

GIULIANI: I think it would be outrageous --

SMITH: One moment.

GIULIANI: -- if you set a bond in this completely -- in this completely political case that comes very, very late.

SMITH: All right, sir. Sir --

GIULIANI: If this case had been brought, it should have been brought three years ago.

SMITH: Mr. Giuliani, I don't want to mute you, but I need to move on. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: "I don't want to mute you, but I need to move on."

Elliot, this is clearly man who needs money, right? Which is, I think, part of why he was complaining about this. He also yesterday posted the following. We had actually seen -- we've discussed this coffee he's hawking on the show before.

But now we've actually got an ad for it that says, when you buy his coffee, you are buying a lot more than coffee. Watch.

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[06:15:05]

GIULIANI: You all know I stand by the truth. And if I put my name on something, I truly believe in it. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce you to something I'm incredibly proud of. My own brand of organic specialty coffee, Rudy Coffee. It's so good I even recommend drinking it black.

By supporting Rudy Coffee, you're not just treating yourself to exceptional coffee. You're also supporting our cause, the clause of truth, justice, and American democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: You, too, can support American democracy by drinking Rudy's coffee. Reminder, he is being charged with, essentially, falsely trying to steal the election.

WILLIAMS: Right. And getting back to what we were talking about before the commercial break, this idea of where we've gone in 2024, my, how the mighty have fallen.

And having grown up outside New York City, Matt, too, I remember Rudy Giuliani on the rubble after 9/11 and, literally, America's mayor. And watching this is almost sad and pathetic, to see.

Now, your point about his needing money, that was actually one of the bases that he claimed for why they couldn't serve process on him. If viewers remember, they couldn't find him to give him this notice of this indictment, because he, for some period of time -- they finally caught him at his 80th birthday party.

Well, he claimed that his apartment, he had to lock it down, because people were threatening him, and he doesn't have the money anymore to pay security. Therefore, he would not let court officials up to his apartment to hand him news of his indictment, or the indictment.

All of this is to say what a horrible place the former mayor is in. But again, he cannot escape the arm of -- the reach of the law, and he ought to know that. And we'll see.

GORMAN: Yes, no. Innocent until proven guilty, but you're right. Like, I mean, this was a man who, even before he was mayor, the guy took down the mob in New York City in the '80s, was a legendary figure in really taking down that. America's mayor, you know, around 9/11. Also cleaned up New York City in a lot of ways and had every blue-chip client, essentially, upon leaving office, was very well set, if you'd talked to him, say, in 2004. Right?

And now where he is, just kind of hawking coffee for, you know, what seems like a pretty high price.

HUNT: Twenty-nine ninety-nine for two pounds.

GORMAN: Yes, yes.

HUNT: It seems -- it seems a little high to me, although I don't know. Inflation. Prices have gone up.

All right, coming up next here, Donald Trump says -- says he's looking at restrictions on contraception if he wins? He took it back pretty quick, but we'll dig in.

Plus, catastrophic damage. A deadly tornado carves right through a small town in Iowa.

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[06:21:52]

HUNT: Welcome back. America's heartland pounded by dangerous storms. At least one person is dead in Iowa, where a powerful tornado flattened part of the city of Greenfield.

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MAGGIE MASKER, LOST HER HOME: It's actually all gone. Like, you can't even tell where we lived. So yes, just kind of crazy.

VALERIE WARRIOR, TORNADO VICTIM: It's devastating. I've lived here all my life. I'm just praying that everybody was safe. Everybody safe and nobody got hurt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Officials in Iowa are fearful the death toll may rise.

A hospital in Greenfield sustained considerable damage, forcing injured patients to be transferred to nearby facilities.

Let's get to our meteorologist, Elisa Raffa.

Elisa, good morning to you. Where are these storms heading next?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We are looking at that tornado bullseye in parts of Texas today, which is at least good news. It takes Iowa out of the bullseye, giving them time to recover.

Because some of the tornado videos that we have seen are just incredible. Looks like out of a movie. Look at all that debris, just spinning in that tornado.

Again, this was in parts of Iowa. And the damage that has been left behind, a lot of the videos just show incredible devastation.

Here's a look at that risk today. Again, Iowa in the clear. The risk now moves South, where we've got that enhanced Level Three out of five risk from Dallas down towards Shreveport, back into central Texas. Very large hail, damaging winds, and a couple of tornadoes are still possible.

That highest tornado risk is going to be in parts of Texas. Some of the Southern corner there of Oklahoma, and then going into Arkansas. That's where we could find a couple of tornadoes, if we get these discrete cells to form.

And you can see some of them showing up here on that future radar, something like that. That could have the capability of having a tornado.

Now, if these cells are organized into a line, that's where you get the push of damaging winds that we have to worry about, as well. All of this firing up later on this afternoon and evening.

Again, some relief up in the Midwest with some jar two points (ph). It should be a little bit more refreshing as they clean up the damage -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Elisa Raffa. Incredible number of days this spring we've spent covering tornado damage. Thank you very much for that.

Right now, there's funeral ceremonies stretching into today for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei leading the ceremony at Tehran University.

Authorities still investigating what caused the helicopter crash that killed Raisi and other Iranian officials on Sunday.

Frederik Pleitgen joins us now live from Tehran with more on this.

Fred, good morning to you. What more can you tell us about the funeral ceremony today? And I think worth noting the things that this man oversaw in his time as president of Iran, including brutal crackdowns on protesters.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Absolutely. You're absolutely right, first of all. And then second of all, the funeral procession today was absolutely massive.

We were right in the -- the thick of all of that. I would say there were hundreds of thousands of people who turned out in central Tehran for that precession, which of course, was not only for Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran, but also the foreign minister, Hossein Amir- Abdollahian, who also perished in that crash, who of course, was very important for Iranian foreign policy, especially in the past couple of weeks and months as they had that standoff in Israel.

[06:25:01]

And the people that we saw there on the ground, of course, there was a lot of grief there among the mourners. A lot of people holding signs commemorating those who were killed.

Also, the government really making a big deal out of this, as well. I can tell you, Kasie, this city, Tehran, is absolutely plastered with billboards commemorating those who were killed in that crash.

But there's also a lot of people who are now saying that they want to see what the way forward is, as well. The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he actually oversaw the ceremonies today, commemorating the funeral.

And he said that the important thing right now for Iran is stability. And he also vowed once again that the government would work without disruption. And that's certainly something that's been very big for the Iranians at this time, trying to project stability, Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Frederik Pleitgen for us, live in Tehran.

Fred, thank you very much for being there for us. I really appreciate it.

Coming up next --

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNTIED STATES: A "unified Reich"? That's Hitler's language. That's not America's.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: President Biden's warning about Donald Trump amplifying language evoking Adolf Hitler's reign.

Plus, a criminal investigation into the death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry.

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[06:30:00]