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CNN This Morning

NYT: Flag Seen At January 6 Riot Flown Outside Alito Vacation Home; Nikki Haley Says She Will Vote For Trump; Female IDF Soldiers' Families Release Hams Hostage Video; 9 Dead, Dozens Injured After Stage Collapse In Mexico; China Launches Military Drills Surrounding Taiwan. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 23, 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 Thursday, May 23rd.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:

Another controversial flag, one flown by rioters on January 6, seen flying outside of home owned by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

Plus, a strong gust of wind causes a stage to collapse in Mexico. The death toll is now rising.

And Nikki Haley announcing she'll vote for Donald Trump, and offering some advice for the former president.

(MUSIC)

HUNT: Five a.m. here in Washington. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Thursday morning.

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

Another provocative flag seen outside the home belonging to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, causing new controversy this morning. "The New York Times" was first to report the "appeal to heaven" flag that was seen on display at Alito's New Jersey vacation home last summer.

The flag dates back to the revolutionary war, but it's become a symbol of the Stop the Steal movement, especially the Christian wing and was used by Trump's supporters during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Alito and the Supreme Court have not responded to requests for comment. This is now the second time Alito has been found to be flying a controversial flag at one of his properties. Last week, "The Times" published a photo of an upside-down American flag flown at Alito's home in Virginia in 2021. The justice said that the flag was raised by his wife in response to a spat with neighbors.

Meanwhile also this yesterday, former Trump rival Nikki Haley, now saying that she will vote for the former president in November. This was not however, an explicit endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trump has not been perfect on these policies. I made that clear many, many times. But Biden has been a catastrophe, so I will be voting for Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Okay. Joining me to discuss, Washington correspondent for "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution", Tia Mitchell.

Tia, good morning to you.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Good morning.

HUNT: So lets start with Samuel Alito and these flags that have been flying because this particular one, if were able to put it up, we can show people exactly what were talking about here, it is a flag that dates back to the Revolutionary War.

And there you see it. This is his Long Beach Island beach house. And it says "an appeal to heaven" on top. It's a reference to John Locke, the philosopher for those who want to go back that far. But it really does date back to the founding of the country. It is one of these symbols that has now been appropriated by the Stop the Steal movement.

And it does seem as though there are more people out there defending this particular flag. We saw John Bolton on with my colleague Wolf Blitzer.

And then this was Senator Ted Cruz also on CNN last night talking about this. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I think this entire hoopla is greatly overstated and I think there is a concerted effort that is driven by Democrats in the Senate to try to delegitimize the court and to try to demonize -- we're seeing it with Justice Clarence Thomas. We're seeing it with Justice Sam Alito. I think the whole thing is disgraceful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: This language is a little bit stronger than the language that I heard from Republicans on the Hill. Lindsey Graham said it was bad judgment to fly the upside-down American flag. Now that said, Sam Alito is still a justice of the Supreme Court. And there are legitimate questions about the portrayal and the perception that people have in terms of being able to trust that the court can be impartial.

MITCHELL: Yeah. I mean, there are so many things here. Number one, these flags are symbols and you can say, well, he's just going back to the Revolutionary War and John Locke. At the end of the day, that flag fell out of fashion until it was resurfaced by the Stop the Steal white Christian nationalism arm of the Republican Party.

So, yes, Justice Alito can say, well, we're waiting on him quite frankly to say what he meant by flying the flag.

[05:05:05]

But if you're on the outside looking in, you know, the current usages. So many people are going to assume he is aligning himself with those you usages, as he is also a sitting justice with very pertinent cases before the court, dealing with former President Trump, dealing with Stop the Steal. So I understand Republicans would like to paint this as a partisan thing and just an attack on the court.

But if they're doing that, they're not really addressing the core concerns as to whether this justice is posting symbols to indicate he is aligned with a very partisan. And many people would believe problematic thread of the Republican Party.

HUNT: And we shouldn't -- I mean, there is just this difference between Mike Johnson has displayed this flag in his office. He asked is the speaker of the House, but he is an elected leader who is accountable to voters, not the case in the Supreme Court, right?

So let's talk about Nikki Haley for a second because she did say she was going to vote for Trump. I'm interested to know how her supporters do that if they're going to be disappointed.

However, she could have gotten farther and said, I'm going to endorse him. I want to be on the stage of the convention. I think it's noteworthy that we are not there yet. She did say that she thinks Trump would be smart to reach out to her supporters. Watch that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY: Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me and not assume that they're just going to be with him. And I genuinely hope he does that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It doesn't seem to me necessarily like Trump is doing direct outreach to her supporters, although my guess is there are people inside his campaign who want him to because this chunk of people is a challenge. I mean, I think she's correct that they can't assume that those people going to be with him?

MITCHELL: Yeah. And we know that the Biden campaign has been trying to make overtures to that wing of the Republican Party. I think there's a lot of bad blood personally between Trump in Haley that is going to be probably a little bit hard for Trump to get over. And I think that's where a lot of Nikki Haley voters and quite frankly, the Democrats who hope to get the Nikki Haley voters were disappointed to see her saying she's going to vote oh, for him, given all the red flag she's raised about the former president.

And so yes, she didn't go as far as maybe some Republicans who want to get Nikki Haley back in the fold, back on and back in support of Trump, didn't go as far as is as they would like. But just heard simply saying she would vote for him is a win for him in his campaign he doesn't necessarily need her on stage, probably doesn't necessarily want her on stage, but the fact that she said despite everything she said about Donald Trump's, she's still believes he would make a better president than Joe Biden is still a powerful message.

HUNT: Yeah. I mean, speaking of everything that she has said about Donald Trump, we have we have a little bit of a stack of that. Can we just remind everyone? This is what Nikki Haley was saying about Trump during the primary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY: At some point, maybe we should say the reason that America keeps losing is because of Donald Trump.

I feel no need to kiss the ring.

When Trump got out there and just through a temper tantrum.

We lost in 2018. We lost in 2020. We lost in 2022, and Donald Trump's fingerprints were on all of it. How much more losing do we have to do before we realize maybe Donald Trump is the problem?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I mean, the losing thing in particular, it hit home at the time.

MITCHELL: Right, and I'm sure again, we know Donald Trump does not like being called the loser. He's very sensitive to those types of attacks. And again, I'm not sure that Nikki Haley and Donald Trump will be able to get over that hump completely.

But also, I think we have to keep in mind, Nikki Haley wants to see a future for herself as a Republican Party leader. And I think that that would be difficult for her if she weren't to support the party nominee. At the end one of the day, that's Donald Trump.

HUNT: Yeah. No, I think that's what this is about, the bottom line.

Tia Mitchell, thanks for kicking us off today. I really appreciate it.

All right. Coming up here, a second case of bird flu detected this time in a Michigan farm worker.

Plus, a snap election. Can the UK prime minister turnaround his dire pull numbers in six short weeks?

And are voters paying any attention to Donald Trump's hush money trial? We'll show you the new numbers, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:14:00] HUNT: Welcome back.

The families of seven female IDF soldiers captured by Hamas on October 7th have released graphic footage of the kidnapping, hoping to pressure the Israeli government to into securing their release. But I do want to warn you, this video is disturbing.

The young women are seen lined up their hands, bound, their faces are bruised and bloodied. Officials say one woman was rescued, another was killed, and five of them remain in captivity.

The footage released by Hamas was edited by the Israeli military, according to the Hostages Families Forum.

All right. Now, this, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling for a snap election on 4th of July. He was required to schedule a vote by January of next year. Sunak explaining why he decided not to wait.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This election will take place at a time when the world is more dangerous than it has been since the end of the Cold War. Putin's Russia is waging a brutal war in Ukraine and will not stop there if he succeeds. That war is also made it all too clear the risk to our energy security.

[05:15:05]

In the Middle East, the forces of Islamist extremism threaten regional and ultimately global stability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Polling in the UK shows Sunak's Conservative Party faces an uphill climb to extend its 14-year grip on power.

CNN's Max Foster joins me now live from London.

Max, good morning.

There's a lot going on in this announcement. I mean, he's just like drenched with the rain and that song that was playing. You can give me some more context on this, but it's things can only get better, which I guess is a throwback to the Tony Blair era Britain.

Were you surprised that he decided to move forward into the sooner that he had two and what are -- what are the -- you're a specialist in optics. What -- what does this all say?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're renaming it drowning street, number one. I mean -- so the music was being blasted for the end of Downing Street where Labour supporters, the opposition party supporters, and they were playing the tune that swept Tony Blair to power.

So they were trolling him basically, and for some reason, the Downing Street people didn't manage to sort out the sound. So that was interrupting it all, people are distracted by the rain.

The bigger question though, exactly what you're saying. It was a shock announcement because -- I mean, to say it's an uphill struggle for him. I think you're being very polite there, Kasie, as is your way. But it's an -- I mean, his polling numbers could not be worse. He, by any standard, is not going to win this election if things carry on as they are.

But he has to have an election by the end of the year and he's had some relatively good economic numbers inflation figures came down and that's meant to be as thing, a former banker. You know, he's very bright guy, he knows about the economy. So I think he's banking on the fact that inflation numbers have come up a bit and that might be enough.

But I think the people behind him there, for example, you know, they're thinking about a lot of other things. So I mean, it's a real -- is really big gamble.

HUNT: Yeah, Max, I mean, what do you attribute his low polling to? I mean, is it the economy is ticking upward? What is it that people are unhappy with right now in Britain?

FOSTER: Not achieving anything? He -- there's nothing he can really point to that he's done that has turned things around. The big issue for the conservatives is that they are seen as a pro-business, pro free market, low tax party and taxes have never been higher.

They are record highs because of all the issues he's had, you know, with COVID, and all the things he's had to pay out. So it's very difficult to see what a conservative voter will get from him when they go into the polling booth.

As opposed to his opposition figure, Keir Starmer, who most people don't even know in this country, but is a Blairite, and Tony Blair was the last sort of big, powerful change maker that we had in this country.

So, at the moment, he's heading towards Downing Street, it looks like.

HUNT: Yeah, hence the -- hence the song. I suppose.

FOSTER: Yeah.

HUNT: All right. Max Foster for us live in London -- Max, thank you very much. See you tomorrow.

FOSTER: Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Ahead here, the cause of a deadly stage collapse at an election rally in Mexico.

Plus, China encircles Taiwan with a large scale military drill as a, quote, strong punishment. We'll tell you what's going on there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:22:47]

HUNT: All right, 22 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup:

Terrifying video out of Mexico where a strong gust of wind caused a state each to collapse, at least nine people are dead and there are dozens more injured. Among those hurt was Mexican presidential candidate who was onstage when it happened.

Health official say a farm worker in Michigan is the second human case of bird flu in the U.S. links to infected cattle. The state health department says the persons recovered and the risk to the public is low.

The D.C. headquarters of the Republican National Committee locked down yesterday after a suspicious and cover package was discovered early Wednesday. A police source says it contained two vials of blood, two ice packs and a Korean bible. Very strange.

The historic Graceland estate stays in the hands of Elvis Presley's granddaughter for now. A Tennessee judge ruled a company trying to foreclose on the property likely committed fraud, and that same company has also dropped its lawsuits.

All right. Developing this morning, China launching military drills surrounding Taiwan. Beijing says that the exercises are, quote, a strong punishment coming just days after Taiwan's newly elected president took office.

CNN's Will Ripley is in Taipei for us.

Will, good morning to you. Very grateful to have you.

This seems to be in response to a speech that was given that talked about democracy and Taiwan and their commitments there. What is happening and why did, why are we here?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kasie. Yeah, a couple of days, Taiwan's new President Lai Ching-te gave a speech where he asked China to recognize the existence of Taiwan. And this was believed to be more provocative, less cautious than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen.

So, here we are now like clockwork two days later, China launching these massive military drills involving dozens of warships and war planes and coast guard vessels. All of them essentially sent to encircle Taiwan during a period of two days. They're calling it joint sword, 2024 A which begs the question, are they planning a B or a C?

Obviously, this operation didn't just come together right after President Lai speech, China has been expected to do this.

[05:25:01]

They'd been bracing for this here in Taiwan. They're looking for any excuse. Some analysts believe to stage these military exercises which are widely seen, not just as a provocative show of propaganda force, but also a potential dress rehearsal for an invasion of Taiwan down the road, which China has never ruled out because they claim this democracy, this self-governing island, even though the communist rulers in Beijing have never controlled it, Kasie.

So this happened for the first time at this scale after Nancy Pelosi's controversial visit. It's happened a few times since. So here we are once again, this controversial unpopular president who's talked about Taiwan independence in the past. Now, Beijing responding military force and we just have to wait and see what happens over the next day or so.

HUNT: Really remarkable. All right, Will Ripley for us -- Will, thank you very much for that report.

All right. Coming up next, chaos at a Florida hearing in the Trump classified documents case.

Plus, the NBA's Western Conference Finals are on. Our bleacher report coming up.

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