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President Joe Biden To Honor Fallen Military Members; Donald Trump Facing 34 Felony Counts Of Falsifying Business Records; Justice Samuel Alito's History Of Candid Remarks About Controversial Views; Boeing Presents Plan To Fix Quality Problems To FAA This Week. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 27, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:31]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: A little bit there of the National Memorial Day Concert held yesterday as we now look live at the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C.

Today, of course, Americans across the country will honor and remember our fallen military heroes. President Biden is expected to mark the somber holiday with a visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

Here to discuss how else the president will be honoring our heroes on this Memorial Day. CNN's Kevin Liptak, who joins us now from the White House, Kevin.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, certainly one of the most solemn days for any American president as they remember our war dead. Certainly, it's a -- it's a tacit reminder of the weight of responsibility that they carry on their shoulders every day.

And this day does unfold with a sense of dignified, remember, it's every year the president hosting a military breakfast here at the White House.

Later, he'll travel to Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then deliver remarks at the Memorial Amphitheater, all honoring troops as he said last year, dared all and gave all fighting for their country.

You know, I was driving here today past that World War II Memorial and I was reminded Jessica, we're only about a week and a half away from the 80th anniversary of D-Day. President Biden will be there in northern France next week, remembering the thousands of American and allied troops who died in the Normandy landing, all with a goal of protecting democracy in Europe.

Of course, that has been sort of a consuming theme of President Biden's presidency, certainly, in an election year protecting democracy.

And you did hear him discuss that this weekend at West Point, speaking to the graduating cadets, they're saying that they were swearing an oath not to a president or a political party, but to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Listen to a little bit more of his message to those cadets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: From the very beginning, nothing is guaranteed about our democracy in America. Every generation has an obligation to defend it, to protect it, to preserve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So, that's a message that certainly resonates on Memorial Day as well, particularly at such a fraught international moment. The president confronting two grinding wars abroad in Ukraine and in Gaza, he has pledged not to deploy American troops to those war zones.

And in fact, he reiterated that pledge over the weekend, but nonetheless, the U.S. has been drawn into the fray and the risks for U.S. troops have been laid bare. It was only in February that the president traveled to Dover Air Force Base to join grieving families, to witness as their loved ones were returned home after dying in a drone strike in Jordan.

[06:35:17]

Certainly, that day, and today, all a reminder of the weight of responsibility for the president's decisions and the consequences of this office, Jessica.

DEAN: Absolutely. Kevin Liptak from the White House. Thanks so much for that reporting.

We are now just a day away from closing arguments in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, the jury could potentially reach a verdict by the end of the week, prosecutors will be trying to weave together weeks of testimony and evidence they say proves Trump falsified business records to help his 2016 presidential campaign.

But regardless of the verdict, there's mixed reaction from Democrats on the impact this case will have on Trump's reelection chances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you just give him a boost if he's acquitted?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): You know, I don't really think so. I think, you know, Donald Trump's character is clear to the world.

REP. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-MN): I think the New York case is, if anything, may have backfired against those who thought that would be the salvation. But I don't think the New York cases are exactly what Democrats were hoping they would.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): The broad, centrist middle of the American people, I think, understand what he did and why it is so abhorrent.

I'm already deeply disturbed that Donald Trump has succeeded in slow walking one or more of those cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, our panel is back now to talk about this.

Obviously, the hush money trial has taken up a lot of this candidate's time and his focus. We've certainly been talking about it a lot in the media as we cover this election year and these campaigns.

I'm curious how each of you think that this any sort of verdict might impact the campaign moving forward. Lance, you want to start?

LANCE TROVER, FORMER BURGUM PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Yes, I don't think so. I mean, I think Trump supporters are with him all the way.

And, look, I mean the Trump campaign has been fighting a two front battle here. As someone who's done a presidential campaign, I can tell you, one battle alone is enough.

But I think they've done a pretty good job of it. If anything, they're going to be glad just to have this thing over so they can get focused on the general election again.

But at the end of the day, I don't think that this is really going to impact his standing in the polls. Everybody knows, everybody's been following the trial. They know he's on trial. They know it's a New York judge, they know it's in New York City. So, I'm not sure it's really going to happen.

DEAN: Even if he becomes a convict, Rina?

RINA SHAH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, this is one of four cases and everybody loves to talk about how this has sucked up the oxygen in all of traditional media. But people are not getting all their news from traditional media. They're getting it from bifurcated sources. They're getting it on their phones, streaming at their leisure. And this is where we stand to see a real divide in how this shakes up. Come this summer.

I'm one of the people that tends to think a convicted felon will -- status will ruin it for President Trump, for the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party where he sits right now is in a place of goodness. The minute a conviction comes down. I think it shakes up the RNC. I think we get closer to a brokered convention.

I was a 2016 RNC delegate, I can tell you, we lost the fight to deny Trump the nomination on the floor that summer. But this is where things get dicey. Do they really want to put somebody forward on the ballot this fall that is a convicted felon? That shakes the American consciousness. Democrats will have a field day with that. I don't think they want to do it.

So, we need to start talking about a brokered convention.

DEAN: Interesting. And Meghan, in terms of the -- we've just mentioned the Democrats, would they have a field day with a convict?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Look, I think that, yes, those are great talking points. And it's just going to fire up his base more regardless if he is convicted or not convicted.

But those aren't the people that their -- that we need to be concerned about. We are concerned about the people, those -- the five percent of voters that are not paying attention right now that are the Nikki Haley voters or Black people and Latino people, those are the people that we need to be -- to be talking to, and those are the people who are not paying attention right now.

So, I'm not sure it moves the needle a ton either way, but I think, either way, it's firing up the base, but those aren't the people who are going to win the election for him. And those are the folks that are going to care if he's convicted.

SHAH: The part though about the base though, the base has shrunk. We have the empirical evidence to back it up. MAGA is not as big as it used to be.

And certainly, the power is there, but in the short term. So, I tend to believe that all this talk of it not moving the needle is us not really looking at the long game here. This is very serious, unchartered constitutional territory we are talking about and the fact that we minimize it with certain segments of this demographic.

I mean, there are really only six states in play that will be the swing this time determining it. When you're looking at the Sunbelt and you see Trump being very competitive in places like Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, how's this going to shake down with all those voters? That's the part we need to see more focused on and I'm not seeing it right now.

DEAN: OK, let's listen to Tim Scott. He was on the over the weekend. Let's listen to what he said about a potential verdict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:40:00]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Do you have faith that the jury is going to deliver a fair verdict?

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): Well, there's no crimes. I assume that they will actually find him innocent.

The only person guilty in that courtroom is D.A. Bragg. Guilty of corrupting the justice system, guilty of not doing his job and guilty of trying to frame an innocent man.

It's really the two-tiered justice system that has so many Americans concerned about fairness in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, he talks about a two tier justice system, but at every turn, Trump has -- they have handled him carefully in the sense that they've tried to give him as much leeway as possible. The judge has warned him how many times about the gag order, and I don't want to put you in jail, but I might put you in jail.

Still, though, Lance, do you think he can effectively he being Trump, continue to make this argument that he's been targeted and also to see somebody like Tim Scott coming to his aid right now?

TROVER: I think the Trump campaign has done a phenomenal job in terms of their messaging, particularly when it comes to this judge who, whether it's $35.00 or $0.35 donated to his political opponent's campaign, his daughter is raising hundreds of millions of dollars for Democrats.

And the one thing that they also did really well in the messaging front is they brought these surrogates out, right? To come stand with him to get around the gag order that to say the things that he cannot say, I think they've done a great job in messaging. That's why you look at these polls, and he's leaning because there is a contingency of voters out there who are saying, look, he's not getting a fair shake, there is a two-tiered justice system out there.

DEAN: It is interesting, though, we didn't quite get to it. But Tim Scott also went on saying that he -- he was saying, I'm not seeing video of them reading Joe Biden's garage like they did Mar-a-Lago, but there is indeed video and the president's home was searched by the FBI.

So, it is interesting to kind of see what they're trying -- the picture that they're trying to paint with all this.

OK, stick around, we'll be right back with you guys.

Up next, air travel safety, the Biden administration sending an ultimatum to Boeing.

Plus, why the Bruce is canceling three concerts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:35]

DEAN: 46 minutes past the hour now and here is your Morning Roundup.

Former "General Hospital" actor Johnny Wactor shot and killed in Los Angeles this weekend. Police say three suspects were trying to steal a catalytic converter and one of them shot the 37-year-old as he approached.

A how -- a heart pounding finish at the Indy 500. Josef Newgarden using a last lap pass to win the race for the second consecutive year that started delay for four hours due to severe storms.

And Nicki Minaj apologizing to her fans in Amsterdam for canceling a concert after she was taken into custody by police in the Netherlands for allegedly carrying drugs. And a post on X, the rapper claims her arrest was an attempt to sabotage her tour.

Bruce Springsteen forced to postpone concerts in Marseille, Prague and Milan because of vocal issues. The tour resumes June 12th in Madrid. Doctors advising Bruce he should rest his pipes for the next 10 days.

No further comment from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito about the upside down American flag seen outside his home in January of 2021. Alito telling Fox News last week, it was his wife who put the flag up after seeing F Trump signs in the neighborhood.

As CNN's Randi Kaye reports, Alito has never been shy about expressing his views.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was one of Washington's longtime unwritten rules. Supreme Court justices attend the State of the Union address, but they don't react to anything the president says. That's why it was stunning in 2010 when Justice Samuel Alito was caught on camera shaking his head, appearing to say not true when President Barack Obama criticized the court's landmark Citizens United campaign finance decision.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For special interests, including foreign corporations to spend without limit.

KAYE (voice over): In the year since, the conservative justice has been candid about his Republican aligned views on same sex marriage.

SAMUEL ALITO, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't say that marriage is a union between one man and one woman. Until very recently, that's what the vast majority of Americans thought. Now it's considered bigotry.

KAYE (voice over): On gun control.

ALITO: The ultimate second tier constitutional right in the minds of some is the Second Amendment right to keep in bear arms.

KAYE (voice over): On what he says are threats to free speech.

ALITO: It would be easy to put together a new list called things you can't say if you're a student or a professor at a college or university or an employee of many big corporations.

KAYE (voice over): The now 74-year-old Alito was nominated by President George W. Bush in late 2005 after White House Council Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to the High Court as critics questioned her qualifications. Alito emerged as the court's most pointed conservative voice after the

2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia, and he became a full-fledged hero to the conservative right with his 2022 opinion that struck down guaranteed abortion access nationwide.

Roe was egregiously wrong from the start, Alito wrote for the court's majority. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak and the decision has had damaging consequences.

Alito's critics say the January 6 connected flags that flew over two of the justices properties should disqualify him from voting on the related cases before the Supreme Court. Those include an immunity case which could clear Trump of any criminal liability related to the attack on the Capitol.

[06:50:09]

But Alito may have already tipped his hand on Trump's immunity claim.

ALITO: If a an incumbent who loses very close hotly contested election knows that a real possibility after leaving office is not that the president is going to be able to go off into a peaceful retirement, but that the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent. Will that not lead us into a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country as a democracy?

KAYE (voice over): Randi Kaye, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: And take a look at this from Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin over the weekend. "One wonders what more Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. needs to do to defile the court's reputation before Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois will do something more than issue a terse tweet or letter."

Joining me now, CNN's Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron, good morning to you. Just going --

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

DEAN: Good morning. Just going off what Jennifer Rubin wrote there. Here's the thing though, Dick Durbin, doesn't -- he could -- he could try to put some legislation forward, but where is it going on Capitol Hill in terms of oversight on the Supreme Court?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, the real question, I think, the practical question is, are the Senate Democrats doing enough to explore the real issues here, and I think Jennifer Rubin's column reflects, I have had my own interviews over the last week, there is enormous frustration in Democratic circles and civil liberties, civil rights circles that Senate Democrats have not done.

I mean, you have I think, Jessica, you have this extraordinarily combustible situation, because you have two, really, I think, unusual dynamics coming together. First, rarely, if ever, has the Supreme Court faced as many decisions as they have in this term, with immediate implications for the next presidential election within months.

I mean, not only the immunity case, but the question on the obstruction statute that's used as part of the case against Trump. And obviously, the ballot access.

And at the same time, rarely, if ever have you had allegations as specific a partisan bias as those facing Alito. And for that matter, Justice Thomas, given his wife's involvement in the efforts to overturn the 2020 elections.

So, you put those two things together and consider that Alito, whatever -- whether he may have already had enormous impact on this, because we don't know, of course, which justices agreed to hear Trump's appeal of the D.C. Circuit opinion, you know, sweeping away really his claims of immunity and just the act of hearing this case, and delaying it for months has had enormous impact on the -- on the, you know, potential of having his trial before November.

Look at what's happening in New York. I mean, the timetable of the New York case, I think the ability to move that through the system toward final arguments, toward final decision under -- underscores what could have been in terms of a January 6th trial if the Supreme Court had not intervened in the way that it has.

Although, Alito while flying this flag may have been part of already.

DEAN: And it's so fascinating, and it is worth reminding everyone, they didn't even have a formal code of ethics until late last year after some of these ethical scandals had broken out. That there just hasn't been a tremendous amount of oversight over the Supreme Court.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. And look, John Roberts, you know, has a decision to make.

I mean, Durbin has not done much. But one thing he has done is with Sheldon Whitehouse, written Roberts' letter in his role as kind of the chief administrative officer of the U.S. courts, asking him to come to explain what if any are the -- are the kind of rules by which he is judging whether Alito is fit to, you know, participate in this decision?

I mean, really, I mean, there is legislation from White House to impose a code of ethics, obviously, that's not going anywhere in this Congress.

But the question of Democrats kind of alerting the public two of justices with these kinds of very specific, not generalized, you know, conservative or liberal philosophy issues, but specific questions of partisan bias ruling on a case with such immediate implications for the next presidential election for the two parties.

They have not done anything near what I think most people, you know, who are concerned about this believe it is appropriate. And we are seeing the court already by the -- by the timetable that is followed.

You know, taking its time in resolving this, already having an enormous impact potentially on the outcome of the 2024 election.

[06:55:05]

DEAN: And before I let you go, I do want to ask you about a separate topic. It's about something you wrote, "Even as Donald Trump relies on unprecedented support from Black and Latino voters, he is embracing policies that would expose their communities to much greater police surveillance and enforcement. The policies that Trump is pledging to implement around crime and policing in his second presidential term would reverse the broad trend of police reform that accelerated after the murder of George Floyd four years ago today." You were writing that on that anniversary, what more can you tell us about that before we let you go?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, real quick. I mean, you know, Donald Trump is proposing and it's received very little attention in array of policies on policing that would push kind of local police departments toward much more aggressive tactics, requiring -- he wants to require local police departments to implement stop and frisk, which was the policy ultimately declared unconstitutional in New York City of stopping a large number of people, particularly young Black and Latino men, as he wants to require them to do that as a condition of receiving federal law enforcement.

He wants to make it harder to sue police for misconduct. He wants to -- he has said he will bring the National Guard over the objections of local officials into communities that he -- that he deems as where crime is out of control.

There may be an audience for part of these policies. But I think the criminal justice experts I talked to universally agree whether they liked this policy or not, that it is going to mean more arrests of young Black and Latino men.

And in that way, it fits into the broader net -- broader point, which is that if you compare where we are now to 2020, Trump's gain is primarily among non-white, rather than white voters.

And the question of whether he can hold that support all the way to the end when policies like these or mass deportation, ending birthright citizenship, are kind of more in the air and discuss more really is maybe the biggest single open question of this election.

DEAN: It is very interesting. All right, Ron Brownstein, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Another scary scene in the air this weekend as 12 people were injured after severe turbulence hit a Qatar Airlines flight to Dublin, that incident coming just days after a man died on another flight due to turbulence. And all of this as an FAA order looms for Boeing to present a plan to

fix quality problems with its assembly line. Boeing is expected to deliver the plan this week.

It was ordered after a door blew off the 737 Max in mid-flight earlier this year. Here's Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: The concerning part, of course, is that any of those issues are happening at all.

MARGARET BRENNAN, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: Right.

BUTTIGIEG: And that's why Boeing is under a huge amount of scrutiny right now, including from the FAA, they're going to have to do more to demonstrate their readiness to safely increase production.

And again, obviously, the goal is for them to do so but only on a safe and healthy basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And the panel is back here for the end of the show today.

I think we've all kind of we're talking about this during the break at different times. But just this idea that it's more in the consciousness, that just the turbulence thing, number one. For a lot of us that fly a lot, is it -- is it -- have you all been thinking about this?

SHAH: I mean, this has shaken me because I'm not only an amateur aviation enthusiast, I have flown in planes that have been built by people, like a person I know. So, that's kind of scary.

DEAN: Wow, that's real trust.

SHAH: Yes, I'm from rural West Virginia. I mean, we're in to those things.

So -- but I'm also somebody that's taken long haul international flights routinely. And this is really shocking for Qatar Airways, and, in particular that has a great reputation.

So, this tells me this goes beyond just like a passenger's bill of rights issue.

DEAN: Right.

SHAH: This is a larger issue, and I almost am really concerned about children.

You know, I've taken my children on my lap in many instances.

DEAN: That's what they were saying, you have to be really careful because they're on your lap and that the force is set. SHAH: It's really mind boggling that some long haul flights I've taken, for example, from here to Los Angeles have had cross body seat belts.

But the vast majority of cross have lap seat belts. So, I'm hoping there will be some real changes here. Because one side I was really interested in seeing is that in the past, most large commercial airliners were able to get notified of turbulence. And now that's really not happening for whatever reason, or at the rate it used to happen.

So, it's more difficult now for pilots to predict when they're going to experience this turbulence, despite having all this radar technology and whatnot. And that I think is going to be the real challenge here. I feel less safe.

DEAN: Yes, one of the experts explained that unless there's like rain in it or moisture and you can't see it on the radar, you do rely on these other pilots going ahead of you.

But I think it makes me want to put my -- it's not that I didn't ever, I always had my seatbelt on but I'm a little more thoughtful about it.

TROVER: I stay in my seat with the seat belt on.

DEAN: You do?

TROVER: Yes, this is a long haul flight and I got to go to the bathroom. You know, like, other than that, I am -- I am buckled in.

[07:00:01]

DEAN: Yes, and I think people are thinking about this more.

HAYS: I think people are thinking about it more. People are taking more precautions. Like, you're staying in your seat, everyone's staying in their seat.

But I also think we need to be looking at climate change, it's not just what the airlines can do. There are other things here that are impacting this that I think we should take a real look at.

DEAN: Right and that's what the experts have said to that it is -- it is going back to climate change.

All right, thanks to this panel. Always good to see all of you. And thank you for joining us this morning. I'm Jessica Dean in for Kasie Hunt. And "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.