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CNN This Morning
Trump's Family Shows Support in NYC at Hush Money Trial; Nearly 30 Million Face Severe Storm Threat in Rockies, Texas. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired May 29, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:40]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, May 29th. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, 12 Manhattan jurors about to begin deciding the fate of a former president. Will it impact the future of the country?
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT DE NIRO, ACTOR: Take that stupid (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hat off. Take that stupid (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hat off. You're a bunch of clowns.
(END VIDEO CLILP)
HUNT: Robert de Niro, taking on Trump and tangling with his supporters outside the Manhattan courthouse.
And hurricane-force winds pushing an American Airlines 737 completely away from the gate with no one at the helm.
And the best of America's pastime finally getting their dues. Major League Baseball, shaking up the all-time record books.
Six a.m. here in Washington. A live look at New York City, the town that is going to start deliberating Donald Trump's fate here later on this morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
The arguments have been made, and now it's time for 12 ordinary people from Manhattan to decide whether or not Donald Trump is a criminal, a decision that might shake up the race for president, or might not.
It was a long and often tedious day for the jury on Wednesday. The defense went on for nearly three hours and the prosecution nearly five hours. Trump's attorney tearing into star witness Michael Cohen, telling jurors he's quote, "the human embodiment of reasonable doubt, literally. He lied to you repeatedly. He lied many, many, many times before you even met him. Have you guys heard of a GOAT? Like GOAT, the greatest of all time? Michael Cohen is the GLOAT. He is literally the Greatest Liar of All Time."
The prosecution getting the last word, telling jurors, quote, "We didn't choose Michael Cohen to be our witness. We didn't pick him up at the witness store. The defendant chose Michael Cohen as his fixer, because he was willing to lie and cheat on his behalf."
The prosecution insisting the evidence against Donald Trump as, quite, "literally overwhelming."
But also it was what went on outside the courthouse that turned heads yesterday and underscored just how tense things are in this election year, and how explosive this verdict could be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DE NIRO: Take that stupid (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hat off. Take that stupid (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hat off. You're a bunch of clowns. You see this guy get elected, (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you! (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you! (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You pedophile. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you pedophile! (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So much bleeping. It is blowing up my ear drums.
Our panel's here: Elliot Williams, former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst; "New York Times" White House correspondent Zolan Kanno- Youngs; and Matt Gorman, former senior advisor for Tim Scott's presidential campaign.
Gentlemen, wonderful to have you this morning.
Elliot, quite a scene outside the courthouse.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That was loud, or maybe it's just the volume I have in my earpiece, but it was pretty loud.
No, it was quite a scene outside the courthouse. And it's interesting in that it was the first overt time that the Biden campaign, or the Biden camp, if you want to call it that, played -- fought back politically. You know, and I leave it to the political folks to sort of unpack the wisdom thereof.
It did bring yet another spectacle of sort of chaos to the street outside in front of the courthouse. But that was there already. I don't know if the injection of Robert de Niro really changed that all that much.
HUNT: Yes. I mean, like, it was a quintessentially New York scene, right? I mean, naturally it's all over the front page of "The New York Post," et cetera.
But look, I mean, I think my big-picture question here, as we head into these jury deliberations on a mat, is whether or not it's going to change any votes. And our Gary Tuchman went and talked to some voters in Georgia.
I just want to show you. It speaks for itself. Watch.
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If Donald Trump is found guilty to any of you who say you're ready to vote for Donald Trump, would you consider switching to Joe Biden? Raise your hands.
No consideration, even if he's found guilty?
Other hand, if he's found not guilty. Any of you voting for Joe Biden, would you then possibly consider Donald Trump?
[06:05:02]
All right. Everyone sticking with the candidates they have right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: No changes, Matt Gorman.
MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR FOR TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: It's entertaining at least but no, that -- that's kind of where I expected things to net out.
And regarding de Niro, I mean, I've said this kind of repeatedly when you saw Republican members of Congress or politicians go up there. That's where the cameras are. And I think the Biden campaign essentially admitted this yesterday.
So if you want to break through, you want to reach, if Mohammed can't go to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed. So there -- there you go. Right?
And one of the other things, too, politically. This tells me -- it was the first scrappy move we've seen from the Biden campaign in a while. There was a pretty good piece, I believe, in "The New York Times," really saying that the Biden -- a couple weeks ago, saying the Biden campaign is acting like it's winning, but it's not.
This was one of the first acknowledgements that's like, you know, we need to do something a little different. We need to think through. We can't play all conservative with a small "C." We have to be a little bit scrappy. This was one of those times.
ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I mean, I still -- I think when you look at at -- at a focus group like that, it's somewhat why you can still expect the Biden campaign to focus on abortion and democracy even more so, regardless of what happens what this trial, really.
There also, even with the de Niro appearance yesterday, there is still really just a cautious approach when it comes to this trial or really any of the legal proceedings for Donald Trump. When it comes to the Biden campaign, they are very concerned, as well
as other Democrats, about sort of pouring the fuel on the fire when it comes to Donald Trump's claims, false claims that Biden has sort of directed prosecutors to investigate Donald Trump. And they fear that sort of comments about the trial will sort of feed into that.
I mean, and it's interesting. There was even caution, caution yesterday, with de Niro's appearance. He kind -- kind of went off- script when, at the end of those remarks, he said that, yes, he did believe that Donald Trump should go to jail.
The Biden campaign, I think to your point, more so was looking for that sort of New York moment of that.
WILLIAMS: You know, it's interesting. You say this caution about being seen as fueling the fire. And this is a long -- it's maybe not just your Biden Democrats generally. You have to respect the system and the norms of government and courts and their integrity.
And so, well, the fire has got a lot of fuel on it to begin with, whether it's outside the courtroom, inside the courtroom, or how people talk and think about this case.
And so it's almost a recognition of the reality that -- that there is politics swirling all around this, and they're sort of unilaterally disarming by not campaigning at the scene of the -- of the trial of the crime, I guess.
GORMAN: And you know what? That's the double-edged sword of bringing Bob De Niro (ph). You're going to have those moments where you get to take your piece out because there's so many bleeps.
But, you -- no disrespect to Quentin Fulks, who's -- who's deputy campaign manager, kind of one of the main spokespeople. You're not going to get that type of coverage from Quentin Fulks you can get with de Niro.
HUNT: So one thing that we keep, you know, kind of going back to over and over and over again is whether or not any of this is going to move anything. I mean, we saw that with the voters there. And there was a reference in court yesterday to Donald Trump being able to shoot people on Fifth Avenue, with the prosecutor saying he shouldn't be able to shoot people on Fifth Avenue.
This is a poll. Just -- just bear with me. But it's Dennis Quaid, who you may remember from a number of well-known films, talking to Piers Morgan about why he supports Donald Trump. And it's -- I found it telling. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS QUAID, ACTOR: It just makes sense. I was ready not to vote for Trump until I -- what I saw is more than politics. I see a weaponization of our justice system.
PIERS MORGAN, TV HOST: Yes. QUAID: And a challenge to our Constitution.
But Trump is the most investigated person probably in the history of the world, and they haven't been able to really get him. People might call him an (EXPLETIVE DELETED), but he's my (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Matt Gorman, that line right there. That last line.
GORMAN: Yes. I mean, I can tell -- I may have heard some version of that with traveling the country with Tim Scott, Jeb Bush, like this is -- this -- I could've heard that in 2015 and not been surprised. I'm still not surprised.
HUNT: He might be an A-hole, but he's my A-hole.
GORMAN: Yes, and look, I think one of the things you see is there is a large -- I would say, not insignificant amount of people who say, look, I don't necessarily like Donald Trump as a person, not the nicest guy. Tweets. Go on and on and on. But I look at Biden, and I don't think he can -- you know, can run the government.
And I also want to be able to afford groceries, afford gas and have -- you know, buy a home. And I think there's a lot of people like that. That was not really that surprising to me, that line.
WILLIAMS: Because everybody who watches CNN THIS MORNING with Kasie Hunt, watches it every single morning. People should know that yesterday, we talked about this very point.
And this notion of the power of celebrity and divorcing the man from the idea of the man. And this was in the context of a Trump-Oprah ticket, right? And what you're hearing a little bit of from Dennis Quaid there is talking about Trump's celebrity, far more than Trump, the politician.
[06:10:08]
It's just sort of the idea and the aura around this person. And that seems to almost intoxicate people.
HUNT: Yes, I found the tribalism of it noteworthy.
GORMAN: People forget. He had -- he had the No. 1 show on TV for how many years? Like, think about that in the context now. It's like Jim Parsons running for president. Like, that is a well-known thing that you can't really duplicate before you even get into politics.
HUNT: Yes.
All right. Coming up next here, Donald Trump's family showing up at court to support him. Well, a couple of them; one missing.
Plus --
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(SHOUTING)
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HUNT: -- lawmakers in Taiwan nearly coming to blows. We'll tell you why.
Plus, Senator Chris Coons live from Taiwan on how to best handle China's aggression.
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[06:15:19]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: We understand that this is a political persecution. They bring in Robert de Niro, who was shot down. But apparently, he needs attention, because it's been a while since he's cranked out a good movie.
ERIC TRUMP, SON OF DONALD TRUMP: They're sitting there; they're laughing. They're giggling. This was their moment. This is how they embarrass Donald Trump. This is legal lawfare.
LARA TRUMP, DAUGHTER-IN-LAW OF DONALD TRUMP: this was never a case about protecting the citizens of the city of New York. This is a case about politics, pure and simple.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Some members of the Trump family coming to the defense of the former president after yesterday's closing arguments. That was Donald Trump Jr., Eric, and his wife, Lara. They have been seen in the courtroom throughout the criminal hush money trial.
There was, of course, a continued notable absence. The former first lady, there has been no sign of Melania standing by her man in public.
Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka; her husband, Jared Kushner, who played key roles in the Trump White House, have not journeyed to Lower Manhattan for the trial either.
Zolan, I can't say that this is surprising to me, the Melania not showing up, considering the topic at hand. Do you think it hurts Donald Trump in any way? Does it matter?
KANNO-YOUNGS: Well, I mean, look, this is -- legally, this is to the jury at this point, so I'm not sure if it doesn't really matter. But politically, look, my colleague Katie Rogers wrote -- wrote about this dynamic a couple of months ago and wrote a book on first ladyship.
And what she was saying is that Melania has always seen this as Donald Trump's -- this trial as Donald Trump's issue, not hers. That being said, it -- it obviously has made her angry at times, going back to January 2018 when reports of this hush money payment were -- were still being revealed.
One thing that I think you should watch is will this impact the public support Melania Trump has for Donald Trump moving forward as the campaign rolls on? We've seen at times when there's been tension or disapproval that Melania has had signs of showing public disapproval of Donald Trump, going back to something completely different, but even with the border and wearing a shirt that it showed some disapproval.
So you know, that could be something to see. You know, could the outcome of this trial impact whether or not Melania Trump shows up at campaign events or shows up with Donald Trump moving forward on the campaign trail and shows public support?
HUNT: Do you think that impacts that?
GORMAN: What I'm interested in, what was notable to me was I think this is more a little bit of a preview of what we would see, who we would see, or maybe who wouldn't see as active in a Trump White House.
HUNT: Yes.
GORMAN: I know you saw those three folks there. Lara Trump's kind of co-running the RNC. Don Jr. and Eric have always kind of been out there.
You know, Ivanka and Jared have kind of kept their distance from the -- from the campaign. And there's -- ostensibly, could be the White House, too.
I also think maybe Melania, too, if he was to go back in the White -- should be first lady again, maybe it wouldn't be as active as a role as it was the first time around.
HUNT: Yes.
WILLIAMS: I just feel like we get hung up a lot on guilty versus not guilty. What happens if he's convicted? And is it -- and that's perfectly fine. Forgetting that this is a married couple.
And whether he's convicted or not, there is still this cloud of did he sleep with a porn star? Did he pay off -- he did pay off a porn star. The question is, did the relationship happen, and so on.
And I would think, setting aside whether he's convicted or not, I would think a spouse would probably not take issue with some of -- some of the behavior.
KANNO-YOUNGS: She has.
WILLIAMS: And so this whole question of -- well, she'll start appearing with him on the campaign trail if he's acquitted, just sort of the underlying problem is still there. Anyway.
HUNT: Is -- yes, although it doesn't seem as though voters really seem to -- although you know, he hasn't won an election since 2016. He may be on track to win the next one. We will see.
Coming up, more of this Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DE NIRO: If returns to the White House, you can kiss these freedoms goodbye that we all take for granted. And elections, forget about them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: More on Robert de Niro's fiery appearance outside the Trump trial.
And gone with the wind? One of our five things you have to see today.
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[06:23:51]
HUNT: All right, 23 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning.
Hurricane-force wind blowing an American Airlines 7030 -- 737 right out of its gate at Dallas airport Tuesday. Officials say no one was on board the plane. Thank goodness.
It's getting a little heated in Taiwan's Parliament. Take a look at lawmakers screaming and shoving each other around. It's all over a controversial reform bill that grants new oversight powers to them.
And another successful lift-off for SpaceX, launching its Falcon 9 rocket into orbit. It's part of a new Earth observation mission. It's a collaboration with Europe and Japan.
China's military showing off a robot dog with an automatic rifle mounted on its back. The robot dog can walk, hop and fire rounds under the control of a remote operator. Well, that's not terrifying or anything.
Severe storms, meanwhile, turning this Dallas roadway into a river, submerging vehicles and leaving drivers stranded last night. Winds brought down trees and power lines across the region. More than half a million customers in the state still in the dark this morning.
[06:25:11]
And to that end, almost 30 million people under severe storm threats today, concentrated in the Rockies, but also across central and South Texas.
Let's get to our meteorologist, Elisa Raffa. Elisa, good morning. What can we expect to see?
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. We're going to continue to find some cases of damaging winds and large hail today. Look at the hail overnight in parts of Colorado, just north of Denver.
I mean, it looks like it snowed. This is hail. A blanket of white you could shovel and plow. And you can see in some of this -- this video here that we have some flooding rains, as well, that have brought some of the hail, as well.
So you can see the roadway just totally flooded. And then all of that plowed up to the side. That is hail, not snow. Just incredible to see.
Winds yesterday in parts of Dallas, you know, were upwards of 80 miles per hour. Parts of Texas, 95 mile-per-hour wind gusts in The Colony, Texas; 80 miles per hour for parts of Texas.
And that has knocked out power still about half a million people in the dark this morning as power crews try to get that power back on.
Here's a look at radar right now. We do have a couple of storms with some lighter showers and rumbles of thunder from Houston down towards Corpus Christi, nothing severe right now.
But as we go into the afternoon, we might find an isolated storm and damaging winds and large hail. Not as destructive as it was yesterday, but we still have to keep an eye out for some storms to develop from Shreveport back down towards Houston.
You've got a greater chance of severe weather from Rapid City to Denver.
So we'll find these showers and storms that could possibly ignite as we go through the day today. Going into tomorrow, some of those, again, could ignite from the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma. So something that we'll have to watch out for as we go through our Thursday -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Elisa Raffa for us. Elisa, thank you very much.
All right. Just ahead here, is Donald Trump intentionally embracing an outlaw image?
Plus, Oscar-winner Robert de Niro tangling with the MAGA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DE NIRO: Take that stupid (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hat off. Take that stupid (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hat off. You're a bunch of clowns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[06:30:00]
