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CNN This Morning

Donald Trump Insists He's OK with Going to Jail After a New York Court Convicted Him of Felony Charges; Hunter Biden Faces Felony Gun Charges; Mexico Elects First Woman As President. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 03, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

KASIE HUNT, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING: It's Monday, June 3rd, right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

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DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT: You know, at a certain point, there's a breaking point.

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HUNT: Donald Trump insisting he's OK with going to jail, but he says his supporters might not be OK if he does. Hunter Biden facing felony gun charges and about to become the first child of a sitting president to go on trial. And Mexico makes history by electing its first female president.

All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, a live look at New York City on this Monday morning. Good morning, everyone, I'm Kasie Hunt, it's wonderful to have you with us. Donald Trump claims he's fine with jail time, but he warns that his supporters might not be.

The former president faces a possible prison sentence or house arrest after a New York jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records last week. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11th. Trump talked about that prospect over the weekend in an interview with "Fox".

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The judge could decide to say, hey, house arrest or even jail --

D. TRUMP: He could --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you face what that could --

D. TRUMP: I'm OK with it. I saw one of my lawyers the other day on television saying, oh, no, you don't want to do that to the president, I said, you don't beg for anything. You just -- the way it is. I don't know that the public would stand it, you know, I don't -- I'm not sure the public would stand for it with a -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You saying like house arrest or --

D. TRUMP: I think -- I think it would be tough for the public to take. You know, at a certain point, there's a breaking point.

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HUNT: Some of Trump's critics seized on that breaking point comment. I spoke to Democratic congressman Adam Schiff about it yesterday.

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REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): This is clearly Donald Trump once again inciting violence, potential violence when he is sentenced. We see this pattern over and over again where Donald Trump communicates with his base supporters making it pretty clear what he wants to see. And then his enablers tried to explain it away.

But look, his baseless is to him, this is another dangerous appeal to violence, and it is yet another reason why Americans are going to decide they don't want a convicted felon in the Oval Office.

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HUNT: All right, joining me now to discuss is Catherine Lucey, she's White House reporter for the "Wall Street Journal". Catherine, good morning to you.

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Good morning --

HUNT: So, these are Trump's comments about -- his first comments about the prospect of a jail sentence, which of course does loom out there, especially with him expressing little remorse, which is of course something that is considered by judges in cases like this. What is your reporting around the reaction to the president's comments there?

LUCEY: Yes, certainly, the president, we're not seeing a lot of remorse. He is -- they're pretty clear -- there -- it seems they're going to appeal. He is talking about this being politicized, and I think we'll continue to see more comments like that from him and his supporters.

We did see -- I think in your interview yesterday, Kasie, Lara Trump saying that supporters should make their feelings known about this process at the ballot box. So, that is one message they are putting out, but certainly, you know, Republicans are really arguing that this is going to galvanize Trump supporters.

And Democrats, I think as you saw in that interview with Adam Schiff, are worried that, you know, what will this mean? How will people react as this process moves forward.

HUNT: Right, and so, we do have some of our first numbers in to try to get a sense of what kind of impact this has. There's a "CBS" YouGov poll that was released yesterday, and they asked, did Trump get a fair trial? They said 56 percent of respondents said yes, 44 percent said it was unfair.

Now, that is not an unreasonable break-down that also reflects the partisanship in the country. However, I will say in an incredibly close election, 56 percent is a basic landslide compared to where we could -- where we could land. What does it tell you that that's how people are taking this in?

LUCEY: Yes, I mean, is very partisan country, and so I think that's part of it. I think a key question they're citing is two things. One is how is this affecting approval ratings for Trump or Biden? And we haven't seen a ton of movement there yet. And so, does that start to shift?

Another thing I'm watching really closely is specifically how do -- what we call it, the double-haters react to this?

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So, people who don't like their options on either side, which is a small but potentially kind of pivotal piece of the electorate, right? Those who would prefer not to vote for Trump or Biden, does this nudge those people in either direction? I think is really going to be a key question.

HUNT: Yes, and I think we can actually -- I think we should put up the partisan breakdown --

LUCEY: Yes --

HUNT: In terms of who thinks this trial was fair. Let's take a look at those numbers, because among Republicans, only 14 percent believe the trial was fair, 86 percent was unfair. Now, that 14 percent is higher than the number of Democrats who think it was unfair, I mean, that 14 percent is not an insignificant number of Republicans I have to say, but that number of independents, I think really tells you something.

The most significant pieces that kind of distance between fair and unfair for independent voters, because at the end of the day, they are likely to decide this election in a handful of key swing states.

LUCEY: Absolutely, so the fact that you see a majority of independents saying that, all you need is a small number of independents in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan to decide this election. And so, if that moves some of those people to Joe Biden's column, that is a really significant thing.

HUNT: One thing we've seen from the Trump campaign is kind of turning response to the verdict into another purity test for their candidates. And Senate candidate in Maryland, Larry Hogan is the former governor of the state, very popular, it's a blue state. He's one of the only Republicans who would have a chance of winning.

And he put this up, it was after we knew a verdict was coming, but before we knew it, the verdict was going to be -- he wrote this, "regardless of the result, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process at this dangerously-divided moment in our history. All leaders, regardless of party must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship."

Chris LaCivita; the Trump campaign manager said, you just ended your campaign. I've talked to Lara Trump, who is of course, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee, which is in charge of getting Republicans generally writ-large elected to offices across the country. Here's what she said about Larry Hogan.

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LARA TRUMP, CO-CHAIR, RNC: He doesn't deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point. And quite frankly, anybody in America, if that's the way you feel, that's very upsetting to hear that.

HUNT: So, are you willing to cede the Senate seat in Maryland to the Democratic Party and not support Larry Hogan?

L. TRUMP: What I'll tell you is that we of course, want to win as a party, but that is a shame. And I think he should have thought long and hard before he said that publicly.

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HUNT: So, she wouldn't answer my question directly about whether they were going to, you know, deny him money. But the thing about Trump supporters is that when you go out there and you attack people like that, they tend to believe the Trumps and honestly if Larry Hogan is going to win that seat for Republicans, he needs every single vote, both independents and people who may love Trump.

LUCEY: No, and whatever that makes -- in terms of Maryland, there's still Trump supporters there that he needs to get over the finish line. And so, if they're being discouraged from supporting him, that's a problem for him. Is also a noteworthy point that he doesn't actually -- it's not even him weighing in on the verdicts, the actual verdict itself, it's him literally saying, let's respect the rule of law, and that, that comment was enough to basically sort of push this reaction.

HUNT: Right, because the reaction from the Trump people is basic, like well, this doesn't represent the rule of law and the law --

LUCEY: Yes, and of course the response from President Biden and his -- specifically Biden's campaign has gone a little farther, but Biden himself really has focused his remarks on respecting the rule of law --

HUNT: Right, and the jury itself, right? The 12 ordinary Americans who ultimately were the ones to make this decision. Catherine Lucey, thanks very much for being here. I appreciate it. All right, coming up next here, a legal loss for Hunter Biden on the eve of his federal gun trial that starts today. Plus --

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Time for this war to end for the day after to begin.

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HUNT: The White House trying to pressure Israel to end the conflict in Gaza. And a terrifying tornado touches down on in Texas. We'll show you that.

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HUNT: All right, welcome back. Mexico City's former Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum projected to win Mexico's presidential election in a landslide and become the first woman ever to hold the country's top job. The 61-year-old also becomes the country's first Jewish president, she won with about 60 percent of the vote, according to early results.

The U.S. is closely monitoring it as President Biden prepares to roll out a sweeping border-related executive action. This week, CNN's Max Foster joins us live from London. Max, good morning to you, always wonderful to see you. So, Sheinbaum has a series of challenges, honestly, security is top of that.

There're -- this election was marred by violence in Mexico, and of course, there are, of course, looming questions about immigration, U.S.-Mexico relations. The Biden administration is preparing this sweeping executive action at the border that they're going to roll out later on this week.

And that, of course, plays directly in to the presidential campaign. How do you see this election affecting all of those issues?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, she's a protege of her predecessor, so you can expect, I think a lot of similar issues. But as you say, I think frankly, it's violence within her country, which is the big issue for her. So, you had, you know, estimates between 20 and 30 local candidates who were murdered during this election.

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That is the big issue in front of her, and she's talked about being the bravest president, a president who does confront crimes. So, that's top of the list. And then I think you could probably expect to have a similar policy in terms of U.S. immigration as a predecessor, but she has to clarify that, and obviously, that's a lot of people are asking that question in the U.S. because it's so key to that debate.

But I think really today is just the moment of seeing her in this position. Huge crowds out for in Mexico City, she's a big player there, anyway, having been mayor there. And you know, her history really is as a scientist, she's a very well-qualified scientist, she's big on the environment and climate change.

So, that's really where she has a lot of credibility, but the pressure on her really is what's happening right in front of her on the streets.

HUNT: Yes, Max, on a different topic as well, and as I -- you know, I'm sort of continuing to think about the challenges across the globe for President Biden that he's going to be dealing with this week, obviously, the border is one key one, another is the war in Gaza, which he did address late last week.

On Friday, he put out what was basically a proposal for a ceasefire over the course of six weeks, that would set out some, you know, rules and conditions for the way Israel would handle Gaza in the wake of this. It was met on the right-wing in Israel with threats to basically bring down the coalition government of Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu's office was much more measured, and how, you know, they responded. They said, well, we're going to continue with the party line of -- we want to eliminate Hamas and get our hostages back before we'll end this war. What did you make of the back-and-forth there, and Netanyahu's position around what Biden had proposed?

FOSTER: Well, he's trapped, doesn't he? Present Biden on one side saying -- expects Israel to sign this deal. Then you've got the right wing as you say, putting real pressure on him not to sign it. So, you've got the Finance Minister, the National Security Minister as well, both saying they will resign from the government if he signs it.

And then you've got the opposition leader saying he will support Netanyahu signing it. So, it's those three constituencies combined with this massive pressure, obviously, from the families of the hostages, really wanting a peace deal as well, so they can just get those hostages home.

So, he's in this trap. You know, if those right-wing ministers do resign, he's weakened in government, his position becomes, you know, not necessarily untenable, but very weak indeed. He might not keep his position. So, we've got to see how he's going to get through that. And as you say, his normal -- his usual argument is just destroying Hamas. So, focusing on that, which is something that everyone has agreed on.

HUNT: Indeed, all right, Max Foster for us on this Monday. Max, very grateful for you as always, thank you so much. All right, just ahead here, Donald Trump claiming he's fine with being sentenced to jail time. We'll dig into that, plus, beaches shut down after a shark attack in California.

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[05:20:00]

HUNT: All right, 22 minutes past the hour, here's your morning round- up. The Senate votes on a right to contraception bill on Wednesday, marking the two-year anniversary of the demise of Roe versus Wade. Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer vowing more action to come on reproductive rights.

One person is dead and 24 others injured after a mass shooting at a birthday party in Ohio. Police believe the gunman was in a car. There have been at least 192 mass shootings in the U.S. so far in 2024. And a swimmer off the coast of San Diego bitten multiple times by a shark. The 46-year-old victim needed surgery for the bite wounds.

A 2-mile stretch of the beach has now been closed for 48 hours. I've got another day of severe storm threats from Dallas to Milwaukee. This massive funnel cloud formed quickly in the Texas Panhandle on Sunday. And the fast-moving corral wildfire in California has burned more than 14,000 acres. It's only 50 percent contained at this point.

Our weatherman Derek Van Dam joins us now with more. Derek, it is wonderful to have you back. I have missed you. What do you have --

DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Thank you --

HUNT: For us this morning?

VAN DAM: Thank you, I miss you too -- yes, good morning. You know, we're tracking this corral fire in San Joaquin County, California. And this in my opinion is the reality of our warming future, right? So, you go back a couple of Winters, and we had below average precipitation.

California was in the midst of a 100-year drought, well, the past two Winters have been completely different. It's feast or famine in the state of California, they got too much snow over the course of the Winter. And what that did is it allowed the grasslands to build up as we start to dry out the vegetation, it becomes highly flammable, and unfortunately, you add in wins and record high temperatures, and that's a recipe for fire.

And this is what we have seen come out of the San Joaquin region, but good news is that's 50 percent contained. The winds this weekend, yes, they were strong, but they've relaxed recently. The bigger story here is the high temperatures that are going to send the mercury and the thermometer into the upper 120 degree temperature range.

I mean, we're talking about record warmth for over 100 U.S. cities across the western and southwestern parts of the country. Many of it focused across that Central Valley into the state of California. Check out these day-time highs right through the rest of the week, well above average.

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So, this is the big story. Heat builds over the west, cooler over the east, you get that collision of air masses, we look for the thunderstorms to develop right on that ridge, and that is right where we saw the tornado yesterday.

This is coming out of Silverton, Texas, impressive funnel there, and unfortunately, there is another round of severe weather possible later today for a few different locations across the nation's midsection, the plains and into parts of Arkansas and into Texas where they had record, extremely high and extremely large golf-ball-sized hail coming out of the sky yesterday. So really, just a wild past couple of days, Kasie.

HUNT: It sure has been, all right, our weatherman, Van Dam Derek, thank you, I really appreciate it. Coming up next here, Republican falling in line behind Donald Trump after he becomes a convicted felon. Plus, the political implications for President Biden with his son going on trial.

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