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CNN This Morning
Sources: Biden To Announce Executive Action On Border Crossings; Brexit Champion Nigel Farage Enters UK Election; Severe Storm Threat From Dallas To Minneapolis. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired June 04, 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 Tuesday, June 4th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
President Biden about to roll out a sweeping executive order to turn back asylum seekers at the southern border. We've got details.
Plus, opening arguments set to begin in just a few hours and the federal gun trial of Hunter Biden.
And the White House pressuring Israel to end the war in Gaza, a move that might cost Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his job?
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right. Five a.m. here in Washington. A live look at Capitol Hill in this Tuesday night.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Congress couldn't get it done. So today, Biden, President Biden is expected to take action on the border crisis on his own. CNN has learned that the president plans to announce an executive order that will effectively shut down the U.S., Mexico border to asylum seekers crossing illegally when the daily threshold of crossings is exceeded. The executive order relies on a regulation that was enforced under the Trump administration.
At that time, it was widely denounced by Democrats. And this does mark a significant attempt by the president to address head on what is one of his biggest, if not his biggest political vulnerability just weeks before his first debate with Donald Trump, that is set for right here on CNN.
"Axios" reports this morning that Biden is expected to announce and sign the order today at the White House.
He'll be joined by south Texas mayors. I am joined by one of the coauthors that report, "Axios" political reporter, Stef Kight.
Stef, good morning to you. Wonderful to have you.
Let's dig into what we know about this. This number, 2,500 is a key piece of this, and it's different actually from the bill that Democrats had supported in Congress that they were trying to get across the finish line. What's the difference here?
STEF KIGHT, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: The difference here is that they're focusing on just the number of people crossing the border illegally. That's what that 2,500 threshold is targeting. The bill before that, we saw that was the bipartisan border deal focus on a larger number but it also included people who are arriving at legal ports of entry, but who maybe didn't otherwise have permission to enter the U.S.
So it's just a little bit of a shift from what the focus is in this executive order. It's really focusing on people who are coming across the border illegally. But beyond that, it really effectively works about the same way as that bipartisan border deal, except it doesn't come with the resources that only Congress can give the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, which could make it harder for the administration to actually put this in effect.
HUNT: What does the timing tell the -- tell you about -- about their thinking here?
KIGHT: Yeah, the timing is very interesting. We know that they have been very seriously considering this move for months now, I've been hearing from sources for a very long time. This was something that Biden was considering feeling like they needed to come out stronger and tougher on this border issue. It's been a clear vulnerability for Biden from Republicans basically since day one and his administration.
And there are few things to note about the timing. One being that this obviously comes before the debate. So Biden will be able to talk about his action on the border at something we know Trump is going to want to talk about.
It comes before the Democratic convention. Any internal party disputes over this move, hopefully we will have calmed down before then. It also comes after Mexico's elections, and it comes after Chuck Schumer was able to force Republicans two again, killed that bipartisan border deal on the floor, again, allowing Democrats to try to pin this on when Republicans.
HUNT: Right and try as they might though, this does represent a significant political challenge for Democrats who are up for reelection in difficult states, and they're not planning on showing up today.
And I think we can put up the picture of some of these folks who are not going to be there. They are the senators from Montana, Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania. These are places where they have uphill climbs here. I think it tells you something about the politics.
KIGHT: Yeah, absolutely. And of course, you can't look at this move and not see it as a political move and addition to trying to address a serious problem. Biden is trying to provide himself cover from border attacks and he's likely trying to provide some of these vulnerable Democrats cover as well, allowing them to say that they support these new restrictions on the border that Biden is doing something to address the problem.
[05:05:11]
So I think it's notable that none of these very vulnerable Democrats are accepting this offer from the White House to come join Biden at the White House as he unveils what is really one of his, if not the biggest border move Biden has made to date.
HUNT: Let's watch a little bit of what the House Speaker Mike Johnson had to say on this recently on Fox on Sunday.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It's too little too late. Now, he's trying to desperately show the American people somehow that he wants to address the issue that he himself created.
Now he wants to issue some sort of executive order, I guess to show that oh, no, he really does care about the issue. The only reason he's doing that is because the polls say that it's the biggest issue in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And we can of course put up also the Gallup poll that it's unclear if the House speaker was referring specifically to this poll, with the Gallup poll that shows that immigration is what Americans tell Gallup anyway, is the most important issue here.
So I mean, how if you're the White House, how do you strike a balance between putting this out there and also just trying to avoid making the national conversation about this issue?
KIGHT: I mean, I think this is the debate that the White House has been having internally for a very long time. They're very nervous about this issue. I've reported, Biden doesn't like talking about the border. This is not something he likes to draw attention to, but it's clear that they've been looking at the polls and they know that this is something that they have to address.
Gallup isn't the only poll we see polls repeatedly showing that Americans care about immigration and also that they are more open to harsher restrictions. The harsher moves, especially when it comes to illegal border crossers, at the U.S. -Mexico border.
So this is clearly I'm reading the signs and recognizing that they need to do something on this they also know that were going to be seeing in the Senate at least a quick pivot to abortion and reproductive rights as we near that, the two-year anniversary of the fall of Roe v. Wade. And I do think we're going to see the administration try to address the border and then move on to their -- the issues that they are more confident in.
HUNT: And, of course, we shouldn't forget to note, this is not going to sit terribly well with progressives. We've already seen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeting about this, saying Democrats shouldn't be like Trump, but here we are.
Stef, thank you very much for your time.
KIGHT: Thank you.
HUNT: I really appreciate it.
All right. Coming up next here, the man who led the Brexit charge in the UK, making a surprise return to British politics.
Plus, a bill that would sentence sex offenders in one state to castration.
And opening statements in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial, just hours away.
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[05:12:02]
HUNT: A stunning announcement from former Brexit leader Nigel Farage. He is running in the July 4th British elections for the hard-right reform UK party. He shared two words on social media on Monday: I'm back.
Farage is contesting a seat in the small town of Clacton and vowing to make Britain great again, despite failing to be elected to parliament seven times.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIGEL FARAGE, PARTY LEADER, REFORM UK: Well, I'm really calling for, what I intend to lead is a political revolt. Yes, a revolt a turning of our backs on the political status quo. It doesn't work nothing in this country works anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. CNN's Max Foster joins us live from London.
Max, good morning.
So what is really going on here? Because this doesn't seem to spell good news for the prime minister.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it can be worst news. It's probably the biggest thing that's happened in this campaign so far. So you've got Rishi Sunak's ruling conservative party some of those members have moved to reform. Nigel Farage is seen as the big threat because he's offering all the right policies.
His main focus is immigration, so his aim is zero net immigration. So the amount of people leaving the country is the same as the amount people coming into the country. And he's a very charismatic, appealing figure, too many people to the right of politics, not even on the hard right, because he's not as extremely as you'd see in other parts of Europe.
He couple of weeks ago said he wouldn't be running. Then he went fishing, apparently went on a walk and decided that he would run. He said he wanted to focus on the U.S. election because he's obviously close to Donald Trump as well. But he is going to run and it's a big threat because it's going to take away from the conservative vote and as Rishi Sunak has said, a vote for Nigel Farage is actually a vote, the labor, the left party because it'll take votes away from the conservative party has point is basically you're either going to have Keir Starmer as a prime minister or Rishi Sunak, if you vote for the reform party effectively, putting Keir Starmer in Downing Street.
HUNT: By splitting up that support on the conservative side. Very interesting.
But, Max, can we dig in for a second to Farage's relationship with Donald Trump over here in the U.S.
Here was Donald Trump talking in an interview with Farage. I mean, this is sort of been the role he's been playing up until now when he, of course, abruptly switch. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe the United States was paying 90 percent of NATO, the cost of matter that could be 100 percent. It was the most unfair thing. And don't forget, it's more important to them than it is with us. We have an ocean in-between some problems, okay? We have a nice big beautiful ocean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A nice, big, beautiful ocean.
[05:15:00]
How does this particular issue at play into the UK election?
FOSTER: Well, it's a mystery because when he said he wasn't going to run, he said he wanted to focus on the U.S. elections.
So some cynics about Nigel Farage just suggesting it didn't get an upcoming post from Donald Trump or promise and Donald Trump, if he got into power, which is why I decided to run in the UK, we don't really know the exact reason why decided to run the UK. It could just be that he figured the Reform Party could do well and could finally get a seat after all those efforts that you were I talking about. But there's been rumors for years that he wanted to become a U.S. ambassador effectively to the UK. I don't know if there's any truth to that, but something might have changed in terms of what he was getting from Donald Trump. He certainly very close to Donald Trump ideologically. They've spoken to each other a lot.
And, you know, I think that Donald Trump does take advice from Nigel Farage on certain parts of his campaign, or at least it did last time he was heading to the White House.
So we're not quite sure what happened behind the scenes, but some cynics are suggesting he didn't get what he wanted from Trump, which is why he's running here.
HUNT: Never a dull moment.
Max Foster, thank you very much for your time this morning. I really appreciate it.
All right. Coming up here, Japanese regulators raid Toyota's headquarters. Did the auto giant manipulates safety data?
Plus, Dr. Fauci under attack at a House hearing yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Do the American people deserve to be abused like that, Mr. Fauci? Because you're not a doctor. Your Mr. Fauci in my few minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:21:02]
HUNT: All right. Twenty minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
Toyota's headquarters in Central Japan raided. Japan's ministry of transportation ordering the carmaker to investigate at least seven of its models that weren't subjected to government approved testing methods.
Convicted sex offenders in Louisiana can be soon be sentenced to surgical castration. Lawmakers in the state just passed a bill that would apply to suspects in cases of aggravated sex crimes against children if an offender refuses the procedure, they could face additional prison time. The measure now heads to the governor's desk.
Right now, India is counting the votes from an unprecedented general election. It's the world's largest democratic exercise with over 642 million voters. Prime Minister Modi is seeking a rare third consecutive term in office.
All right. Time now for weather. More than 30 million people are facing heat alerts from California to Texas this morning, and severe storms are possible for parts of the Central U.S.
Our man, Derek Van Dam, here with all of it.
Derek, good morning.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
Here we are again talking about severe weather, Kasie. It just won't stop. But we've gone well over a month of every day continuously through month, the month of May, and into June, with at least a slight risk of severe storms this time, encompassing roughly 60 the million Americans, large population densities as well, Minneapolis, Des Moines, south into Kansas City, and then take note just south of Oklahoma City into Dallas and Jackson. This is an area were monitoring with some severe thunderstorms that are moving just to the south and east of Oklahoma City.
In fact, there is a severe thunderstorm watch across both southeastern Oklahoma until about 5:00 a.m. local time because of this band of showers and thunderstorms and its not just strong gusty winds, frequent lightning and some hail that's come out of these storms. Heavy rainfall. In fact, one to three inches, radar indicated flash flood warnings just south of Oklahoma City, including more. That's valid for the next 20 minutes or so, and a few other warnings to the south and east of that as well with this band of showers and storms.
So here's the rough weather time. I mean it out about 4:00 p.m. across the Minneapolis St. Paul region. And then we focus our attention on another flare-up of showers and storms across the Deep South. That's why we have that slight risk, including Dallas and points northward.
We're going to focus our attention on the severe weather here. But this is all building across this collision of air masses, heatwave across the southwest, cooler weather over the east, and this is what were talking about. Heat indices will reach roughly 120 degrees Fahrenheit for major places like Las Vegas to Palm Springs. That's why we have these warnings in place and our record warm stretches across much of the southwest, all the way to Texas through the rest of the week, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Our weatherman Van Dam for us, Derek, thank you very much. See you next hour.
VAN DAM: Have a good day.
HUNT: Coming up next, an adult child of a sitting president on trial for the first time in U.S. history.
Plus, the White House pressuring the prime minister of Israel to make a decision that might end his career.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:28:50]
HUNT: All right. Just before 5:30 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the White House on this Tuesday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
In just a few hours, opening statements are set to begin in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial. Biden is the first child of a sitting president to ever go on trial. Yesterday, 12 jurors were seated, six men, six women, the majority are black, some of them opened up about loved ones dealing with addiction, while others admitted to owning a gun, was of course, two major themes in this case.
President Biden issuing a statement during jury selection, saying, quote: As the president, I don't and won't comment on pending federal cases. But as a dad, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength.
The president's allies on Capitol Hill noting the difference between this case and Donald Trump's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Hunter Biden's not running for president. Donald Trump's running for president. But, look, that's the perfect example. Democrats were not out there saying that Hunter Biden's trial is a farce, is a fraud. It's rigged. We're not attacking the justice system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining me now from Wilmington, Delaware, is "Axios" national politics reporter, excuse me, Alex Thompson.
Alex, good morning. It's wonderful to have you joining us because you.
