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Soon: Day Three Of Hunter Biden's Federal Gun Trial; Today: Senate To Vote On Contraception Access Bill; NASA And Boeing Make Third Attempt To Launch Starliner. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 05, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, just before 5:30. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

It's day three of Hunter Biden's federal gun trial in Delaware. Court began yesterday with the jury hearing opening statements. Prosecutors and defense attorneys battling over the one fundamental issue, whether the president's son lied about being an addict when he purchased a gun in 2018.

Prosecutor Derek Hines telling the jury, "We would not be here today if he was just a drug addict. He crossed the line when he chose to buy a gun and lied during a federal background check. Addiction may not be a choice, but lying and buying a gun is a choice."

Biden's central defense in the case that he did not consider himself an addict at the time of the purchase. Biden's defense attorney reminding the jury, "What is common to all the three charges is the requirement that the prosecutors left off their slide. They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hunter knowingly violated the law."

During witness testimony prosecutors used Hunter's own words against him, playing several passages from the audiobook for his 2021 memoir.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER BIDEN, AUDIOBOOK, "BEAUTIFUL THINGS: A MEMOIR BY HUNTER BIDEN": I possessed a new superpower, the ability to find crack in any town at any time, no matter how unfamiliar the terrain. It was easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It was easy.

Joining me now from Wilmington, Delaware is CNN's Marshall Cohen. Marshall, good morning. So wonderful to have you here.

You were in the courtroom yesterday. What were your main takeaways from what you saw unfold there? And honestly, some of the most dramatic moments may have come outside the courtroom in a clash between Hunter Biden's wife and a former Trump aide. What have you learned?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER (via Webex by Cisco): Hey, Kasie. Good morning to you.

It was pretty remarkable throughout the day to watch these proceedings unfold. Hunter Biden obviously in the defendant's seat. First lady Jill Biden just a few rows behind him in the pews, along with everybody else in that packed courtroom.

I think both sides see a path to victory here and they were trying to spell that out for the jury in their opening statements. You just read a few key quotes there that sort of explain how the prosecutors think they can get to a conviction and the defense thinks that they may be able to sow enough reasonable doubt to avoid Hunter Biden getting a criminal record and possibly even going to prison.

Look, one of the more gripping moments was the audiobook. You just read -- you just played one clip. I've got another clip that I want to play for you.

The prosecutors used this clip to try to establish the timeline of Hunter's drug addiction. Remember, he is accused of buying a gun in 2018 while addicted to drugs, which would be a violation of the law. He wrote the book in 2019. So listen closely to where he describes the timeline of his addiction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: If it could some new treatment, some new approach, some new lifeline, I thought I could still claw my way back out. During the nearly four years of active addiction that preceded this trip to California, which included a half dozen rehab attempts, that's what I told myself after each failure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So the prosecutor said pretty clearly and were trying to walk the jury right through this, 2019 minus four years because he said four years of addiction -- that goes back to 2015, which obviously would cover the time that he bought that gun. The defense disagrees with that. But clearly, the prosecutors, Kasie, trying to use Hunter Biden's own words against him.

HUNT: Yeah, very interesting.

Marshall, this has -- is, of course, a family affair that touches the President of the United States because this is his son who he has stood very solidly by. He has talked quite a bit about that.

But obviously, politics got into this as well when there was -- NBC News reported this confrontation between Hunter Biden's wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, and a man named Garrett Zeigler. So she approached him, NBC reported, pointed her finger at him and said in a loud voice, "You have no right to be here, Nazi piece of 's'."

Zeigler then told NBC News, "It's sad. I've been sitting here the whole time and haven't approached anyone. For the record, I am not a Nazi. I'm a believer in the U.S. Constitution. I haven't said one thing to him."

Now, this guy was apparently involved in the Hunter Biden laptop controversy. What do we know about him, and how did you experience this playing out in court and around -- and after court yesterday?

COHEN: Well, Kasie, let me be very clear that CNN has not independently corroborated that report from NBC. We reached out to Hunter Biden's team, and they did not have anything to say about the matter.

But I can tell you that number one, Melissa Cohen Biden, the wife of Hunter Biden -- she has been in the courtroom during this whole trial sitting right next to the first lady. And Garrett Zeigler has also been in the courtroom and courthouse as well.

So, Garrett Zeigler -- he's not a household name but he is definitely very well known to the Hunter Biden family and the entire Biden family. He's a former Trump White House official. And then after Trump left office, Zeigler sort of became the number one tormentor of Hunter Biden.

He published a website, actually, that contains a lot of materials from that Hunter Biden laptop or, at least, that are claimed to be from that laptop, including very explicit videos and salacious images that the prosecutors would never think of using in court. Sexually explicit materials, Kasie, that basically doxed Hunter Biden.

[05:35:04]

Hunter is suing Garrett Zeigler in court over this whole incident.

I saw Garrett in -- around the courthouse yesterday. He -- look, he's been following Hunter Biden -- every nook and cranny of Hunter Biden's life for many years, so it's not a surprise that he would show up at this court. It is somewhat more surprising that a member of Hunter Biden's family would lash out directly at him knowing that there are so many reporters around. But clearly, the tensions are high, and they feel like this is a man that has doxed Hunter Biden and tried to destroy his life by spreading these materials online for everyone to see.

HUNT: Yeah, a lot of emotions running very, very high.

Marshall Cohen for us this morning. Marshall, very grateful to have you on the show. Thank you very much.

All right. Today, Senate Democrats are going to vote on legislation to protect access to contraception. The Senate is going to vote on it. The move comes as Republicans are struggling with messaging around abortion nearly two years after Roe versus Wade was overturned.

The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, wrote in a dear colleague letter Democrats are putting the issue front and center. He writes this. "As horrific as these state abortion bans are, they're just the tip of the iceberg." Adding, "The scourage of Republicans' anti- reproductive rights agenda extends to contraception as well."

Here's what Republicans are doing to try to get ahead of this. Axios reporting Senate Republicans are being instructed to "clearly outline their support" for policies that increase access to birth control.

Joining me now is CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe, Jackie Kucinich. Jackie, good morning. Wonderful to see you.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE: Good morning.

HUNT: So this is a vote, obviously, that Senate Democrats have set up to try to make life hard for Senate Republicans on contraception because this is, of course, something that they warned about immediately as Roe v. Wade was being overturned.

How do we expect this to play out in the Senate?

KUCINICH: Well, it's not without reason, right? I mean, you did have Clarence Thomas writing in his support of the Dobbs decision that precedence like the access to contraception, gay marriage, and things like that should be looked at again and perhaps overturned in the wake of Dobbs.

So -- and also, you had former President Trump speaking to, I believe, a news outlet in Pennsylvania just a few weeks ago saying that you might have to -- you might have to look at -- that the states might have different views on contraception. Now, he backtracked shortly thereafter and said he would never -- you know, before overturning the right to contraception.

However, that did plant the seed. That did start, again, this push from Senate Democrats to codify abortion -- to, excuse me, codify contraception in the U.S. Senate.

HUNT: Right. And again, this is a procedural move by Democrats --

KUCINICH: Yes.

HUNT: -- that Republicans are expected to block, right? This is why it puts them in a tough position.

Here was Harris on Kimmel last night talking about this -- the vice president -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In that decision that undid the protections of Roe, Clarence Thomas said the quiet part out loud that contraception could very much be a risk.

And it is at risk. And let's understand moving forward, not only is that at risk, look at IVF and what has happened and how clinics have closed because of fear that they may be violating the law to provide IVF treatment. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So she's talking, of course, about --

KUCINICH: Yes.

HUNT: -- Clarence Thomas' comments there.

KUCINICH: Right, and this isn't even happening in a vacuum.

The Washington Post has a really good rundown today of some of the things that are going on in the states. In Missouri, a bill blocked to widen access to contraception. In Louisiana, a bill blocked to enshrine contraception rights. In Idaho, trying to ban IUDs and Plan B. There's a movement to do that.

So these things are already happening in states. These seeds are being planted. So there is reason to be concerned. There is a reason for this legislation, politics aside.

HUNT: Um-hum. It's really kind of a striking set of realities here.

KUCINICH: Yeah.

HUNT: Jackie, I want to move to -- there's a -- there's a piece out in The Wall Street Journal and if we could put the headline up on the screen there's a couple of things we want to make sure that we're very careful to note about this new reporting.

The headline is "Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping. Participants in meetings say the 81-year-old president performed poorly at times. The White House said Biden is sharp and his critics are playing partisan politics."

Now, this is hung, in no small part, on a quote from Kevin McCarthy, the former Speaker of the House, who we should note said to reporters that Biden was strong after some of this. But this is what McCarthy said. "I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I'd go to his house. He's not the same person."

And then, this is what the White House said back. "Literally, the only on-record critic in the story is Kevin McCarthy who contradicts his own previous statements." And then the receipts, they say, are "very professional, very smart, and very tough at the same time. McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol of his talks with Biden."

[05:40:03]

Now, broadly, the White House also says, "Congressional Republicans, foreign leaders, and nonpartisan national security experts have made clear in their own words -- if we can put this up -- that President Biden is a savvy and effective leader who has a deep record of legislative accomplishment. Now, in 2024, House Republicans are making false claims as a political tactic that flatly contradict previous statements made by themselves and their colleagues." Now, the Journal based this on interviews, they say, with 45 people over several months. And at points, the White House actually reached out to these offices and had them call the Journal back.

KUCINICH: Democrats.

HUNT: Democrats did, which I actually think is a very interesting piece of this report because it shows just how acutely attuned the White House is to the challenges around this.

KUCINICH: You took the words right out of my mouth, Kasie. I -- no, that paragraph -- I have it screenshot right here on my phone --

HUNT: Yeah.

KUCINICH: -- because it really did -- that jumped out at me that not only -- they know this is a vulnerability. Joe Biden knows this is a vulnerability. And in that interview with Time magazine that came out this week, he's asked about his age and whether he had considered the fact that his age would be a hindrance, and he said no with his usual Joe Biden bravado.

But listen, you don't call -- you don't keep tabs on Democrats that The Wall Street Journal is interviewing and then have them circle back to highlight Biden's strength if you are darn sure and you don't think this isn't a vulnerability. They know. They know, and it's not going away. He's not going to age backwards. This isn't Benjamin Button here; this is Joe Biden.

HUNT: If only --

KUCINICH: I think all of us could use some Benjamin Button, exactly.

HUNT: Yes, your point is well taken.

Yeah -- in fact, we can put up the poll on Biden's fitness, right? So public confidence in Biden's fitness for office kind of underscores this. Only seven percent of Americans are extremely confident in his mental fitness for office. Forty-five percent say they're not at all confident.

KUCINICH: Right, exactly. And, you know, what they more -- they want more scenes like the State of the Union, not what's being described in some of these behind closed doors. But again --

HUNT: Yeah.

KUCINICH: -- this is something that's not going away. All they can do is present him in as strong a position as they possibly can.

HUNT: Right. Well, and this is part of why the debates are likely to or could potentially matter so very much.

KUCINICH: So very much. I know.

HUNT: Right here on CNN, June 27. Don't miss it. Jackie Kucinich, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

All right. Coming up next, the countdown to Boeing's Starliner launch now in its final hours. Plus, the WNBA's Angel Reese getting ejected and going viral. The Bleacher Report is up next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:46:52]

HUNT: All right. In just a few hours, NASA and Boeing will attempt to launch the Starliner crewed test flight for a third time after two failures in the last week. Saturday's mission to ferry two astronauts to the International Space Station was scrubbed just four minutes before liftoff because of a computer issue. NASA currently relies on SpaceX for its trips to the ISS. If successful, Starliner could be a major boost for the space agency and Boeing.

NASA chief Bill Nelson recently spoke to NPR about the importance of test flights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL NELSON, ADMINISTRATOR, NASA: Space flight is risky. That's why this launch of the Boeing Starliner, it's a test flight. The two astronauts are test pilots. If everything works well, then the next one will be the starting of a cadence of four astronauts in the Starliner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining me now is rocket scientist and former NASA space biologist, Keith Cowing. Keith, good morning.

KEITH COWING, ROCKET SCIENTIST, EDITOR, NASAWATCH.COM, FORMER SPACE BIOLOGIST AT NASA: Good morning.

HUNT: Thank you so much for being here.

So what's going on in terms of the launches here because, obviously, we've seen two of them scrubbed? I'm sure that there are Americans out there who are thinking Boeing -- man, we've got a lot of problems with Boeing airplanes. Why are we testing a Boeing spacecraft?

COWING: Yeah.

HUNT: Can you help people kind of work through that?

COWING: The name Boeing is about the only similarity you have between the spacecraft and the rockets. It's a massively large company -- two totally different groups of people.

HUNT: OK.

COWING: That said, it's the first time that this capsule is going to take two people up and the first time it sent it had big problems. The second time it did better. But when you fly people, you really, really, really want to be sure that everything's going to work, and then work, and then work.

HUNT: Yes -- yes, you do.

Let's talk about where we stand kind of in general with our space program because we've also covered news here of China sending probes to the moon -- the dark side of the moon, which is a -- is a first for humanity.

And Bill Nelson talked about the sort of competition inherent in this and what he doesn't want to see from the Chinese. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NELSON: I don't want them to get to the South Pole, which is a limited area where we think the water is. I don't want them to get there and say, "This is ours. You stay out." It ought to be for the international community for scientific research. So that's why I think it's important for us to get there first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: How do you kind of react to what Nelson is saying there, and what are the risks for the U.S. to what China's been doing?

COWING: Yeah, I -- it's a little bit of Cold Warrior-ish sort of speech there.

HUNT: It is.

COWING: Well, we want the rocket fuel, so we need to get there first. It's more than just rocket and water, it's ice that you could turn into atmosphere debris and rocket fuel. It can -- you can study the early solar system. And it's a very large area so the fact -- I don't think China is going to land there with troops and say stay out.

That said, we're in sort of a post-pre-Cold War era now where it's either competition -- it's actually collaboration, cooperation, and competition altogether with many nations and many companies. And again, I guess Sen. Nelson has talking points but the rest of the world really doesn't see it this way. Everybody is actually excited that everybody's going to the moon.

[05:50:07]

HUNT: Interesting.

So, obviously, these private companies that we are now working with, it's part of our overall strategy around the moon, around eventually potentially going to Mars.

A lot of what we do in the space program right now is driven by SpaceX -- Elon Musk's SpaceX. They say that they could launch their mega rocket -- it's called Starship -- possibly tomorrow if they get a go- ahead from the FAA. You look like you're kind of rolling your eyes. Like, what's the deal with this? It seems --

COWING: Well, this is -- it's interesting because you may have a split screen. If they don't watch Boeing today, they may have a split screen. We have the little conventional rocket by the big aerospace company, and you have the monster new rocket by the Silicon Valley guy. And, you know -- I mean, you may have that.

But that said, there's sort of more than one way to do things. You take commuter jets to go from point A to B. You take big jets to go around the world.

And space has become something now that it's not just one-size-fits- all. There are many different things to get -- need to be done in many different ways. And the more ways you have to do things, whether it's a government rocket, a private sector one, or one that you buy or rent, the more options you have. And you can tolerate failures better. If one fails, you've got other ways to do things.

HUNT: What does Starship, this massive rocket, add to the mix?

COWING: A lot, and I mean it metaphorically as well as literally. It has -- first of all, they build these things like corn silos. If you see some of the shots that -- down in Texas, they're just stacked up. Oh, OK, we blew one up. We'll fire another one.

They're doing the fire it-test it, fire it-test it thing, whereas NASA waits half a decade and clinches their fingers saying oh my God, and they launch once. These guys deliberately say hey, if we lose some, we'll get our answers quicker.

But they're also cheaper and it's a consumer product. It's designed to be improved. It's designed to be made in quantity. NASA doesn't build rockets that way.

HUNT: Hmm.

COWING: That's the biggest difference.

HUNT: Very interesting.

So, you know one of the astronauts that's possibly going to be launched today?

COWING: Yeah, Suni Williams is a friend of mine. I made her dog famous a number of years ago. She's the astronaut's astronaut. The nicest person you'd ever want to meet.

HUNT: Does she think she's going to actually go up to space today?

COWING: You know, it's sort of like that they've been planning -- it's sort of like OK, we're not going again. It's sort of -- by the time you get going -- they're probably more surprised that they're going than they're not. It's like oh, OK, now what's the next step?

HUNT: Oh, it's working.

COWING: We have done that in a while -- yeah. She's cool.

HUNT: All right, fair enough. That's great. We are going to be watching closely to see whether or not they can actually take off today.

Keith, thank you. I really appreciate your time.

COWING: My pleasure.

HUNT: All right, time now for sports. A day after touting her role in helping grow women's basketball, WNBA rookie Angel Reese received her first ejection from a game.

Carolyn Manno has this morning's Bleacher Report. Carolyn, good morning.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Fascinating discussion there.

In the sports world, we know that the WNBA is skyrocketing. I mean, yesterday, we told you about how Angel Reese said that she is actually comfortable with taking the bad guy role in her rivalry with Caitlin Clark.

And last night an exchange with the refs got her an early exit from the Chicago Sky's loss to the New York Liberty. This happened late in the fourth quarter. Reese was called for her fifth personal foul and the rookie appeared to say something to referee Charles Watson and then quickly waved her hand. She was then called for two technical fouls and her first ejection as a pro.

Afterwards, the lead official said that her techs were for disrespectfully addressing the official and then for waving her hand in dismissal.

Her coach and teammates were still looking for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERESA WEATHERSPOON, HEAD COACH, CHICAGO SKY: I tried to get an explanation and I did not. I don't know to this moment what has happened.

MARINA MABREY, GUARD, CHICAGO SKY: She got two techs. She told -- said something to ref.

WEATHERSPOON: Yeah.

MABREY: And so whatever he felt like was the correct call is what he made. It's more about composure for us in our young years in the WNBA. So, you know, you get to know refs and how they respond to things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: The ejection caught the attention of Bulls guard Lonza Ball. He posted on social media that he thought the ejection was "weak." He offered to pay her fine, saying, "Keep ya money, Angel. I got you."

Sixteen-year-old Lily Yohannes had a debut to remember for the U.S. Women's National Soccer team. How about this? Just nine minutes into her first appearance she scored her first international goal with a 3- nil win over South Korea. That makes her the third-youngest goal scorer in U.S. Women's team history and the youngest in 30 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LILY YOHANNES, THIRD YOUNGEST GOAL SCORER IN USWNT HISTORY: Yeah, it's a dream come true, really, I think. I mean, I played the scenario out in my head, like, how many times before this game before. Yeah, just having an idea of, like, coming on and scoring. And, yeah, that was just really amazing. The support from my teammates all running up to me, that made it just so much more special. And yeah, I'm just really happy and excited.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Good for her.

Oklahoma earning the right to join Texas in the Women's College World Series Championship in dramatic fashion. The Sooners beat the Gators 6-5. Then a winner-take-all semifinal thanks to a walk-off home run by senior Jayda Coleman.

The day before, Florida snapped the Sooners' 20-game NCAA Tournament winning streak to force the elimination game. But Oklahoma now has a chance at an unprecedented four-peat if they can get past top-seeded Texas, who are making their national championship debut. That series, Kasie, starting tonight.

[05:55:10]

So it is all about the women here this morning. I love it. Back to you.

HUNT: Always love to see it. I love -- she's got braces and everything --16-year-old --

MANNO: I know. She's so cute.

HUNT: -- scoring in that game.

MANNO: I know.

HUNT: Amazing.

All right. Carolyn, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

Coming up next here, President Biden's executive action now in effect at the southern border. Asylum seekers are effectively banned. How long will that last?

Plus, any minute now, a verdict could come down in Amanda Knox's slander trial in Italy. We're watching for that. (COMMERCIAL)