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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Tempers Flare At Town Hall Events Across America; Jury Selection Begins For Harvey Weinstein Trial; China Posts Unexpectedly Strong 5.4 Percent GDP Growth In Q1; Italian PM Giorgia Meloni To Visit White House. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired April 16, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:25]
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world.
I'm Rahel Solomon. It is Wednesday, April 16th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York.
And straight ahead on EARLY START:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Donald Trump is a criminal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why won't you do your job, senator?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please come on. Please come on!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was not consensual.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has been publicly accused by more than 100 women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The stakes could not be higher for Harvey Weinstein in this trial.
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He also wants to see Harvard apologize.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not clear what the apology would be in order
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Harvard University today said, "Go to hell!"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
SOLOMON: Well, it was a night of hot tempers and heightened emotions here in the U.S. That's where town hall events hosted by Washington lawmakers put them face to face with the voters they represent. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley fielded questions in Iowa about a man from Maine mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE; Are you going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?
CROWD: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): Well, because that's not a -- that's not a power of Congress.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Supreme Court said to bring him back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would like to know what you, as the people, the Congress who are supposed to rein in this dictator, what are you going to do about these people have been sentenced to life imprisonment in a foreign country with no due process.
CROWD: Right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our government cannot do anything?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Now, Grassley is known for visiting all 99 counties in Iowa every year, and says that his office has received more emails so far in 2025 than all of last year.
Voters questioned his support of President Donald Trump and apparently weren't happy with the response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're proud of voting for Trump and what he's doing in office? Are you proud of everything he's doing right now?
GRASSLEY: I -- there's no president that I've agreed with 100 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't say that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Meanwhile, in Georgia, a town hall hosted by Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene turned violent after an altercation between a police officer and an attendee. Here's what CNN's crew saw.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
SOLOMON: So, what you're watching there is CNN crews witnessing police use a stun gun on at least two men after they refused to leave the event .So, both men and another woman were arrested. Police say that officers used force that was, quote, necessary to gain compliance and control the situation. At least 11 more town hall are set to happen across the country tonight.
Reid Binion (ph) now has more details on what lawmakers hope to accomplish on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please come on! Please come on!
REID BINION, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tempers flared as Washington lawmakers faced constituents at town halls on Tuesday.
Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was interrupted several times by protesters at her town hall in Georgia, with police forcibly removing people from the event, arresting three individuals and using stun guns in two instances.
Greene dismissed the interruptions and moved on.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Thank you to our great police officers.
BINION: She displayed some critical constituent questions about the Trump administration on a projector, reading them out loud and responding in at least one case by pushing back.
GREENE: Unfortunately, you're being brainwashed by the news that you're watching. A lot of Democrats pride themselves on being educated, and I suggest they educate themselves better.
BINION: In Iowa, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley took a different tack, mostly listening to concerns about the Trump administration.
GRASSLEY: I'm trying to recapture the constitutional authority of Article One, Section Eight, one of the 18 powers of Congress.
BINION: Democrats also face pressure from constituents Tuesday, listening to criticism that they're not fighting hard enough to combat Trump and Republicans.
REP. SARAH ELFRETH (D-MD): I hear the criticism that we're not doing enough. I'm never going to lie to somebody as a politician, I can't do things in the minority that I think people wish I could do. So I'm doing what I can do.
BINION: I'm Reid Binion, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And new campaign reports show that donors are filling the coffers of Democrats and progressives who loudly criticize President Trump.
[05:05:01]
Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is among the top fundraisers, raking in more than $11 million in the first quarter with his fighting oligarchy tour. Sanders, meantime, brought New York house Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with him for several stops on this tour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Donald Trump is a criminal. He was found. He was found guilty of 34 felony counts of fraud, found liable for sexual abuse. And if he wants to find the rapists and criminals in this country, he should look in the mirror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And Ocasio-Cortez raised a record breaking total almost $10 million during the first quarter of this year. The U.S. federal judge overseeing the case of a wrongfully deported man says that there is no evidence the Trump administration is following her orders to facilitate his return. Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador's notorious mega prison last month.
And in a hearing Tuesday, the judge said that she was dissatisfied with the Trump administration's statements about the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Bring Kilmar home! Bring Kilmar home!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Now, the case has sparked massive backlash against the Trump administrations. We just heard that town hall there. Protesters also demanding justice for Abrego Garcia. His wife says that her children have now spent several harrowing weeks without their father.
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JENNIFER VASQUEZ, WIFE OF KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA: As we continue through holy week, my heart aches for my husband. Who should have been here leading our Easter prayers. Instead, I find myself pleading with the Trump administration and the Bukele administration to stop playing political games with the life of Kilmar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And former President Joe Biden going after the Trump administration. In his first public remarks since leaving the White House nearly three months ago. In a speech to disability rights advocates, the former president criticized the current administration as a threat to Social Security.
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JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: God, ask yourself, why is this happening? Why are these guys taking aim at Social Security now? Well, they're following that old line from tech startups. The quote is, move fast, break things. Well, they're certainly breaking things. They're shooting first and aiming later. And as a result, the result is a lot of needless pain and sleepless nights.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Now, separately but related, actor George Clooney is speaking out in a new interview with Jake Tapper about that controversial "New York Times" op-ed that he wrote back in July of last year, urging Biden to drop his reelection bid.
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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: You yourself did something that a lot of people would call brave when you wrote your op-ed.
GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: Well, I don't know if it was brave. It was -- it was a civic duty because I found that people on my side of the street, you know, I'm a Democrat. It was a Democrat in Kentucky. So, I get it.
When -- when I saw people on my side of the street not telling the truth, I thought that was time to --
TAPPER: People still mad at you for that?
CLOONEY: Some people, sure. It's okay. You know, listen, the idea of freedom of speech, you know, the specific idea of it is, you know, you can't demand freedom of speech and then say, but don't say bad things about me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: A full interview is set to air today on "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER", 5:00 p.m. in New York, 10:00 p.m. in London.
All right. Still to come for us, President Trump says that the U.S. doesn't need to make a deal with China because they need America's money. We'll have the latest on the global trade war.
Plus, a jury is selected to hear the retrial of a woman accused of hitting her boyfriend with her vehicle and leaving him to die. Her lawyers say she was framed. And later, two mountain climbers in the Swiss Alps shatter a speed record by almost 10 hours. We'll have details coming up on EARLY START.
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[05:13:42]
SOLOMON: Welcome back.
A jury of nine men and nine women has been selected to hear testimony in the retrial of a woman accused of killing her boyfriend. Cameron Reed has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including second degree murder and vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. A mistrial was declared in her first trial last summer. Prosecutors say that Reed hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her vehicle and then left him to die in the snow. Her lawyers say that she is the victim of a cover up by other off duty officers.
Harvey Weinstein back in court and jury selection has begun. The disgraced former Hollywood mogul is accused of sex crimes and a rerun of his 2020 trial.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister explains why his conviction was overturned and how his accusers are dealing with seeing him back in the headlines.
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DAWN DUNNING, ASPIRING ACTRESS: The thought that he would be free again is terrifying.
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dawn Dunning says she's on edge as disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein goes back on trial.
DUNNING: This has been such a long ordeal for me.
WAGMEISTER: Dunning's testimony and that of other supporting witnesses helped convict Weinstein of sexual assault and rape in 2020, then sentenced to 23 years in New York. But an appeals court threw out the conviction, saying too many accusers like Dunning and Tarale Wulff were allowed to testify, even though Weinstein wasn't facing charges in their cases.
[05:15:09]
TARALE WULFF, WEINSTEIN ACCUSER: Did highlight how difficult these crimes are to try. But it also highlights for me what needs to change.
WAGMEISTER: Weinstein denies that he ever sexually assaulted anyone. His lawyers claim he was made out to be the poster boy of the MeToo movement, tainting the first trial.
ARTHUR AIDALA, WEISTEIN DEFENSE ATTORNEY: We could hear the protests outside through the windows. There was an enormous amount of pressure on those jurors.
WAGMEISTER: More than 100 women who have all accused him, women across decades unaffiliated with each other. Are all of these women lying?
AIDALA: I would tell you Harvey Weinstein would say they are.
WAGMEISTER: In the retrial, three women will testify against Weinstein, including a new accuser who alleges Weinstein assaulted her in a Manhattan Hotel in 2006. The woman's identity is currently unknown, but Jane Doe's attorney is speaking first to CNN. LINDSAY GOLDBRUM, JANE DOE'S ATTORNEY: She is one of the bravest, strongest women that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. You can imagine that any individual who is going to testify against someone as powerful as Harvey Weinstein is going to be nervous. There's going to be a certain level of anxiety. But at the end of the day, she's ready for her testimony.
WAGMEISTER: She'll join two other women whose testimony led to Weinstein's conviction. In the first trial, former actress Jessica Mann.
MIMI HALEY, WEINSTEIN ACCUSER: I told him no, no.
WAGMEISTER: And a former Weinstein Company production assistant, Mimi Haley, who alleges Weinstein overpowered her and forced himself on her.
HALEY: I remember Harvey afterwards rolling over onto his back saying, don't you feel we're so much closer to each other now? To which I replied, no.
GLORIA ALLRED, HALEY'S ATTORNEY: It's painful to go through the process again about a traumatic event. And she finally decided to do it, and I commend her. It does take a tremendous amount of courage.
WAGMEISTER: Haley's attorney, Gloria Allred, disputes that the MeToo movement has weakened. She says a jury will again believe these women.
ALLRED: They refuse to be ruled by fear. Fear is now on the other side. Fear by the defendants.
GOLDBRUM: I think that what's important to understand about the court of appeals decision is that it wasn't based on not believing the women. It was based on a procedural difference.
WAGMEISTER: Weinstein's defense says he's in poor health and that his life ultimately may come down to the verdict in this trial.
AIDALA: The stakes could not be higher for Harvey Weinstein in this trial. I'm not sure Mr. Weinstein has enough gas in the tank to sustain the years of that the appellate process takes.
DUNNING: I know everyone thinks he's so old and frail and sick, but he's never going to stop.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WAGMEISTER (on camera): Now, this is a story that I have been covering for nearly a decade. I covered both of Weinstein's trials in New York and here in Los Angeles, and what I have learned throughout the course of my reporting is just how difficult it is to prosecute sex crimes cases like Weinstein's.
Even though he has been publicly accused by more than 100 women, those accusations is not what this trial is about at all. This trial will just boil down to the testimony of three women. But if Weinstein is acquitted in New York, remember, his conviction still stands in Los Angeles, where he was sentenced to an additional 16 years. But Weinstein is also appealing that decision.
Back to you.
SOLOMON: Our thanks to Elizabeth Wagmeister there.
Coming up next, we'll take a closer look at Trump's global tariff war as the White House considers making trade deals with several countries. We'll talk about it.
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[05:23:21]
SOLOMON: Welcome back.
President Trump is said to be considering at least 15 trade deals with various countries at the moment. That's according to the White House press secretary. Now, if true, that could mean that the Trump administrations aggressive push for trade agreements that benefit the U.S. may be working.
Although the White House gave no details on whose proposals are being considered or what's exactly in those deals. Safe to assume, though, that China is not on that list. The 145 percent tariffs that the U.S. imposed impose on Chinese imports last week are still in effect, with some exclusions. Obviously, on Tuesday, the press secretary read a statement from President Trump, who says that the onus is on Beijing to come to the table.
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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The ball is in China's court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don't have to make a deal with them. There's no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger. And China wants what we have, what every country wants, what we have, the American consumer. Or to put it another way, they need our money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Meantime, new data from China shows that the country's economy grew stronger than expected in the first quarter before President Trump's increased tariffs kicked in.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has more.
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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: China's first quarter GDP data is out, and it reveals growth in the world's second largest economy. Just as President Donald Trump dials up the tariff pressure, China's economy grew 5.4 percent year on year. It defied expectations.
I remember China is facing multiple economic challenges as it struggles to rebound from a post-pandemic slump, including low consumer spending, low consumer confidence, high youth unemployment and an ongoing property slump.
[05:25:01]
China has set an ambitious growth target of 5 percent for the year, but economists say that will be hard to reach given the trade war. Trump has jacked up tariffs on many Chinese imports to an astounding, 145 percent. And China has hit back with retaliatory tariffs and other measures, including a curb on rare earth exports, sparking fears of a prolonged trade war.
So, investment banks are slashing their China growth forecast for the year. UBS has lowered its forecast from 4 percent to 3.4 percent for the year. The bank says this, quote, we expect Chinas exports to the U.S. to fall by two thirds in the coming quarters, and its overall exports to fall by 10 percent in USD terms in 2025. The latter also takes into account slower U.S. and global growth.
Now, Citi adds this, quote, we see little scope for a deal between the U.S. and China after recent escalations.
Now, all eyes on whether Beijing will roll out any new stimulus. China's politburo is set to meet later this month to set its policy agenda. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: Kristie, thank you.
And tech stocks are taking a new hit in the us-China trade war. A.I. powerhouse Nvidia saying that the Trump administration is now forcing it to get a special license to sell certain semiconductor chips to China. The chipmaker says that the new licensing rule will cost it more than $5 billion.
And ASML, a major Dutch producer of semiconductor making equipment, also reporting just a few hours ago that recent tariffs have increased its uncertainty about the global economy. That news sending its shares lower.
All right. Let's take a closer look now at the broader global markets. Let's start with Asia where you can see all of the markets there closing lower today with the exception of the Shanghai composite closing higher by about a quarter of 1 percent.
Let's take a look at the markets in Europe where new data this morning shows inflation in the U.K. dipped to an annual 2.6 percent, second month in a row, if I'm not mistaken, of a fall for inflation there in the U.K. You can see all the markets at this point, though are -- are off between, lets call it half a percent for the FTSE 100 to about 8/10 of a percent.
And here's where the U.S. futures stand ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. The Dow looks set to open at least right now. Slightly higher 2/10 of a percent. S&P on the Nasdaq. And when you think about those tech stocks, when you think about the semiconductors it sort of explains why the Nasdaq is the worst among them right now off about 1.2 percent in premarket trade.
Two things to watch today. Retail sales data that's going to come out in a few hours. Also, Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell speaks later today. Both events have the potential to be market moving. So, watch this space.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will visit President Trump at the White House on Thursday for talks on tariff relief and defense cooperation. She's hoping that her non-confrontational approach and ideological similarity to the president will convince him not to impose new tariffs on Europe. But can she do it?
That's the question on the minds of a lot of people. Marco Simoni is a professor of European political economy at Leeds University and director of the Louise Hub for new industrial policy.
Marco, great to have you. He joins us this morning from Rome.
What does success look like for Giorgia Meloni with this trip? What does she need to deliver here?
MARCO SIMONI, PROFESSOR, EUROPEAN POLITICAL ECONOMY AT LUISS UNIVERSITY: Well, she needs to persuade Trump and his administration that the alliance between the E.U. and the U.S. is in the great interest of the U.S., because I think that right now that is at stake, not simply a trade or a tariff or one single item for negotiation is about the destiny of a long term policy alliance between these two blocs, between the great country of the U.S. and our European Union.
SOLOMON: And is she going as an ambassador for the E.U., or is she going as a representative of Italy?
SIMONI: Well, not formally. Formally, it's just a state visit. But I think substantially she is. I think that she has a chance, a shot at -- at least breaking ice and she probably is better positioned than other leaders because of her ideological similarity to at least some of Trump's tenets in terms of, you know, sovereignty, the importance of defending borders.
This is part also of Giorgia Meloni's rhetoric that brought her to power. But she is also a member of the European Union. We are a member of the European union, and we value our membership. Theres a lot of very great things that comes from this, and we, you know, won't budge from this.
So, she is in a position probably to negotiate, or at least to have Trump to listen to her. And that's what everybody, I think, in Europe is hoping for.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And, Marco, it's interesting because a lot really hinges on her being successful because back in Europe, there's a fierce debate right now in the E.U. about whether to hit back at the U.S. with its own reciprocal tariffs. And Maloney has considerable influence here. Help us understand sort of the dynamics back home in the E.U.
SIMONI: Yeah, there are different approaches. You know, you have to think about.
