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One World with Zain Asher

Donald Trump's Hush Money Trial In New York Suffers A Setback On Day Three; Torrential Rain Hits Dubai; A Gaza Civil Defense Official Says That Hundreds Were Killed And Apartment Blocks Reduced To Rubble; Taylor Swift's New Album Drops At Midnight, U.S. Eastern Time. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired April 18, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: And then there were six. Live from Manhattan, I'm Jim Sciutto. This hour, I'll be bringing you up to the second details on

the historic trial against Donald Trump.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST: And I'm Zain Asher. I've got the details on all of our other top stories, including that catastrophic flooding in Dubai and

the latest out of Gaza. You are watching "One World".

SCIUTTO: It is now down to six. After moving at a relatively fast pace, Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York has suffered something of a

setback on day three. Earlier, one of the seven jurors so far chosen was excused from the case after expressing concerns that part of her identity

had been revealed publicly.

Prosecutors are also questioning the veracity of a second juror who has already been impaneled. The veracity of that juror's answers to questions

in the jury questionnaire. As it stands right now, six more jurors still need to be selected, along with up to six additional alternates, a total of

18.

Up until today, the process had been moving along fairly quickly, with the judge suggesting that opening arguments could begin as soon as Monday. A

reminder, Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, all tied to an effort to cover up a sex scandal in the final days of the

2016 presidential election.

CNN's Zachary Cohen joins me now live from Washington, following the events inside the courtroom. So, Zachary Cohen, one of the jurors has now stepped

away. What happens now?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Jim, we still have to get to 12 jurors, plus at least six alternates. And we now have one fewer

juror seated than we did as of before this proceeding started this morning. And look, the judge is also weighing whether or not to potentially dismiss

a second juror who was seated yesterday.

That was juror number four, who was called back in today to discuss this information that was dug up as prosecutors were doing their due diligence.

And it's information that does suggest that maybe there was some sort of a non-prosecution agreement that his wife or somebody with the same name's

wife had with the prosecutors.

It raised some questions in the minds of prosecutors enough to where they wanted the judge to ask that juror some questions. So that juror is

currently in the courtroom talking to the judge and attorneys from both sides. It looks like the discussions about what will happen with that juror

are still ongoing, but we could potentially see two jurors who were seated yesterday or on Tuesday be removed from this case.

But look, we're also seeing jury selection, the process play out in the same way that we did on Tuesday, as well. Another panel of 96 potential

jurors were brought in. About half of those were eliminated and dismissed automatically because they said they couldn't be fair and impartial.

Another nine had other conflicts, so they were let go.

And we're now in the process of asking the remaining 39 about that questionnaire, the 42 questions, things like what sort of media do you

consume? Have you ever attended a Trump rally? Do you follow Donald Trump on social media? Donald Trump is apparently very engaged today in the

courtroom.

Poll reports are saying that he is listening very intently to what these potential jurors are saying. But Jim, as you said, this process is

continuing to grind along. We still need six jurors and six more alternates before we can have those opening statements.

SCIUTTO: Well, we'll follow those events closely. Zach Cohen, thanks so much. Joining me now, David Weinstein, who is a former state and federal

prosecutor, joins me now live from Miami, Florida. So first, David, tell me about your best guess as to how much the withdrawal of this one juror could

delay things. Is a Monday start to opening arguments now less likely?

DAVID WEINSTEIN, FORMER STATE & FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, Jim, I think it is less likely, but look how quick they got to seven in one day on Tuesday.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

WEINSTEIN: They're down now to six. They might be down to five, but they could jump back up again to 12 very quickly. So, it's in flux, but I don't

think it's as firm an estimate as we had when we left the court on Tuesday.

SCIUTTO: So, this is one juror, but the fears that this juror expressed do not seem to be so unusual that this is a high-profile case, very much in

the public eye, in which the defendant has been publicly attacking the fairness of the jury selection process.

[12:05:00]

I wonder, is this a problem that you find, you expected going into this? And is it one that we might see with other jurors who say that they may be

selected and say, listen, you know, my, my family's not up for this. I'm worried I could be exposed.

WEINSTEIN: I think to your second question, we're going to find out the answer to that much quicker now that these jurors come back in and told the

court exactly what happened with them. So, I think that we'll find that out much quicker. And yes, I think given today's day and age and what's going

on outside the courtroom, how outspoken this particular defendant is, doesn't surprise me that this issue arose, but better now than down the

road after the jury is officially sworn in and they start presenting evidence.

SCIUTTO: That's a good point. Let me ask you this, because prosecutors have added seven instances, I believe, of examples where they say Trump, the

defendant, may have violated his gag order.

The most notable of which they said was him reposting a Fox News segment from last night, which alleged some sort of underground campaign to sneak

liberal activists onto the jury.

What is the most likely outcome of that? Because we've seen this happen so many times before with Trump attacking judges, judges' family members, now

questioning the jury selection. Is it likely that he will face consequences for this?

WEINSTEIN: He has to face consequences for it, Jim. Look, there's a very tight line that this judge has to maintain. He needs to make sure he is in

control of his courtroom, that he controls what's going on about this case outside the courtroom within the confines of the gag order. But he has to

make sure not to step over that line and do something which will put it to the point where he's going to have to recuse himself.

But everyone who's participating in that courtroom has to be acting in accordance with the rules, and their actions have to have consequences. And

if there are no consequences, then in this case, the defendant will keep pushing and pushing and pushing because there's no repercussion.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

WEINSTEIN: But the judge needs to maintain control, and he's got to do something.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, I saw that the judge said that the gag order is not a suggestion, it's a court order. But I wonder, since we have seen similar

behavior in Trump's other legal proceedings, and by the way, there have been consequences, there have been fines issued, but the behavior

continues.

So, I wonder if it exposes a weakness in these gag orders, because, I mean, here you have a juror who is not leaving because of a threat from Trump,

but is worried about an identity being exposed, perhaps in part because of what you might face if your identity is exposed. I wonder if it exposes a

weakness in how these gag orders work, as relates to Trump.

WEINSTEIN: Well, that's a very good point, Jim, because the feelings that were expressed by this juror didn't go directly back to the defendant

himself. It went to, as you pointed out, the consequences of people finding out who she was.

Look, we saw some of this as far back as when those search warrants were first issued down here in South Florida, and there were law enforcement

personnel as well as judges who were threatened by third parties. And so the weakness with the gag order is it controls the actions of the people

who are participants.

It does not and cannot control the actions of people who are not participants, but the thrust behind the gag order is to make sure that the

people in court are not inciting these people who are outside the court and who are not subject to the gag orders.

So, again, there has to be a consequence. Somebody has to do something to temper down the rhetoric that's going on outside the courtroom, or you're

going to lose another juror, or you're going to find it much harder to even get 12 people to sit on this panel.

SCIUTTO: David Weinstein, thanks so much for sharing your expertise. Later this hour, we're going to take a look at the company that Trump has been

keeping between his court dates. Some might call it shadow diplomacy. For now, I'm going to hand it over to my colleague, Zain Asher, for a look at

more of today's top stories. Zain.

ASHER: Thanks, Jim. Appreciate it. We will check back in with you a little bit later on in the show. All right, the torrential rain moving through the

Middle East is pounding Iran. The rain moved in late Tuesday and lasted through Wednesday. In southeast Iran, three construction road workers died.

That is according to state media.

Property also suffered quite a bit of damage as well, as dams reached capacity and rivers overflowed. That's according to local media, which adds

that floodwaters blocked roads, as you can see in some of these pictures, between numerous villages in the Sistan and Balochistan province.

[12:10:00]

Crews from the Iranian Red Crescent were forced to use boats to rescue dozens of people. Meantime, Dubai is digging out two days after the

heaviest recorded rainfall in that city's history. Many roads and schools are still closed as crews use trucks to pump water and clear debris from

the roads. Let's take a look at Dubai's airport. This is actually the world's second busiest airport, by the way. The heavy rain caused a backup

there. One resident describes what he saw as the rain pounded the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN RICHARDS, UAE RESIDENT: It was like an alien invasion. The sky just kept on flashing thunder, non-stop, almost non-stop. I've never seen

so much rain in all my life. I woke up the other morning to people in kayaks with pet dogs, pet cats, suitcases, all outside my house, because

that's where the flood ends, all having to move to hotels. I've got friends who've had to move to hotels. It's been, it's a disaster. It's actually a

disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: It's actually a disaster. Let's bring in our Eleni Giokos, who's hat at the Dubai airport. Eleni, I imagine that, you know, in the three years

that you've lived in Dubai, I'm pretty sure that flooding in Dubai is not a story that you ever imagined you would have covered there.

I know that you're close to the international airport. I know you're close to the international airport. Obviously, these are not ideal conditions,

right, for flights to take off in. Set the scene for us in terms of what's happening there.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you're so right. I mean, I thought it was hot and dry weather. And, you know, I come from South Africa, and I

was so used to just sort of huge downpours, and really shocked to just see this torrential rain hitting Dubai on Tuesday.

Record rainfall that Dubai normally receives in one year coming down in 12 hours. And it's equivalent to what London gets in two months. So, just to

put that into perspective, we've been trying all day to get to here, to Dubai International Airport. The roads are congested. There is enormous

flooding on one of the key arteries coming into the airport.

I mean, unbelievable scenes of cars being submerged. Yesterday was one of the toughest days that I've experienced, in fact. I mean, really scary, you

know, trying to get through floodwaters and then seeing cars floating in real time and people being stranded.

So, we came to the airport. We went into one of the terminals. We saw that Dubai government, the RTA, have now deployed buses to try and get people

out of the airport, something they don't normally do. People are used to getting taxis out. But the overall picture is, and this is from Paul

Griffiths, the CEO, he says that in the next 24 hours, he expects a slow recovery to normal operation.

So, that's really important messaging after 1000 flights were cancelled. And if you think about one aircraft having capacity of around 350 people,

we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people that were basically stranded either in the airport and people unable to leave Dubai and get to

the airport.

Now, the problem still remains, is getting to the airport. It took us hours to get to this point. And hopefully, as rescue operations and clean-up

operations continue Thursday, a few days after the torrential rains, it's encouraging to see, but it's a big job. They take the water, they basically

pump it into trucks, they get it to the sea, they get it into the desert and trying to clean up things.

The city, Zain, unbelievably came to a screeching halt. People were so afraid to leave their homes. We had flooding in homes, power outages. One

man around an hour and a half away from Dubai lost his life. You mentioned Iran flooding, you mentioned Oman, where 21 people have lost their lives.

This is a huge storm that basically hit the whole of the region.

And you know, infrastructure here, as well, is just not geared for that kind of weather. In fact, I was talking to one engineer earlier and he says

no city is geared for this kind of weather, but definitely a wake up call, Zain, of potentially things to come if we see climate change becoming more

of a reality hitting cities like Dubai.

ASHER: Yeah, I mean, there was some speculation that this could have been the result of cloud seeding, but experts essentially dismissed that. Dubai

right now basically getting a front row seat to climate change, as you just pointed out. Eleni Giokos, live for us there.

GIOKOS: Absolutely.

ASHER: Thank you so much. All right. Indonesia is on a tsunami alert following a volcanic eruption. Mount Ruang has been spewing fiery lava and

ash as high as three kilometers into the sky over the past three days. Hundreds of people on Ruang Island have been forced to evacuate. Officials

say the eruption was triggered by recent earthquakes. Indonesia, by the way, is home to more than 120 active volcanoes. That is, by the way, more

than anywhere else in the world.

All right. Still to come here, Tehran issues a fresh warning as Israel mulls its options following Saturday's attack.

[12:15:00]

We'll have details for you on that ahead. And an online show in Bangladesh is getting praise for helping to bring food to those who desperately need

it. And then later on the show, we'll show you how exactly that works. And later this hour, a preview of Taylor Swift's highly anticipated new album

called "The Tortured Poets Department". All that and more, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: This, just into CNN. We have just learned a second juror has now been excused in the Trump hush money trial. There had been seven, one

excused earlier and now a second. CNN's Zachary Cohen joins me now live from Washington. Zachary, do we know why this juror has been excused?

COHEN: Yeah, Jim, this juror was called back in today and was engaged with the judge and with lawyers from both sides for a good period of time

discussing these questions prosecutors raised after doing their due diligence. And they found some information that made them question the

veracity of some of these responses the juror gave when he was questioned on Tuesday, been sworn in after he was sworn in.

So, obviously these discussions resulting in this juror being excused were now down to five in panel jurors. We've lost two today after they were

sworn in on Tuesday. And look, this does represent and does underscore the challenges of seating a jury in this case, this polarizing case involving

Donald Trump.

People raising questions, the first juror concerned about their ability to be fair and impartial after they say that their identity was compromised or

anonymity was compromised as details about their identity were publicly reported. So, look, this is a very sensitive process and the jurors are

supposed to remain anonymous for that exact reason.

We're still moving forward with jury selection, though. The jury selection process is continuing today. We are asking, or the judge is asking jurors,

currently 39 jurors, about this questionnaire, about their views on Donald Trump, about whether or not they've ever attended a Trump rally or whether

they follow Donald Trump on social media. So, we are moving forward, but again, we're also moving backwards at the same time.

SCIUTTO: Understood. Zach Cohen, thanks so much. And to that point, Zain, jury selection continues. There were seven, down to five now, but they are

going through the rest of the pool and continuing to ask similar questions that we saw yesterday. So, we'll keep you updated.

ASHER: Thank you, Jim. We'll wait and see how much that delays, if at all, opening statements anticipated for next week. Jim Sciutto, live for us

there.

[12:20:00]

Thank you so much.

The E.U.'s top diplomat says the Middle East is on the brink of a regional war that will send shockwaves to the rest of the world. Joseph Burrell's

warning came as the G7 meeting of foreign ministers got underway in Capri, Italy. Talks are centered on the showdown between Israel and Iran, the war

in Gaza and Russia's war in Ukraine.

Meantime, Iran is sending a fresh warning as Israel weighs a response to Tehran following last weekend's strikes. An IRGC commander says the

country's nuclear policies could change if Israel continues threats on its nuclear sites.

All right, a senior U.N. humanitarian envoy says Gaza has been damaged for decades to come. Sigrid Card spoke to CNN earlier from inside Gaza and

called the situation there dehumanizing and tragic. This, as we get reports of extensive damage after Israeli troops withdrew from one refugee camp in

central Gaza.

A Gaza civil defense official says that hundreds were killed and apartment blocks reduced to rubble. Separately, in Rafah, hospital officials say 10

members from one family were killed in a strike overnight. Five of them, by the way, were children. Relatives say they were displaced several times

over. I want you to listen to what one very anguished Palestinian man had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL KARIM AL-LOUH, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN: Yesterday, he was sitting with us and he ate with us. He left about a half hour later. An elderly woman

who was transported to the hospital alive yesterday has died. How? I don't know.

Young children have been dismembered. What have they done to deserve this? What have the young ones done to deserve this? He found a body 300 meters

away from the site. What has this man done to deserve this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: The war is certainly taking an unimaginable toll on young people. UNICEF says that nearly 14,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the

war began. On Tuesday alone, hospital officials say that eight children were killed, were among 14 people rather, killed in just one strike. I want

to warn you, Jeremy Diamond's report that you're about to see here contains very graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A moment frozen in time. The bodies of at least four children splayed around a foosball table. Laughter and

shrieks of joy silenced in an instance. Blood now marking where they stood only minutes earlier. Shahed, no way. Shahed, my beloved. Her cousin

screams from behind the camera. Ten-year-old Shahed is one of those children. Her bright pink pants unmistakable in the arms of the man

carrying her away.

With her family's consent, CNN has decided to show Shahed in life and death in order to give a face to this war's deadly impact on children. At Al-Aqsa

Martyrs Hospital, those who can still be saved arrive alongside those who cannot. Amid the chaos, Shahed's pink pants dangling as a doctor confirms

what is tragically obvious. But Shahed is not alone. She is one of eight children who died on that crowded street in Al-Marazi. The hospital says

they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

By publication time, the Israeli military said only that the incident is under review. One after another, their small bodies arrive at the

hospital's morgue and into the arms of grieving parents. His eyes swollen and red, the father of nine-year-old Lujain recounts his daughter's last

moments playing foosball with her friends.

This is my eldest daughter, he says. A drone strike hit them while they were playing. They're all children. Hours earlier, Yusuf was one of those

children, playing alongside Shahed and Lujain when he was suddenly killed in a war he did not choose, his mother still clinging to her son. Neither

does this boy who cannot believe his brother is dead.

He is still alive, he cries. Don't leave him here. Amid the outpourings of grief, there is Shahed, her blood-stained pink pants once again impossible

to miss. Dear God, what did they all do?

[12:25:00]

One man cries. What did they all do? Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back live from just outside Manhattan Criminal Court, I'm Jim Sciutto. We have been following breaking news from Donald Trump's hush

money criminal trial. Second juror who had been seated for the trial has now been removed. We began the day with seven ready to hear the case, but

we have only gone backwards, so far. Prosecutors say the juror may have given deceptive answers to some questions.

Earlier, one juror was excused after saying she was concerned about her ability to remain safe and her identity to remain private. She said enough

details of her life had been revealed so friends and family could tell she was likely on the jury. So, with five jurors still seated, the judge and

lawyers have been combing through another batch of candidates.

Ninety-six potential jurors were brought into the courtroom today, much as we saw yesterday. More than half immediately knocked out for saying they

could not judge this case fairly or for having scheduling conflicts with the trial. The judge is hoping to have 12 jurors and six alternates

impaneled in time, possibly to begin opening arguments on Monday.

On Wednesday, while his hush money trial was on a break, Donald Trump was acting very presidential in his view.

[12:30:00]

He had a dinner meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, where they discussed a proposal to see NATO members increase defense spending. It was

just the latest instance of foreign leaders making sure they have good relations with Trump, just in case he wins the White House again this

November. CNN's Brian Todd has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Between court dates, he's acting like a man who's back in the White House. Former President Trump had

dinner Wednesday night with right-wing Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower in New York, the latest in a series of private interactions

Trump has had with foreign leaders or diplomats.

He's basically been holding court at his various properties in New York and Florida. Hosting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago last

month, heaping praise on the hardline leader in videos posted on Orban's Instagram account.

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He said, this is the way it's going to be, and that's the end of it, right? He's the boss. And now

he's a great leader, fantastic leader.

TODD (voice-over): That meeting drawing the scorn of the man who is in the White House.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: You know who he's meeting with today and down in Mar-a-Lago? Orban of Hungary, who's stated flatly he doesn't think

democracy works, he's looking for dictatorship.

TODD (voice-over): Trump had recent phone calls with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the King of Bahrain. But it's not just strongmen

who are queuing up to meet with Donald Trump. British Foreign Minister David Cameron came courting at Mar-a-Lago in recent days. Why this shadow

diplomacy? Analysts say the foreign leaders are hedging their bets for the possibility of Trump returning to the Oval Office.

EVELYN FARKAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE MCCAIN INSTITUTE: Foreign leaders will also want to make sure that they have some kind of knowledge of

President Trump and what his intentions are vis-a-vis their country and the country's interests before he gets into office, that they signal that

they're not going to be adversarial towards President Trump should he get into office, or at least to collect intelligence.

TODD (voice-over): CNN and other outlets have recently reported that foreign diplomats in are frantically trying to set up meetings with Trump's

allies, and that Trump's aides are encouraging other nations to send their emissaries to Mar-a-Lago.

It's not unusual for an opposition presidential candidate to meet with foreign leaders. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney traveled overseas to do it

when they were running for President. But there's a risk for Trump if he uses these meetings to undermine President Biden.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: We know that Donald Trump doesn't truly respect red lines, so of course there is a risk that he is

going to engage in some prospective foreign policy making in these negotiations.

TODD (voice-over): And that would be a violation of the Logan Act, a law making it illegal for an American citizen to engage in foreign policy

without the authorization of the current president.

TODD: And analysts say these meetings carry a significant and rather obvious risk for the foreign leaders and diplomats meeting with Trump. The

risk of angering President Biden and souring their relationships with him if he wins office again. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Between events here at court in New York, as well as developments on the campaign trail, much to speak about today, let's bring in CNN Senior

Political Analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron, good to have you on. When you look at the trial here, there have been a number of guesses, right?

And there's been some polling, but a number of guesses as to how much of an effect this has on the campaign and on Donald Trump's support. Have you

seen any hard data recently that shows you as the trial begins, it's having an effect?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there is a poll in the last few days from "AP" and the National Opinion Research Center at the

University of Chicago that I thought was pretty interesting, because it does get to what I think will be the core issue in terms of the impact of

this trial on the election.

That AP poll found that, as earlier polls have found, that, you know, voters don't consider this case as serious an issue as the underlying

questions raised in the election interference and classified documents cases. A significantly smaller share of voters, only about one third in

that poll, they thought that Trump had done something illegal in this case.

There's about another third who thought he had done something, you know, improper, but not illegal. But here's the interesting part. When they asked

whether a conviction would render him unfit to be president, there was basically no difference between the results on this case and on the other

cases that voters judged to be more serious.

And I think that is because it gets to this threshold issue that we don't know until we get there, which is how, if he is in fact convicted, how will

voters feel about electing a convicted felon as president? And that may transcend any of the individual charges and how serious voters view any of

them in a relative basis.

[12:35:00]

SCIUTTO: Well, like with so many issues today, each side sees the issues differently, right? I mean, the attacks on, for instance, jury selection

here gives some on the right an opportunity to say the whole thing is unfair. But I did speak to a Republican congressman recently who said that

being reminded of the circumstances of this case, in his view, would have an effect.

The circumstances being an alleged affair with an adult film star, a payoff to keep that alleged affair secret during an election campaign, and that

those basic facts and details of the case would have an effect, in his view.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. Well, look, I mean, we know that Biden is going to need a substantial gender gap if he is going to win. It is highly likely that his

vote among men is going to deteriorate, particularly because he is losing ground among Black and Hispanic working class men largely around the

economy. I mean, it's possible there will be a bigger gender gap among non- white voters than among white voters.

And so, yes, the specific details of this case and the reminder of the "Access Hollywood" tape and all of that could have an effect. But I still

think the key is, if he is convicted, he does break through that plate glass window, you know. I mean, he will be on the other side of being a

convicted felon and whatever the underlying facts in the case. If he is convicted, that, I think, will force voters to grapple with, in a way that

is somewhat unpredictable, whether they are willing to elect to the presidency someone who has that status.

SCIUTTO: Well, to your earlier point, the Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on the question as to whether Trump's very broad claim of

immunity, in effect, protects him from those other prosecutions, particularly the January 6th prosecution that you mentioned. Arguably,

those arguments and that Supreme Court decision have -- could have an enormous, well, certainly legal impact, but potentially political impact,

as well.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, look, they've already delivered him a major victory in the way they've handled the case and the timeline they've set for it.

They've left a very narrow window for a trial to happen before the election. Still conceivable, but obviously much less likely than if they

had simply accepted the very strong ruling from judges appointed by both parties of the D.C. Circuit.

So, in a way, that conservative majority in the Supreme Court has already given him a tactical victory. But yes, I mean, they -- look, they are part

of the real world. Those justices on the Supreme Court understand that Trump's strategy is to delay these cases as much as possible until after

the election, and they still have a choice about how far they want to go in enabling that strategy.

They've already done quite a bit, but if they delay their decision until the very end of the session at the end of June, they will kind of further

it. Again, it is a critical moment for the country, you know? I mean, it seemed like the way they were headed was basically saying, yes, he could be

on the ballot, but yes, voters deserve the information about whether he has been judged by a jury of his peers to be guilty of trying to overturn the

election before they voted on returning him to the Oval Office.

Now, that's much more, you know, much more uncertain, and the court really is in a pivotal position that I think will have large ramifications for how

Americans view its ability to be impartial or act as a partisan actor.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, as a large portion of Americans see the court as less so. CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein, thanks so much. At this point,

it is likely we could see the first witnesses called to the stand in Trump's hush-money criminal trial sometime next week. And one of the names

on the prosecution's witness list is the woman who allegedly had the affair with Donald Trump, Stormy Daniels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STORMY DANIELS, ADULT FILM STAR: I am Stormy Daniels. For those who don't know who I am. I suggest you don't Google that until you get home from

work.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Long before she was Stormy Daniels, she was Stephanie Gregory, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She

reportedly had dreams of becoming a veterinarian or a journalist. She was the editor of the school newspaper and president of the 4-H club. Beneath

her 1997 high school yearbook photo, a caption that reads, we will all get along just fine as soon as you realize that I am queen.

By the time she was 17, she was dancing in strip clubs across the South. Stripping was her entry into porn. Hollywood began to notice her, too.

[12:40:00]

Director Judd Apatow cast her in some of his comedies, including "The 40- Year-Old Virgin".

JUDD APATOW, DIRECTOR: I was ahead of the curve on the whole Stormy Daniels. She's very nice and super smart and great to work with, so we just

kept asking her to be in all of our movies.

KAYE (voice-over): She also appeared in this music video. The year 2006 changed the trajectory of Stormy Daniels' life. That's the year she says

she had an affair with Donald Trump, after the two met at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. A few years later, in 2009, after Louisiana's Republican

Senator David Vitter was exposed for hiring prostitutes, Stormy Daniels flirted with a Senate run.

DANIELS: I don't see how I could possibly embarrass him more than he's already embarrassed himself.

KAYE (voice-over): Her political dreams hit a snag when Daniels was arrested on domestic violence charges, though the charges were later

dropped. In 2010, she dropped out of the race, citing lack of funds. By 2014, Daniels and her then-husband had moved to Forney, Texas, a small city

outside Dallas.

She reportedly took horseback riding lessons and continued to pursue her lifelong love of horses. For years, she was a competitive equestrian.

Horses were a theme in a 2017 adult film she directed called 'Unbridled", in which she also starred. In her book, "Full Disclosure", published in

2018, Stormy Daniels wrote extensively about her alleged affair with Trump.

JIMMY KIMMEL, T.V. HOST: Have you ever made love to anyone whose name rhymes with Lonald Lump?

DANIELS: I'll call you whatever you want me to call you, baby.

KAYE She also wrote about her turbulent childhood, living in a home infested with rats and insects, also disclosing that when she was nine, she

was repeatedly raped by a man who lived next door to a friend. "I was nine. I was a child, and then I wasn't," she wrote. In the documentary, "Stormy",

released on Peacock this year, she revealed a lot about her childhood and her parents' struggles.

DANIELS: I grew up in this pretty rough neighborhood in Baton Rouge, lots of drugs, a lot of violence. We used to hear gunshots and stuff all the

time. I was basically white trash. This is one of the only pictures I have of me and my mom. My parents split up when I was four. After my dad left,

my mother sort of changed. I think it broke her heart.

KAYE: That little girl from Louisiana, now 45, and going toe to toe with Donald Trump in a historic courtroom drama. Randy Kaye, CNN, Palm Beach

County, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: The life of Stormy Daniels. I'll turn things over now to Zain for more news from around the world.

ASHER: Thanks, Jim, appreciate it. All right, to Washington now, where colleagues of U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson are urging him to change the

rules so he can keep his job and ensure his foreign aid bills get passed. That's according to multiple sources.

Currently, U.S. House rules say a single lawmaker can force a vote on whether or not to fire the Speaker. At issue is separate foreign aid bills

for Ukraine and Israel, a move that is certainly not popular with some people in his party. Johnson tells CNN that only history will judge him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE JOHNSON, U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: I don't know what's going to happen. I'm not focused on that. I'm focused on doing my job. Look, when you do the

right thing, you let the chips fall where they may. I mean, that's my life philosophy and that's how I govern here every single day. We try to get the

best possible outcome for the American people, to move the ball forward for the American people. And I've got to say, focus on that every day and not -

- not all the drama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: The House Rules Committee is looking at the foreign aid bills today. Then a vote for them is scheduled for Saturday. All right, still to come

here. This may look like a lot of fun, but the reason behind it is actually very serious. We'll show you the creative way a game in Bangladesh, or

rather, game show in Bangladesh is helping combat food insecurity.

Plus, Taylor Swift's highly anticipated album is dropping soon. And in true swift fashion, she's leaving very mysterious clues to her fans about its

release. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: All right. One content creator in Bangladesh has come up with a new way to fight hunger. He's created what some are calling "The Hunger Games"

as a way to provide food to those in need. Kristie Lu Stout explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: From the far flung corners of rural Bangladesh, an unlikely Internet sensation is making quite a splash with

billions of views and counting and millions of subscribers. This is the S.S. Food Challenge, often called the Hunger Games, with a social twist.

It's also reminiscent of another global rage, Takeshi's Castle, an epic game show from Japan in which players overcome obstacles to win. While the

comparisons are inevitable, the beginnings of S.S. Food Challenge are rooted in necessity rather than the sole thrill of it.

OMAR SUNNY SOMRAT, CREATOR, SS FOOD CHALLENGE: The journey of the S.S. Food Challenge started in 2020. But when inflation hits in Bangladesh and the

price of edible items goes so high, it was a vital topic. Then we come with the idea of giving edible items as reward.

LU STOUT: Rising living costs have been a sore point for Bangladesh, a country where around a fifth of its over 170 million people live below the

poverty line.

RUCHIR DESAI, FUND MANAGER, ASIA FRONTIER CAPITAL: Inflation has been pretty high over the last few years for multiple factors, this combination

of the war in Ukraine, high commodity prices and high fuel prices in 2022 and also removal of many subsidies linked to domestic consumption such as

fuel and cooking gas in 2023.

LU STOUT: The ripple effects are still quite evident.

MOHAMMAD BABLU (through translator): We are barely surviving with prices of everything going up. I struggle to balance between buying rice and lentils

and my children's expenses. I can't fix this dilemma.

LU STOUT: This is where the S.S. Food Challenge steps in. A silver lining to a very dark cloud, a source of entertainment in grim times with social

welfare at its core.

SOMRAT: My biggest challenge is to control the crowd. Everyone wants to participate in the games. But in a game day, I can only allow 100, 120 or

at most 150 people.

LU STOUT: Yet backed by a tiny team of 25, a simple phone camera and zero sponsors, this noble venture manages to keep the calm on site while taking

the online world by storm, at the same time ensuring that no participants, even those who lose, leave empty handed. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

We'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: Taylor Swift's highly anticipated new album, "The Tortured Poets Department", drops at midnight Eastern time here in the United States. Her

loyal legion of Swifties are ready for the big release.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: The buzz around her new album could not be higher. One music executive says, quote, "It's not just a music event. It is a pop culture

event that I think everybody in America will be talking about and celebrating together. And in true Swift fashion, she's leaving a lot of

mysterious clues to her fans about the release.

Check out this mural painted on the side of a building in Chicago. It has a QR code that takes fans to a short YouTube video. You can actually or you

can barely see, but the message in the video reads error three, two, one, along with a faded 13.

All right, CNN's Senior Media Reporter Oliver Darcy joins us live now. It's important to note, Oliver, that this isn't really just about Taylor Swift,

because we're seeing several cultural inflection points in the United States, I think, over the past year or so where women are really having

their moment. You talk about Beyonce, number one country music album.

You talk about, obviously, Taylor Swift. But, you know, Caitlin Clark, look at the record she's breaking there in terms of ratings. Barbie, which was

released last year, one of the highest opening weekends ever. What is behind this?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: That's right. I mean, across every facet of entertainment, you're seeing female focused, female created

artists and entertainers dominate the industry. And you mentioned a few of them. Greta Gerwig with Barbie, Beyonce and Taylor Swift in the music

arena, Caitlin Clark in the sports arena.

And so, you're seeing this major shift. You know, for a long time, female focused entertainment was relegated to be considered an afterthought. There

are these dated stereotypes. And you're seeing these dated stereotypes being smashed by these once in a generation type performers like Swift and

Clark and Gerwig.

And that's really changing the way people consume content, because, again, for a while, men were dominating Hollywood and they were dominating sports.

And now you're seeing it, particularly over the last year, that completely changed. And it's kind of playing into each other. And as more women, you

know, start dominating one industry or taking charge in one industry, I think it's also feeding into the idea for these executives who program a

lot of these or make a lot of these decisions that, hey, wait a second, we should be maybe pouring some money into female entertainment.

[12:55:00]

ASHER: I mean, listen, nobody, let's be honest. Well, I shouldn't say nobody, but fewer people paid attention to women's basketball, women's

college basketball in America before Caitlin Clark. And look at the ratings. NCAA, women's NCAA bringing in 20 million viewers. I mean, that is

insane. Talk to us about the business impact when you have people like Caitlin Clark. And actually, Serena Williams coming out and saying, you

know, maybe I might buy a WNBA team one day.

DARCY: And so, one thing is that while these entertainers and performers, they're drawing a lot of eyeballs, the finances haven't really caught up in

some cases to this. So Caitlin Clark's contract is far less than if she were playing in the NBA.

The WNBA still makes far less money than the NBA. And so, these financial models haven't quite caught up yet. But what's also interesting is because

they are drawing such large audiences, you are seeing advertising shifts. So, for instance, because Taylor Swift inspired so many women to turn into

the Super Bowl, you saw ads for cosmetics and other things that you wouldn't normally see during a normal Super Bowl when they're primarily

targeting male viewership.

And so, you're seeing some of these models start to shift around, recognizing that women are tuning in for these things. They are leading the

way in these fields. Of course, there's still a long way to go to provide equality here.

ASHER: Absolutely. Oliver Darcy, live for us there. Thank you. And that does it for this hour of "One World". I'm Zain Asher. I appreciate you

watching. Amanpour is up next.

END