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Trump Confronting Busy Legal Week as Major Cases Collide; Democrat Wins Ousted Santos' Seat, Narrowing House GOP Majority; Defense Secretary Austin Back at Work After Latest Hospitalization. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired February 14, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, Republicans pointing fingers at each other for losing that House seat out on Long Island overnight. Their razor thin House majority now even razor thinner, if that's a thing. What lessons can be learned here.

[10:00:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: And despite all of the attacks that Trump has launched against Nikki Haley, would she still endorse him if he wins the Republican nomination? What she's saying about the RNC loyalty pledge and potentially serving in another Trump administration?

BERMAN: And on board a U.S. warship as it tries to thwart terror attacks.

Kate and Sara are out. I'm John Berman with Rahel Solomon. This is CNN News Central.

This morning, major questions about the future of Donald Trump, the businessman, the presidential candidate and the criminal defendant, a collision involving four of his legal cases.

We're standing by today to see how Special Counsel Jack Smith responds to the Supreme Court, this after Trump asked the justices to step into his immunity fight. Trump wants to delay and ultimately get his January 6 charges dropped. So, will Jack Smith, the special counsel, take immediate action?

Tomorrow, charges are related to the porn star hush money case and alleged election interference in Georgia, we will see major court hearings. Trump will attend the porn star one. And Friday, his business empire could take a huge hit when a judge issues his ruling in the civil fraud trial.

CNN Senior Crime and Justice Reporter Katelyn Polantz with a full, full play is here. A lot of big stuff is happening all at once, Katelyn.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: John, let's watch New York in these next days and watch for what's happening in court related to Donald Trump and his business practices, Trump the businessman. That is where there will be a hearing in his criminal case and a result, a penalty announced in his civil case.

So, the criminal case, the hearing on Thursday, he is expected to attend. It could be quite an impactful day for what happens in that criminal case against him. This is the criminal case against him for falsifying business records related to those payments to Stormy Daniels, the porn star, to keep her quiet before the 2016 presidential election.

He's going to be before the judge. So, Trump will be before that judge overseeing that case and also talking about potentially the date of when he goes to trial as a criminal defendant there.

The very next day is when a judge in a different court judge, Arthur Engoron, will announce the penalties that Trump and his business will have to face for, again, falsifying business records for civil fraud, inflating his worth as the Trump Organization was trying to get bank loans. So, two very impactful days in that situation in New York, a criminal case, a civil case.

There's other things happening, a lot of other hearings. There was a hearing earlier this week related to his criminal case in the Mar-a- Lago documents probe that was in Florida. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, more filings coming, and also a big hearing in Georgia related to the prosecutors in that case against Donald Trump and January 6th, the 2020 election, if those prosecutors are able to stay on that case.

BERMAN: All right. You do a great job keeping track of it all. The criminal -- the hearing in the criminal case tomorrow here in New York City, a trial date, we're waiting to see if we get a trial date there. That is connected in a way, at least the timing of it, to the issue before the Supreme Court. Does Donald Trump have immunity from January 6th prosecutions? That federal case is being delayed. A lot depends on when and if the Supreme Court weighs in here. What's happening today, tomorrow with that?

POLANTZ: Well, John, we're going to be waiting to see what the Supreme Court does, what they do with the timing of his case and what they do with this application that he has before him where he's asking not to go to trial so that the Supreme Court will look at bigger questions of presidential immunity.

We're waiting today to see if the special counsel responds today or in the next coming days how they respond to Trump if they want the Supreme Court to look at this issue or if they want the Supreme Court to send it back to the trial court and get Trump back on track to trial.

But you're right, there is a connection here between the timing of his New York Hush Money criminal case and his federal January 6, 2020 election criminal case in that he can't be in trial in multiple cases at the same time.

So, they're going to have to figure out a calendar here a lot coming together this week. And also Trump has to be before the Supreme Court with another application this week because there are still lawsuits out there related to January 6 and he has a filing deadline. So, a lot about presidential immunity that the Supreme Court is looking at right now. John?

BERMAN: Katelyn Polantz, stay close to the camera, stay hydrated. I am sure we'll be talking to you again very soon. Rahel?

POLANTZ: Cheers, John.

[10:05:00]

SOLOMON: All right. Let's discuss this further with Shan Wu, former federal prosecutor and defense attorney. Shan, always good to see you.

Let me just first ask, with so much happening this week, sometimes it can be hard to understand what's just routine legal procedure and motions versus what is really critical or significant. What are you watching?

SHAN WU, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think I'm watching in New York, if we just start with that, obviously very critical what the civil ruling is going to be in terms of what kind of penalty Judge Engoron is going to impose. That could be a massive penalty and could really spell the end of a lot of Trump's business in New York, particularly in real estate, so watching for that.

And at this point, with the delays happening with Jack Smith's case in D.C. and as well as his case in Mar-a-Lago, it's beginning to look like there's a pretty good chance that Alvin Bragg's hush money case, also based on fraud, fraudulent business records, may end up going first, because if we turn to Georgia, there's a significant hearing coming up as to whether or not the prosecutors, Fani Willis and the special prosecutor she hired, Nathan Wade, can continue on the case. I think that's a very weak allegation against them, this conflict of interest hearing. But there is a hearing coming up. So, there could theoretically be greater delay in that case.

SOLOMON: So, let's stick there. I mean, walk me through the judge that's now going to be deciding, is it a weak case? I mean, the judge has decided to sort of hold this evidentiary hearing to decide whether there is enough there, there. I mean, walk me through what you're watching there as the judge decides if there's something here.

WU: I think the judge was right to hold the hearing just to see what evidence there is. The allegations that Trump co-defendant Roman is making through his attorneys, Ashley Merchant, and her husband, co- counsel, John Merchant, remember that point, is that because the allegation of relationship between Fani Willis, a romantic one, and Nathan Wade, they think that that relationship creates a conflict of interest.

It's a little bit attenuated, but to explain it, it would be the notion that Wade gets paid by the hour for working on the case. If he does anything with Fani Willis, like takes her out to dinner or pays for a trip, anything like that, their argument is that's a conflict because he is having her benefit from his involvement in the case. So, under the Georgia law, they would really have to show that there's a real conflict that somehow she is really benefiting financially from that. Obviously, very hard to figure out what someone does with their own salary.

There is a bit of a factual question. They admit there's relationship, but they claim that the relationship only occurred after he started working there. Supposedly, the Merchants are going to call a star witness, which used to be the lawyer for Nathan Wade in his divorce case, question how they're going to get around attorney-client privileges for that, but he's going to be testifying as to supposedly the relationship starting earlier than that.

I think that's also weak because it's going to depend on hearsay, and unless he's got a side gig as a couple's counselor, I don't really see his expertise on opining on when they became romantic.

SOLOMON: Shan, depending on what happens right, whether we see Fani Willis testify herself, that is not clear yet depending on what happens with the other testimony, the range of scenarios that could happen here, walk me through what could happen, but also how likely is that in terms of does Nathan Wade perhaps get thrown off the case? I mean, there's obviously this big question of whether Fani Willis gets thrown off the case. I mean, is there a world in which you see that is likely?

WU: I don't think it's likely because I don't think the law in Georgia really supports this theory of disqualification. She can be disqualified, as she was in an earlier case where she had made a contribution or attended a political activity for the defendant, but under these facts, I don't think that's likely.

Were the judge to conclude that there is the conflict of interest, then the outcome could range from her and her office being disqualified, and it's also possible that perhaps Wade might just step down to avoid some of this controversy and distraction.

SOLOMON: Well, we will soon see. Shan Wu, good to have you. Thank you. John?

BERMAN: This morning, prosecutors are adding a diamond engagement ring to the gold bars, thousands of dollars in cash, and a long list of other items they say New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez and his wife took as bribes. In a new court filing, prosecutors say one of the Menendez co-conspirators bought that ring in exchange for the Senator's influence in a criminal insurance fraud case.

CNN's Kara Scannell with us now with the latest on this.

[10:10:01]

So, an engagement ring, too?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, an engagement ring. Happy Valentine's Day, right? So, this is a new allegation that was revealed in a court filing by the Department of Justice. And what they said was that one of the co-defendants in this case, a New Jersey businessman, had offered to pay $150,000 worth of bribes to Menendez in order to get his help to resolve a car insurance case, a criminal case against a different person.

And so what prosecutors say, and they have this on tape, discussions between a confidential source and one of the businessmen and his associates, that Menendez was expecting, you know, both a car, this was a luxury Mercedes-Benz convertible that his wife had received, and also this diamond or engagement ring, which was supposed to be worth about $35,000.

But what prosecutors say is that Menendez was swindled by one of his co-defendants because he bought a ring that was worth $12,000 and he used some of that extra money to buy himself a Rolex and other things.

So, another allegation here in this case, this is all part of an effort by Menendez to try to suppress the returns, the evidence that was collected from the search warrant in this case and from his homes in Washington, D.C., in New Jersey, as well as his emails and cell phones.

And we know from the search warrants that they recovered gold bars, they recovered the Mercedes-Benz convertible, cash that was stuffed into jackets that bore Menendez's name. So, Menendez is trying to get those returns quashed, not be able to use in this case, saying that the judges that approved these search warrants weren't given all of the information.

Prosecutors saying in the filing, actually we didn't even include all of the information we had and here's where now we're going to tell people that we also know that there was this other scheme involving the engagement ring.

This is one of many issues that Menendez mounting an aggressive defense in this case. He's denied any wrongdoing, pleaded not guilty of the charges. He's also trying to move this case out of New York and to New Jersey, arguing that New Jersey residents should decide the fate of their senator, not New Yorkers, John.

BERMAN: really interesting to see the procedural gamesmanship going on here and how far Menendez, how hard he is fighting back. Kara Scannell, thank you so much. Rahel?

SOLOMON: All right, John. On closing the gap, Democrats narrowed the GOP's House majority with a big special election win in New York. What it could mean for the general election in November.

Nikki Haley has called Donald Trump unhinged and unfit to be president. But if he becomes the Republican nominee, will she stand by her pledge to support him? What she's saying this morning.

And CNN takes you to the Red Sea where Houthi rebels have been attacking ships for months. We are on board a U.S. aircraft carrier fighting to protect those vessels.

We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

BERMAN: So, this morning, Donald Trump is blaming the Republican candidate for losing a crucial special election in New York, a loss that has narrowed the already tiny Republican majority for them in the House of Representatives.

Democrat Tom Suozzi flipped the seat once held by the ousted member of Congress, George Santos. Suozzi beat Mazi Pilip by a pretty decent margin, honestly, with upcoming battles on Capitol Hill over border security and the federal budget.

Every single vote counts. We saw that last night in the impeachment vote, and there are bigger questions about what this special election might tell us going forward for the 2024 race.

SOLOMON: Absolutely. So, to that end, let's bring in CNN Political Director David Chalian.

David, we should say that we're expecting to hear from the speaker really momentarily. So, it will be curious to hear how he responds to this. But what are your takeaways from last night?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, clearly it is a big win for the Democrats. They flip a seat. So, in the short-term, relating to Speaker Johnson's remarks upcoming here, it narrows his majority and he's got a lot of thorny issues still ahead of him. And so having one fewer vote to play with, there's like no wiggle room for the speaker at this point.

So, that's its most immediate impact, but also Democrats needed a win at this moment, right? Just in terms of the political environment and the aftermath of the Hur report and a lot of Democrats wringing their hands about Joe Biden, but I think it's also a reminder for Democrats, there doesn't seem to be, if you look at the November elections, other special elections, there's not like a Democratic brand problem at the moment. Voters seem to be okay with what the Democrats are selling. We see whether it was the Kentucky gubernatorial race or other special elections like this one.

SOLOMON: And Tom Suozzi did not run away from the issue of immigration, which is what Republicans see as their best issue and many Democrats fear is their worst issue. He ran into it. I can't tell you the number of voters that I talked to who said the border was their number one issue, but they were voting for the Democrat, Tom Suozzi. I can't remember anything like that in any election I've covered.

CHALIAN: And this is after though Tom Suozzi was advertising with him on Fox News talking about his full defense of ICE, right? So, not every Democrat runs on the immigration issue the way Tom Suozzi did in this district. It worked for him there.

There does seem to be a bit of a divide inside the Democratic Party about how to grapple with this immigration issue. But you're right, it is going to be a front and center issue.

We normally think of it, I think in the past, John, that it's just an issue for the right wing echo chamber, but the whole movement that Greg Abbott did and what have you to bring the migrant issue and crisis to cities, to blue states and cities, that has changed the calculus here. You see this issue rising in importance for all voters.

SOLOMON: But can -- the Suozzi model, is that something that other Democrats are? And, look, it's just been a few hours, that's a long time in politics are other already looking at this saying, hey, maybe we can make some ground.

[10:20:03]

SOLOMON: Yes, can be replicated.

CHALIAN: Yes, and there's no doubt about it. And, by the way, Democrats were handed a gift by Donald Trump just the last week when he tanked the border security compromise bill that was coming out of the Senate and told the House not to vote for it, and Speaker Johnson agreed, that is something that Democrats have seized on.

You heard Joe Biden say last week, he's going to remind voters of that every single day throughout this campaign. And Tom Suozzi campaigned on that hard at the end that he was for that compromise. Mazi Pilip was against it.

SOLOMON: You know, it's interesting, Alice Stewart, a Republican strategist told us earlier, look, a win is a win, right? Even if it was in this district, even if there were all of these factors at play, Biden wasn't really on the ballot, Trump wasn't really on the ballot.

When we hear from Johnson in just a few moments, presumably, he will say, look, it's not that big of a deal, but walk us through sort of how instrumental last night really was.

CHALIAN: Well, you know, I think we had the reporting earlier that behind closed doors to his conference members this morning, Speaker Johnson was trying to say, don't freak out about this, this one win. But here's the reality. You showed the balance of power, okay? There are three more vacancies in the House right now. They're pretty reliably partisan districts. So, when that's all said and done, Democrats are only going to be four seats away from the majority come this November.

Speaker Johnson can try to calm all the waters he wants. That is a really attainable goal for Democrats.

BERMAN: So, some of the things you're already hearing are Republicans saying, and Donald Trump is saying, you know, she ran away from me, she needs to be -- you know, candidates need to be more MAGA. On the other hand, you have people saying, no, no, no, no, you need candidates that better fit the district here. There's a real feud internally. I do wonder which one will prevail.

CHALIAN: I mean, I think we'll see it play out differently in different races. In other words, I don't think Mike Lawler in his race in New York is going to become a more extreme MAGA candidate that, you know, I think, and whether or not Donald Trump chides him for that or not will be a thing that we see going forward, John.

But I wasn't terribly surprised. I mean, besides Trump's ego putting that out in a statement last night, but it kind of confirms his whole theory of the case for his campaign. It's not about trying to persuade the middle to come back to him. It's much more about bringing new MAGA fans into the process, expand the electorate. That's how the Trump folks really see their path to victory.

BERMAN: You may have to teach him how to vote early, but that's a whole separate matter.

CHALIAN: Yes, it's a separate matter.

BERMAN: David Chalian, great to see you. Thank you very much.

SOLOMON: All right. Still ahead for us on the frontlines, CNN takes you aboard the USS Eisenhower in the Red Sea. The up-close look at how the U.S. Navy is trying to stop attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants.

Plus, out of the hospital and back to work, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is carrying out his duties remotely. When he is expected to be back at the Pentagon, still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:00]

BERMAN: This morning, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is back to work, making his first appearance since being released -- Reed Medical Center just yesterday. Austin was supposed to be in Brussels today to lead a key meeting on Ukraine. He held that meeting virtually. He is expected to return to the Pentagon later this week.

CNN's Katie Bo Lillis is with us now. What is the latest on his now, I guess, second recovery?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. So, Secretary Austin opening his remarks with allies over the Ukraine aid issue by addressing his health issues. He said that his underlying prognosis for prostate cancer, for which he received the original surgery on December 22nd that has led to these two subsequent hospitalizations, he said his underlying prognosis for the prostate cancer remains excellent and that he is in good condition following this second hospitalization since that original surgery. As you mentioned, he is now working from home but working remotely.

This clearly, though, was a significant health event. The deputy defense secretary, Kathleen Hicks, assumed the duties for the defense secretary for 48 hours, so it's really only since 5:00 P.M. yesterday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been the defense secretary.

Not an ideal moment for this for Lloyd Austin. He had clearly wanted to be in Brussels in-person to deliver a message that the United States continues to stand behind Ukraine to try to reassure jumpy allies, particularly in Europe, that the U.S. will continue to support the Ukrainian war effort.

This comes, of course, at a moment that a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine is stalled in Congress. So, Austin getting up in front of these allies as part of this working group over Ukraine aid and vowing that U.S. support for Ukraine will continue. He said, quote, Ukraine will not surrender and neither will we. He said that it is, quote, not an option for countries like the United States not to support. So, again, clearly a message he was hoping to be able to deliver in public at a moment of really supreme uncertainty about long-term support for Ukraine.

BERMAN: Yes, important days certainly off the Ukraine effort against Russia.

Katie Bo Lillis, thank you very much. Rahel?

SOLOMON: All right, John. Happening now, amid rising tensions in the Middle East, CNN takes you aboard a warship in the Red Sea for an up close look at how the U.S. Navy is trying to stop attacks by Iran- backed Houthi militants on cargo ships.

Our Natasha Bertrand was there to see how quickly these crews on these ships need to react in order to successfully shoot down incoming missiles, and she joins us now from Bahrain.

And, Natasha, talk to us a bit about what you experienced.

[10:30:01]