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Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Trump's Immunity Claim; Texas Wildfires Burn Area Roughly The Size Of Delaware; February 29 Comes Around Only Once In Every 4 Years. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 29, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The Supreme Court stepping in, it has agreed to take up former President Trump's immunity claim in his federal January 6th case. The court will hear arguments in late April and that means a trial date before the November election really now in serious doubt.

We have CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider with us now on this. A lower court, the DC Circuit of Appeals unanimously striking down Trump's immunity claim. So why do you think the Supreme Court has decided to go this route?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a really big issue that the Supreme Court has never weighed in on. They haven't weighed in on whether a president can be immune from criminal prosecution based on alleged official acts.

And that's really what they've narrowed this question down that they're going to be addressing the week of April 22nd to. You know, were these alleged official acts? That's what the president's team has insisted on, that the president or the former President Donald Trump was acting in his official capacity all around the January 6th Capitol attacks. Jack Smith's office had repeatedly said, no, those weren't official acts and you're not immune from prosecution.

So it is a very important question that the Supreme Court has never addressed, never settled. They'll do that this year.

KEILAR: It's really amazing. And so this is going to affect the timetable here. Take us through that.

SCHNEIDER: It will. I mean, Trump's team, Trump's lawyers have already been successful, particularly in this case, in delaying this. Remember, initially, the judge in this case set the beginning of this trial for March 4th. That would have been Monday.

Obviously, that's not happening. That's all on hold. And it's going to get pushed back significantly.

The court will hear those sometime the week of April 22nd, they likely won't issue a decision until mid late June. And then even then, the judge in this case had said, even when I get the green light to proceed, we're still going to need probably about three months to go over pretrial motions. So three months before really the trial could start, which would put this likely in late September as the earliest that this case would start.

We're budding right up to the general election at that point with a presumptive nominee here.

KEILAR: Yes, those pretrial motions and anything else that could delay this very key here. Jessica, thank you for that -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Let's discuss this with Renato Mariotti. He's a former federal prosecutor. Renato, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. We know it's a busy one for you. I want to get your perspective on the phrasing of the central question that the Supreme Court has decided to take up. But let's actually look at it.

It says, quote, whether and if so, to what extent does a former president enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office?

Does that give you any indication, any window into how the justices are already thinking about this case?

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It really does, Boris. You know, when this argument first was taking place in the Court of Appeals, I was not alone in scoffing at a lot of the arguments made by Trump's attorneys.

Because if you remember, Trump's attorneys were essentially saying that if the president ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate Joe Biden, that that would be subject to presidential immunity, things along those lines. Very silly argument. What the Supreme Court has done here is they've actually refined his argument for him.

Notice that those words, to what extent, right, they're basically saying, Boris, that they're going to determine how expansive presidential immunity could be. Donald Trump, you know, truths out absolute immunity. He wants immunity for everything.

[15:35:00]

What the Supreme Court, I think, is saying here is they may find some amount of immunity for a president for acts of office, but it's going to be limited in scope. It's going to only potentially involve certain activities and not others.

So you could understand that that's something that they if they end up going that direction, then what's going to happen is this is going to get remanded down to the district judge, to Judge Chutkan, was referred to a moment ago. And then she may have to determine whether or not the allegations, the indictment fit within that ruling, further delaying the proceeding.

SANCHEZ: Yes. So in terms of the timetable for when the proceedings could potentially kick off, if the Supreme Court rules that Trump is not immune, when do you see that happening? Because arguments are set to start the week of April 22nd. If it gets, you know, expedited, as every indication is that it will,

it could potentially be announced as late as the end of June. Does that mean a September start date?

MARIOTTI: Yes, so realistically, I think you're going to see an opinion from the court out in June, as you suggested, then it's going to get remanded to Judge Chutkan.

I think she's going to have potentially some factual issues that she's going to have to sort through regarding whether the allegations, the indictment fit within the ruling of residential immunity determined by the Supreme Court. And then there's going to be all the usual stuff you do before a trial. And as you know, you and your reporter discussed a moment ago -- Brianna did.

Realistically, there's all sorts of motions and limiting and jury instructions and other issues before a trial. I just do not see Judge Chutkan pushing forward with a trial in, let's say, late September, early October, that could potentially stretch all the way up until the, you know, eve of election until early November. I don't see that happening.

Is it possible? I suppose. But I wouldn't bet on it. And I don't think your viewers should expect that that's going to happen.

SANCHEZ: Good potential gambling advice there from Renato Mariotti. Renato, thanks so much. Great to see you.

MARIOTTI: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Next, we're going to take you to Texas, where firefighters are battling the largest wildfire ever in the state. It's now burned through an area the size of Rhode Island, and it's showing no sign of stopping.

[15:40:00]

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KEILAR: Here in the span of just four days, wildfires in Texas have burned a sprawling 2,000 square miles in the Panhandle. This is about the size of Delaware that we're talking about.

The biggest of the five fires now burning is called the Smokehouse Creek fire. It exploded to become the largest wildfire that Texas has ever seen and the second largest on record nationwide. It has killed at least one woman, an 83-year-old grandmother.

And at nearly 1.1 million acres, the Smokehouse Creek fire surpassed the 2006 East Amarillo Complex fire, which also scorched the Texas Panhandle. One rancher who survived both and remembered what happened 18 years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF CHISUM, RANCHER WHO LOST LAND AND CATTLE TO WILDFIRES: It was horrible. I mean, it looked like the moonscape. I mean, it, you know, it destroys everything. And, but this one, it seemed worse, honestly. This one was, I don't know what it was about it, but it affected more people, I think, and especially the towns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Lucy Kafanov has been traveling through the communities hit by the wildfires here. Lucy, tell us what you're seeing today.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what I'm seeing is hopefully not a structure that's going to decapitate anyone in these winds, but this is the aftermath of a property of a local resident named Janice. We spoke to her. She actually got out to safety to Oklahoma, where she had some family.

Barely anything left of this area. She's got another property over here, also completely destroyed. She is one of the many residents here in Fritch, Texas, who are left picking up the pieces of their lives.

I should note that 2006 fire that you mentioned also devastated this area. So they are going through this again.

We met one gentleman yesterday. His name is Danny Williams. He's a 30- year resident of Fritch, Texas. He was home when that fire rolled through on Tuesday and described the terrifying moments. He even shared some of the video that he shot of those terrifying moments when the flames went down the street, you know, as he tried to get away to safety.

Now, his home was miraculously somehow unscathed in all of this. But the four homes across the street, his neighbors, his close friends by now, completely damaged.

He also described jumping into action when the flames came through, running across the street to his friend, his neighbor, also named Danny, knocking on the door, getting that man to safety. Danny survived. His home completely destroyed. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY WILLIAMS, FRITCH RESIDENT: It came this way really fast, and the authorities were trying to evacuate everybody. And smoke was everywhere.

He just barely got out.

[15:45:00]

He only had the shirt on his back and his dogs. He lost everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: Now, the wet weather, the snow is going to help dampen the fires a little bit today. But the big question is how much is going to be left burning once this cold front, this weather, moves out of the area. We are expecting temperatures in the 70s by Saturday. We are expecting wind gusts of up to 30 miles an hour.

And that could completely hamper firefighting efforts. And it could also get those small outstanding blazes that weren't put out to spread. And we can see from the damage here how quickly and how devastatingly the damage from these wildfires can be -- Briann.

KEILAR: Yes, what a harrowing trip that some of these folks have made trying to escape. Lucy, thank you for that report. And stay safe. We see that wind certainly picking up with that building behind you there.

It's been a periodic oddity on our calendars for centuries. And coming up, we're talking with the science guy himself, Bill Nye, about why this day, Leap Day, is so important. There he is.

[15:50:00]

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SANCHEZ: Happy Leap Day. February 29th only happens once every four years, so it is kind of special. Lots of people and businesses celebrate Leap Day in different ways, but this extra day always triggers questions about why it happens and when it was created.

Joining us now for answers is Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bill, great to see you. Thanks for sharing part of your afternoon with us. What's the math and the science behind leap years? Why do we even have them?

BILL NYE, "THE SCIENCE GUY": It has to do with how many times the Earth spins or how many times it orbits the sun.

So let's say that this is the sun and this is the Earth. The Earth is spinning. As many of you know, I've met people in the United States very recently who think the Earth might be flat. Earth's not flat, everybody.

Anyway, the Earth is spinning, going around the sun. You might presume that it would spin an even number of times for every time it goes around the sun.

Our moon spins once for every time it orbits Earth, but this is not the case with the Earth and the sun, and it's largely due to the friction of tides in the ocean and so on and the action of the moon. But with this in mind, people realized that they could add a day now and then to make the calendar correspond to the number of spins of the Earth. And this seemed like a great idea for the first 1,500 years of the modern era.

But when you add a quarter of a day every year, so that every four years you're adding a day, you're adding about 11 minutes, 14 seconds too much time. In other words, as the Earth goes around the sun, instead of presuming it's here -- instead of presuming it's here, the Earth is actually there, not quite as far by 11 minutes and 14 seconds. And this was figured out in 1582.

Who could forget? Pope Gregory XIII specified October 4th was followed by October 15th. So if you were a landlord, this is great. You owe me another month. If you're a tenant, no, I don't. And so, there were literally wars about it. Now, understand, everybody, the astronomical situation.

Nowadays, we use the constellation Pisces so that we observe it when it's on the other side of the sun from us. Now, if you are astrological, if you're in Pisces, it means the sun rose through the constellation Pisces. By the way, this is not to scale, by the way.

SANCHEZ: That does make sense, yes.

NYE: And so we could presume or reckon the exact moment of first day of spring, what have you, which to the Catholic Church is a doggone deal. But just notice, everybody, the world we live in, OK? You can go to an office supply store and get a calendar with puppies.

You can get a calendar with kittens. You can get a calendar with puppies and kittens. You can get firefighters. You can get whatever the heck you want. But we all presume that this year, the 29th of February is going to show up. We don't question it.

And it's because of space exploration. It's because of humankind's studying of the night sky, appreciating our relationship to the sun and the earth. And I like to remind everybody that in the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 refers to the progress of science.

Science is in the Constitution. And to me, the reckoning and the leap day is part of this big picture of understanding the cosmos and our place within it. Back to you -- Boris.

[15:55:00]

SANCHEZ: That was amazing, Bill. That was so much of what I wanted and more. I only have one very quick follow-up question.

You mentioned kitten and puppy calendars, puppy and kitten calendars. Is there a Bill Nye calendar out there?

NYE: There was two years ago. I'm all for it, you guys. Let's do it.

SANCHEZ: Let's do it again. 2025. We got to run, Bill. But thank you so much. I appreciate you and all your props. Thanks for being with us.

NYE: Just don't take it for granted. This is humankind at its best, understanding the motion of celestial objects. Thank you all.

SANCHEZ: Absolutely. A science lesson with the great Bill Nye. Thanks so much, Bill. Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just moments.