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Wisconsin Protest Vote Signals Warning Signs For Biden; Trump Media Sues Two Co-Founders, Seeks To Wipe Out Their Shares; Federal Appeals Court Hears Arguments On Texas Immigration Law. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 03, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:30]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, chef Jose Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen, is responding to the Israeli airstrike in Gaza that killed seven aid workers from his group.

He writes they were, quote, "The best of humanity. They are not faceless or nameless. They are not generic aid workers or collateral damage in war.

Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It is better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who had coordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces."

The death of the World Central Kitchen staff has sent shockwaves around the world. President Biden said he is outraged over the incident.

Now available at Costco, Ozempic prescriptions. For $179, the bulk retailer is offering customers a three-month health program with the ability to prescribe the medications, including Ozempic and Wegovy. Costco says the program was developed after customers began asking for weight loss help.

A new proposal by House Republicans to rename Washington Dulles International Airport after Donald Trump. They want it called Donald J. Trump International Airport. Now, Jake Sherman, our friend from Punchbowl, writes, "You can file this under bills that will go absolutely nowhere." Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And he's a good judge of that one.

There's also this this morning. The Wall Street Journal has a new presidential poll out today and it shows President Biden trailing Donald Trump in six of seven swing states.

And this snapshot in time. Just last night, battleground Wisconsin gave another warning. Thousands of Democratic voters casting protest votes over Biden's handling of Israel's war against Hamas. More than 45,000 people in Wisconsin voted uninstructed -- that's the terminology -- in a sign of protest. That's more than twice the margin that Biden had in winning that state in 2020.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Madison, Wisconsin. He's got much more on this. Jeff, is the Biden campaign worried about what I just read today?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, Kate.

Well, of course, they are, and it's just because of the sheer numbers. Look at the clear warning signs here for both sides.

Let's start with President Biden. You mentioned that uninstructed vote -- a pretty extraordinary number. It's now up to almost 48,000. Democrats, yesterday, voting uninstructed.

What does that mean? It means that they are choosing to send delegates without instruction to the Democratic National Convention this summer in Chicago. Practically, it does not mean that much, but symbolically, it absolutely does. It's yet one more example in a string of examples we've seen in virtually every primary this year -- a protest vote against the Biden administration's Gaza policy. So that certainly is interesting there.

Dean Phillips also getting a share of the vote.

The question is what do these voters do in November? Do they stick with President Biden? Do they not vote? Do they vote third-party? That is something that the Biden campaign is worrying about and has to work on. It's one of the reasons President Biden is coming right here to Madison on Monday to try and start rebuilding some of those old levels of support in his coalition that is key to him winning in November.

But on the Trump side, these results also very interesting yesterday. This primary is long over but look at the support for Nikki Haley. Look at the support for Gov. Ron DeSantis. He's been out of the race for several months. So clearly, there are still signs in the Republican primary that Republicans are not rallying to Donald Trump. Of course, his core base is.

So a significant worry for both presumptive nominees to rebuilding their coalitions and their bases they need to win. That's why, Kate, here in Wisconsin, there are worries on both sides of what a third- party candidate would do in this race -- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others. Will he siphon support perhaps from both of these candidates?

You'll remember the margins here in Wisconsin so, so close. In 2016, Donald Trump won the state by about 23,000 votes. Joe Biden won the state by 21,000 votes back in 2020. So that's why the sheer raw math of this absolutely worries both campaigns, Kate.

BOLDUAN: So if Biden's handling and dissatisfaction with Biden's handling in response to Israel's war against Hamas is part of -- a large part of what's driving this protest vote that we saw last night, we did see President Biden speak out with some of his harshest language yet in criticizing Israel in -- after that deadly strike.

[07:35:00]

ZELENY: We did, and this is something that you wonder if it will mark a turning point. We do not know that, but it certainly is different, and here is why. Because Jose Andres, who runs the World Central Kitchen, is a friend of President Biden. So the White House made clear yesterday President Biden reached out to Jose Andres and had a private conversation about this tragedy in Gaza. And the White House released a very strong statement about this.

So certainly, there has been a break we've seen from month to month to month in some policy changes between the administration at least speaking out against Benjamin Netanyahu, but will this cause for more of a break or more calls for a ceasefire? This is something absolutely a dynamic situation that we'll be watching.

But it's a foreign policy matter, of course, but there are domestic political concerns about that as well. Because these underlying concerns about the treatment of aid workers and others and just innocent civilians dying -- that is what is fueling this uninstructed or uncommitted vote here in Wisconsin and elsewhere, Kate.

BOLDUAN: It's great that you're there, Jeff. Thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, Donald Trump's vitriolic comments risk provoking violence. That is the new warning from a group representing trial lawyers. They say his attacks on judges and lawyers are, quote, "dangerous and put our very democracy at risk."

Overnight, Trump took some jabs at judges and attorneys while he was campaigning in swing states -- but the main focus of his fury, immigration. He continues to use dehumanizing language, saying migrants are animals and not humans. And he railed against what he is calling President Biden's border bloodbath.

CNN's Steve Contorno with us this morning. And those words -- that phrase "bloodbath," in particular, is now central to the Trump campaign.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN That's right, John, clearly making immigration a focal point of his campaign. Earlier this campaign cycle, he accused undocumented migrants of, quote, "poisoning the blood of the country."

Here's what he had to say last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Democrats say please don't call them animals; they're humans. I said no, they're not human. They're not humans. They're animals.

And Nancy Pelosi told me that -- she said please don't use the word animals, sir, when you're talking about these people. I said I'll use the word animal because that's what they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CONTORNO: Trump went on to say that these undocumented migrants are, quote, "wrecking our country," clearly demonstrating that he intends to make the U.S.-Mexico border an issue at every battleground, including in the Midwest. He was in Michigan and Wisconsin yesterday.

The Biden campaign in Michigan pointing out that Trump has stood in the way of progress in bipartisan talks to fix the border, including adding a border patrol agent, something that even members of his own party have supported in that legislation that he helped rally support against.

And it's also interesting to note there was a moment yesterday where Trump highlighted the case in Michigan of a -- of a woman name Ruby Garcia who was allegedly killed by an undocumented individual she was in a romantic relationship.

Trump claiming that he had spoken with members of her family. Well, the sister of that victim telling a local television station that wasn't the case. That no one in her family that she knew of had spoken to Trump -- saying, quote, "It was kind of shocking" to hear him suggest that, John.

BERMAN: Hmm, that's interesting.

All right, Steve Contorno with this reporting. Thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, Donald Trump is also tangled up in a new legal battle this morning. He is suing two co-founders of his newly-public company, Trump Media, saying that they don't deserve to receive their shares, which are now worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Those two co- founders also former contestants on "THE APPRENTICE."

CNN's Matt Egan has much more on this. So, Matt, what has led up to this?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, this is just the latest legal twist in what has already been a feed bonanza for the legal profession. Essentially, what's happening is the founders of Truth Social -- they're fighting amongst themselves over how big of a stake they're going to get in a company that is now valued in the billions of dollars even though Truth Social's user count is shrinking and it basically generates almost revenue at all.

So, what's happened here is -- as you mentioned, it's not just co- founders of Truth Social -- former contestants of "THE APPRENTICE," the show that helped fuel Donald Trump's rise. They are named in this lawsuit. Trump Media basically says that these two individuals, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss -- that they fumbled the launch of this company and they want a judge to zero out their stake in this newly-public company. That would essentially wipe out gains of around half a billion dollars, at least on paper.

Let me read you from this lawsuit. Trump Media says, quote, "Moss and Litinsky failed spectacularly at every turn. They failed to get the corporate governance established. They made a series of reckless and wasteful decisions at a critical time that caused significant damage to TMTG," which is Trump Media.

[07:40:00]

Now, the lawsuit goes on to claim that these two were riding President Trump's coattails and that without Trump, Truth Social would have been, quote, "impossible."

Now, we've reached out for comment from the firm that represents Litinsky and Moss. Lawyers are declining to comment. But we should note that they filed a lawsuit of their own -- Moss and Litinsky -- against Donald Trump alleging that he tried to dramatically water down their stake in this company.

Listen, this legal fight goes on and hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars are at stake here, Kate.

BOLDUAN: When we talked you were not -- you were not joking when you said a feed bonanza.

Trump Media's share price has been on a wild ride. You have been tracking it. What is the latest here?

EGAN: Well, yeah, Kate. This is fascinating. It's -- I think it's the most fascinating thing to watch on Wall Street right now. I mean, it makes even Bitcoin look tame.

So this company has been public for just six trading days. All six of those days, it's been up or down by at least six percent -- on occasion, a lot more than that. Look at those moves.

BOLDUAN: Jesus.

EGAN: Those are not weekly moves or monthly moves. Those are daily moves, right? That is not normal and it is -- really shows why some people are calling this a meme stock on steroids.

And remember, the higher the stock price goes, the richer Donald Trump is -- at least on paper. Because even though yesterday was kind of a tame day -- up six percent -- that was still enough to make him $228 million richer. Again, at least on paper.

Now, Wall Street continues to value Trump Media in the billions of dollars -- again, even though it remains pretty tiny --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: -- as far as a social media player. Just how tiny? Well, look, when you stack Truth Social up against Facebook and X, the company formerly known as Twitter, and even Reddit, it looks very tiny. Look at this. Just a small fraction of the user count. Trump -- Truth Social even has way fewer users -- these are monthly active users -- than Threads.

So it's just amazing and it also just kind of calls into question here why Wall Street is valuing it so richly. But look, less than two hours away from trading starting. The stock price in premarket trading is down three percent. Stay tuned. This wild ride continues.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, and how long will it be valued at what it's been valued? We will see.

EGAN: We will.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Matt. Thank you.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks very much.

So there is new video this morning after scary weather has hit throughout the country -- throughout the United States. The debris and damage from a tornado touchdown in Kentucky and more watches and warnings are also in place for today.

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[07:46:57]

BOLDUAN: A federal appeals court is hearing arguments today over that controversial Texas immigration law. A reminder what the law does is allow state and local law enforcement in Texas to arrest people suspected of crossing the southern border into Texas illegally. And it gives state judges the power to deport them. But the question now before the federal court: Does that law violate the Constitution?

CNN's Rosa Flores has been following this. She's back with us today. Rosa, what is expected to happen today in this -- with this -- with this court hearing?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, good morning.

Each side is expected to get 30 minutes of oral arguments. But, you know, if I was Texas I'd be a little nervous today because this is the same appeals court that just last week issued an order that blocked SB4. And in the majority opinion -- and this was a 2-1 vote. In the majority opinion, the chief judge was very clear. The chief didn't believe that this measure was constitutional.

Now, I want to dial back the clock to when SB4 was being debated in the State Senate because that's exactly what one of the state Republican senators argued. And this wasn't just any Republican senator -- this was a prior author of SB4 who was no longer comfortable with the clauses that were being added to this bill.

This particular senator, Brian Birdwell, said specifically on the floor that he didn't believe that this measure was -- that this measure was constitutional. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN BIRDWELL, (R) TEXAS STATE SENATOR: And we are setting a terrible precedent for the future by invalidating our obedience and faithfulness to our constitution. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And Texas Sen. Birdwell went on to say that under the U.S. Constitution, it's the federal government who has the power to actually deport individuals outside of this country. Well, guess what? Back to the appeals court and that majority opinion from the appeals court last week. That's exactly one of the arguments made by the chief judge.

I want to share a portion of what she said. Take a look. She said, quote, "The Texas removal provisions bestow powers upon itself that are likely reserved to the United States." Again, to the federal government.

Now, the chief judge went on to say that she understands that the state of Texas is frustrated because of the migrant crisis. Texas has argued that Texas is being, quote, "invaded" by migrants and that the federal government has not done enough, and that the state of Texas has the constitutional authority to defend itself.

But the chief judge made this argument. She said that it is not just that the federal government doesn't want to do anything about the migrant crisis. She stated in her majority opinion that it -- these -- this inaction by the Executive Branch, in part, is due to inaction by the Legislative Branch. The Congress has not appropriated the funds so that the federal government can appropriately respond to the migrant crisis on the U.S. southern border.

[07:50:00]

Now, the Biden administration has argued throughout and has maintained that there's a supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and that SB4 tramples on its powers to impose immigrant policy at the federal level.

Now, civil rights groups are very concerned about this all going into effect because of potential racial profiling of Latinos in the state of Texas, which constitute about 40 percent of the population of the state.

And, Kate, we should add that this measure, which states that Texas can deport individuals to Mexico, would require cooperation from Mexico. And Mexico has already denounced this measure -- condemning it and saying that it's not going to take deportations from the state of Texas and that it plans to maintain its bilateral relationship with the United States.

With all that said, we're going to see what happens. Oral arguments start today at 10:00 a.m. Eastern -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Rosa Flores, thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: Overnight, The Wall Street Journal released new polling from swing states. And as you can see here, a lot of red. Donald Trump leading President Biden in six of seven swing states. Only in Wisconsin does President Biden hold a very small lead. With us now, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten. And the question, Harry, is why? What are you seeing underneath the numbers that might contribute to the leads for Donald Trump, particularly when it comes to support for President Biden among Democrats?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yeah, you know, let's take a look here.

So this is approval among Democrats on Biden's handling of a lot of different issues here. The economy and Russia-Ukraine, pretty good, right -- 81 percent. Jump down to foreign policy and you see this drops to 65 percent. Gun violence, 60 percent. U.S.-Mexico border, 58 percent. These are not good numbers for a Democrat amongst his own party.

But look here -- the Israel-Hamas war. Look at that approval rating. Less than 50 percent of Democrats are approving of Joe Biden on the Israel-Hamas war. And more than that, John, these numbers have gotten significantly worse. So this Democrats' view of Biden on the Israel- Hamas war.

Look back in October of 2023. It was 67 percent. Look where we are today -- 48 percent. That disapproved number -- look at that. It jumped up from 28 percent in October of 2023 to 46 percent. Now, this is within the margin of error. Democrats are split on Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

John, you know I look at poll numbers a lot. For a president to be doing this poorly amongst his own party on any issue is quite something to see.

BERMAN: Very unusual. The question is will this translate to actual votes?

ENTEN: Yeah, will this translate to actual votes? All right. So let's take a look here. This is Democrats' choice for president, all right.

If you like Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war, look here. Joe Biden, 94 percent. Donald Trump, two percent. That's about what you'd expect to see, right? Very largely for the Democratic candidate. Maybe just a few Democratic voters going in the other direction.

But take a look here -- if you dislike Biden on the Israel-Hamas war. Look, Joe Biden is still getting the lion's share of these voters at 81 percent. But this is a significant chunk of Democratic voters who are going in the other direction -- 15 percent.

So what essentially we're looking at here is a 66-point margin versus -- look here -- a 92-point margin.

BERMAN: You can't be losing 15 percent of Democrats if you're Donald -- if you're Joe Biden.

ENTEN: You cannot be doing that. This type of base going in the other direction is something you can't have, especially if you have Independents who are also turning against you. BERMAN: What else are you seeing in terms of enthusiasm?

ENTEN: Yeah, what else are we seeing? So, vote choice is one thing. What about enthusiasm, right, because you actually have to go out there and vote.

Let's take a look here, all right? So this is Democrats who are extremely motivated to turn out and vote in November. If they like Biden on the Israel-Hamas war -- 63 percent of those Democrats say that they are extremely motivated to turn out and vote in November. That's equal, in fact, to the percentage of Republicans overall who say they're extremely motivated to turn out in November.

But if they dislike Biden on the Israel-Hamas war, look here. Just 53 percent of Democrats -- of these Democrats are extremely motivated to vote in 2024.

So it's two things that are going on here, right? First off, the Democrats who don't like Joe Biden on the Israel-Hamas war -- they're more likely to favor Donald Trump. The second thing that's going on here is they're less likely to turn out.

This is something, again, you point out. Correlation is not always causation but in this particular case, what we're seeing is clear correlation. If Democrats don't like Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war they're less likely to turn out and they're less likely to vote for Joe Biden if they do.

BERMAN: Very interesting, Harry Enten. Thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's jump right off of that. Joining us right now is senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News, Andrew Desiderio. And CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe, Jackie Kucinich.

So, Jackie, this view amongst Democrats on Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war -- it's what drove the protest vote in Wisconsin last night. John asked the important question: How does that -- will that translate to votes in the general? Stand by to stand by on that.

[07:55:00]

But before then, how does that translate to how Biden's campaign plans to push back or fix this, or make Democrats feel better? And how does this translate to how Trump's team is going to try to capitalize on this?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE (via Webex by Cisco): So you've seen Biden -- I mean, particularly, in the last two or three months, really start reaching out to communities that are upset about what's happening in Gaza. I mean, we saw yesterday -- and you've seen his rhetoric toward Israel

change after those seven workers for the World Central Kitchen were killed yesterday. You saw probably one of the more strong statements out of the White House criticizing Israel's handling of the war in Gaza. So I think that -- we'll see if that's going to be enough.

I think the real question -- and Harry alluded to this -- is if these voters come home. These aren't voters who are going to go vote for the former president because I think there's a recognition that he will not take the more humanitarian path here when it comes to Gaza. However, whether they stay home or not, that's going to be the real question here.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, absolutely.

And, Andrew, we know your congressional chops (PH). Another question can be and another measure of this can be how does -- how do the numbers that they were just running through -- how does this translate to Congress? How congressional Democrats are responding to their constituents and to Biden's handling of this, and the general conversation on Capitol Hill now of U.S. aid to Israel?

ANDREW DESIDERIO, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Yeah. The problem for President Biden right now is that there is really nothing he can say on this issue that will satisfy the wide swath of the Democratic coalition on this particular issue.

And what we're seeing on Capitol Hill right now is some Democrats even floating the possibility of forcing votes on blocking new weapons sales to Israel. There are a lot of Democrats who feel that the president should be using the leverage that the United States inherently has over Israel to try to prompt a course correction. For example, try to prevent Israel from going into the city of Raffa, which the United States -- the White House believes would be a grave mistake.

There are Democrats who strongly believe that and who are willing to force these votes on Capitol Hill. And if that does happen, that could -- that could really split the party and that could spell problems for President Biden who then will have to be dealing with Congress trying to dictate his policy on this, which Congress has not really said much to date that's substantive that's tried to either restrict him or push him to do something in particular as it relates to the Gaza war. He's really been dictating that policy himself.

BOLDUAN: And if -- even if these would end up being "show votes" that's still kind of a P.R. disaster and a messaging disaster in the middle of a presidential election, of course, with your own party.

Jackie, the warning signs for Biden, as we're just discussing, out of Wisconsin in the primary last night. But also, warning signs for Donald Trump. Republican voters --

KUCINICH: Right.

BOLDUAN: -- are voting for other Republican candidates that are not Trump even though the primary is over. Voters going for Nikki Haley and even Ron DeSantis. The way that we have it is add it all together -- upward of 100,000 Wisconsin state Republicans went to the polls Tuesday and checked a box for someone or thing other than Trump.

What's the message there?

KUCINICH: If the Biden campaign is not reaching out to these voters, I think there's a lot of pressure to do just that. You know, we -- it was, what, 13 percent? These states -- you know, Wisconsin, Michigan -- these are going to be very small margins, so he can't afford to lose this -- those voters.

And some of the rhetoric we're hearing come out of the Trump campaign -- be it on immigration, be it on abortion -- might not push these voters to the former president. It might push them away. We'll have to wait and see.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, absolutely.

And speaking of the messaging, Andrew, two things that Donald Trump has been pushing and continued to -- we saw yesterday on the trail -- is the border and how he describes it as Biden's border problem. And also, the fear of -- I describe it as kind of the fear of the what's next if it's not Donald Trump.

Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If we don't win on November 5, I think our country is going to cease to exist. It could be the last election we ever have. I actually mean that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: He has said this before, Andrew. What do you think he's feeding into? What aspect of this election is he speaking to -- is he trying to harness here among -- for voters?

DESIDERIO: I think he's just trying to push this idea of the criticism of him being -- I want to be authoritarian, I want to be dictator -- trying to push that onto Joe Biden and saying look, if he wins this election he's just going to be a dictator forever and the country is going to be totally lost, right? That is his response I think to what we're seeing being charged against him by Democrats. And to the extent that this will work, probably not.