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Special Counsel Jack Smith Asks Judge Aileen Cannon to Reconsider Her Proposed Jury Instructions in Classified Documents Trial of Donald Trump; Donald Trump Criticizes Judge in Hush Money Case on His Social Media Platform Truth Social; Urgent Search for Survivors after Deadly Taiwan Earthquake; Severe Weather Threats for More than 25 Million on East Coast; Biden: Israel Has Not Done Enough to Protect Aid Workers. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 03, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

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ANDREW DESIDERIO, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: And to the extent that this will work, probably not. But in states like Wisconsin, for example, and Michigan, where these margins were so razor thin in both 2020 and 2016, this type of rhetoric could turn off enough Republican voters, enough independent voters, such that it could make a difference.

And I think it's really fascinating that you're seeing Republicans and Trump in particular pivot back to this immigration-related rhetoric in the wake of the "Newsweek" got a couple of days ago on the abortion issue, for example, in the state of Florida. Democrats feel like they can really capitalize on this issue. Republicans are trying to find an issue that they feel like they can capitalize on once again. Immigration and border security is something that they feel like is a winning issue for them.

Of course, that's made more complicated by the fact that Republicans in Congress killed the bipartisan border security agreement that was reached between a group of senators and the White House earlier this year. So I think this is really an attempt by Republicans to shift the narrative back to an issue, immigration and border security, that they think is beneficial to them at the same time that Democrats are set to benefit from the abortion issue.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And as this ticks on, you control -- you control and shift the narrative, you control the message, better chance that you have of winning up and down the ticket. Jackie, it's great to see you. Andrew, thank you so much for coming on.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the breaking news, dramatic video of destruction, the worst earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years. This morning, the frantic search for survivors.

An extraordinary moment at the White House. A doctor walked out of a meeting with the president. So what caused this tense moment? And what observers see as Special Counsel Jack Smith bursting with

frustration. His major move overnight to push back on the judge overseeing the Mar-a-Lago documents case.

Sara is out. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL

BOLDUAN: Overnight, Special Counsel Jack Smith taking on the judge overseeing the classified documents case in a new way, confronting Judge Aileen Cannon over her requests for jury instructions that embrace Donald Trump's claims that he had broad authority to take the documents with him when he left the White House. Smith pushing back hard on this, writing this in part in the filing, "The court should be aware at the outset that Trump's entire effort to rely on the PRA," Presidential Records Act, "is not based on any facts. It is a post hoc justification that was concocted more than a year after he left the White House."

Also this, saying, "There is no basis in law or fact for that legal presumption. The court should reject Trumps effort to invent one as a vehicle to inject the Presidential Records Act into this case."

Let's get over to CNN's Zach Cohen for much more on this. Zach, there was a lot to read as this came in while everyone was sleeping. What else did the special counsel say in here?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Kate, this simmering frustration that we've been sensing from Jack Smith towards Aileen Cannon, the judge in this case, seemed to come to a head last night in this filing from the special counsel's office. They are taking issue with this odd order from Aileen Cannon that came in about, or last month. And it asked both sides to submit briefs for these jury instructions, outlining two different scenarios. One, outlining jury instructions that assumes that the president has the authority under the Presidential Records Act to take these classified records home. And the second one is a scenario where it assumed that Donald Trump had broad authority as president to declassify different documents, both of which Jack Smith argues could, quote, distort the trial if the jury is sort of read in on these two scenarios as if they are fact. As you read in the intro, too, he takes serious issue with Aileen Cannon's assumption that both of these scenarios should be in the jury's minds as they hear testimony if and when this case goes to trial.

BOLDUAN: Zach, thank you so much for that.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN legal analyst, former chief assistant district attorney of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, Karen Friedman Agnifilo. Karen, this filing overnight from Jack Smith, in some of the language you kind of read the frustration. It's as if he's saying, come on. Like, no one takes this seriously. How can you make us file something like this? What do you read in here?

KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Look, it's not unusual for a judge to ask the parties for proposed jury instructions before a trial. But what is unusual is she posed to hypothetical scenarios, both of which have no basis in the law.

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She's trying to inject the Presidential Records Act, which Donald Trump is not charged with violating the Presidential Records Act. He's charged with a law, the Espionage Act, that has been in existence for 100 years. And there are many jury instructions that are samples or examples that she could have drawn from, but none look anything like the hypotheticals that she is proposing.

And in both scenarios, he's essentially saying to the jury that Donald Trump can decide whether he can possess these highly classified documents. And so in either scenario, there's no way that you would convict him. And so Jack Smith is frustrated, saying that's not the law here. And why are we instructing -- why are you proposing that we give an unlawful instruction to the jury?

And so he's asking her to rule one way or the other because he's clearly going to -- he's setting this up for an appeal. And I think although he doesn't say it in his motion, his frustration indicates to me that he is getting ready to ask that she be recused from this case. This is just one of a series of strange, unlawful, whether it's orders or decisions that she has made that is made legal analysts across the country scratch their heads because they make no sense. They don't look anything like what people are used to or what's in the law.

And so she's inexperienced. She is not a judge who has been around for a long time, and I think her inexperience is really showing because she's just doing things that have no basis in the law.

BOLDUAN: And play this -- play that out for us. If he's setting up for an appeal, if simmering frustration is seen and you see that kind of potentially leading for him asking for her to be recused, what does that do to this entire process?

AGNIFILO: So it obviously will delay it because he would, Jack Smith would file a writ of mandamus with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. And that obviously takes time. But although there is a trial date set for May, there is no scenario in which this trial will go in May because there are so many rulings that this judge still has not ruled on, including the Classified Information Procedures Act and other rulings that just are our foundational and need to be ruled upon.

So this is -- this case is not going anytime in the near future anyway, although Judge Cannon has not said that nor has she put of more a future trial date on the calendar. So I think Jack Smith is not worried, I would assume, about the fact that his appeal will delay things.

And also, look, he has no choice at this point, because once a juror, a jury is sworn, something called jeopardy attaches, which means that if she does give these erroneous instructions and they acquit, he can't appeal that. Double jeopardy will apply, and the case is over forever. So this is the kind of issue that you can't appeal later. So it has to happen now. And these instructions are tailored so much in favor of Trump and for an acquittal that Jack Smith would have no choice but to appeal this now.

BERMAN: It's almost an act of legal desperation. He's got to do it now or never. Kate, you wanted to ask about the New York criminal case.

BOLDUAN: Just leaning on your experience when it comes to this expanded gag order and Donald Trump calling out the judge on Truth Social yesterday, calling him a corrupt New York judge, saying there's virtually never been a more conflicted judge than this one, you have been before this judge. You've been before Merchan before. You know this judge. How does he operate in a courtroom?

AGNIFILO: He's a very down the middle, judge. Nobody would say he's pro defense or pro prosecution. He's like a judge's judge, right. He calls balls and strikes. He's very measured. He's not one to lose his temper. He's not one to be friendly with people. He just, he comes in he does his job, and he does it in a kind of understated way, yet he also keeps very tight control of his courtroom. And so he is someone, he's the kind of judge you'd want on a case like this.

So to call him bias, to call him somebody who is partisan, that is not something that those of us who have appeared before him for years, many years, would ever say about this judge. You could say that about some other judges, but this is not that kind of judge.

BERMAN: Karen Friedman Agnifilo, great to have you on this morning. Thanks so much.

So just in, a huge jump in the number of people injured in the earthquake in Taiwan. And we are standing by for an update on the more than 100 people still trapped in the rubble.

And new election results overnight shows Donald Trump lost thousands of votes to a candidate no longer in the race.

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And for the first-time the FDA has cleared a digital treatment for depression. The new app you need a prescription to download.

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BOLDUAN: And breaking news overnight, a huge earthquake hit Taiwan. We're showing you right now. This is live video from Taiwan where search and rescue efforts are continuing right now after the quake rocked the eastern part of the island. Several buildings collapsed, as you can very clearly see, many other so damaged are now dramatically leaning to the side. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the island in a quarter century. At least nine people have been reported killed so far, more than 900, though, have now been reported wounded.

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Overnight, 75 people were trapped inside of tunnels, thankfully, we've been told that they were rescued but nearly 200 more remain believed to be trapped in the rubble. The epicenter of the 7.4 magnitude quake was in a mountainous area on

the East Coast of Taiwan.

Security cameras -- we are going to show you this -- show what happened inside cafe when it began. Bottles very clearly just tumbling off of shells and shattering all across the floor in this one cafe.

The earthquake also hit during the morning commute, and we are showing you video right now, you see off in the left side of your screen, that cloud of dust just descending on this town as the earthquake caused a massive landslide.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery is tracking all of this continuing for us for us. we are showing this live video right beside you, Hanako.

What's the very latest that you're hearing from authorities?

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, I mean really, really shocking video like you just showed there.

So in terms of the scale of devastation, like you mentioned, we know that at least nine people have died and more than 900 people have been injured because of this really powerful earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks that have shaken the island.

Now, we also know that of the nine who were killed, all of them were found dead in Hualien County, which is like you mentioned on the eastern side of Taiwan, and it was very close to the epicenter. It is also where were seeing most of the significant damage take place in Taiwan.

Now for some context, Hualien County is a really popular tourist destination. It is a rural area and it is also coincidentally where most of Taiwan's earthquakes actually take place.

Now, in Hualien County, authorities are telling us that 137 people are still trapped. We knew that some people were trapped in tunnels, those people were safely rescued, but now we are hearing that 137 people, a majority of them in a mining area are still trapped.

Now, authorities are trying to rescue them by deploying military troops who are working with local government in trying to evacuate these people, try to get them to safety.

Now, Taiwanese authorities are also warning people in Taiwan about aftershocks. They are saying, in the next several days, we could see aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 6.5 to 7.0, which are really actually quite astounding.

And let me tell you, as someone who lives in a really seismically active country, Japan, these aftershocks are no joke. I mean, you never know when they're going to start. You never know when they're going to stop and it almost feels like the shaking just never, ever stops, Kate.

Now, also because of these aftershocks, we are seeing plans disrupted for Tomb Sweeping Day.

Tomb Sweeping Day in the Chinese-speaking world is when people visit their ancestors' tombs and pay them respects, say hello to their loved ones.

But again, because of these aftershocks and the damage that we are seeing just across Taiwan, many people are just having to put an end to their plans -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Hanako keep us updated. Thank you very much for that -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, there is nothing more unnerving than aftershocks.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Coming after earthquakes like this.

This morning, more than 35 million people along the East Coast under severe weather alerts. This is from the same system that spawned tornadoes and powerful storms in the South and Midwest overnight.

One of those tornadoes touched down in Kentucky ripping apart homes and leaving a trail of debris.

Meteorologist, Elisa Raffa joins us now.

The sun is coming up in some of these areas. What are we seeing?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We can really see the damage that is left behind after two very active dates for a lot of the country. We are looking at least 12 tornadoes reported just on the overnight last night, stretching from Kentucky, Tennessee, even down towards Georgia and the Alabama.

Some wind gusts reported as much as 90 to 100 miles per hour in some places.

We still have a tornado watch in effect for Southern Georgia, the Florida Panhandle through one o'clock this afternoon because were still finding tornadoes spinning up along this line.

Right now, we have a severe storm warning for parts of Southern Georgia. The storm now stretches all the way up into New England and the Great Lakes.

I mean, look at this. Heavy rain coming into New York and Philly, snow in Chicago, just wide-ranging problems.

Flood watches in effect, for most of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, because we could get one to three inches of rain to come down pretty quickly.

And this storm has so much spin to it. We've got wind alerts on either side of the storm and with all of that spin, that is where were getting the severe weather risk.

So it continues today from DC down through Charleston, down to Orlando and Tampa for damaging winds, primarily today, large hail, still can't rule out an isolated tornado.

The storm system continues to spin through today. You could see the heavy rain slinging through some big cities along the East Coast from New York up to Boston. But that cold air starts to sandwich in from behind, so we start to get the mixing of the ice and the snow as we go through the next day or two.

And yes, it is April.

Look at the winter alerts for up to a foot of snow, even a blizzard warning up in parts of the great lakes.

BERMAN: All right, Elisa Raffa, 15 inches of snow in some parts of New England. Wow.

All right -- Kate.

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BOLDUAN: It is April. It is time to be done with the snow.

Coming up for us, outrage from the Oval Office. President Biden, with some of his harshest words yet in criticizing Israel after the strike that killed aid workers with World Central Kitchen. More coming from the White House on this today.

And a cascade of avoidable errors. The new government review hitting Microsoft over a Chinese hack that breached its network and also government e-mail accounts.

We will be back.

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BOLDUAN: President Biden with some of his harshest words yet towards Israel, criticizing Israel over the deaths of seven aid workers from Jose Andres' aid organization, World Central Kitchen.

Now, Israel has apologized and the IDF saying that they are investigating the airstrike that killed the aid workers in Gaza, but Biden aired his frustrations also to a small group of Muslim community leaders during a meeting at the White House last night, though, one Palestinian-American doctor in the meeting walked out in the middle of it in protest.

Here he is speaking to CNN afterward.

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DR. THAER AHMAD, WALKED OUT OF WHITE HOUSE MEETING: We are not satisfied with what has taken place. There has been no concrete steps, but keep in mind, we are very concerned about the people that are over in the Gaza Strip that are in Palestine right now, who are not just starving, but are facing the threat of a looming Rafah invasion.

And so I was able to share that with the president and let him know that out of respect for my community, out of respect for all of the people who have suffered and who have been killed in the process, I need to walk out of the meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House with more on this.

What more is President Biden saying now, Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, President Biden's statement on the deaths of these World Central Kitchen workers really amount to some of his sharpest language yet when it comes to criticizing Israel for its operations in Gaza.

A senior administration official told CNN that the death of these aid workers has really raised the frustrations of President Biden and his top advisers to a whole new level, that was evidenced in the statement released by Biden last night where the very first words written were: "I am outraged."

The president also use that statement as an opportunity to call out Israel for not doing enough to protect civilians and humanitarian workers in Gaza. He said: "This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memories in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians."

Incidents like yesterday's simply should not happen. The president also picked up the phone to talk with Chef Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen to express his condolences for the lives lost, including one dual US-Canadian citizen.

But this moment really highlights some of the tension that we've seen between the US and Israel. The president has increasingly called for Israel to take greater care when it comes to protecting civilians and also urging them to get more humanitarian aid into the country.

Of course, the president is also facing pressure here at home from a Arab, Muslim, and young voters frustrated with his handling of this crisis, but one of the big questions going forward is whether the deaths of these aid workers will alter the president's strategy in any way when it comes to approach to dealing with Israel and Netanyahu.

BOLDUAN: Good question. Thank you so much, Arlette. Great to see you.

Coming up for us, Taylor Swift is entering yet another new era and there are a billion reasons to be even more impressed with her latest milestone. And a swing-state scare for President Biden, new polling out that

suggests this morning, he is facing an uphill battle -- an uphill climb in several battleground states now.

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