Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Biden Expresses Outrage over Israeli Strike; New Wall Street Journal Poll; Deadly Quake Hits Taiwan; Massive Storm Slams Ohio Valley; Nick Akerman is Interviewed about Jack Smith Blasting the Judge. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 03, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, the urgent search for survivors after a devastating earthquake. Hundreds still trapped under the rubble this morning.

Some of the biggest names in music warning against artificial intelligence. They say it could sabotage their creativity.

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

BOLDUAN: A new "Wall Street Journal" poll, a presidential poll, out this morning shows Donald Trump leading President Biden in six of seven swing states. The exception here is Wisconsin. Biden holding a tight lead there.

It's also where thousands of progressive voters used last night's presidential primary to protest Biden's handling of Israel's war against Hamas. More than 45,000 voters picked uninstructed on the ballot. And that is more than twice the margin that Biden had when he won the state back in 2020.

Last night, President Biden came out also with some of his harshest words yet toward Israel, criticizing Israel over the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers. They were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. He shared those frustrations also with a small group of Muslim community leaders during a meeting at the White House last night. It wasn't enough to keep one Palestinian American doctor from walking out in the middle of the meeting in protest.

Arlette Saenz is at the White House, back with us with much more on this.

What more can you tell us about this meeting that happened last night, Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Kate, President Biden hosted a small group of Muslim leaders here at the meeting - at the White House for a meeting last evening. Now, one of the attendees from that meeting told CNN that the president did raise and discuss the deaths of those seven aid workers who are working for World Central Kitchen to distribute aid in Gaza.

And the president, yesterday, also issued some of his most forceful language yet when it comes to criticizing Israel for the conflict in Gaza. A senior administration official told CNN that the deaths of these World Central Kitchen workers has really raised the frustration among President Biden and his top advisers to a whole new level. That was evidenced in the statement President Biden released last night. The very first word saying, quote, "I am outraged." A word that he has rarely used in this conflict.

The president also, in his statement, criticized Israel for not doing more to protect civilians and humanitarian aid workers. He said, "this conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory 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 spoke by phone with Chef Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen, to express his condolences for the lives lost, including one dual U.S.-Canadian citizen.

But really this incident highlights some of the tension points between the U.S. and Israel. The president has increasingly warned Israel that they need to take greater care to protect civilians and also to get more humanitarian aid into Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

But the president, as you noted, is also facing domestic pressures here at home. In that small meeting last night with Muslim leaders, some of the people in attendance were doctors who have been on the ground in Gaza and seen the suffering firsthand. And one of those doctors, Ahmad (ph), told CNN that he walked out of that meeting in protest.

Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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're 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)

SAENZ: So clearly there are a lot of raw emotions around this issue. An increasingly complicated dynamic for President Biden. But one big question going forward is whether the deaths of these World Central Kitchen aid workers will alter the president's strategy in any way when it comes to his approach to Israel, his approach to Netanyahu as this campaign in Gaza to root out Hamas continues.

BOLDUAN: Arlette, great to have you there. Thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN's senior data reporter, Harry Enten.

Harry, Kate was talking about these new "Wall Street Journal" polls from key swing states. What do they show?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL DATA REPORTER: Yes, let's take a look at sort of - we'll take a broad look here. And these - this is the aggregate, of course, across these seven swing states, right? And I want to keep an eye out on the Kennedy factor.

So, what we see in the two-way is that Joe Biden is trailing Donald Trump 47 to 44 percent.

[09:05:04]

When you include that third parties, both Trump and Biden go down. Kennedy pops up with an 11 percent. But that three-point margin stays the same. Kennedy is basically taking from both Joe Biden and Donald Trump. A little bit more in some states from Biden, a little bit more from Trump in the other swing states. But overall, not much of an impact on the top line.

And as Kate was going at, and we've been harping on all morning, look, this is the margin across these seven key swing states with Kennedy included and the other third-party candidates. Look, there's just a lot of red on this board.

BERMAN: Yes.

ENTEN: Only a little bit of blue down in Wisconsin. But this basically matches what we've been seeing in other polling taken throughout this cycle, and that is that Donald Trump is in significantly better shape at this point in the 2024 cycle than he was at this point in the 2020 cycle.

BERMAN: Very consistent with all the other polling.

ENTEN: Correct.

BERMAN: From each and every one of these states that we've seen. Part of the question is why, when you look at the issues and things.

ENTEN: Yes, why? Why? You know, I like to dig down and look at the why. What is going on?

All right, trusted more, again, this is across all of these key seven swing states. Look, Donald Trump is trusted more than Joe Biden on basically all the important issues. The economy, inflation, 20 point lead, immigration, border, 20 point lead, the Israel-Hamas war, 14 point lead, the Russia-Ukraine war, nine point lead. Protecting democracy, well within the margin of error, which I think is something that should really worry that Biden camp give that he has been harping at - Democrats been harping on this, just a one-point advantage.

BERMAN: Yes.

ENTEN: And on abortion, Democrats and Joe Biden have a 12 point advantage. They would love this campaign to be about abortion, but at this particular point it's about this and it's about this, with perhaps a little bit of this. And all these issues favor Donald Trump.

BERMAN: Yes.

And, look, and you note, the Democrats and President Biden have been running on democracy, and that's a wash right now.

ENTEN: It is a wash. And this is not the only poll that shows it. I was looking at Quinnipiac University poll last month - or last week, excuse me, that showed the exact same thing. And it's something that RFK Jr. said to our colleague, Erin Burnett, saying, you know, I'm not really quite sure. Joe Biden may, in fact, be worse at protecting democracy. Turns out, a lot of voters really agree on that.

One little last thing I'll point out, is the U.S. on the right track or wrong track in presidential elections? Right track, 25 percent. Average when the president party loses since 1980, 25 percent.

BERMAN: Looks very much (INAUDIBLE) that type of campaign that we've seen before right now.

ENTEN: Exactly. Exactly.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, great to see you. Thank you.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about this.

Joining us right now is Maura Gillespie. She's the founder and principal of Bluestack Strategies and the former press secretary - press advisor to then Speaker of the House John Boehner, and more recently Adam Kinzinger, and CNN political commentator, former White House communications director to Joe Biden, Kate Bedingfield.

It's great to see you guys. Thanks for coming in.

Kate, let me start with you.

Let's talk about the overall in this snapshot in time with this "Wall Street Journal" poll. Six of the seven, Donald Trump has the lead. Exception is Wisconsin. That translates to what conversation should be, could be having about strategy right now in these critical states in the Biden team?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, well, look, I mean, presidential campaigns are always about where you focus your resources. Now, one thing the Biden campaign has going for it, they have a massive resource advantage over the Trump campaign. They have more money, which means they have more pathways, they have more states where they can, you know, play effectively.

You know, I think what we've seen across the course of the last month, since the State of the Union, as the Biden campaign and President Biden has been out blitzing the country, we have seen the polling averages come up. Obviously, this "Wall Street Journal" poll today not great for the Biden campaign. But we have seen the polling average come up in these battleground states. We've seen the trend lines moving in the right direction. Obviously, the election is not tomorrow. It is still seven months away. There's still a very long time to sharpen the case, to draw this contrast, and to bring forward the issues you kind of heard Harry referencing this. You know, for the Biden campaign, they have to - they have to think about how they can bring to the forefront the issues where Biden has the advantage. Abortion is obviously one. You know, how can they really ensure that this campaign is about what's at stake, what a Donald Trump second term would really mean on these issues, and how can they draw that clear contrast? They have seven months to do it. That's a very, very long time in politics. But there's a lot of work ahead of them, no question.

BOLDUAN: No question at all.

And one thing that we also have come - you can see it in the - in the polling, but you also have some concrete, interesting information and warning signs for Donald Trump coming out of the Wisconsin primary last night, Maura, I wanted to ask you about because you've got Republican voters voting for other Republican candidates that are not Trump. And the way they - the way they put it together is that upwards of 100,000, if you add it all together when you're looking at the Republican primary in Wisconsin, is they voted last night, upward of 100,000 Wisconsin state Republicans went to the polls Tuesday and checked the box for someone or thing other than Donald Trump. That translates to what going forward?

MAURA GILLESPIE, FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL, BLUESTACK STRATEGIES: That he does not have the full support of the people he needs to actually get back to the White House.

[09:10:04]

And he hasn't really - really seemed to grasp that concept yet because he's been, you know, playing to the base so heavily and using rhetoric that he knows will gin them up and speak to them. But he's not speaking to those who were voting for anyone else that were up there. You had the 14 that initially started out in this primary with the Republican GOP field. He's not trying to speak to any of those people and he's certainly not trying to speak to people who were looking to Nikki Haley as their choice. So, you know, if he really wants to be back at the White House, which

he has made very clear he does, he doesn't think that America can survive without him, well, then he needs to be talking a different tune to some people who he needs in order to get that White House job back.

BOLDUAN: And, Kate, kind of added together, I'm curious your thoughts on the approach or what it kind of means in the future, because you've got Republicans kind of, I don't know if it's protests voting against Trump in Wisconsin in this primer. You have the protest vote sending a message to Biden on the Democratic side in Wisconsin, which was a not insignificant number of people. I think it was 8 percent of the people who turned out, did this uninstructed on the ballot. Is - what do you do with that as a campaign? Do you think that those people who were voting for Nikki Haley on the ballot are getable for the Biden campaign? Do you - how concerned is the Biden campaign that the people who voted uninstructed, that they will stay home or vote for Donald Trump?

BEDINGFIELD: Yes, well, look, I don't think there's any question that there is fatigue across the electorate. I mean we see that in every poll. We see it in every focus group. People feel tired of politics. It's, you know, you could - I think you could argue since Donald Trump really came on the scene in 2016, politics has taken a turn for the even more negative. People are tired of it. And they've got frustrations with both candidates. No question. So, I think strategically for the Biden campaign, I think what they've got to do is they have to cast as wide a net as possible.

Donald Trump is not putting forward an inclusive message. He's not putting forward a message of optimism or hope, or really even a message that's focused on the future. I mean really, you know, his messages is a lot about his own personal grievances and in the past. So, for the Biden campaign strategically, I think in order to energize some of these people who feels sort of turned off by politics, they have to put forward an optimistic message. They also have to be very clear about the stakes. I think they cannot beat around the bush in terms of what a second Trump term will look like in terms of threats to our democracy, in terms of just the overall sense of chaos. I mean that was something that people really disliked about the first Trump term. And the Biden campaign has to remind people what that felt like and what that kind of uncertainty felt like having Donald Trump in the White House.

So, you know, I think the Trump - so far what we've seen from Donald Trump is giving Joe Biden a huge opening to do that. I think they have a pathway. And they just have to keep driving that contrast for the next seven months.

BOLDUAN: Lots of openings, lots of uphill battles, and lots of time left.

It's great to have you guys here. It's great to see you. Thanks so much.

Coming up for us, more than 100 people are still trapped in the rubble. Several buildings have collapsed. We've seen terrifying videos coming out of that massive earthquake that rocked Taiwan overnight. We're going to bring you an update on what happened and how things are going.

There's also new video this morning of the powerful storm that brought damaging winds, dangerous hail and tornadoes reported touching down in parts of the Ohio Valley.

Special counsel Jack Smith confronting Judge Aileen Cannon, directly questioning her moves in Trump's classified documents case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:07]

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, more than 100 people are trapped by the rubble after Taiwan was hit with the strongest earthquake in 25 years. The epicenter of the 7.4 magnitude quake was in a mountainous area on the east coast of the island. Shaking brought the morning commute to a standstill. Look at some of these pictures of what it must have been like driving there. Look at that bus shaking back and forth.

There was a frightening moment inside a subway car as well. You can see people underground, or aboveground at this case, trying to hold on, on that train as it shakes back and forth.

We have a stunning picture from a rooftop swimming pool. Look at that. Look at the huge waves in a small pool. That gives you a sense of how violent the shaking was.

In a newsroom, about three hours away from the epicenter, in the capital city of Taipei, you can see the impact there of the earthquake. Again, three hours away from the epicenter.

Let's go to CNN's Hanako Montgomery tracking all of this for us.

I imagine it is nighttime, it is dark there, and these rescue efforts continue.

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, these rescue efforts are continuing because we still know that 137 people are trapped in Hualien County. Now, Hualien County is located on the eastern coast of Taiwan, which was very close to the epicenter, like you mentioned, and where we're seeing a majority of the significant devastation in Taiwan.

Now, for some context, Hualien County is a tourist hotspot. It's also a rural area and also where most of Taiwan's earthquakes actually take place. So, of those 137 people still trapped, Taiwanese authorities have told us that a majority of them are actually in a mining area. And they're trying to get to those people, trying to communicate with those who are still trapped.

[09:20:02] And they're trying to get those people out and to safer grounds by deploying military troops and working with local governments to get them there.

But, of course, some of these rescue efforts were affected by just really collapsed roads that have been destroyed due to that really powerful earthquake and those aftershocks.

Now, the Taiwanese government has also warned residents in Taiwan that we could still see aftershocks continuing for the next several days. They've said that the earthquakes - the aftershocks could have a magnitude of 6.5 to 7.0, which is very, very significant. And as someone who lives in a very seismically active country, who has experienced a lot of aftershocks from vary powerful earthquakes, I can tell you, John, that these are not to be taken lightly. They can still be very traumatizing for people in Taiwan. So, we're just going to be monitoring the news here to see what exactly we can see with rescue operators, to see whether more lives were rescued because of this very, very powerful earthquake.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, and again, some of the pictures we're seeing are just stunning. Those huge clouds of dust that were kicked up there. You know, people trying to drive. You can see the violence of the seismic activity.

Hanako, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and as you mentioned before, the aftershocks after an earthquakes big, they're earthquakes in and of themselves. Aftershocks is - almost like diminishes how scary they are.

BERMAN: It's so unnerving. It's so scary.

BOLDUAN: And it's going to be coming and coming and coming. We're going to keep close to this one.

But we're also tracking whether back here in the United States. Tens of thousands of people across the Ohio Valley are without power after massive storms slammed the region.

I'm going to show you some video. Take a look. It's pretty incredible view of wind sweeping a University of Kentucky student off his feet in the middle of the storm. Just looking at that. Poor guy. This storm - this series of storms not only brought those wild winds, but also hail and tornadoes to parts of the Midwest.

CNN's Athena Jones is in Ohio for us. She's joining us now.

Athena, unconfirmed reports of tornadoes touching down. What are you seeing?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kate. That's right, as you mentioned, the Ohio Valley has been struck by two back storms, starting Tuesday morning, continuing into the night. You can see here some of the wind damage. This is to an historic bridge. This bridge dates back to the 19th century. And until - before the storm, this bridge had a roof. You can see the extensive damage and the kind of repairs that are going to need to be done on what is now a pedestrian bridge. You can see part of the roof here off to one side. There are broken tree limbs and other pieces of this - of this structure scattered about.

We also see broken trees over here. And these creeks, we've come across several of them, have been - there were - the water was very -- was quite high. It's begun to go down. But that is one of the other issues. There has been flooding.

As you mentioned, there were two tornado warnings, but we're going to have National Weather Service teams out today assessing the damage. So we'll have to wait for official confirmation that tornadoes actually struck down here in Adams County.

There are extensive power outages across the region. We were just in town. Some businesses have some power, others have none at all. And according to poweroutagesus.com, there are more than about 19,000 people here in Ohio that are still without power, about 16,000 in Kentucky, but more than 100,000 in West Virginia.

We also know that schools here in Adams County are closed so that families can deal with the damage. But so far we haven't got the full confirmation that tornados touched down, but we have seen damage, power outages, and, luckily, no fatalities.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: No fatalities reported. You have to take that good news when you see some of this damage.

It's good to see your, Athena. Thank you.

Still ahead for us, a federal appeals court set to hear arguments today about that controversial Texas immigration law that would empower state judges to deport people.

And also this, more than 200 musical artists are joining forces and speaking out about the threats that they see of artificial intelligence on the music industry. They say it will sabotage creativity.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:50]

BOLDUAN: So, overnight, special counsel Jack Smith taking on the judge overseeing the classified documents case. Really 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 really quite hard in this filing, writing in part that "the court should be aware at the outset that Trump's entire effort to rely on the 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." And going on to say, "there is no basis in law or fact that legal presumption, and the court should reject Trump's effort to invent one as a vehicle to inject the Presidential Records Act into this case.

Let's get to it.

Joining us right now is Nick Akerman. He's the former assistant special Watergate prosecutor and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Nick, what do you think of this?

NICK AKERMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT SPECIAL WATERGATE PROSECUTOR: Jack Smith is 100 percent right, there is absolutely no connection to the Presidential Records Act to this case whatsoever. It does not allow president - former President Trump to have said that certain documents are personal.

[09:30:02]

Even the 11th Circuit, in considering the special master claim, made it very clear that Donald Trump has no