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Special Counsel Criticizes Judge's Handling Of Trump Classified Documents Case; Taiwan Faces A Challenging Rescue Operation Following Its Strongest Earthquake In 25 Years; Rare Israeli Airstrike Kills Aid Workers In Gaza; Apology From Israel For Strike On Food Truck Convoy In Gaza; Trump's Legal Battles Heat Up. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired April 03, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:21]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A fiery rebuke. Special Counsel Jack Smith blasting the Trump-appointed judge overseeing his Mar-a-Lago classified documents trial, accusing the judge of having a, quote, fundamentally flawed understanding of the case that has no basis in law or fact.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And Taiwan rocked by its strongest earthquake in 25 years. Right now, rescuers are scrambling to save dozens of people trapped in highway tunnels as aftershocks shake the island. And a rare apology from Israel after it strikes a convoy of food trucks in Gaza, killing humanitarian aid workers. The military says it was an accident, but CNN analysis is raising some serious concerns. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

SANCHEZ: The prosecution is now laying into the judge in the Trump classified documents case. Special Counsel Jack Smith is questioning Judge Eileen Cannon's understanding of the case in a new filing, suggesting that she's tilting the case in Donald Trump's favor. Now, this isn't the first time that Smith has taken issue with the Trump- appointed judge's handling of the case, but this is his most bluntly worded pushback yet. Let's break it down with CNN Chief Legal Correspondent Paula Reid. Paula, essentially Jack Smith is arguing that Judge Cannon is totally disconnected from the facts of the case. Help us understand what he's responding to.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT : Yeah, he's clearly had it. Look, he's very frustrated with Judge Eileen Cannon. She's a Trump appointee. She's only been on the bench for a few years, certainly never handled a case like this. But her approach has come under a lot of scrutiny, not only for decisions that she has actually made, but also for this backlog of things she hasn't yet decided. There's over a dozen motions still pending that she has not weighed in on. And here, she asked both sides to submit jury instructions related to the Presidential Records Act.

Well, that's a law, it's post-Watergate law that governs which documents, after an administration leaves, belong to the government. She said, I'd like one version that lays out all these documents that Trump brought to Mar-a-Lago, which ones are personal, which ones are presidential records. So then there's another version where you have to, assume that he had the right to take all of this down to Mar-a- Lago. And the special counsel was not having it. Boris, they wrote, both scenarios rest on an unstated and fundamentally flawed legal premise, namely that the Presidential Records Act, and in particular, its distinction between personal and presidential records, determines whether a former president is authorized under the Espionage Act to possess highly classified documents and store them in an unsecure facility. Now, they've signaled that if she goes this way, the kind of instructions that she's going to give a jury, they would likely appeal that, but any appeals process Boris, is going to have the effect of delaying this case.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, the prosecution is effectively saying that this case is not about the Presidential Records Act because Trump wasn't in office when some of these alleged crimes took place. How is the Trump team responding to this now?

REID: Well, of course, they love this, right? This is a defense, one of many, that they have floated. They've said, look, if you want us to distinguish which ones are presidential records and which ones are personal, clearly they would say they're all personal. On the other hand, if you have to assume that he had the right to take all of these, they're like, well, then why would we even be having a jury trial? They also suggested that the special counsel's office is going to have a difficult time proving that Trump knowingly retained classified documents, saying, quote, medical science has not yet devised an instrument which can record what was in one's mind in the distant past.

So clearly, they're being a bit cheeky, right? There's also a recording, I will remind everyone, where the former president talks about having these documents, acknowledging that he can no longer declassify them and that he probably shouldn't have them. So the special counsel clearly prepared to support and argue in support of him knowingly retaining these. But this is just another example of sort of the unusual moves happening down to this case that now, Boris, it appears pretty much impossible that this case would go before the election.

SANCHEZ: Contentious at this point, to say the least. Paula Reid, thanks so much for breaking that down for us. Brianna.

KEILAR: We're also following developments in former President Trump's Manhattan hush money, criminal case. With the trial set to begin here in 12 days, Trump's defense team is pulling out all the stops to push back that April 15th start date. The former president's lawyers are asking the judge to postpone because of all the publicity. Judge Juan Merchan previously rejected a similar motion, keep in mind, but that's not all. Trump's defense is also asking Merchan to recuse himself, something he also previously rejected. CNN's Kara Scannell is following this for us in New York. Kara, what's the latest here?

[14:05:09] KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Brianna, a lot of motions in just these final days before jury selection is set to begin in this case. Now, the one motion that you mentioned, the recusal motion, Trump's lawyers are asking the judge to recuse himself from this case based on work that his daughter does for a political consulting company. That company has in the past done work for the Biden campaign and for the Harris campaign. And they say that Trump's daughter, excuse me, that the judge's daughter stands to benefit financially from the trial because the trial will produce fodder for some Democrats and Trump rivals to fundraise off of. Now, the prosecutors in the case say that, you know, the judge has already looked at this. He's already rejected it. He consulted with an advisory on judicial ethics who said it was not the grounds to recuse. And they also argue that the filing offers no direct evidence that any of the clients would stand to profit or that his daughter would profit. And so they call it a daisy chain of innuendos. Now, this is being fully briefed. This came out in this process here is a pre-motion letter that will be fully briefed, expected by the end of the week, and then it will go before the judge, Brianna.

KEILAR: Where do things stand in this push to postpone the trial?

SCANNELL: So there have been several efforts to try to adjourn or push back the trial date. The latest one is that Trump's lawyers want to push back the date because of all the publicity around the case. They're saying that, you know, this case is going to take place in Manhattan, in New York County, which has voted primarily for Donald Trump's rivals, you know, overwhelmingly for Donald Trump's rivals. They say that the market is saturated with news and that they'll be unable to get a fair jury. Now, the judge has previously rejected this, saying, is it going to be better in May?

Is it going to be better in June? And he said, no, it won't get any better. And prosecutors responding to that today in which they say that, you know, this is a former president going on trial. The publicity is not going to stop. They also say that that's what jury selection process is for. They will ask questions to try to weed out anyone who could be biased, have a bias against Trump or a bias against the prosecution. You know, that is also before the judge and another motion that he'll have to decide on before jury selection begins on April 15th.

KEILAR: All right, Kara Scannell, thank you so much for that report. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective now with CNN legal analyst Carrie Cordero. Carrie, first, let's start with this motion to have Judge Merchan recuse himself. This question of whether there's a potential conflict based on his daughter doing work for this political consulting firm. Is that a substantial enough case that the Trump team is making that she might profit off of the case? Is it substantial enough to have the judge recuse himself?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the question is whether or not there's actual facts indicating that she really would profit off it. So I think what's happening right now is the former president's team is making the argument that she would. But I don't think that we at least publicly yet have seen in the filings that there's actual facts that support that assertion or that sort of hypothetical scenario that she would profit off of it. So from everything that I've seen so far, it looks like there is not an actual conflict that has been articulated. Instead, there's an allegation and so there isn't yet a basis upon which the judge would need to make a decision that he is not appearing to be biased in this case at all.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, so unlikely that he recuses himself. Let's talk about the classified documents case, because I was struck by special counsel Jack Smith's words in criticizing Judge Eileen Cannon. Asking for these jury instructions, effectively saying that she's disconnected from the facts of the case, saying that her understanding is fundamentally flawed. It has no basis in law or fact. Walk us through the substance of the argument here because she's essentially interpreting the Presidential Records Act in a way that would favor Trump in this case, right?

CORDERO: Yeah, there's a procedural piece and there's a law piece that goes with, I think, the concerns that the special counsel is expressing with respect to how Judge Cannon is approaching this case. So on the procedure, the way that she has presented this in terms of wanting jury instructions, on matters of law is odd and unusual. And it's not normally the way that a legal issue would be resolved. The jury instructions would come at the end of the process after the matters of law have already been settled. On the actual law itself, what it appears like is that Judge Cannon is entertaining arguments about how the Presidential Records Act applies in this case that is about the Espionage Act, provisions under the Espionage Act. And how classified documents are. supposed to be handled. And on that, if Judge Cannon's going down that path.

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And what the special counsel needs is they need to be able to make those arguments before they actually have the trial, not at the end of the stage when it comes to jury instruction. So I think this is starting to head towards looking that there will be more briefs, there potentially could be. I think the special counsel is looking for an opportunity to appeal this, which might help them on the law in the long run, but will delay things.

SANCHEZ: Oh, and that's part of the goal, at least it's been from the Trump team for quite some time in just about every case. I'm wondering, because as you noted, there's the law and then there's kind of the approach from an almost an interpersonal standpoint. How does it go for prosecutors after they blast a judge like this using language that seems to say that they don't know what they're talking about?

CORDERO: Well, it's strong language in the brief and they do, these prosecutors are continuing to have to appear before this judge and she has to settle matters in their particular case. But I think they're more interested in preserving their arguments and making very clear arguments for appeal. And I think in some ways they are trying to convey to her in the strongest possible terms that she really needs to take another look at how she's interpreting the Presidential Records Act or how it appears she might be leaning towards interpreting the Presidential Records Act. And warning her that they think that she is really wrong on the law.

SANCHEZ: Is it fair to- it is speculation ultimately- but is it fair to say that it's possible she made this move going first for jury instructions on this specific question of the Presidential Records Act, anticipating that the special counsel would appeal, anticipating that there would be a fight over this?

CORDERO: Well, I think she would likely have been able to observe that the Justice Department would disagree with her on this approach under the law. So it may be that she is using it as a venue to be able to work these issues out on appeal. But really if one of her instructions with respect to the Presidential Records Act, if that line of argument was successful, the case would have ended. I mean, she would have needed to have granted summary judgment for the defense and the Justice Department would have needed to appeal that. So one of her proposed jury instruction guidelines that she wanted them to weigh in on would have meant the end of the case. And so I think the prosecutors are seeing that. And so they need to be able to have her either resolve these issues and back away from that line of arguments, or they need to be able to appeal.

SANCHEZ: Carrie Cordero, it is not simple. It's complicated. We appreciate having your expertise shed light on this stuff.

CORDERO: Thank You

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.

CORDERO: Thank you

SANCHEZ: Off course. Brianna.

KEILAR: There are urgent rescue efforts underway in Taiwan after a powerful 7.4 magnitude quake hit, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 900 others. Authorities say right now, one hundred thirty seven people remain trapped. We're getting dramatic video into CNN. This is one showing rescuers digging through the rubble of a collapsed building. Dash cam video capturing a moment on a highway where you can see the cars bouncing, actually bouncing on the road ahead. CNN's Ivan Watson is in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, with details.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is an earthquake-prone island, Taiwan, and yet people were really alarmed by the strength and the severity of the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that hit this island on Wednesday morning. It was the most powerful earthquake in a quarter-century. Here in Taipei, people report being woken up in their beds, worried that books were going to fall on them out of their bookshelves, others running to scramble and hold onto their children as the walls of their homes shook. Now, the epicenter was a good 160 kilometers away from where I'm standing right now in Hualien County, and that's a rugged, sparsely populated area that's very popular for tourists who go there to see the cliffs and high mountains, and that makes it particularly vulnerable. So there were avalanches, rock slides, and tunnels where people were trapped for hours as rescuers tried to get them out of there.

Some of at least nine people killed were hit by falling rocks, either on highways or on hiking trails. There have been about a hundred buildings damaged across the country. There's a hospital that was knocked out of service for part of Wednesday here in Taipei, and there are aftershocks that are still hitting the island, dozens of them, and some of them of quite strong magnitude, with the authorities warning that this is likely to continue for three or four more days. Ivan Watson, CNN, Taipei.

KEILAR: All right. Our thanks to Ivan for that. Ahead this hour on CNN News Central, a military munitions expert is telling CNN he doesn't see how a deadly Israeli strike against World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza could have been an accident. We're going to look, take a closer look at the attack.

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We're going to talk about whether or not this was an accident next. Plus, at any moment, an appeals court could issue a ruling on Texas's controversial immigration law, but did the top justice already hint at its fate? And hundreds of chart-topping artists speaking out against AI and the threat it poses to the music industry. What has them so worried?

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SANCHEZ: We are learning new details about the Israeli airstrike in Gaza that killed seven aid workers for World Central Kitchen as they attempted to deliver food to starving Palestinians. Their deaths have sparked global outrage. Now, despite coordinating the trip beforehand with Israel's military and traveling in vans marked with the World Central Kitchen logo on the roof, Israeli airstrikes hit the convoy.

KEILAR: World Central Kitchen says its aid workers got into three vehicles after they had unloaded supplies at a warehouse in central Gaza, and then they began traveling down the coastal al-Rashid Street. It's a road that is not just in a deconflicted zone. It has been designated by Israel as a passage for humanitarian aid.

SANCHEZ: Now, CNN geolocated the convoy's journey using images filmed at the scene. Three-and-a-half-mile-long. A first vehicle is hit. Two other strikes rain down shortly afterwards. One vehicle is hit then a half-mile further, and the third comes to a stop another mile down the road, which was found the next day. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the incident unintentionally struck innocent people, but he said that that's what happens in war. Israel says the strike was a grave mistake and has now vowed an in-depth and transparent investigation.

KEILAR: World Central Kitchen has now identified the victims, and here they are. They include 25-year-old Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha. He had been working as a driver for the aid group. 43-year- old Australian citizen Zomi Frankom, who has appeared on this very show before. We spoke to her after an earthquake in Morocco, where she was deployed at the time. Also, 35-year-old Daminn Sobol of Poland, a friend, saying he's been working nonstop since the war the war in Ukraine, and he had a big personality. And 33-year-old Jacob Flickinger, who is a dual American-Canadian citizen with a military background. Friends say he's quiet and smart. He leaves behind a partner and a one-year-old son. And finally, three British nationals, 57-year-old John Chapman, James Henderson, who was 33, and 47-year-old James Kirby.

SANCHEZ: For more perspective on this, we're joined now by former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and founder of Renew America Together, General Wesley Clark. General, thank you so much for being with us. I guess overall, when you look at the details that we have so far of how this transpired, I'm wondering, from your perspective, as Israel says that this was a grave error, how do errors like this happen?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That's a very good question. Now, normally, in an air campaign like this, you have areas where you designate cannot be struck. And in this case, this road was a humanitarian corridor. It should not have been struck. In addition, there was apparently a clearance procedure where you would call in and announce that you were moving. That information has to go through the Israeli chain of command up to whoever is talking to the pilots. Normally, the pilots would take off and have preplanned targets. If there are targets of opportunity, they shouldn't have been able to strike this without clearance from an air control center. Somehow, they did. Somehow, the word didn't get out.

But I think it reflects a broader problem. And that is that as much as Israel needs to go after and attack Hamas, somehow, they have been a little less stringent than they should have been in the command control on attention to collateral damage. You just can't do it. When I ran the air campaign in Kosovo, avoiding collateral damage was one of my key measures of merit. Don't get shot down and don't hurt innocent people. Because if you start doing that, you build all kinds of resistance. And in this case, they just haven't put enough priority on avoiding the killing and injuring innocent civilians. I understand it's very tough militarily. I understand it's really terrible. I understand it's an existential threat to Israel. All of that, they've got to somehow put a higher priority on protecting innocent lives than they've done.

KEILAR: Yeah, I mean, to your point, General, there are so many data points. There was actually another convoy that was targeted by the IDF back in November. It was a Doctors Without Borders convoy. You had two people killed in that by the IDF. You might think back to Yuval Kesselman, who was that Israeli Good Samaritan who was shot by soldiers after he had thwarted the bus stop attack in Jerusalem.

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You also had the killing of the three hostages in Gaza by IDF forces and the fact that one-fifth of the Israeli or about one-fifth of the Israeli soldiers in this conflict have actually been killed by their own military. To you, is this a culture problem? How much of it is a culture problem, as you kind of talked about? How much is it about professionalism and the fact that these service members may not be trained as they should be?

CLARK: It's really hard to proportion it out because without being there and really doing the investigation and knowing how it works inside the Israeli chain of command, which I haven't been there and looked at it, they haven't invited me in. If they did, I'd be happy to look at it. But look, you've got to have, first of all, you've got to have command priority on this problem of the avoidance of frack (ph) for side against friendly forces. And the avoidance of killing innocent civilians. It's got to be a top priority. It's more important not to hurt those people than to get the mission accomplished a day earlier because this is going to go on for a while. So it's a question of where you stack your priorities.

There's no great urgency to take a building or a hospital if, by slowing it down, taking more time, you can avoid these kinds of mistakes. So it starts at the top and then it goes all the way to the bottom. I think it's important to look at the training and rules of engagement. When soldiers are on the ground and they're armed and they're in combat, they have rules of engagement. But when they're being shot at, they may make hasty decisions. And again, it's a reflection of the chain of command. I can tell you from the time I was an infantryman fighting in Vietnam, I was under rules of engagement and we were under strict controls not to engage civilians, even if they were in the combat zone.

And we had one firefighter and I remember my battalion commander telling me, he said, I hope they were an armed enemy. I said, yes, they were. We've got the weapons. He was- because he knew what would happen to him as it went up the chain of command if he reported the incident and it hadn't been against an enemy force, but it somehow we killed innocent people. So it's about leadership from top to bottom.

SANCHEZ: General, to that point about accountability and the rules of engagement, it was soon after the deaths of three hostages that were killed by the IDF, that this conversation about reviewing the rules of engagement and making them more, or rather making them less aggressive, perhaps more restrictive. It doesn't appear that much has changed since then. Is that a fair assessment?

CLARK: I don't know if it's fair or not, because normally you keep the rules of engagement classified. You keep them classified at the sort of low classification level. You don't necessarily publish them because you don't want people to know what the rules are exactly because you don't want them avoiding it. You know, if the rule of engagement said don't shoot at people with hats on, then suddenly everybody would be putting a hat on. That's what your fear would be. So you don't publicize these. It's hard for me to say. It seems like maybe they're more aware of it, but when you see these incidents like happened on with these kitchen workers driving down the highway, then again, everything is up for question again.

And I know the Israelis really are determined to get at Hamas. I understand it all. And I understand the sense of urgency and the fear of what happens if they don't inside Israel. But look, in this conflict, there are still a million and a half people, innocent people, who are there on the battlefield. You cannot fight the war and ignore those people. You will not be successful. And that's what's happened to the Israeli forces. They've still got a huge problem in South Lebanon. And I know that they're worried about that. And they need all the public support they can get. And if they don't put a higher priority on protecting innocent people and their rules of engagement and so forth, they're losing support, not getting it.

SANCHEZ: General Wesley Clark, very much appreciate your perspective, sir. Thanks for being with us.

CLARK: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Coming up, a significant admission from a Texas attorney telling an appeals court the state's controversial immigration law may have gone too far. That appeals court could hand down a decision on SB4 at any moment. And new videos showing the burned out remains of an Istanbul nightclub where 29 people in a fire were killed during renovations. As witnesses say, the inside was like a maze with only one way out and one way in.

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