Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

UK's Top Diplomat Meets With Trump Ahead Of Washington Trip; Biden Races To Enact New Student Loan Forgiveness Plan; Prosecutors: Baldwin Had No Control Of His Emotions On "Rust' Set; Young Black Voters In Georgia Who Backed Biden In 2020 Now Defecting. Aired 8:30- 9a ET

Aired April 09, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:34]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, an 18-year-old from Idaho could face up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted of planning attacks on churches. Prosecutors say Alexander Mercurio swore for an oath of loyalty to ISIS and said he wanted to kill as many people as possible. He allegedly planned to use knives, firearms, and set fire to churches. He was caught after meeting with a confidential source, working for the FBI.

Just in: we just learned a $600 million settlement that has been reached for the 2023 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The derailment spilled more than a million pounds of hazardous chemicals into the soil, water, and air. If approved, it resolve all class action lawsuits within 20 miles of the derailment.

So as Congress heads back to work this morning, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is tried to build support to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson. In a five-page letter to her colleagues, Greene accused Johnson of failing to deliver on promises and she blamed him for jeopardy rising their razor-thin majority. Now, Greene did not go as far as to say if she would bring this to the House floor itself -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, the UK's top diplomat made a pit stop at Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald Trump ahead of his meeting with the Secretary of State Tony Blinken in Washington. A spokesperson for David Cameron, though, says it standard practice to meet with opposition candidates of their partner nations.

CNN's Alayna Treene has much more on this.

Alayna, what is the significance of this?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, it's pretty significant given that David Cameron, obviously, the former prime minister of the UK, but also Britain's current top diplomat and foreign secretary met with Donald Trump. But as you mentioned, Kate his spokesperson emphasized that this is standard practice. And it is. Remember in 2012, Cameron, while then prime minister, met with Senator Mitt Romney when he was running for president so this is something that we've seen from some of Europe's -- or excuse me, Britain's top leaders in the past. But I think the key thing here to note is the timing of it. This is all part of Cameron's push get the United States more active in affirming their support for Ukraine.

He's also going to be meeting with Tony Blinken, as you mentioned, but also top congressional leaders and John Cameron had said last week that he is urging Johnson to pass more aid to Ukraine. That's really the purpose of this visit.

[08:35:01]

And I do want to just read for you a statement we have received from the British embassy on this. Cameron said that, quote, success for Ukraine and failure for Putin are vital for American and European security. This will show that borders matter, that aggression doesn't pay, and that countries like Ukraine are free to choose their own future. The alternative would only Putin in further attempts to redraw European borders by force and would be heard clearly in Beijing, Tehran, and North Korea.

And look, I think that's really the key here. Many countries in Europe do want to see the United States pass this aid package that the White House is pushing Congress to do. Of course, we've seen in Johnson, hold this up for some time now, and is receiving a lot of backlash from Republicans for considering putting this on the floor. And so a lot of moving parts here, but Cameron is really here to try and again reaffirm the United States support for Ukraine.

BOLDUAN: Alayna Treene, thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: Well, the White House has released a new set of proposals that could relieve millions of student loan debt -- in student loan debt before the election. It is President Biden's second attempt to implement broad student loan forgiveness after his first plan was struck down by the Supreme Court last summer.

With me now is the secretary of education, Miguel Cardona.

Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for being with us the morning after a big UConn victory, which I know you must have liked. You're still smiling over that.

Look, what makes the administration so sure --

MIGUEL CARDONA, U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: Hey --

BERMAN: -- what makes administration so sure that you're not selling borrowers false hope for a second time here, how will this proposal pass legal muster when the first one didn't?

CARDONA: Yeah, first shot out to the UConn Huskies.

But look, as the president said yesterday, we're fixing a broken system. We're trying to provide a fair shot to Americans trying to access higher education, and we're doing that by addressing runaway interests. We know it's been out of control all the interests that people have to pay.

We're going after those schools that are defrauding are borrowers. We're providing relief to those who've been paying for decades. We're providing relief to eligible public servants, and we're addressing hardship that many Americans face.

BERMAN: I got a couple of 11th graders who have begun looking at colleges. So I have a keen awareness of how much college is expected to cost in a year-and-a-half. "The New York Times" just put out a study saying that some schools, private, could cause up to $100,000 a year, right?

CARDONA: Right.

BERMAN: So what is student debt forgiveness matter in the long term, if these tuitions are going through the roof?

CARDONA: You know, it does matter for many Americans who are right now saddled in debt. I talked to a teacher yesterday in New York who took out a $30,000 loan. It ballooned to $60,000 because of the interests.

So it does matter for that teacher who can now buy a home are really help her children go to college. And we're also working on college accountability. We have a new save plan that makes paying back your loans more affordable. So we in the Biden administration here, we have a multi-pronged approach to make higher education more affordable and more accessible.

As a first-generation college student, John, I can tell you 30 years ago when I was looking, I needed something like this. I'm thankful that the administration right now is putting our efforts to making higher education more affordable. We have to lead the world in education, and we're taking steps to do that.

BERMAN: Yesterday, the NAIA, which is the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, basically for smaller colleges, banned transgender women from competing in women's sports.

I wonder what position the administration has about this and how you feel about that move.

CARDONA: You know, we're in rulemaking right now and Title IX, so I can't really speak to that process until it's over. But what I will tell you is that it's our responsibility to make sure all students have access to public education and the offerings of public education. We need to protect all students and make them feel welcome and seen and supported.

So when it comes to athletics, it's premature for me to discuss something that's currently in the rulemaking process. We're taking feedback. We've gotten over 250,000 comments that we want to go through before we come out with a proposed rule. BERMAN: All right. U.S. secretary of education, Connecticut guy, former Connecticut superintendent, Miguel Cardona -- if people didn't get what we're talking about there -- thank you so much for being with us.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely no control. That is how special prosecutors are describing Alec Baldwin's behavior on the set of the movie "Rust". Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges for the death of the film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. But prosecutors say his behavior contributed to the safety issues that ultimately -- ultimately lead to her death.

CNN's Josh Campbell has more on this. He's been following this, every aspect of this case as it moves forward.

What are you learning from this filing, Josh?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kate. Well, you know, this criminal case is getting messy and it is getting personal. It's not unusual in criminal cases even in an adversarial relationship between a prosecutor and a defense attorney to have some kind of cordial relationship.

[08:40:05]

But it's clear that that is not the case in this hearing. This trial, the prosecutor is making in this new filing. That's quite caustic. It's defensive.

I'll read you just part of the opening here. They say that prosecutors have experienced near countless lies and manipulation from the defense for more than one year. In addition, we haven't certainly will continue to be the subject of the defendant's contrived and unwarranted personal attacks.

The prosecutors go on to describe Baldwin and his defense team essentially as ignorant, arrogant, and liars. I'll read you through some of their claims in this case. And by the way, this was filed following a motion by the defense to dismiss the case.

Prosecutors essentially trying to defend their own case. They say throughout that Baldwin himself contributed to this culture of unsafe practices on this movie set, calling him safety compromises, saying that he was rushing members to hurry up and work faster, at times screaming and cursing at himself, at other people, and essentially this quote that they haven't, there's really quite something to read.

A prosecutor say that to watch Mr. Baldwin's conduct on the set of "Rust" is to witness a man who was absolutely no control over his own emotions and absolutely no concern for how is conduct affects those around him.

So truly, truly stunning comments in this motion, they then go on to essentially refute what Baldwin's defense attorney has said regarding some of the evidence in the case. Of course, we'll have to wait and see how the judge ruled. It's not unusual to see a motion from the defense to try to dismiss the case. But what is unusual is this type of caustic defensive response from prosecutors, Kate.

BOLDUAN: And talk to me more about what the -- about Baldwin's team and what they have filed because it really went after the government's case in this.

CAMPBELL: They did. And, you know, all along, he has claimed that he was not responsible, that he did not pull the trigger for on that gun, of course, analysis by law enforcement of the gun indicated it could not have gone off without someone actually pulling the trigger. But nevertheless what Baldwin's teams said is that there's essentially been this cloud over the actor now for over a year now plus, as prosecutors have weighed whether to charge him and then at one time removing the charges and the brain bringing the back.

In their filing in March, his defense attorney said that, quote, prosecutors publicly dragged Baldwin through the cesspool created by their own improprieties, saying this is an abuse of the system and an abuse of an innocent person whose rights have been trampled to the extreme, of course. If this case isn't thrown out, the trial is set to start this coming July. So, of course, we'll be watching to see how this unfolds.

Of course, Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to that involuntary manslaughter charge.

One individual, the armorer on the set, as already been convicted, very, very similar charges, Kate.

BOLDUAN: That's right.

It's good to see you, Josh. Thank you for keeping track of it all.

Coming up for us, last month was the hottest March on record. If you think you have heard that before, you have. The number of months we have seen record heat and the new warnings from scientists now as global temperatures continue to rise.

They are the first parents to be convicted of manslaughter after their son carried out the largest school shooting in Michigan. Moments from now, a judge will sentence James and Jennifer Crumbley. We have live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:47:50]

BERMAN: So the world just experienced the warmest March on record, capping off a ten months streak of record-breaking temperatures. That's according to new data from the European Union's climate monitoring service.

CNN's chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, joins us. Now, Bill's new book, "Life As We Know I (Can Be): Stories of People, Climate, and Hope in a changing world will be available next week on April 16, I happened to get an early copy and it's fantastic. We'll get to that though next week.

Bill, first, let's talk about March.

I mean, how hot are we talking here?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, yet again my shining face is a reminder of we live in the age of broken record breaking once again, off the charts, temperatures, for March, according to Copernicus, 1.68, almost 1.7 degrees Celsius above average. These are the sea surface temperature anomalies. You can see all the red patches around the globe.

Let's blow through these line charts here to really get a sense the perspective of years past. Look at where Marches on top, the red line was last year, which was the hottest in 120,000 years. Scientists believe or so and marches already on track to blow past that.

And then what's happening in the oceans, John, is most troubling every day for the last year has set a new record of ocean surface temperatures and the line at the top, once again, it's showing that were headed into unprecedented territory.

Another reminder that this March may be the hottest ever, but its one of the coolest to the rest of our lives. And a lot of the physics here is baked in, planners, leaders get ready because this is just the opening attractions, the record heat we saw in 2023.

BERMAN: I know from your book, Bill, that I shouldn't just despair and leave it at that at over this situation, and there are some Swiss grandmothers who were taking action and trying to actually change the situation. What's going on here?

WEIR: That's absolutely right. There was just a key landmark verdict in the European court of human rights for the first time ever, they decided a climate case brought by more than 20 elderly Swiss women who says that Swiss, Switzerland or countries in action on policies, taking this problem seriously, legislating for it.

[08:50:04]

It is threatening their lives essentially. And the court agreed with them. This is binding across all European nations. It could open the floodgates of more lawsuits.

There are dozens of lawsuits in the United States by various states, municipalities, tribes suing big oil companies for basically lying to the public for decades about the safety of their products when they knew climate change would be the results.

So this is one more step towards maybe the courts having a say in all of this and those grandmothers turning their anxiety into action.

BERMAN: In which you outline how we can all do some of that in your book. We'll talk about that. I know extensively next week.

Bill Weir, great to see you today.

WEIR: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

WEIR: You bet.

BERMAN: Kate?

BOLDUAN: Well, President Biden is going to need a strong showing from his 2020 coalition of voters if he wants to win again in November and right now, he's struggling with one key part of that coalition CNN as finding, younger Black voters.

CNN's Rene March sat down with students at HBCUs to dig deeper into why they're hesitating.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This November will be the first time Lonnie White and Rokiya Garbo will be old enough to vote in the presidential election. And just the second time Malik Poole and Mozn Shora will cast a presidential ballot.

None are planning to vote for Joe Biden or Donald Trump.

ROKIYA GARBO, NOT VOTING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: If I were to vote tomorrow, I wouldn't vote, period.

MOZN SHORA, VOTING FOR THIRD PARTY IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Ideally, I would like to vote third party.

LONNIE WHITE, VOTING THIRD PARTY IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: I'm all for an independent candidate.

MALIK POOLE, VOTING THIRD PARTY IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: I'm considering either voting for Claudia Dela Cruz or Cornell West at this point. If there is no substantive policy change when it comes to the genocide in Gaza, then there's not really a discussion for me.

MARSH: When we met at this barbecue restaurant in Atlanta, all four told me they were raised an originally registered as Democrats. But this year, the president's handling of the Israel-Gaza war has turned them away.

SHORA: I think what Biden has done in aiding and abetting a genocide is just something I cannot stand for.

MARSH: You're willing to withhold your vote in the presidential election unless there is a ceasefire.

GARBO: Yes.

MARSH: And it's implemented? GARBO: Yes.

MARSH: Not voting could mean Donald Trump gets into office. Do you think he'll be better on Gaza?

SHORA: Trump champ would probably say, flatten Gaza and make it into a golf course. I have absolutely no faith in him.

MARSH: Would you not say that all so the people who are not voting for one of the two people who are the likely people to really be in this race have a role to play in kind of giving the race to Donald Trump? In a state like Georgia, where it's going to be like razor thin?

POOLE: I'll do you one better actually, I think that just means that's why the Democrats should listen.

WHITE: Exactly

MARSH: Radical and more tapped in than their peers is how the group describes themselves. Rokiya, even helping to organize this demonstration in Atlanta last October, calling for peace and aid for the Palestinian people.

While they don't speak for the majority of Black voters, their dissent poses a real concern for Democrats in battleground states like Georgia, where Biden won by fewer than 12,000 votes. Black voters under age 30 made up only about 6 percent of voters in Georgia in 2020. That group voted for Joe Biden by more than 50 points.

POOLE: We are holding their election in the palm of our hands and they're not listening

GARBO: We're tired of just hearing him say these things, these empty promises. We have no trust in Joe Biden.

MARSH: The Republican Party isn't earning their vote either.

GARBO: Both sides or just equal. Nothing is being done for us.

SHORA: If enough people vote third party, we can win. That's my thoughts.

MARSH: President Biden's campaign has touted his success on key issues affecting young voters, including student loan forgiveness, lowering unemployment, and tackling inflation.

Still though --

SHORA: I don't feel it. People may be employed, but can they survive off of what --

WHITE: The federal minimum wage has stayed the same since 2009. I was five and 2009, I'm 20 years old now. Well, I work at Goodwill now for $12 an hour. And cost of living keeps increasing, especially here.

MARSH: What could President Biden do to change your mind as far as how you vote in November?

GARBO: Call for a permanent ceasefire and actually implement it.

SHORA: I would like us to stop giving aid to Israel.

WHITE: If he doesn't get elected. That is his fault. That's not our fault. That's not the Black voters here. That's not XYZ, no, it's on him

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH (on camera): Well, MAGA Inc., the super PAC supporting Trump has spent more than half 1 million on ads on Black radio, hoping to woo unhappy Biden voters. Now we ask the Biden campaign about the dissent that were seeing amongst some young Black voters. And they say their priority is direct messaging on the president's achievements to voters like we spoke to.

And this is certainly an area and a segment of their base, Kate, that they're concerned about.

[08:55:00]

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Great -- great reporting, Rene, it's great to see you. Thank you.

John?

BERMAN: All right. New comments from Donald Trump defending his new statement on abortion. He posted on social media in part, by allowing the states to make their decision, we have taken the abortion issue largely out of play.

With me now is Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia and author of the new book, "Walk Ride Paddle: A Life Outside". Well talk about the book in a second. It's wonderful.

Senator, Donald Trump says he's taken the abortion issue out of play. You agree with that?

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): John, I don't. And the recent evidence in Virginia where we had both houses of our legislature up last November, showed it is a powerful and dominating issue. Virginia is the only state in the South is still follows Roe versus Wade by Virginia statute. And it was a key factor in Democrats winning the majority 40 in both Houses in our state legislature. You see it in referenda across this country. It's going to be one of the dominant issues between Donald Trump and Joe Biden as we get into the falls race.

BERMAN: When you hear leave it up to the states, what does that mean to you?

KAINE: Well, Donald Trump, two things. First, he's saying its fine if states want to have complete abortion bans with no exception for rape or incest from the moment of conception, it's fine if a state wants to give bounties to those who rat out their friends neighbors who might be traveling to another state for abortion. It's fine for Texas to let a woman nearly die of sepsis before they agree to help her with a horrible health condition.

So he's saying it's -- all that's fine, but what we really know is the Republicans want to do a national abortion ban. Lindsey Graham has come out about that. Others have. And when they put that on Donald Trump's desk, what's the chances that he'll veto it? Zero. He will sign a national abortion ban. And Republican Congress will put one on his desk.

BERMAN: It'll be interesting to ask him that question if he would sign a federal ban or not.

Senator, you came out against the United States providing offensive weapons to Israel at this point. You said you would like to stop seeing the United States providing offensive weapons to Israel given the situation there. We learned just this morning that Hamas is criticizing the most recent hostage ceasefire deal. They are said to still be considering it, but they're very pretty critical of it so far.

What does it tell you that Hamas keeps rejecting ideas and proposals for ceasefires and exchange of hostages?

You know, I think there's a couple of things John going on. One, this is intuition. This is not based on intel. Possibly and this would be tragic, Hamas knows that not many of the hostages may still be alive. And those that are alive when they are released could tell stories about their brutal mistreatment by Hamas and they're worried about releasing hostages who will then tell those stories publicly. That's part of it.

Second, look, Hamas knew when it attacked Israel on October 7, that Israel would respond and would over-respond. They knew that and the over response is obviously creating a huge political turmoil within Israel. And it's also causing many of us who have been long supporters of Israel to say, you guys have to rein in your behavior, don't -- don't turn your defense against Hamas into an all-out war against Gazans or Palestinians.

In some ways, as long as Israel is overreacting, Hamas, who are very unconcerned about civilian casualties, may want this to play out longer to create political turmoil in Israel or in the United States. So there's a lot -- it's hard to determine the behavior of Hamas because we have no contacts with them but I've been worried about this deal that seems to be tantalizingly close for months now only to slip back. And those are some of my thoughts about what might be happening.

Senator, I'm holding in my hands your new book, "Walk Ride Paddle". And what that means. So people know is that a few years ago, you set out to walk the entire part of the Appalachian Trail that's in Virginia. Ride, I believe, the part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive on a bike, that's in Virginia. And paddle the entire like the James River, that's in Virginia.

And you did this by choice. Why? KAINE: Yeah. It wasn't a work release requirement. I did it my choice.

I turn 60, John, in 2018, when I was running for reelection last time I wanted to mark the milestone in my wife and tried to decide -- well, what do I do next year after the election. And I decided I would embark on what I call a love letter to Virginia. It's the Virginia nature triathlon. No one has ever done it as far as I know, but its a little bit modeled after epic quests and other states.

New York has the 46ers, if you climb all the Adirondack peaks higher than 4,000 and many families do that. My sister and brother-in-law did it with their kids and we joined them on a few.

[09:00:00]