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Higher Prices For Gas, Housing Drove Inflation Higher In March; Ex-Trump CFO Sentenced To 5 Months In Jail For Perjury; Trump's Lawyers File Yet Another Appeal In Hush Money Case; Conservatives Deal A New Blow To Speaker Johnson; Greene Pressures Speaker Johnson To Stop Funding FISA & Ukraine; Ex-Mississippi "Goon Squad" Officers Sentenced On State Charges. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 10, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:32:47]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: So inflation was supposed to be cooling down, but higher gas prices, rent, home prices, they are driving prices higher. New data showing consumer prices rose 3.5 percent in March, the highest in six months.

The hotter-than-expected report sending the stock market lower with the Dow falling roughly a percentage point.

CNN's Matt Egan is here to break it all down for us.

Matt, seems like a bit of a bumpy road ahead.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Brianna, it does increasingly feel like inflation is sort of stuck here. Prices are no longer skyrocketing like they were two years ago, miles away from that.

But some of the progress has really stalled out. This is the third straight hotter-than-expected inflation report. Economists are increasingly describing inflation as stubborn, with one even comparing it to a toddler that just won't leave the playground.

Now, this report showed that consumer prices up by 3.5 percent year over year, hotter-than-expected, hotter than the month before

And some of the big culprits are gasoline and housing, things that a lot of people really can't avoid. But it is broader than that. Over the last 12 months, we've seen a lot of different products have price spikes.

Bad news for parents because we're looking at an increase of 10 percent year over year for baby formula. For car owners we've seen car insurance up by 22 percent year over year, 12 percent for car repair.

For pet parent parents also, the cost of going to a vet is up by 10 percent as well. So those are all concerning numbers. The reaction on Wall Street was immediate and it was negative. We saw

bond yields go up, stock futures go down, and the selloff has really only intensified with the Dow down more than 500 points, more than 1 percent loss for the S&P and the NASDAQ.

And the big concern is, what does this mean for the Federal Reserve? And a report like this, it does not help the idea of getting an interest rate cut anytime soon.

There's a growing sense that rate cuts have been delayed, at a minimum. Not long ago, a lot of people we're hoping for a rate cut in March. Of course, that didn't happen.

Then the thinking was, OK, this is going to be something to happen in June. Just a month ago, the market was pricing in a 73 percent chance of a rate cut in June. Even yesterday, it was 60-40 of a June cut. Now, that's gone down to just 15 percent.

[14:35:10]

This is disappointing, of course, for anyone who's trying to get a mortgage, with mortgage rates around 7 percent. People who have credit card debt, people who are trying to get a car loan.

And what's interesting is we've even heard from two former Obama officials, Larry Summers and Jason Furman. They've suggested, Brianna, that the next move from the Fed might not be a rate cut. It could be a rate hike.

KEILAR: Oh, my lord. Yes. That child on the playground is not listening, Matt Egan, so we're going to have to figure something out here.

Matt, thank you for that. We appreciate it.

Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: From Trump's money man to Rikers inmate. Today, Alan Weisselberg walked out of a New York courtroom in handcuffs headed for Rikers Island after a judge sentenced him to five months for perjury.

Weisselberg is the former chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, and he admitted that he lied during a deposition in the New York civil fraud case against Donald Trump and his co-defendants. That's the one with the $464 million judgment.

Weisselberg gave false testimony specifically about the size of Trump's apartment triplex. And he's already served time in 2022 for tax fraud.

Let's talk about this further with John Dean. He's a former White House counsel for President Nixon. He actually testified against President Nixon in the Watergate investigation.

So, John, thanks so much for being with us. A five-months sentence for Weisselberg. Do you think that's fair?

JOHN DEAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, in total, it will probably, with good behavior, amount to about 90 days, 100 days. That was what his prior good time got him in Rikers.

So he's returning to a very unpleasant place that he is very familiar with.

SANCHEZ: Good time at Rikers. It sounds like an oxymoron, John.

The interesting thing about this is that, as part of his plea agreement, sources indicate that he won't have to testify against Trump in the hush money case.

It doesn't seem that prosecutors felt that they we're losing a key piece of their case by agreeing to that. Is that a fair assessment?

DEAN: I think it is. I think what they're doing is tidying things up before the trial next Monday. And this was one of the open items.

This is pretty much going to preclude Trump using Weisselberg as a witness in his case in his defense. So he's a government-certified perjure. So he's not much of a witness.

And that will be a -- a relief for the government. As they proceed with their case, they'll know nothing's going to come in, a miss from this witness.

SANCHEZ: Trump's team filed another appeal today in the hush money case. This one challenging the judge's refusal to recuse himself. Again, they're trying to delay the start of this trial.

Do you have any doubt that jury selection is going to begin on Monday?

DEAN: It would be extraordinary, Boris, if it didn't begin on Monday. The judge has -- already has a plan in place to narrow it down so that it's not an oversized jury pool, but rather a highly qualified jury pool.

If they can get down to seriously finding people who can sit on a jury and make an impartial decision based on the evidence presented in the case.

So I think this is going to go ahead. I think these appeals now everybody knows are frivolous. He's -- they're desperate. He doesn't want this case to go on before he has to face the voters.

And it will not -- it is not going to help his campaign, contrary to any thoughts that he pretends that these are helpful.

SANCHEZ: I want to turn now to the federal case against the former president for keeping his classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

The witness list, apparently, a judge deciding, will stay secret. Do you have any concern that that might feed into the false beliefs that are out there that the Justice Department is going after the former president unfairly?

DEAN: I don't think so. Because I think the judge, she went very slowly on this. And the -- Trump and his counsel know who these witnesses are but they can't use this information publicly.

And what they've done is protect the witnesses. But not the content of their statements that were given to the government and may come up and be used at trial.

So there's nothing unfair about the proceeding, but rather, it would be unfair to the witness, given Trump's history of attacking witnesses, and using all kinds of slander and defamation against people who do testify against him to expose their names and let them be subject to that.

[14:40:11]

Some probably won't be recognized if they're used at trial, so they did not secret witnesses, but they're just anonymous witnesses, not unlike mob cases.

SANCHEZ: A fascinating comparison there.

John Dean, appreciate the time, sir. Thanks.

DEAN: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course

We're following severe weather across the south right now. There are reports of flash flooding and tornadoes. We'll bring you the latest in just moments.

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KEILAR: All right now, severe weather is wreaking havoc across the south. Torrential rain, ferocious winds, and the threat of tornadoes stretching from Texas to Georgia. And more than 200,000 people have lost power.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big tornado, big, big tornado. Oh.

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SANCHEZ: Video out of Louisiana shows what appears to be a massive twister tearing across I-12, and moments later, a nearby power line burst into flames. Police are asking everyone to stay indoors as they worked to rescue people from damaged and flooded areas.

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UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: We got three vehicles or four vehicles that are heavily damaged. One's on its side. If you look all around, we got leaning power poles, power lines streaming down. This building to your left got directly hit. They got damage.

This is a scary scene. We urge you again to stay indoors.

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SANCHEZ: Nearby, officials in New Orleans just declared a flash flood emergency.

And overnight in Texas, major flooding shut down nearly all of the major roadways in Kirbyville. First responders there today rescuing drivers trapped by floodwaters, reportedly up to 15 feet deep. A lot of severe weather to keep tracker.

KEILAR: Yes. Look at that.

And happening on Capitol Hill, a new blow to Speaker Mike Johnson because, just moments ago, House conservatives revolted against their own leadership. They defeated a FISA rule vote on the floor.

It's a rule, but it's key here. And this happened after Donald Trump told them to do it.

SANCHEZ: Well, let's get to CNN's Manu Raju, who joins us from Capitol Hill.

Mano, this is the last thing that Speaker Johnson needs as he's trying to cling to the speaker's gavel.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And it's really the latest signs of Republican disarray in this narrowly divided Republican-led House.

Remember, typically, majority power parties approve what's known as the rule. That sets the parameters for floor debates in the House. It allows them to actually pass bills on a majority basis.

But in this Congress, seven times the Republicans have been divided and actually scuttled this rule, rules from going forward. Essentially, the whaling the entire legislative agenda.

Before this Congress, it hadn't happened since 2002 when a rule went down. This Congress alone, seven times. In this instance, it was a -- the centerpiece of this was a dispute over renewing a warrantless surveillance program the FBI conducts under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Donald Trump put out a social media post overnight saying that Republicans should kill it. And ultimately, 19 Republicans moved that route and sought to kill it.

There was national security hawks we're warning that they -- that the FBI needs this powerful -- what they say is a powerful tool at this key time, before the president's signing of that.

Speaker Mike Johnson himself. In fact, Johnson has called a 4:00 p.m. meeting for Republicans to regroup and try the way forward.

Now the question is also about, well, how long can Speaker Johnson hang onto his job amid growing threats from one member in particular? Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has said that she will -- and may very see this soon -- call for a vote seeking his ouster.

She met with them earlier today and she warned him not to move ahead on plans to renew that controversial provision under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and also said he should drop his plans to move forward on the Ukraine aid package, suggesting that could move are closer to calling for such a vote, seeking his ouster.

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REP. MAJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): There's two issues that are coming up that are extremely important, FISA and Ukraine.

If he funds the Deep State and the warrantless spying on Americans, he's telling Republican voters all over the country that the continued behavior will happen more, spying on President Trump and spying on hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Number two, the funding of Ukraine must end. We are not responsible for a war in Ukraine, Boris, we're responsible for the war on our border. And I made that clear to Speaker Johnson

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RAJU: Now there's no indication that Speaker Johnson listened to that suggestion. In fact, he's still trying to figure out if there is a way forward on Ukraine aid, in particular.

Now, there is a significant amount of support on Johnson's side, people who are concerned about what Marjorie Taylor Greene is doing, who are warning her that if she goes ahead, that could cost them the Republican majority in the fall.

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UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: I think it's ill-advised.

REP. RYAN ZINKE (R-MT): Obviously, we have to have a speaker and any effort to remove the current speaker would put us in chaos. And I think it'd be a big mistake.

REP. MAX MILLER (R-OH): I think it's incredibly silly, it's a gimmick. Lok, I respect Marjorie and I respect every colleague of mine on the Republican side of the aisle.

But we saw this happen with Speaker McCarthy and Mr. Gaetz and how it put Congress in 10 weeks of parallelization where we couldn't do a single thing for the American people.

Anyone who votes to vacate him, should not be a member of Congress, in my opinion. REP. MARCUS MOLINARO (R-NY): The people that sent me here want us to

produce results. I do not believe that we ought to waste one ounce of time talking about vacating the speaker. I think it's an absurdity that's unnecessary. And frankly, it was a mistake when this Congress allowed it to happen to Kevin McCarthy.

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[14:50:10]

RAJU: Only one member is needed to call for such a vote. The question would be, how many Democrats would support Marjorie Taylor Greene's effort? Where they could save Speaker Johnson. Some of that is contingent on how he handles aid to Ukraine.

And one other big question, what will Donald Trump do? We know from our reporting, from our colleagues, Melanie Zanona and Kristen Holmes, that Johnson and Trump are planning a joint press conference Friday at Mar-a-Lago.

It's a sign that perhaps Trump could be here. We'll see if he decides to save Mike Johnson and gives any indication about how he views Johnson's speakership.

I asked Johnson if he's asked for Trump's support amid this fight. He declined to comment.

KEILAR: That silence may speak volumes.

Manu Raju, live for us on Capitol Hill, thank you.

So next, one by one, former Mississippi police officers, members of the so-called "Goon Squad," are sentenced today for the abuse and torture of two black men. We're headed live to Mississippi, next.

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KEILAR: A state court and Mississippi has just rendered its judgment in the case of those six former law enforcement officers who assaulted and tortured two black men during a home invasion.

And all six of them have already been given these really lengthy prison terms by a federal court.

Today, the so-called "Goon Squad" members learned their punishments for the various state charges that they face. This includes burglary, aggravated assault, and also hindering prosecution.

SANCHEZ: CNN's Ryan Young has been covering the story from the very start. He joins us live from Jackson, Mississippi.

Ryan, given the state's history, some observers are watching to see if the state court would come down on these men as hard as the federal court. Ultimately, what was the outcome?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They did. I mean, look, it was 10 to 40 years, but it runs concurrently with a federal. So basically, the judge did give them some harsh sentences, but it's the time they're going to serve is basically the fed time.

But, guys, let's think about this. It was 2023 when the men showed up to the victims' home because they we're accused of dating a white woman. They scoped out the house. They made sure there wasn't a camera on the front door. They went inside and, for two hours, they terrorized them.

I remember talking to you guys when the last federal trial was going on and we talked about some of the things that we're talked about where, from being tased, to being waterboarded, to being sexually assaulted.

[14:55:09]

This has really torn apart the two men because Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker have a hard time dealing with this.

But at the same time, they are getting justice because all the men who've been accused have now faced real hard time in federal court.

Listen to the attorney talk about getting this final moment of justice.

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MALIK SHABAZZ, VICTIMS' ATTORNEY: Yes, we would have preferred that a couple of more years of time were added onto the defendants' sentences. However, we respect the judgment of this court, we respect the wisdom of this court. And Mississippi has spoken here.

This is Mississippi. This has never happened in Mississippi. Justice has come in Mississippi.

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YOUNG: Yes, never before has this happened in Rankin County. The attorney says that never has this happened in Mississippi where all officers have been charged and prosecuted and now facing real time.

We were inside the courtroom where these men used to work every now and then. And they actually had to bring state troopers in to be the court security today.

One of the things that stood out to me is I actually talked to Daniel Updike's attorney. And he says his client felt so bad about this, he's actually the one who turned over the text messages that helped unravel this entire case.

There's a lot of people who believe more charges are coming. And the federal government could step in because you have a sheriff's department that is still operating.

By the way, Bryan Bailey, the sheriff, says he's not stepping down and he says he had no idea that any of this was going on.

SANCHEZ: And there's some serious -- there are some serious questions from the community about that because this was an orchestrated, coordinated group. How could the sheriff not know that that was happening right under his nose?

Ryan Young, thank you so much.

YOUNG: They had a challenge coin at one point, so, yes, absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Wow. That is a telling detail.

Ryan Young, live for us from Jackson, Mississippi, thank you so much.

So we've been talking about this breaking news out of Arizona. There's an 1864 law that could ultimately upend the presidential race in 2024. Ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, how that Arizona court ruling could torpedo Republican chances of not only winning back the White House but Congress, too.

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