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GOP Challenges Vote by Mail; Arizona Republicans Block Abortion Ban Repeal; Foreign Diplomats Scramble to Meet with Trump Allies; Paul Bailey is Interviewed about a New Tennessee Bill on Guns; Severe Storm Threat Today; Delay at Masters. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 11, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:58]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, at least six cases of a botulism-like illness have been reported in Tennessee and Illinois related to what were probably fake Botox injections. The Department of Health in each state have - they have released statements saying the products use were not only fake but injected in non-medical settings, in maybe a home or a spa. They warned users to stick with licensed professionals in offices for cosmetic treatments.

The Anti-Defamation League has released its first report card on how 85 American college campuses are handling anti-Semitism. More than a dozen schools, including Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, received a failing grade. Another 53 got, C's or D's. Only two got an A from the ADL, Brandeis and Elon.

Robert Kennedy's campaign fired a staffer after she told voters that preventing Joe Biden's victory was her, quote, "number one priority." She said, whether you support Bobby or Trump, we all oppose Biden. She even told Kennedy supporters to volunteer for Trump in Pennsylvania.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Republican officials are urging supporters to vote by mail this fall, even as the GOP is involved in legal challenges against mail-in voting. And, of course, Donald Trump keeps railing against vote by mail.

Want to show you some of the states where we know of Republican challenges to vote by mail. Some involve lawsuits. And others, the GOP is defending restrictions on ballot drop boxes. Those are playing out as the party is pushing its bank your vote campaign, urging Republican voters to turn their ballots in early, use in person early voting or vote by mail.

CNN's Fredreka Schouten is joining us now.

What exactly is going on? This seems like these two things don't match.

FREDREKA SCHOUTEN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL WRITER: Well, they certainly have a conundrum here. As you mentioned, Donald Trump, at the top of the ticket, really does not care for mail-in voting. He repeatedly denounces it. He repeatedly says that it is rife with fraud and contributed to his 2020 loss.

But at the same time, the party needs to reassure him and its - his supporters, voters, that this is a good way to go. So, you're seeing a lot of lawsuits that are emerging in places that sort of try to tighten the rules on mail-in voting. For instance, in Mississippi, the Republican National Committee just filed a lawsuit arguing that the ballots received up to five business days after the election, they can be postmarked on Election Day, but that that practice should end. That voting should happen on one day. So, you're seeing lots of pockets of this around the country.

North Carolinas is another state where the law has changed. And the Republican-controlled legislature says, no, ballots need to come in on Election Day. We won't count those that arrive after that day.

SIDNER: Fredreka Schouten, it is fascinating to see. They're sort of talking out of both sides of their mouth, if you will. Really appreciate your reporting on this. Thanks.

John.

BERMAN: This morning, Arizona Republican leaders have blocked an effort to repeal the states' ban on nearly all abortions.

[08:35:03]

Democrats and some Republicans tried to repeal the 1864 law that was just upheld by the state supreme court there. A few minutes ago I asked South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): That's like pulling the pin out of the grenade today on the issue of abortion. That's wrong. And in the post Roe v world era, the government needs to listen to the people. Every state should put this issue on the ballot. It's in the hands of the people. Let the people decide for themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: With us now, Republican strategist Rina Shah, and CNN political commentator Paul Begala.

Rina, it is interesting, Arizona had a chance - the legislature there had a chance to change what the state supreme court had done the day before. It didn't happen. What does that tell you?

RINA SHAH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes. Well, it tells me that hardline conservatives don't want what Donald Trump seems to want. Donald Trump is saying, we can fix this. It's gone too far in Arizona. Number one, that's a lie. He - what's he going to do? There's nothing he can do.

When the legislature speaks, the states highest court speaks, you realize what a problematic situation that Arizona women are in, 1.6 million women there of reproductive age. That's between the ages of 15 and 49, of which 38 percent are Hispanic and 43 percent white. Where are these women going to go? We don't really have good, empirical evidence to tell us how these women feel about this draconian move now.

I mean this is not only taking women back in time, this is unsafe on every level. And when Democrats message that, the fact that there's no exceptions for fetal abnormalities, rape, incest, you realize what's at play here. And Donald Trump is understanding that but doesn't know what to do. So, like usual, he is going to say something will happen, but it will not. It will go to the people. It will go on a ballot. And Republicans will lose. It's way too extreme.

BERMAN: Well, what Nancy Mace and Donald Trump have both said, Paul, is it should be up to the states to decide. But Arizona is a state. I mean it's the state supreme courts that decided there.

Texas, where you live, is a state. And that state does not have exceptions for, you know, for rape or incest right now. Alabama's a state.

So, is - can Donald Trump find any success trying to triangulate, to use an old Clinton-ish word for you so you understand it, Paul, is he going to have any success triangulating there on abortion?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, he has - he has made such a hash of this. I read Rina makes some very good points.

When - when we watch, as you say, when we watched the state of Arizona outlaw IVF, when we watch the state of - of Alabama, rather, outlaw IVF, the state of Arizona go back to an 1864 law, the state of Texas punishes abortion providers with 99 years in prison. After all that, who would say, hey, let's let the states run things. Let's let the states decide (ph).

The states, at least some of them, are really cracking down. And this is not going to get better for Republicans because it's the real world. It's not just theoretical. This is what I mean. The Journal of the American Medical Association in January released a study. In the 14 states that had the strictest abortion laws after Dobbs, 64,565 women became pregnant by rape and were unable to get abortion treatment in their state, 64,565 as of January.

Now, they just stopped counting in January. Tragically, the rapes didn't stop. So, these are real women suffering in real states. And so when you say, gee, we're going to let the states decide this, I think those women are pretty upset about that.

BERMAN: So, Rina, Mike Johnson, the House speaker, the current House speaker, the House speaker today, all these qualifications are sort of necessary because of how imperiled he seems to be every day, is going to Mar-a-Lago tomorrow. He'll be meeting with Donald Trump there. How much does the speaker need Donald Trump in order to keep his job?

SHAH: Well, let's look at this rookie speaker for what he is, somebody who is navigating legislative minefields all the time, currently facing perhaps yet another revolt from the hard right from which he comes, from his own friends. So really only two groups can save him, and of which they're not really groups. One group is the Democrats, the other is former President Donald Trump.

So, he's going to go kiss the ring. This press conference was Speaker Johnson's team's idea. And I don't mind it because, look, Donald Trump has been saying we need GOP unity for a long time. He's almost tried to force that. But this moment demands it. The Republican Party is in peril. It is fractured. It is not where it needs to be. I mean even with these abortion decisions from the supreme courts in Arizona and Florida what you see are even super Republican voters upset. This is not what they want on abortion. They care about Biden's age. They care about the economy. They care about the southern border.

And so maybe Johnson and Trump coming together to have a kumbaya moment and Trump saving Johnson is what's needed in order for the country to see things done in the House chamber.

[08:40:09]

BERMAN: Paul, I want to ask you about some new reporting from the K- file team here, that the Republican National Committee last week sent out a scripted call to voters on behalf of the new co-chair, Lara Trump, saying that there was massive fraud in the 2020 election, leaning back in to some of the election lies about 2020.

I know that Democrats, some, want to run on the issue of democracy, protecting democracy in 2024. Does that tell you that the Republicans have no fear of this being an election issue?

BEGALA: That may be, but, you know, fools rush in. I mean I - as a Democrat, I love seeing, you know, Siobhan (ph) and Roman (ph) and Kendall (ph) taking over everything. The president - Mr. Trump, the former president, used to - I guess still has, real pros running his campaign. I mean that. Susie Wiles, Chris Lacivita. These are serious professionals and they've been running a campaign. That's why Trump did so well in the primaries.

But for reasons I don't understand, he's now giving the keys to the kingdom to his daughter-in-law, who may be gifted in many ways, but is not a professional political operative. And so she's doing things like this, purging staff. They're not raising any money. It's not - it's not what they need to do to win. I hate to give free advice to Mr. Trump, but the truth is, hire professionals, don't hire your adorable son's impressive life. Hire professionals, sir.

BERMAN: All right, Paul Begala, speaking up on behalf of political professionals everywhere. Rina Shah, to you as well, thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, up next, some teachers and parents up in arms over a bill in Tennessee that could allow teachers and staff members to carry a gun on school grounds. We'll talk to the bill's co-sponsor coming up.

Plus, the Masters gets underway today at Augusta National, but there's one golfer's daughter who has pretty much stolen the show. We'll explain.

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[08:46:37]

BERMAN: New CNN reporting this morning. CNN has learned that foreign diplomats are scrambling to set up face-to-face meeting with allies to Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., to try to get some insight into any concrete plans he has should he win.

CNN's Kylie Atwood, part of the team that broke this story.

Kylie, what have you learned?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, listen, these diplomats in Washington are frantically trying to meet with anyone in Trump's orbit that they can get contact with. That includes folks at thinktanks, Republican-leaning think tanks here who might have policy insights into where Trump would go in a potential second term, and also former Trump administration officials who worked with him in the first term and would know the direction that he would head in a second term.

I think it's important to note, John, that this flurry of activity really wasn't happening when Trump was running in 2016 because the assumption that was baked in was that Hillary Clinton was going to win. And so you talked to diplomats and they say that they learned something because they weren't well-prepared when Trump first came into office. And particularly those diplomats were here in Washington for Trump's first term. They say that they have now learned that relationships are critical to having a working relationship with the Trump administration. And that is exactly what they are working on now.

But when you talk to diplomats who are new to town or diplomats from smaller countries, they're having a hard time setting up some of these meetings. But they are learning things in these meetings. And particularly Europeans who are worried about the future of NATO. What they are being told, I'm told, according to sources familiar with these meetings, is that hitting that 2 percent of GDP spending for NATO countries is simply going to be a non-negotiable for Trump. They say, listen to what he has said. Don't try and think that he's going to go in any other direction.

And one thing that's being considered is a two tier system of NATO. So those countries that hit the 2 percent spending, they're covered by Article Five, which means that an attack on one nation is an attack on all. That their alliance really will apply and they'll defend those countries. And then the countries that don't meet the 2 percent would not actually qualify for that Article Five, which would be a drastic change for NATO. So, that's something that Europeans are looking at, talking about. And then the other thing that they are asking in these meetings with

Trump allies is what he's going to do on Ukraine, and that is really a question that is alive and well here in Washington right now. And I'm told that one of the things that Trump would do, either right after he is elected, or right after he is inaugurated, would be to reach out to both Putin and Zelenskyy to try and set up conversations, to try and come to some sort of agreement for the way forward, to bring the Ukraine war to a swift end.

Now, we have heard him talk about the fact that he would end the war in 24 hours. Of course, that wouldn't happen. But what these folks say is that he really wants to start conversations and there are concerns among Europeans who are hearing this, that that might mean Ukraine giving up territory. But those who are close to Trump say that wouldn't necessarily be the case. You'd have to watch and see where those negotiations go.

John.

BERMAN: It's important to note that these are people somehow connected to Donald Trump projecting what will happen if Trump wins again. But these are the conversations that are happening and what European diplomats are coming away with.

Kylie Atwood, really interesting reporting. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, kill the bill, not the kids. That's what some parents and teachers are chanting about a bill in Tennessee that allows teachers and school staff to carry guns at school.

[08:50:03]

The bill just passed by the Senate - state Senate in a 26-5 vote. It now goes to the house. It allows Tennessee teachers to carry concealed handguns at K-12 schools. The bill also puts the debate over arming educators right back in the spotlight. Currently 34 states ban teachers and the general public from carrying guns onto public school property, according to data from Everytown for Gun Safety.

Let's discuss this now with Tennessee State Senator Paul Bailey.

You were the sponsor of this bill. First of all, why do you think this will make schools safer for children and staff?

STATE SEN. PAUL BAILEY (R-TN): Well, thank you for allowing me to be with you today.

So, this bill came to me from the Tennessee Sheriff's Association about two years ago. And they were concerned about a lot of the rural schools in rural Tennessee where the response time is anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes for law enforcement to be able to reach one of those schools in a remote area in the event of a school intruder or an active shooter. So, they wanted to be able to have legislation in place to allow anyone that would qualify under the guidelines of this legislation to be able to carry on those school grounds.

SIDNER: You know, you said the Sheriff's Association was sort of at the forefront of pushing this bill and influenced you certainly.

We saw what happened, though, in Uvalde with people who are trained with weapons, police officers who did not respond in a quick manner. What makes you think that teachers, under this kind of stress, would be able to handle this with all that they already have to do?

BAILEY: Well, and again, this bill has lots of guardrails in it. A person has to have a Tennessee handgun carry permit. The director of schools, as well as the principal of that school that the teacher is currently assigned, or that staff member is assigned to, the chief law enforcement officer all have to agree, number one, that someone can be in that school and be armed to carry concealed.

They must go through a background check. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will be conducting that. As well as fingerprinting. They have to do a psychological evaluation. Then they have to have a minimum of 40 hours of training alongside school resource officers to make sure that this person is fully qualified to be able to respond in the event of a school intruder or an active shooter.

SIDNER: All right, I went to play for you what Lauren Shipman-Dorrance has to say about the bill. She is a teacher in Nashville. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN SHIPMAN-DORRANCE, NASHVILLE TEACHER OPPOSED TO BILL: And I really thought the lieutenant governor would listen to the voice of the people. You know, we know overwhelmingly so many Tennesseans do not support legislation like this.

I don't know that I'd feel safe to stay in a teaching role, to be honest with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: There is already a shortage of teachers. What do you say to her, that she doesn't think she'll feel safe with other folks, staff members, potentially their teachers, walking around armed in a school?

BAILEY: Sure. So, this bill is totally permissive. As I mentioned earlier, if the director of schools and the chief law enforcement officer of a school district does not want to implement this bill once it goes forward and passes, then they don't have to. And if teachers and faculty and administrators don't think that it's in the best interest of their school, they don't have to implement this policy.

But again, I bring back the point of, I represent a very rural district in Tennessee. There are a lot of elementary schools out in remote areas of those counties. And this was designed to bring about a line of defense, if, in fact, someone tried to breach any kind of security doors and enter into a school. And so, I'm looking more at it as a help for those rural schools. And if metro areas, urban, suburban areas don't want to implement this type of policy, that's fine. It's totally permissive. And it also gives local control as to how that they would implement this.

SIDNER: I'm curious if any of the schools talked to you about this and asked for this.

BAILEY: Well, certainly I've heard from my local school districts. I represent six counties in middle Tennessee and I've heard from a lot of my teachers there. In fact, since this bill has passed, those teachers have reached out. They've thanked me for passing this legislation.

I must say that in more of the metro areas, in the urban and suburban areas, those individuals that have contacted me, they've not been in favor of it.

But again, I have to remind everyone, this is totally a permissive bill, and that they - if their school district and their chief of police does not want to implement this policy, that's totally fine. This is all about trying to help a shortage of school resource officers - we have over 1,800 schools, public schools in Tennessee, 500 of those schools currently do not have a school resource officer because a shortage of the volunteers (ph) to be able to fill those positions.

[08:55:07]

SIDNER: So, sir, why not - why not pass legislation - why not pass legislation to fund more school resource officers instead of putting this on the teachers or the staff members there who, as you know, are overtax? They have to do so many things in classrooms now, from being counselors, to teaching, you know, math and science and English. Why not just say, OK, let's fund the resource officers who are trained?

BAILEY: Well, I'm glad you brought that up because we had a special session last year and dealt with that. We provided over $140 million to go directly to the school districts for them to be able to hire school resource officers. And as of just at the beginning of this legislative session, at the end of January, $98 million of that had been drawn down into those local school districts for them to be able to provide SRO officers. But the situation is, there's not enough qualified individuals be able to fill those positions.

I'm also carrying legislation that will allow any retired law enforcement officer that would like to go back for at least two years and be a school resource officer to be able to do so without losing their retirement benefits.

So, we've been working in many ways to try to make sure that our schools are as safe as possible here in Tennessee.

SIDNER: State Senator Paul Bailey, thank you so much for coming on and asking - and answering the questions. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, happening now, more than 65 million people from Florida to New York are under a severe storm threat.

Let's get right to Elisa Raffa for the latest on what we're seeing.

Elisa.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We've got a new tornado watch, John, that's in effect until 3:00 for most of the Florida peninsula, from Jacksonville down towards Tampa, where this line of storms could pack 70 mile per hour winds and a couple of tornadoes. We haven't seen too many warnings yet, but when you get storms to organize into a line like this, that's where you can get that threat of damaging winds. And we surely saw that over the day yesterday.

We also have another flesh flood warning for another big city, Charleston. And Charleston has a problem with flooding very easily because of sea level rise and inundation. So, we'll have to watch that very closely.

This storm system, though, does stretch up to Chicago, New York, where you've got the showers pretty much stretching up and down the East Coast from this pretty wide storm.

The severe threat today stretches from Tampa, all the way up to Pittsburgh. We have a level three out of five enhanced risk for the threat of additional tornadoes, damaging winds, and some large hail as we go through the day today.

Now, excessive rain has also been a problem with this system. It's packing so much moisture, especially for this time of year. So, the downpours could be a threat up and down the East Coast through today and tomorrow.

I mean look at some of the rain totals that we've had over the last day. I mean we're talking about months' worth of rain that came down in just hours. Over six inches of rain in New Orleans. That is more than what they get in a month. And they got that in only seven hours.

John.

BERMAN: All right, bracing ourselves for a long day.

Elisa Raffa, thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: And that severe weather she was talking about impacting the start of the 88th Masters tournament today at Augusta National Golf Club. The first players now expected to tee off at 10:30 this morning.

CNN's Andy Scholes is there in Augusta.

Andy, well, I can see it's still raining behind you. When might this get started?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Sara, as you imagine, it's - or as you mentioned, it's just going to - it's going to start at 10:30 this morning. And, you know, yesterday we were really worried that those thunderstorms were going to wreck havoc on the first round of the Masters. But as you can see, I mean, it's looking pretty good behind me. It looks like we're in the clear now. Those severe thunderstorms kind of just skirted where we are here in Augusta, Georgia. And, you know, it - it's looking like they're going to get to play a lot of golf here this afternoon. Play ended up only being delayed two-and-a-half hours. And the forecast for the rest of the weekend, I mean it just looks beautiful here in Augusta.

And, you know, someone really looking forward to that beautiful weather is Tiger Woods. He had to withdraw before the third round last year when it was going to be very cold and rainy. And Tiger said earlier this week, you know, he still thinks he can win one more of these tournaments. But, of course, it's not going to be easy for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, 15-TIME MAJOR CHAMPION: I ache every day. And I prefer it warm and humid and hot. And I know we're getting some thunderstorm, so at least it will be hot. Won't be like last year. Every shot that's not on a tee box is - it's a challenge. So, yes, once we start the hole, it's a bit of a challenge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, so Tiger is now going to tee off at 3:54 Eastern today. So, he's not going to be able to finish his first round. But he is trying to make some history and make his 24th straight cut here at the Masters.

Now, this year's favorite for the tournament is world number one, Scottie Scheffler, and he's actually a huge favorite according to the oddsmakers.

[09:00:04]

He's the biggest favorite at the Masters since Tiger back in 2013.