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Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) Discusses Johnson Defying Ouster Threat, Advancing Foreign Aid Plan; 2 Seated Jurors Excused On Day 3 of Trump Trial Jury Selection; Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested At Columbia University; Mortgage Rates Jump Above 7 Percent, Highest Since November. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 18, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R-NY): And it's not in the best interests of governing to spend a couple of weeks wasting time to find some from one because no one's going to have consensus at the end of the day. We know that.

But I do think that this shows what a mistake it was to remove Kevin McCarthy. I was one of those who were very upset when that happened. Again, a couple of Republicans sided with all the Democrats to remove our speaker, bringing our Congress to a standstill.

We lost weeks of work during that time, and quite frankly, we have now a weakened speaker because of the circumstances in which he entered. So I do not support a motion to vacate.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: All right. And just quickly before I let you go, back to the aid bill, will you be supporting that if they do not have that border security or will you not vote for them?

MALLIOTAKIS: Well, look, there's going to be four different bills. I'm still going through the initial language. But we have amendments to it. And we got to see, at the end of the day, what actually comes out.

I believe I will support some and I've probably will vote against at least one. We have to see how it comes down the pike and then I will make my decision at that time once we have a full understanding of what is included in these bills.

That's why we're given three days to actually read the bills and that's what I'm doing.

DEAN: Yes. And that was that was a big part, too, of the negotiations to get Kevin McCarthy and was to extend the time you had to read the bills.

Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, we really do appreciate it. Thank you for stopping by.

MALLIOTAKIS: Thank you. DEAN: Two people now excused from the jury in the Trump hush money trial. We're alive outside of the New York court with updates and whether opening statements could happen as soon as Monday.

Plus, mortgage rates jumped again, making homes even harder to buy. We're breaking down what those numbers mean.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:16]

DEAN: It is day three of jury selection in former President Trump's Manhattan hush money trial. It's now back underway after they took a little lunch break.

The day started with seven jurors already seated. They are now down to five after two were excused.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And during a tense moment in court, prosecutors argue that Trump violated his gag order seven more times, pointing to posts that he made online.

CNN's Laura Coates is back with us.

So, Laura, walk us through what happened with the two jurors that were sent home.

LAURA COATES, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: It's been a very interesting day in this courtroom here in Manhattan on an already historic day.

We know that at least one juror said that she could no longer serve because she thought that she could not be impartial because she believed that her anonymity had been compromised. That was one juror from earlier today.

And a second juror was asked questions in that questionnaire, about a 42-page question document.

One of them, question 19, is the one at issue here. And the question was whether you had ever or somebody you knew and your family had -- have been arrested, are involved in allegations of criminal activity before.

He apparently answered that he had not. They then later discovered through the D.A.'s office that, in fact, he had been arrested at one point in time for tearing down some sort of political posters over the course of the '90s.

And that was another woman that the judge said that was enough to have this person excused.

It underscores the point of how seriously this court is taking credibility and truthfulness at this stage to give a fair opportunity for the defense and the prosecution to determine who can really be impartial in their case.

DEAN: And, Laura, prosecutors have said that Trump has now violated the gag order seven more times.

In one post online, he quoted from FOX commentator, Jesse Watters, on social media, saying Trump's legal team is, quote, "catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge."

How long do you think the judge is going to allow Trump to say these sorts of things, to post these sorts of things?

COATES: Well, first, there's been no evidence to support that statement that was made. Obviously, Jesse Watters or support Donald Trump's statement on Truth Social.

And it's important to note that the whole voir dire process is aimed at trying to determine impartiality. So the process of vetting in voir dire, you are going to have information revealed that would lend to suggest that there is some bias or otherwise.

And so the voir dire process is focused on doing just this very thing of trying to understand who can truly set their opinions aside and who cannot.

Again, today, over half for the 90 that the came in the courtroom, who was asked to raise their hand if they felt they could not be impartial and they truthfully answered and over half were dismissed.

Now, the gag order is set to be heard on this coming Tuesday, which, ironically, some thought might be the day two after opening statements on Monday. But given the pace of things, it might not actually come to fruition.

Either way, the judge has made it very clear that he does not either want a juror to be intimidated, witnesses to be interfered with or intimidated, and that you cannot make a statement or cause somebody else to make a statement that would have that similar effect.

The question before this judge, at the very least, is going to be, is the quoting of somebody who has made such a statement sufficient to say that he himself has made the statement?

You can't use -- you can't sort of hide behind, oh, I used quotation marks or air quotes here on a Truth Social post so say that you did not defy the gag order.

And the judge has a lot of things under his purview to decide what to do about it, if he does by him that he does, in fact, and has, in fact, defied the gag order, including fines and even what's called stepping back a criminal defendant, to the jail pending their compliance.

SANCHEZ: We've seen Donald Trump fined for things that he said, violating that gag order before.

[14:40:01]

Laura Coates, thanks so much for the update from Manhattan. So the NYPD has disbursed pro-Palestinian protests on the campus of Columbia University. Some students arrested, led away in zip ties. We're going to take you there for an update in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Back to breaking news we're following out of New York. Police have entered Columbia University to disperse a pro-Palestinian protest on campus.

[14:45:00]

CNN senior crime and justice correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz, is there for us.

Shimon, it seems that things have started to calm down?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they have Boris. The crowd that was outside of campus just a short time ago when I was on with you has basically left. And they went inside the school campus where were told there are a couple of hundred people gathered inside there.

You can see some of them. Let me show you.

Come this way. Frank. Let's just show them inside.

This is inside the campus. We can't get inside. Security is not allowing us inside.

But if you look just through these gates, you can see there are people gathered there in the center square of the campus. And that's where all of this started.

It's in that area, the pro-Palestine protesters had gathered. They had set up tents. They were encampments setup. And essentially, something happened in the university president issued an order for them to disperse.

And that is when the NYPD came in and made up to at least 30 arrests. We're told those that were arrested have now been taken away to be processed.

There's a few folks now that have gathered outside here. It's unclear if they're students or if they've just supporters of the students. Buth this is what we're seeing out here now.

The other thing, Boris, that I want to show you, this usually doesn't -- this isn't an everyday thing here at Columbia. I've gone through this campus. It's usually open. You can usually walk through the campus.

And in the last several days, they've set up security out here. It's just been a very tense time for many campuses across the country. And so there is stepped up security like this at many of the campuses. We did speak to a student of the school whose friends were arrested. She has a lot of concern over what she's seeing here. And she told me that it is very triggering to see this kind of response from the school towards her fellow students and our friends.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: A lot of my friends that were in the encampment have since been arrested. And you know, I just don't recognize this at all. Like I -- I make this walk every single day and I've never seen anything like this. And it's just disturbing to know that the president kind of, you know, has enabled this.

Nobody -- these were peaceful protesters. And you know, non-peaceful protesters sprayed, you know, in an illegal substance at another protests, you know? It just -- it doesn't feel like the sanctions are equal.

PROKUPECZ: Were you surprised that now --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And so, Boris, this is a feeling that many of them have. They were really surprised by the response into the campus by the NYPD.

The protests continue outside, Boris, and inside. The NYPD, for now, remains outside at the ready should they be needed.

SANCHEZ: Shimon Prokupecz, live for us in New York. Thank you so much, Shimon.

Coming up, if you're in the market for a home, now may not be the best time to buy. Mortgage rates just surged. We'll show you where they stand, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:52:49]

DEAN: Some bad news, unfortunately, if you are looking to buy a home. Mortgage rates jumping this week, taking the rate on a 30-year mortgage up to 7.1 percent. That would be the highest level this year.

That's based on the betting that the Fed is likely to delay cutting interest rates to make sure inflation cools down first.

For more on this, let's bring in CNN business reporter, Matt Egan.

Matt, it goes without saying this makes things even more expensive for Americans who are hoping to buy a home.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Jessica, you nailed it. This affordability crisis just got worse. Mortgage rates topping 7 percent for the first time since December.

Rates are now about twice as high as they were at this time four years ago. And rates are creeping up again because of these concerns about inflation.

And the fact that it does increasingly look like the Fed's interest rate cuts have been delayed, right? We hoped that it would maybe be a march story. That didn't happen.

Then maybe June. Now, and increasingly, it looks like a July story or maybe even September or could be later until the Fed is able to lower interest rates.

And remember, the higher rates go, the less home that people can afford. These bigger mortgage payments, they're not going to get you another bedroom or a bigger garage. They're really just going to cover the cost of interest.

And this, of course, is not just an issue about mortgage rates. It's really a one-two punch between borrowing costs and home prices.

And we also learned today that the median price of an existing home increased another five percent in March, topping $393,000. This is the ninth straight month of annual price increases. And this is the highest price ever recorded in March.

Now, this, of course, cuts both ways, right? Because if you already own your home, the fact that home prices are up is boosting your net worth. But, Jessica, we know there's a lot of Americans out there who are on the outside looking in there and want to buy, but they can't.

DEAN: Yes, that has to be frustrating.

And there's also a recent survey out about how frustrated renters are.

EGAN: That's right, Jessica. A lot of renters, they don't want to rent, right now. They want to buy, but they feel like they can't, not at these prices and not at these interest rates.

[14:55:01]

And so this survey from Redfin found that nearly 40 percent of U.S. renters, they believe that they'll never be able to buy a home. And the number-one reason cited, not surprisingly, is this affordability issue.

And so I think that the fact that now we have mortgage rates back above seven percent, Jessica, that's only going to kind of feed this sense that for far too many Americans the dream of homeownership feels like it's out of reach right now.

DEAN: All right. Matt Egan for us with that news. It's probably not great for people who are either renting or hoping to buy a home. But we'll see how it progresses.

Matt Egan, thanks so much. And as we head to break, you are looking live at Columbia University

in New York City where pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested. Some by New York Police Department.

This after the school's president requested the help from the NYPD, saying that those pro-Palestinian protesters were set up in a way that was against the rules. We're going to have more for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)