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Soon: Supreme Court Hears Case about Emergency Abortion Care; 2024 U.S. General Election; Election-Related Effects of Israel-Gaza Conflict in November; Pennsylvania Republican Primary Predicted to be Won by Trump; In Pennsylvania's GOP Primary, Nikki Haley Receives Over 156K Votes; Today's Testimony in Trump Criminal Trial Suspended and Will Resume Tomorrow; CNN FlashDoc Presents, "Call Me Country" Coming to Max This Friday; Airlines Will Pay Back Cash for Flight Delays, According to New Federal Rules; Tennessee Legislature Adopts Bill Arming Teachers. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired April 24, 2024 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Protests are expected outside the Supreme Court this morning as the justices are about to hear arguments in an abortion case with national implications, this is based on the state ban in Idaho. And in March, the first time the Supreme Court is considering a state ban since it overturned Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago.
CNN's Gabe Cohen is live outside the Supreme Court for us this morning ahead of the oral arguments. Gabe, what are you seeing so far?
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, other than loud music that just started playing, it has been a pretty quiet morning here outside the Supreme Court. If we walk over here, you can see some of the Folks with different reproductive rights organizations that are starting to gather. They're going to be holding a program and a couple protests starting here in the next hour or so.
They'll -- it will really get going around 10:00 a.m. as arguments are being heard inside that building. Beyond these barricades, if you look at those speakers, those are the anti-abortion groups that are going to be holding their own dueling rally, really, at the same time as all of this is unfolding.
It will be interesting to see, Kate, how big of a crowd gathers here. Of course, we're almost two years to the day since the Dobbs decision leaked that night. I was outside this building. I remember outside the Supreme Court, there was a feeling that everything was about to change. As you note, this is one of the first major abortion cases to now reach the Supreme Court since then.
And so, we expect in the next hour or so, there's going to be what's called a die (ph) in here. They're going to have 15 people laying on the ground, representing pregnant women in those 15 states that have these very restrictive abortion laws, including Idaho, which is at this -- at the center of this case, Kate. We'll bring updates to you throughout the morning on how large this protest is as it really gets underway.
BOLDUAN: Yes, it passes prologue. It will be loud. There will be a lot of people and it's going to be definitely picking up there where you are standing right now is likely to be a crush of people very soon. It's good to see you, Gabe. Thank you very much for covering that for us.
Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: All right. If the ongoing protest at Columbia and universities across the nation tell us anything, it's that young people intensely care about the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza. Those young people are also voters, in some cases, and it begs the question, how is the war in the Middle East going to impact the election right here in America come November?
[08:35:00]
CNN's Senior Data Analyst Harry Enten is here with the numbers. So, how much is, sort of, the potential youth vote changed because of the Israel-Hamas war? And I'm assuming that it is Joe Biden who they are going after.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATE REPORTER: Yes, yes, Sara. You know, this is one of those cases where I feel like the conventional wisdom has got ahead of what the actual numbers are telling us. So, you know, you go back, young voters, Biden versus Trump margin, you look at the final 2020 polls, you saw Biden won these voters by 29 points. You look at the last month, 2024 polls, you see, they're only favoring Biden by about five percentage points.
You go, my goodness gracious, 29 to five, that's a huge shift. Gaza and Israel has made a major impact on the election. Here's the thing, young voters were beginning to turn on Joe Biden before any of this conflict, of the recent conflict in the Middle East, started anyway.
So, the pre-Israel-Hamas war numbers, if you look at the 2024 polls, Biden was only favored by 11 points. So, we already saw an 18-point shift away from him. Yes, there has been a little bit of a degradation in his numbers, but the fact of the matter is most of the shift away from Biden was already happening before the recent war started on October 7th.
SIDNER: So, how has this war affected voters overall? Not just the young vote, but just overarching?
ENTEN: Right. You know, we've been focusing in so much on young voters and these campus protests. Of course, keep in mind, they're not that large a percentage in the electorate, which we'll get to in a second. Look at all voters, the Biden versus Trump margin.
Pre the Israel-Hamas war, look at this, we had a tie. We had a tie, which of course is a worse position than Joe Biden was four years ago when he won the election by four and a half points, but it was already a tie. Look at the recent 2024 polls. It was also a tie.
So, the fact is we have not seen that type of shift that we would be expecting. And Sara, I will just note, you know, we're talking about these student voters, the share of the adult citizen population, university or college students make up, it's only six to eight percent, Sara. It's not a large chunk. And if you look at those that are currently at a private school like Columbia or NYU, they are only one to two percent. They have a very small portion of this population, Sara.
SIDNER: Yes, it's quite a stark thing that people see these protests, and they are all over the country. But the percentage of voters when it comes to politics, a very different thing.
ENTEN: A very, very different thing. 18 to 29-year-olds overall are 15 percent of all voters. You know, there are a lot of people who are young voters who are not really on these campuses.
SIDNER: And -- but -- it is -- it could be a very, very tight race. So, there is a possibility that this --
ENTEN: Everything does matter, Sara, that's for sure.
SIDNER: Everything matters.
ENTEN: There you go.
SIDNER: That is the last thing I'm going to hear from you. I love that. Thank you, Harry.
ENTEN: Thank you.
SIDNER: I appreciate it.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: All right. With us now, Republican Strategist Joseph Pinion and Democratic Strategist Basil Smikle. So, while you were all sleeping, there were elections, primaries, in the state, I should say the Commonwealth, of Pennsylvania. And I want to show the results of the Republican primary there.
Donald Trump, 83 percent. And then, remember her? Nikki Haley, 16 percent. She hasn't been running for months, Basil. And this was a closed primary.
BASIL SMIKLE, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, SMIKLE ASSOCIATES, AND DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Right.
BERMAN: This is Republicans only. She's still pulling 16 percent. What does that tell you?
SMIKLE: Well, it tells me that Democrats actually have a bit of a lane here, right? Because they're going state to state looking at areas where Haley has done well and figured that in terms of, you know, this Democratic coalition or this electoral coalition, maybe just for this election that those voters are available to Joe Biden.
Now, it is important to note that just -- that a vote for Nikki Haley doesn't necessarily mean a vote for Joe Biden. But that's where the money advantage in these campaigns comes in handy because Joe Biden and the campaign can find a way to talk to these voters over time. And at least again, even if it's just for this election, be able to pull the lever for Joe over Donald Trump.
BERMAN: And Joe, it's 155,000 votes that Nikki Haley got in Pennsylvania. Joe Biden only beat Donald Trump by 80,000 votes in 2020. This is a significant number of Republicans. Again, this is a closed primary. What does it tell you? There are still these Republicans issuing this protest against Donald Trump.
JOSEPH PINION, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, as long as we're going to have primaries and as long as we're going to have those -- that process occur with integrity, people are going to vote their conscience. I do not believe the majority of people voting for Nikki Haley plan on voting for Joe Biden. In fact, I do not suspect that Nikki Haley herself will be voting for Joe Biden.
So, let's just be very clear. We have a Democratic Party that canceled the Granite States, wine tasting place amongst the electorate. They basically told the voters of Florida that their vote was not welcome. So, everywhere you look, you have a Republican Party that, in spite of the fact that Donald Trump is the standard bearer, continues to allow the Democratic process to play out while Democrats have not done the same.
BERMAN: All right. I want to put a picture up on the screen so people can see what took place yesterday. On the left, you see Donald Trump speaking in between sessions in the New York criminal case against him. On the right, you see President Biden in Florida talking about abortion.
[08:40:00]
So, Joe, you know, there's a finite number of days left until the November election. Every day, there's a picture like this, a split screen like this. Who wins that campaign day, Joe?
PINION: Look, I think Joe Biden wants to have all the questions to be about abortion. Certainly, Republicans are going to get asked about abortion every single day, but rarely will the answer be about that subject matter. If you look specifically about President Trump, the hard truth is that when he becomes the 47th president of these United States, it will likely be because of people that voted against him the first time, voted against him the second time, and are disgusted by what is happening during this electoral process with him being dragged from courtroom to courtroom.
So, certainly, there are cases that have merits. No person is beneath the law, but I think many Americans, even those who have not previously supported President Trump, are disgusted by what has become of this political process.
BERMAN: We haven't seen evidence yet that there is a protest vote among a general election. Electorate for the court cases against Donald Trump, maybe in Republican primaries. But, Basil, I guess my question is, the Biden reelect campaign, how do you think they are utilizing this time that is provided to them?
SMIKLE: Well, the split screen is very important, right? Because you -- and I -- you don't understand Joe's point. I disagree in the sense that that split screen is about accountability. On one hand, you have Donald Trump being, you know, going to court, having to defend himself against charges that are significant. And this is just one of several cases. On the other hand, you have Joe Biden saying, hey, let's talk about not only presidential accountability, but the abrogation, the restrictions of your rights. That's why he's in Florida. That's why he's been in Pennsylvania.
And all of these issues that are being pushed to the state is just a reminder that Donald Trump and the Republicans have said, yes, let's push everything to the state. But what do you get when you when you -- when that happens? You get these very draconian laws.
So, you know, reproductive rights is very important and we know that it's important because Republicans had taken it down from their website. They're not talking about it anymore and it's shifted to other areas. So, it's still a mobilizing issue. I think for Joe Biden, it's still something that not only he, but you're also seeing Kamala Harris, go into states to talk more about. And you'll see that continue throughout the cycle.
BERMAN: So, Joe, "Axios" has got an interesting story out this morning. Exclusive, Trump brothers emerge as loyalty czars. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have become key players in the early planning for a second Trump administration's transition team and would focus on vetting potential officials and staffers for ideology and loyalty.
You good with that, Don Jr. and Eric picking --
PINION: Look --
BERMAN: -- the people who would be in the cabinet?
PINION: I don't think they're going to pick, but certainly they're going to have a role in the administration, similar to perhaps whatever informal role that they had previously. I think this -- there's this quasi-bizarre notion where you can have somebody like Chuck Schumer and the president, Joe Biden, refused to have preemptive sanctions for a war in Ukraine to prevent Russia from invading. And somehow, they have not laid worms in the brains of Democrats. It's just politics.
But every time the Republican Party gets together and does something that is an alignment with supporting President Trump, then somehow all of a sudden it becomes cult like behavior. We just have to have a real conversation about the fact that, to Basil's point, yes, reproductive rights are going to be important, but most people who are pro-life in this country do not want women before the week -- six weeks being prevented from having abortion. Most people who are pro-choice do not want people after five months having abortions. That is a real conversation. It does not use women as a pinata and weaponize the womb.
So, these are the real issues, the border that we're not talking about, the economy that's not working for people on Main Street, the fact that we just sent billions to Ukraine while we've got people in New York City in public housing. $80 billion behind on critical repairs. That is the neglect on main street that this election will be decided upon. Not whether or not people like the input of Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
BERMAN: All right. We will see. Joe Pinion, Basil Smikle, great to have both of you here today. Thank you so much.
Kate.
PINION: Thanks, sir.
BOLDUAN: Grade school students in Tennessee are demanding the governor stop a new law in its tracks before teachers are allowed to carry concealed handguns in school.
Would you prefer cash over a voucher when an airline ruins your travel day? The new rules that the federal government is now pushing. We'll be right back.
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BOLDUAN: The Los Angeles County District Attorney now says the man who broke into L.A. Mayor Karen Bass's home over the weekend was targeting her. It happened early Sunday morning while Bass and her family were home. And police say, the 29-year-old intruder smashed a window to get inside. He is charged now with burglary and vandalism.
And new this morning, 3.6 million Americans on Medicare could be eligible for the weight loss drug, Wegovy. Medicare is banned from covering weight loss medications, but the loophole, federal regulators said that the form of this drug, it can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in certain people, which is opening the door to coverage for more beneficiaries.
And it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. I think Sara probably put it best. Why does any robot need a flamethrower? But now, you can actually own your own flamethrowing robot. I feel like I'm in the creepiest form of QVC ever. Robot Dog throws flames. An Ohio-based company promises on demand fire anywhere. The Thermonator runs on gasoline or napalm. Is this serious?
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It can throw flames for up to 30 feet. It costs $9,000. Heads and -- you can -- it's -- heads up, Maryland and California residents, those are the only two states with flamethrower restrictions. So, apparently, we need to move to protect ourselves from this terrifying beast.
Sara.
SIDNER: I don't like that dog with the flamethrower. I'm just saying.
BOLDUAN: What do you --
SIDNER: I like all dogs --
BOLDUAN: I really want to know.
SIDNER: -- but not that dog.
BOLDUAN: Give me one good reason why you have a flamethrowing dog?
SIDNER: I can't think of one, but maybe --
BOLDUAN: I mean, I'm pretty -- I'm OK with starting a fire on my own. I'm really good.
SIDNER: You know what, Kate, we're the same about that.
BOLDUAN: Like, I know the teepee style with the wood. You can even get some Duraflame if you want to heat.
SIDNER: Kate Bolduan, fire starter, I like it.
BOLDUAN: I mean, but you know, if you got me one of those, I wouldn't be mad because, you know.
SIDNER: All right. Maybe, we'll see for the holidays. It seems like you do.
BOLDUAN: We need to GoFundMe for that one.
SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.
It's been nearly a month since the world awoke to a new Beyonce album, Cowboy Carter.
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BOYENCE, SINGER: Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, I'm warning you, don't come for my man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Since I'm a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, I love the song, "Jolene". I love it. With that new album, Beyonce became the first black woman to top Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, igniting a larger conversation about who gets to say who gets to do country music and what it is? A new documentary from CNN's FlashDocs unit called, "Me Country, Beyonce and Nashville's Renaissance" examines this reckoning in the genre and the historical roots of country music.
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RHIANNON GIDDENS, MUSICIAN: My banjo being on a world recognized song is just kind of blowing my mind. That banjo represents hundreds of years of our history, whether people know it or not. Banjo is an instrument invented by people of the African diaspora in the Caribbean.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Enslaved people brought versions of the banjo to the United States over on the ships.
GIDDENS: And then it makes its way up with them to North America and becomes a central part of black life. And there are loads of white people playing music too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It took the Scottish, the Africans, Native American people should come together. I'm going to borrow this, and I'm going to borrow this, and I'm going to borrow this, and like -- it's like gumbo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: A new FlashDoc, "Call Me Country", here now to discuss as author, music, journalist, and TV personality with the great (ph) Toure. Thank you so much for being here.
TOURE, HOST, "TOURE SHOW" PODCAST AND WRITER AND TV HOST: Thank you.
SIDNER: We got to see a little bit of how Beyonce has, sort of, embraced all these other artists who are on this album. She moves into this country mode, as I like to say. What do you think motivated this move?
TOURE: Oh, well, it seems if we just read what she said on Instagram and The Press (ph), she was very offended when she went to the CMAs, the Country Music Awards, and was not welcomed. And you can see people in the crowd not cheering. She was not welcomed. As if country is this gated community that black people cannot enter.
And part of what she's saying with this album is that we are part of the current world of country. We saw Rhiannon Giddens in that clip.
SIDNER: Right.
TOURE: Other artists are all over this album. But also, we are a part of the history of country. Now, black Americans have founded every major musical genre. But of course, country, the banjo was an instrument that only we played for part of American history.
So, Beyonce is reclaiming country for us and saying we belong here. I'm from Houston. I can make this music. It's part of my childhood. But this album is brilliant because it spans genre. So, she's talking about genre in particular. There's also hip hop on here. There's also rock on here. There's pop music. So, there's all sorts of things happening. We get a little surfer, right? A little Beach Boys reference, Tina Turner. So, there's all sorts of things here.
So, she's saying, I can play in the country space. Also, in all these other spaces. I'm Beyonce. I can do anything.
SIDNER: It's interesting because it is a mishmash. There's a lot of different things in there where she's trying different -- sort of, putting different music together --
TOURE: Yes.
SIDNER: -- and meshing music. It's really interesting. And she says, look, this is not a country album. This is a Beyonce album --
TOURE: Beyond album, it is.
SIDNER: -- and it's true --
TOURE: That's right.
SIDNER: -- as you as you listen through it. Do you think that because she has stepped in this place and because it has done so well on the charts that this has really opened the door, once again, for black artists and artists of different genres to step into this space now of country.
TOURE: She's -- I mean, in her beautiful way, she has shined a light on people who already live in this country space. From Linda Martell, the first black country artist to chart, to folks like we talked about Rhiannon Giddens in Tamara (ph).
So, there's people -- current people who I and others are like, oh, I didn't know about her. I didn't know about him. Let me check them out. Some of those fans will stick around and become long term fans of those people. So, I mean, it's -- Beyonce comes in. She doesn't just say, look at me. She says, look at the other people who already live here.
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SIDNER: It's a really good point. I've been listening to this young lady named Tanner, who sings "Buckle Bunny". And she's also on the album.
TOURE: Yes.
SIDNER: And I love it because these are very young artists who said that they weren't getting noticed as much, and now they're off to the races.
TOURE: I mean, you know, I think part of why you love certain music is because of the associations that you have with it.
SIDNER: Right.
TOURE: It relates you to the people who live in that space. And I think I can be honest that at times in my life I have felt uncomfortable listening to country music because it reminded me of things that black people don't want to be reminded of, right? Beyonce takes me there in a Beyonce way and I'm like, yes, OK. I can --
SIDNER: I can hang.
TOURE: -- I can deal with this. I like this sound. So, I mean, she's made it palatable for me and for a lot of other people.
SIDNER: It's really interesting. Toure --
TOURE: Yes.
SIDNER: -- we will watch this FlashDoc together.
TOURE: Thank you.
SIDNER: That's my prediction.
TOURE: Good.
SIDNER: CNN FlashDoc presents, "Call Me Country" coming to Max this Friday, April 26th. Thank you so much for being here, Toure.
TOURE: Thank you.
SIDNER: Appreciate it.
John.
BERMAN: I love that discussion.
All right. Just in new rules that will change how quickly you will get your money back if your flight is delayed. Airlines will now have to pay you back in cash for delays more than three hours. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke to us just a short time ago.
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PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: This is about also making sure it's less likely to happen to you in the first place. When an airline knows that anybody on a flight that's going to get cancelled is going to get their money back, it gives them more of a reason to make the investments and the realistic schedules that prevent that from happening to you in the first place.
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BERMAN: And there are all kinds of new rules about fees as well. With us, CNN Transportation Correspondent Pete Muntean. This is a big deal for people who fly, Pete.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: This new rule was really born out of the pandemic, John, and the number of passenger complaints to the Department of Transportation really soared then. Nine in 10 of those complaints were over refunds because the issue is so many passengers got an airline credit or miles instead of cash. This new rule formalizes that if your flight is delayed, you get your money back. Bags arrived super late, money back. Wi-Fi doesn't work, you also get the money back.
These are the conditions in which a flight has to be delayed or cancelled to get your money back. If the flight's cancelled, you get the cash. Also, if there's a three-hour delay for a domestic flight, a six-hour delay for an international flight, one, the cause of the delay was the airline's fault. So, that excludes things like weather.
For bags, if your bags arrive more than 12 hours late on a domestic flight, 15 to 30 hours on an international flight, you get your check bag fee back. This happens without a request, automatically, under this new rule. You would get that money back within 20 days, and it would be cash and not credits.
Now, the Department of Transportation says that these refund rules go into effect in October. So, not in time for summer travel but in time for holiday travel, when there's so many cancellations and delays. Also today, the Department of Transportation is announcing new rules that make it so that airlines will say up front the total cost of your trip. That includes bag fees and change fees, John. A lot of pressure from the Biden administration here on airlines.
BERMAN: And again, cash not credits, which matters because if you miss your appointment because of an airline, you don't want a credit for another flight on that airline right away. You want your cash back.
Pete, I also understand you've got some new reporting on allegations of retaliation by Boeing. What exactly is going on here?
MUNTEAN: Well, this allegation is from the union that represents Boeing engineers. Two engineers are represented by the Society of Professional Engineers of Aerospace. They make this allegation that they were pressured to continue work on the 777 and the 787.
The company insisted, that they re -- I'm sorry, the workers insisted that the company re-evaluate prior engineering work on the 787, and 787 do account for a new advisory from the FAA. But the engineers alleged that they were pressured to continue by Boeing.
Now, Boeing says it has zero tolerance for retaliation. Regardless, another black eye for Boeing as more whistleblowers come forward about problems on the 787. There was a new allegation just last week. Another black eye after the 737 MAX 9 door plug blowout of January 5th. Boeing is really taking it pretty hard here, John.
BERMAN: All right. Pete Muntean, thank you so much for your reporting as always.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Now, in Tennessee, and headed to the governor's desk, is a whole lot of controversy right now. This is after the Tennessee state legislature just passed a bill allowing teachers to carry concealed handguns on school grounds. Protestors took to the state capitol over this. Some chanting blood on your hands at Republican lawmakers. If the governor signs the bill into law, it would be the biggest expansion of gun acts terror since last year's deadly shooting at an elementary school in Nashville, six people were killed.
CNN's Nick Valencia is tracking all of this for us and joins us now. Nick, have you heard anything from the Republican governor about this yet?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we did reach out to Bill Lee.
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