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Tornadoes Tear Through Michigan, Leave Long Trail of Destruction; Stormy Daniels Details Alleged Sexual Encounter With Trump; Report Due to Congress on Whether Israel Violated International Law. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 08, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She will flick her wings at him and they will mate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say, girl, if I was a fruit fly, I'd land on you first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, God. Comments ranged from wasn't expecting a cicada romcom today to are those actors or real cicadas, because I can't tell. Even the president isn't immune from these bugs. Oh, dear.

All right, on that note, thanks to our panel. Thanks to you for joining us. Don't go anywhere. I'm Kasie Hunt.

CNN News Central starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Powerful, dangerous storms swept through the Midwest, shredding buildings, tearing homes apart. Today, tens of millions from Texas all the way to Maine could be hit by more powerful storms. We will tell you where the biggest threat is.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A day off maybe just what everyone needs after what became a blush-inducing day of testimony and explicit details in Donald Trump's criminal trial. Stormy Daniels' testimony and what both sides are doing today to prepare for her to head back to the stand tomorrow.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Smoke scene over Rafah after a new round of Israeli bombing overnight. This morning, the Biden administration has halted the shipment of certain bombs to Israel amid a pending new report on whether Israel violated humanitarian law.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sarah Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: Breaking this morning. Today, tens of millions of Americans from Texas to Maine could see severe storms with the strongest threat stretching across parts of the Midwest. We're talking possible tornadoes, giant hail and powerful wind gusts. Yesterday, tornadoes tore apart parts of Michigan, one ripped apart a FedEx facility in the city of Portage, temporarily trapping dozens of people in that building.

Officials there are urging people to check on their neighbors after reports of gas leaks, which, of course, can cause explosions, and there were some downed live power lines.

It was the 13th consecutive day of tornado reports across the United States. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has declared a state of emergency in four counties in her state.

CNN's Derek Van Dam is in Portage, Michigan, outside that damaged FedEx building. Can you tell us, first of all, what happened to those folks who were inside trapped by this tornado?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Sara, I am on the site of the heavily damaged FedEx building where, initially, 50 people were trapped. Fortunately, they were rescued and taken and cleared away with only minor injuries.

But get this, there were two tornadoes that moved through this very location where I'm standing within only an hour and 20 minutes apart from each other. And yesterday evening, Michigan saw its first tornado emergency that the Wolverine State, my home state, has ever issued.

I want to take you to a bird's eye view of this FedEx building that is so heavily damaged. This is the mass cam from our satellite truck that we have on site. And as we zoom in a little bit closer, you'll be able to see just how the roof collapsed and, of course, trapping anybody inside.

And it wasn't just this FedEx building that was damaged. This is just a drop in the bucket in Kalamazoo County, where I'm located. There was a mobile home park where 12 injuries were reported, minor injuries. They were transported to local area hospitals. Much of the county was without power as of last night.

Look, this is my home state. Lake Michigan typically acts as a buffer for these types of tornadic super cells. Not this time. It managed to see these storms move in from the south to the north, entering into southern portions of Western Michigan where we're located. And it caused the destruction in both Kalamazoo County, where I am, and also Union County, where it is just to our south and east, where another tornado emergency was issued.

Look, I want to talk about the threats that are ongoing, and here's a look at the current radar, because it's still very active with another line of thunderstorms moving into Nashville. This is the first round of storms. They will re-fire today. And we're talking about over 100 million Americans under the threat of severe storms.

Look at that level four or five, that shading of red with a bull's eye right over Nashville, Paducah, all the way into Central Missouri. This is an area where strong tornadoes could occur once again. But don't focus on the red. It goes for long distances, stretching from Texas all the way to West Virginia as well.

But we've highlighted the areas where we believe the greatest chances of severe storms. of six hours of EF-2 tornadoes. That's 111-mile-per- hour winds capable of the damage that you see behind me, obviously very dangerous.

[07:05:01]

That is the threat today, St. Louis to Nashville, and then, of course, we've got the flashflood threat as well.

Look, Sara, this is a notoriously busy time of the tornado season. April had over 300 tornado reports. This is the 13th consecutive day of tornadoes reported across the U.S. It can't stop. It won't stop. And today, it's no different. Back to you.

SIDNER: So, the big warning right now, St. Louis, Nashville, those two big, populated cities right in that bull's eye where there are potential tornadoes. The population there really needs to pay attention to the weather.

Thank you so much. I appreciate, Derek Van Dam, reporting live there from your home state and seeing the damage from the tornadoes overnight. Kate?

BOLDUAN: that's wild, that damage that is there.

Also this morning, court is dark for Donald Trump, and he also has no campaign events scheduled for his day off from testimony. Instead, today, America gets to sit and stew over all that was said in detail during the hush money trial yesterday. Stormy Daniels took the stand and things quickly got real and really salacious.

Daniels testified for just under four hours, recounting in explicit detail the alleged sexual encounter. Prosecutors say Donald Trump broke the law to cover up before the 2016 election.

The adult film star's testimony clearly had an impact on the former president sitting in the courtroom through it all. The judge at one point admonished Donald Trump for audibly cursing and visibly shaking his head. The defense argued that we all went too far and asked the judge to order a mistrial. The judge denied that motion. And there's so much more.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is watching it all. I say that because there's no way I'm going to go into detail as I'm about to bring you in.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I was going to say it.

BOLDUAN: Where do you want to start? Where should we pick up in? Stormy Daniels took stand. Brynn, go.

GINGRAS: Where do I want to start, it's that it's not over yet. It's crazy. It's going to continue tomorrow. But, yes, this was an eventful day in court, to say the least. The prosecution obviously needing her to tell her story, and she did. Look, this is the story she told reporters. She wrote about it in her book, and now jurors, for the first time, are hearing it in open court where she's right in front of Donald Trump himself. And she went into great detail. I mean, at sometimes, you know, so much detail that the judge even had to interject and basically say, you know, stay in line. She was talking so fast that the court reporter had to say, slow down.

BOLDUAN: What happened to often?

GINGRAS: Often. And there was a lot of objections that you know the president tapping his defense attorneys, basically asking to object to what she was doing saying, and the judge sustaining them right after one another. She was even laughing at her own jokes, and they were not landing with the juror.

So, there was just so much sort of ickyness and that's separate from the actual story.

BOLDUAN: And some would laugh at her own jokes all the time, and they land. Just ask the crew. I understand that feeling, but I'm not in court.

GINGRAS: Yes. So, anyway, she, of course, told the story of how she met Donald Trump, how he was interested in the porn industry, the business behind it, not necessarily the salaciousness behind it. There were some endearing parts in there. And then also, you know, getting into the encounter that they had and then also how she basically met Michael Cohen and how they -- you know, this whole deal sort of happened, which is what prosecutors needed her to do.

But when the defense got up there, man, they just went after her credibility, right? They basically were saying that she's lying at some points, that she's told this story in all different ways that she -- that question her motivations.

BOLDUAN: Yes, she's biased.

GINGRAS: She's biased. She's doing this to make money. She hates Trump, which she admitted on the stand, that she'd actually like to see him in jail, which she admitted on the stand.

Let me read you one excerpt from the defense back and forth that Necheles, the defense attorney, saying, my question was, you've been making money by claiming to have had sex with President Trump for more than a decade, right? And she answered, I have been making money by telling my story about what happened to me. And she said in that story, in essence, is that -- you say you had sex with President Trump, right? Yes. And that story has made you a lot of money, right? It has also cost me a lot of money. So, that was one of the exchanges where, of course, the defense is really trying to point out that, at one point, in saying you're extorting the president, and that came out also on the stand. So there was a lot there.

BOLDUAN: And then there was the request for a mistrial.

GINGRAS: Yes. So, this happened. So, I feel like there was two. You know, we had almost mostly prosecution before lunch and then mostly the defense after lunch in the middle before they came back after lunch and jurors were in the room, defense attorneys asked for a mistrial, essentially saying that you can't unring the bell with some of the stuff she was saying. She was kind of describing the president as a large man, almost insinuating in some ways, that this wasn't a consensual encounter.

And the defense is saying, listen, this is a case about business records. Why are we even insinuating some of this sordid that shouldn't be in the courtroom? The judge basically said, listen, I don't think we're at the point of a mistrial, but, certainly, there were things that were said that could have been left unsaid. Really, the judge said that. But he said, listen and I give you permission defense to go after it. So, it's going to continue

BOLDUAN: And that is where they pick up, pick up with cross continues tomorrow. All right, Brynn. well done putting that together, as I could never have summed it up myself. John?

BERMAN: All right. Delayed indefinitely, a huge win for Donald Trump in the criminal classified documents case.

[07:10:01]

New reporting on what caused the U.S. to delay armed shipments to Israel as we get new video of explosions in Rafah.

And TikTok suing the U. S. government, the huge new effort to avoid a nationwide ban.

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This morning, we have new video of smoke over Rafah in Gaza after new strikes by Israel. A U.S. official says the Biden administration has paused a shipment of certain bombs to Israel over concerns that the bombs could be used in some kind of Rafah incursion.

[07:15:05]

The Biden administration is rushing to finish a report due to Congress today on whether Israel has violated international humanitarian law in Gaza and the findings could further inflame divisions.

I'm joined now by CNN's Kylie Atwood and Natasha Bertrand. Natasha, first to you on these delayed arms shipments, what are you learning?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. This is a pretty significant political message that the Biden administration is sending to Israel. According to a U.S. official, last week, the Biden administration decided to pause the transfer of over 3,500 bombs to Israel that have been pending shipment, and that is because they're still weighing whether or not to proceed with this shipment amid concerns over Israeli operations in Rafah and how they're going to carry out a potential ground incursion into that area, where over a million Palestinian civilians are still sheltering. Now, according to a U.S. official, the Biden administration began a review of these kinds of weapons shipments to Israel last month as Israel was weighing just how to proceed in Rafah, because the administration is concerned that Israel still does not have a plan for how to protect all of those civilians who are sheltering in that area.

And according to a U.S. official, they still have not made a final determination on just how to proceed with that shipment. But a particular concern are those 2,000-pound bombs that the U.S. has been sending to Israel over the last several months. And that Israel has been using in other areas of Gaza to really devastating effect because of how densely populated those areas in Gaza are.

And so the U.S. now saying that they're taking a beat, they're going to wait and see how Israel decides to proceed with an operation inside Rafah. But it's important to note here that the U.S. has been sending, including as recently as last month, these very kinds of bombs to Israel, that Israel has been using across the Gaza Strip.

And so it's going to be interesting to see just whether the administration continues to send these kinds of shipments, if Israel does give them some kind of commitment that they're going to protect civilians, that their operations in Rafa are in fact going to be limited. But, you know, this is an important political message that the administration is sending really for the first time to Israel using that leverage that the U.S. has in terms of providing those really important weapons shipments and military support to these really is that they have sought repeatedly since October 7th. John?

BERMAN: Natasha Bertrand at the Pentagon, thank you. Natasha, stand by for one moment.

So, Kylie, tell us about this report, the administration has to prepare and submit today. What's it about?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's an incredibly high-stakes report, John. It's due to Congress today from the administration, though congressional sources have told us that the administration says it might be slightly delayed, so we'll see when it actually gets up there.

But it's looking at two main things. The first of which is if Israel is using U.S. weaponry in accordance with international law. They have to get assurances from Israel that they are using those weapons in accordance with international law, then the secretary of state has to make a determination as to if those assurances are credible and reliable.

The other thing that the report is going to be looking at is if Israel has impeded the assistance of humanitarian delivery into Gaza. Of course, that's a significant one because the U.S. has consistently said that Israel can be doing more on that front.

And it comes at a particularly sensitive, intense moment. We have these protests happening across college campuses here in the United States. You have these ongoing efforts to try and secure a ceasefire. And then you also have congressional pressure from the Biden administration's own party, Democrats who want to make sure that this is a report that's a legitimate report.

We've heard from Senator Van Hollen, who has been one of the folks pushing for this report, saying that the U.S. can't just take the assurances that Israel has given them on face value. They have to make sure that there's evidence. They have to make sure there're explanations. And we also know in the backdrop here, of course, that Israel is watching this report incredibly closely, because while it doesn't trigger a requirement for a change in policy, it definitely could lead to one. John?

BERMAN: All right. Kylie Atwood at the State Department, Natasha Bertrand at the Pentagon, our thanks to both of you, a lot of developments to watch today. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Still ahead, why TikTok thinks it can stop the U.S. government from banning the wildly popular app and how likely it is to succeed.

And an American woman returns from Syria. What she's saying now about criminal charges that she was actually training with ISIS there, that's ahead.

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BOLDUAN: So, TikTok is now suing the U.S. government, trying to block the new law that's forcing the platform to cut ties with its China- based parent company or be banned in the United States. The court challenge sets up what's sure to be a huge legal battle, TikTok arguing the law is unconstitutional. The U.S. government, though, has contended its moves are rooted in the national security concerns over the app's ties to China.

CNN's Clare Duffy has much more on this. Clare, tell us more about what TikTok is claiming here in this lawsuit.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Right. So, TikTok is claiming that this law violates the First Amendment rights of TikTok and of its 170 million American users. This law, of course, does give TikTok the option to find a new owner to spin off from its Chinese parent company, but TikTok says that that's not possible and therefore this is effectively just a ban.

The company is saying that it's not possible technically, legally, or commercially. And it cites the fact that the Chinese parent -- the Chinese government, rather, has said that it wouldn't allow TikTok to be sold with its recommendation algorithm, which is really the thing that makes the app so valuable.

[07:25:04]

So, stakes for TikTok are huge here. It doesn't surprise me that they've come out swinging because this is one of their biggest markets.

BOLDUAN: Yes. I mean, there's so much money at stake here, which can always mean big lawsuits.

What is there any sense yet -- I mean, this is just kind of coming up. But is there any sense yet of, you know, how strong of a case TikTok may have?

DUFFY: Legal experts have told us that TikTok could have a fairly strong case here, that these First Amendment arguments are fairly compelling. Legal experts have also told us that the U.S. government, in order to prevail in this case, I should say, is going to have to bring more evidence of these national security concerns.

We haven't actually seen that much sort of specific evidence of what their worries are. And if they're going to prevail over these constitutionally arguments, they're going to have to show up with more specific evidence of their national security concerns.

BOLDUAN: Very interesting, and much more to come. It's good to see you, Clare. Thank you so much.

DUFFY: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: John?

BERMAN: All right. Stunning and, frankly, a little strange health news about a presidential candidate. In a new report, Robert Kennedy opens up about health issues from a, quote, worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died. That's a direct quote from this new report.

And new efforts to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene has been holding secret meetings with him. So, what's the upshot?

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