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Severe Weather Threat; Closing Arguments in Trump Trial Set For Tuesday. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 27, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:39]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: It will all come down to this.

After more than five weeks and 20-plus witnesses, attorneys in Donald Trump's hush money trial present their closing arguments tomorrow. We will show you what to expect.

Plus, millions of Americans facing the threat of severe weather this Memorial Day, the same storm system that already claimed the lives of at least 21 people, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: And at least 45 people killed in an Israeli strike in Rafah that Gazan authorities say hit a camp for displaced people, the IDF saying it took out two senior Hamas commanders. How could this strike impact hostage negotiations?

We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: The first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is now entering its final stage.

I'm Boris Sanchez, alongside Jessica Dean, in the nation's capital.

Closing arguments are set to begin tomorrow in Donald Trump's hush money trial, the last chance for both sides to make their case before jurors go behind closed doors to deliberate.

DEAN: Defense attorneys will present their arguments first. They will be followed by the prosecution.

The former president facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up the reimbursement of hush money payments made before the 2016 election to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

CNN's Kara Scannell has been inside court every single day of this trial. She joins us now.

And so, Kara, the big question everyone's mind, what should we expect to see tomorrow?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, as you say, this is the last chance for both the prosecution and Trump's lawyers to try to convince the jury to see the evidence their way.

Now, Trump's lawyers are the ones up first. We expect that they will focus a lot of their attention on Michael Cohen, who is the only witness to directly tie Trump to the reimbursement scheme. And he is someone that they spent much of their defense case trying to undermine.

And the expectation is that they will focus on his credibility, arguing to the jury that they can't convict Donald Trump on the word of a convicted liar. Now, the prosecution has already warned the jury in opening statements that Michael Cohen has a lot of baggage. But he is also someone that was close to Donald Trump at the time and that he did work for him.

So, prosecutors will try to point the jury to other evidence that can corroborate Cohen's testimony, some of the text messages, phone call records, handwritten notes, as well as other witnesses' testimony, to try to convince the jury that they can believe Michael Cohen's testimony because he's not the only one to say that Donald Trump was involved in this.

Now, there is no time limit on this. So the judge expects that the prosecution and Trump's attorneys will take the whole day tomorrow. He said that, if the jury -- it's possible they might have to stay late. If not, they can't finish, they will finish on Wednesday.

But Wednesday is when the judge is expected to give the jury the jury instructions. That is the guide for the jurors to look at to see what the prosecution needs to prove in order for the jury to find Donald Trump guilty.

Now, they will begin deliberating after that jury charge is given and deliberate as long as it takes for them to reach a verdict in what will be a historic verdict in this case -- Boris, Jessica.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a historic verdict no matter the outcome.

Kara Scannell, thanks so much for the reporting.

Let's discuss now with trial consultant Richard Gabriel and CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen.

We should note that Norm investigated Trump as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee in the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump and litigated cases involving him previously.

Thank you both for being with us on the holiday.

Richard, so the -- these jurors have been on a break, away from the case since early last week. How does that kind of break impact closing arguments, the kind of arguments that we will hear? Do you think it might help either side?

RICHARD GABRIEL, JURY CONSULTANT: I'm not sure it'll help either side. The truth is that jurors at this point probably have a pretty good

idea of how they feel about the case. I think, internally, they are actually coming up with their own closing arguments, because closing arguments, for the most part, are really not necessarily -- there might be some fence-sitting jurors, but, a lot of times, it is just about arming your opinion leaders, your people to convince other jurors in the case.

I think the jurors themselves are sort of kind of evaluating the evidence, trying to kind of piece everything together, trying to see how they feel about it, so that they can come in armed into deliberations to talk to other jurors about it.

[13:05:08]

SANCHEZ: Norm, the Trump team is going to go first. All they need is one juror to side against conviction to then get a mistrial.

It seems like the easiest path for them is to attack Michael Cohen's testimony. Is that a fair assessment?

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It is, Boris.

As you know, I have been there for every day of the trial, and it's clear that that is the strategy of Trump's defense team, to get at least one angry juror to try to hang this jury so there's no verdict, which the former president will claim as a victory.

The problem is that these jurors, like all of the juries that I have encountered over my more than three decades practicing law, clearly take their responsibility seriously. And the prosecution has put in powerful evidence, powerful legal arguments, including at the charging conference that we had last week before recessing.

I do think the prosecution has the upper hand. And the judge is going to tell them, you must decide this. You can, consistent with the facts and the law. That points away from a hung jury. As Richard will tell you, hung juries are very rare. Five or 6 percent of all juries hang.

SANCHEZ: So, Richard, the prosecution has to convince all 12 jurors that Trump falsified business records to get a guilty verdict.

But, specifically, they have to convince the jury that he did that while trying to conceal another crime, like breaking election laws. Isn't it going to be a challenge for them to do that, based on the fact that Trump actually hasn't been to this point convicted of that other crime?

GABRIEL: Well, and I think that's one of the delicate issues in this case.

I think jury instructions are going to be incredibly important in this case. And I think, although Michael Cohen's credibility is going to be clearly focused on by the defense, I think they're going to spend a lot of time on these jury instructions, because there's a lot of nuance to them. There's a lot of complexity to them. And this is a fairly unique

charge here. So, I think, a lot of times, the jurors are going to have to wrestle with -- and there's -- remember, there's two lawyers, there's two engineers, there's two financial people, all people with a great deal of sophistication in the areas that have been discussed during the trial.

They're going to have to then connect the dots not only from the evidence standpoint, but, also, how do you then say this is actually a crime involving election interference? And so I think it is going to be challenging for the jurors to connect those dots in this fairly unique situation.

SANCHEZ: Norm, I'm curious to get your thoughts on the same question, in part because there were parts of Michael Cohen's testimony that didn't fully corroborate the prosecution's theory of the case.

EISEN: Boris, the prosecution knew that there would be questions raised by the defense, profound ones, about Michael Cohen.

So what they did was build across the 20 days of trial a mosaic of corroborating and supporting evidence. So, for example, there's one part of Michael Cohen's testimony where his recollection on direct had to be refreshed on cross-examination. He didn't remember a part of the conversation.

The defense says he lied, but the prosecution on redirect said, no, his recollection was refreshed. And there were 20 conversations. So, that kind of back-and-forth is I think what we're going to have in the jury room with this very sophisticated jury.

And I do think the power -- the prosecution has put in a powerful case, but now it's going to be tested. This was no slam dunk. It was a tough case. And I do have faith in this jury -- they have been so attentive, so careful -- it's one of the most outstanding I have ever seen -- to get to the right answer.

SANCHEZ: Richard, notably, there are two attorneys on the jury panel.

And I'm wondering how you think that might impact deliberations, in part because, as Norm pointed out, hung juries are pretty rare? This is a very divisive case. I'm curious about how you think there being attorneys there might lead, as you describe, these opinion leaders, might potentially lead other jurors?

GABRIEL: Well, I think it is important, obviously.

Attorneys typically do become forepersons on a jury. They are the -- they become authorities. They become people who become more knowledgeable about the law, although, of course, they're not supposed to use their own experience to interpret the law.

[13:10:08]

But they are going to be deferred to, but I will tell you this. This is where it gets really interesting in deliberations. The panel dynamic, the personalities involved becomes really important here.

Norm knows this because, obviously, he was a prosecutor for many years. And to get to a unanimous jury, you need a jury to work together and to get along. And whether you have somebody who's going to cross their arms, whether you have somebody who somehow doesn't get along with other people on the jury, that becomes really important, because you need that consensus for the prosecution to get the unanimous verdict.

If somebody somehow just is having a really hard time with either the other jurors or the evidence in the case, that can play out, and that can play out either with the attorneys somehow interpreting the evidence in a different way, or it can happen with any of the other strong-willed, opinionated jurors, which we have a lot of on here, who might just be able to say, I'm not seeing it yet.

And so, depending upon how much time it takes, depending how they get along, this jury could take a while. I think, ultimately, a jury, knowing that the world is looking at this case, does want to come to a verdict in this case. They don't want to hang, so they're going to work really hard.

SANCHEZ: Richard Gabriel, Norm Eisen, we have to leave the conversation there. Appreciate you both joining us.

GABRIEL: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

So, as former President Donald Trump prepares for his hush money trial to head to the jury, he hit the campaign trail over the weekend, showing up at a NASCAR race in North Carolina, where he took photos with Gold Star families.

DEAN: Now, this came after he was loudly booed at the Libertarian Party's national convention for the full 34 minutes that he was on stage.

By the way, that was one of his shortest -- shortest campaign speeches to date.

CNN's Steve Contorno is covering this for us. He was there over the weekend with the former president.

Steve, why did Trump attend this event? It's rare to see a presumptive Republican nominee go to an event like this. And, also, what other stops is he making over the next few weeks?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Jessica, bottom line is, the Trump campaign knows, or they believe, at least, this is going to be an especially close election.

And they say they're not afraid to go into unconventional places, even unfriendly places, to find new voters. They did it when they met with the Teamsters union. They did it with this rally in the Bronx a couple -- last week. And they did it at the Libertarian convention on Saturday.

It still made, though, for a remarkable event. And, as you said, he was booed and heckled almost throughout his entire speech. Here's a little bit of what his pitch was to these unconventional, nontraditional Republican voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We want Libertarian votes because you stand for what we stand for. If we unite, we are unstoppable.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: I will be a true friend to Libertarians in the White House.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: The Libertarian Party should nominate Trump for president of the United States.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: Whoa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: As for the rest of his week, well, he has a fund-raiser on Thursday, but much of his schedule is in flux as we wait to see what happens in this hush money trial and whether or not there's a verdict.

His schedule is really going to be dependent on that.

SANCHEZ: Steve, if folks didn't know from the reception he got in the crowd, Trump did not win the Libertarian nomination. Who did?

CONTORNO: His name is Chase Oliver, and he was a candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia two years ago. Four years ago, he ran for Congress in that state as well. And he's also no fan of Donald Trump.

That night after Donald Trump spoke, he -- he also addressed that crowd and said -- quote -- "I don't like having a war criminal on this stage. I don't feel he deserves a spot on this stage. While I think it was a mistake to have invited Donald Trump, I'm glad he got to see a glimpse of what a real Libertarian reception feels like."

Now, Oliver's own election and ascension to this nomination did not come easy. It took seven rounds of voting before the convention decided on him, and, even then, he only narrowly beat out none of the above.

DEAN: Wow.

(LAUGHTER)

DEAN: All right, Steve Contorno, thanks for being there this weekend and for that report now. We appreciate it.

Still ahead: The death toll is rising after multiple tornadoes strike the Central U.S. Meantime, millions more Americans are now currently on alert, as that deadly storm system heads east.

SANCHEZ: Plus, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says that 45 people were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a camp for displaced people in Rafah. But the Israeli military claims it was targeting a Hamas compound.

Now the prime minister is speaking out. We will break down what he said in just moments.

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[13:19:13]

DEAN: This holiday weekend brought deadly weather across the country, heartbreak and destruction to the Central U.S., the threat moving to the East Coast today.

The systems that spawned dozens of deadly tornadoes and reports on Sunday including this one in Eddyville, Kentucky, they killed at least 21 people across four states.

Listen to one woman who rode it all out in her shelter before a -- after a devastating storm in 2021.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN GOODACRE, TORNADO SURVIVOR: It's awful. Lost everything. But at least my dog's OK, my husband's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The storm's impact was felt in several states, downing trees and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands. What's more, Sunday was the most active severe storm day yet in what has been a freakishly active season.

[13:20:04]

The Storm Prediction Center counted more than 620 reports of severe weather from Wyoming all the way to New Hampshire. Yesterday, Valley View, Texas, an hour north of Dallas, was among the hardest-hit locations. Two children and their mother were killed from a suspected tornado.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in the area and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The National Weather Service says the tornado that ripped through this subdivision just near the small city of -- of Valley View, Texas, in North Texas was an EF-2 with winds of 135 miles per hour, which explains just the devastating destruction you see around us.

This is a subdivision where dozens of homes are just demolished. Emergency officials say seven people were killed here. Four of those victims were children. In fact, we spoke with the relative of one family that was just hit -- devastated by this.

This is -- these cars and this debris that you see behind me, that is an area where a mother and two of her children were found dead by their -- the woman's brother-in-law. Their home was catapulted more than 100 yards, and it landed here just in the -- that's the remnants of what you see there.

And those victims were found there just minutes after the storm blew through here. In all, some 100 people were injured as well. There was a convenience store along Interstate 35 where more than 100 people were scrambling to get out of the storm's path, only to find themselves directly hit by the storm. The building collapsed. Those people had to be rescued.

But, right now, in what is becoming stifling heat, families are out here trying to clean up the pieces and what is left of this debris field, when families simply just -- in some cases, just kind of stunned as to where exactly you begin to clean up after this. We have seen people coming in with heavy equipment and just piling everything together, as you see behind me here.

And, right now, the biggest need that families here need is temporary shelter, so that the work is being done to get these people housed while they rebuild, also clothing, because, as you can see, everyone's belongings have just been strewn all over the place.

The Red Cross officials say that the storm system here in Texas kind of cut a path of 150 to 250 miles along -- throughout North Texas, so the damage and the devastation very intense in places like this, but also quite widespread as well -- back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Ed Lavandera for that report.

This storm system, which upended people's lives in the Central U.S., is not finished. It's now moving across the country.

DEAN: And, right now, more than 110 million people are at risk of severe weather, including those of us right here in Washington.

CNN's Chad Myers is with us now.

And, Chad, the month of May just generally has seen an extreme amount of tornadoes, but the season isn't even over yet.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, of course not.

I mean, as the jet stream moves to the north, we're going to see these storms get through Nebraska, into parts of South Dakota, Minnesota over the next couple of months, and eventually all the way up even into the Canadian provinces, where we have seen very large tornadoes in these summer months, deep summer months.

It follows where the jet stream is. And, right now, it has been right through the central part of the country, right through the Tennessee Valley. For today, there will be severe weather in the Catskills and the Poconos and running toward New York City, running toward Washington, D.C.

Some of these areas could see some fairly large storms. I don't believe we're going to see this. I was watching this live last night on YouTube as people were chasing this storm near Dawson City, I-69. People were hiding in gas stations again. That's kind of the mentality now when you're traveling. Where do I go?

I mean, if I see this coming, I'm not going to stay in my car. I have to find some place to hide, really -- 490,000 people, half-a-million people, still without power. There are the storms right now for the Northeast.

The reason why that number that you said, 110 million, is so large is because there's so many people in the way. This is not a severe tornado event, where we're going to see EF-3s and EF-4s on the ground. There will be some severe weather. There will be some wind. Some power lines may come down. Some tree limbs may come down.

But, since Friday, there have been 58 tornadoes on the ground, 737 reports of wind damage, and 292 reports of hail to get us all the way to that severe weather season. Yes, this is springtime. This is what's supposed to be happening. But, really, enough's enough.

And, yes, we are going to get a little bit of a break. There will be some severe weather in parts of Texas tomorrow, but the rest of the eastern half of the U.S. of the country will stay mainly storm-free.

Something else that's going to go on down here, 117-degree heat indexes down here in South Florida. And, yes, the temperatures are going to be hot as well, not just the humidity. But look at Brownsville. This is the thermometer today. It's going to be 107, with a heat index of 111, 111 in Brownsville.

[13:25:04]

So, yes, the heat continues. Maybe some of these storms down there in Texas will put out some outflow boundaries, some cooler air coming out of these thunderstorms. We just hope that they're not too severe today.

DEAN: Yes, I hope they're not dangerous. Oh, those numbers, though, those temperatures look very, very hot and uncomfortable.

All right, Chad Myers, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Up ahead: Israel says it's now investigating the strike on a camp in Rafah that left at least 45 people dead. How could the strike complicate hostage talks? We're going to talk about that.

And police in Massachusetts are investigating after six people were stabbed in two separate attacks. Four of the victims were girls under the age of 18. We will have the latest for you on this.

That's next.

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