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Soon, Closing Arguments Begin in Trump Hush Money Trial; Today, American to be Sentenced in Turks and Caicos; Biden Admin Assessing If Rafah Strike Crossed Red Line. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 28, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: How did it get there? Officials say Bradley escaped his habitat last week after being caught on camera several times. He was finally recaptured. So, I guess that's three happy endings to kick off what is -- I don't know. We could just use some, some happy animal rescues this week, right? Opening arguments start today.

Thank you guys very much for being with me this morning. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt.

Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A historic moment for the country, one of the most important moments in the life of Donald J. Trump, closing arguments about to begin in the criminal case that could land him behind bars.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the White House is looking for more answers after the Israeli airstrike killed dozens of people at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah. Prime Minister Netanyahu calls it a tragic error. Did it cross Joe Biden's red line?

And an American detained in Turks and Caicos will learn his fate today. Four more Americans charged with carrying ammunition to the island, will they be allowed to return home or will they face years in prison for what they call an honest mistake?

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara is out. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: We are standing by for a historic moment in legal and political history, closing arguments this morning in the criminal case against Donald Trump. He is charged with falsifying documents to cover up hush money payments to an adult film actress, all to influence the 2016 election. And we are getting new reporting just in on how the lawyers plan to make their cases.

First, Trump's attorneys will hammer the credibility of key witness Michael Cohen and question why other key figures in Trump's circle will not call to the stand. The prosecution is expected to focus on the evidentiary trail, text messages, phone logs, emails, checks, receipts, and the testimony of 22 witnesses, 20 for the prosecution, 2 for the defense.

Let's get right to CNN's Brynn Gingras standing by outside court for this historic day. Everything really leading up to this, Brynn.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, here we go, John, five weeks of testimony. And here we are the end, the culmination of this trial, closing arguments beginning when court begins at 9:30 this morning. As you just pointed out right there, the defense going to argue that Michael Cohen is the only one that the prosecution brought forward that can tie Trump to connected to these alleged crimes, and he is a liar. That is what they are expected to highlight.

In addition to that, the people the prosecution didn't call who jurors sort of heard about. In some of the witness testimony, people like former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg, who worked out the communications of those hush money or calculations rather of those hush money payments, also Keith Schiller, the former bodyguard who allegedly, according prosecution, had that crucial phone call with Michael Cohen, connecting him to Donald Trump to they have the witness discuss those hush money payments. They also believe that those documents are not false, everything that the prosecution has laid out for those jurors, not false because Cohen was Trump's attorney up until 2017. So, that will be part of their arguments.

Then, of course, prosecution has its turn, and they say, you don't need to fully just believe Michael Cohen because they have the documents to prove it. They have the witness testimony. They have phone calls. They have the 34 falsified documents according to them, which includes the business vouchers, the invoices and the checks.

So, it's going to be an eventful day in court today. Let me lay out exactly what we're expecting, full day of closing arguments. They actually could bleed over into tomorrow. And then, of course, jury instructions, that crucial part of this case, where the judge will tell the jurors how they are meant to interpret the law and apply it to all the evidence on the witnesses that they have heard from, those are expected to last an hour. And then, of course, deliberations begin the seven men and five women will go behind closed doors and determine the fate of the former president. Guys?

BERMAN: Really closing arguments set to begin in just about an hour or so. Brynn Gingras outside court, thank you so much for being there. We'll check back in with you in a bit.

And, really, Kate, what we're going to see today, we've seen bits and pieces, all the whole narrative all scattershot. Now, each side is going to tell a complete story in front of this jury.

BOLDUAN: That's entirely the focus, right? To sum it up today, and it does seem very clear already today, that Donald Trump seems raring to go, posting on social media and wondering aloud, quote, whether or not he will become a common criminal.

CNN's Steve Contorno is joining us now. He's got much more on this. Steve, what else are you learning? STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, Trump is lashing out just before this final phase of his trial is set to begin. You look at Truth Social yesterday, just one post after the other, started the day with a message, a Memorial Day message, aimed at, quote, the human scum that is trying to destroy our country.

[07:05:07]

And from there, he criticized the gag order in the case. He criticized rulings that have blocked certain witnesses. He also said there's no crime. And if there was a crime, it should have been brought seven years ago.

And then this post, which brought an interesting question to the mix, why is the corrupt government allowed to make the final argument in the case against me? Why can't the defense go last? Big advantage, very unfair. I think the American justice system just tends to work that way for everybody. It's not something that's being done specifically in Trump's trial.

But, look, even though Trump has been lashing out on social media and obviously is unhappy with where this case is headed. This isn't consuming the campaign trial for him for this week. There is nothing on his calendar other than a fundraiser on Thursday. He has no planned events that we are aware of at this point. So, the trial is the campaign for the foreseeable future, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yep. And as we're learning is kind of the order of operation today with defense going first, prosecutors going second. It seems standard operating procedure in New York is what they're up against. It's good to see you, Steve, thank you so much.

So still had also for us, in addition to the big day of closing arguments in Donald Trump's case today, today, Americans still detained in Turks and Caicos. One of them will learn his fate. He says bringing ammunition on vacation was an honest mistake. Let's see what happens in another American who faced similar charges was released Friday. He's speaking up for the first time back on U.S. soil.

And we're also learning new details this morning about the suspect accused of stabbing four young girls in a movie theater and two more people at a McDonald's.

And China now bringing gun toting robot dogs into its latest round of military drills.

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[07:10:00]

BERMAN: This morning, sentencing for one of the four remaining Americans charged with carrying ammunition to Turks and Caicos. Tyler Wenrich pleaded guilty to violating the country's firearms laws. He is hoping for a similar fate to the American, Bryan Hagerich, who was sentenced to a 52-week suspended sentence and a fine, and allowed to return to the United States. Let's get right to CNN's Carlos Suarez with the latest here. Carlos?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning. So, two of the accused of four Americans will be in court later today. Tyler Wenrich, as you note, is expected to learn his fate when a judge hands down his sentence.

Now, the 31-year-old, like the other Americans, is accused of bringing ammunition into the country. A fellow American, Ryan Watson, he is also scheduled to be in court later this morning, and he's expected to decide whether he is going to plead guilty to his charges or if he's going to go to trial.

Now, both of these appearances come days after Bryan Hagerich was allowed to return home after a judge handed down a 52-week suspended sentence and a fine. The 40-year-old, he boarded a flight right back to Pennsylvania on Friday, just hours after a judge ruled that he found, quote, exceptional circumstances in that case.

Now, Hagerich told officials that he did not know that the hunting ammunition that he had in his luggage, he had no idea that it was in that bag when he visited the country earlier this week.

Here now is Hagerich and his wife on the uncertainty that played out on Friday. Remember, he was facing the possibility of spending 12 years in prison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY HAGERICH, WIFE OF BRYAN HAGERICH, AMERICAN FREED FROM TURKS AND CAICOS: He sent me a list of everything that he would have needed for prison, and we brought down the green suitcase, and that was the not good suitcase, doomsday suitcase.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He literally had two suitcases packed, one for home, one for prison.

HAGERICH: The black suitcase was home, the green suitcase was doomsday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I think we lost Carlos Suarez.

SUAREZ: All right. So, Hagerich's attorney is also representing Watson, the American who will decide whether he's going to take that plea in the case. Now, over the weekend, his wife told CNN that they plan on essentially presenting the same argument here, right, which is that Watson did not know that he had ammunition in his bag and that the judge should use discretion.

John, a lot of the U.S. officials that have been pretty critical of how officials in the Turks and Caicos Islands have handled the situation were quick to applaud what happened on Friday. And so the hope going into today is that this one American that will be sentenced today will have a similar fate and that the other American that will have his hearing, he'll decide whether he's going to plead guilty to the charges or face trial. John?

BERMAN: We will see if this is a trend in the sentencing. All right, Carlos Suarez, thank you very much for that.

So, a tragic mistake, that is what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling a strike that killed dozens of civilians. We've got new reporting this morning on if that mistake, as he called it, could cost him U.S. support.

And this morning, millions of Americans under severe weather threats, including golf ball-sized hail, tornadoes, and we have new information on who is facing the greatest risk.

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BOLDUAN: The word from the White House this morning is it is still assessing Israel's airstrike in Rafah that ended up killing at least 45 people in a nearby displacement camp. 200 others are said to be injured. Many of those killed were women and children who had fled to the camp for safety.

A U.S. official tells CNN Israel says that it used a precision munition to hit its target in Rafah, taking out two top Hamas terrorists. But the error came when the explosion from the strike ignited a nearby fuel tank and started the fire that engulfed the camp for displaced Palestinians.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon. Oren, what more are you learning?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kate, at this point, the U.S. is waiting to see what more information Israel has from its own investigation as that moves forward here and gathers more information on what happened. The challenge here is that the U.S. doesn't have its own independent way of assessing the explanation that the Israelis have provided in terms of what happened here. Israel saying that they used a precision guided munition to strike a target, taking out two senior Hamas militants, and that ultimately ignited a fire that led to at least 45 Palestinian deaths and 200 more injured.

[07:20:01]

The U.S. simply doesn't have the ability or the granularity to know exactly if that explanation at this point holds water, so they're waiting to see what more information is Israel can provide at this point. The U.S. has had to rely on Israel for Israel's assessments and not conducted its own investigations largely because of the need to rely on Israel for its ability to look at what happened and to investigate.

The question, of course, does the Biden administration accept that explanation? And how does that affect the situation and the relationship moving forward here? President Joe Biden has said in the previous month that a ground incursion into Rafah would effectively cross a red line for the Biden administration. The challenge here is that this isn't a ground incursion, but it has led to the exact sorts of civilian deaths and humanitarian catastrophe that the Biden administration has been urging the Israelis to avoid all along. And that is where the Biden administration needs to figure out exactly where it stands here.

Again, Israel said it used a precision guided munition to carry out the strike in Rafah on Sunday and that the strike itself was not in the humanitarian zone, a zone that was supposed to be safe and where Israel had told Palestinians to go to, to ensure that they weren't in harm's way. And that's clearly not what happened here, Kate. So, we'll have a chance to learn more and ask questions of U.S. officials more throughout the day to see the reaction and whether they find Israel's explanation credible.

BOLDUAN: Yes, much more to much more to learn today, for sure. It's good to see you, Oren. Thank you for that reporting. John?

BERMAN: All right. This morning, Elon Musk's A.I. company is $6 billion dollars richer. XAI got a big boost during a new fundraising round and the company is now valued at $24 billion.

CNN's Matt Egan here to explain it all. Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: John, we are living through a modern day gold rush. Investors are scrambling to get a piece of the A.I. boom. There's so much demand here that Elon Musk's A.I. startup had no problem raising twice as much as they wanted. Originally, they wanted $3 billion, they got $6 billion.

So, this company is called XAI, it's less than a year old, but it's already worth $24 billion. That is a lot of money. That is more than my New York Mets, your Boston Red Sox, the Yankees and the Dodgers combined. And, again, this company is less than a year old.

Now, it raised money from Silicon Valley firms and a Saudi prince. Its main product is an A.I.-powered chat bot called Grok, and it trains on data from X, the social network, formerly known as Twitter, hopefully minus the trolling and the cursing there.

Now, this company's ambitions are quite lofty. The mission is stated as to understand the, quote, true nature of the universe. Now, this is just the latest A.I. investment in what increasing looks like an arms race in the tech space, right? We're talking about a lot of major investments. Microsoft agreed to invest about $13 billion in OpenAI. That's the company that's known for ChatGPT. Amazon has invested $4 billion in Anthropic. Obviously, this XAI investment we just told you about. Then there's also NVidia, right? This is a company that only makes the infrastructure that powers A.I., but it's worth more than $2.5 trillion.

Now XAI is also just the latest piece of the Elon Musk empire right now. He's obviously known for Tesla, right? Running Tesla is a full time job, especially lately, but then there's SpaceX. There's X, the social media company. There's the brain chip startup, Neuralink, Tunnel Company, the Boring Company. He is a very busy guy. Obviously, part of this empire has already been very successful. And the question now is whether or not he can replicate that in the A.I. space.

BERMAN: We'll see. A lot of big numbers being thrown around there.

EGAN: Massive.

BERMAN: All right. Thanks so much.

EGAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: New details about the man accused of a string of mass shootings. Why one witness said the suspect was, quote, laughing the whole time.

And then man's best friend or killing machine, how one country's military is arming robot dogs with deadly weapons. That sounds totally okay.

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[07:25:00]

BERMAN: New details this morning about the suspect who police say carried out a string of stabbing attacks in Massachusetts. A 26-year- old is accused of stabbing a man through a McDonald's drive through window then attacking a woman inside the restaurant. Police say he is likely linked to another incident at a movie theater about an hour away where four young girls were stabbed.

CNN's Athena Jones is with us with the very latest. Good morning, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, this suspect, Jared Ravizza, is due to make a court appearance today in the case of the McDonald's stabbing, facing charges of assault with intent to murder and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

It's not clear if Ravizza has an attorney for this court appearance and the investigation is still ongoing into whether Ravizza is also responsible for the stabbing attack on four girls between the ages of 9 and 17 at a movie theater in Braintree an hour before this McDonald's attack.

But we do know that Ravizza was arrested last month on Martha's Vineyard for assault and battery of a family member and vandalism in an incident.

[07:30:00]

This is according to records of the Edgar Town District Court.

That case has not been adjudicated, but the Boston Globe got a hold of a police report and says that Ravizza's father told officers his son had --