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Trump Administration Freeze $2.2 Billion In Funding For Harvard University; Israel Proposes Gaza Ceasefire Deal To Release 10 Hostages For Hundreds Of Palestinians; Jury Selection To Begin In Harvey Weinstein's Sex Crimes Retrial. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 15, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:31:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, new this morning what Politico calls President Trump's forever war against some of the country's most elite institutions. In this case its oldest college, Harvard University, which actually predates the United States of America. The president froze more than $2 billion in funding for Harvard after the school became the first, kind of, school, business, or law firm to stand up to administration ultimatums.

With us now, Meghan Hays, the former White House director of message planning, and a Democratic strategist. And Marc Short, longtime adviser to Mike Pence. He is now chair of the Board of Advancing American freedom.

Meghan, on the one hand, Harvard is in a different place than a lot of other institutions are. It's got a $50 billion endowment. But now, $2 billion frozen here.

What can be learned from its defiance?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION CONSULTANT: I think more universities should be doing this. The government should not be telling independent universities what to teach and how to teach. If they want to pull their funds, that's fine. We understand that money comes with strings. You learn that as a child that when your parents give you money it comes with strings.

But they cannot dictate what we can be teaching to kids. We need the -- we need freedom of what kids are learning. That's what part of democracy is for.

BERMAN: The administration also upped its demands at Harvard. First, it was they weren't doing enough to crack down on antisemitism following the protests after October 7. But then it became, Marc, that they wanted Harvard to have an independent auditor look at every department in the school to make sure their viewpoint diverse.

Why is the administration so eager for this fight? MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE, BOARD CHAIRMAN, ADVANCING AMERICAN FREEDOM: I think it's a good fight them politically. I think the reality is that, sure, Harvard has every right to tell the administration to go pounce sand. But at the same time I think for a lot of Americans they've seen our universities adopt so many woke programs and particularly, I think highlighted by what happened after October 7.

And I think, as you said, Harvard has a $53 billion endowment. And Meghan mentions independent schools. There's really only two independent schools and colleges in America, Hillsdale and Grove City College. They take no federal funding. And so Harvard has every right to tell them to pounce sand.

But I think for the administration they also do this. A lot of Americans are, like, you have a $53 billion endowment and you're getting all this taxpayer dollar. And so I think for the administration it's probably a good political fight.

BERMAN: It is unclear, by the way, where some of that money that is being withheld would have gone. It's affiliated with Harvard's Children's Hospital in Boston, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. You have a lot of really important institutions here that help a lot of people.

It does occur to me that maybe the administration is eager to have this fight right now out in public in the midst of what's been going on with tariffs.

And I just want to show people some of the polling on the economy over the last few days that we've seen. Harry Enten pointed this out to us yesterday. If you look at the trends on the view of the economy right now, you can see in November is the economy getting worse. Just 42 percent thought so. Then in February it's 49; March, 51. Now it's 53.

Just the -- that is the wrong direction for this administration, Marc.

SHORT: It's a terrible direction and it's probably headed to even worse because I think you haven't really seen the impact of all the layoffs that are probably coming because of this tariff policy.

I think that the first Trump presidency was effective in deregulating the economy and lowering taxes, but this trade war is one that I think we have really not felt the implications fully yet, John.

And I think that what's even more concerning is what's happened in the bond market because typically investors -- when you're scared you see -- anticipate a recession. You see consumer sentiment going down. You buy treasuries for security.

The fact that the people are unloading securities says that a lot of the world no longer thinks America is a safe haven. And I think that really scares the administration, which is why you're seeing all these various exemptions coming on even though they promised there wouldn't be exemptions.

BERMAN: It has become from a tariff regime to an exemption regime.

SHORT: Which I think also -- it's like we talk about draining the swamp. What happens when you give all those exemptions is the lobbyists are the ones doing best because they're the ones creating all the exemptions and negotiating exemptions. And so you're actually not draining the swamp. The tariffs are one of the swampiest things you can have.

BERMAN: And Harry Enten, yesterday, also pointed out one other poll number here. This has to do with who is responsible for the economy. In the polling in March on the issue of inflation people saw Biden still largely more responsible -- a little more responsible. But now on the economy writ large it's a Trump economy.

[07:35:00]

James Carville wrote an op-ed in The New York Times yesterday. He said Democrats really need to lean into this, albeit in the right way. Don't talk about the market fluctuating; talk about how it's affecting your pocketbook.

HAYS: Absolutely. And I think that Republicans who are -- who voted for Trump because they thought he was going to fix the economy -- they are learning quickly that is not the case here.

These taxes, tariffs, or whatever you would like to call them are affecting the middle class, and that's where the majority is going to be felt. It's not going to be felt by the wealthy. And then it's also going to be felt by them getting rid of programs that are going to impact the most -- people who need them the most. And it's just a really unfortunate situation.

And Trump -- you know, he likes to blame Joe Biden for everything. He is going to learn very quickly in his poll numbers come the midterms that the Republicans are going to be in a world of hurt if they don't get some control under this chaos that he's created.

BERMAN: And the polling does show it is now Donald Trump's economy one way or the other.

SHORT: Sure.

HAYS: Yeah.

BERMAN: John Kennedy, the senator from Louisiana, was on with Jake Tapper yesterday and they were talking about the messaging on this. Now, this isn't as much of a messaging issue as it is a policy issue, right? But the messaging here has been muddled at best.

And Jake was asking Sen. Kennedy about the idea that he's hearing from a lot of Republicans that they're just not sure about what the administration is doing -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I think I know what's in the president's heart, but I don't know what's in his head. The people you're talking about are right. The administration has not given one clear rationale for its tariffs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: How much of an issue is that, and does the administration have a clear rationale for its tariffs?

SHORT: I think it's a huge issue. I think it's one of the reasons investors are putting money on the sidelines because they are not sure where this is going.

I think the administration, on the one hand, has said we want to lower trade barriers from other countries. But then you have other people like Peter Navarro out there saying we want a zero trade deficit with every country in the world. You're not going to force, you know, Vietnam to buy rice from America. The reality is that when you -- if that's your policy it's not hard to get a zero trade deficit. It'll just drive you into a total recession and you won't be buying things from other countries.

When you have a trade deficit, in many cases, it's because you're the wealthiest country in the world and you can afford to buy things from other people, John.

BERMAN: Meghan?

HAYS: Yeah. I think what this is doing is it's driving the rest of the world away from America where they used to find a safe haven, as you mentioned.

It's also going to put Republicans on notice that they are not going to do well in the midterms. Donald Trump isn't going to pay the price for this because he's a lame duck president, but people running in 2026 and 2028 are going to pay the price of his ruining the economy right now.

BERMAN: Still has some runway before we get there, but we will see, particularly this summer if maybe some Republicans make a decision not to keep running.

All right. Meghan, Marc, great to see both of you.

SHORT: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Thanks so much for coming in -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So today, former President Joe Biden is coming back -- inching back onto the public stage as he's expected to deliver his first public speech since leaving the White House.

CNN's Isaac Dovere has the reporting on this one and he's joining us now. So, Isaac, what are you hearing is going to happen?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, he is going to be in Chicago later today speaking, as you said, for the first time, really, publicly since he left office. And he's going to talk about Social Security being on the chopping block for the Trump administration and really make a full-throated defense on the program.

But it's part of a slow inch-back into public life for Biden. He is now embracing the role of the -- as a post-president trying to figure out what that is. This is one of the strangest former presidencies that exists given all the circumstances that surrounded it. And also, of course, the fact that he has left office the oldest person to leave office ever in American history as president.

And I've got a lot of new details about everything that he's been up to and the things that they're trying to figure out for him to be up to in the months ahead in a story up on cnn.com right now.

BOLDUAN: Isaac, do you get the sense -- from your reporting do you get the sense that he is looking forward to getting back into public life? Like, how much he is expecting to, planning to, desiring to kind of be out there in a big way during the Trump administration.

DOVERE: Well, people close to him describe this period -- this 100-day period to me as one of reflecting, reconnecting, and trying to figure out what that role would be. He has been talking to a lot of family members, friends. But look, there are a lot of Democratic politicians who really do wish that he would slide quietly into retirement and off into the sunset.

I talked to one person who has been a donor and supporter of Biden for years, and I said, "Have you heard from the former president since January 20?" And the response was, "No, thank God."

So there is definitely a feeling of it would be better politically for Biden to step aside. He wants to be more involved and there are people around him who want to see that build up again over some time in the contrast to what Trump is doing.

BOLDUAN: Well, Isaac, that quote -- there's a lot -- there's a lot said in that one short quote you just offered.

It's good to see you. Thank you very much for your reporting --

DOVERE: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- as always -- John.

BERMAN: There's always a lot in Isaac's report.

BOLDUAN: I totally agree.

[07:40:00]

BERMAN: All right. New overnight, Hamas officials confirm to CNN that they are "studying" a new Israel-proposed ceasefire deal in Gaza that would see 10 hostages released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Hamas is reiterating they will not make any deal that does not result in a permanent ceasefire as well as full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest from Tel Aviv.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is some movement once again in these negotiations between Israel and Hamas to revive that ceasefire in Gaza and see the release of additional Israeli hostages who have been held in captivity now for more than 18 months.

A Hamas official says that Hamas is, indeed, studying an Israeli proposal that would see 10 Israeli hostages -- 10 living Israeli hostages released from captivity in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a 45-day truce in Gaza. Now, according to that official, during that 45-day truce, Israel and Hamas would the negotiate a permanent ceasefire. But so far, Israel has offered no guarantees that those negotiations will actually lead to an end of the war.

This proposal from Israel also calls for the disarmament of Hamas, which a senior Hamas official says Hamas will not agree to. So that is obviously a major sticking point here and makes clear that even as we are seeing progress, we are seeing a renewed sense of momentum in these talks, we are still quite far away from a deal actually being achieved.

If this proposal actually does become a reality though this would also include the release of the Israeli soldier Edan Alexander who is also an American citizen. Nine other Israeli hostages would be released in two stages in exchange for 120 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences, and 1,100 additional Palestinian detainees. You would also see the release of 16 deceased hostages who are still being held by Hamas as bargaining chips.

Now, as these negotiations continue, we are watching as the humanitarian conditions in Gaza are rapidly continuing to deteriorate. It has now been over a month -- since March 2 -- since any kind of aid has gotten into Gaza. That includes food. It also includes water, electricity, and any kind of medical aid that previously came into Gaza through those crossing points. Israel has completely shut all of that down. They say it's in an effort to pressure Hamas to release additional hostages.

And we know, of course, that there are still 59 Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. The Israeli government believes that as many as 24 of those are, indeed, still alive. And, of course, they are also being held in quite severe conditions inside of Gaza.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Jeremy, thank you so much for that.

Still ahead for us, today, Harvey Weinstein is headed back to court. The retrial for his alleged sex crimes begins with jury selection. How the case could be different this time around.

And there's new video in. Elephants even rushing to protect their young as an earthquake hits Southern California.

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[07:48:00]

BERMAN: This morning jury selection is set to begin in the sex crimes retrial of Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein was convicted in 2020 of rape and sexual assault and was sentenced to 23 years. An appeals court overturned that conviction. The judges ruled that he had not -- he had been deprived of a fair trial, but he remained behind bars. The new trial will be a chance to re-prosecute him for the New York charges as well as one new charge.

CNN's Jean Casarez has all the details here. Good morning, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

You know, this is five years later and that can make a big difference in many different things.

First of all, in this trial -- and jury selection begins today, and they don't know how long it's going to take because everybody knows obviously about this case. But the prosecution will have a witness just like they did in the first trial -- a memory expert to talk about rape myths. What people can assume a rape victim goes through and the reality of what they do. They may not report it. They may not tell anyone. They may continue a relationship in some form or fashion with their perpetrator.

But I see where the defense is going because I've sat in the hearings -- the pretrial hearings. And the defense, which is now going to be led in large part by Jean Von Jean who -- is Jennifer Bonjean, who actually was the lead attorney for his Los Angeles case.

She is going to, I think, try to mold this prosecution memory expert that the "Me Too" movement in 2020 was very strong. There were a lot of beliefs that were had at this point. But now we have morphed into something different, which the defense will call reality because a lot of these accusers had relationships with Harvey Weinstein and his defense is that it was consensual.

Now, let's look at the charges. There's three accusers here.

The first two are from the first trial -- Mimi Haley, a criminal sexual act in the first degree. That is a 20-year felony and that was overturned.

[07:50:00]

Next you have Jessica Mann, and that was third-degree rape, which was a three-year felony. That's what he was sentenced to. That also was overturned. So they will be testifying again. Once again, the defense will take that testimony from the first trial and try to impeach them because five years later, are your answers going to be exactly the same?

But the third accuser is brand new. We have -- we don't know of her. It is criminal sexual act in the first degree. It is from 2006 she is alleging. So she will take the stand for the first time.

But here is what the defense has to work with here. She was interviewed by authorities back during the time of the first trial and even before and they did not bring her as an accuser into a criminal trial. And I was reading a transcript that happened just last week, and they are -- the defense is alleging that when she was interviewed previously, she never mentioned force ever, and that is a critical element in criminal sexual act in the first degree.

So there's going to be -- this is going to be a different trial, and we will see what happens.

BERMAN: Yeah. I think that's a really important point. This will be a different trial in every which way.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much for covering it for us -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk more about this. Joining us right now is CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson.

So, Joey, a retrial is always fascinating, and what is different this time? I mean, does a retrial make it, do you think, easier or harder to convict?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: So you know what, Kate? Big difference this time. Good morning to you.

BOLDUAN: Good morning.

JACKSON: And here's the significance. Remember, the first trial was overturned? Why? It was overturned for a couple of reasons the first of which you had these prior bad act witnesses. What does that mean? It means you had witnesses who were not -- they were not the substance of the charges, but they came in to show that Harvey Weinstein engaged in this pattern -- not one, not two, but three. That's compelling because what then can happen Kate is you can have a jury saying you know what, where there's smoke there's fire.

I don't know about the credibility of the actual witnesses, right, as Jean explained, of the people who you are accused of. But if there are all these other people -- my goodness, you must have done something. We're not going to see that. So that's a huge difference --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

JACKSON: -- in terms of the ruling.

The next thing, obviously, is that as Jean noted also, you have this additional accuser. So while you're not going to see three other pattern witnesses speaking about how bad he did and what he did to them, you'll see this additional accusation. The issue what that, however, is whether there's a credibility problem because again, during initial interviews that other witness didn't say force and now they're saying force. Expect the defense to seize upon that.

So those are the ground rules.

BOLDUAN: When the -- with this new -- with this kind of retrial of and then a new accuser that has not been to trial yet coming -- now being brought in, could it feel like two trials combined into one? Does that make it more challenging?

JACKSON: So it could. So what the -- what the actual prosecution is going to do, to your question, is they're going to loop it all in. This is a bad guy.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

JACKSON: He engaged in bad conduct, whether it's witness number one, two, or three. There's something amiss. He doesn't know what no means and as a result he's guilty.

I think the defense, to your question, will parse it out. These are separate and independent allegations, none of which really could be substantiated.

Remember a couple of things the defense is arguing. Number one, no physical evidence. Number two, they're saying that not only is there a lack of physical evidence but there was a continued relationship with Harvey Weinstein and his accusers after, including an agreement to have sexual intercourse.

What that means, right, is going to be up to a jury to assess. It doesn't mean there wasn't a rape; it doesn't mean there was. But that's why they're expert witness -- the prosecution's expert is so important to explain just the dynamic of a relationship when there's rape or force involved.

BOLDUAN: Do both sides -- do they approach jury selection differently this time?

JACKSON: So jury selection is huge for a couple of reasons, right? You want to make sure that your targe audience is receptive, right? If you're speaking to someone who's just not buying what you're selling --

BOLDUAN: Right.

JACKSON: -- right -- it's winter and you're selling ice cream, maybe you go someplace else.

And so always it's important to have a fair, impartial jury. When you do that, Kate, the issue is not whether you've heard about Harvey Weinstein or whether you have an opinion about Harvey Weinstein, can you be fair with respect to this case? And when you do that there are people who say you know what, this is

not for me. I believe in "Me Too." I think all men are bad, you know. You're off. It's a challenge for cause. It's the other people that you're discretionarily challenging as to whether they can.

But at the end of the day, right, you want people who can honestly assess. And it's always a challenge --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

JACKSON: -- because sometimes people tell you what you want to hear --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

JACKSON: -- not necessarily how they really feel.

BOLDUAN: Right.

JACKSON: But there are ways to parse them out as well.

BOLDUAN: The allegations against Harvey Weinstein and the scandal surrounding him -- it was a major catalyst to the "Me Too" movement, right?

JACKSON: Yes.

BOLDUAN: The first trial is in 2020. Five years later, if nothing less, it is a very different political environment.

Does that, do you think, impact this case and also how both sides will approach it?

[07:55:00]

JACKSON: So that's huge, Kate, and I think that sort of eye on the prize -- the sort of environment, the climate --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

JACKSON: -- the moods, the attitudes when you're trying a case, they matter, right? People -- yes, they come to that courtroom, but people talk. You've got social media. You've got programs. And so was and is now the same climate as when he got charged the first time -- I think that'll be different also.

All told, with the absence of those three pattern act witnesses, this is a new ballgame. Very important.

BOLDUAN: So interesting. So interesting.

OK, great to see you, Joey.

JACKSON: Always.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.

JACKSON: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning a 40-year-old man has been arrested in two arson attacks in New Mexico -- one at a Tesla showroom and another at a state Republican office. The FBI says evidence from one of the scenes led them to Jamison Wagner and may have stopped more attacks.

This morning Pfizer has announced it will stop development of a pill that could have potentially been used to treat obesity. The pharmaceutical company says it had to halt research of the drug after a participant in an early trial experienced a liver injury that ended up -- that ended. The injury ended once the person stopped taking the treatment.

A company official says they will continue to develop other potential obesity treatments that are in the early stages of testing.

This morning California a little shaken after a 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit the southern part of the state. Bottles fell inside a liquor store there. And in case you're wondering the quake was also felt by elephants at the San Diego Zoo. We know, apparently, because we asked -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. So President Trump's tariff whiplash -- it has roiled markets and supercharged uncertainty for businesses large and small alike, and consumers as well. But for some workers in the steel industry the president's moves are exactly what they're looking for.

CNN's Jason Carroll sends in this report from Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NORMAN ZEITER, OWNER AND CEO, SWANTON WELDING: I'm very optimistic and I agree.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're optimistic?

ZEITER: I am. I'm extremely optimistic.

CARROLL (voiceover): Optimistic not the word some might use to describe their outlook on the economy given all the back-and-forth with tariffs. But here at Swanton Welding just outside Toledo, Ohio the company's owner Norman Zeiter says thanks to Trump's tariff tactics he and his workers are feeling good about the future of the business despite all the ups and downs on Wall Street.

ZEITER: Wall Street affects us to a certain extent but not a lot.

CARROLL (voiceover): Welder, like Ethan Sanderson, also feeling bullish hoping all that is happening with tariffs will eventually mean more work and income for people like him, which cannot come soon enough given he's about to be a new father.

ETHAN SANDERSON, WELDER: And once everything gets sorted out that it'll help us out in the long run. CARROLL (voiceover): Swanton Welding has been a part of this community

since Zeiter's grandfather, a World War II veteran, started it back in 1956 with just $100 in his pocket. Maintaining it has been tough. The U.S. steel and wide swaths of the manufacturing industry have been on the decline for decades due to factors such as declining demand and the inability to compete in global markets.

Toledo once buzzed during the steel manufacturing heyday in the 1950s. Now the unemployment rate is 6.6 percent compared to the national average of 4.1 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're one of the last standing ones in this area.

CARROLL (voiceover): Still standing and getting a boost from Trump's tactics. Zeiter says five international companies have already reached out to do business.

ZEITER: We had Italy, we had France, we had Great Britain. You had a Canadian company reached out to us.

CARROLL: You had a Canadian company.

ZEITER: Yes.

CARROLL (voiceover): He says it's the first time in 70 years a Canadian company has called wanting to work with him.

Across town at Wersell's Bike Shop, owner Jill Wersell also has heard from an overseas distributor.

JILL WERSELL, OWNER, WERSELL'S BIKE SHOP: I just got that a few minutes ago before you came in, and I was reading it and about had a heart attack.

CARROLL (voiceover): Wersell received an email from a Taiwanese company informing her if tariffs do go into effect she may have to pay an increase of up to 79 percent.

WERSELL: That's a huge, huge impact on a small business.

CARROLL (voiceover): She buys from China, Taiwan, and Cambodia, and worries how tariffs would impact costs to customers and her ability to maintain her staff.

WERSELL: Payroll would be reduced and somebody might lose their job, or a full-time person will be part-time.

CARROLL (voiceover): The Wersell family has been in the bike business for 80 years since her grandfather founded it in 1945. The threat of tariffs now a concern for a new generation of employees. Wersell's nephew and his wife just quit their jobs a few weeks ago to join the family business.

JORDYN ZAKFELD, MARKETING DIRECTOR, WERSELL'S BIKE SHOP: We're a little bit nervous but we trust in Jill. We know that she knows this business really well. CARROLL (voiceover): Back at Swanton Welding also a new generation -- one hoping Trump's tactics will benefit their industry.