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Quest Means Business
Two Major Legal Cases Collide For Trump In New York; Trump Bond Reduced To $175 Billion, Has Ten Days To Post; Boeing CEO, Dave Calhoun To Step Down By End Of The Year; Trump Hush Money Trial Date Confirmed For April 15, Bond Reduced In Civil Fraud To $175 Million; Europe Launches New Probes In Apple, Google And Meta; Galloway: You Are Going To See So Much Information From A.I. Aired 4-4:45p ET
Aired March 25, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:12]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: There is the bell ringing on Wall Street. Down day for all the major markets. And hit the gavel.
I can feel a good gavel coming up today. There we go. One, two -- we cast that as a whimsy gavel. The markets are down and these are the main events
of the day.
The date is set, Donald Trump's first criminal trial is the New York hush money case. It begins on April 15th.
And over all at the top Boeing chief exec, the chairman, and head of commercial airplanes all departing from the plane maker.
And the EU launches new investigations into Apple Google, and Meta. We have Scott Galloway to try to understand it all.
Coming to you live from London tonight, it is Monday. It is March the 25th. I'm Richard Quest and I mean business.
Good evening from London.
Rulings in not one, but two major cases involving of course, Donald Trump. First, the criminal hush money case. A Manhattan judge has fixed the trial
date, April 15th. It is likely the first and only criminal trial that Donald Trump will face before the presidential election in November; the
second is civil fraud case. Here, a New York Appeals Court has lowered Trump's bond, saying, he only has come up with $175 million, extra 10 days
much lower than the $464 million due today. It is a lifeline for Donald Trump who says he will pay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, I greatly respect the decision of Appellate Division, and I will post $175 million in cash or
bonds or security or whatever is necessary very quickly within the 10 days, and I think the Appellate Division are acting quickly.
But Judge Engoron is a disgrace to this country and this should not be allowed to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Katelyn is with me. Katelyn Polantz, our senior crime and justice reporter.
Has he got the money? Will he be able to come up with it?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE SENIOR REPORTER: Richard, it does appear he has that amount in liquid cash, that he will be able to either
write a cheque to the court four, or have an underwriter use as collateral so that he can post this bond.
What that does is it doesn't satisfy the full loss that he has felt, the full fine that he will ultimately have to pay if the rulings in the court
are upheld on appeal, but it allows him to continue appealing while holding off New York State from claiming his assets, seizing his businesses,
locking down his bank accounts, and putting properties he has into the foreclosure process.
So right now, he has 10 days to post that but $175 million bond to the court assuring them that he has money that the New York AG can start to
collect once the lawsuit, the judgment finally can be collected upon, but that is going to take several months to work out because it is in the
appeals process now.
QUEST: Now, we have a date, April 15th, the start of jury selection in the hush money trial. I think, a couple of hours ago, you were telling me, a
trial likely three to maybe, whatever six weeks. But this is fascinating. How is he going to run a campaign at the same time as being caught and give
due attention so a criminal case that if convicted could give a custodial sentence?
POLANTZ: Richard, he is going to need to be in court four days a week. That's what the trial schedule is going to look like. So that means court
will run, but thereabouts 9:00 AM to the end of a business day. He will be in New York City for that, and then, it is a question of does he go on the
campaign trail after that? Are there other days, weekends, the one day a week that they're not sitting, will he be campaigning those days?
But in this court, every time he walks in and out of the courtroom, there are cameras there listening to his speeches and Donald Trump has spoken,
going in and out today. He was attacking the process, the system, the judge, the attorney general, the Manhattan DA, everything that he is
feeling here, saying that it is a witch hunt, a hoax that this trial might not go forward, but it does look like it is going forward.
April 15th is the date that the judge is setting now and this judge has wanted to move things along and get it into court, and it will have a
cascading effect on the other criminal cases out there for Donald Trump.
[16:05:00]
A trial now, if it does begin on April 15th, would end very likely by June, allowing for plenty of time for other judges to slot things on the calendar
if they wish in the other criminal cases against Donald Trump.
QUEST: Right. This is fascinating. I mean, totally uncharted territory. I am very grateful to you. Thank you.
And so to the money. Where is Donald Trump's money?
Russ Buettner is an investigative reporter for "The New York Times" and did such magnificent work earlier on, in which he got to grips with Donald
Trump's finances.
So, Katelyn was just suggesting that he has got -- he will be able to raise at least enough for the bond for the lower amount. But how precarious are
his finances now?
RUSS BUETTNER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, it is as recent as a couple of years ago, Richard, he was quite low on cash. He had
enough to sort of operate, but he has had always had several businesses that require constant infusions of cash including his golf courses in
Scotland and Ireland, so he tends to run lower every year than he was the prior year.
Last year, he had some influxes. He sold a money-losing hotel in Washington, DC. He gave up his rights to a golf course in New York City and
he had a refinancing of a passive investment that he had.
Those combined brought him about $350 million, give or take, but he has had some hard hits since then. He had to pay some taxes on that money. And then
recently, he had to pay another bond of $92 million in a defamation case here in New York.
So that brings its him down, if those calculations are correct, roughly to around $250 million, and this bond will cost him $200 million.
So he is getting down to the range where he is very close to what he needs just to keep operating his businesses.
QUEST: And yet he said, he is still a very wealthy man, worth billions, and I suppose his underlying assets are worth billions, but does it feel like
it is an empire teetering?
BUETTNER: It has always been an empire teetering on some level. You know, our analysis of 20 years of his tax returns that we got showed that he was
really supporting what appeared to be his businesses with entertainment income that he received.
He received close to $400 million over about 15 years from being on "The Apprentice," and then all the licensing and endorsement deals that came
from that. That money dried up by about 2018 when he was in the White House.
And so since then, his businesses haven't really been generating enough. It doesn't seem to support themselves, and it looks to us that's why he
unloaded his hotel in Washington, DC because that required about seven to ten million dollars a year to keep afloat.
So he is shrinking his way toward staying alive, basically.
QUEST: You know, in all of these cases, you always wait for the unexpected, which actually has the effect that is greater. So for instance, we are all
mega focused on these criminal cases, which could lock him up, et cetera. But it was a bond that nearly took him down for four hundred and something
million, which he still is going to have to pay eventually, appeals, whatever.
What should we keep our eye on now? I always remember Watergate, Deep Throat, follow the money, follow the money.
BUETTNER: It is a complicated kind of equation with Donald Trump because you are right. Did he ask threats to his liberties with all of these
criminal cases. It doesn't seem likely that those or any of those were really be both adjudicated and fully appealed by the time of the election
in November, so it could be that he escaped some of that.
This one that's going first in New York City, about this case involving the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress that could be the
first one to render a guilty verdict, but it has sort of the least potential impact in terms of a criminal sense, but I think you're right,
with Donald Trump, it is always best to follow the money, that's his real identity.
And you have to wonder what would happen if these threats sort of continue and what once appeared to be a large empire worldwide sort of evaporates at
some level.
QUEST: Feel free to say you have absolutely no idea because I don't think anybody perhaps does, but you may have a better guess than most of us. Do
we have any idea what Donald Trump's legal bills look like? If you think about it, running not only on his normal legal woes, but these four
massively expensive cases with multiple lawyers from top firms.
BUETTNER: Yes, we've seen right now, the Republican Party is covering a lot of those bills and they have been tens of millions of dollars on a regular
basis. That's not coming out of his personal wealth.
If it was, I think what you're getting to is exactly right, Richard, he would be flat-out broke. He would have to be selling things just to cover
his legal costs. So I think like that's a hard thing to assess. And as long as he has the benefit of the Republican Party backing him, he is going to
be okay.
[16:10:06]
But these cases are going to generate clearly from what we've seen, in excess of $100 million in legal fees.
QUEST: Nice work if you can get him. Thank you, sir. I'm very grateful, and your reporting, your analysis and your investigations are absolutely
superb. Thank you for taking time to talk to me tonight. I am grateful. Thank you.
Boeing's chief executive has announced that he will step down as the company faces a long list of problems. The chief executive is Dave Calhoun,
and he intends to depart by the end of the year, but he is not the only one going.
Youve got Larry Kellner who will not stand for re-election as a board member. And the interesting one, I think, head of its commercial plane
unit, Stan Deal. He has gone immediately, not even end of the year. His replacement is the COO, Stephanie Pope.
Calhoun became CEO after the deadly Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. They have their work cut out for them, whoever becomes CEO.
Boeing is under investigation by US regulators, the FAA, the NTSB, and the Justice Department, it has been ordered to come up with a plan to address
its quality control issues. Several airlines have also said, Boeing needs to do better, and that includes Ryanair, which said it welcomes today's
changes.
Last week you'll remember, he told me about the telltale signs of what Boeing's work was getting sloppy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL O'LEARY, CEO, RYANAIR: In 2022 and 2023, we were finding little things like spanners under floorboards, in some cases seat handles, missing
things like that. It shows, I think a lack of attention to detail quality issues in Boeing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, Ronald Epstein is the senior aerospace and defense analyst at Bank of America Securities. He is with me. Good to see you, sir. Very
grateful.
I guess we always knew that somebody was going to have to fall on their sword. Are you surprised that it has been done in this way with chairman
going, but CEO going later in the year?
RONALD J. EPSTEIN, SENIOR AEROSPACE AND DEFENSE ANALYST: No, I mean think about it, it is a lot of change to swallow at once if you're losing your
CEO, losing the chairman of the board, losing the head of Boeing Commercial Airplane Company all on one fell swoop. You need some sort of transition
period, otherwise, without a plan in place, it would just be too much chaos.
So no, I am not surprised that it is set up the way it is to have some form of an orderly transition while they're doing the search for the new CEO.
QUEST: Why is Calhoun going? What is -- is it because he had two years since the Max crashes, and clearly he had not made sufficient change of the
culture and the production quality?
EPSTEIN: Yes. I mean, I think it is kind of obvious, right? I mean, if you look at what's been going on at the company, you've heard many, many
customers complaining about not getting airplanes on time. Ryanair, who you just mentioned was one of them, but Ryanair, United, the list goes on.
There are is only so many summer travel seasons that an airline can miss from the western hemisphere then it becomes a big problem. You heard a lot
of airlines complaining not negotiating in public and eventually that kind of comes home to roost.
So, I mean, it is a lot of things, and then on top of it, from an investor perspective, Boeing is the worst performing stock in the Dow Jones
Industrial Index, one of the poorest performing stocks in the S&P 500 and ultimately, that comes back at you.
QUEST: So do you think that the new chair who is already on the board starts to search inside or outside. What's your guess? I won't hold you to
it. What's your guess?
EPSTEIN: Yes, I think they have to do both. I mean, there is there is talent inside the company and there is talent outside the company. And they
have to -- I mean, honestly, they really have to take their time and figure it out.
It is a difficult role. Think about it. This new CEO is going to have to oversee rebuilding relationships with the primary regulator or regulators
globally, rebuilding relationships with airline customers who we've just mentioned are upset.
Rebuilding relationships with the flying public, right? Means sadly, we've seen Boeing memes all over the place. Rebuilding relationships with the
supply chain, rebuilding relationships with employees on the inside the company while contemplating developing new airplane going forward.
Now, Calhoun even said today in an interview that this next CEO would have to contemplate that. We've written many times that Boeing has to do a new
airplane. So that's a big, big, big bill of goods for an individual to carry.
So you're going to need somebody that has engineering skills, great interpersonal skills, just a whole list of skills.
QUEST: But you know, the airlines do not want Boeing to go away per say, a noise that's not even really likely. They don't want to be left with only
Airbus from whom to buy larger planes.
[16:15:12]
Yes, you've got even the smaller planes. You could end up with just Airbus. So to some extent, they are all in this leaking boat together.
EPSTEIN: Yes, for sure. I mean, the industry wants multiple players, I mean for obvious reasons, having competition in industries you know, good for
innovation, good for pricing, good for everybody, right? You just don't want one supplier.
And even, I think airbus would tell you, they just don't want to be the guy, right, or the supplier. So everybody wants Boeing to win, right? And
these changes presumably are a step in the right direction.
We will see who takes the helm in the next leadership team and where take the company, but I think everybody involved across the industry wants
Boeing to win.
QUEST: Do you have any insights -- what names -- any names being spoken of?
EPSTEIN: There's a lot. I mean, honestly, I'd rather not throw some around here. But I mean, there are some well-respected leadership inside the
company, outside the company, at other companies that I am certain are on a shortlist.
But we will see and then it is not just, you know, who can do it? Who wants to do it? I mean, it is going to be a lot of work.
QUEST: Grateful to see you, sir. Thank you so much. We will talk more as this process continues.
EPSTEIN: Yes.
QUEST: Thank you.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled a delegation's trip to Washington. US officials say they are perplexed by the decision
since there is already a delegation there.
We will talk about it in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: US officials say they are perplexed, in their words, after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a delegation's trip to
Washington. Two of his advisers were set to travel on Monday night to discuss a planned offensive into Rafah.
The prime minister canceled it after the US declined to veto a UN Security Council Resolution that calls for an immediate ceasefire.
The White House says there has been no change in its policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET), COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: We get to decide what our policy is. The Prime Minister's
Office seems to be indicating through public statements that we somehow changed here, we haven't, and we get to decide what our policy is.
It seems like the Prime Minister's Office is choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don't need to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:20:10]
QUEST: Israel has agreed to a US proposal for a prisoner swap. The deal would free 40 hostages held by Hamas in exchange 700 Palestinian prisoners.
You can see there the details.
Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem. Let's start with this swap. How close are we to this taking place?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is hard to say exactly how close we are, Richard, but there certainly has been progress over the
course of the last week and the latest information that we have is that Israel appears to have agreed to a proposal by the United States to try and
bridge Hamas' position and Israel's position as it relates to the ratio of Palestinian prisoners. How many Palestinian prisoners exactly would be
released in exchange for some 40 Israeli hostages in an initial phase of this agreement?
And from what we understand, the Israeli side has now agreed to release some 700 Palestinian prisoners, dozens of whom are currently serving life
sentences, which is a significant increase from the previous Israeli position, but it is also nuclear that significant gaps still do indeed
remain, and Hamas is making very clear on that point, pointing to the fact that there are other issues beyond that ratio that still remain, including
the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to the northern part of the Strip.
QUEST: So this -- when John Kirby says those people are trying to make daylight between Netanyahu and Biden or between the US and Israel, that
daylight does not exist. I suspect its more nuanced. It may not be daylight, but there are net curtains.
DIAMOND: Well, it certainly is nuanced and I think that the US' point here is that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who had a choice here. He had a
choice about how he would react to this decision by the US to abstain to this resolution, which is different from previous resolutions, we should
note.
And the Israeli Prime Minister's choice was to make this a public issue rather than telegraphing those differences privately, and that reflects the
growing frustration, his defensiveness that he has had over the course of the last several weeks as the US and international criticism of Israel's
conduct of the war in Gaza has really, really ramped up.
And the Israeli prime minister certainly choosing to make this a public issue by rapidly threatening and then subsequently canceling this visit by
two of his top advisers to Washington.
Now, it is also important to note what this visit was going to be about. It was going to be about what has become the chief disagreement between the
United States and Israel and that is a pending Israeli ground offensive into Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah.
And on that point, the Israeli Prime Minister, even as he had initially agreed to send these advisers to Washington to hear out US alternatives to
Rafah, he had also made clear that he was not going to change his mind, that he viewed a military offensive in Rafah as imperative and in canceling
this visit, certainly he bolsters that position. Now, it is just a question of when and if a ceasefire deal might materialize before that offensive is
actually carried out -- Richard.
QUEST: Jeremy Diamond in Israel tonight. Jeremy, thank you.
Russia says 11 people have been arrested following Friday's deadly terror attack at a Moscow concert hall. It includes four suspects who today
appeared in court as mourners are continuing to pay their respects outside the venue where the attack took place.
In laying flowers, they honored some of the hundred and thirty-nine people killed.
Matthew Chance is in Moscow, and I must warn you, some of the images you are about to see are deeply disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Bloodshed at the concert hall near Moscow. Gunmen running amuck before
setting the crowded building ablaze, killing more than 130 people inside.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
CHANCE (voice over): Now, the suspected attackers from Tajikistan in Central Asia have appeared in a Moscow court looking battered amid reports
of a brutal interrogation. The Kremlin is refusing to comment on allegations of torture.
Disturbing videos emerged of the suspects being run down by Russian security forces, and ruthlessly beaten.
What appears to have had part of his ear cutoff on camera during questioning, electrocution and beatings have also been shown.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses are recounting the terrifying ordeal. They endured last week.
[16:25:01]
(ANASTACIA speaking in foreign language.)
CHANCE: "They didn't scream or tell anyone to take cover," recalls Anastacia (ph). "They were just walking around and gunning everyone down
methodically and in silence," she says.
It is an outrage that has left many here shocked and questioning just how safe in this country they really are.
CHANCE (on camera): But as Russians mourn the victims of this attack, the Kremlin is defending its own security services amid criticism it failed to
heed intelligence warnings from the United States and others.
And while ISIS has repeatedly said it carried out the attack, the Kremlin is still trying to implicate Ukraine, raising concerns it may use this
tragedy to rally support for its war.
CHANCE (voice over): And divert attention from the fact that Russia these days feels deeply insecure.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now, the European Union, is once again, some would say going after big tech. Remember my conversation last week with Thierry Breton, the
European Commissioner, who is behind many of these actions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THIERRY BRETON, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER: We are just here again to give rules, to explain. And yes, we are also like when you have any rules, we
have also fines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Scott Galloway about the fallout and where TikTok standards in all of this and who is tougher, Scott? Have a think -- the EU or the US or are
they both toothless?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:08]
QUEST: Returning to our top story at the major developments in Donald Trump's legal cases, you've got the civil fraud case where a New York
appeals court has given him vital lifeline. It lowered his bond payment. It should have been four engines 60-odd million. It's now $175 million. And it
gave him 10 more days to find the money, which most people suggest is now entirely possible.
Also, a Manhattan judge rejected appeals from Trump to delay or dismiss the criminal hush money trial even further.
Our date has been set, April the 15th.
Joey Jackson is our legal analyst. He's with me now. Let's do the criminal bit first.
So, April 15th, jury selection several days, trial of three to four weeks, five weeks, may be this case, assuming there is no further delays will be
over by summer.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, there's no question about it, Richard. Good to be with you.
The reality is it looks like it's moving forward. So, for purposes of today, the attorneys that is for Trump were in court, and they were
suggesting two things. Number one, that the case should be dismissed based on prosecutorial misconduct. What does that mean? It means prosecutors said
Trump attorneys engaged in misconduct because they waited forever, according to Trump's attorneys to deliver information called discovery.
Whenever you try a case, Richard, you have to have information relevant to the case, as we look at the timelines there and the potential legal
calendar, you have to have information if you're the prosecutor that's passed on to the defense. In this particular case, that information was of
Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, who we know himself pled guilty in 2018 to federal crimes, the prosecution just gave the Trump team a number
of documents related to that plea of guilty.
Why is it relevant goes to the credibility. Michael Cohen, certainly will be a critical witness in this case. And so, the attorneys for Trump wants
to question him based on a number of things. Now, they have all the documents to do so, the judge said not so fast. It's not prosecutorial
misconduct, but I will give you additional time to assess and evaluate these documents to prepare your case. I think that's the right call. So,
will be a delay, not a dismissal.
QUEST: So, just help me along with this. Jury selection on April the 15th. I mean, can you and is it relevant to ask people, A, jurors -- A, how did
you vote? B, do you think there was a riot? C, have you decided how you -- I mean, all the things that would suggest in the voir dire, can they -- can
they go down that road?
JACKSON: So, the voir dire, as we know are questions that attorneys asked jurors in order to find a pool of jurors who could be fair, reasonable, and
make a decision predicated upon the facts and the evidence, not about whether they like Trump, dislike Trump, you know, or otherwise.
And so, the reality is, is that the attorneys will be coming up with questions that are appropriate and relevant to the issue of fairness
without, I think, being so direct as to suggest who you voted for if you're Democrat or Republican.
Now, we do that all the time as attorneys, called in indirectly questioning people. Generally, Richard, you know, jurors really give you information
that they think you want to hear, but how else might you ferret out what they're all about that as jurist?
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: But, does it --
JACKSON: Well, what affiliations do you have as a juror? Right? What backgrounds is for example.
QUEST: All right. But for instance -- for instance, Joey, I mean, I think there's a difference just are you a Republican or a Democrat in that sense,
but asking somebody, for instance, do you, and are you MAGA -- Make America Great Again, do you believe there was an insurrection in Washington? And I
mean, all these rights and proper questions that one could ask.
JACKSON: So, yes, and no. So, let's talk about no first. It's to some extent jurors are entitled to certain privacy interests and not to be
embarrassed and certainly not to up end their lives. Right? At the same time, you want to pick a fair jury.
You can, I would argue, determine who you're in paneling by virtue of their affiliations. Do you like to watch TV, ma'am? Yes. Do you like news? Yes.
What channel do you watch?
I think this is distinction, if somebody says they watched Fox versus CNN. Are you involved in any clubs or organizations? Which one are those? Well,
I'm in the NRA. That might be an indication of where your political leanings are bent are.
Right? Do you follow the news? Yes, I do. And with respect to following it, do you have any particular affiliations with this case or proclivities
towards this case?
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Right.
JACKSON: So, there are ways in which to discern which way a jury is leaning, without asking the questions that are so evasive, Richard, has to
have the jurors say, what am I doing here? Why am I in this panel?
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: All right.
JACKSON: But begin with, I want out.
QUEST: All right. For the purposes of this question.
[16:35:01]
Assume there is a conviction on all counts, is a -- is a custodial sentence likely?
JACKSON: I think it could be, absolutely. I mean, it's permissible under the law, you're talking about E felony what on earth is that? An E felony
in New York state law, you're -- you can do up to seven years in jail.
And so, it's not that the judges require, there is not a mandatory minimum sentence. But the judge has wide discretion with respect to what the judge
does. And so, I think predicated upon the law and the facts, a judge could very well give a sentence, which would require jail time. And that's
something that very much should be looked at and scrutinized in this particular case.
I would not at all, rule it out it being an incarceratory (PH) sentence, putting Mr. Trump in jail in the event of a conviction. We're not there
yet. He's presumed innocent until found guilty. We're a long way to the jury reviewing this and concluding unanimously, all 12 that he did it. But
I think that's something very much on the table.
QUEST: Grateful to you, sir. Thank you as always.
European Union has announced new investigations into Apple, Google and Meta. Brussels is looking into whether the companies are complying with the
new Digital Markets Act, the DMA, which is meant to promote competition and give consumers more choice.
It's only been since March the seventh that thing came in, or fully, the tech giants could face major fines if they're found to be out of line. The
penalties go as high as 20 percent of global revenues for repeat offences.
Scott Galloway is a professor at New York University. He joins me now from London, which are the companies more frightened of: the DOJ with its things
like its case against Apple, or the E.U., where they change the rules and the law, and you have to comply?
SCOTT GALLOWAY, PROFESSOR OF MARKETING, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: I think if it's a battle between who is more unafraid or more inclined to take action,
I think you'd say that the E.U. is probably kicking the snot out of the U.S. right now.
Keep in mind, Richard, we've had 20 congressional hearings, looking at the issue of child safety in social media, and have passed exactly zero laws.
Meanwhile, the E.U. has passed the Digital Marketing Act, and is basically already is said they're ready to move on it. They are going very targeted
after Apple and the app store. And a lot of it just comes down to incentives.
In the United States, we get a lot. We're net gainers from big tech, despite all the problems. In E.U., it's harder to make the case that
they're net gainers, they get all the weaponization of their elections, the misinformation, the teen depression, but at the same time, there very few
hospital wings or university buildings named after Google or Facebook billionaires.
So, they get all of the downside with a fraction of the upside, which is sort of stiffen the backbone of E.U. regulators. So, the E.U. seems to be
taking a tougher stance than the U.S. right now.
QUEST: Thiery Breton, the Internal Markets commissioner is largely responsible for the A.I. Act, which is just about to come into force. He
says, it's easier to change the rules, and have them comply, than litigate for 20 years, than -- and end up with a fudge.
And he gave me the -- he was -- the example you just talked about, which is the App Store, where, you know, the rules were changed, and Apple has to
open up the store.
GALLOWAY: Yes, I think that's right. I think the same is true here. If you think about -- I mean, going back to the case of Dominion voting machines
against News Corp, they got $700 or $800 million, because News Corp was found guilty of purposely distributing or reporting on misinformation.
Meanwhile, that was a dumpster fire compared to the nuclear mushroom cloud and misinformation on voting machines that went wild and rampant on social
media. But they are protected by section 230.
So, without new laws, none of this goes anywhere in the United States. Right now, the only regulation on big tech is protection from any sort of
liability that you're subject to, your network is subject to or any newspaper. So, absolutely, without new laws, this probably goes nowhere in
the U.S.
QUEST: As we look forward, you mentioned some of my discussion with Joey on Trump, and the case is. But we are moving into a moment which is incredibly
difficult for regulation for the -- for the companies themselves, to police themselves, to monitor themselves. And you have external, bad actors from
foreign countries. How do you view the next few months in that sense?
GALLOWAY: Well, I hope we show some leadership, Richard. We have essentially what is a neural plant jacked into the to the web matter of the
majority of our youth under the age of 25. The frame through which young people see the world is now at a minimum influenced and or controlled by
the CCP.
And the notion that we're going to raise a generation of civic business and nonprofit leaders in America that just feel worse and worse about America
as if you believe that the CCP has a vested interest in diminishing our power, you know, they would never allow it, and they don't allow it.
[16:40:09]
So, we get the -- we get the opium version, they get the spinach version of TikTok. So, I hope that we show some backbone here.
QUEST: Right. And on that question, I noticed I'm here in the U.K., like yourself. The U.K. today issued a warning about new measures that would
have to be taken against CCP in terms of all the way in which China is using cyber warfare to influence, for example, election, which will happen
in this country in the next year.
GALLOWAY: Look, it's going to be a missive (PH). I mean, if you want to talk, we talk a lot about A.I. becoming sentient and super weapons, the
short-term real threat of A.I. as you reference is not even when I call deep fakes, but shallow fakes that perhaps, present this incrementally,
almost unnoticeably, President Biden said, looking a little bit older or vice president Harris coming across as a bit less articulate. I think
you're going to see so much misinformation.
And the problem is we have what I'd call immoral and porous management and platforms respectively that will feel really bad about what happened after
the inauguration. But right now, there is -- all that's gotten better is the technology.
We have paleolithic instincts, mediaeval institutions, and godlike technology that can be weaponized by bad actors.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: All right.
GALLOWAY: So, like the first real externality is A.I. and misinformation around this election.
QUEST: OK. So, what would you like them to do? If I could eat -- let me give you a one's now. Thiery, Godfather (PH), Scott Galloway, what would
you do with it?
GALLOWAY: I have the Halloween costume. I'd remove section 230. I'd age games, social media, I'd remove phones from kids under the age of 16. I
would create a mandatory pause on election, health, and youth content up until the election.
QUEST: Wow, it's thought that one through fully and I'm grateful that you had. You and I need to talk more about these things. You're in London, I am
in London. I think that calls for us to meet face to face. Great to see you, sir. Thank you. Scott Galloway.
Now, let me just show you very quickly where the markets are. The Dow -- the Dow after setting new records last week. The Dow was up 162 points when
the closing bell rang just half a percent. It's not huge, but we are sort of moving away from 40,000 Instead of towards it. That's the way things are
looking at the moment.
The Dow is down. The NASDAQ, the S&P 500, they are all low as well. And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for at the moment. I'm Richard Quest in New
York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable.
But stay with me, Geneva, "WORLD OF WONDER" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
[16:00:12]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: There is the bell ringing on Wall Street. Down day for all the major markets. And hit the gavel.
I can feel a good gavel coming up today. There we go. One, two -- we cast that as a whimsy gavel. The markets are down and these are the main events
of the day.
The date is set, Donald Trump's first criminal trial is the New York hush money case. It begins on April 15th.
And over all at the top Boeing chief exec, the chairman, and head of commercial airplanes all departing from the plane maker.
And the EU launches new investigations into Apple Google, and Meta. We have Scott Galloway to try to understand it all.
Coming to you live from London tonight, it is Monday. It is March the 25th. I'm Richard Quest and I mean business.
Good evening from London.
Rulings in not one, but two major cases involving of course, Donald Trump. First, the criminal hush money case. A Manhattan judge has fixed the trial
date, April 15th. It is likely the first and only criminal trial that Donald Trump will face before the presidential election in November; the
second is civil fraud case. Here, a New York Appeals Court has lowered Trump's bond, saying, he only has come up with $175 million, extra 10 days
much lower than the $464 million due today. It is a lifeline for Donald Trump who says he will pay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, I greatly respect the decision of Appellate Division, and I will post $175 million in cash or
bonds or security or whatever is necessary very quickly within the 10 days, and I think the Appellate Division are acting quickly.
But Judge Engoron is a disgrace to this country and this should not be allowed to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Katelyn is with me. Katelyn Polantz, our senior crime and justice reporter.
Has he got the money? Will he be able to come up with it?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE SENIOR REPORTER: Richard, it does appear he has that amount in liquid cash, that he will be able to either
write a cheque to the court four, or have an underwriter use as collateral so that he can post this bond.
What that does is it doesn't satisfy the full loss that he has felt, the full fine that he will ultimately have to pay if the rulings in the court
are upheld on appeal, but it allows him to continue appealing while holding off New York State from claiming his assets, seizing his businesses,
locking down his bank accounts, and putting properties he has into the foreclosure process.
So right now, he has 10 days to post that but $175 million bond to the court assuring them that he has money that the New York AG can start to
collect once the lawsuit, the judgment finally can be collected upon, but that is going to take several months to work out because it is in the
appeals process now.
QUEST: Now, we have a date, April 15th, the start of jury selection in the hush money trial. I think, a couple of hours ago, you were telling me, a
trial likely three to maybe, whatever six weeks. But this is fascinating. How is he going to run a campaign at the same time as being caught and give
due attention so a criminal case that if convicted could give a custodial sentence?
POLANTZ: Richard, he is going to need to be in court four days a week. That's what the trial schedule is going to look like. So that means court
will run, but thereabouts 9:00 AM to the end of a business day. He will be in New York City for that, and then, it is a question of does he go on the
campaign trail after that? Are there other days, weekends, the one day a week that they're not sitting, will he be campaigning those days?
But in this court, every time he walks in and out of the courtroom, there are cameras there listening to his speeches and Donald Trump has spoken,
going in and out today. He was attacking the process, the system, the judge, the attorney general, the Manhattan DA, everything that he is
feeling here, saying that it is a witch hunt, a hoax that this trial might not go forward, but it does look like it is going forward.
April 15th is the date that the judge is setting now and this judge has wanted to move things along and get it into court, and it will have a
cascading effect on the other criminal cases out there for Donald Trump.
[16:05:00]
A trial now, if it does begin on April 15th, would end very likely by June, allowing for plenty of time for other judges to slot things on the calendar
if they wish in the other criminal cases against Donald Trump.
QUEST: Right. This is fascinating. I mean, totally uncharted territory. I am very grateful to you. Thank you.
And so to the money. Where is Donald Trump's money?
Russ Buettner is an investigative reporter for "The New York Times" and did such magnificent work earlier on, in which he got to grips with Donald
Trump's finances.
So, Katelyn was just suggesting that he has got -- he will be able to raise at least enough for the bond for the lower amount. But how precarious are
his finances now?
RUSS BUETTNER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, it is as recent as a couple of years ago, Richard, he was quite low on cash. He had
enough to sort of operate, but he has had always had several businesses that require constant infusions of cash including his golf courses in
Scotland and Ireland, so he tends to run lower every year than he was the prior year.
Last year, he had some influxes. He sold a money-losing hotel in Washington, DC. He gave up his rights to a golf course in New York City and
he had a refinancing of a passive investment that he had.
Those combined brought him about $350 million, give or take, but he has had some hard hits since then. He had to pay some taxes on that money. And then
recently, he had to pay another bond of $92 million in a defamation case here in New York.
So that brings its him down, if those calculations are correct, roughly to around $250 million, and this bond will cost him $200 million.
So he is getting down to the range where he is very close to what he needs just to keep operating his businesses.
QUEST: And yet he said, he is still a very wealthy man, worth billions, and I suppose his underlying assets are worth billions, but does it feel like
it is an empire teetering?
BUETTNER: It has always been an empire teetering on some level. You know, our analysis of 20 years of his tax returns that we got showed that he was
really supporting what appeared to be his businesses with entertainment income that he received.
He received close to $400 million over about 15 years from being on "The Apprentice," and then all the licensing and endorsement deals that came
from that. That money dried up by about 2018 when he was in the White House.
And so since then, his businesses haven't really been generating enough. It doesn't seem to support themselves, and it looks to us that's why he
unloaded his hotel in Washington, DC because that required about seven to ten million dollars a year to keep afloat.
So he is shrinking his way toward staying alive, basically.
QUEST: You know, in all of these cases, you always wait for the unexpected, which actually has the effect that is greater. So for instance, we are all
mega focused on these criminal cases, which could lock him up, et cetera. But it was a bond that nearly took him down for four hundred and something
million, which he still is going to have to pay eventually, appeals, whatever.
What should we keep our eye on now? I always remember Watergate, Deep Throat, follow the money, follow the money.
BUETTNER: It is a complicated kind of equation with Donald Trump because you are right. Did he ask threats to his liberties with all of these
criminal cases. It doesn't seem likely that those or any of those were really be both adjudicated and fully appealed by the time of the election
in November, so it could be that he escaped some of that.
This one that's going first in New York City, about this case involving the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress that could be the
first one to render a guilty verdict, but it has sort of the least potential impact in terms of a criminal sense, but I think you're right,
with Donald Trump, it is always best to follow the money, that's his real identity.
And you have to wonder what would happen if these threats sort of continue and what once appeared to be a large empire worldwide sort of evaporates at
some level.
QUEST: Feel free to say you have absolutely no idea because I don't think anybody perhaps does, but you may have a better guess than most of us. Do
we have any idea what Donald Trump's legal bills look like? If you think about it, running not only on his normal legal woes, but these four
massively expensive cases with multiple lawyers from top firms.
BUETTNER: Yes, we've seen right now, the Republican Party is covering a lot of those bills and they have been tens of millions of dollars on a regular
basis. That's not coming out of his personal wealth.
If it was, I think what you're getting to is exactly right, Richard, he would be flat-out broke. He would have to be selling things just to cover
his legal costs. So I think like that's a hard thing to assess. And as long as he has the benefit of the Republican Party backing him, he is going to
be okay.
[16:10:06]
But these cases are going to generate clearly from what we've seen, in excess of $100 million in legal fees.
QUEST: Nice work if you can get him. Thank you, sir. I'm very grateful, and your reporting, your analysis and your investigations are absolutely
superb. Thank you for taking time to talk to me tonight. I am grateful. Thank you.
Boeing's chief executive has announced that he will step down as the company faces a long list of problems. The chief executive is Dave Calhoun,
and he intends to depart by the end of the year, but he is not the only one going.
Youve got Larry Kellner who will not stand for re-election as a board member. And the interesting one, I think, head of its commercial plane
unit, Stan Deal. He has gone immediately, not even end of the year. His replacement is the COO, Stephanie Pope.
Calhoun became CEO after the deadly Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. They have their work cut out for them, whoever becomes CEO.
Boeing is under investigation by US regulators, the FAA, the NTSB, and the Justice Department, it has been ordered to come up with a plan to address
its quality control issues. Several airlines have also said, Boeing needs to do better, and that includes Ryanair, which said it welcomes today's
changes.
Last week you'll remember, he told me about the telltale signs of what Boeing's work was getting sloppy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL O'LEARY, CEO, RYANAIR: In 2022 and 2023, we were finding little things like spanners under floorboards, in some cases seat handles, missing
things like that. It shows, I think a lack of attention to detail quality issues in Boeing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, Ronald Epstein is the senior aerospace and defense analyst at Bank of America Securities. He is with me. Good to see you, sir. Very
grateful.
I guess we always knew that somebody was going to have to fall on their sword. Are you surprised that it has been done in this way with chairman
going, but CEO going later in the year?
RONALD J. EPSTEIN, SENIOR AEROSPACE AND DEFENSE ANALYST: No, I mean think about it, it is a lot of change to swallow at once if you're losing your
CEO, losing the chairman of the board, losing the head of Boeing Commercial Airplane Company all on one fell swoop. You need some sort of transition
period, otherwise, without a plan in place, it would just be too much chaos.
So no, I am not surprised that it is set up the way it is to have some form of an orderly transition while they're doing the search for the new CEO.
QUEST: Why is Calhoun going? What is -- is it because he had two years since the Max crashes, and clearly he had not made sufficient change of the
culture and the production quality?
EPSTEIN: Yes. I mean, I think it is kind of obvious, right? I mean, if you look at what's been going on at the company, you've heard many, many
customers complaining about not getting airplanes on time. Ryanair, who you just mentioned was one of them, but Ryanair, United, the list goes on.
There are is only so many summer travel seasons that an airline can miss from the western hemisphere then it becomes a big problem. You heard a lot
of airlines complaining not negotiating in public and eventually that kind of comes home to roost.
So, I mean, it is a lot of things, and then on top of it, from an investor perspective, Boeing is the worst performing stock in the Dow Jones
Industrial Index, one of the poorest performing stocks in the S&P 500 and ultimately, that comes back at you.
QUEST: So do you think that the new chair who is already on the board starts to search inside or outside. What's your guess? I won't hold you to
it. What's your guess?
EPSTEIN: Yes, I think they have to do both. I mean, there is there is talent inside the company and there is talent outside the company. And they
have to -- I mean, honestly, they really have to take their time and figure it out.
It is a difficult role. Think about it. This new CEO is going to have to oversee rebuilding relationships with the primary regulator or regulators
globally, rebuilding relationships with airline customers who we've just mentioned are upset.
Rebuilding relationships with the flying public, right? Means sadly, we've seen Boeing memes all over the place. Rebuilding relationships with the
supply chain, rebuilding relationships with employees on the inside the company while contemplating developing new airplane going forward.
Now, Calhoun even said today in an interview that this next CEO would have to contemplate that. We've written many times that Boeing has to do a new
airplane. So that's a big, big, big bill of goods for an individual to carry.
So you're going to need somebody that has engineering skills, great interpersonal skills, just a whole list of skills.
QUEST: But you know, the airlines do not want Boeing to go away per say, a noise that's not even really likely. They don't want to be left with only
Airbus from whom to buy larger planes.
[16:15:12]
Yes, you've got even the smaller planes. You could end up with just Airbus. So to some extent, they are all in this leaking boat together.
EPSTEIN: Yes, for sure. I mean, the industry wants multiple players, I mean for obvious reasons, having competition in industries you know, good for
innovation, good for pricing, good for everybody, right? You just don't want one supplier.
And even, I think airbus would tell you, they just don't want to be the guy, right, or the supplier. So everybody wants Boeing to win, right? And
these changes presumably are a step in the right direction.
We will see who takes the helm in the next leadership team and where take the company, but I think everybody involved across the industry wants
Boeing to win.
QUEST: Do you have any insights -- what names -- any names being spoken of?
EPSTEIN: There's a lot. I mean, honestly, I'd rather not throw some around here. But I mean, there are some well-respected leadership inside the
company, outside the company, at other companies that I am certain are on a shortlist.
But we will see and then it is not just, you know, who can do it? Who wants to do it? I mean, it is going to be a lot of work.
QUEST: Grateful to see you, sir. Thank you so much. We will talk more as this process continues.
EPSTEIN: Yes.
QUEST: Thank you.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled a delegation's trip to Washington. US officials say they are perplexed by the decision
since there is already a delegation there.
We will talk about it in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: US officials say they are perplexed, in their words, after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a delegation's trip to
Washington. Two of his advisers were set to travel on Monday night to discuss a planned offensive into Rafah.
The prime minister canceled it after the US declined to veto a UN Security Council Resolution that calls for an immediate ceasefire.
The White House says there has been no change in its policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET), COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: We get to decide what our policy is. The Prime Minister's
Office seems to be indicating through public statements that we somehow changed here, we haven't, and we get to decide what our policy is.
It seems like the Prime Minister's Office is choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don't need to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:20:10]
QUEST: Israel has agreed to a US proposal for a prisoner swap. The deal would free 40 hostages held by Hamas in exchange 700 Palestinian prisoners.
You can see there the details.
Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem. Let's start with this swap. How close are we to this taking place?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is hard to say exactly how close we are, Richard, but there certainly has been progress over the
course of the last week and the latest information that we have is that Israel appears to have agreed to a proposal by the United States to try and
bridge Hamas' position and Israel's position as it relates to the ratio of Palestinian prisoners. How many Palestinian prisoners exactly would be
released in exchange for some 40 Israeli hostages in an initial phase of this agreement?
And from what we understand, the Israeli side has now agreed to release some 700 Palestinian prisoners, dozens of whom are currently serving life
sentences, which is a significant increase from the previous Israeli position, but it is also nuclear that significant gaps still do indeed
remain, and Hamas is making very clear on that point, pointing to the fact that there are other issues beyond that ratio that still remain, including
the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to the northern part of the Strip.
QUEST: So this -- when John Kirby says those people are trying to make daylight between Netanyahu and Biden or between the US and Israel, that
daylight does not exist. I suspect its more nuanced. It may not be daylight, but there are net curtains.
DIAMOND: Well, it certainly is nuanced and I think that the US' point here is that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who had a choice here. He had a
choice about how he would react to this decision by the US to abstain to this resolution, which is different from previous resolutions, we should
note.
And the Israeli Prime Minister's choice was to make this a public issue rather than telegraphing those differences privately, and that reflects the
growing frustration, his defensiveness that he has had over the course of the last several weeks as the US and international criticism of Israel's
conduct of the war in Gaza has really, really ramped up.
And the Israeli prime minister certainly choosing to make this a public issue by rapidly threatening and then subsequently canceling this visit by
two of his top advisers to Washington.
Now, it is also important to note what this visit was going to be about. It was going to be about what has become the chief disagreement between the
United States and Israel and that is a pending Israeli ground offensive into Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah.
And on that point, the Israeli Prime Minister, even as he had initially agreed to send these advisers to Washington to hear out US alternatives to
Rafah, he had also made clear that he was not going to change his mind, that he viewed a military offensive in Rafah as imperative and in canceling
this visit, certainly he bolsters that position. Now, it is just a question of when and if a ceasefire deal might materialize before that offensive is
actually carried out -- Richard.
QUEST: Jeremy Diamond in Israel tonight. Jeremy, thank you.
Russia says 11 people have been arrested following Friday's deadly terror attack at a Moscow concert hall. It includes four suspects who today
appeared in court as mourners are continuing to pay their respects outside the venue where the attack took place.
In laying flowers, they honored some of the hundred and thirty-nine people killed.
Matthew Chance is in Moscow, and I must warn you, some of the images you are about to see are deeply disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Bloodshed at the concert hall near Moscow. Gunmen running amuck before
setting the crowded building ablaze, killing more than 130 people inside.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
CHANCE (voice over): Now, the suspected attackers from Tajikistan in Central Asia have appeared in a Moscow court looking battered amid reports
of a brutal interrogation. The Kremlin is refusing to comment on allegations of torture.
Disturbing videos emerged of the suspects being run down by Russian security forces, and ruthlessly beaten.
What appears to have had part of his ear cutoff on camera during questioning, electrocution and beatings have also been shown.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses are recounting the terrifying ordeal. They endured last week.
[16:25:01]
(ANASTACIA speaking in foreign language.)
CHANCE: "They didn't scream or tell anyone to take cover," recalls Anastacia (ph). "They were just walking around and gunning everyone down
methodically and in silence," she says.
It is an outrage that has left many here shocked and questioning just how safe in this country they really are.
CHANCE (on camera): But as Russians mourn the victims of this attack, the Kremlin is defending its own security services amid criticism it failed to
heed intelligence warnings from the United States and others.
And while ISIS has repeatedly said it carried out the attack, the Kremlin is still trying to implicate Ukraine, raising concerns it may use this
tragedy to rally support for its war.
CHANCE (voice over): And divert attention from the fact that Russia these days feels deeply insecure.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now, the European Union, is once again, some would say going after big tech. Remember my conversation last week with Thierry Breton, the
European Commissioner, who is behind many of these actions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THIERRY BRETON, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER: We are just here again to give rules, to explain. And yes, we are also like when you have any rules, we
have also fines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Scott Galloway about the fallout and where TikTok standards in all of this and who is tougher, Scott? Have a think -- the EU or the US or are
they both toothless?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:08]
QUEST: Returning to our top story at the major developments in Donald Trump's legal cases, you've got the civil fraud case where a New York
appeals court has given him vital lifeline. It lowered his bond payment. It should have been four engines 60-odd million. It's now $175 million. And it
gave him 10 more days to find the money, which most people suggest is now entirely possible.
Also, a Manhattan judge rejected appeals from Trump to delay or dismiss the criminal hush money trial even further.
Our date has been set, April the 15th.
Joey Jackson is our legal analyst. He's with me now. Let's do the criminal bit first.
So, April 15th, jury selection several days, trial of three to four weeks, five weeks, may be this case, assuming there is no further delays will be
over by summer.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, there's no question about it, Richard. Good to be with you.
The reality is it looks like it's moving forward. So, for purposes of today, the attorneys that is for Trump were in court, and they were
suggesting two things. Number one, that the case should be dismissed based on prosecutorial misconduct. What does that mean? It means prosecutors said
Trump attorneys engaged in misconduct because they waited forever, according to Trump's attorneys to deliver information called discovery.
Whenever you try a case, Richard, you have to have information relevant to the case, as we look at the timelines there and the potential legal
calendar, you have to have information if you're the prosecutor that's passed on to the defense. In this particular case, that information was of
Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, who we know himself pled guilty in 2018 to federal crimes, the prosecution just gave the Trump team a number
of documents related to that plea of guilty.
Why is it relevant goes to the credibility. Michael Cohen, certainly will be a critical witness in this case. And so, the attorneys for Trump wants
to question him based on a number of things. Now, they have all the documents to do so, the judge said not so fast. It's not prosecutorial
misconduct, but I will give you additional time to assess and evaluate these documents to prepare your case. I think that's the right call. So,
will be a delay, not a dismissal.
QUEST: So, just help me along with this. Jury selection on April the 15th. I mean, can you and is it relevant to ask people, A, jurors -- A, how did
you vote? B, do you think there was a riot? C, have you decided how you -- I mean, all the things that would suggest in the voir dire, can they -- can
they go down that road?
JACKSON: So, the voir dire, as we know are questions that attorneys asked jurors in order to find a pool of jurors who could be fair, reasonable, and
make a decision predicated upon the facts and the evidence, not about whether they like Trump, dislike Trump, you know, or otherwise.
And so, the reality is, is that the attorneys will be coming up with questions that are appropriate and relevant to the issue of fairness
without, I think, being so direct as to suggest who you voted for if you're Democrat or Republican.
Now, we do that all the time as attorneys, called in indirectly questioning people. Generally, Richard, you know, jurors really give you information
that they think you want to hear, but how else might you ferret out what they're all about that as jurist?
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: But, does it --
JACKSON: Well, what affiliations do you have as a juror? Right? What backgrounds is for example.
QUEST: All right. But for instance -- for instance, Joey, I mean, I think there's a difference just are you a Republican or a Democrat in that sense,
but asking somebody, for instance, do you, and are you MAGA -- Make America Great Again, do you believe there was an insurrection in Washington? And I
mean, all these rights and proper questions that one could ask.
JACKSON: So, yes, and no. So, let's talk about no first. It's to some extent jurors are entitled to certain privacy interests and not to be
embarrassed and certainly not to up end their lives. Right? At the same time, you want to pick a fair jury.
You can, I would argue, determine who you're in paneling by virtue of their affiliations. Do you like to watch TV, ma'am? Yes. Do you like news? Yes.
What channel do you watch?
I think this is distinction, if somebody says they watched Fox versus CNN. Are you involved in any clubs or organizations? Which one are those? Well,
I'm in the NRA. That might be an indication of where your political leanings are bent are.
Right? Do you follow the news? Yes, I do. And with respect to following it, do you have any particular affiliations with this case or proclivities
towards this case?
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Right.
JACKSON: So, there are ways in which to discern which way a jury is leaning, without asking the questions that are so evasive, Richard, has to
have the jurors say, what am I doing here? Why am I in this panel?
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: All right.
JACKSON: But begin with, I want out.
QUEST: All right. For the purposes of this question.
[16:35:01]
Assume there is a conviction on all counts, is a -- is a custodial sentence likely?
JACKSON: I think it could be, absolutely. I mean, it's permissible under the law, you're talking about E felony what on earth is that? An E felony
in New York state law, you're -- you can do up to seven years in jail.
And so, it's not that the judges require, there is not a mandatory minimum sentence. But the judge has wide discretion with respect to what the judge
does. And so, I think predicated upon the law and the facts, a judge could very well give a sentence, which would require jail time. And that's
something that very much should be looked at and scrutinized in this particular case.
I would not at all, rule it out it being an incarceratory (PH) sentence, putting Mr. Trump in jail in the event of a conviction. We're not there
yet. He's presumed innocent until found guilty. We're a long way to the jury reviewing this and concluding unanimously, all 12 that he did it. But
I think that's something very much on the table.
QUEST: Grateful to you, sir. Thank you as always.
European Union has announced new investigations into Apple, Google and Meta. Brussels is looking into whether the companies are complying with the
new Digital Markets Act, the DMA, which is meant to promote competition and give consumers more choice.
It's only been since March the seventh that thing came in, or fully, the tech giants could face major fines if they're found to be out of line. The
penalties go as high as 20 percent of global revenues for repeat offences.
Scott Galloway is a professor at New York University. He joins me now from London, which are the companies more frightened of: the DOJ with its things
like its case against Apple, or the E.U., where they change the rules and the law, and you have to comply?
SCOTT GALLOWAY, PROFESSOR OF MARKETING, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: I think if it's a battle between who is more unafraid or more inclined to take action,
I think you'd say that the E.U. is probably kicking the snot out of the U.S. right now.
Keep in mind, Richard, we've had 20 congressional hearings, looking at the issue of child safety in social media, and have passed exactly zero laws.
Meanwhile, the E.U. has passed the Digital Marketing Act, and is basically already is said they're ready to move on it. They are going very targeted
after Apple and the app store. And a lot of it just comes down to incentives.
In the United States, we get a lot. We're net gainers from big tech, despite all the problems. In E.U., it's harder to make the case that
they're net gainers, they get all the weaponization of their elections, the misinformation, the teen depression, but at the same time, there very few
hospital wings or university buildings named after Google or Facebook billionaires.
So, they get all of the downside with a fraction of the upside, which is sort of stiffen the backbone of E.U. regulators. So, the E.U. seems to be
taking a tougher stance than the U.S. right now.
QUEST: Thiery Breton, the Internal Markets commissioner is largely responsible for the A.I. Act, which is just about to come into force. He
says, it's easier to change the rules, and have them comply, than litigate for 20 years, than -- and end up with a fudge.
And he gave me the -- he was -- the example you just talked about, which is the App Store, where, you know, the rules were changed, and Apple has to
open up the store.
GALLOWAY: Yes, I think that's right. I think the same is true here. If you think about -- I mean, going back to the case of Dominion voting machines
against News Corp, they got $700 or $800 million, because News Corp was found guilty of purposely distributing or reporting on misinformation.
Meanwhile, that was a dumpster fire compared to the nuclear mushroom cloud and misinformation on voting machines that went wild and rampant on social
media. But they are protected by section 230.
So, without new laws, none of this goes anywhere in the United States. Right now, the only regulation on big tech is protection from any sort of
liability that you're subject to, your network is subject to or any newspaper. So, absolutely, without new laws, this probably goes nowhere in
the U.S.
QUEST: As we look forward, you mentioned some of my discussion with Joey on Trump, and the case is. But we are moving into a moment which is incredibly
difficult for regulation for the -- for the companies themselves, to police themselves, to monitor themselves. And you have external, bad actors from
foreign countries. How do you view the next few months in that sense?
GALLOWAY: Well, I hope we show some leadership, Richard. We have essentially what is a neural plant jacked into the to the web matter of the
majority of our youth under the age of 25. The frame through which young people see the world is now at a minimum influenced and or controlled by
the CCP.
And the notion that we're going to raise a generation of civic business and nonprofit leaders in America that just feel worse and worse about America
as if you believe that the CCP has a vested interest in diminishing our power, you know, they would never allow it, and they don't allow it.
[16:40:09]
So, we get the -- we get the opium version, they get the spinach version of TikTok. So, I hope that we show some backbone here.
QUEST: Right. And on that question, I noticed I'm here in the U.K., like yourself. The U.K. today issued a warning about new measures that would
have to be taken against CCP in terms of all the way in which China is using cyber warfare to influence, for example, election, which will happen
in this country in the next year.
GALLOWAY: Look, it's going to be a missive (PH). I mean, if you want to talk, we talk a lot about A.I. becoming sentient and super weapons, the
short-term real threat of A.I. as you reference is not even when I call deep fakes, but shallow fakes that perhaps, present this incrementally,
almost unnoticeably, President Biden said, looking a little bit older or vice president Harris coming across as a bit less articulate. I think
you're going to see so much misinformation.
And the problem is we have what I'd call immoral and porous management and platforms respectively that will feel really bad about what happened after
the inauguration. But right now, there is -- all that's gotten better is the technology.
We have paleolithic instincts, mediaeval institutions, and godlike technology that can be weaponized by bad actors.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: All right.
GALLOWAY: So, like the first real externality is A.I. and misinformation around this election.
QUEST: OK. So, what would you like them to do? If I could eat -- let me give you a one's now. Thiery, Godfather (PH), Scott Galloway, what would
you do with it?
GALLOWAY: I have the Halloween costume. I'd remove section 230. I'd age games, social media, I'd remove phones from kids under the age of 16. I
would create a mandatory pause on election, health, and youth content up until the election.
QUEST: Wow, it's thought that one through fully and I'm grateful that you had. You and I need to talk more about these things. You're in London, I am
in London. I think that calls for us to meet face to face. Great to see you, sir. Thank you. Scott Galloway.
Now, let me just show you very quickly where the markets are. The Dow -- the Dow after setting new records last week. The Dow was up 162 points when
the closing bell rang just half a percent. It's not huge, but we are sort of moving away from 40,000 Instead of towards it. That's the way things are
looking at the moment.
The Dow is down. The NASDAQ, the S&P 500, they are all low as well. And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for at the moment. I'm Richard Quest in New
York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable.
But stay with me, Geneva, "WORLD OF WONDER" is next.
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