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CNN Live Event/Special

Jury Selection Underway In Trump's Historic Criminal Trial; Israeli War Cabinet Weighs Military Or Diplomatic Response To Iran; James Schultz, Former Trump White House Lawyer, Discusses Trump's Historic Criminal Trial & Jury Selection. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 15, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:33:40]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Welcome back to our special coverage of former President Trump's criminal trial here in New York.

I'm Erin Burnett outside that Manhattan courtroom.

Paula Reid and Phil Mattingly are with me.

And, Paula, I know, you know, as we've been explaining to people, you know, bit by bit today what's been happening now, a significant moment, you finally have all the potential jurors of today through the MAGs, the magnetometers, to be scanned. There in that that jury room now.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is the moment we've been waiting for, 96 potential jurors are now in that courtroom, along with former President Trump lawyers, prosecutors, and the judge.

And the first thing they're going to do after they're sworn in, is they're going to see if anyone just is not able to serve on this jury for cause. Now, cause can be anything from you don't speak or comprehend English sufficiently to you have some sort of immovable conflict.

Also that you just cannot be impartial because you feel so strongly either way about former President Trump.

And the Trump team had a big win a few hours ago when prosecutors and the judge agreed that they would separate out how many people are going to be dismissed for cause because they just can't be impartial.

That's a win for the Trump team because they want that information to preserve it for appeal. If he's convicted, that's going to be part of their appeal.

BURNETT: All right. So, what do you -- I mean, we're finally here now. Some might say, OK, it's 2:30 in the afternoon. But there were a lot of -- there were a lot of motions, a lot of things that were happening. But now you finally have this group of 96. [14:35:05]

And it is a serious moment when you're in these -- these rooms. You know, we know -- I remember the judge, can you -- you're here, you're sworn in. People understand there is a real gravity to the moment that they're in.

And the president, the former president is sitting in that room. Has been all day.

It is, Phil, just to take one step back. It is an incredible choice of the use of his time that he plans to be in there all like this all the way through.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I think it underscores a calculation that they have made very apparent, at least from the campaign side, and the president as well, that they don't think they have a choice, to some degree.

Over the course of the last several months, we've seen him repeatedly choose to show up at hearings, choose to show up to proceedings. He absolutely did not have to be. But felt egregious on some level, sometimes.

But it was to make a point. It was to continue to draw attention to something that had been very effective from a political perspective for months on end.

This is different. He has to be here unless he gets a waiver not to be here. And I think the stakes here are also dramatically different.

And I think what's difficult coming into this is, when you've got 88 charges in four different indictments and other cases, particularly coming from the special counsel, that I think I've gotten a lot more attention, they felt like there are much higher stakes, felt like the gravity, not just for the individual as the former president, but also for the country, may be more significant.

But people were kind of not necessarily remembering that this was the case. This now maybe the only case that we see go to trial.

BURNETT: The only case that we may actually to get a verdict, right?

MATTINGLY: That's right. And the ramifications of a conviction, but also the ramifications of what's going to be discussed in the weeks ahead are both extremely personal, will remind people of the time that I think a lot of people blacked out, 2016 and that process.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: But also it will have a political impact. We don't know what that's going to be. I think a lot of people are drawing a lot of conclusions about what this will mean or won't mean for Donald Trump's politics for the general election, for Republicans, for Democrats.

We have no idea. And how this plays out in the weeks ahead is going to be extremely important. And it's all going to tie back to the decisions that are made today about the jury, about what the defense and the prosecution decide with the 90-plus people they have today. And with the 200, 300, 400 people they have in the days ahead.

BURNETT: Yes. All right. Well, they are now sworn in, this group of 96 jurors. The initial group selected for this jury were formally sworn in. And so now the questioning begins.

And this is a very significant moment in this first day of the trial.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Very significant indeed.

Erin, thank you very much.

Let's talk a little about the -- the political fallout of this historic trial.

Joining us now, CNN's Audie Cornish, the host of "The Assignment" podcast, and CNN's chief national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny.

Audie, as you know, Donald Trump, he has to attend this trial. So the question -- the political question is, how is this going to impact his political campaigning if he's got to be there Monday, Tuesday, no trial on Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday?

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, he's proven to always be able to make the most of a camera. And we certainly have our cameras trained on this New York courthouse.

The other thing I heard talked about earlier is how this affects the view from voters. And the truth is, I think a lot of this has to do with timing and when there might be key moments of testimony that are talked about, when there might be a verdict.

Those will have an effect, I think, on Independent and, more importantly, late-deciding voters. And those are the kinds of things we can't know from this early on.

BLITZER: Yes, it's interesting, Jeff, this trial could go on for a few months right now. Let's say it goes on until June. That's getting closer and closer to November.

You think it's going to help or hurt Trump, especially with his base?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: We'll see. I mean, we don't know now. But we do know a couple of things. One, to Audie's point about the voters, it's not a monolith here. We know that Trump's base will stick with him.

But we're in a different moment in this campaign. it's a general election, so many, many, many more people will be deciding this.

And one thing we know that Independence -- a poll over the weekend in "The New York Times" and Sienna College showed that 54 percent of Independents believe that a conviction of some kind could change their opinion. They're watching this very carefully. But we do not know if that will happen, what the verdict will be. But timing is one thing we do know.

And you mentioned June. it's possible, depending on how slow this jury selection goes, or fast, we'll see. My guess is slow. It may not even start until next month. So we'll see.

But the reality is Donald Trump has not been holding campaign rallies every day. In fact, he seldom -- seldom is holding campaign rallies. He is going to make the most of being in Manhattan where there are more cameras than any other place in this country and likely the world almost.

He'll be doing campaign events around the proceedings. So we're not going to get a sense of, like, no Donald Trump. He'll be more front- and-center than ever before.

But politically speaking, we do not know how this is going to impact things. The Republicans I talk to keep mentioning one thing, how will this impact Donald Trump personally? All of the testimony, is it going to make him angry, irate? Probably, yes. So we'll see.

[14:40:01]

As of now, the Biden campaign is staying out of this. But how voters digest all of this will -- we don't know who that will benefit, if anyone.

BLITZER: And if he's convicted, a convicted felon, we'll see if -- what the impact of that would be potentially.

(CROSSTALK)

CORNISH: There's also some irony in the idea that what he's going to seek to do, especially someone who is so famous in a trial, is kind of shape the public narrative about how they think about the case itself.

That's why there are these concerns about social media posts, about how he talks about the judge or the prosecutor, which actually ironically comes back to the case itself, which is fundamentally about his -- allegations of his attempts to shape the public narrative ahead of the election.

BLITZER: Audie, I want you to listen to what Trump said before entering the courthouse earlier today. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every legal scholar says this case is not (INAUDIBLE), never been brought (INAUDIBLE).

There is no case. And they've said -- people that don't necessarily follow or like Donald Trump said, this is an outrage that this case was brought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What's your reaction?

CORNISH: Well, we do know sort of how Trump thinks about legal scholars. We don't necessarily know what that means. And there are no citations there.

I do think it's worth noting that, for a while, even within the district attorney's office, they called this a kind of zombie case because they weren't quite sure whether or not they could or would bring it.

So in a way, I'm sure people can interpret him referring to that. But it's been the dark horse case. Here we are having this conversation because they found a legal way to talk about it.

MATTINGLY: It sort of boiled down to hush money, but it's about more than that. it's about, at least the prosecutors are alleging, influencing the last election, 2016.

So we're going to learn much, much, much more. Will it change many minds? We'll see. But it's about more than that, I think.

Again, the defendant, being the Republican nominee, is something we've never seen. So any attempts for us to look into our crystal balls are meaningless at this point. Let's watch this play out day by day. But it is truly extraordinary.

BLITZER: Yes. The questions are enormous. The drama's intense. We'll see what happens.

Thanks, guys very much, Jeff Zeleny, Audie Cornish.

Much more of our special coverage of this trial coming up.

And were also keeping a very close eye right now at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Protesters shut down the bridge. They are reportedly angry over the conflict in Gaza. We'll stay on top of this and other major developing stories. Stay with us.

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[14:47:01]

BLITZER: Right now, Israel is weighing how to respond to that unprecedented attack from Iran over the weekend amid growing international pressure to show restraint.

Israel's war cabinet met for several hours earlier today discussing a number of military and diplomatic options.

I'm joined now by retired U.S. Army Major General James "Spider" Marks.

General, thanks so much for joining us.

What do you think? What might a military response from Israel look like?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, certainly could assume any number of forms. First and foremost, if you're talking about what I would call it kinetic response, certainly Israel could decide to cross into Iranian strike research facilities, enrichment facilities, go after the oil fields.

In some particular case, which would have a significant economic challenge to Iran, but also would have an amazing downside in terms of the flow of oil, impact to Russia, impact to China. Those are some pretty significant efforts that they could take on.

I think, asymmetrically, you know, they could go after Iranian economic interests. But as indicated earlier on your show, those economic interests would have to be very painful for the mullahs, for the senior leadership in Iran itself.

You could go after Iranian naval capacity and certainly there could be attacks against the Iranian proxies in Lebanon, a full-force attack into Lebanon, both ground and air.

And there could be efforts against what I call the other cats and dogs that exist within the region that they could go after.

Look what we're not talking about though. We're not talking about Hamas right now.

BLITZER: Interesting.

In addition to a potential military response, General, the Israeli war cabinet is also, we're told, mulling various diplomatic options to further try to the isolate Iran on the world stage. What options would that include?

MARKS: Well, that goes back to the economic piece, Wolf. And it would have to be a very coordinated and a very broad effort on the part of a coalition of nations that agree that what Iran did, and inarguably against the rules of law, an attack by one nation on another sovereign nation, irrespective of the results.

You know, a murder that's unsuccessful is still a murder. A murder attempt. It's just the sentencing that has to be determined.

So a number of nations could get on board and make it very painful for the Iranians. But let's be frank, this is a political year. That's going to have a downside in any type of political campaign there is, if this becomes incredibly inflationary, and if the price of oil starts to get well beyond 100 bucks a barrel.

BLITZER: The White House is now totally dismissing this notion, this idea that's been out there, that Iran probably expected that it's missile strike against Israel would be thwarted. What does that say to you about Iran's intentions with this strike?

[14:50:00] MARKS: I think their intentions were very clear. This was a swarm not only of drones, very slow-moving drones, low-priced rounds, but also cruise missiles. This was an integrated attack that was, as you indicated, thwarted as a result of Israeli, U.S., Brit. All of those capabilities were stitched together so incredibly well.

But what it tells you is Iran's military probably is not as capable as everybody thinks it might be. But for Iran to say it was not intended to be, that it was not intended did to achieve some damage on the ground, and that they knew it might be thwarted, I think as a fairy tale.

I think they actually thought -- it's more than just messaging. I think Iran actually thought they'd do some damage.

BLITZER: Yes, I'm sure they did. Hundreds of these rockets and missiles were -- were going after various targets in Israel. And they assumed there would be enormous damage and casualties as a result of that. I have no doubt about that.

All right, Army Major General "Spider" Marks, thanks very much for joining us.

I want to get back to Erin. She's outside former President Trump's trial in New York.

Erin?

BURNETT: All right, Wolf.

Well, we are back now with our special live coverage here outside the courthouse. And right now, in the courthouse, 96 jurors have been sworn in, in Trump's hush money trial. And they are now going through the arduous process of the jury selection.

And this is, of course, a very historic moment, the first criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president. And as I said, that first group, 96 jurors, we understand, they're formally sworn in.

Joining me now is former Trump White House lawyer, James Schultz.

And, Jim, really appreciate your time.

So here's the latest that we have from reporters who are in the room, sort of a pool report of what's happening.

So as I said, we know the 96 jurors are there. We know they've been sworn in. So what is the room like as they're starting to go through this process?

We understand that the jurors are really staring at the form for president. And you can imagine, right, their jurors called in Manhattan, they show up. And the former president of the United States sitting in the room all day with you.

I mean, that's -- that's something. Right? They're all going to go home and talk about it. So there staring at him and he is sort of looking with a tight-lipped smirk, is the description should right now.

So, Jim, to the best of your ability, take us inside what's going on here right now. What do you think the stakes are for his legal team going through this first group of 96 jurors? They only have 10 strikes during the entire jury selection process to use.

JAMES SCHULTZ, CNN LEGAL COMMENTATOR: Look, this is a really important time for them, right? The prosecution already has a bit of an advantage here because it is in Manhattan, right?

And so it's more important than ever that, in most cases, to try to find a jury that -- where they're going to find folks that could potentially be on their side, that could be favorable for them.

You know, Donald Trump's going to be able to be at the sidebar. That's going to be something that's going to be compelling. And he's going to be able to look at these jurors in the face. Apparently, he's going to be very involved in this, in the discussions in the decision-making process.

So and a lot of this is instinct as well, right? They're gathering information. We don't have the names of these -- of the potential witnesses, but the -- but the lawyers do and they're doing their research and they're going to they're going to make their strikes accordingly.

BURNETT: Right. And to keep in mind, they only have 10 strikes. You are getting, what, 96 jurors or 100-ish jurors per pool, right, to go through. So you've got to be careful. You can't use them all at once.

I mean, how do they go through that process?

SCHULTZ: Its everything from doing research to paying attention to what people are reading once they come in, to paying attention to what is on their social media.

There's a lot of things that will go into that. Just the -- the questioning itself. So there's a lot that will go into kind of making the decision as to what jurors to strike.

And you got to be really careful about it, because, in this instance, again, you're going to have -- you're going to have a pool of jurors who aren't going to be particularly disposed of before Donald Trump.

BURNETT: Yes, and, you know, we keep emphasizing, Jim, the reality of the situation and sort of the incredible moment it is for everyone in that room that the former president of the United States is sitting there all day while the jurors are there, eye to eye contact.

But that direct sort of relationship, for lack of a better word, is going to be a crucial part of this trial. And I know Phil Mattingly is -- has been focused on that as well.

MATTINGLY: I think what the question is that try and figure out the dynamics --

(CROSSTALK)

SCHULTZ: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHULTZ: -- how much is the legal team --

MATTINGLY: I was just going to ask you about how much is the legal team watching this process as they think through whether or not the former president should testify going forward? Does today matter? Does what they see from these potential jurors matter in that kind of strategy process?

SCHULTZ: Look, I think every -- all of it it's going to matter, right? How he interacts, how they interact with him, how they feel, how the lawyers feel that the jurors are -- how much appeal there is from the jurors as to whether they're going to put him on the standard.

But I think at this -- at this stage in the game, I think they're probably leaning towards putting him on the stand.

[14:55:04]

BURNETT: And what would you do?

You know him. You've worked with him. You think that's a gamble you'd take, to put him on the stand?

SCHULTZ: Well, look, I think, again, (INAUDIBLE) back to think that, you know, in this particular case, hearing from him is likely going to matter. I think he'll want to testify in this case.

I think he's going to push his lawyers to let him testify in this case. And quite frankly, the problem with putting Donald Trump on the stand is that you never know what Donald Trump's going to say.

Whether he could say something has completely irrelevant to the case. He could say something that could damage his case just by -- just by making a flippant remark.

So there is a huge danger of putting him on the stand, but I think he's going to be pressing to do it.

BURNETT: Yes. It's hugely dangerous is a way of putting it.

All right, Jim, thanks so much. I know we all appreciate talking to you.

And we've got much more on this historic day. In the southern tip of Manhattan, jury-selection underway in the hush money case against Donald Trump's criminal trial. Stay with us.

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