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At University Of Wisconsin, Protesters And Officers Clashed; 300 Demonstrators Detained At City College Of New York And Columbia University, According To NYPD; Barricaded Demonstrators Removed Off Columbia's Campus By Police; Florida Six-Week Abortion Ban Now In Effect; State's Abortion Restriction From Civil War Will Be Put To Vote By Lawmakers In Arizona; Trump: Political Violence Depends On Election Fairness; 2024 U.S. General Election; Rising Unrest And Altercations On College Campuses Around The Country; If Elected, Trump Discloses Intention To Serve A Second Term As President; Political Violence, A Possibility For Trump In The Event Of A Defeat; If Reelected, Trump Promises Immigration Camps And Massive Deportations. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired May 01, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:31:32]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Back to our breaking news and the clashes erupting on college campuses across the country. Police are beginning to clear the encampment that did exist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. This comes after protesters and officers clashed there. This was that moment.

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ACOSTA: Meanwhile, over in New York this morning, the mayor there, Eric Adams, is defending the NYPD's actions overnight to clear out barricaded pro-Palestinian protesters from a Columbia University building. The campus was cleared of protesters less than two hours after those officers arrived on campus, and here's how that unfolded.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to show you what's happening here. That's a massive number of police officers who are now moving in with the helmets, with the bats as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been here since about 6:00 in the morning and I could only get in because I am a student. The big question is what will the university do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The significance here being the strategic response officers. We're seeing more arrive now and get in formation. The question now obviously is when do they have the green light to go in?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've covered lots of this sort of stuff around the world, and I've never seen this many police moving into one area. Police are now going in. They are now going in to the Columbia campus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police is on campus. The New York Police Department is on campus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're telling people to disperse. I think you can see that. They're moving protesters out of the way. They're moving students out of the way. They're just pushing people out and they are placing themselves between all the media and the protesters and that human chain that you saw earlier. You can hear the boos from the crowd.

CROWD: The world can't get it. The world can't take it away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the officers that are going in to this building where several of the protesters broke in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are arresting people inside and then bringing them out. If you look at these buses, you can see the number of people inside the buses there. Many of them with Columbia sweaters, a lot of them wearing keffiyehs. I see at least --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Watch your step. Watch your step.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch your step. Watch your step. I see at least a dozen people in that bus. It must be in the dozens at this point. And here are more people who are coming out of Columbia right now.

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ACOSTA: And the NYPD says about 300 protesters were arrested at Columbia University and City College of New York. Columbia is asking police to keep a presence on campus through at least May 17th. The police have not decided how long they will stay.

Still to come this morning, Florida is now the latest state to adopt a six-week abortion ban. The ripple effect having across the country, that's next.

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[10:39:19]

ACOSTA: Back to the breaking news. New York Mayor Eric Adams warning that outside agitators are creating chaos, turning peaceful protests into antisemitic demonstrations and radicalizing student demonstrators across the country. It comes amid nationwide protests on college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war.

Last hour, you're looking at pictures just from a while ago at the University of Wisconsin Madison. One of those protests briefly turned violent as police moved in to clear a student encampment. We'll continue to bring updates throughout the hour.

Also happening today, Arizona lawmakers will vote on a measure to repeal the state's civil war era abortion ban. If it succeeds, the state's 15-week restriction will continue to be law. The state's Democratic governor is expected to sign the repeal if that goes through. We'll stay on top of that.

[10:40:00]

Meanwhile, Florida's 15-week abortion ban just dropped to six weeks. As of today, that's before many women even know that they are pregnant. Last year, one in every three abortions in the South happened in Florida. Now, the state has one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Jacksonville later today and is set to place the blame for the restrictive abortion ban squarely on Former President Donald Trump.

Dr. Shelley Tien is a traveling physician who provides abortion care in several states across the country. She'll be introducing the Vice President when she speaks in Jacksonville later today. Dr. Tien, thank you so much for joining us. What is your response to this ban going into effect today in Florida?

DR. SHELLY TIEN, OBSTETRICIAN-GYNECOLOGIST: So, thank you so much for having me. So, it is truly a devastating day today for patients in Florida and for the many patients that we have been caring for from other states.

ACOSTA: And before today, Florida was a key access point for abortions in the south. What options do women have now in the state? Are women simply going to have to drive -- we're seeing a picture right there that a protester holding up a sign that says, you know, Charlotte this many miles. Is that what's going to happen? Women are going to have to go way out of state to get this kind of reproductive care?

DR. TIEN: Absolutely. Currently, abortion is heavily restricted or impossible in most of the South and Southeast. So, from Florida, if patients need to have an abortion, they will have to travel to North Carolina, which provides care until 12 weeks. After that Virginia, and after that, Illinois, Kansas. And then, you know, we're talking about the east coast and west coast of the country.

So, hundreds and thousands of miles that patients and families will have to travel for essential health care.

ACOSTA: And what's it like for doctors like you or doctors and other health care providers who work in your field, basically saying they're afraid to do this kind of work anymore, provide reproductive services because they're afraid they might get arrested or have their practices shut down.

DR. TIEN: Yes, it's a -- yes, it's -- there's -- it's devastating and there's absolutely a chilling effect. Abortion is essential health care. It's a part of the care that I provide as an obstetrician, and also as a maternal fetal medicine specialist. And it's part of the discussions that I have with my patients and their families.

And physicians and healthcare systems, you know, when we are placed in a situation where we cannot provide the care that we are trained to provide, or if that we, you know, intervene, you know, to ensure patient's health, you know, with concerns of -- that our interventions may be misconstrued as not within the very, very narrow confines of some of this abortion ban exceptions. There's truly a chilling effect.

And so, what we, what we have seen and what we will continue to see is physicians and health care providers delay care or deny care, you know, for fear of the consequences, the legal consequences.

ACOSTA: And what about your patients? I mean, I have to think -- I mean, you hear this discussion going on about how some women don't even know they're pregnant at six weeks. And so, what happens if you have a situation like that? Are women just told that's it, there's just nothing you can do? And what about if there are complications? What happens then?

DR. TIEN: Right. Yes. Absolutely. So that -- that's absolutely correct. Many patients do not recognize that they are pregnant as early as six weeks. And many, many health complications, both maternal health complications and also fetal concerns, develop much later in pregnancy.

And so, these patients are essentially placed in a position in which unless they can afford to travel, unless they can find child care, unless they can financially afford it, unless they can find time away from work, they will be forced to travel for what is -- should just be basic health care.

And, you know, in the same setting, physicians, you know, will be devastated, frustrated, you know. And I know I felt -- certainly felt that and that I can't provide the care that, you know, I've been trained to provide.

ACOSTA: All right. Dr. Shelly Tien, well thank you very much for your time. Best of luck to you. Please keep us posted on how things develop on your end. I really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

DR. TIEN: Yes. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, Donald Trump is not ruling out political violence from his supporters this November. The red flag's being raised in a new interview with "Time Magazine", that's next.

[10:45:00]

We're also following breaking developments as protests continue on college campuses across the country. This from the University of Arizona in Tucson where campus police say they had to deploy chemical irritant munitions to break up protests.

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ACOSTA: More breaking news just in to CNN. We're learning the NYPD will deploy officers on Columbia's campus through commencement exercises there, that's after about 300 people were arrested last night. Police came face to face with some demonstrators barricading themselves inside Hamilton Hall on the campus there.

[10:50:00] New York City Mayor Eric Adams is saying the break in was led by outside agitators whom he blames for radicalizing the student protesters. Stay with us for more coverage on that just ahead.

In the meantime, turning to Former President Donald Trump saying, I think a lot of people like it. That was his response when asked if he sees why some think his rhetoric, violates democratic principles. His lengthy interview with "Time Magazine" painting a dystopian portrait of America illustrating in stark terms, what another four years under Trump would bring to the U.S.

It's a country where the military rounds up undocumented migrants to ports. Millions holds the rest of detention camps. It's a country where the National Guard is sent into cities struggling with crime. It's a country where women's pregnancies are monitored by states. And it's a country where Justice Department officials who refused to prosecute Trump's political enemies are fired. That country doesn't sound much like a democracy.

If he doesn't win, he won't rule out political violence, saying, quote, "Depends on the fairness of an election." It depends, he says.

Joining us now, Former Trump White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews. She's breaking with her party and voting for President Biden in November. And Sarah, you and I were speaking on January 6th. I remember that day you resigned as a result of what happened on January 6th. What's your reaction when he says, he doesn't rule out political violence? Saying, it depends.

SARAH MATTHEWS, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: Yes, he says, it depends on the fairness of an election. But we know with Donald Trump that an election is only fair if he wins. So, if the outcome is that he loses, then I believe that it's not even just that he's ruling or he's not ruling out political violence. To me, the way it read was, it almost sounded like a threat of political violence if he loses.

ACOSTA: He's holding it out there.

MATTHEWS: Exactly.

ACOSTA: That's a possibility.

MATTHEWS: Exactly. And so, that is really concerning because obviously we saw what happened on January 6th. And to think that something like that could happen again in this country, obviously, Donald Trump lost the last election. There was zero evidence of it, but he spread all these conspiracy theories which riled up his supporters and led to what we saw happen on January 6th. And so, I think there could be a repeat of that.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, could we see something worse, do you think?

MATTHEWS: That's definitely a possibility that we could see something worse. Obviously, he's not the president this go around. And so, I believe that Biden would have that situation under control and be prepared if that were to be the case.

ACOSTA: And he says he was too nice last time. And this time it will be different, saying of senior cabinet official. We'll put this up on screen. I let them quit because I have a heart. This is, you know, people of the administration quitting. I don't want to embarrass anybody. I don't think I'll do that again. From now on, I'll fire. He did fire many senior officials. We saw that happen, that sometimes he fired them by tweet and so on.

But it sounds as though -- and this is talked about in the "Time" article as well, is that he wants to -- and people around him want to stalk the administration with sycophants, people who are just willing to do whatever he wants, whatever he says. How worrisome is that?

MATTHEWS: Yes, it's extremely worrisome because I think that competency and experience are going to be out the window in this article. He says that he wants to put loyalists in these positions of power in a litmus test to secure a job would be that you believe that the 2020 election was stolen from him. And he says that.

And so, it is concerning to think there won't be people, I believe, of good character staffing him this go around. You're not going to have the John Kellys and Mark Espers who would push back on him. Instead, it's going to be a bunch of yes men and women who will do and say what he pleases.

And I think in the last administration, we were able to dissuade him from a lot of bad policies by saying, oh, well, this could hurt your reelection chances.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MATTHEWS: If he is elected president again, that won't be a concern next time around. So, I think that you're not really going to be able to steer him off of some of these bad policies. Like, such as, family separation that we saw in his first term. Things like that, I believe, he would go forward with because he wanted to do that during the first term.

ACOSTA: Right. I mean, a lot of people are saying -- have been saying throughout this campaign that we're not hearing enough about what Trump might do in a second term. Well, in this "Time Magazine" article, you could just go point by point, policies and actions that he's talking about in a new administration.

Potentially let -- and we're showing this on screen right now, deportation camps for migrants, allowing red states to monitor women's pregnancies, fire U.S. attorneys who don't carry out orders to prosecute someone. In this article, he talks about going after Joe Biden. Pardons for January 6th attackers. And the list goes on and on.

Again, you and I talked to one another on January 6th. You remember what it was like being inside the White House that day. Can you fathom Donald Trump going out and pardoning all of those people who attacked the Capitol that day? MATTHEWS: No, and, you know, he likes to say that he's on the side of law and order, but then he's so willing to pardon these people that he calls them hostages and patriots. And it's really just disgusting to me because we saw the violence that happened that day. I think that political violence on either side of the aisle is, you know, unacceptable.

[10:55:00]

And it is really upsetting then to see him and some of his other potential vice-presidential picks also kind of echoing that same language of calling these people hostages and being OK with Donald Trump pardoning them.

And I think, too, when you show that list of all these actions that he outlined, because you're right, I don't think we're talking enough about --

ACOSTA: We can show it again.

MATTHEWS: -- what his future claims are.

ACOSTA: Yes, yes.

MATTHEWS: And I think that we need -- the focus needs to be there. There's been a lot of focus, obviously, on his past actions because of all the trials. But we need to be talking about what a second Trump term looks like. This is the closest --

ACOSTA: They closed the pandemic --

MATTHEWS: -- we've gotten to seeing him outlining it --

ACOSTA: -- preparedness office. You were there during --

MATTHEWS: Yes, I --

ACOSTA: -- the handling of COVID and so on.

MATTHEWS: Imagine.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MATTHEWS: And so, even if people are Biden and dissatisfied with him, I can't imagine that Donald Trump would be any better when you're looking at these actions he would want in a second term.

ACOSTA: All right. Sarah Matthews, we'll continue this conversation. Thank you very much.

And thank you for joining us this morning. It was pretty fast-moving hour. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of "Newsroom with Wolf Blitzer" starts after a short break. Have a good day.