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Lawyers Who's Now Classified Docs Witness Leaves Trump Team; Judge To Sentence Ex-Ambassador Accused Of Spying For Cuba; DOJ: Ohtani's Ex-Interpreter Stole $16 Million To Place Sports Bets. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired April 12, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. A key attorney turned critical witness leaving Donald Trump's legal team. Evan Corcoran was hired to help the former president fight charges in the classified documents investigation but instead, he actually became a central witness after Trump allegedly misled him about the whereabouts of the documents over at Mar-a-Lago and encouraged him to lie to the U.S. Justice Department and withhold them. Also, the FBI has released the transcript from a 2022 interview with Walt Nauta, the Trump aide who now faces several obstruction-related charges in this case, not describing the boxes of sensitive documents.

CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez is joining us right now. Evan, this is all coming just ahead of another hearing today in this case. Update our viewers.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is an important hearing for a couple of reasons. Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, two of former President's Trump -- President Trump's employees. They're still employed by him and they're also his codefendants. He -- their lawyers are in court today trying to get the judge, Aileen Cannon, to toss at least a couple of the charges that they face. The main part of this is the obstruction part of this case.

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What prosecutors allege is that both Nauta and De Oliveira helped move boxes that contained these classified documents and helped obstruct this investigation. And so, the lawyers for these two men are saying, well, they didn't know that there -- that there was an investigation, so how could it be that they obstructed this case? I'll read you just a part of this FBI -- this May -- this May 2022 FBI interview with Walt Nauta, in which they're asking him about these boxes and what he knew about it. Here, let's put up a part of this, where Walt Nauta says -- describing what's in these boxes.

He says, All -- a lot of his personal items carry the same -- it's still in the same box. The FBI agent says, but now, you're looking inside of these boxes. Nauta says his personal items. And then they continue to talk a little bit about exactly what's in these boxes. FBI agent says, and when you say personal items, what are personal items? And Nauta response, hairspray, and shampoo.

Of course, minimizing -- according to prosecutors, minimizing what was actually contained in those boxes. What they say were in those boxes were hundreds of classified documents. Some of them of the highest nature -- highest sensitivity for the U.S. government. And one of the reasons why this interview was happening, Wolf, was because FBI agents wanted to know whether they needed to warn the intelligence community about possible dangers to operations, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. Some of those documents, SCI, Sensitive Compartmented Information, doesn't get any higher in the classification level than that. Evan Perez, thank you very much. Let's discuss what's going on with CNN Legal and National Security Analyst Carrie Cordero. She's joining us right now. How concerned, Carrie, should Trump be, Trump, the former president, about the potential for prosecutors to call Evan Corcoran, he's now a former lawyer as a witness?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, he would probably be a pretty powerful witness. First of all, no lawyer really wants to have to testify against their former client. And so, it's a -- it would be a pretty extraordinary situation. But this case, really the key to it is the obstruction part of it.

And that's the part that Evan Corcoran would be best positioned to be able to testify if it comes to that because the fact that he would have information that the president was trying to obstruct -- the former president trying to obstruct the investigation, and his knowledge, it's a really high standard to break the attorney-client privilege. But even attorneys if they are witnesses to evidence of a crime have to comply with the justice system.

BLITZER: As you know, on this coming Monday -- it's only what, a few days away, will be the start of the first criminal trial ever in American history against a former president of the United States, the trial in New York, the hush -- the hush money trial, as it's being called. Give us some context right now on how significant potentially this is. This is a historic moment.

CORDERO: Well, it's a historic case in that it is of a former president. Of the many cases that have been brought against the former president, in my judgment, this New York case is on the weaker end of the cases against him if we compare him to the charges in the January 6 federal case or in the obstruction-related case in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. So, it is going to be very specific, it's going to be a jury trial, and so juries are unpredictable.

We don't know which way they will go and whether or not they will go along with the prosecutors' theory that the falsification of records constitutes the significant federal crimes that New York has charged. But these are serious felonies that the New York D.A. has brought against the president -- the former president, and we'll see if -- how it plays out in both the jury selection process and the trial.

BLITZER: I want to get your thoughts because you have a personal interest in FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Any moment now, the House is expected to vote on a reauthorization of FISA. There's a proposal now for a two-year authorization as opposed to a five-year authorization.

You were involved back in 2008 with the original passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Give us a sense of the importance. Why is this FISA act so, so important? I've been told by U.S. intelligence officials that because of FISA, several major international terror attacks against the United States have been prevented because of the information they gathered in advance.

CORDERO: Absolutely. So. the provision that is currently being considered by the House for the reauthorization is one part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, section 702, which pertains only to targets who are not Americans outside of the United States for counterterrorism or other national security purposes. Back in 2008, when I was working with the Justice Department and at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the major justification for the law at the time was counterterrorism, of the era of 2000s, the post- 911 era.

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Today, I would argue that 702 is even more important than it was back then because not only is it relevant to ongoing counterterrorism matters, whether it is Hamas-related matters or other international terrorism, but it is relevant to ongoing national security threats pertaining to China, pertaining to Russia's war on Ukraine. Even pertaining to the international fentanyl trafficking has -- issue has been collected against and has provided valuable foreign intelligence information to the U.S. government. So, it is a critical national security authority. If the deal that they can make is a two-year extension that is better than letting the law expire, but even sunsets provide the intelligence community with the fact that then they have to go back several years later to be able to reauthorize it. But two years would be better than letting this court authority expire.

BLITZER: And just to be precise. FISA allows the U.S. intelligence community law enforcement to monitor conversations from non-U.S. citizens overseas.

CORDERO: Right. So, this particular provision of FISA, section 702, only authorizes collection when the U.S. government needs the assistance of U.S. telecommunications or other communications providers against non-U.S. persons outside the United States. This is not the provision of FISA, which is a separate part of the law that still is in existence and is not up for debate in this current public policy debate that is focused on Americans at home. This is only about non-U.S. person targets overseas.

BLITZER: And to monitor those conversations, they don't need a court- martial under FISA.

CORDERO: What they need is they need a legal framework, and they need court supervision. So, this is about the process by which the FISA court, a special national security court, can conduct oversight over the process to make sure the government is following its rules.

BLITZER: To protect U.S. national security in the process. Carrie, thank you very, very much. Still to come. Sentencing day for the former U.S. ambassador accused of spying for Cuba for decades. Stay with us here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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BLITZER: About two hours from now in Miami, sentencing will begin for a former American diplomat accused of spying. Manuel Rocha was the U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia. He's accused of spying for Cuba and is expected to plead guilty in the hope of getting a reduced prison sentence.

CNN Correspondent Carlos Suarez is outside the court in Miami for us. Carlos, what more can you tell us about today's sentencing?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. So, the 73-year-old is expected in court later this afternoon along with his attorneys and he is expected to tell the court that he is going to change his not guilty plea to guilty. Now, in exchange for that decision, we expect that U.S. prosecutors are going to drop several of the charges that were filed against him back in December. He was facing a number of charges including being an illegal agent of a foreign government, wire fraud, and lying to investigators.

Now, it is still unclear exactly how Manuel Rocha helped the Cuban government while he worked at the State Department for over two decades. Prosecutors really did not detail this information in the indictment that was handed up against him in December, though prosecutors did note that Rocha was in conversations with Cuban officials. But then he also had access to top secret information as well as a high level of security clearance considering his role as the U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia and the time that he worked at the Cuban Interest Section in Havana, Cuba.

Now, it is important to note here that he has never been charged with espionage. Although prosecutors believe that he was acting on behalf of the Cuban government since at least 1981. Again, he was just -- he was arrested back in December, and he is expected to change his plea later today. And then sentencing will take place shortly after, Wolf.

BLITZER: I will stay in touch with you, Carlos. You let us know what that sentence winds up being. Carlos Suarez in Miami for us, thank you.

Coming up. The former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani is expected to turn himself in today. We have details on how federal authorities say he's still a fortune from the Major League Baseball superstar. That's coming up next.

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BLITZER: Federal authorities say the longtime translator for baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani is expected to turn himself in today. He's facing charges for allegedly stealing $16 million. CNN Correspondent Nick Watt has the details.

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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Baseball's biggest star was, according to a federal prosecutor, bilked of over $16 million by his interpreter, friend, and confidant.

MARTIN ESTRADA, U.S. ATTORNEY: Mr. Mizuhara used and abused that position of trust in order to take advantage of Mr. Ohtani.

WATT (voiceover): Ippei Mizuhara today charged by the Department of Justice with bank fraud which carries a maximum of 30 years behind bars. The biggest question has been how could Mizuhara have allegedly stolen that much money without getting caught. Well, according to the complaint, Mizuhara helped Ohtani open a bank account and told all the star's other advisors that Ohtani wanted this one, which held all of his baseball earnings, to be private. And --

ESTRADA: We've obtained recordings of telephone calls, in which Mizuhara spoke with bank employees, lied to them about being Mr. Ohtani, gave personal biographical information for Mr. Ohtani in order to impersonate him, and thereby convinced the bank to approve large wire transfers of large amounts of money to the bookmakers.

WATT (voiceover): In just over two years, say investigators, Mizuhara placed approximately 19,000 bets on sports, some as big as $160,000. When he won, the money went into his account. When he lost, he covered his debts from Ohtani's. He lost over $40 million in all. This lawyer represents a bookmaker, Ippei Mizuhara used.

DIANE BASS, LAWYER FOR BOOKMAKER MATHEW BOWYER: And Ippei will tell you and Matt will tell you that he was a terrible gambler.

WATT: That he just couldn't help himself?

WATT (voiceover): Apparently, Mizuhara never bet on baseball. Soccer was more his thing.

TRANSLATOR FOR SHOHEI OHTANI, LOS ANGELES DODGERS: Just to kind of just go over the result. In conclusion, Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies.

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WATT (voiceover): Mizuhara allegedly wrote in a text to that bookie in June last year. I have a problem. Lol. Can I get one last, last, last bump? That's gambling lingo for a credit extension.

TRANSLATOR FOR SHOHEI OHTANI: So, I never bet on baseball or any other sports or I never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf.

WATT (voiceover): Texts also appear to prove Ohtani had no idea. He has, we're told, cooperated fully with investigators. And while some suspicion did swirl these past few weeks, Ohtani carried on doing what he does best, playing baseball, logging a career-best five straight multi-hit games, maybe put that down to the untroubled mind of an innocent man.

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WATT (on camera): Now, we will be in court here in Los Angeles later for Mizuhara's first appearance since all this blew up. He and his lawyer have been very tight-lipped. But I got to say, I do have some questions.

Mizuhara apparently $140 million, lost $180 million. So, that's 40 million. He stole 16 allegedly from Ohtani, so the other 24, we'll see. Listen, Ohtani now categorically in the clear, not that Dodger fans ever doubted their golden boy, Wolf.

BLITZER: Nick Watt reporting for us. Nick, thank you. And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining me here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. I'll be back later tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS" starts right after a short break.

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