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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Cancels Trip To Poland Because Of Hurricane Threat; Comey Violated FBI Policy With Memos; Dorian On Track To Slam Florida As Category 4 Hurricane; Bail Industry Profits Off The Underprivileged; NY A.G. Condemns Video On GOP Facebook Page As Anti-Semitic. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired August 29, 2019 - 16:30   ET

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

[16:30:00] PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Expected to strengthen to a category 4, and is on track to hit South Florida. Where there are 11 Trump Organization owned properties. Including Trump's winter home, Mar-a-Lago which last which last closed in 2017 during Hurricane Irma after a mandatory evacuation order.

The Secret Service telling CNN, though, it does not maintain a permanent presence at his properties, adding no classified materials are located there, and the Trump Organization is responsible for securing them.

Meanwhile, the President saying today he plans to reduce the US presence in Afghanistan by almost half.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: We're going down to 8,600, we're bringing it down. You have to keep a presence.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BROWN: That decision despite lobbying for complete withdrawal in the pass appeases some of his closest allies who have been sending him a warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: You may be tired of fighting radical Islam but they are not tired of fighting you. There will be another 9/11 if we pull the plug.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: But in a move sure to outrage his supporters and opponents on the Hill, Trump considering blocking $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine. Sources tell CNN, it's a move that would be seen as favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Congressman Adam Schiff calling the potential decision destructive to our national security.

And administration sources say the Pentagon has recommended to the white house to lift the hold on this military assistance to a Ukraine, but despite that recommendation, the White House continues to have a hold on it. Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Pam, thank you so much for that report.

Why do we think that he's changed from yesterday to today? Is it the target has changed from Puerto Rico to Florida? Look at you smiling. Or is it that he got so much backlash for attacking Puerto Rico?

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: I would go with A. Well, I mean, we have seen him be unkind about Puerto Rico, we've seen in the last couple days. He seemed at one point he was mad at Puerto Rico for being in the way of yet another hurricane. He's been feuding with the mayor of San Juan, which seems to be one of the roots of this whole Puerto Rico resentment that he has. And Florida is a different ball game.

We've seen him speed aid to Florida. There's one of his allies is, you know, the head of the government in Florida, Ron DeSantis. So it's a very different story depending on where it's going.

BASH: Never mind 29 electoral votes.

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST & POLLSTER: In some ways, it's not a different story, thought, because there an awful lot of folks from Puerto Rico who have come to live in the state of Florida, in my home state. And Governor DeSantis, you may recall during the fall campaign when President Trump was real publicly going after Puerto Rico last year, that was one of the moments when then candidate DeSantis, who would really embrace Trump very strongly, that was one of the first time publicly distancing himself.

The politics of this, I mean, obviously not good for Puerto Rico, but not even in Florida. He is going after Puerto Rico.

KUCINICH: Oh no, I wasn't saying that at all.

BASH: I want to turn to a different subject and that's Paul's favorite subject, James Comey. Today, the FBI Inspector General Report found that Comey violated the FBI policy when he shared confidential memos containing classified information with a friend after being fired by President Trump.

I should also say that the inspector general said that he never released classified information. Do you think that this is going to have my major impact down the road? Obviously, we know Republican were already jumping on it.

PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, and the left is pretending that he's a hero because he attacks Trump. He was extremely careless with classified information. That's what he said about my friend Hillary Clinton, which is highly unethical.

He made Trump President. He's got to live with that. Had he not intervened in the election, in contravening all Justice Department, guidelines, traditions and ethical practices. He weighed in in July and attack Hillary. He was investigating Hillary and Trump, never revealed that he was investigating the Trump campaign, never. Talk endlessly about Hillary, cleared her, and she was cleared and yet he attacked her. And then days before the election, he comes up with this cockamamie, oh, I'm going to re-open the investigation, which tanked Hillary, gave the White House to Trump.

So every time Mr. Comey wants to gripe about our President, he needs to look in the mirror if he wants to see how we got Donald Trump.

BASH: The White House is responding in part, "Because Comey shamefully leaked information to the press in blatant violation of FBI policies, the nation was forced to endure the baseless politically motivated two-year witch-hunt. Comey disgraced himself and his office to further personal politically agenda and this report further confirms this fact."

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: So, the key from this idea report, though, is that one of Trump's main lines of attack against Comey which is that he leaked classified information is not accurate. The IG found that he didn't leaked classified information, which is prosecutable. Like he would -- it's against the law, and so had that been the case they would have brought charges forward and they didn't.

BASH: Well, that's a good point, but I think Paul is going to keep the speech going for a few years, and it's understandable.

[16:35:05] BEGALA: During the commercial break I'm going to keep going.

DASH: But it's understandable. Comey has the unbelievable talent, I guess, talent of making both parties extremely mad.

So, all right, everybody stand by. Dorian could be the strongest hurricane to strike Florida's East Coast in decades. What could make this storm even more dangerous? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Breaking news, President Trump has canceled his trip to Poland because of the threat posed by Hurricane Dorian. The storm is now on track to hit Florida as a major Category 4.

[16:40:02] After sideswiping Puerto Rico and damaging parts of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Floridians are scrambling to get ready. Lines snaked around gas stations and stores in South Florida.

Let's go to CNN Meteorologist Tom Sater. Tom, how much of the Florida coast could get hit?

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it could be the whole coast, I mean really. Dana, it could be the Carolinas, it could be the Keys, into the gulf. I mean, this has been a fickle storm. If you asked us about five days ago if we would be talking about a category 4, a lot of meteorologist would say no way, but it's where we are.

This is the acorn that will become the great oak tree. And if you look at the cone of uncertainty, it's all of Florida, and it extends into the gulf. So please don't believe that when you see the track moving and hitting one location that that's where this is going to hit.

I mean, winds right at 85, I wouldn't be surprised if it gets up to 150, 155 by the time it gets closer to the U.S.

BASH: And Dorian is as you're showing there, over wide-open warm water.

SATER: Right.

BASH: Could it get even stronger because of that before making landfall?

SATER: Absolutely. In fact not a big surprise from yesterday, but one of the changes was, when you looked at the tract, we had it at a category 2, which should be later today, that category 3, 3 and 3 at landfall, not a surprise to see it go up to a category 4.

And mainly the reason is, it's got open space. The small storm is going to get larger, but you go from temperatures in the water in the mid-80s, and that's the gulf steam, so easily you can have just an eruption of strength, there's no doubt.

BASH: And real quick, any chance for good news here that Dorian could weaken or make a sharp turn and go into the ocean?

SATER: The European model here, in yellow, this is the US model, really slowed things down today, a little bit of a surprise. Anytime these storms slow down, it's anybody's guess.

The American model has it just south of Cape Canaveral and Fort Pierce. And here's the European, down by Nassau Bahamas. This changing constantly even within the same model.

So again, we've got to watch this each and ever hour. We've got several days, a lot is going to change most likely.

BASH: Those models look a whole lot better for the state of Florida. Tom Sater, thank you so much for that.

And it's a $2 billion business that some states and 2020 candidates are trying to get rid of. CNN investigates one powerful industry, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:00] BASH: Criminal justice reform is the key issue on the 2020 campaign trail and Democrats are turning their focus to the issue of bail. Senator Bernie Sanders tweeting, no one should be sitting in jail because they're poor. Cash bail is a disgrace that must be abolished.

But leaders of the bail bond industry are working to derail those reform efforts by states giving money to lobbyist and politicians to keep their $2 billion-business thriving. CNN's Drew Griffin investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: $2 billion is roughly how much money the bail bond business reportedly takes in across the country every year. Who pays? Underprivileged people under arrest who find themselves facing a decision, sit in jail for months to await trial, or pay a bail bondsman to get them out.

CHERISE FANNO BURDEEN, CEO, PRETRIAL JUSTICE INSTITUTE: Most people who are arrested are actually low-income or almost no income individuals. And when we put a ransom on their liberty, it has a dramatic impact on people.

GRIFFIN: Here's how the bail system works. Let's say you're arrested and the judge sets bail at $50,000. If you have money you can pay it, go free, and get it back when you show up for your court date. If you don't have the money, you can sit in jail till trial or hire a bondsman to bail you out.

The bondsman will likely charge you 10 percent, $5,000. That's a fee paid to a bondsman that you will never get back even if you are not guilty, even if the charges are dropped. Add on interest from payment plans and fees, often the debt can last for years. Iowa District Judge Robert Hanson says the system is flawed.

ROBERT HANSON, JUDGE, IOWA DISTRICT: The thing that I know is that monetary bonds do not guarantee that the bad people stay in jail and monetary bonds do not guarantee that the safe people are released.

GRIFFIN: Many states are making changes to move away from relying on money bail but CNN found out that the business that profits from the current system, the powerful bail industry is working hard to stop reform. It has derailed, stalled, or killed reform efforts in at least nine states.

One of the best examples is Iowa. A pilot program called the public safety assessment tool gave judges more information about defendants and those deemed low risk could get out of jail without having to pay bail. Antwon Stewart arrested for stealing beer was able to walk to his job at a bakery every day while waiting for trial instead of sitting in jail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what I say it saved my life.

GRIFFIN: CNN talked to more than a dozen officials in the Iowa justice system, corrections officials, judges, public defenders who supported the program. But here is where Iowa's story takes a dark twist. Because in the middle of last year's state budget process and out of the blue, this line was inserted into an appropriations bill which stopped Iowa's bail reform in its tracks.

The public safety assessment pilot program shall be terminated. It turns out behind the scenes there was an explanation you just had to follow the money. REP. RICK OLSON (D-IA): Lederman Bail Bonds didn't like the program

because there were defendants, people being held in jail that were getting out of jail without having to post any type of a bond. They were losing business.

GRIFFIN: That's it?

OLSON: Market share.

[16:50:00] GRIFFIN: Lederman Bail Bonds, a huge bail bonds company in Iowa with 150 agents across the Midwest and a drive-through service just outside the gates of Iowa's Polk County Jail. It's run by the Lederman brothers. This is Jacob in Des Moines who told us to talk to his brother Josh. Josh in Davenport declined interview requests.

CNN did some digging and it turns out the Ledermans may have decided money would do their talking. Since 2017, Josh Lederman has paid a powerful Iowa lobbying firm more than $74,000. He's also donated more than $36,000 to Republican campaigns in 2018. That's more money donated in one year than he spent in the past 15 years combined.

Josh Lederman for the first time ever last year made a donation to a Republican representative in rural Storm Lake, Iowa named Gary Worthan. Worthan's district had nothing to do with the pilot program but he submitted the amendment to the budget bill to kill the program. Worthan in his co-chair of the Justice System Appropriation Subcommittee.

Representative Worthan, this is Drew Griffin with CNN. Thanks for picking up the call.

Worthan would speak only reluctantly by phone.

Can you just explain why you were trying to -- or why you did get rid of the Public Safety Assessment Pilot Program?

REP. GARY WORTHAN (R-IA): Well, from the tone of your voice you've already decided what direction this article is taking and I'm not here to be misquoted or having my comments taken out of context. This is why I don't want to be associated in any way with CNN.

GRIFFIN: This year, Gary Worthan once again included language in the budget bill making it nearly impossible the program will ever restart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: What still unanswered, Dana, is why the program was killed especially in a budget bill. The pilot program didn't require funding and was designed to collect two years' worth of data to determine if it was even working. Republican lawmakers killed this program before anyone could even find out. Dana?

BASH: We think she just did, Drew. What a great report. Thank you so much. And up next, the video posted on a Republican Party Facebook page that's being called deeply disturbing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:55:0] BASH: Today a controversial video Jewish groups call anti- Semitic was taken off a local Republican Party Facebook page. The video falsely warns Hasidic Jews are plotting a takeover as CNN's Jason Carroll reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Facebook ad is punctuated by dramatic music, images of overdevelopment, and critics say littered with anti-Semitic messages. The ad was released by the Rockland County Republican Party supposed to draw attention to the ongoing debate over development in Rockland County about 25 miles north of New York City.

RABBI JUSTIN SCHWARTZ, ILLEGAL HOUSING TASK FORCE, ROCKLAND COUNTY, NEW YORK: Hell no. This is not the way to do it. It's not the way to do it. It reminds most people of the same movement as extremists as the Ku Klux Klan in the deep south as well as Nazi Germany.

CARROLL: The ad uses phrases such as a storm is brewing saying that what is at stake is our way of life, claiming if they win, we lose. They are Rockland County's Orthodox Jewish community. Many of whom have settled into this bedroom community over the years and a number of local leaders say they have been developing homes and places of worship with little regard for zoning restrictions.

Just this month, a New York State Senate report found a built first ask permission later mentality within the town and local municipalities. That has created tension here. Still, a number of local leaders say there is no excuse for that ad.

YOSSI GESTETNER, ORTHODOX JEWISH PUBLIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL: The core of the problem of trying to scapegoat the Hasidic community here in Rockland County for every real or perceived problem, it's still happening within the political class.

CARROLL: New York Attorney General Letitia James called for the video to be removed saying it was deeply disturbing, adding that attacking those who are different than we are only breeds hate. The Rockland County GOP removed the ad from its Facebook page late this morning. Its chairman Lawrence Garvey's saying in part in a statement, regardless of your thoughts of the video, there are facts that cannot be ignored. This is not nor has it ever been a religious issue.

Garvey did not apologize for the video. He visited his office but he declined our repeated requests for an interview.

SCHWARTZ: Mr. Garvey should not be a chair of the Republican Party. I would like to see a public apology for the offensiveness nature of it and causing almost a civil unrest for doing this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: And Dana, one of the local legislators that was targeted in this ad says it's not enough for the local GOP to remove it. He says they need to denounce it. Dana?

BASH: Jason Carroll, thank you so much for that report. And you can follow me on Twitter @DANABASHCNN or tweet the show @THELEADCNN. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.