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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Arrives In Florida Ahead Of Court Appearance; Sources: Mounting Security Concerns From Law Enforcement Officials Ahead Of Trump Arraignment; Trump Rails Against Charges, Denies Wrongdoing; Collapses Cuts I-95 In Philadelphia; Ukraine Reports Some Battlefield Gains Despite Significant Losses Of Tanks And Armored Vehicles. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired June 12, 2023 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:20]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In less than 24 hours, Donald Trump will make history, again, and not the good kind.

THE LEAD starts right now.

The former president, Donald John Trump, has arrived in Florida for his court date. Tomorrow he will become the first person who has held that office to ever be arraigned on federal, criminal charges. We'll bring you the latest details emerging about what's going to happen in the next 24 hours.

Plus, growing concern from law enforcement officials in Florida about the large number of Trump supporters amassing who could show up at the courthouse tomorrow, as Trump and his MAGA loyalists employs some rather fiery bellicose rhetoric.

Then, one of the busiest stretches of highway in the United States is shut down. In both directions, after a section of Interstate 95 collapses in Philadelphia. What we are learning today about how long it could be to take -- how long it could take to repair that road.

(MUSIC)

TAPPER: And welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We start today, of course, with our law and justice lead. Minutes ago, former President Trump arriving in Miami ahead of his historic court hearing today. Sources say Mr. Trump is expected to meet with his lawyers tonight and discuss building out his legal team, with Florida- based attorneys. Security preparations are already underway at the Miami courthouse, ahead of Trump's arraignment, tomorrow afternoon. Sources say law enforcement officials are rather worried about the potential for large crowds of Trump supporters outside of the courthouse, given what happened on January 6th.

Miami's mayor, Francis Suarez, held a news conference this afternoon to explain how his city is preparing for a possible protest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ (R), MIAMI, FLORIDA: We hope that tomorrow will be peaceful. We encourage people to be peaceful, in them demonstrating how they feel. And we're going to have the adequate forces necessary to ensure that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: After his court appearance, Trump is expected to give a speech. His public comments so far range from attacking the special counsel, to pledging to stay in the 2024 race no matter what happens, to much worse.

CNN's Paula Reid is outside the federal courthouse in Miami for us.

Paula, in less than 24 hours, the former president of the United States will be in that building behind you. What is the scene like right now?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Right now here, Jake, it's pretty calm. And there's really not much of a visible security presence here. You can see some of the flimsy police tape behind me. There are a few officers patrolling around. But certainly not the kind of preparations you would expect ahead of this historic arraignment. Though, we are told by a source that the mood is changing. And now they are beginning to prepare for the worst.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: The documents, whole thing is a witch hunt. It's a disgrace. It should never have happened.

REID (voice-over): Former President Trump arrived in Miami ahead of his historic arraignment tomorrow in federal court. With him was his personal aide, and co-defended, Walt Nauta, who has been with him in Bedminster since the indictment came down. Trump will be staying at his Doral Golf Course where he's expected to meet with his legal team, currently being led by white-collar defense attorney, Todd Blanche, after the departure of his other top lawyers over the past few weeks.

TIM PARLATORE, FORMER TRUMP LAWYER: There are things in here that I think, if they have backup for, are certainly problematic.

REID: Trump is looking to bring in additional attorneys to handle the Florida-based case. But, he has had trouble in the past hiring lawyers amid concerns about him paying his bills and firms worrying about alienating other clients by taking him on.

In the court of public opinion --

BILL BARR, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: If even half of it is true, then he's toast.

REID: Trump's former attorney general, Bill Barr, who helped spin the Mueller special counsel findings in Trump's favor, said the indictment alleging his former boss mishandled classified information is damning. BARR: He's not a victim here. He was totally wrong that he had the

right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets the country has. And he kept them in a way at Mar-a- Lago, that anyone who really cares about national security, their stomach would churn.

REID: But his staunch allies on Capitol Hill, like Senator Lindsey Graham, and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan jumped to Trump's defense.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think the espionage charges are ridiculous.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): If you want to store material in a box in a bathroom, if he wants to store in a box on the stage, he can do that.

[16:05:01]

REID: On Tuesday, the former president will surrendered to authorities, be arrested and booked before his arraignment, where he's expected to plead not guilty.

The case landed in Florida, where the alleged crimes were committed after a year of prosecutors collecting evidence with a Washington, D.C.-based grand jury. But the south Florida venue poses challenges. The jury pool is likely to be friendlier to Trump.

TRUMP: Because it's mine. It's mine. They took it from me.

REID: And even before trial, Trump's lawyers are likely to try to suppress key evidence from one of Trump's own attorneys, Evan Corcoran, who testified to the grand jury in D.C., and whose own notes are used in the indictment, to make the case that Trump tried to hide incriminating documents. He made a funny motion, Corcoran noted, as though well, okay, why don't you take them with you to your hotel room, and if there's anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID (on camera): Tomorrow's arraignment will be before a magistrate judge. Then his case will be heard by Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointed judge.

Jake, we can expect that Trump's attorneys are going to want to revisit a lot of the questions over executive privilege and attorney- client privilege before Judge Cannon. One of the things they're going to try to argue is that the special counsel tried to resolve those questions before a more friendly judge in D.C., and they want to see those things re-litigated. Even if the Trump team doesn't win, that could have the effect of delaying this case -- Jake.

TAPPER: Paula, stick around.

What will the security look like when former President Trump arrives for his arraignment tomorrow in Miami? Let's talk to CNN's John Miller and Shimon Prokupecz, for some

insight.

Let's start with Shimon. He's outside the federal courthouse in Miami.

Shimon, just a short while ago, Miami's mayor, Francis Suarez, and law enforcement gave some updates on their security preparations. We were talking to some national security experts here in studio who were shocked at what you are showing, in terms of the lack of barricades, and just the police tape there.

Given what we saw, January 6th 2021, did these Miami experts give any specifics on what they are going to do? If anything gets out of control.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: No, not really, Jake. They basically just say that we are ready. The Miami- Dade County officials, we just saw them a short time ago. They're asking us, we are hearing information that there is legit concern from law enforcement in facials about the number of people who are going to show up here.

It's not just because people are going to show up here. It's the fact that they are concerned that people who are going to show up here are going to try to start some kind of trouble like we saw on January 6th.

And the feelings here are much different, Jake. That's what I have found so striking, are much different than what we saw when the former president appeared in Manhattan. That could be because of where we are, we are in Florida, more supporters here. It could be the nature of the charges, much more serious.

But there seems to be this feeling among law enforcement officials that things can get ugly here. A lot of people will show up, and they want to make sure that the local officials are prepared. When I asked the mayor about this he said, well, there's nothing to fear. We are going to be ready. A little shocking to hear him say that.

But I want to give you a look, Jake, across the courtroom -- the courthouse here, outside. What it looks like. You talk about really the non-existing security right now. This could change. When you look around from our drone video here, you can see it's a very open area, Jake. So basically, right now, from everything we are told, now this could change. There are no plans to put any kind of metal barriers down, like we have previously seen.

And then, Jake, you could also see -- here is that yellow tape, all around the courthouse. I think you can see there. This is the entrance into the courthouse. This is where people go in, this is where the media is gathered, presumably, from everything we are told, that the supporters and protesters will be allowed to gather.

We will see how things change as the hours go by, and as we get closer to tomorrow but honestly, Jake, there is some real concern here over the security preparations. And this intelligence that officials are getting on the number of people who are going to show up here tomorrow.

TAPPER: John, walk us through what Donald Trump will have to do when he arrived at the courthouse.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, when he gets there, he's going to become in the custody of the FBI. So, that's the arrest process. So, Secret Service will deliver him here. He will come into a garage entrance. He'll go up through the building. They'll introduce him to the FBI agents. They'll tell him he's under arrest.

And then starts a very bizarre process, but not the first time for this former president, this will be the second time in as many weeks as he's been booked. But, they'll go through a several-page form that they have to fill out with his pedigree, then photographing him for the mugshot, fingerprinting him.

[16:10:03]

Because he's a federal arrestee, they will have to take a DNA swab, using a Q-tip in his throat to take that swab. And then once all that is out of the way, he'll have a place to sit with his lawyers until the case is called before the magistrate, which should be shortly thereafter.

The wild card there is, after the magistrate says he is free to go until the next hearing, is what happens outside? Right now, the plan is he leaves the way he came through the garage entrance, and goes back to the airport and flies to Bedminster, where he may have a gathering there.

But, it's still up in the air as to whether he's going to step outside, and either address the press, or address the crowds, which as Shimon factors in, it is the kind of thing that could change the tenor and tone of the event. So that's something that is still being worked out by staff and aides, and something that's going to make a difference.

TAPPER: A lot of differences between New York and Florida in addition to the sunshine laws, in addition to the jury pool, Shimon, Florida's gun laws are pretty lax, compared to New York, which has much more restrictive ones. That's, of course, where Trump was arraigned for that different case in April.

PROKUPECZ: Yeah.

TAPPER: Are there concerns, Shimon, about protesters who might show up armed?

PROKUPECZ: Yeah, that is certainly a concern because the laws here are so different and that is definitely a concern, Jake, right? The governor here, signing the laws and sort of giving more freedom for people to carry weapons. You can't open carry here technically, but certainly, there's a lot more freedom when it comes to carrying weapons. And that is something that law enforcement is certainly concerned

about. I don't know how much law enforcement here in Florida may be concerned about it. There is a different tone, right, between what people here on the ground are feeling, and thinking, versus people outside of here, who are seeing the intelligence, who are reading information about the people who want to come here.

They seem to be more concerned about what could potentially happen here, versus the people who are actually on the ground here, in charge of the security. So, something is not coming together here, and I think that's a little concerning.

TAPPER: All right. Shimon Prokupecz in Miami, and John Miller, I appreciate both of you. Thanks so much.

Why bringing charges against Florida might end up proving problematic for federal prosecutors, plus a closer look at where the boxes were stored in Mar-a-Lago, and when they were moved. Donald Trump has not been arraigned yet, but his indictment is already having a big impact on the 2024 race. How his Republican opponents are responding, including some new reactions this afternoon.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:40]

TAPPER: And welcome back to THE LEAD.

In our law and justice lead, we are learning more about the locations of the boxes that contain classified materials inside Mar-a-Lago, and just how close they were to the public.

Let's bring in former federal prosecutor, Elie Honig.

Elie, the indictment provides a fascinating and rather disturbing timeline of the movement of the documents throughout Mar-a-Lago.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah, Jake, these documents went on quite a journey, which actually begins in Washington, D.C. One important, I think, mystery that the indictment addresses is when these boxes were getting packed up. In the final days at the White House, the indictment alleges Donald Trump knew about that and oversaw it.

There was some question before by some of his supporters, why would he be involved in the packing? The indictment alleges he was absolutely involved in that.

Now, documents get shipped down to Florida, to Mar-a-Lago. The first place they are stored is in this room, in the white and gold ballroom. And yes, that is a stage. That's where they are. The indictment is, again, a little bit ambiguous. It says they were regularly events, wedding, fund-raisers held in that ballroom.

TAPPER: We see TikTok's and stuff held in this. Donald Trump shows up, gives a speech.

HONIG: Exactly. What the indictment says is this room was in use at the time. That they store these documents there.

Next, they get temporarily moved to a business center. Then they land in, yes, that is a bathroom. And yes, that right there is a toilet. That is a shower. That was their next destination, in a place in Mar- a-Lago, called the lake room.

And then finally, this is really the most important place where they land. These documents are moved to a storage room. There's one incident in the indictment where the attendant goes in and find classified documents. They're blurred out, but the indictment says highly classified documents, spilled on the ground.

And, the indictment says that this is the storage room right here, it says it was accessible by a hallway, which you could get two from, among other things, the pool patio. This is the poll right here. It was often kept unlocked.

This becomes a locust for the obstruction charges. They get a subpoena from DOJ, they move the boxes into the storage room. They get a lawyer to go through it. But in the days before the lawyer appears, Trump has 64 boxes of documents pulled out of there and only 30 returned.

Meaning when the lawyer did that review, and end up certifying that this is all we had, 34 boxes of documents were missing.

TAPPER: Yeah, just a reminder, this is a hotel and resort.

HONIG: It is.

TAPPER: This is not a presidential enclave. It's a hotel and resort.

Elie, stick around.

I want to bring back in CNN's Paula Reid.

Paula, our justice team is learning new details today about why special counsel, Jack Smith, ultimately decided to bring the charges in Florida, where you are, versus D.C. where we are.

REID: Jake, this has always been a big question for this case. You know, when you bring charges, you have to bring them in the proper venue. That means that there has to be some connection between the alleged criminal conduct, and the location, the court where you're bringing a case. To this case, we know that the grand jury was seated in Washington, D.C.

So, pretty much this entire investigation happened up in Washington. But really, the only true connection to D.C. is the fact that these records belong to the federal government. Which is of course based in Washington, D.C. Eventually, prosecutors realized that most of the alleged criminal conduct happened down here at Mar-a-Lago.

[16:20:01] So they had to bring this case down here in Florida.

But that certainly poses some challenges for prosecutors. This is going to be a much more Trump blindly jury pool. There's also a chance that Trump's lawyers are going to want to re-litigate some of these privilege questions before this Trump-appointed judge who oversee the case.

TAPPER: Elie, while prosecutors now face a potentially less friendly jury pool, in Florida's -- Paula just noted, this is also caused problems for Trump, the assignment of this case in Florida because now he has to find lawyers who can practice in Florida, who have passed the bar in Florida.

HONIG: Yeah. So, you are going to need somebody who's admitted to the federal district court in the southern district in Florida. But once you get someone to do that, they can sort of make a motion, what they call pro hac, meaning for this case only, to admit the other person. And a lot of times, what you do in a case like this, if you will hire someone called local counsel, meaning someone who just knows the turf there, who is known to the judges, who can perhaps speak to the jury in the type of language that they are used to hearing.

So, it will be really interesting to see, is he going to base the defense out of New York lawyers like he usually does? Is he going to maybe teen them up with local lawyers? But you do need some local input.

TAPPER: Good news for him, there's a lot of New Yorkers move to Florida.

HONIG: So I hear.

TAPPER: Paula, one of the most damning parts of the indictment where the notes and testimony from Trump's own lawyer, Evan Corcoran. But now that these charges are in Florida, not D.C., can Trump's team trying to get that testimony, since it has to do with conspiracy, thrown out?

REID: Well, I think we can expect that they will try, Jake. I'm told that one of their strategies going forward is they are going to argue that the special counsel tried to litigate a lot of these questions about attorney client privilege, and executive privilege, up in Washington, before a friendly judge, so they could get favorable rulings and get a hold of that evidence.

They are now going to try to argue that these issues should be re- litigated down here in Florida, in front of the judge overseeing this case, Judge Aileen Cannon.

Now, Jake, it's unclear if they're going to be successful in this. But, what this could accomplish, even if they don't win on the legal merits, is this could delay this case. As in any Trump case, he always wants to delay all court proceedings, but especially here, as he's running for the presidency, and likely wants to try to push this as close to the election as possible. So that it's unlikely a trial will be held before the election.

TAPPER: So explain, by the way, this is very complicated to a layman such as me. I'm just a humble caveman. But the idea that, Trump's own lawyers, his notes, were that Jack Smith, the special counsel, was able to get them and use them against his client.

HONIG: So --

TAPPER: I would think all of that would be protected by attorney- client privilege.

HONIG: And you're right, as a starting point, right? So, this is actually very rare. Normally, when an attorney and client interact, their communications are privileged, the attorney-client privilege.

However, a prosecutor can breakthrough that privilege if he can show something called the crime-fraud exception. Meaning, those conversations are evidence of some sort of ongoing crime, involving at least one of the parties, and here it appears it's Trump, not Evan Corcoran.

And Paula is right. This will have to be re-litigated because DOJ went to a judge who was handling the grand jury. And the judge agreed, established the crime fraud exception, so you can use this information in your investigation.

But A, we have a new judge here. And B, it's a different question, because now the question is, can we admit this as evidence at trial in front of a jury. So, they are going to have to re-litigate that as DOJ. But it will help them that they already won the first-time.

TAPPER: Very quickly, how would they know about this? I mean, did Evan Corcoran say something to them? How do they know?

HONIG: Yeah, it's a great question. They'd have to piece it together from outside sources. They could use things that Evan Corcoran sort of gave to them, pending the outcome of this decision. In other words, if they had some basic information that could go to a judge and say, we need more here. You're right, it's different. That's part of the reason why it's so difficult. You need someone to break that.

TAPPER: How do they have any idea?

HONIG: Yeah.

TAPPER: It's fascinating to me.

Elie Honig and Paula Reid, thanks to both of you.

CNN was inside Trump's Doral property when the former president arrived, just minutes ago. We are going to take a look at that moment, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:28:33] TAPPER: CNN was inside Trump's Doral property when the former president arrived, just moments.

CNN's Randi Kaye was there.

Randi, tell us what happened.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we were inside waiting in the lobby, and the Secret Service was there as well. They pushed everybody back to one side of the lobby. Then they were going to bring in Donald Trump to the side where the Secret Service was.

Eric Trump was standing there in the lobby as well, waiting for his father. We got some video of that. There were also a couple of Trump, just to Trump fans, dressed out in all of the MAGA gear, wearing a hat, make America great again, et cetera. And then there was one guy dressed his Uncle Sam.

The rest of the people in the lobby were just guests of the hotel. The whole crowd really totaled maybe ten people. These people just said, well I guess we hear the former president is coming. We were just going to wait and hangout. We weren't there especially to see him.

Then his motorcade arrived. They gave us about a five minute warning. They pushed us all a little bit further back.

His motorcade arrived, he came in with a huge entourage just right through the front door of his Doral Resort here that he owns, and waved to the group. Said, how are you all? Everybody doing okay? Everybody in the crowd that was there to see him yelled, we love you, we love you. That was it.

But then he disappeared through that side of the lobby, where we did not have access to with his son Eric, and followed by a large group, a large entourage as well. Didn't really, didn't come over to the people who were there to see him.

[16:30:02]

His mood seemed a bit, he seemed a bit somber. He wasn't his usual big smile, with the wave to the crowd. He seemed a little low key for Donald Trump -- Jake.

TAPPER: Yeah, he's got some big meetings, in terms of his legal strategy, and also picking his legal team.

Randi Kaye, thanks so much.

Donald Trump railed against the 37-count federal indictment in a pair of campaign appearances over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: Witch hunt, witch hunt, scam, hoax. It's called election interference. And they are doing the best they can with it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Among his 2024 Republican opponents, most seem to be siding with Donald Trump, and condemning the criminal charges.

Let's discuss.

Jeff Zeleny, let me start with you. Some notable exceptions, to the people siding with Trump and criticizing the Department of Justice, Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey. Asa Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas. Both of them slamming Trump, urging voters to take the charges seriously. Others trying to walk the fine line of not going into the charges specifically, but just talk, saying in general, they don't like this.

But Nikki Haley -- well, take a listen to her. She seems to be changing her tune a bit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security. More than that, I'm a military spouse. My husband is about to deploy this weekend. This puts all of our military men and women in danger.

It's reckless. It's frustrating. And it causes problems. We are looking now, this is the second indictment. We're looking at possibly a third indictment

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, that's not what she said out of the gate. But that is -- that is, I think, what she actually thinks.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It seems like it, of course. I mean, she -- on Friday, she called it prosecutorial overreach. What has happened since Friday? Well, a few other people have spoken out about it.

One is former attorney general, Bill Barr. And, he, you know, called it like he sees it. At least most people have known him for a long time say. And her words sort of followed that.

But look, there has to be, there is an audience in the Republican Party, and the Republican primary electorate for people who do not like this.

So, I think that she's probably playing to some of that audience there. It's interesting, because in the last indictment, some of the candidates went the other way. They were critical initially out of the gate, then they were slapped back. So they reverted to supporting him.

So, we'll see if others join her in the support here. But I think she also, interesting, went on to say, there could be another indictment, and another indictment. So she continued on the case here. But the Republicans I've been talking to both in Iowa and New Hampshire today. You know, they voted for Trump in the first place. They believe this indictment is very serious. Most people are not going to read the indictment. I get that. But I think any early polling and things, we just have to wait and see how this settles in.

TAPPER: So, it's interesting. So, Ron DeSantis, Jamie, Ron DeSantis said something along the lines of, why is there such a different treatment? Hillary Clinton gets off, Donald Trump gets indicted. He said, if I did what Hillary did, I would've been court marshaled -- you know, in a New York minute.

But it's also true, therefore, although he didn't say this, that if he did what Donald Trump did, he would've been court marshaled in a New York minute. So what is his actual position?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't know that he knows yet. Let's see what the polling says. They are sticking their toe in the water here. But I do think it's important to reiterate what former attorney general, Bill Barr, said, because he was forthright. He said, if even half of it is true, he's toast. It's a very detailed document, indictment, and it's very, very damning.

But he's now running against Donald Trump.

TAPPER: So, Ramesh, in a new CBS News, we got poll conducted after the indictment came down, after, Trump leads DeSantis nearly 40 points, 61 to 23. All the other challengers far behind it, in low single digits. You see their Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, with 4, 4 and 3 percent.

When you are that far down, including, by the way, Ron DeSantis, don't you need to take a position about an indictment, that is by Bill Barr's own account, pretty serious?

RAMESH PONNURU, EDITOR, NATIONAL REVIEW: I think that it is quite clear that people have to actually take him on then make the argument against him, if they're going to beat him. We are beginning to see a little bit of that with Nikki Haley today. But, so many others are just so cautious, so afraid of alienating potential supporters who still like Donald Trump and still rally around him as though he's a victim.

TAPPER: Actually, play a game with me right now.

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure.

TAPPER: What if Ron DeSantis had been indicted? How would Donald Trump be trading him? What if Nikki Haley had been indicted? How Donald Trump beat treating her?

ALLISON: He would be going straight after them.

[16:35:01]

He would be calling them criminals. He would be saying lock him up, lock her up, just like he did to any other opponent he often has.

And I think it's interesting that the race is still a long way, the Republican primary is still a long way. So people are hedging their bets. But you know, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Mike Pence, your phone numbers haven't really moved by sticking with Donald Trump. So maybe try a different strategy to see if there is a part of the electorate that says, oh, I do want someone who has the courage to stand up to this bully.

Donald Trump would be all over this. He attacks some of them now, and they haven't been indicted.

TAPPER: He attacked Ted Cruz's dad for being a part of the Kennedy association. I mean, it doesn't need to be grounded in reality.

Jamie, "Semafor's" Benjy Sarlin writes this about the Trump indictment, and the 2024 race, quote: Legally, his path to a voting conviction has never been narrower. Politically, it's back to the nomination looks wider than ever.

You know, one would think that it would be some sort of correlation, and causation there.

GANGEL: There is not, but very simple. When he said the famous line about he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, it appears to be true.

I just want to say, talk a little bit about his attacks on both Jack Smith, the special counsel, and the Justice Department. He goes on Truth Social, and posts on a regular basis things like this. He called special counsel, Jack Smith, a terrorist, a slime ball. He called the Justice Department the Gestapo. He is done everything he could to undermine the Justice Department, to undermine the rule of law, and every one of his base, they appear to be sticking with him.

TAPPER: Well, on that note, Jeff, the new CBS News/YouGov poll also shows 7 percent of likely Republican voters said the indictment has given them a worse few of Trump, only 7 percent. Sixty-one percent, say it won't change their opinions. By the way, 14 percent say it gives them a better -- it gives them a better view of Donald Trump.

ALLISON: He's got those votes, I think.

ZELENY: Yeah, exactly. Look, that's among people who he can't do any wrong.

But, look, I think once people get a better sense of what is actually in the indictment, and the argument from Nikki Haley about the military. My husband is about to be deployed this weekend. This is not just another -- we're talking about the boxes and things. What is in the boxes is what's important. What's inside the boxes in the bathroom is what's important.

So I think once this filters through, I'm not suggesting that people are suddenly going to abandon him. But I do think there will be a bit more diversity of thought on the Republican side, we'll see. TAPPER: Ramesh, what are you hearing from Republicans?

PONNURU: Well, one interesting thing, and it's actually reflected in that CBS poll. It's that a lot of Republicans, they don't want to hear Trump defending himself, or talking about this case. They are just sick of all of the drama.

Now this would be, you know, you and I go back long enough that we remember the days of Clinton fatigue, with Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

TAPPER: Yes.

PONNURU: And you do wonder where they're there will be at some point something of a Trump fatigue, where people decide they are tired of all this trauma.

TAPPER: What do you think, is ever going to be a Trump fatigue?

ALLISON: Not for certain people. But I do think, look, I'm a Democrat. I think, you know, no, there's no question about that.

But I actually believe in the American electorate. I believe, even in a Republican voters, even though we don't agree on many issues, that to Jeff's point, once more of this information comes out, and people really understand what was at stake here, people will start to turn their backs on Trump.

TAPPER: We'll see. Thanks to all for being here. Appreciate it.

Tonight, join Anderson Cooper for a CNN Republican presidential town hall with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. It starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

We are going to have more on the upcoming Trump arraignment. But first, one of the busiest sections of I-95, collapsed in Philadelphia. Now, we are learning both directions of the highway have to be demolished. What does that mean for when the road will be fixed, and what are commuters supposed to do until then?

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[16:43:10]

TAPPER: Turning to our national lead, traffic, chaos in my home commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the great city of Philadelphia, after an overpass on I-95 collapsed yesterday morning in northeast Philly. The road was damaged by a burning tanker truck. Traffic in both directions at the very heavily traveled highway, which connects the Mid-Atlantic States to New York City in the Northeast, has to reroute.

Today, officials said the southbound side of the overpass, which did not collapse, is also compromised. And we'll have to be demolished.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says the federal government is pitching into. But --

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PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Let's just be clear. It is not going to be overnight. We're talking about a major structural work.

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TAPPER: Major structural work needed.

CNN's Danny Freeman joins us from Philadelphia in the Tacony neighborhood.

How long are we looking at from when the overpass can be cleaned up and rebuilt?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, I think you heard right there. Secretary Buttigieg said it's not going to be overnight. They're going to work to get it done swiftly.

I think the first timeline we have is from Governor Josh Shapiro, who said yesterday, it will be some number of months. But the governor said today that he was signing a disaster emergency declaration, which will basically free up some $7 million in emergency funds to speed up this process.

But, again, Jake, like you said. They still need to demolish the southbound lanes behind me. On I-95, before they could even begin to start thinking about rebuilding. That will take a couple of days at least. Again, it's going to be a mess over here for at least a couple of weeks, if not months.

TAPPER: What is the cause of this?

FREEMAN: Yeah. So, Jake, we actually got new information just a few hours ago, finally, from state officials, as to what exactly happened. It was the question we've been asking for the last 36 hours. Basically state officials say that a tanker truck driver was driving northbound on I-95 on Sunday morning, they try to get off this exit, onto Carbon Avenue where we are right now.

[16:45:04]

They took the curb, and lost control of the truck. The truck then fell on its side, and ruptured. That truck,, Jake was carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline. That's what caused that fire.

And actually, we just got word from Pennsylvania state police, just a little while ago, that one body was discovered in that wreckage. Channel: 105 date: 06/12/2023 time started: 16:45 time ended: 16:50 comments: So, we have more information as to how that entire incident played out, now, today for you.

TAPPER: What's the economic impact going to be? This is going to really -- I can't even imagine what's going to happen for commuters, or four truck traffic. FREEMAN: Yeah, Jake, listen, the Pennsylvania Department of

Transportation -- excuse me, sound here. That Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, they said that about 160,000 vehicles go through this portion of I-95 every single day. Our CNN business colleagues say that about 14,000 are truck drivers. So, there's going to be in fact they are on commercial business.

But the reality is, there have been ways to get around this. Certainly, 295, the Jersey turnpike. I think one of the larger impacts of business wise is going to be here in this area in Tacony, because these streets are just not used to having so many large trucks come this way. Some of the folks who work right by where this crash happened, they say they are worried about their own commute to work. How their customers are going to get back and forth. So, that's the impact we are seeing immediately, right here -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Danny Freeman in the great city of Philadelphia, thanks so much.

Ukrainian forces are seeing some winds in their counteroffensive. But there are some losses as well. That's next.

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[16:51:00]

TAPPER: In our world lead, without actually confirming its long anticipated spring offensive is underway, the government of Ukraine says its forces are re-taking some Russian held territory.

But as CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports for us now, these modest successes are taking a significant toll on what Ukraine's Western provided tanks, and armored vehicles.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Ukrainian military video purporting to show strikes on Russian positions, behind the front lines, as Kyiv says its forces have dramatically ramped up their offensive operations, taking several villages over the weekend in the southeast of the country.

This drone video, the Ukrainians say, showing their troops is sweeping a settlement and taking several prisoners.

The same unit displaying Ukraine's flag, after the battle.

They tried to push back with their artillery, the soldier says, we managed to seize back the initiative and slowly liberated the settlement one house after another.

But Ukraine says it's attacking you these Russians in several areas of the vast front line, Kyiv remains coy about whether the long anticipated large-scale offensive has really begun.

The head of Ukrainian military intelligence releasing this video, of himself, just sitting at his desk, with a message, plans love silence. But the Russians say they are holding the line in most areas. This defense ministry video allegedly showing a Russian chopper, destroying Ukrainian reconnaissance vehicles, in total, the Russians say they've already destroyed a large number of Western provided armor, including German made Leopard 2 main battle tanks, and U.S. donated Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.

But as Russia's defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, hands out medals to Russian soldiers, the infighting between Russia's military and the Wagner private military company continues. Wagner boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, refusing to abide by a defense ministry decree to sign a contract with the Russian army, saying his mercenaries are more efficient than regular troops.

Unfortunately, most military units do not have such efficiency, he says, and precisely because Shoigu cannot manage military formations well.

Balancing the rival factions in his war machine, a tall task for Vladimir Putin, as the country celebrated Russia Day. Putin urging people to keep supporting his war in Ukraine, while calling it a difficult time for his country.

Russia is based on faith and people, he said. People who go from victory to victory, basing their lives, and all their work, on faith -- faith in victory, faith in justice, faith in Russia.

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PLEITGEN (on camera): But, Jake, Russians fate certainly is being tested at this point. The Ukrainians saying in the past week alone, they took back seven settlements from the Russians. It's not only the south of the country. It's the east of the country as well. Ukrainians are saying they made significant gains over the past couple of days, in the Bakhmut area also -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Fred Pleitgen, thank so much for that report.

Also in our world lead today, the U.S. State Department confirming yet another American citizen has been detained by the Russian government. Images of the arrest of rock band manager, Travis Leake, showed up in the Russian media last week. U.S. embassy officials were at a court hearing Saturday when Mr. Leake was arraigned on alleged drug charges, which he denied. Leake appeared in an episode of Anthony Bourdain's CNN show "PARTS UNKNOWN" in 2014. His arrest comes about three months after the Russians arrested U.S. journalist, Evan Gershkovich, accusing him of spying, which he denies.

Donald Trump is now at his Doral Resort -- Doral Resort with just hours before his arraignment on federal criminal charges. This, as we learn about federal security charges outside the courthouse.

Stay with us.

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[16:59:38]

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Right now, former President Trump is in Miami ahead of his planned arrest tomorrow. Tonight, he is going to meet with lawyers at his Doral Miami resorts and attempt to bring new legal help on board, according to sources. Tomorrow, he is expected to surrender at a federal courthouse in Miami downtown, where he will be booked and hear the 37 counts relating to his handling, or mishandling, allegedly, of classified documents.