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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump Aide Walt Nauta Pleads Not Guilty; Former GOP Arizona Official Who Rejected Pressure From Trump Over 2020 Results Says He Spoke With FBI; Lukashenko: Prigozhin Isn't In Belarus, He's In Russia; DOJ: Prosecutors Plan To Bring Felony Charges Against Man Arrested With Weapons In Obama's Neighborhood; President Biden Focuses On "Bidenomics" And Touts Legislative Accomplishments In SC Visit; Earth Ties Record For Warmest Average Temperature. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired July 06, 2023 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: He's either dumb or just full of crap because you see him kind of sheepishly smiling in that video. It seems like he might have known what was going on and this is just a really lame excuse.
Either way, I look forward to the Mark Zuckerberg/Elon Musk potential fight at the Colosseum.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Oh, yeah, they're going to throw down, right?
SANCHEZ: The first one it's hosted in, what, like hundreds of years?
KEILAR: In the Colosseum.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: We'll be watching for that.
SANCHEZ: THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.
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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: The Trump aide who allegedly hid boxes at Mar- a-Lago was in court today.
THE LEAD starts right now.
Caught on tape. Donald Trump's right-hand man, Walt Nauta, seen in surveillance video according to the Justice Department. The boxes full classified documents prosecutors say he moved and hid on Trump's property before the FBI arrived.
This hour, former federal prosecutor-turned-2024 Trump challenger, Chris Christie, is here with his reaction to all the latest trouble that Trump might be in.
Then, a raid in Russia. The Kremlin sending their officers to sniff out Wagner mercenary group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. Guns, cash, gold, even wigs found, when the world thought that the mercenary chief had been hiding in Belarus.
And, federal charges brought against the man prosecutors said had weapons outside the Obamas' D.C. home. See the social media posts from Donald Trump that allegedly gave this man, a Trump super fan, the Obamas' home address.
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TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
And we start today with our law and justice lead, the unprecedented criminal charges against the former president for allegedly mishandling classified documents, and today's not guilty plea from the aide accused of helping Trump hide those documents from the government. Walt Nauta appeared in a Miami courtroom earlier today after his first appearance had been delayed.
Nauta's appearance comes as we learned of a major development in a separate investigation into different alleged criminal behavior by Donald Trump. Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers tells CNN that he has met with the FBI about Trump's efforts to overturn the election in his state, Arizona, part of special counsel Jack Smith's January 6th investigation.
Bowers, a conservative Republican, resisted pressure from Trump and his allies, after Trump lost Arizona in 2020.
CNN's Carlos Suarez starts off our coverage from Miami. We also have with us in studio, CNN's Paula Reid, here in D.C.
Carlos, let me start with Walt Nauta's court hearing today.
What happened in the courtroom, and what comes next?
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, Walt Nauta's arraignment was quick. The 40-year-old didn't say a word, as he left a federal courthouse here in Miami. Nauta was finally able to enter a plea in this case after finally scoring a south Florida-based attorney. His arraignment was postponed twice, because he couldn't find a local counsel.
Now, attorney Sasha Dadan was in court with Nauta, along with his Washington, D.C.-based attorney. And Dadan is a former public defender with a good amount of experience trying cases in south Florida. She has an office in Fort Pierce, and that's where Nauta and former President Donald Trump's trial will take place.
Now, Nauta pleaded not guilty to obstruction charges, and lying to investigators. Prosecutors say that Nauta moved several boxes, dozens of boxes with classified documents from a storage room at Trump's Mar- a-Lago properties, to other parts of that property, and that he lied about the entire thing.
All of this, according to prosecutors, was in an effort to try to keep one of Donald Trump's lawyers from finding some of these classified documents that have been subpoenaed by a grand jury. Now, Jake, according to a search warrant affidavit that was released
yesterday, prosecutors said that they have surveillance video from Mar-a-Lago showing someone moving several boxes before the FBI searched the property. We believe that person to be Walt Nauta -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Thank you so much.
And, Paula, you've been quite closely following all of these different instigations into Donald Trump. There's already been two indictments, who knows what's going to happen. We think there might be two more.
What is the significance in the January 6 investigation by special counsel Jack Smith? Rusty Bowers, who was a former top Republican official in Arizona, meeting with the FBI, as part of the 2020 election investigation.
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: There were the biggest differences between the Mar-a-Lago investigation and January 6th, is just the breadth and depth of what they're investigating on the January 6th side. With Mar-a-Lago, we know there's a pretty short list of people who could potentially be charged, and a pretty short list of potential charges.
But, with the January 6th, you have dozens of people who could face possible criminal charges, and at least half a dozen possible charges that could be filed. Everything from, you know, possible criminal behavior in Georgia, all the way to the other place, to Arizona.
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So, the fact that Bowers last night told our colleague Kaitlan Collins, that he had spoken with investigators, is significant, because it's a reminder, just how many people they have spoken with, just how much work they have to do. And, it's notable that he told her, he revealed that in the course of this interview, the FBI, he talked about a phone call that he had with former President Trump and Rudy Giuliani. And then another call, he received from former President Trump.
And, Jake, one of the questions I got most frequently about the January 6 probe is, will a former president be charged? At this point, we just don't know. But we do know from our reporting, is it looks like charges could be coming in the near future. But we also know there are still some significant witnesses who have been in contact with the special counsel, but have not come in yet. So, it appears that they still have work to do.
TAPPER: All right. Clock is ticking for Jack Smith, though, I have to say.
REID: It is.
TAPPER: Carlos Suarez and Paula Reid, thanks for both of you.
Turning to our world lead now -- wigs, gold, guns, fake passports, and a warlord in hiding. Shocking developments today in the saga of Yevgeny Prigozhin, and his private mercenary Wagner Army, after it's short lived mutiny against Putin in Russia, almost two weeks ago.
Most headlines coming from inside Belarus, where Prigozhin was supposedly supposed to have been in exile. But now, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko tells CNN that Prigozhin is in fact still in Russia. As Russian state media covers a raid on one of the Wagner chief's homes in St. Petersburg.
CNN's Matthew Chance attended Lukashenko's press conference, where Chance's questions for the Belarusian leader made a lot of news.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The rare meeting, with the Belarusian leader, and an extraordinary revelation, of the whereabouts of Wagner, the Russian mercenaries he's meant to be sheltering. Despite earlier statements, neither its fighters, nor its leader he tells me, have taken up his offer of exile.
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As far as I'm informed, as of this morning, the Wagner fighters are now stationed at the regular camps, where they go through rotation to rest and recover from the front lines. In terms of Yevgeny Prigozhin, he is in St. Petersburg, or maybe this morning, he would travel to Moscow or elsewhere. But he is not on the territory of Belarus now.
CHANCE: It wasn't meant to be this way. Lukashenko's deal was having the Kremlin explain how Wagner's armed uprising last month, have been brought to an early end.
There's even talk of Prigozhin arriving in Belarus, amid charges against him being dropped. That now appears being in doubt.
So, the offer that you extended to Wagner, and to Yevgeny Prigozhin, has not been taken up, they are not in your country?
LUKASHENKO (through translator): Not yet. This will depend on the decision made by the Russian government and Wagner PMC. If they deem it necessary to locate a certain number of Wagner fighters in Belarus, for rest and preparations, and I will keep my promise.
CHANCE: But the Kremlin may have other plans. Russian state TV has for days been painting Prigozhin as a traitor and a criminal, now broadcasting these new images of a raid on his St. Petersburg property, with police seizing weapons, cash, and gold, even wigs for disguise, and multiple passports under aliases.
The Kremlin told CNN they won't comment on where Prigozhin is, or whether new charges may be filed against him.
But Lukashenko raised the disturbing possibility that Prigozhin being assassinated, before insisting the Kremlin would never do that.
LUKASHENKO (through translated): What will happen to Prigozhin next? Well, in life, anything can happen. But if you think that Putin is so malicious and vindictive that he will do it tomorrow? No, this won't happen.
CHANCE: But clearly, the fate of Wagner and its leader is now in question. Just last week, these satellite images appeared to show a military base in Belarus, being prepared for a possible influx of fighters. Lukashenko may now, himself, have got cold feet.
Is part of this, you rethinking the wisdom of inviting a battle hardened, rebellious, mercenary group into your country? Are you concerned that that would have destabilized Belarus? I mean, the Russians thought it was safe to have them. But, you know, they were wrong.
LUKASHENKO (through translated): This is not a situation where I was lending Wagner a helping hand. This was reached in a process of negotiation. You know what was at stake.
I made this decision at that time, and I would stick to it. But I don't think Wagner would rise up and turned its guns against the Belarusian state.
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CHANCE: But, for Belarus, Wagner 's absence may yet be a blessing in disguise.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: I want to bring in Matthew Chance now, live in Belarus.
And, Matthew, great job at the press conference.
Lukashenko also downplayed his relationship with Prigozhin, and said that Putin and Prigozhin were actually better friends. Why do you think he's changed his tune? He sounds often than he did a few days ago.
CHANCE: I know, it's incredible. I mean clearly, friendship with Yevgeny Prigozhin has become less an asset, and more of a liability. But, you remember, it was the supposed friendship between Prigozhin and Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus, that the Kremlin had initially said was the reason the two men could so easily do a deal.
But, today, Alexander Lukashenko is saying look, throwing his hands up, saying look, it's Putin that knows Prigozhin much better than I do. They've known each other for 30 years. And so, he's really trying to put some distance between him and the Wagner leader. Yes, again it's because it's become a liability to be in good relationships with him.
TAPPER: And Lukashenko also told you that he doesn't have any regrets about the war in Ukraine, because he, quote, did not take part in this process. But, he's been helping the Russians all the time, how is he able to justify that? CHANCE: Yeah, I know he didn't. He didn't like that question that I
threw at him, about the fact that so many people have been killed in Ukraine, so many cities destroyed. And of course, it was Belarus that has allowed its territory to be used as a staging ground, first initially in the assault on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. But since then as well, missile strikes from Russian forces in bases inside Belarus.
He said, he didn't regret it. He said he didn't even feel responsible for it, because it wasn't his decision, which is a strange admission for somebody who's supposed to be the president of a sovereign nation to basically say, look, I didn't have any choice. And I think that's the reality of the relationship between Belarus and Russia right now.
TAPPER: All right. Matthew Chance in Belarus, great work. Thank you so much.
How long will the U.S. be on the sidelines of Russia's war against Ukraine? My next guest could be the decision-maker.
Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, presidential candidate. He's in the studio. We're going to get into that. Plus, I'll get his take on the main GOP challenger Donald Trump.
Stay with us.
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TAPPER: We're back with our law and justice lead.
Donald Trump launching new unhinge attacks on special counsel Jack Smith, the prosecutor who's charged him with 31 federal crimes, including mishandling classified documents and obstruction of justice
Joining us now to discuss this, Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey governor, Chris Christie.
And, Governor, you served as you well know, as U.S. attorney for New Jersey. On his Truth Social website, Mr. Trump is now calling special counsel Jack Smith a, quote, deranged man, who quote, looks like a crack had.
Beyond the propriety of that, from a legal point of view, do statements like that affect the case?
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I mean, not really. I think, you know, the only argument you could make is that, it potentially affects the jury pool, who is in south Florida reading this stuff and thinking, what the hell is he talking about?
You know, I did a lot of drug cases when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. I can guarantee people that there isn't one particular type of crackhead, there's not anyone who looks like a crack necessarily. Look, this is just what makes Donald Trump an unacceptable nominee for
our party, because he says things like this without any regard for truth or falsity, without any regard for the propriety of it. But even worse yet, what does that do to help anyone, other than him?
My argument all along has been, this race in 2024, for Donald Trump, is all about Donald Trump. It's not about the American people. He doesn't give a damn about the American people.
TAPPER: Sources say both Trump and his indicted aide, Walt Nauta, who appeared in court today are convinced they should take their cases to trial. Their hope is for acquittal, because there will be a jury pool from south Florida. Florida is a state that Trump won. All you need is one juror.
What do you make of that strategy?
CHRISTIE: Look, it's a real roll of the dice, because what happens then, when you know you're guilty. And my suspicion is that Donald Trump knows he's guilty. You go, and you take the case to trial, there will then be a presumption of jail time.
And basically, the way most U.S. attorneys offices handle that is, if you plead, we can work with you in terms of whether you have to go to jail or not, on some of the charges that he is talking about here. If you make the case go to trial, if you force us to go and put the witnesses on the stand, and the judge to take the time, and the jury to take the time, and you are prosecuted and convicted, then it's almost certain that you would face jail.
And so, it's a huge roll of the dice for both of these guys to do that. And I think that's a lot of bluster right now. I think as this case gets closer, they may think differently. And on the jury, I think it's horrible to say that about a jury anywhere.
Look, I was in New Jersey, one of the bluest states in America, right?
TAPPER: Yeah.
CHRISTIE: But, I never found a jury, and we did 130 political corruption cases during my seven years, I never found a jury, Jake, that was focused on politics.
TAPPER: Because you weed them out during voir dire?
CHRISTIE: Part of it.
TAPPER: Yeah.
CHRISTIE: But also part of it is, when they take that oath, and they said in one of those grand federal courtrooms, I found that most citizens take that responsibility really seriously. And even if they have certain points of view, or prejudices, we all do, they really take it seriously when the judge says, you have to put that aside, and judge this only based on the facts that are represented here in this courtroom. And I found that jurors that I've ran into, for seven years as U.S.
attorney, I never saw one of the make what I thought was a political judgment. So, they may be overestimating that as well.
TAPPER: So, one of the -- one of the questions that I've had throughout this classified documents case is, why? Why did he do this? And I've asked a lot of people who know Donald Trump well, why they think it is.
[16:20:03]
You obviously know Donald Trump well.
Here is a couple -- here are a couple theories I asked former secretary of defense under Trump, Mark Esper. I want to get your reaction to this.
CHRISTIE: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I've heard two different theories as to why he had these documents. One, from Stephanie Grisham, who said he just likes, these are mine, and he's like a child with the toy. And one for Michael Cohen, he said he thought that Trump had these documents because he wanted to use them to further his own power, or financial well-being in some way.
Why do you think he held on to these documents, and went to such lengths to stop them, to prevent them from being turned over to the government?
MARK ESPER, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Yeah. Look, I think both theories can be true, and likely are true to some extent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I have to admit, I was kind of surprised that Esper said that, because the idea that he would use the secret to further its own power or financial being is a shocking thing for him to think.
What do you think?
CHRISTIE: I think it was purely ego. I think, Jake, he could not, and still cannot to this day deal with the fact that he's the only person outside of the state of Delaware who would lose to Joe Biden. And he wants to pretend he still president.
He takes these boxes with him, like he flies them up, there in New Jersey, now he still had them, there in New Jersey, because they go on summer vacation with it. I mean, he wanted to continue to pretend he was president and show these things to people and say, look what I still have, look what I still know.
TAPPER: It's also part of the kabuki about people telling him, oh, you are still president, you actually won, that whole thing? CHRISTIE: Yes, absolutely, I think that's it. And I will tell you
that, I've seen him with, it's not the first I'm also with boxes of documents. In 2016, when I was campaigning with him, his body guy at the time, Keith Schiller, would have a box, a banker's box of documents that would go everywhere with him when he was campaigning.
And whenever he got on the plane, he would put that box of documents right next to Donald Trump on the plane. He would open them, and now those documents were from Trump Tower, they were business-related and also newspaper articles, whatever. And he wanted that box next to him, immediately, before we took off.
So, you talk about the beautiful mind documents --
TAPPER: Right.
CHRISTIE: -- that the staff is talking about, that he's obsessed about it. There's an element to that as well. And I saw, going all the way back to 2016.
TAPPER: I want to ask you what was happening in Ukraine right now, because you are running to be commander-in-chief, obviously. And your fellow Republican contender, Mike Pence, said on "The Hugh Hewitt Show" yesterday, that if the Ukraine is defeated in the war, the U.S. will, ultimately, he fears, have to send troops to fight Russia's further aggression.
He seemed to be suggesting that Russia would go and the U.S. would need to defend fellow NATO allies, which is required by charter. Do you agree?
CHRISTIE: Look, I don't think -- I don't think that's necessarily true. But what I do think is, that this has huge geopolitical implications, Jake. We have to make sure that we send a very clear message, not only to Russia, but quite frankly, they are my third concern in this trifecta, China and Iran. China and Iran are both actively supporting Russia in this effort, with both military hardware and cash to support Russia's efforts.
TAPPER: You know, those Iranian drones, for example, yeah.
CHRISTIE: Iranian drones are killing civilians every week in Ukraine.
And, if we do not stand with Ukraine and help them to win this war, the message that it sends to Iran is that they can do whatever they want to do in the Middle East, including vis-a-vis Israel. It will change the way Saudi Arabia has to conduct itself in the Middle East, because of freeing Iran up to do these things. And China will be looking voraciously at Taiwan.
This is already a proxy war with China and Russia. We have to win that proxy war. Quite frankly, Russia is my third concern all of this.
TAPPER: Very interesting. I also want to ask you what the man accused of carrying weapons outside of the Obama family's Washington, D.C. home. We have the social media post from Donald Trump, the prosecutor say, that man used to find the address.
Governor Christie, stay with me. We're going to get right into that after this quick break.
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TAPPER: In our continued law and justice lead, federal prosecutors say they plan to bring felony charges against an armed man, arrested with weapons in the neighborhood of former President Barack Obama. The suspect, Taylor Taranto, is a former U.S. Navy service member, who also happens to be a January 6th defendant.
How did he find Obama's house? Well, prosecutors are blaming another former president. A Justice Department memo says, quote, former President Donald Trump posted what he claimed was the address of former President Barack Obama in a social media platform Truth Social. Taranto used his own Truth Social count to re-post the address, unquote.
The Justice Department here almost makes it sound like Trump blasted out the Google maps location for the sake of creating chaos. Not to excuse it anyway what happened, but the truth is a bit more complicated that.
Here's the context of what Trump did. He posted four pages from a 2017 conservative newsletter that praised Trump's first hundred days in office, selectively of course. And in a passage, suggesting that the Obamas were still in D.C. fighting against Trump, the second page of the newsletter included the exact home address of the Obama's new $5 million mansion.
Why they did that, I do not know? But prosecutors say Taranto re- posted that page of the newsletter, writing, quote, got them surrounded, unquote.
This Truth Social count, by the way, has the same username as Taranto's YouTube page. CNN was unable to confirm the identity.
Now, here's what Taranto reportedly brought along with him to the Obamas' neighborhood, the address of which he learned from that Trump posting. Quote, I mean, not quote, but here's what he brought -- hundreds of rounds of ammunition, these two firearms, and a machete.
CNN's John Miller joins us now.
Now, John, prosecutors are now considering felony charges against the suspect. Does that speak to the type of evidence they may have uncovered since you and I spoke yesterday?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It does. And they're still looking at some of that. So, if you look at what Taranto is facing, there's the January 6 related charges. But then there's the weapons possession charges that come out of this arrest. But, they are also looking, and this is with the Secret Service and
the U.S. attorney, at possibly charging him with Title 18 section 3056, which is threatening government officials under the protection of the Secret Service, which includes former presidents. And that is a serious felony charge as well. It carries a five-year sentence.
TAPPER: All right, John Miller, thanks so much for the update.
And Governor Christie is still with us.
Governor, what do you make of this? I mean, just empirically, President Trump put out, in the world, Barack Obama's home address. And a Trump superfan, with guns and a machete, took that address, according to prosecutors, and went to the Obama's house, and according to prosecutors, to wreck havoc.
CHRISTIE: Well, first of all, for Mr. Toronto, this seems to be a pattern that's now developing involved in January 6th, and now involved in this.
And as for Donald Trump, I think the problem again is his conduct, which has no regard for anyone other than himself. Now I don't know whether he really meant to put President Obama's address out there or not, or whether he was just so enamored with the newsletter's, you know, extolling his first 100 days. And by the way, he fired former General Mike Flynn in the first 17 days --
TAPPER: Yeah.
CHRISTIE: -- for -- as national security adviser, and had the Muslim ban that didn't go into effect, and a number of other things. So I don't know exactly what was in that first 100-day recitation. But my guess is that he loved his, so much he wants to put it up there.
But this is the problem with someone who doesn't think about this country and its citizens first. They wind up doing things like this, whether it was intentional or inadvertent. What it shows is a lack of responsibility, a lack of accountability for what you're saying.
It's like calling the special counsel a crackhead. It's like putting out a former president's address. You know, it is irresponsible conduct.
And what I say to everybody who says, well, he's treated unfairly. The documents case he brought on himself, by refusing to give them back for 18 months, after he was asked to do it.
TAPPER: Yeah, all the charges suggest, sorry to interrupt, but all the charges suggest that if he had turned them over, he wouldn't have been charged with anything.
CHRISTIE: He would never have been charged, I can guarantee you as somebody who did this for a living for seven years. If at any point to prior to the search, he had just voluntarily given them back, they would have walked away. All they want it where the documents back. They weren't looking to bring a case against Donald Trump. But he cannot help himself, and so, these are the things he needs to
be confronted with. And that's why, you know, in the race, Jake, why I think it's so important that we have these debates. Why it's so important that he show up at the debates, and the RNC.
TAPPER: Well, he's talked -- he's talking about not showing up, you bring that up, because the next debate is next month, it's scheduled to be next month. Fox is doing it, and Trump has said that why would he even show up? He's so ahead in the polls. You know, everyone is just going to be attacking him. Why even go?
CHRISTIE: He should show up because he owes it to the Republican Party, and the voters of the Republican Party to stand up and defend his record. And if he thinks his record is so great, if those first hundred days are so laudable and everything he did is so defensible, then he should have no worries.
Because if everything you did was correct, which is what he says -- perfect, I think is the word he uses most of the time -- then somebody like me or Mike Pence, or Tim Scott, or Nikki Haley, will not be able to lay a glove on him during a debate. There's nothing he should be worried about.
But people should go to ChrisChristie.com, donate to me, make sure I'm on that stage, because if I am, I'll raise those issues right to the president's face.
TAPPER: Was January 6th, and the buildup to it, the lies, was that the end of it for you? Because, I just wonder in an alternate universe for Donald Trump accepts his loss to Joe Biden in 2020, spends the next whatever he has, month and a half, talking about the Abraham Accords, talking about Operation Warp Speed, which brought the vaccines, et cetera and goes out with dignity.
Again, and it's just -- that's not what happened, and it's (INAUDIBLE).
CHRISTIE: Right.
TAPPER: But if he had done that, would he right now be cruising to the nomination with nobody challenging him, really?
CHRISTIE: It would be -- it would be a much harder proposition. And I -- to me, Jake, it was election night. When you stand behind the seal of the president United States, in the East Room of the White House, and tell the American fuel that the election was stolen, when you have no evidence to support that, just to assuage your own ego and your feelings of loss, to me, that's when it was over.
You cannot undercut our democracy in that way. And then, everything he did thereafter lead to January 6th. But January 6th started that night. If he had not said those things that night, and continued to say them for the next 70 days, we -- I -- absolutely, we wouldn't have had January 6th.
[16:35:01] TAPPER: In the time we have remaining, and we obviously know that you are against Donald Trump getting the nomination. Tell us more about what you are running for, what you want to achieve.
CHRISTIE: Well, Jake, look, I want this country to do big things again. When you think about just the stuff we've been talking about today, this is such small bore with the exception of Ukraine. It is such small things that they are dividing us, and all of the different things that are being put out there by Governor DeSantis and others, small issues.
I want to stop the runaway inflation that we have in this country, and get spending under control again in Washington, D.C.
I want to absolutely revolutionize the educational system. We saw the test results nationwide that came out last week, our children continue to do worse and worse compared to the rest of the world. They deserve better, and we spent so much, money we should get better.
We need to revolutionize school choice in this country. We need to make sure that we bring our allies together, around the world, to improve everyone's economy, to improve our military strength, and to improve freedom around the world.
Those are the big things that we've been fighting for over our entire existence as a country. And coming off of July 4th, we should remember that when our leaders chose the big things, at the revolution, the civil war, World War II, and the evil empire of the Soviet Union and Ronald Reagan, every time we made sacrifices to go big, our country came out bigger, stronger, more influential, and freer. That's what I want to be president.
TAPPER: Governor Chris Christie, good to see you again. Thanks for stopping by the studio, we appreciate it.
CHRISTIE: Thank you, Jake.
TAPPER: The current President Joe Biden was on the road today, pushing the idea of Bidenomics, insisting that the U.S. economy is going strong. There's strong evidence that the American people are not buying what he's selling.
Stay with us.
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[16:40:47]
TAPPER: In our money lead, today, President Joe Biden took his Bidenomics sales pitch to South Carolina, trying to change the poor perception of his handling of the economy among the American people.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez was there for President Biden's speech.
Priscilla, do you think his message is getting through to people? PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Jake, President Biden,
bringing his Bidenomics sales pitch to South Carolina, a deep red state, but also one that relies on his campaign in 2020. And while he was here, he touted his legislative accomplishments, including, for example, the Inflation Reduction Act, and infrastructure law. And then kick through the winds of the past three years, including 11 billion dollars in manufacturing and green energy in the state. Also touting more manufacturing jobs, and more investments generally into clean energy.
And, he also took a political swipe at Republicans in the state, who voted to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which the administration says has been paying off.
But, of course, Bidenomics, and the crux of it, is on a strong economy. And on that front, the president recognized that it may be a tough sell.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not here to declare victory, on the economy. I'm here to say, we have a plan that's turning things around quickly. And we have a lot more work to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALVAREZ: So the president saying there, that the plan is to turn things around quickly. But, of course, two thirds of Americans disapprove of the presidents handling of the economy. The president panning out across the country, along this top officials, to try to instill some confidence in voters -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much, with the president in West Columbia, South Carolina.
Let's bring in Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, the national co-chair for President Biden's 2024 reelection campaign.
Senator, good to see you. Thanks for joining.
So, President Biden says the economy is strong, that his administration is spurring U.S. manufacturing and creating good paying jobs. That's not how the American people see it. In a recent CNN poll, 66 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the president's handling of the economy, 76 percent of Americans say that our current economic conditions are poor.
Obviously, some of the factors driving this is the cost of living is up and people might feel that the president is all touch with the American people on the state of the economy.
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well Jake, the reality on the ground is that we are seeing the strongest job growth in decades. We have the lowest unemployment in 50 years. Just this week, the announcement that there were half 1 million new jobs created by the private sector in the month of June. Overall, 13 million jobs created by our private sector in the two and a half years President Biden has been in office.
That's the strongest recovery of any advanced economy on earth, from the depths of the pandemic. And so yes, there is a gap between the polling, the perception, and the reality on the ground and in the daily lives of Americans. Look, if I were facing reelection, I would prefer strong, on the ground reality of great jobs and good opportunities, and needing to communicate about it, then the opposite, having a positive perception but very weak numbers on the ground.
President Biden is in South Carolina today, because he and his cabinet, and his supporters in Congress are fanning out across the country to engage Americans, and to help inform them about exactly what he has gotten done in the bipartisan infrastructure law, the CHIPS and Science Act, the growth in manufacturing.
Jake, the news is really good on the job front.
TAPPER: So, the perception obviously that he's weak on the economy is leading to high disapproval numbers for President Biden among the electorate in general. Among Democrats, there is a problem, too.
In a recent Fox poll, Robert Kennedy Jr., who's running against him for the Democratic nomination, Robert Kennedy Jr. polling at 17 percent, despite being a conspiracy theorist. Marianne Williamson is at 10 percent. Biden is obviously well in the lead, at 64 percent.
But still, that's almost 30 percent of the vote not going to Biden. How do you explain this?
COONS: Well, Jake, I'm confident that as Americans focus on the real choice in front of them, which will almost certainly between reelecting President Biden, or reelecting former President Donald Trump, that the focus on that contest will be to the benefit of President Biden.
[16:45:06]
He has a very strong record of governance, and folks I think will choose competence and positive progress over chaos and division.
The ways in which former President Trump continues to behave, just releasing the address of former President Obama, leading to a potential threat on his life. The recklessness of former President Trump, I think, will end up making the overwhelming majority of Americans choose President Biden for the reelection, in 2024.
TAPPER: Let's turn to foreign affairs. On the subject of wrongfully detained American overseas, today, "The Wall Street Journal" wrote about the burdens and fines that these Americans can face after returning home. Quote, when "Washington Post" correspondent Jason Rezaian was released from Iran, after 544 days of imprisonment, he said his welcome home came with bills of $20,000 for unpaid taxes, late payment penalties and interests.
Now, you and Senator Mike Rounds have introduced a bill to address this. Tell us about that.
COONS: So, the title of the bill, Jake, tells you everything you know. It's called the Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. Like you, I was flabbergasted when Jason Rezaian, a "Washington Post" reporter, came to meet with me, and told me that story. That upon returning, for more than 500 days in an Iranian jail, he was greeted with IRS tax penalties.
And so, Senator Mike Rounds and I, he's a good friend, a Republican senator, introduced a bipartisan bill. We are hoping we can pass it unanimously, because who would stand for the idea that someone who has been wrongfully detained, imprisoned, whether in Russia or Iran or North Korea or in other places of the world, should come home and face a tax penalty, because they were unable to pay their taxes while detained overseas?
TAPPER: It does sound crazy.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate it.
COONS: Thank you, Jake.
TAPPER: Coming up next, the record trend happening right now, that has not been seen in at least 100,000 years, according to experts.
Stay with us.
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TAPPER: Turning to our "Earth Matters" series, it is hotter than -- well, hotter than perhaps any other time in the past 100,000 years or so. That's according to a senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center.
Yesterday, Planet Earth's average temperature tied July 4th's record of 62.9 degrees Fahrenheit. That broke a record set on Monday.
CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir is basking in the New York summer heat.
Sixty-two point nine degrees, I have to say -- Bill, you've lost us or -- can you hear me?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: No, I got you. I got you. Sorry.
TAPPER: Okay, cool. So 62.9 degrees, that doesn't sound that bad, but I know it is. Explain -- explain why.
WEIR: Well, because that also factors in the half of the planet that is currently in winter. And, we are not setting a whole lot of new cold records down there. But, a boatload of high records across the planet. The new study, new science came out of Europe now, June, we've seen in
U.S. and Europe, June, the hottest June ever recorded by a mile. And then the next nine hottest Junes have all been pretty much in this decade now. This is data sets that go back in the '70s in the U.S.
But the 1940 in Europe, but it's that number you talk about, 100,000 years, looking at the trees -- deep ice core samples, and corral samples to age going back millennia, we are walking on the hottest planet ever walked, and it's only going to get hotter, depending on how many fossil fuels we burn going forward.
TAPPER: So, explain this to me. It's mind bending. Northern Quebec was warmer than Miami, Florida, this week.
WEIR: Exactly, the very tip, way up near the arctic circle there was 94 degrees, 93 in Miami, and that's we're seeing as the jet stream starts to wobble on this warm, bizarre planet that we built here. We're seeing these patches.
Meanwhile, down at the south pole, record highs down there as well. It is the age of broken record breaking, and another way to think about is, this is one of the coldest Junes that we'll experience for the rest of our lives.
TAPPER: Terrifying stuff. Bill Weir, thanks so much. Get back inside, where it's a little cooler.
Sadly, a strike in Ukraine is not unusual, but today's target was different, and frankly alarming. Why the location alone might show Russia's unprovoked war against Ukraine is nowhere near an end.
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TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
This hour, the beehive is buzzing over problems with one of the most popular concert tours of the summer. Why Beyonce canceled and postponed some of her upcoming shows.
Plus, the FDA has just granted full approval to an experimental Alzheimer's drug, that costs patients $26,000 a year. What approval could mean, for the drug's cost and availability.
And leading this hour, where in the world is Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, almost two weeks after his Wagner army's failed mutiny in Russia? Belarus's leader tells CNN that Prigozhin is actually still in Russia, not in Belarus.
Listen to his stunning answer, when asked about Prigozhin's whereabouts by CNN's Matthew Chance today.
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ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT: He is in St. Petersburg. Or maybe this morning, he would travel to Moscow, or elsewhere, which is not in the territory of Belarus now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Now, the purported deal to end the mutiny appears to be in question. Meanwhile, Russian state media published pictures of a raid on Prigozhin's St. Petersburg residents, where they say disguises, including wigs, plus stacks of cash and gold and guns were recovered.
Let's get right to CNN's Melissa Bell.
Melissa, what more do we know about the timing of this raid, and the accuracy of what Russia's state media is reporting?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the pictures themselves, Jake are quite extraordinary. You see the inside of Yevgeny Prigozhin's home, at the garage interior, the stuffed alligator, the weapons, lots of ammunition, lots of guns.
