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Trump Arrives in New York Today; NYC Braces for Trump's Arrival; New Poll on Trump's Indictment; Chinese Spy Balloon Captured Images of Military Sites; Tornado Hits Seven States. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired April 03, 2023 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:17]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: History in the making. Beginning today, very shortly, former President Trump is set to leave Florida for an arraignment here in New York City. We have new details on the security threat, the potential charges and the new plans that Trump's legal team is crafting right now.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a woman who Russian police say blew up a St. Petersburg cafe, killing a well-known pro-war blogger, is now in police custody. The disturbing new details, including she's accused of handing him the explosive. The Kremlin is blaming the attack on Ukraine.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are also tracking another tornado threat today after a weekend already of deadly outbreaks.
These major stories and more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
BERMAN: We are at the precipice of an historic week in this country. Donald Trump is due for arraignment at this Manhattan court tomorrow. We are getting new details about how this process is going to play out. Of course, he is the first former president to face criminal indictment. All of this connected to his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump says he will depart Mar-a-Lago at noon today. You can see pictures of his plane on the tarmac at the Palm Beach Airport. That plane, of course, made famous from the 2016 presidential campaign. He is coming here to New York and will likely spend the night in Trump Tower.
Tomorrow, Trump will head to the Manhattan courthouse where he is expected to surrender. He will be booked. He will be fingerprinted. After the arraignment, Trump says he will go back to Florida and deliver a speech from Mar-a-Lago tomorrow night.
Now, as of this moment, the actual grand jury indictment is under seal. CNN has asked the judge to release it. Trump's legal team says they plan to challenge every potential issue in that document.
CNN's Kara Scannell is outside the court in New York City, where she has been for days and days and days. Kara, what are you now hearing from Trump's legal team?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, John.
It's as we head into this historical week, we're already seeing in aggressive tactic by the Trump's legal team saying that they are going to take big challenges against everything in this case, all the legal issues. Trump attorney Joe Tacopina was on "STATE OF THE UNION" yesterday. Take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE TACOPINA, LAWYER FOR FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: We will take the indictment. We will dissect it. The team will look at every - every potential issue that we - we will be able to challenge, and we will challenge. And, of course, I very much anticipated motion to dismiss coming because there's no law that fits this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCANNELL: Now, Tacopina also signaling that they could challenge the statute of limitations, and ask why Trump is being charged with this crime, would a regular joe be charged with the same crimes and the same fact patterns?
But all of that is something that will be taken up down the road. The first thing is they have not seen the charges in this indictment. It does remain under seal.
You know, Tacopina also attempting over the weekend to blunt some of the verbal attacks that the former president has launched against the judge overseeing this case. Tacopina saying that he believes this judge is not biased. But, of course, they hope that the judge will see it their way when there are motions before them, hoping to knock this case out before it gets to trial.
John.
BERMAN: A lot of motions. They are going to challenge everything.
Kara, just so we can remember here, what are the charges that Trump is likely to face?
SCANNELL: Well, John, so sources tell us that this indictment includes more than 30 criminal charges. And we know that it relates to the hush money payment scheme. The one thing that prosecutors have been looking at, what's -- two specific types of charges we know. Of course, though, because this is under seal we don't know all the charges. It may include more than this. But what we do know is they were looking at a falsification of business records. That is a misdemeanor in New York state and would carry up to one year in prison. This is all looking at how the hush money payments were reimbursed to Michael Cohen, how they were entered onto the books of the Trump Organization.
Another charge that they're looking at is the falsification of business records in the first degree. That's a felony. And that carries a maximum prison sentence of four years in prison. And for that charge, prosecutors would have to show that these records were falsified to commit or conceal another crime.
Now, in the backdrop, of course, was that these payments were made just weeks before the 2016 presidential election. That is the focus of this. And we learned even in recent days that they're looking not just at the Stormy Daniels payment, but witnesses before the grand jury were also asked about other payments to another woman.
[09:05:01]
So, we're getting the sense that this could be a broader case. But we won't know what - what the actual charges are until they are unsealed. And CNN and other media organizations have asked the judge to unseal this indictment. The judge set a 1:00 p.m. deadline for the DA's office and for Trump's team to respond.
John.
BERMAN: All right, Kara Scannell, one way or the other, we'll here either today or tomorrow. Great to have you there. Keep us posted.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: So, a reminder to everyone, this will be the first time a former president has been arrested on criminal charges. And with that, especially when it involves Donald Trump, brings huge security concerns with it. Let's talk about that.
And joining us right now is CNN chief law enforcement intelligence analyst John Miller and CNN's senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid.
It's good to see you guys.
John, what do you think of the security preps that you've learned about so far around all of this? What are you hearing?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the NYPD, Secret Service, and the court officers are basically taking an all threats approach, Kate, which is, first of all, there's a balancing act here where they want to treat, you know, the defendant, Donald Trump, like any other defendant, to allay the concerns of special treatment, but then they have to balance that against the needs of the Secret Service, which is to protect him. So, it's the protection of a former president by the Secret Service, the protection of the courthouse from any outside threats, and the protection of the district attorney and his staff, where there have been a number of threats lodged against him in different social media platforms and so on. So, it's an all threats approach.
BOLDUAN: Paula, do you -- do you expect the indictment could be unsealed before Tuesday? What are you hearing about this? And, if so, how does that impact this whole security posture that we're talking about? PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's possible.
Normally you -- the indictment would be unsealed at the same time as this initial appearance and the arrangement. But there's a big push here for transparency given the historic nature of this case. So, CNN and other media organizations are pushing for this to be unsealed sooner, along with also asking for courtrooms to include -- the courtroom to include cameras so we can watch these proceedings, which typically we don't have.
Now, historically, this judge has not granted those requests.
BOLDUAN: OK.
REID: And it's unclear if this judge will be willing to unseal the indictment. But they're arguing that there has never been a case like this and the public interest is really at its zenith when we're talking about the arrangement of a former president.
Now, if the case is unsealed before tomorrow in terms of how that could impact the security concerns, I think it depends what the cases is. We have a great sense, mostly from John Miller's great reporting, but I think we need to see the theory of the case and how strong it is.
BOLDUAN: What are the scenarios that NYPD and everyone involved are gaming out when it comes to all of this?
MILLER: So, first scenario is, are we going to have a large demonstration? Are we going to have pro-Trump demonstrators, anti- Trump demonstrators? Can they manage the numbers? Can they keep them separated to avoid clashes? And so far what we're seeing is very little. What you haven't seen is a specific call from Donald Trump or his camp to be at a certain place at a certain time.
So, the January 6th kind of disorder scenario is way in the background because we're just not seeing those numbers and we're not seeing those calls. Then the rest is anything else that could go wrong, and do you have the assets in place?
BOLDUAN: Paula, Donald Trump, I mean he has lashed out against the judge presiding over this. We know that Trump's attorney, speaking out over the weekend, you know, wouldn't go there when he was speaking to Dana Bash just yesterday, but what are you hearing about the impact of all of these public statements by the former president and his team already?
REID: It's one thing to attack the case, another to attack the prosecutor. Also not a great idea. But to attack the judge that's about to oversee a criminal prosecution is never a great idea. I think that's why you saw Joe Tacopina trying to clean that up over the weekend.
But just a short time ago, another one of the former president's attorneys, Alina Habba, was on CNN THIS MORNING and she was asked by our colleague Don Lemon, and she doubled down that this is his First Amendment right. Look, no doubt he has a First Amendment right to say whatever he wants about this judge. He has done this in the past to judges he doesn't like, but it is objectively a terrible idea.
BOLDUAN: John, when you look at what -- what is to come, all of the unknown surrounding how the president -- how the former president will act, even the criminal charges he's going to face, if there will be protests. From your sense, do you think all of this is enough, the security preparations are enough? Can Manhattan handle it?
MILLER: I think the NYPD is unique among municipal police departments. You've got 35,000 cops. They can deploy 1,000. And if they need it, they can press a button and get another 1,000. So that's the real advantage here.
The other advantages is, they've had time. They've had time to plan. They've had time to game out different scenarios. They've had time to preposition assets and have more in the background. So, they feel that they are ready.
Now, there's always the surprise scenario. You know, that is built into the plan b the plan c and having the bomb squad standing by over here, having hazmat standing by over there, having counter sniper teams in place.
[09:10:00]
That's part of the larger package. But that is, you know, for the unlikely scenario, but being ready for the unlikely scenarios is part of the game.
BOLDUAN: Part of the game.
It's great to see you guys. Thank you for being here.
Sara.
SIDNER: Well, we've got a brand-new poll for you. How do American voters feel about this indictment? The poll was just released moments ago with some really revealing details. We are lucky to be joined by CNN political director David Chalian.
So happy to have you here in person.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Happy to be here.
SIDNER: All right, brand-new poll. What does it tell us when it comes to the majority of Americans?
Well, the majority of Americans approve of the indictment against Donald Trump, 60 percent approved, Sara, 40 percent disapprove.
SIDNER: Wow.
CHALIAN: Let's look at that approval by party breakdown. As you might imagine, 94 percent of Democrats approve, 62 percent of independents approve. Even one in five Republicans approve of the indictment.
We also asked, though, is there something illegal or unethical going on here.
SIDNER: OK.
CHALIAN: And take a look at these results. Thirty-seven percent of Americans in this poll say Donald Trump did something illegal. Another third say he did something unethical, not illegal. So that is the broad majority there. Only 10 percent of Americans say Donald Trump did nothing wrong at all, 20 percent, not sure.
Look at this by party, 69 percent of Democrats think Donald Trump did something illegal, 31 percent of independence say so, and only 8 percent of Republicans.
SIDNER: It's all really interesting kind of going through how Americans are feeling.
CHALIAN: Yes.
SIDNER: What are the politics, though, at play here, because this is all about politics?
CHALIAN: Yes, and we asked folks, do you think politics is playing a role in this? Obviously, that's Donald Trump's big talking point at the moment. Seventy-six percent of Americans think, yes, politics is playing some role.
SIDNER: Wow.
CHALIAN: So you say, well, what is that? Well, Americans can hold two things together, two different thoughts.
SIDNER: Right.
CHALIAN: They approve of the indictment, but they see politics at play here. And if you look at this, how big a role, even a majority, 52 percent of Americans say politics is playing a major role in this case, 23 percent minor role, only 14 percent say no role at all.
And look at this by party. Eighty-three percent of Republicans, of course, see politics at play here, 52 percent of independents say politics plays a major role. Even a quarter of Democrats say that.
SIDNER: Has Trump's standing changed at all as a result of this indictment?
CHALIAN: Not so much, Sara. Take a look here. This is his favorable/unfavorable rating now, 34 percent favorable, 58 percent unfavorable. That is about where it was in January.
SIDNER: OK.
CHALIAN: So, it hasn't moved much. And if you look at it again by party, you see he's at 72 percent favorability with Republicans, only 26 percent with independence. That is his mission ahead.
SIDNER: That's an important number.
CHALIAN: And 6 percent of Democrats.
SIDNER: David Chalian, always bringing us all the good numbers. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
CHALIAN: Thank you.
SIDNER: John.
BERMAN: All right, we have new information just in to CNN about the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. a few months ago. Officials now say the balloon was able to gather intelligence and images from several military sites.
New tornado watches this morning for several parts of the south after more than 50 tornadoes tore through the region over the weekend. We will take you to one town now working to rebuild the community.
Plus, Russian authorities have detained a woman in connection with Sunday's bombing that killed a military blogger in St. Petersburg, but her husband says she was set up. The latest on the investigation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:17:35]
BERMAN: On the radar this morning, Finland officially becomes a member of NATO in a flag-raising ceremony tomorrow in Brussels. The NATO secretary general says Finland's membership will make the NATO alliance stronger and safer.
Investigators are searching for what caused a freight train to derail in Montana about 200 miles northwest of Bozeman. At least 25 train cars went off the tracks. The sheriff's department says there is no indication the train was carrying hazardous materials and there are no reports of injuries.
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson says he will run for president and he is taking direct aim at former president and rival for the 2024 Republican nomination, Donald Trump. Hutchinson says the country wants leaders who will appeal to the best of America, not to its worst instincts. He plans to formally announce his run later this month in his Arkansas hometown of Bentonville.
All right, this just in to CNN, a source says the suspected Chinese spy balloon the U.S. shot down in February was able to capture images and collect some data from U.S. military sites.
CNN national security reporter Natasha Bertrand joins us now from the Pentagon.
Natasha, what are you learning? NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, John, so what
we're learning is that this Chinese by balloon that hovered over sensitive U.S. military sites back in February before being shot down by the U.S. military, it was able to capture some images and collect some signals intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites in the United States.
Now, importantly, it is not clear to the U.S. government at this point whether the Chinese government was able to remotely wipe the data on that balloon before the U.S. government was able to fully analyze it because, of course, the FBI has been looking at this balloon for the last several months, trying to figure out the extent of what it was able to collect. And we are told that the balloon was able to transmit these images and these signals back to China in real time. So, the U.S. has some idea here of what the Chinese were able to gather about these sensitive military installations, but it is still unclear at this point whether there is information that the Chinese collected that the U.S. does not know about because of that possibility still looming out there that the Chinese government was able to essentially remotely erase the data on the balloon before the U.S. could access it, John.
BERMAN: So, they got stuff. The question is, how much stuff and how good that stuff was.
What are the next steps here for the U.S. government?
[09:20:02]
BERTRAND: Yes, so we are told that the FBI is actually still analyzing this balloon and they have been able to, you know, learn some interesting things about it, including the kinds of algorithms that the balloon was using to power its software and how it was actually powered and able to move around. But ultimately the U.S. is going to be looking for more information about the origins of this balloon. For example, who was able to navigate it and control it because the U.S. has said that they want to hold someone accountable for this. They do believe that there were elements of the Chinese military that were responsible for making it hover over these sensitive U.S. military sites, but still they are trying to gather more information here about who they can actually pinpoint so that they can not only learn more about China's surveillance program, but also potentially file criminal charges against whoever was responsible for this, John.
BERMAN: These are important developments. We know you're going to stay all over it.
Natasha Bertrand, at the Pentagon, thanks so much.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: There is a new tornado watch in effect for parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida this morning. And communities across the south and the Midwest are bracing for yet another round of severe weather this week. This includes some of the very same cities and towns devastated by tornadoes over the weekend. At least 32 people were killed when dozens of tornadoes just tore through seven states.
We want to show you these before and after images. These are from Little Rock, Arkansas. You can see that before on the left and the after on the right. And what you see is -- just really drives home the extent of the damage from Saturday's tornado there. Homes just flattened. Neighborhoods - it looks just like wiped out.
CNN's Derek Van Dam is in hard hit Wynne, Arkansas, and a tornado there killed at least four people and tour that town apart.
Derek, what are things looking like this morning?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Kate, people across America are waking up to so much heartache this morning. It's hard to believe that this was a home just 48 hours ago. You're looking at what 165 mile per hour winds is capable of, completely overturning trees, demolishing this home. You can see kind of the platform behind it. There's a tree there that's literally twisted from almost, it appears, the updraft of the tornado as it whipped through this area, changing people's lives in a matter of seconds.
One of those people's lives was a woman who lived in this apartment complex directly behind me. And her encounter is just absolutely incredible because this First Baptist Church here, look at that power pole and that smashed car, the front end of that building, some of the wood particles came across the street and actually hit her window of her bedroom, smashing out the window. Glass shards everywhere. But you have to hear her horrifying encounter as she stepped outside of her house to find what she saw with her neighbor's home right here behind me.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSIE WILSON, SURVIVED TORNADO IN WYNNE, ARKANSAS: She was looking around. She was looking around. And then all of sudden she said, where's my mother? She said, where is my mother? She said, I can't find my mama. She started calling, mama, mama, and she started calling her name.
And when they found her up under that board, she was smashed. She was dead. It was just horrible. Her daughter just started screaming and hollering. I mean it was horrible. It was horrible.
VAN DAM: Where is her house?
WILSON: There's no house. Everything was just gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAN DAM: Kate, it's hard to believe that there have already been two times more tornado fatalities this year compared to last year. And, unfortunately, that woman lost her life directly behind us.
Kate. BOLDUAN: And the tornado - the tornado in Wynne was one of three EF-3
strength tornadoes this weekend. Are they expecting storms this strength again this week?
VAN DAM: Yes, we've been monitoring this for days now and, you know, as the team of meteorologists between the CNN Weather Center, we are highlighting some of the same areas from what we experienced just on Friday. And this comes a week or so after the deadly Rolling Fork tornado in Mississippi as well.
Look, you can see Little Rock on that enhanced risk with a moderate risk going northward into Iowa.
Here's a look at the swath of tornadoes. There were 95 tornado reports across the Midwest, stretching across the south. That's why there's so much heartache. That greatest chance of tornadoes, Tuesday evening into Wednesday timeframe. We can see the greatest probabilities there. This area is on high alert and it looms heavy over the residents of Wynne, Arkansas, through Little Rock, northward, into the greater Chicago suburbs. Just incredible to see what is coming once again.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Incredible in the worst sense.
Derek, thank you so much.
Oh, I - it's - they just went through it and some of these very same communities have to hunker down again.
SIDNER: Yes, it's (INAUDIBLE).
[09:25:00]
I'm not sure we've seen this many, this strong, in a heck of a long time.
BOLDUAN: Yes, it's true (ph).
SIDNER: Thank you, Kate.
BOLDUAN: Of course.
SIDNER: New details now from the Justice Department's investigation into classified documents found at former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. Why federal investigators believe Trump himself may have gone through the classified materials after he was subpoenaed to return them.
And, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making a direct appeal to Moscow for the release of American journalist Evan Gershkovich. The conversation he had with Russia's foreign minister about detained Americans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:06]
BOLDUAN: The latest now on our top story.
