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Trump on Tape; Debt Ceiling Deal Heads to Senate; Three Killed in Kyiv Outside Locked Bomb Shelter; Trump Campaigns in Iowa. Aired 11-11:30a ET
Aired June 01, 2023 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Trump then suggested sharing it but had a limited ability to declassify records after leaving office. That he said that undercuts Trump and his team that he declassified everything. Just last month he told CNN this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: And by the way they become automatically declassified when I took them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Paula Reid joins us.
Where does that fit into the legal investigation?
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This is a problem for the former president and, as reporters, it is going to completely change our understanding of the time, place and manner of the investigation.
Thinking of the timeline, these documents were subpoenaed back in 2022. This meeting occurred almost a year prior, he was talking about a document in Bedminster, New Jersey. We've been focused on Florida. This document was at his golf club.
His attorney said they didn't find anything there but this opens new questions. Now they have the former president undercutting every public defense he has put forth. Listen to what one of his attorneys had to say last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president under the Presidential Records Act has unfettered authority to do what he wants with documents that he takes from the White House while president. I will not dignify leaks that are incomplete, unfair and dishonest. This is a leak campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: So real coherent defense there. So far, the former president's team is calling it media harassment and a witch hunt. But they haven't explained why the president is heard talking about a classified document but acknowledging his limited power. So he'll face some interesting questions in Iowa.
BERMAN: Paula Reid, that is terrific reporting. Thank you for explaining where it fits.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, the House of Representatives has passed the debt deal and the fate of it all lands on 100 senators now but there are a few hurdles still in the way.
If you want to move it quickly, it needs unanimous consent. Both Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell are pushing for a speedy resolution. The bill will need at least 60 votes to resist a filibuster threat. And if any changes are made, it has to go back to the House and that would mean back to square one. Manu Raju is there on Capitol Hill.
What are you picking up about what is being done?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are trying to get this done as soon as tonight. Leadership on both sides are checking with their members. Because, as you said, Kate, just one senator can object and throw a whole wrench into this process. All 100 have to agree to schedule the vote.
Otherwise, it will drag out past the deadline and default could occur as soon as Monday.
But that is not the expectation at the moment, because there is an expectation there would be 60 votes. There are some concerns, including from some top Republicans, and some concern over the defense spending, warning that it could hurt the Pentagon in the years ahead.
[11:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we are being jammed by Joe Biden. We're up against the X date. So am not happy with him or the process.
RAJU: The speaker says Democrats did not get a win here.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): A lot of them believe they did because more Democrats voted for it than Republicans.
RAJU: What does that say?
GRAHAM: I think it is one of the most ill conceived ideas from national defense, since the 2011 sequestration. The people who negotiated this, I would not let them buy me a car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And so Lindsey Graham said that it will increase spending at the rate of inflation and that is the concern of a number of members. I also spoke to another senator, who was concerned about the concessions that remain from the White House to give in to the Republicans.
But he is going to vote for it. They may not be happy with the process or the deal that was cut and all of the provisions to tie up the spending debt limit up until the January 2025 but there's no other option, they say. The U.S. could still stumble into a debt default. So it is expected to pass and pass comfortably. People may not be happy but we will avoid a default.
BOLDUAN: Yes, it is good to see you, Manu, on Capitol Hill today -- Rahel.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Officials in Davenport are providing an update on a partial building collapse, multiple people still unaccounted for. The back portion of a six-story structure collapsed Sunday afternoon. The family of one missing talking to CNN about the wait for agonizing news on their loved ones.
Adrienne Broaddus is in Davenport.
And officials have literally just walked up to the podium.
What's happening there?
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We will hear from members of public safety and families are outside here at the scene. Outside was the son of Branden Colvin, who is in agony since Sunday. He's supposed to graduate Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRANDEN COLVIN JR., SON OF MISSING BUILDING RESIDENT: Honest, I've been out here for two days at night, all night, just waiting for anything.
BROADDUS: What is happening for you this weekend?
COLVIN: I am supposed to graduate in three days, walk across the stage. We have finals this week. I tried to go to school Tuesday and as soon as I walked in, I broke down. I couldn't do it. Being around all of my people and my friends, to see me like that, I don't know if I can go to the graduation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROSNAHAN: That was Branden Colvin, who bears same name as his father. He slept on the concrete last night, said he did not want to miss anything in case something happened. His father is among the five missing people. He believes that his father is trapped underneath the rubble. We'll bring you the latest as we get it.
SOLOMON: Yes, please keep us posted there.
BERMAN: Overnight, three killed in airstrikes on Kyiv, including a mother and child. Ukraine said they destroyed 10 missiles, all pointed toward the capital but falling debris is still dangerous and fatal. The governor of Belgorod said five were injured there. Video shows
flames and smoke rising from a residential building. And a group of anti-Putin Russian fighters posted new video of explosions, claiming the destruction of military targets.
Sam Kiley is near Kharkiv.
Sam, I understand there are airstrikes near there as well.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, local authorities are blaming the two airstrikes here in Kharkiv on the S- 300, those are the enormous missiles that are designed as surface-to- air missiles but the Russians have repurposed them.
And Kharkiv no stranger to attacks on its periphery these days.
[11:10:00]
KILEY: Rather than downtown where I am. Kharkiv was the scene of the initial burst of the intent to attack civilian targets with multiple rocket launchers and other forms of attack.
This cross border operation here, John, which is about an hour's drive north of here, to the southeast of Belgorod, is the second we're aware of being claimed by these Russian dissidents. They are operating inside of Russia.
And the Russian authorities saying they were bombarded in these villages that are now front line villages inside Russia from Ukrainian territory. Yesterday President Zelenskyy's top adviser said that Ukrainians could anticipate an escalation of these sorts of operations.
We've seen drone attacks in Moscow, all of it amounting to the new strategy emerging, of Ukrainian efforts to take the war into Russian territory.
BERMAN: Yes, it is going to be interesting to see where things go in the coming weeks.
BOLDUAN: Let's pose a critical question now. Joining us is the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark.
What John and Sam Kiley were talking about, we have the latest and continued strikes day and night into Ukrainians but now at the same time we are seeing more and more strikes on Russian soil.
What does this intensity, is the way that I am describing it to you, seem to say about the war?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Russia still does not have the means to go after significant Ukrainian military targets with its missiles for whatever reason. It just does not.
It seems it gets better return by simply punishing the Ukrainian people. If you don't like me, I will kill you. So it is a personal attack by the Russians on the Ukrainians.
Ukrainians recognize that Belgorod is a key logistics center. So these Russian dissidents are actually disrupting the ability of the Russians to respond to a potential Ukrainian counteroffensive. Where that is, we don't know. It could be in Bakhmut or in the south or in the northeastern part.
So what happens in Belgorod would be significant. This is a cat and mouse game at this point. They're doing reconnaissance, using their artillery, looking at Russia's reactions. And they are trying to assess the best opportunities.
BOLDUAN: I wanted to ask you about that, because we have heard so much about the imminent counteroffensive and what it is coming down to, in the final moments, what are the right conditions for Ukraine to launch this effort?
CLARK: Well, first of all, you have to look at the environmental situation.
Will the ground going to support your forces?
You have to look at the Russian strengths and weaknesses and dispositions. And you have to look at your own forces.
Are they ready?
Is all the equipment there?
Is more training to be done?
Then you put these conditions into a plan that works. That plan is going to involve some deception, some feints. We'll be surprised by it. Not only the American public but probably the American military don't know what the Ukrainians will actually do.
Obviously there is intelligence sharing on both sides but the actual command decisions will be held very close by Ukraine. The ground is drying out. We are getting more Western equipment in and the training is continuing for the Ukrainian forces.
What is the Russian disposition and what are their weakness and what about Bakhmut?
Does that provide an opportunity?
If Ukrainians can actually get to the Crimean land bridge, that's decisive because this war only ends when Mr. Putin realizes that he is going to lose.
[11:15:00]
CLARK: So while the U.S. is not supporting these Ukrainian attacks into Russia, they're strategically valuable because it brings the fact home to the Russian people that, yes, there's a war. It's not a police action. And yes, the Ukrainians are real people and they are going to fight
back and you need to stop this. So this is all part of the strategic buildup. So we'll have a busy summer but we don't know where or when.
BOLDUAN: General, thank you for your time.
SOLOMON: Protests across the country part of an effort to show how much the U.S. economy depends upon immigrants.
Plus an organization meant to prevent eating disorders says it's taking its AI power tool offline after reports it was giving harmful advice.
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[11:20:00]
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BERMAN: New this morning, an uptick in weekly jobless claims; 232,000 people applying for unemployment in May. That is up 2,000 from the prior week and the highest in four weeks. Workers protesting in seven states are calling it "a day without immigrants," largely sparked by Ron DeSantis.
Migrant workers in Florida, California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, South Carolina and Texas are striking and some Latino owned businesses will shut down for the day.
Actor Danny Masterson was convicted on two of three raped counts and is now facing 30 years to life in prison.
BOLDUAN: New reports about former V.P. Mike Pence, who is formally going to launch his presidential campaign next week. This is going to put him in direct competition against his former partner, Trump, in Iowa this morning.
And newly minted candidate Ron DeSantis is out campaigning today in the critical primary state, New Hampshire. Jessica Dean is out there on the trail.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are getting a sense of how he is going to be pitching himself, as an executive who is a sitting governor with a list of accomplishments. And he goes through to tick off them all and explains why he is the best person to go up against Joe Biden.
He also talks about the Florida blueprint, how they won, how they expanded his support there from when he first won and now into his second term and compare that indirectly to Trump.
We do not hear his name on the stump but we do hear indirect swipes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): You will have to be willing to pull the trigger, willing to use your authority. I think we need a two term president to see this to a conclusion. You do one term and then they will reverse it when they come in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Of course, president Trump has only one term were he to win. DeSantis believes his succeed in Florida makes him the best choice for the Oval Office. And that is the lane that he believes he is going to carve out for himself in the GOP field, as a sitting governor with executive power, showing voters how he has used it.
BOLDUAN: Thank you, Jessica Dean.
Mike Pence is going to join the list and is now expected to announce next week.
SOLOMON: And now we swing over to Iowa where former president Donald Trump is for a series of campaign events but they are going to be looking different than his previous events. We go to Jeff Zeleny where Trump is to be appearing any moment now.
And he is keeping it smaller with more grassroots events.
What's on the agenda?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, Rahel, to win the Iowa caucuses, former president Donald Trump knows that he has to win a number of voters here. And one is true conservatives. He is going to a weekly breakfast gathering.
[11:25:00]
ZELENY: This is a slightly unusual gathering, because the former president is going to be here but many of the candidates have been here already. He will likely be taking questions about what he would do in a second term, considerably different from when he was running for president, even the first time, eight summers ago.
This is on the heels of new revelations in several investigations against him. Republican voters will be weighing this in making their decisions. He follows Ron DeSantis, who was here earlier. It seems the former president is being bracketed by the Florida governor.
We'll see if Trump comments on the investigations and our reporting on that. But he's really trying to shore up conservative supporters here who voted for him four and eights years ago but have some other choices this time.
SOLOMON: Jeff Zeleny, thank you.
BERMAN: An eating disorder prevention group just took its AI chatbot offline after complaints it was giving harmful advice.
And a crippling cyberattack against a hospital, how bad and where.
