Return to Transcripts main page
CNN News Central
Haley Opposes "Red Flag" Gun Laws; Van der Sloot to be Handed Over to American Authorities on Thursday; FBI on Capitol Hill to Provide House Oversight Leaders with Documents Related to Then-Vice President Biden; Major Cases to be Decided by Supreme Court by Early July; After Alleging Misconduct in the Special Counsel Investigation, Trump's Attorneys Meet with DOJ Officials. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired June 05, 2023 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This should move the needle with Republicans, do you think? Those who are not die-hard Trump Republicans?
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think she did. Like, I said, there's two groups on either side of Trump that she would need to get back -- anyone would need to get back to be competitive in a national election, that's conservatives who left Trump, and that's moderates and independents who are a little nervous about Joe Biden. I think, she reached out to them.
SIDNER: She, like, every other Republican has to first get Republicans on their side for the primary, and then to try to get the rest of the country --
CUPP: Yes, you got to grow.
SIDNER: -- to move over. So --
CUPP: You got to grow.
SIDNER: All right. S.E. Cupp, thank you so much for that. Always fire.
And on Wednesday, Dana Bash moderates a "CNN Republican Presidential Town Hall" with Former Vice President Mike Pence who is live from Iowa. That is all here on CNN.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: So, the FBI is bringing what Republicans say is a Biden-related internal document to Capitol Hill as part of a house oversight hearing what it could reveal.
And in the prime suspect in the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway has been moved out of a maximum-security prison when he is expected to face charges in the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:35:00]
SIDNER: We are learning this morning that Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of American teenager, Natalee Holloway, will be temporarily transferred to U.S. custody on Thursday. He was transferred from a prison in Southern Peru to a facility outside of lima, ahead of the transfer.
CNN's Jean Casarez joins us now. Jean, Joran is facing charges here in the United States in connection with holiday -- Holloway's disappearance. What exactly is he facing charges for though?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's facing charges for extortion and wire fraud because back in 2010, a number of years after Natalee went missing, her family had a reward, $250,000. He stepped forward saying, I can show you where the remains are. The attorney for the Holloway's went over to Aruba, travelled with him, he said Natalee's in the foundation of the house. Ultimately, he wired and e-mailed, that attorney saying, it was a ruse. It was false. I lied to you. Thus, you have this extortion and fraud charges. And according to legal documents, this was all done in coordination with the FBI.
But CNN has exclusive video from the early morning hours of Saturday. We want to show everyone this because we were, " CNN en Espanol" we have to thank for this, they were allowed to go inside of that remote prison in Peru. Joran van der Sloot being taken out of his cell. In Peru, you can wear your own clothes. So, you see, he's got fleece sweater, coat on. You see they are shackle -- shackling him at his ankles, cuffing him, but that is just the beginning being led out.
Then he goes to the medical unit where the, in fact, took his blood pressure, his heart, and then, ultimately, he was transferred out which was the beginning of that journey. But he is now in a prison outside of Lima, closer to the international airport in Lima. And we do understand from the head of the prisons in Peru, he will be transferred to Interpol, that intercountry policing agency and then transferred over to U.S. authorities, a plane will be waiting for him at that international airport where he will be transferred to Birmingham, Alabama.
SIDNER: We should not lose sight of the Holloway family and all they have been through in this case. Jean Casarez, thank you so much. And thank you to "CNN Espanol" for getting that --
CASAREZ: Thank you.
SIDNER: -- incredibly detailed video.
CASAREZ: Yes.
SIDNER: John.
BERMAN: So, this morning, the FBI is headed to Capitol Hill to share information with top members of the House Oversight Committee about unverified allegations surrounding or involving President Biden, allegedly. Lawmakers are set to see a document that some Republicans claim shows Biden was involved in a criminal scheme with a foreign national during his time as vice president.
CNN's Sara Murray is with us. Now, Sara, what document are we talking about exactly and why now?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, right. You know, this comes after James Comer, the House Oversight Chairman subpoenaed the FBI for this document, it's called an FD1023. And he's threatened to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt if he didn't hand it over. So, as an attempt to compromise, the FBI is coming here, in behind closed doors, going to show this document to Comer as well as the top Democrat on this committee.
And this is a document that memorialized information that comes from a confidential source in the FBI. But the FBI has stressed that this is unsubstantiated, unverified information. And when it comes to these allegations, which you pointed out, are involving, you know, an alleged bribery scheme when Joe Biden was vice president. The White House has denied it. They have dismissed it all as a political attack. But, you know, Comer has really then stuck on trying to get a copy of this document.
And we're going to see today whether the option to view it behind closed doors is enough to fend off these threats of contempt or if Comer decides to move ahead with this contempt proceedings because what he actually wants is a hard in his possession of the document and to be able to share it with other members of the committee and other members of Congress.
BERMAN: Sara, you said unverified, unsubstantiated.
MURRAY: Yes.
BERMAN: Are these facts or allegations that the FBI has tried to run down?
MURRAY: Well, look, we learned from sources familiar with the matter that a lot of these allegations stand back to what Rudy Giuliani was sharing with the FBI back in 2020.
[10:40:00]
You know, at the time, the Justice Department was being run by Bill Barr. He was in -- this was during the Trump administration, he was very skeptical of these kinds of allegations, a number of them traced back to Ukrainian sources. And when the FBI and prosecutors began to review this information, they were not able to corroborate it. But a big complaint that we are going to hear from Republicans is that the FBI didn't do enough to look into the allegations, John.
BERMAN: All right. Sara Murray up on Capitol Hill where there will be some action today, keep us posted. Thanks so much.
Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: It is crunch time for the Supreme Court. Several big cases with massive implications are set to be decided this month. The cases the justices are now wrapping up, and what it means for the country. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:45:00]
BOLDUAN: Over the next couple of weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to issue some of the most consequential decisions of the term. Justices have about four weeks left until their planned end of session. Some of these cases that will be decided, it will decide the future -- could decide the future of election law, LGBTQ rights, and President Biden's student loan program.
CNN's Ariane de Vogue is tracking this. She joins us now. Ariane, it is June, which means it is crunch time for the justices. What are the big cases that they are -- that they are left with to hand down?
ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: You are absolutely right. All eyes are on this conservative court to see just how fast and how far it wants to go. One big case is affirmative action. Can colleges and universities continue to take race into consideration as a factor in admissions? The schools say they need to do this to help with diversity at the schools, but challengers are taking on programs at Harvard. The University of North Carolina saying, basically, that those plans violate equal protection and laws that bar the discrimination based on race. Key to that case is the fact that the court could again choose to overturn precedent.
They're also taking aim at a big voting rights case. We know that this court has already cut back significantly on the scope of the Voting Rights Act. In this case, the court could make it harder for minorities to challenge congressional redistricting maps. Here, a lower court said that Alabama had to draw another black majority district in part because the state is 27 percent black. That's at issue before the court.
Also, a big LGBTQ rights case. Here a woman wants to start a new business. She wants to make websites to celebrate marriage, but does not want to make websites that celebrate same sex weddings. So, now she has brought her case, and liberals are worried about the conservative majority here. They think they might rule in her favor but also some feared that this court might begin to chip away at that historic decision from a few years ago that allowed gay marriage nationwide.
And finally, there's another case that's really important to the Biden administration. He sought to ease student loan debt in his student loan forgiveness plan, that, in the wake of COVID, would really help a lot of students that had a lot of debt. But the conservatives at oral argument there, they really seem to say that Biden here had exceeded his authority. So, all those cases and some more are going to be decided within the next about four weeks.
BOLDUAN: And kind of taken altogether and more broadly, it's been almost a year since the court overturned Roe versus Wade, what have you picked up and seen and, like, learned about where the court is, the direction of the court is headed in the many months since? DE VOGUE: Well, right. When the court, a year ago, stepped in and overturned precedent, precedent that had been on the books for more than or some 50 years, that was the Roe v Wade decision. When the newly constituted court with President Trump's new nominees stepped in and overturned that precedent, a lot of people said, look, the only reason this has been overturned is because of the new membership on the court.
That means that this particular court is becoming political, and we are going to see that at the end of this term. These allegations that this branch of government is wading into waters that are better left to the political branches. That's what everybody is looking for here.
BOLDUAN: All right. Very busy time. It's great to see you, Ariane. Thank you.
DE VOGUE: Good to see you.
BOLDUAN: John.
BERMAN: All right. Breaking news, attorneys for Former President Trump just seen going into the Department of Justice. We have a live report in this breaking news, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:50:00]
SIDNER: All right. We have some breaking news for you. Lawyers for Former President Donald Trump have been reportedly seen going to the Department of Justice.
CNN's Jessica Schneider joins us with more on what is happening. Trump's attorney, apparently, requested a meeting with the Attorney General Merrick Garland, we know that from last month. Now, we hear that they are meeting with the lawyers from the Department of Justice. Is there any sense of exactly what they're going there for?
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, presumably, Sara, this all relates back to that letter that was sent at the end of last month from Trump's legal team. But, yes, our team at the Justice Department reporting that, in fact, lawyers of Donald Trump are at the Department of Justice meeting with Justice Department officials. They had requested to meet with the Attorney General Merrick Garland. It does not appear that they're -- that Merrick Garland is actually in that meeting.
So, it was the end of May that Trump's legal team sent that letter, basically, accusing the special counsel and the Justice Department official a prosecutorial misconduct.
[10:55:00]
In the letter, they basically said this, no president of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion. They requested a meeting. That meeting happening at the Justice Department as we speak.
Now, this is notable because it appears that the special counsel's investigation could be in its final stages here. It was just last week that our team reported that the special counsel did have reports of that audio recording where Trump was talking about -- acknowledging that he held on to a classified Pentagon document related to a potential attack on Iran. Acknowledging, in fact, that it was classified. And of course, the special counsel is investigating on two tracks, into the classified documents, potential mishandling documents by the former president, as well as his involvement in the January 6th Capitol attack.
What's also notable here, Sara, is that our team is also reporting that the grand jury is actually meeting. This is the grand jury who's looking primarily into the classified documents investigation. They are meeting for the first time since May 5th. So, it's been about a month since they've met. They are now meeting today. It appears that they are hearing from another witness in these classified documents probe. So, a lot swirling at the Justice Department today and at federal court. Sara.
SIDNER: This could be really important in the length of this case and what's happening in the case. And as you mentioned, this is as people believe that the Justice Department is wrapping up their case investigating Donald Trump in these classified documents. Jessica Schneider thank you so much for that. Stay with us. We're going to have much more for you on this after a very quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:00:00]
