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Republicans React To Trump Arrest, Arraignment; Children Found In Jungle Recuperating In Hospital; Filing: "Rust" Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed Likely Hungover When She Put Live Bullet In Gun. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired June 14, 2023 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Temecula Valley School Board -- the school board voted to fire the superintendent Jody McClay, even as parents and supporters chanted her name. This came after the board rejected the curriculum in part over a discussion of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk. School officials say the curriculum does not include Harvey Milk directly but refers to him in a supplemental resource for teachers.

This just in. The FAA has finalized new rules to beef up cockpit security on new planes. New airlines -- new airliners will soon be required to have a second barrier between the passenger cabin and the cockpit.

The secondary cockpit barrier rule will apply to passenger plane manufacturers starting in December of 2025. The barrier which may look more like a gate than a hardened door will be locked into place when the cockpit door is opened during flight. Rahel?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: All right, John, thank you. Now, to tit-for-tat on Capitol Hill. Some Republicans outraged over Trump's arrest and arraignment are now vowing to retaliate against the Justice Department.

And we have a brand new reaction this morning from Capitol Hill. CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is there. So, Manu, what are you hearing?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We're hearing a Republican Party that is divided over the former president and about the allegations that were in this indictment. Initially, right off the bat, a number of them rushing to Donald Trump's defense. Most of them doing that over Twitter and social media because Congress was not in session.

Over the last couple of days, there have been more members expressing some concern about the allegations about the mishandling of classified records, as well as the allegations of obstructing this investigation into him and making misstatements to prosecutors. Now, I just caught up with some of Donald Trump -- one of Donald Trump's closest allies.

That's Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He though is defending the former president saying it would have little impact on the election, the indictment. And also warning about a major blowback if Donald Trump is indicted in future cases, including the federal probe into January 6.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): It seems to be selective prosecution. So, President Trump has every right to defend himself. And politically, it probably makes him stronger in the primary. If the special counsel indicts President Trump in Washington, DC for anything related to January 6, that will be considered a major outrage by Republicans because you could convict any Republican of anything in Washington DC. And I fear that's where this is going as sort of an insurance policy.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I do have concerns about all the news about misuse of classified information. I happen to be on the Senate Intelligence Committee and I get classified briefings on a regular basis. And what they did was unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So, Senator Cornyn equating what happened in the case involving Hillary Clinton to what happened with Donald Trump there. That's an often defense that we're hearing from Republicans even these are different sets of circumstances and facts in each of those cases. But some of Donald Trump's defenders trying to use the legislative process to pay -- to pay back the Biden administration of sorts.

One of them, Senator J.D. Vance announcing that he would place a hold on all Justice Department nominees who are not part of that Marshall Service but U.S. Attorneys and the like. Until the Justice Department changes its approach, the prosecution is going forward. Any individual Senator can hold up the process. U.S. attorneys in particular typically are confirmed very quickly on a voice vote, but otherwise, it could go through a much more time-consuming process on the Senate floor.

So, that's what Senator Vance is aiming to do as Republicans in the House, looking at other ways to try to go after the investigation. Undercut it by using the funding process on Capitol Hill. Even though not all Republicans are online, some of them lining up behind Donald Trump trying to defend him as his case unfolds. Rahel.

SOLOMON: Mana Raju, thank you. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thanks, Rahel.

Just hours after pleading not guilty to all 37 counts against him, President Trump delivered a speech at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. His goal there, to raise money from high-dollar donors. He vowed to fight the charges and then spewed a barrage of false and misleading claims.

No one can do a fact-check better than our Daniel Dale. And we are lucky to have you here now. All right. So, where should we start?

Let's see. Let's -- Presidential Records Act, let's start there. This is what Donald Trump said about that Act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Under the Presidential Records Act, which is civil, not criminal, I had every right to have these documents. According to the Presidential Records Act, which was a big deal, I was supposed to negotiate with NARA which is exactly what I was doing until Mar-a-Lago was raided.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Daniel Dale, I am going to guess that you read -- you actually read the Presidential Records Act.

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: I did.

SIDNER: Does it say that?

[11:35:00]

DALE: It says neither of the two things former President Trump claim there it says. So, let's go one by one. He said under the Presidential Records Act, I had every right to have these documents. Absolutely not true.

This Act is unequivocal. It's short. You can read it. The key part in like 15 seconds online.

It says clearly that the moment a president leaves office, all of the official -- the presidential records from his or her administration belong to the federal government, belong to the National Archives. There was nothing in there that would say that a former president could take classified documents to his club residence in Florida.

This Act was passed in the wake of the Richard Nixon Watergate debacle. And it was passed for the very purpose of making sure that former presidents could not take sensitive documents with them.

The second claim was that the Presidential Records Act says he was supposed to negotiate with the National Archives about returning documents. Again, completely false. There was no provision in that law for negotiation. Again, it simply says that the moment the president leaves office, those documents belong to the public, to the federal government.

SIDNER: And it says in there automatically. This isn't something that you negotiate. It literally uses the word automatically, correct?

DALE: Yes. There's no -- so Trump keeps saying, oh, I was supposed to talk. I was supposed to deal. I was supposed to negotiate. That's not at all true.

These records belong to the government. Any discussions are supposed to take place before the president leaves office. Afterwards, you leave and you leave the documents behind. SIDNER: All right, so on his attack against the Biden administration, he made claims about Biden's handling of documents, which were found he had possession of. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Joe Biden had troves of classified documents from his time as vice president and even as a senator, which was completely and totally illegal. Biden sent 1850 boxes to the University of Delaware making the search very, very difficult for anybody. And he refuses to give them up. And he refuses to let people even look at them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: I know your answer but what is the truth about those 1850 boxes -- those 1850 boxes?

DALE: So, again, there's a bunch of dishonesty here. What Trump doesn't say is that these 1850 boxes are boxes from President Biden's 36-year career in the United States Senate. And they are boxes that he legally and properly donated to the University of Delaware, his alma mater, in 2012.

Now, what Trump never says, Sara, is that senators, unlike presidents, owned their own records and can do what they want with them. So, if you're a senator, you can take the records your office created and maintain and throw them in the trash. You can give them to passers-by on the street. You can light them on fire.

They are not subject to anything like the Presidential Records Act. And there was nothing wrong with this donation by former senator and now President Biden.

The second claim that Trump made is that he won't let anyone look at these boxes at the University of Delaware. That is also false. Our Paula Reid reported in February that the FBI conducted two searches at the university with Biden's consent and there is no initial sign that anything in those boxes was classified.

SIDNER: Daniel Dale, it's always so good to see you laying it out for us there. Those are the facts, as they say. John?

BERMAN: Sara, two university students, and a man in his 60s killed in a violent spree. We have new information on the attack. And the father of the four children rescued after more than a month in the jungle, speaking to CNN. What he said about their survival, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:43:04]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. Police in the UK are now formally identifying three people killed during an attack in Nottingham. Two 19-year-old students, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar were found stabbed to death early Tuesday morning. 65-year-old Ian Coates, well, he was later found dead from knife injuries after he was attacked and had his van stolen. The 31-year-old man remains in custody after being arrested on suspicion of murder.

Authorities are now investigating a deadly shooting at a Japanese military training center. At least two people were killed, another injured after a teenage cadet allegedly opened fire on members of his own unit. This happened during the live fire training exercise. The cadet was arrested. The motive is still unclear.

And at least 45,000 people have been evacuated as a cyclone barrels towards Western India. Officials now pleading with those who did not evacuate to just stay home. The storm is expected to make landfall near the India-Pakistan border sometime tomorrow, John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, the four children rescued after spending more than a month alone in the Colombian jungle, they are recuperating in the hospital. They have been drawing pictures of their ordeal. They drew a dog and labeled him Wilson.

Wilson is a special forces rescue dog that belongs to the Colombian military. They believe the dog found the children but now he is missing, the dog is, and dozens of soldiers are searching for him. CNN was also able to speak with the father of the children directly. He called their survival a miracle.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon joins us now live from Bogota. Stefano, what are you hearing this morning?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Well, this morning, we're hearing, John, that more than 17 commandos are still in the jungle to look for Wilson, the canine unit that has gone missing before the children were safely rescued. However, I think it's worth listening directly from the father of the four children. He's the biological father of the two youngest and the stepfather of the two oldest children.

[11:45:06]

It was great to speak with him yesterday at length. We sat down and sort of went through his experience. He told me, for example, that they were flying out on a Blackhawk helicopter from the heart of the jungle with thunderbolts and lightning because it's the -- it's the middle of the rainy season down in the Amazon right now.

And so, they really got out from the skin of the neck. But also, he made a very interesting reflection when I told him that this was one of the most incredible stories I've reported in my career. Here's what he answered me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANUEL RANOQUE, FATHER OF CHILDREN FOUND IN COLOMBIAN JUNGLE (through translator): The story is like a legend. For us, an indigenous a story is. For example, that the sun is a God. And you can say you have seen it. But this is not a story. This truly happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: This is I think, what will remain with me of this incredible coverage that I've -- that I've had over the last few days that four children were able to survive alone in the thick of the Amazon rainforest for more than 30 days -- for 40 days, actually, before they were finally safely rescued. And that is just beyond remarkable, John.

BERMAN: But how? I mean, the question remains how were they able to survive for so long?

POZZEBON: Yes, it's interesting that you asked me that, John. Because for weeks, we've talked about ancestral knowledge and how the indigenous people live in -- sound biosis, almost with the forest. These are kids who are 13 -- the oldest of them, Lesly, who is the true heroine here in the story.

She was only 13 years old. And she was able to recognize what plants to eat, what plants not to eat, where to find water. She moved around with her younger siblings for more than 20 kilometers. That's over 10 miles in the thick of the jungle to try to be found -- to try being rescued.

And only when they were able -- when they were too tired to walk and they were finally staying in the same place is when the units were finally able to find them. But still, you can see these are not your average children. These are remarkably resilient kids, John.

BERMAN: Yes, they are, to say the least. Stefano Pozzebon, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for all your reporting on this. Sara?

SIDNER: Prosecutors investigating the fatal shooting on the set of "Rust" are accusing armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed of drinking heavily and smoking marijuana during filming. What her attorney is now telling CNN? That's next. And -- not and.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:52:20]

SIDNER: Prosecutors revealing some of their evidence in the aftermath of the "Rust" movie set shooting. The prosecutor said in a new court filing that armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was likely hungover when she put a live bullet into the prop gun used by Alec Baldwin. Baldwin was holding that gun when it fired a live round during rehearsals killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Witnesses are also set to testify that Gutierrez-Reed was drinking heavily and smoking marijuana during filming.

CNN Entertainment Reporter Chloe Melas has the latest on this. At this point, we expect to hear from Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's attorney. What are you hearing?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Well, first of all, Sara, this filing came out on Friday. And this is all in this lead-up for the prosecution to bring this to trial. As we know in April, criminal charges were temporarily dismissed against Alec Baldwin. They dismissed those involuntary manslaughter charges. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed still has those manslaughter charges. And her attorney telling CNN this morning. "The prosecution has so mishandled this case and the case is so weak that they have now chosen to resort to character assassination to further taint the jury pool." Now, they also in this filing, Sara, say that they reserve the right to bring charges back against Alec Baldwin, and there is a hearing on August 8. And so, we would expect that that announcement will be made around that time if not before.

SIDNER: Do you have any indication of what those charges might look like if they go forward and recharge Alec Baldwin for something?

MELAS: Good question. So, back in April when the prosecution came out and they said that they have decided to temporarily dismiss the criminal charges against Alec Baldwin, they cited new evidence that they had obtained that had to do with the gun, this long Colt 45 that somehow fired off a live round. The big question remains is how did a live round get to set in the first place?

SIDNER: Right.

MELAS: We know potentially that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed might have been hungover, potentially had been smoking marijuana that led to her --

SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE)

MELAS; -- maybe not having the right judgment but how did that live round get to the set. Now, they are saying, prosecution, that the gun and broken sear have been sent to the state's independent expert for further testing. So, if they feel, Sara, that the gun did not have any modifications that would have made it fire around, then perhaps they would bring charges back against Alec Baldwin. Now remember, Alec Baldwin has told CNN that he didn't pull the trigger --

SIDNER: Right.

MELAS: -- and that when the gun was handed to him, that it was said to be a cold gun. So, again, still so many questions. And as CNN's Josh Campbell has said, how did live rounds get to the set, will we find that out, and could charges be brought against anybody else is a big question when this goes to trial.

[11:55:13]

SIDNER: Lot of back and forth there. Chloe Melas, thank you so much for those new details.

BERMAN: Fascinating. And I knew you, Rahel, are going to spend the afternoon having a blast watching the Fed.

SOLOMON: A very exciting afternoon. Yes, of course.

BERMAN: You know how to party.

SOLOMON: I'm not being sarcastic at all. Yes, of course, the Fed is meeting. This is the second day of their two-day meeting. We might actually see the Fed stop --

SIDNER: Just stop.

SOLOMON: -- pause, put the rate hikes. If you have lost count, they have hiked more than 10 times. It has been really an eventful time, but what goes up must come down. Inflation coming down. Rate hikes appear to be cooling.

SIDNER: I love the nerdiness of us all.

BERMAN: Yes. Just remember --

SIDNER: We all are excited.

BERMAN: -- be safe while you're watching them.

SOLOMON: OK.

BERMAN: Thank you so much, Rahel. Thank you all for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.

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