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Man Arrested Near Obama's D.C. Home; Trump Campaign Officer Cooperates with Investigation; Abuse at Coast Guard Academy; Key Cases from the Supreme Court. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 30, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: How he's connected to January 6th.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Washington metro police say that they've arrested a man blocked from former President Obama's house, and with him they found firearms and the components to make a Molotov cocktail. The man also has a warrant out for his arrest already related to the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

CNN's Gabe Cohen is tracking this one for us and he joins us now.

Gabe, what more are you hearing now from law enforcement about what this man potentially was intending to do?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Kate, that's what investigators, including the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, are digging into right now.

[09:35:02]

But the early details here are really disturbing.

Police say Taylor Taranto was in a van in former President Obama's D.C. neighborhood, with guns, with those explosive materials that you mentioned, after he made claims on an internet live stream that he had some sort of detonator. Police requested a bomb squad to sweep Taranto's van, though at this point law enforcement officials tell CNN there is no indication of a direct threat to the Obamas.

But, look, our team has been looking into Taranto's social media history. He is active on YouTube. He's posted videos, including one where he says he is inside the Capitol after storming it, in his words.

And we know that yesterday morning, before the arrest, a Truth Social account with the same user name as Taranto's YouTube page reposted a post from former President Donald Trump that included the purported D.C. address of the Obamas. And that repost reads, quote, got them sounded. You can see it on your screen there.

As you mentioned, Taranto also had this open warrant for his arrest related to the January 6th attack at the Capitol. So, at this point he's been arrested and at least charged with being a fugitive from justice. We don't know what additional charges could be coming, Kate, at this point.

We also know that Taranto is a defendant in a civil suit filed by the estate of former Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, who died by suicide in the days after the January 6th attack.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Gabe, thank you for giving us an update on that. Much more to learn.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, new information that a Trump campaign official is working with special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into January 6th. Sources tell CNN that former Trump campaign aide Mike Roman is cooperating in the probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz is live in Washington, D.C.

Katelyn, who exactly is Mike Roman and what does it tell us about what Jack Smith is looking into?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Right. So, John, Mike Roman was a campaign official for Donald Trump's campaign in 2020. And he was one of the people working on that scheme to essentially convince battleground states that Donald Trump had lost, to submit to Congress that actually he had won, the fake electors scheme.

Now, you might not recognize his face. You might not have heard his name before. But this is why Mike Roman matters as someone who's speaking to the Justice Department. It's because this. Take a listen to what he said previously when he was being asked by investigators about what happened. Here is Mike Roman testifying in the January 6th investigation on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what was your role, if any, in having alternate electors meet in states that Mr. Trump had lost, including Pennsylvania?

MIKE ROMAN: The Fifth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you discuss the alternate electors plan with President Trump, either before or after the electors met and cast votes on December 14, 2020?

ROMAN: The Fifth. (END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: So you see there Mike Roman is not providing answers to the congressional investigators. But we do now know that he is providing answers to the special counsel's office, the criminal investigators, because they reached an agreement for him to be able to sit for an interview, provide them information, and, at the same time that they're getting answers from him, this special counsel investigation around January 6th, Donald Trump, the 2020 election, it is laser focused on what happened with those fake electors.

So, all of that coming together at a moment where it seems like the investigation has really moved quite forward and also may be nearing some sort of conclusion.

John.

BERMAN: So the other half of Jack Smith's portfolio into the Mar-a- Lago documents, in which there are already federal indictments, CNN is learning that a witness in this, and perhaps someone who was there for a key moment, is a key current Trump campaign official. Susie Wiles, who's practically running the campaign, Katelyn.

POLANTZ: That's right. Susie Wiles is very involved in not just Donald Trump's campaign for president now, but also the effort to make sure that people have lawyers, his legal strategy, as he has all of these investigators around him. And Susie Wiles, we have confirmed, is the political action committee representative whom Donald Trump showed a classified map of military operations to in 2021, an episode that made the indictment, and she also is a person who spoke to investigators numerous times as a witness.

So, this person in the political sphere is just highlighting how much these people around Trump witnessed so much and are so useful for investigators and could also be useful as this goes to trial.

[09:40:05]

We also heard from our sources that the Trump inner circle was quite blind-sided by the fact that she had talked to them. But she is one of the people in this key indictment.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, just think about the conflict that creates, a person who is trying to get Donald Trump elected president again could also be a witness in the federal case against him.

Katelyn Polantz, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: A disturbing pattern at the Coast Guard Academy. How a secret inquiry into alleged sexual abuse revealed that high ranking officials were ignoring and concealing assaults and other serious misconduct. Our Pam Brown has our exclusive reporting next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning we have a CNN exclusive for you. A culture of cover ups at the Coast Guard Academy. A secret internal probe into alleged sexual abuse there revealed high-ranking officials often ignored or covered up serious misconduct, yet the findings never made it beyond the agency's top leadership. That's according to records reviewed exclusively by CNN and dozens of interviews with current and former Coast Guard employees and students.

[09:45:06]

CNN chief investigative correspondent Pamela Brown has the details for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It's called Operation Fouled Anchor. And it was an investigation into sexual assault at the Coast Guard Academy, which uncovered a history of substantiated rapes and assaults that were ignored or even covered up by high-ranking officials.

You've never heard of it because no one ever saw that report. It was buried. Even though it was completed a few years ago.

The findings were kept secret by Coast Guard's top leadership. And, get this, after all this time, the Coast Guard finally came forward and reported it to Congress this month only after CNN's investigative team asked about it.

The report found dozens of cases of alleged sexual assault at the Coast Guard Academy, even though they only looked at a limited time frame, from 1988 to 2006.

And here's some more details about what's in Operation Fouled Anchor. It said that there was a disturbing pattern of not treating reported sexual assaults as criminal matters, even in cases where there was overwhelming evidence. Leadership was more concerned at that time about Coast Guard Academy reputation than about the victims of crimes who were members of our service. And that the suspects and sometimes the sometimes the victims were simply disenrolled from the academy with no investigation at all.

If there were punishments, some were laughable. Minor things, like extra homework or lower class standings. Even those pushed out of the academy were sometimes able to serve in the U.S. military.

Now, CNN repeatedly reach out to the Coast Guard for answers to detailed questions and instead they reached out to Congress to fess up about the report.

I want to go now to an interview that I did with a young woman who recently graduated from the Coast Guard Academy. She told me that the culture has not changed. She asked us to hide her identity. This is what she said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was sexually assaulted three times. The first by a superior. The second time by somebody I considered a dear friend. And the third by an international cadet.

It was completely toxic and devastating to my sense of self. And left lifelong damages to my physical, mental health.

The Coast Guard Academy employs, reinforces and cultivates a system that thrives on the traumatic and pain of women and minorities. It's designed for their failure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The Coast Guard sent CNN a statement saying in part, they're dedicated to addressing the needs of survivors and holding offenders accountable.

We're going to have much more about this throughout the day and on cnn.com in a story by my incredible investigative colleagues who have been working on this for months, Melanie Hicken, Blake Ellis and Audrey Ash.

Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: That was our Pamela Brown.

All right. Over to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Minutes from now the Supreme Court will decide whether tens of millions of people in this country will be getting relief from their student loan debt or not. And also, what will it mean when the Supreme Court decides -- what will it mean about President Biden's executive authority going forward?

And an important case also grappling with gay rights and free speech. It's also expected. We'll have it all for you right here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:52:43]

BERMAN: We are standing by for two major Supreme Court rulings. Yes, two more after yesterday's huge affirmative action cases. Today, the court weighs in on President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. Is it legal?

Also, gay rights. Can a store effectively refuse business to gay customers?

The student loan issue deals with the president's order to forgive up to $20,000 in loans for more than 40 million Americans. It has yet to go into effect as it sits in court. Nebraska and five other Republican-led states, as well as two individual borrowers, sued the White House. They claim the Department of Education exceeded its authority.

BOLDUAN: We're also expecting a major ruling on LGBTQ rights and First Amendment rights. This is a case that's called 303 Creative versus Elenis. And it involves a website designer which says Colorado's non- discrimination law violates her free speech rights. Lorie Smith says that she doesn't want to enter the wedding website business for fear that she will face legal consequences if she refuses to work with same sex couples. And, she says, she shouldn't have to be forced to work with same sex couples over her objection to same sex marriage. Civil rights groups, though, say, if the court rules in her favor, it could open the door for businesses to refuse service to many other groups, including based on race and religion.

SIDNER: The student loan case alone could affect 40 million people.

Let's bring in CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider.

Jessica, an historic morning, obviously, again. Bring us up to speed on what is happening before all of these key rulings.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, in just minutes from now, Sara, we'll get the last opinions of the term. The big one being the student loan forgiveness program. The Supreme Court will likely decide here whether the Biden administration has the authority to cancel student debt for 40 million plus American. And it would amount to a price tag of about $400 billion.

This program has been put on hold by the lower courts, so it has not been in effect. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Biden administration, they could begin putting this program back into effect. They've already approved 26 million applications. More than 40 million people are eligible here.

But the big sticking point is whether the administration actually has the power under federal law to do this.

[09:55:02]

The conservative justices at argument were very skeptical about whether the Biden administration could enact this program, especially with such a big price tag.

There was also some question about fairness. Justice Gorsuch talked about the fact, why is it fair if millions of Americans have already paid off their loans. Why do certain people now get loan forgiveness. So, that's the first big case arguably affecting a lot more people -- millions of people than this next one.

The second one we're waiting on is about a wedding website designer in Colorado who's suing, saying that her free speech is being violate by a Colorado law that makes it -- prohibits people from refusing to service same sex couples because of their sexual orientation. This wedding website design is getting ahead of that, saying I want to start my wedding website business but I'm not going to make wedding websites for same sex couples because it will violates my free speech. In a sense saying, you are compelling me to speak about something that I disagree with.

The concern for the liberal justices here, if they rule in favor of the wedding website designer, would be, when does this end? Creative business, creative business owners might take liberty with this and refuse to service any number of people, whether it be on the basis of same-sex marriage or their race or their religion. So, we are waiting to see what the course sides on this one. They have repeatedly been in favor of religious liberties, siding with religious causes. So, will it be the same today? We'll know in just a few minutes, guys.

SIDNER: Jessica Schneider, thank you so much for all of that.

BERMAN: All right, we're now less than four minutes away from the first of these two rulings, and they are coming. We knew for a fact that they are coming today. There's no mystery. We're going to find out the answers very shortly.

And we are told the White House has been preparing for months for the Supreme Court's decision on the student loan forgiveness plan. They have been coming up, we're told, with contingency plans for borrowers should the ruling not go their way.

CNN's Arlette Saenz at the White House.

Arlette, what are those plans?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the White House has been bracing for this moment for quite some time as the fate of President Biden's student loan forgiveness program is in the hands of the Supreme Court this morning. Now, we're told that behind the scenes adviser here at the White House and the Department of Education, all across the board, have been working on the plans for the various outcomes to this case. They have been discussing, we're told, some policy options that could be put into effect if the court was to rule against this plan.

Additionally, they talked about ways that they could try to promote and advise student borrowers on other programs that they can take advantage of.

We've also heard from progressive lawmakers and some debt relief advocate groups who have urged the administration to consider the use of the Higher Education Act. That's a law from the 1960s. It's unclear whether the administration would actually go down that route. It could have a complicated legal route as well.

But in addition to preparing for the fact that it could be struck down, they are also preparing for the possibility that they will be allowed to move forward with this proposal. They likely would be sending out notice to borrowers and servicers about the steps ahead.

And let's not forget, this is a plan that the administration anticipates could affect up to 40 million student borrowers. There have already been 26 million applications submitted with 16 million of those approved. This could cancel up to $20,000 of student debt.

Now, those applications have been on hold. For Americans who have already applied for this program, they're not going to have to apply once again if this program is allowed to move forward.

So, big questions going forward for the administration today on these next steps.

Earlier today the education secretary, Miguel Cardona, would not say whether they had a plan b, but take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIGUEL CARDONA, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Right now my focus is on the case that we put forward. We're prepared. And it's in our DNA at the Department of Education to fight for students and to fight for borrowers who right now need a little bit of support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So, we will see what the next steps are once the White House learns of the Supreme Court case. But this is also something that could have huge political implications for President Biden. The issue of student loan forgiveness is something that he talked about quite a bit on the campaign trail. He rolled out this plan in August, in part in the hopes to appealing to young voters, many who are saddled with these high loaded debts at the moment. So, this will be a very big issue for him heading into 2024 and they're waiting to see how exactly the Supreme Court will rule on what is one of the president's signature plans.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. Good to see you, Arlette. Stick close. Thank you so much.

Joining us now, as we wait for this really to get underway, joining us right now is CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig, and CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams.

We have heard that there are two boxes. Again, that's just a data point.

SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: We, of course, that is the least surprising maybe of the breaking news coming in right now, but let's stand by and see. We're going to be getting - we've got our teams, obviously, on it. We're going to be getting those coming in very shortly.

Since -- Arlette we just talking about student loans. Let's talk about that, Elie.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.