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Pence Doesn't Recall "Any Pressure" From Trump In Call To AZ Governor About 2020 Election; Trump Talked About Fallout From An Indicted President; Millions To Clog Road, Skies Over July 4th Holiday; 2 Killed, 28 Injured In Clock Party Shooting. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired July 03, 2023 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
BEN TAUB, STAFF WRITER, "THE NEW YORKER": Thanks very much for having me on. I appreciate it.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Boris?
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A new CNN "KFILE" investigation reveals that Donald Trump once argued that a president under indictment would create a constitutional crisis. Hear Trump in his own words warning about the situation he's now in himself.
Plus, travel records broken as severe weather impacts airports across the country. We're tracking the travel delays and cancellations this Fourth of July weekend.
Stay with us CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:35:10]
SANCHEZ: Former Vice President Mike Pence is now responding to new reporting on a White House pressure campaign to attempt to upend the 2020 presidential election.
Sources tell CNN that soon after the election, former President Trump called Arizona then-Governor Doug Ducey, trying to enlist him in an effort to find widespread fraud. And Trump also repeatedly pressured Pence to help him.
CNN's Kristen Holmes has been looking into this for us.
Kristen, what more is Pence saying about these phone calls?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just a little bit of context on these phone calls. We knew Trump and Ducey had spoken, but we didn't know exactly what they said.
Now I learned over the weekend that, in private conversations, Ducey has told people close to him that he was being pressured by the former president to try and find voter fraud to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
I also learned that Pence made several calls to Ducey during this time frame.
This is important because we know that Pence was being pressured by the former president to try and find voter fraud to overturn the election results.
Now Pence is responding to this reporting. Here's what he said this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did check in with not only Governor Ducey but other governors in states that were going through the legal process of reviewing their election results.
But there was no pressure involved, Margaret. I was calling to get an update. I passed along that information to the president. And there was no more, no less than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So, this is a new phone call. And there's a couple of notes I want to make about it. We know about the phone call in Georgia that Trump made that was recorded with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, when he was asking for votes.
That is also part of the special counsel's investigation, we believe. We know jack Smith has reached out to Raffensperger, that he has sat down with him.
That's not the same case with Ducey. One, we are told there is no recording of this conversation. Two, we are told that the special counsel has not reached out.
I do want to make one other note here, which is the governor's press secretary said that this is in the past. It's time to move on.
But we have to point out that former President Trump is still running for office. And a lot of what he is running on is this idea that 2020 was rigged.
So, whether or not for former governor, it's clearly not for the former president and for the American people, who have to listen to this all the time.
SANCHEZ: May be in the rear-view mirror for the governor but not so much the special counsel and Fani Willis, who is investigating that phone call Trump made to Raffensperger.
Kristen Holmes, thanks so much.
Jim?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: More on Donald Trump's words and how they may be coming back to haunt him.
A CNN "KFILE" investigation found some 2016 comments from Trump on how damaging it would be to the country if a president were to be indicted. He was attacking his election rival, Hillary Clinton, at the time.
Trump, of course, is under state and federal indictments on allegations of business fraud and mishandling classified documents.
Senior editor of CNN's "KFILE," Andrew Kaczynski, is here.
Andrew, you're good at finding what folks have said in the past and audio and video proof of that. Tell us what you found here.
ANDREW KACZYNSKI, SENIOR EDITOR, CNN "KFILE": Yes, you can't serve effectively as president if you're under federal indictment for mishandling classified information. Donald Trump said that six years ago in 2016.
Now he, of course, finds himself under federal indictment for allegedly mishandling classified information.
And Donald Trump didn't just say this once. He said there's upwards of a half dozen times at the end of that 2016 presidential campaign, after James Comey reopened that investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.
Now, Trump did say this numerous times, saying there would be a possible constitutional crisis if Hillary Clinton were to be elected president.
Take a listen to just a few of those clips that we found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We could very well have a sitting president under felony indictment and ultimately a criminal trial.
(SHOUTING)
TRUMP: It would grind government to a halt.
If she were to win, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis that would cripple the operations of our government. She is likely to be under investigation for many years.
And also, it will probably end up, in my opinion, in a criminal trial. I mean, you take a look. Who knows?
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: But it certainly looks that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KACZYNSKI: So, we did reach out to the Trump campaign, to his representatives, to ask about those old quotes, how he squares that with today. But we didn't hear back from them.
[13:40:06]
SCIUTTO: Well, of course, that very same allegation is what led to those famous "lock her up" chants, right, that he is so frequently in relation to Hillary Clinton.
Andrew Kaczynski, good work, as always. Thanks so much.
Brianna?
KEILAR: A roller coaster in North Carolina is shut down after a huge crack was found in a support pillar. Ahead, what more we are learning about this dangerous discovery.
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[13:45:00]
KEILAR: Holiday travel is starting to get back on track after days of severe weather delays. But now millions will be heading home after the July 4th long weekend.
AAA is saying more than 50 million people will travel by road or airplane here over the next few days. And TSA set an all-time screening record this weekend.
CNN aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean, is live for us at Reagan National Airport.
A record, Pete. Is what you're seeing right now the calm before yet another storm?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, things are relatively smooth today, Brianna. Think about where we were a week ago when airlines in the U.S. cancelled 2,200 flights. Today, they've only cancelled 98.
Just checked FlightAware, 1,600 delays. The delay number keeps going up. Cancellations not going up all that fast. Even yesterday, airlines in the U.S. cancelled 600 flights in the U.S. when storms hit the east coast.
Things can change relatively quickly. And the FAA is warning of ground stops for flights later today going into major hubs like New York, Philadelphia, D.C., Baltimore, Charlotte, which is a big Hub for American, Atlanta, a big hub for Delta Airlines, all the way down to Tampa and Miami.
So, the day is still relatively young. The good news is, though, we have turned the page from the big cancellations of last week.
I want you to listen to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who says that things are getting back on track.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We're watching more severe -- potential for severe weather. That's what touched off all of these problems about a week ago.
But you look at where we were a year ago where, even on blue sky days with no severe weather, there were really unacceptable levels of cancellations and delays. We've come a long way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: United Airlines cancelled more flights than any other airline last week. The good news today, it's only cancelled 37 flights, 1 percent of its schedule. So, things are very different now than they were last week, Brianna.
We will see, though. A lot of people still yet to travel home after that TSA record of 2.88 million people on Friday.
KEILAR: Really amazing to see that record.
Pete Muntean, live for us at Reagan, thank you.
Jim?
SCIUTTO: Good to see the planes are flying.
Well, another story we're following, a manhunt underway in Baltimore. Investigators searching for multiple suspects at a mass shooting at a street party that left two dead, 28 others injured.
Plus, an amusement park had to close one of its roller coasters after a visitor found and filmed a massive crack in a steel support pillar. Goodness, look at that speed by. We're going to have more. Stay with us.
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[13:52:21]
SCIUTTO: Police in Baltimore are searching for multiple suspects today following a deadly mass shooting at a block party that left two dead, 28 injured. The community understandably in shock.
Two people killed identified as 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez and 20- year-old Kylis Fagbemi. Twelve of those wounded by the gunshots were just teenagers.
CNN's Gloria Pazmino, she's in Baltimore for us.
Gloria, city officials just gave an update in a press conference, including pictures of the suspects. What do you know?
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, so far, police officials actually have not named the suspects or identified any images that they are looking at in order to figure out who they are.
We do know that they're looking for multiple people, at least two. That's who they believe was responsible for Saturday night's shooting. They say they believe multiple people were behind it.
Now they also told us, so far, they have recovered several shell casings from different kinds of guns. So we're waiting to learn more about that.
Jim, they also released this poster here, a reward poster. The reward has been increased to $28,000.
These two are the fatal victims of Saturday night's shooting.
We also heard from medical officials today about the incredible medical response that the city of Baltimore released on Saturday night. Several people were treated in the hospital. Twenty-eight people hurt by gunfire, seven of them are still in the hospital, four are in critical condition.
And we heard from medical officials today, who told us that they have trained for this kind of mass casualty event. They went to work while locking down the hospital, not knowing if the gunmen were outside the hospital.
They said they went on to save lives and likely saved the lives of people that may not have lived.
We also heard from the mayor and police officials who are avowing to find those responsible for this violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT (D-BALTIMORE): We won't stop until we find those responsible and hold them accountable. We won't.
With that said, we need the help of our residents and anyone that knows anything to come forward and say something so that we can bring those who are recklessly carrying out acts of violence like this to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAZMINO: While police have not specifically named the suspects, they did say that they are combing through multiple videos, including posted -- those that were posted to social media as well as surveillance video from the scene in order to identify the people behind Saturday night's violence -- Jim?
[13:55:13]
SCIUTTO: So you're saying the police acknowledging they don't have any details about potential suspects? Any ideas? They're just looking at the camera footage?
PAZMINO: Yes, you know, it was actually a little bit surprising that they weren't ready to name the suspects yet considering how much footage is out there about what went on Saturday night.
However, some of the officials I spoke with told me that doesn't necessarily mean they don't know who the people are.
They may not be looking to name them just yet in hopes of being able to locate them before they are able to get away. They are working to gather all that evidence and find the people who were there on Saturday night shooting into the crowd.
SCIUTTO: Sure, urgent need.
Gloria Pazmino, there in Baltimore, thanks so much.
Brianna?
KEILAR: Former Vice President Mike Pence responding to new information on a White House pressure campaign to up-end the 2020 presidential election. We'll discuss after a quick break.
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