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Wagner Boss in Russia; Russia Strike on Lviv; Questions on Whereabouts of Prigozhin; Nauta to Appear in Court; Nick Akerman is Interviewed about Walt Nauta. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired July 06, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:22]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The president of Belarus makes a stunning new claim, the mercenary boss accused of staging a failed rebellion against Vladimir Putin is actually in Russia not Belarus. CNN is in Belarus learning more about the fate of Yevgeny Prigozhin.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And headed to court. The personal aid accused of helping Donald Trump conceal classified documents and lie about it will face a judge this morning, and the new details unredacted about what the Justice Department knew before they searched Trump's home.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The social media smack down. Facebook's founder takes on Twitter head on -- or Thread on as the case my be. Millions of new users in just hours. I'm Thread influencer John Berman, with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan, and this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: This morning a stunning twist in the aftermath of the attempted mutiny in Russia. We are told Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is actually in Russia, not living in Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko first said Prigozhin was in his country, but when CNN's Matthew Chance had a chance to ask him about that this morning, his story changed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I worder if you could provide us all with a bit of an update on the whereabouts of the Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Is he in Belarus or not?

PRESIDENT ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUS (through translator): In terms of Yevgeny Prigozhin, he is in St. Petersburg, or maybe this morning he would travel to Moscow or elsewhere, but he's not on the territory of Belarus now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: This comes after Russian state media launched a pretty fierce attack on Prigozhin pointing to his criminal past while airing footage of a proposed police raid at the Wagner leader's home and office.

These are just some of the things they say they found, wigs, gold, guns, stacks of cash and multiple passports with different identities.

CNN's Matthew Chance joins us now from Minsk, Belarus, this morning.

Matthew, we saw you there talking to the president of Belarus, Lukashenko. What else did he tell you about all of this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, an extraordinary conversation here at the marble-clad Palace of Independence in the center of Minsk. It's one of the presidential palaces here that Alexander Lukashenko uses.

It was meant to be a wide-ranging conversation. We spoke, first and foremost, as you just heard, about Wagner, the whereabouts of the Russian mercenary group, the whereabouts of its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. What a shock that he's not here because there's a, you know, ten days ago or so that Lukashenko went out and told everybody that he was here and that the deal that he'd brokered, remember, to bring to an end the Wagner uprising by offering exile to the Wagner leader and Wagner fighters here in Belarus was actually still not been - not - had not been finalized. In fact, you know, it seems, from the video we've been watching that you mentioned there on state television in Russia, that it's being renegotiated, if you can put it that way, by the Kremlin. And that may not end well for Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is seeing his empire basically taken to pieces bit by bit by the Russian state in the aftermath of that military uprising,

Alexander Lukashenko said he did not know what was going to happen to Yevgeny Prigozhin, but he seemed much less, you know, clear about what the future would hold for the Russian mercenary group. He said he's no longer preparing camps, military camps for an influx of Wagner fighters. That's something he said he would consider doing previously. And there have been satellites photographs, in fact, put out of military camps in Belarus apparently - apparently with new tents being put up there, possibly in preparation for an influx of Wagner fighters. That influx has not happened now.

Lukashenko said that he doubted, though, that Putin would kill Yevgeny Prigozhin. And he -- he came out with this in an unsolicited way. He wasn't asked whether Putin would kill him. He said, I don't think he's going to kill him.

And so it's extraordinary, isn't it, that the possibility even that the Wagner leader could be killed by the Kremlin is something that the leader of neighboring Belarus is willing to discuss in public to international journalists who had gathered here in the - in the center of Minsk.

So, yes, an extraordinary conversation with extraordinary new revelations coming from a man who has been pivotal in the dramatic events of the past couple of weeks.

Sara.

SIDNER: Matthew Chance, thank you for your extraordinary reporting on this issue.

[09:05:01]

Kate, it is a surprise to a lot of people that Yevgeny Prigozhin isn't jailed or worse. We'll see what happens.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and to put a fine point on it, I mean Lukashenko does not give access like any - like a normal leader would, just as we know many autocratic leaders don't. And what Matthew was able to do with other correspondents there is really significant and important, and all against, as we - everyone's search for Prigozhin continues.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine, emergency workers in Lviv are digging through rubble right now searching for survivors after a missile attack hit an apartment building early this morning. We have just brought in new video of crews rescuing some residents found on the site of the attack. At least five people were killed and the number of people being found injured continues to rise this morning, now standing at 36.

The missile hit around 2:45 a.m. local time. Lviv's military - the military there calling this the most devastating attack on civilians in Lviv since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine. This drone video we're showing shows just how widespread and expansive this round of attacks really was. Officials say dozens of homes, hundreds of apartments were destroyed. An orphanage and a school, they were also not spared.

CNN's Ben Wedeman, he's on the ground in Ukraine, he joins us now for the very latest.

Ben, what more are you hearing about this round of attacks?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is that it was a caliber missile that hit this residential building. That is a hypersonic Russian missile that carries about 1,000 pounds of high explosives. They're so fast, they're very difficult for air defenses to take down. So, this explains this level of destruction.

It's not at all clear, however, why this building was hit. It does seem to have simply been a residential building. Among those five dead is a 21-year-old woman, a journalist, as well as a 95-year-old woman who survived the Second World War.

Now this strike comes as quite a shock. This is a part of Ukraine that's been largely spared during the Russian invasion that began in February of last year. Many people had fled from other parts of the country to Lviv because it's close to Poland and, as I said, the situation is much calmer there. But obviously, this is going to shatter that illusion of safety in Lviv.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Ben, thank you for the very latest on that.

And, John, Bianna, you have the - you have this latest attack in Lviv and also, as we were talking about with Sara, you've got the hunt for that man right there.

BERMAN: Yes, there really is so much going on.

With us now is CNN's senior global affairs analyst Bianna Golodryga.

I want to start with Yevgeny Prigozhin. And I just want to remind people of the journey that we are now being told roughly that he has taken. He was over here leading the Wagner group in eastern Ukraine, marching, it seems, towards Moscow. After they stood down, he then, we are told, went here to Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Now the Belarusian president is saying he's up here in St. Petersburg but may go here to Moscow. It's very hard to take any of this at face value, Bianna. But if you do, if this is the bizarre journey of this man, what does it tell us?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, full disclosure, I do not know where Yevgeny Prigozhin is, but I am not surprised that we've seen this back and forth in terms of trying to figure out where, in fact, he is. Remember we've heard from him since that failed mutiny last week, but we haven't seen him. And he didn't say where he was.

There had been some speculation and some people online who watch this space closely who have assumed and thought that they had spotted Prigozhin around St. Petersburg the last few days. Yes, he may have been in Belarus. That was the line last week. But even if he had been in Belarus, remember, it is just an arm of Russia at this point and they do have an extradition treaty. So, if Putin wanted him back, he could have him back any time.

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that Vladimir Putin still doesn't know necessarily what to do with Yevgeny Prigozhin. He was a huge asset for him leading the Wagner group for so many years. And now it does appear - listen, he said that he would pardon him for treason. That doesn't mean that he won't charge him and he won't be charged for anything else, perhaps tax evasion, perhaps corruption. And it's interesting timing wise that we've seen these new images that were released by the Russian state media of the police raiding his home and finding millions of dollars in gold bullions (ph) and everything else and a lot of various passport photos of Yevgeny Prigozhin. So, perhaps this is an opportunity for Vladimir Putin to make him more irrelevant, to take away any sort of leverage that he may still have.

BERMAN: Well, why make him irrelevant, why make Yevgeny Prigozhin irrelevant and not dead?

[09:10:02]

GOLODRYGA: Listen, I think he is somebody who goes way back with Vladimir Putin. Killing someone who may still be rather popular among Russians may not be the most opportune thing for Putin to do at this point. Charging him after letting Russians know that this is not the man who you thought he was, the funding actually came from me, the state, for Wagner all of these years, and look at all of the corruption and all of the tax evasion on your dime that he has been conducting for so many years, may be a way for Russians to say, you know what, the system is more solid now, it's more stable. Wagner, perhaps even the war, can continue without this one man, who had gained some prominence over the last few months, that's for sure.

BERMAN: I want to show people the main characters in the drama playing out today, these three, you know, aging men, Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko and Yevgeny Prigozhin. This news today, I call it news - this statement today from Lukashenko that Prigozhin is in St. Petersburg, who is this most about? He said it. It's about him. But I get the sense that he's really the central player.

GOLODRYGA: It's all coming from him. And, listen, faces only a mother can love here. And these -- none of these men have -- are known to be truth tellers, which is why we're in a situation over, you know, which propagandist are you going to believe most?

This guy, Lukashenko, had a moment last week where he could really stand up and say, I - I was the person, the middleman, who helped calm the situation and we negotiated this deal to keep - to keep Prigozhin alive, come into Belarus. That seemed to have benefitted Vladimir Putin, right, to turn to him when he's needed a lifeline and many times in the past to say, you've got to step in now.

Lukashenko likes to speak his mind sometimes. He doesn't go before reporters often. But when he does, he goes on and on and on. And this was an opportunity for him, once again, to say, you know what, I don't know where he is. Perhaps he is in Russia. Perhaps he is in St. Petersburg. But I think all of this is still coming from the command of one man.

BERMAN: All right, Bianna Golodryga, what a moment. Thank you for helping us understand it and understand them.

Sara.

SIDNER: It's a great conversation.

All right, in less than two hours, Donald Trump's aide and co- defendant will appear in court in the classified documents case. This as we're learning the DOJ has video evidence of someone at Mar-a-Lago moving boxes, and they had it before the FBI conducted its search.

Also, new information about a man arrested with a van full of weapons near former President Barack Obama's home. The other lawmakers he's accused of threatening days before his arrest.

And, how soon millions of Americans could get access to the first drug proven to slow the progression of Alzheimer's.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:58]

BERMAN: Very shortly the man accused of helping Donald Trump hide classified documents is due in court. Like Trump, Walt Nauta is expected to be arraigned and plead not guilty to several federal charges including conspiracy to obstruct. Prosecutors say Nauta, a long-time loyal aide to Trump, moved boxes at Mar-a-Lago at least five times. During that time, 64 boxes were removed but only 30 were brought back. Do the math.

And new overnight, we now know what prosecutors knew before they requested a warrant to search the Florida resort. They had surveillance video taken outside a basement storage room that shows boxes being moved to unknown destinations.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is just outside the Miami court where Nauta will be arraigned this morning.

Carlos, what do we expect?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, good morning.

This is the third court hearing for 40-year-old Walt Nauta. The first time around he had trouble finding an attorney that would represent him here in south Florida. The second time around, bad weather kept him from traveling to south Florida.

Now, we expect that his arraignment later this morning will be brief. We expect that Nauta will plead not guilty to obstruction charges and to lying to investigators. Prosecutors say that Nauta moved dozens of boxes that contained classified documents from a storage room at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to other parts of the property and that he lied about the entire thing. Prosecutors say that this was all in an effort to keep one of Trump's lawyers from finding the classified documents that had been subpoenaed by a grand jury. Nauta, who as you mentioned is a personal aide to the former president, is expected in federal court here this morning. He was with Donald Trump in Philadelphia last week where the former president had a campaign appearance.

John.

BERMAN: So, while this is happening today, Carlos, we also learned some new information about what was in the affidavit really at the beginning of this prior to executing the search warrant. What did we learn?

SUAREZ: Ye, that's exactly right, John. So, we learned a few new details about this search warrant affidavit, although some of it was already covered in Donald Trump's indictment as well as Walt Nauta's indictment. We now know that the FBI was aware that some of these boxes had already been moved before they searched the - Trump's Mar-a- Lago property.

Now Nauta is not named in this court document, but we believe that he is referenced a couple of times throughout the affidavit. One part reads, quote, on May 30, 2022, four days after witness 5's interview, that is who we believe is Nauta, with the FBI during which the location of boxes was a significant subject of questioning, witness 5 is observed exiting an anti-room (ph) doorway with approximately 50 bankers boxes.

[09:20:01]

Again, the federal government says that they have surveillance video of Nauta moving these boxes before the FBI searched the property and they say that Nauta lied to investigators about knowing the whereabouts of the boxes and whether or not he moved them throughout -- a couple of points throughout the year.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, filling in some of the blanks here. Again, Walt Nauta due in court not long from now.

Carlos Suarez, outside that building. Keep us posted, Carlos. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, let us dig a little bit deeper now into the significance of what Nauta's arraignment today means moving forward.

Joining us now, Nick Akerman, former assistant special Watergate prosecutor and former assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York.

Thank you so much for joining us once again.

So, we learned that this newly unsealed information that we have all gotten, that the FBI had surveillance video before they ever raided Mar-a-Lago in this case. What does that tell you?

NICK AKERMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT SPECIAL WATERGATE PROSECUTOR: Well, I think it tells me a couple things. They certainly had that information showing the boxes going out and in, which was incredibly important, but it really doesn't mean anything unless you had some inside witness who is specifying exactly what happened.

I think what we're seeing with that new information is really corroboration of one or more witnesses who basically spelled out exactly what happened in terms of hiding documents from Evan Corcoran, that somebody actually told them how this all worked.

We know that also because two of the areas - or several of the areas that are mentioned in that affidavit at the end, which is the anti- room (ph) of Trump's residency, the residency itself, and his office are mentioned. Meaning that somebody specified to the FBI that these boxes went to those locations. And, in fact, we know that's what happened because documents were found in those locations after the search was executed, particularly documents in Donald Trump's office.

So, what this says to me is, they've got a witness who has spelled this out, maybe more than one witness. I believe it's probably Corcoran because he, at some point, must have learned that they were playing him and he was concerned that his law license would be on the line. And it's very likely he's the person that went to the FBI afterwards and said, look, this is what happened. You guys have been hoodwinked. And I think what we're seeing here is basically a preview of what

we're going to see at the trial itself where you're going to have Corcoran and others testify and these videotapes are really going to be evidence to corroborate exactly what they say on the witness stand.

SIDNER: You talk about the fact that both the video and the witnesses will have a huge impact on this case. I want to ask you about Walt Nauta himself. At first he was having a really hard time getting a Florida attorney to represent him. Why do you think that is?

AKERMAN: I think a lot of lawyers are reluctant to have anything to do with Donald Trump or any of his cases. Donald Trump doesn't pay his lawyers, number one. And, number two, as it turns out, the person who actually provides all the legal advice and the direction in the course of any representation is Donald Trump. So, any reputable lawyer is going to have a hard time getting involved in this case. Not to mention the fact that a number of lawyers who have represented Trump over the last couple of years are under investigation.

SIDNER: Nick Akerman, thank you so much for breaking all of that down for us. Appreciate you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Still ahead for us, the new loyalty oath Florida Republicans are now requiring from any candidate who wants to get on the primary ballot.

Plus, the man arrested with weapons near former President Obama's home begun live streaming in the neighborhood shortly after Donald Trump posted an address on social media. What we're now learning about that scarry situation ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:52]

BERMAN: New numbers just released show a huge spike in hiring for June. The private sector added an estimated 497,000 new jobs last month. That's according to the latest national employment report. Much of those gains were driven by growth in leisure and hospitality industries.

At least five people are hospitalized after a mass shooting in an apartment complex in Fort Lauderdale. Police say a group of people was gathered in a courtyard when a second group confronted them and opened ire. Two of the victims were minors. Investigators are asking for the public's help to identify the suspects.

Today the Food and Drug Administration is expected to grant full approval to the Alzheimer's drug Legembi. An estimated 1 million people suffer from early forms of Alzheimer's. The drug received accelerated approval in January based on evidence that it clears plaque build-ups in the brain associated with the disease. but at a cost of nearly $27,000, coverage has been limited for Medicare and Medicaid patients. That coverage could expand if the FDA grants full approval.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Florida's Republican Party now saying, put up or shut up to Republicans running for president. The state Republican Party now requiring every candidate to sign a loyalty pledge in order to appear on the state's primary ballot.

[09:30:06]