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Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) is Interviewed about Jayapal, Israel and No Labels; Trumps Lawyers Finish Applying for Security Clearances; Renato Mariotti is Interviewed about the Documents Trial; Police Arrest Suspect in Long Island Murders; Alabama Woman Returns after Being Missing. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 17, 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]

REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-IL): She'll clarify that even more. At the same time we've had leadership of the Democratic Party chime in and make clear that as a party we support Israel. Israel is our strongest ally in the world, or certainly the Middle East, one of our strongest in the world, and the relationship is ironclad.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: You've signed on to a letter of other -- we can describe it as a group of Democratic members, Jewish members, more moderate members signed on a letter kind of speaking out about her remarks. At the end of the letter, the letter that I have seen, it reads this, just to read it for everyone, Congressman, we will never allow anti-Zionist voice that embolden anti-Semitism to hijack the Democratic Party and country.

Is that what you see Congresswoman Jayapal doing with these remarks? Do her comments work to hijack the Democratic Party?

SCHNEIDER: No, I think as we crafted the letter what we were saying is the groups on both sides of the political spectrum who are trying to create wedges and divide -- in this case divide the Democratic Party, the folks you heard chanting, making it impossible for Jan Schakowsky to speak on Saturday, they have a clear intent to demonize Israel, to try to create a wedge and bring the Democratic Party to a position that just doesn't reflect the reality - the realities of the U.S./Israel relationship or where the Democratic Party is supporting that relationship. We have broad bipartisan support for Israel, not just in the Democratic Party, but across Congress.

BOLDUAN: And that's very true.

The Israeli president, as I mentioned, is coming to Washington. He's boing to be speaking to Congress on Wednesday. Ahead of that some, fellow Democrats -- some fellow Democrats, some progressives, have said that they are going to be boycotting the speech over their objections to moves being made by the Netanyahu government.

Is that the right move? Do you see that as the right approach to register their objections?

SCHNEIDER: No, I see it as exactly the wrong approach. Look, President Herzog has been outspoken in trying to address the

issues Israel faces, including trying to find compromise across parties within Israel on the judicial reform. He has advocated for looking for pathways to reach out and create a platform to restart negotiations with the Palestinians, looking for a partner with the Palestinians. The simple fact is, there is no partner on the Palestinian side to try to begin to have conversations.

But what we're seeing around the region is the Abraham Accords are taking hold. Israel is developing close relations with countries around the region. And my hope is the Palestinians will find it within their leadership to join the talks and join the progress being made in the entire region.

BOLDUAN: This trip, though, by Herzog also highlights the fact that the prime minister, Netanyahu, has not received an invitation to come to Washington, an invitation to the White House. Why do you think he hasn't received an invite yet? Do you see that as a problem - do you see that as a problem in sending a bad message in terms of the relationship with the Netanyahu government, one of - in one of America's closest allies in Israel?

SCHNEIDER: Look, I'm excited to see President Herzog coming to Washington. He'll be with the president tomorrow. He'll speak to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. And I expect the vast majority of members will be present in the chamber to celebrate President Herzog's speech, as well as celebrate 75 years of Israel's existence and a close U.S.-Israel relationship. And I have no doubt that Prime Minister Netanyahu will be here speaking to the president and speaking to the American people as well.

BOLDUAN: I want to turn gears real quick because in New Hampshire today No Labels, the group, and Senator Joe Manchin, they're going to be holding an event, fueling speculation of a possible third-party presidential run. Joe Lieberman, one of the founding members of No Labels, he was on this weekend saying that what they are trying to do is -- one thing they're trying to -- they do not want to be spoilers. They are not in this to be spoilers is how he put it.

You have now joined a group along with the former Democratic House leader, Dick Gebhardt, to counter this effort. Why do you see this as such a problem as a Democrat?

SCHNEIDER: Well, one of the things I said, and I've said this in my conversations with Mr. Gebhardt, is, these are extraordinary times and extraordinary times require extraordinary measures. A second trump presidency I see as a threat, not just to the country, but to the entire American experiment. And we need to create unity to make sure that Trump cannot and will not be the next president of the United States.

This is not a specific criticism of No Labels alone. I think any third-party candidate, history has shown that third-party candidates have a very difficult time gaining support. And current polling reflects that a third-party candidate not only can't win the presidency but it's going to hurt the incumbent president far more than it would damage the former president.

BOLDUAN: Let's see what happens with this.

It's good to have you on, Congressman. Thank you for your time.

[09:35:02]

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The judge who will oversee the documents trial against Donald Trump holds her first hearing. And the first decision she will make might be the biggest of the entire case.

Also, how police used a pizza crust to track down a suspected serial killer in Long Island.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Tomorrow a significant hearing in Donald Trump's classified documents case. Trump's legal team, though, has yet to finish applying for security clearances. The former president's lawyers promised a judge last week that they would wrap up all the necessary steps by today. The clearances are needed, of course, to view the sensitive documents that are central to this case.

[09:40:04]

Tomorrow's hearing is focused on how classified information will be handled during the entirety of the trial.

Joining us now, CNN's Katelyn Polantz.

Katelyn, the judge actually set a deadline of Thursday for the lawyers to complete this task. What's going on?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, the lawyers did tell the judge that they're essentially on track to start looking at classified material. They've submitted pretty much all the forms that they need to submit to get some sort of level of security clearance to start looking at classified information. The only thing that has left to be done is that one of the Trump attorneys, Chris Kise, who's based in Florida, he still has to submit some fingerprints to get that process moving.

But all of this is in service of the this hearing, Sara, that is lined up for tomorrow in this case. A pretty important hearing on a couple of fronts. It's the first time that the defense team and the special counsel's office are going to be before Judge Aileen Cannon, the federal judge that will oversea this case to trial. Right now there's been a lot of arguments on both sides about when that trial should take place. Could it take place at the end of this year or should it be postponed essentially indefinitely even after the presidential election. There is quite a possibility Judge Canon would want to address that timing.

And then we're also going to get a taste of how much the classified material in this case could potentially drag things out. How it's going to be working. How many classified documents actually are there that both Trump's legal team and Walt Nauta, his co-defendant, their -- his legal team are going to have to work through in order to prepare for trial, or is the Justice Department fully prepared to really open the books to them or that there just aren't a lot of classified documents at issue as part of this case. A lot of questions, especially about that, how classified documents are going to be handled. That should be addressed in court tomorrow.

Sara.

SIDNER: Normally these are really mundane parts just before a trial, but this one is particularly significant. And we will be watching.

Thank you so much, Katelyn Polantz. Appreciate it.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, former federal prosecutor and host of the "It's Complicated" podcast, Renato Mariotti.

Counselor, great to see you.

Sara said normally hearings like this get into mundane details. Nothing mundane about the timing of this trial. The timing could be everything here. So, in terms of that, what will you been watching for tomorrow from Judge Aileen Cannon?

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: So, I think the number one thing I'm going to be watching for, John, is whether or not she's eager to decide that issue now. In other words, if she wants to take the motions -- the motion that's been made and make a ruling today on the trial date, or, you know, in this particular hearing, versus saying, hey, I don't have enough information, I want to put this off and see whether I get more information. The latter approach is more cautious. That's what most judges would do. If she makes a decision at this hearing regarding the trial date, I think it's going to be a positive one for Donald Trump.

BERMAN: So, you think if she decides on timing tomorrow it would be to delay the trial until after the election?

MARIOTTI: I think that's right. I mean it -- she could say, for example, do something that puts it off. In other words saying, I'll set a preliminary trial, you know, date next year for now, but I'll reconsider it later. That, to me, is her just saying, I'm going to punt on the issue. But if she's eager to consider the full issue at that hearing, I think it's going to be a bad time for the government, which is why the government's doing everything possible to give - you know, make it hard for her to make that decision at this point.

BERMAN: What can the government actually do, though?

MARIOTTI: Yes, it's -- it's an interesting question, John, because I think they're doing everything they can. In fact, they're going above and beyond what the government typically would do in a case like this. For example, they're going through the documents and pulling out the ones that they think are the most important and flagging those for the defense.

I think the problem is going to be that the defense is likely going to make arguments in this hearing that they need additional classified documents that aren't, you know -- aren't contemplated by the government. That they think additional things are relevant. They're going to disagree with what the government suggests are the most relevant documents in the case. So, you know, it's always -- it's a system that allows for the defense to delay, gives a lot of tools for the defense to delay, and that's why Jack Smith and his team are working, you know, overtime to try to make that as difficult as possible.

BERMAN: Why do classified documents cases provide so many complicating factors? What makes them so complicated?

MARIOTTI: You know, one reason is because of what -- some of the discovery issues regarding classified documents. You know, they actually, for example, have to balance the usual rights that the defendant has.

[09:45:02]

Usually the focus in a criminal trial is getting the evidence to the defendant, allowing the defendant to, you know, examine that evidence at trial, present that evidence to the public. There's a -- actually a right to a public trial in our Constitution. But in classified documents, of course there's a countervailing interest. There's an interest in the United States government in keeping this stuff secret and making sure that the public doesn't know everything in the documents.

And so, in a typical case, everything would go towards disclosure and towards the defense. Here there's a balancing act and you can expect, in a case like this, there to be pretty intense discussions about what information the defense really needs, how that's going to be produced and what time that's going to be produced and in what manner. In other words, is that going to be in a SCIF in the Miami courthouse and whether or not that's going to slow things down, things of that nature.

BERMAN: So, we learned at the end of last week from "The New York Times" that a low-level Trump Organization employee received a target letter in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, perhaps pertaining to alleged perjury in the investigation.

What I found interesting here was that someone did receive a target letter. And we know Donald Trump received a target letter in the Mar- a-Lago documents case. Renato, can you extrapolate that over to the January 6th investigation, which is also being overseen by Jack Smith? Does that mean that if there were to be charges there we would also see target letters first?

MARIOTTI: That's a great -- wow, that's a really great question. I will say, I've never sent a target letter when I was a federal prosecutor without proceeding to indictment. So, I would expect that there - there may be another indictment coming in that case.

But, yes, regarding January 6th, I think that is a reasonable expectation that at the very least he might send a target letter, for example, to Trump himself. I will say Jack Smith has proceeded in an extraordinarily aggressive fashion and I think we're seeing that in both the Mar-a-Lago and the January 6th case.

BERMAN: Renato Mariotti, great to see you. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

Kate, I want to note, it wasn't just a great question, it was, wow, that's a really great question.

BOLDUAN: We have clearly worked together for too long.

BERMAN: Really great question.

BOLDUAN: I was just waiting for that moment. A really great question. Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, a mystery in Alabama that has become more mysterious. A woman who was missing for two days after reporting a toddler seen walking alone on the interstate. That woman is now home. Why that is only spurring more questions, is coming up.

BERMAN: A really great question. Wow.

BOLDUAN: I knew when he said - when he said -

BERMAN: Wow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:36]

BOLDUAN: Investigators say they are pouring through new evidence now after the arrest of a man suspected of being a serial killer in New York. Police arrested Rex Heuermann on Thursday in connection with the murders of three women from over a decade ago. And investigators say Heuermann is the prime suspect in a fourth murder.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is live outside the suspect's home. She's joining me now.

So, Brynn, what more are you learning this morning?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, you know, it was just a short time ago we saw the investigators putting on those full body Tyvek suits going into the home of Rex Heuermann. They have been here all weekend long collecting evidence from that home.

We've also learned from sources that inside the home, in the basement actually, there was a locked door to a room. And inside that they found a cache of guns. I want you to hear form the Suffolk County police commissioner about what he said about that finding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMMISSIONER RODNEY HARRISON, SUFFOLK COUNTY POLICE: So, over 200 guns. He had an arsenal in his - in a vault that he had downstairs. So, it's concerning regarding the guns being registered or -- legal or not. That's something that we're still taking a look at. But - anytime somebody has that type of arsenal, we have some concerns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Now, remember, initially it was -- we were told that was about 92 guns that they were thinking that Rex Heuermann had in his possession. So this is way more. And we hear it's anything from semiautomatic rifles, to assault weapons. So investigators certainly going to hone in on why he had those - that many weapons.

Also looking inside this home, we're told through sources, that they're looking for possible souvenirs that maybe Heuermann maybe kept after some of these killings, any personal belongs that possibly belonged to the victims that maybe just went under the radar of those who lived inside the house. Investigators say that they're going to have to be comparing that not only forensically, but also talking to the victim's families to get an idea if this is something that is important to the investigation.

Another thing to point out that we've learned from sources is that a storage area, not far from where we are, is also being looked at by investigators.

So this investigation very far from over. We know about the three murder - six murder charges of the three women that were killed, a fourth one likely going to be linked to Heuermann as well in the coming maybe weeks or days. The district attorney wouldn't give a precise timeline about that. But, again, the point here is that this investigation is very far from over.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. I mean what -- the more they're - the more places they're going, the more -- obviously the more information that they're covering, and so much more the go through now as you're describing, Brynn. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: Good police work and new technology helped solve that case. Incredible.

Police are still trying to determine what happened in a baffling missing person's case. An Alabama woman suddenly reappeared on foot and is back home this morning after she went missing for a couple of days. Here's where things get a big strange. The missing case started with a 911 call by Carlethia "Carlee" Russell. She reported seeing a toddler walking alone on the side of the highway and pulled over to help. When officers arrived, though, they found her vehicle, and her belongings, but Russell was gone and there was no sign of a toddler either.

CNN's Ryan Young is joining us now. He's been following this story.

Ryan, Russell returned home on Saturday. What more have you learned about this baffling case?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, so many questions in this case. Let's focus on the good news, though, she returned home. Sounds like she's safe and sound. She is going to be evaluated at a hospital.

[09:55:01]

We think that may have already gone through. The police department says at some point they will talk to her about exactly where she was for the last few days.

But so many questions about this case you an understand after the nation really got behind this and were trying to find this young lady and to figure out what exactly happened to the toddler on the side of the road.

Her parents did release a statement that in part reads, we are so grateful to each of you for all the acts of kindness, generosity and compassion you have shown. Our baby is safe. Thank you, Father God. We do not - we do want to ask for privacy at this time to allow us just to love on our daughter. And you can understand why they'd want to feel that way.

After talking to -- looking at investigators from the Hoover Police Department, they clearly will go through, not only the video that they've already been looking through before, but they'll want to talk to this young lady, try to figure out exactly what happened. It was that Thursday when they - that phone call came. There was a 911 call. No toddler has been found so far and we do not know where she could have been all those last few hours.

Well, Sara, still a lot of questions to be answered. The good news, though, is, she is safe.

SIDNER: It is rare to find somebody who is missing. And this is actually the best part of the story. At least she has been found.

YOUNG: True.

SIDNER: Ryan Young, thank you so much for the reporting.

John.

BERMAN: A deal critical to the global food supply terminated by Russia as Ukraine target a key bridge. Major developments.

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