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Trump Receives Letter Saying He's A Target of January 6 Probe; GOP Allies On Hill Defend Trump, Slam Investigations; First Hearing In Classified Docs Case Concludes. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 18, 2023 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: All right, thanks to everybody. A lot more continuing coverage goes on. The Republican leaders in the House are accusing the Justice Department of having a two-tiered system, one for Biden, one for the former president. We're live on Capitol Hill with more on that next.

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[15:35:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to our special breaking news coverage. And still, no comment from the special counsel Jack Smith. No comment when a CNN crew spotted him in D.C. today and asked about the target letter he sent to Donald Trump. CNN asking whether the special counsel's office is preparing to indict the former president over efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election here in the United States. Several Congressional Republicans are vowing to support Trump despite his growing legal troubles. Here's Texas Congressman Troy Nehls. Listen.

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REP. TROY NEHLS (R-TX): Donald Trump is the leader of our party. And Donald Trump is going to beat Joe Biden in 2024 for a second time. Why are they doing everything they can to prevent him from bein2024.the ballot in 2024? I'll tell you why. Because Donald Trump will win in 2024. And the left just think they're scared (BLEEP).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in our chief Congressional correspondent Manu Raju. He's up on Capitol Hill. Manu, you got some colorful language there from the Congressman. What more are you hearing from Republican lawmakers?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Republicans are trying to plot exactly how to respond to the news that Donald Trump could potentially face his third criminal indictment. You've seen actions taken already in the other indictments, including going after the prosecutor in New York, over the first Trump indictment, and then trying to ask for his testimony. As well as seeking records from Jack Smith himself as part of the classified records probe. And now there is calls from some on the hard right to defund the special counsel's investigations all together. That includes coming from Congressman Matt Gaetz, who said that he plans to introduce a bill to go after the special counsel investigation. And I just caught up with Congressman Byron Donalds. Another one of Donald Trump's prominent allies on Capitol Hill. And he indicated that it may be time to go after the Justice Department's funding when it comes time to fund the government.

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REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): This is outrageous and Jack Smith is out of control. What we are looking at while we're dealing with appropriations and some of the dollars that are going to be relevant agencies. Because the Department of Justice is going to have a two- tier system about how they choose to investigate and prosecute, then maybe they don't need that much money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now all of this is seen by Democrats as a blatant way to interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation, trying to go after this probe without even knowing any of the allegations or evidence, as outlined by this potential indictment. All we know is what Donald Trump said that he is the target of this investigation.

But Wolf, even as his most prominent allies are rushing to his defense, many Republicans on Capitol Hill still staying silent, including the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, who just moments ago would not answer questions about this as he walk onto the Senate floor. Also, the Speaker of the House, it's much different than the Speaker of the House, who came out and aggressively defended the former president in the immediate aftermath of this news. Just showing the divisions that continue to persist on Capitol Hill and within the Republican Party over how to deal with the former president and these charges that could be coming any day.

BLITZER: We're bracing for that. We'll see what happens. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, thank you.

We're following the breaking news right now. A potential second indictment of former president Donald Trump by the special counsel, Jack Smith. We'll talk about those cases and his other legal issues right after a quick break.

[15:40:00]

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COOPER: Welcome back to our special coverage. The special counsel's letter targeting Donald Trump in the January 6 criminal probe is the latest in the long list of legal troubles for the former president. CNN's Elie Honig is with me now. Let's just take a look at kind of the big picture because it's easy to lose track of it all. Let's start with the Manhattan's DA's case. ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So lots of cases, four different

cases swirling around Donald Trump now. The one that is most concrete at this point is the Manhattan D.A.'s indictment. This is a state level indictment under New York state law. Donald Trump is charged with falsifying records relating to hush money payments that Donald Trump made to porn stars before the 2016 election. No, importantly, Anderson, that case has already been set for trial starting late March into April of 2024. Now trial dates can move, but if we're trying to figure out the calendar here, that's the one trial that as of this moment, has a date.

COOPER: So that's the Manhattan. Then there's the documents case in Florida.

HONIG: So this is a federal case now. This is brought by DOJ, by the special counsel Jack Smith, that is charged in the federal district court down in the Southern District of Florida. The big question on that case is, when will that trial happen? We'll learn the answer to that momentarily.

COOPER: There's a hearing happening right now.

HONIG: That is it hearing that is happening as we speak. At any point we could get word back from the courthouse that the judge, Judge Cannon, has set a trial date or has not. Has just sorted of said we're going to put it on hold. We're going to dealing with motions and classified documents and then come back. So they're trying to maneuver there for a trial date that's workable.

COOPER: It's also, we saw -- obviously, the former president is not in the court today in Florida, but Walt Nauta is in court.

HONIG: Right, Walt Nauta is the co-defendant, the other person charged with Donald Trump, with documents crimes and obstruction of justice and making false statements. Nauta is it not charged with the documents crime. So that's one special counsel investigation. Jack Smith, same special counsel, he has a completely separate investigation and that's today's news.

COOPER: That's the third one.

HONIG: This is the third one overall, right. Jack Smith, we now learned, has sent a target letter to Donald Trump relating to the January 6th investigation. A target letter means DOJ sees the person as a likely, not definite, but likely target of a subpoena -- excuse me, of an indictment.

[15:45:00]

Meaning that person is likely to be charged criminally. And we'll see. We're all on watch now for whether that indictment comes and if so, what it looks like. Let's keep in mind, Jack Smith has talked to some key insiders. People who are very, very close to Donald Trump, from Mike Pence to Mark Meadows, Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, Hope Hicks, Rudy Giuliani. So it seems that Jack Smith has really covered all the ground here, and he's giving every indication that he's ready to move into his end game there.

COOPER: The fourth investigation, potential case, is in Georgia.

HONIG: Yes, let's not forget. We're now back again to a state level. This is the Fulton County -- which is where Atlanta is -- the Fulton County District Attorney in Georgia who has been investigating Donald Trump for over two and a half years now. She has sent a series of letters to judges and sheriffs in the area, essentially saying, clear your calendars for the first couple weeks of August. We know that she's investigating Donald Trump for his effort to interfere with the election in Georgia. And that the key keys of evidence there -- this also may be part of Jack Smith's evidence -- is the infamous phone call that Donald Trump made to the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger. Where Trump infamously asked Raffensperger to just find 11,780 votes. So that is the fourth one.

We have two indictments already on the books, another one could be coming soon, on January 6th from Jack Smith, and then Fani Willis could be not far behind that.

COOPER: Eli Honig, thanks very much, appreciate it.

When we come back, the latest out of the Florida courtroom -- as we were just talking about -- a hearing in President Trump's classified documents case is under way. Our special coverage continues after a short break.

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BLITZER: The first key hearing in the classifies documents case against Donald Trump has just concluded. Let's get right to the courthouse down in Florida. Our senior justice correspondent Evan Perez is in Washington. Our senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid is outside the courthouse there. So what did you learn first of all -- Paula?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, in the last hour or so, Wolf, we've really gotten a sense of just how former President Trump's legal strategy of trying to delay any prosecution, any criminal prosecution until after the election just how that's going to play out down here in Florida. This is a significant hearing because this is the first time that special council prosecutors and defense attorneys were appearing before Trump appointed Judge Ailene Cannon. She is the judge who's going to oversee this case. And we're watching to see just how receptive she would be to Trump's efforts to try to delay this. And based on what we saw over the last 90 minutes, she's clearly very open to delaying this.

One of the central tensions here has been the fact that special counsel Jack Smith wants a, quote, speedy trial. They suggested that they'd be ready to take this to trial in December. But today if the hearing the judge called that, quote, a compressed timeline. She said, look, cases like this take more time. And she really pushed back on the idea that this case is not what you would describe as a complex case. There's something that should take more time.

Now defense attorneys were up and they called this, once again, unusual. They said it would only be fair to delay any prosecution until after the election. But the judge did insist on some sort of timeline. She said, all right, I know you're not ready to put a trial date on the calendar but could you at least tell me when you can finish going through all the evident, the discovery process. They said they might be able it finish that in November. And then they might be able to give her a time when they think they would be ready to go to trial.

And Wolf, there's a lot of back and forth between prosecutors and defense attorneys about Trump's status as a candidate. The special counsel was clear. They said look, it doesn't matter if he's a former president. He is no longer the president. They said even if he's a candidate for the presidency once again, that he should be treated like any other busy American.

Now Trump's attorneys really took issue with that. They insisted that he is not like any other American. This is unusual. They kept emphasizing that his likely opponents and administration is one prosecuting him. Obviously losing the nuance of a special counsel. But Wolf, the judge just wasn't interested in this argument. She said, look, let's focus on getting some sort of schedule down here.

She is focused on the process and discovery and really the mechanics. At this point she does not appear too interested in the constitutional issues. But we left this hour -- over hour and a half long hearing without any kind of trial date or even an inclination of when she'll make a decision on what happens next.

BLITZER: Very interesting indeed, Paula, stand by. Evan Perez, what do you make of this?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, I think one of the interesting things of what Paula is talking about here is the fact that the Justice Department is adding complications itself to this very, very complicated picture. The idea that the former -- that the special counsel has notified the former president on --

BLITZER: Let me interrupt you for one minute, Evan. You see Walt Nauta, one of the codefendants with Trump, leaving the courthouse right there as well. Go ahead.

PEREZ: Well, the fact is that the former president is being notified on Sunday, Wolf, that he could be the target of -- that he is target of the January 6th investigation, that he could be indicted in the coming days. Really does throw another complication into the picture. Because it means that, you know, that the former president is not only facing this trial that Paula was just talking about in this hearing that was about, but it means that the special council could be adding another set of charges to the former president. And something that he's going to have to be facing while he is running for office.

So, it is something that I think adds complications. I know that the special counsel is looking at this as, you know, a straightforward matter, that they can try to, you know, walk and chew gum at the same time.

[15:55:00]

But it is the fact that the former president is running for office again. There is the process that you're going to have to go out campaigning. And I think the judge is going to show a lot of deference to that issue. The issue being that, you know, he does have to go out there and campaign and it is part of the process.

So I think, is no, the fact is, you know, this new information we have, which is that, you know, he could be indicted in the coming days, really does add another issue for the special counsel and for the proceedings that are going on in Florida -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Very interesting indeed. Paula, the fact that the presiding federal judge was appointed by Trump, has that been an issue at all?

REID: Well it certainly wasn't an issue inside the court today. It seems like all of her questions were incredibly reasonable. She pushed back on both sides. Though it was clear she really wasn't on board with what she described as a compressed timeline being suggested by the special counsel. Now clearly, Wolf, it's unprecedented right to have a criminal prosecution of a former president in front of a judge that he has appointed. Up until now the special counsel has not made an issue of this.

But there was no indication of any sort of political bias here in the courtroom. She asked questions, it seems very much based off the briefings. Based on what she already has in front of her. And I also want to note, while most of the focus was on former president Trump, he was not here today. Though his attorneys were.

But his codefendant Walt Nauta was in the court with his lawyer. And his lawyer also got up and made arguments on behalf of him. He's not a candidate for the presidency. So a lot of the arguments that Trump's lawyers made don't apply to Walt Nauta, which is lawyer acknowledged. But his lawyer said, look, it's going to take us a while. They're still waiting for some of the evidence from prosecutors relating to Walt Nauta's phone. They said until we see all of this discovery, we really can't tell you when we will be ready for trial.

But one really important thing that his lawyer, Walt Nauta's lawyer pointed out, and that is he said that the biggest decision that his client needs to make, is whether he wants to settle this. Whether he wants to plea. Whether that would involve cooperating against the former president or not is unclear. And his lawyer said he cannot make that decision until he has all of the discovery, all the evidence from prosecutors.

BLITZER: All right, very important developments indeed. Paula Reid, Evan Perez, guys, thank you very much.

And to our viewers, stay with CNN, our special live coverage continues on "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper right after a short break. I'll be back with all of you in "THE SITUATION ROOM" at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. See you then. Thanks very much for watching.