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Russian Missiles Strike Grain Warehouses; CIA Warns of Russian False Flag Attack; Trump Documents Trial Set; New Information in Gilgo Beach Killings; U.S. Faces Vietnam in World Cup. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 21, 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]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Of missiles. Those attacks destroying tons of food critical to people in developing nations.

(VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: What you hear there, air raid sirens. They've been blaring all through the night. Russia launched seven missiles early this morning hitting what Ukrainians are calling an important infrastructure facility. These attacks are something that Ukrainian officials say are undoubtedly related to Russia withdrawing from the grain deal.

On Monday, you might remember, Russia pulled out of the critical agreement which kept Ukrainian grain exports in the Black Sea safe. Well, since then, Russia has relentlessly attacked Odessa, hitting grain warehouses destroying tons of crop.

Let's bring in CNN's Alex Marquardt. He joins us now from Ukraine.

Alex, I've been talking to you at least since the weekend. You've been there in Ukraine. Tell me what's the latest now.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, in this latest set of strikes, more than 120 food products -- 120 tons, I should say, of different kinds of food destroyed in this series of strikes taking place earlier today. Ukrainian authorities saying that an infrastructure facility was hit. That's essentially a storage facility. This is not in Odessa city proper, but this is in the Odessa region about south - about - just southwest of the city.

We were up all night in Odessa waiting to see whether there would be a fourth night of strikes after three incredibly intense nights. We didn't hear anything ourselves. We did hear some air raid sirens. But none of those impacts. The Russians appearing to be shifting tactics a little bit, not attacking the city itself but firing several different types of cruise missiles at this infrastructure facility as they called it.

Ukrainian officials continuing to say that Russia is trying to weaponize hunger here after pulling out of this grain deal. Russia has said that they are retaliating, in their own words. They are responding to the Ukrainian attack on the Kerch Bridge earlier in the week.

But if you take a step back and look at what Russia might be trying to do here, Rahel, this is certainly a major piece of leverage that they have over Ukraine and the world. If they can start to get Ukraine to hurt by hitting their food supplies, by damaging Ukrainian economy, if they can start to drive up food prices in the world and reduce food supply for so much of the global south, they do have a significant amount of leverage with which to ask western countries, to give them some sanctions relief, to give them some concessions. So, this may be what Russia is trying to do when Ukraine and the west accuse them of weaponizing hunger.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: No, Alex, that's a great point. I mean Ukraine is the bread basket of the world, right? So, in taking this action, as you pointed out, I mean, it could sort of create an impact in food prices around the world, but also for developing countries around the world.

Alex Marquardt, live for us there in Kyiv. Thank you, Alex.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's also a new warning about all of this from the CIA director. Bill Burns saying that Russia may be preparing a false flag attack on vessels in the Black Sea. And the spokesman for the National Security Council is also warning that Russia could also be looking to target civilian ships and also blame it on Ukraine. Russia's ambassador to the U.S., not surprisingly, calling it pure fabrication.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon for us. She has more on this.

Natasha, tell us more about what you are learning. I mean hearing Bill Burns say this publicly is always noteworthy when it's coming from the CIA director. What more are you learning about this?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, absolutely. And this is part of a coordinated kind of messaging campaign that we have heard from U.S. officials in recent days really warning that the Russians might step up their attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea ever since, of course, Russia pulled out of this Black Sea grain deal, which, of course, allowed for the safe passage of ships in the Black Sea so that these ships could actually get grain out of the Ukrainian ports.

Well, now we're hearing from the CIA director that they have intelligence that Russia may be preparing to attack these ships in the Black Sea and trying to frame the Ukrainians for it. In other words, it would be a false flag operation. Something that the United States and western allies have actually repeatedly accused Russia of planning in various ways to try to frame the Ukrainians for various attacks throughout the country, to try to make it seem as though they are the aggressors.

Here's what Bill Burns said at the Aspen Security Forum last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BURNS, CIA DIRECTOR: We see some very concerning signs of the Russians considering the kind of false flag operations that, you know, we highlighted in the run up to the war as well. In other words, looking at ways in which, you know, they might make attacks against shipping in the Black Sea and then blaming it or trying to blame it on the Ukrainians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: Now, as you mentioned, Kate, Russia's ambassador to the U.S. has called this a, quote, pure fabrication, but the Russians have warned the Ukrainians that any ship passing through the Black Sea will be assumed to be carrying military cargo.

[09:35:06]

And the Ukrainians have said as well that they could target Russian ships. So, obviously, things really heating up here in the Black Sea ever since that deal fell apart.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Natasha, thanks so much for the reporting.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: Well, coming up for us, would House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hold a vote to expunge Donald Trump's impeachments? How he's responding, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: And we have some breaking news coming in. The trial date for Donald Trump's classified documents case has been set.

Let's get straight over to CNN's Katelyn Polantz for the details on this.

[09:40:02]

Katelyn, when is it going to happen?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, the judge just put her order in. Judge Aileen Cannon says that this trial should take place at the end of May next year. So right in the heart of the political calendar.

But, of course, that is not what she's considering here. She's considering what has to happen in court for Donald Trump to go to trial and his co-defendant, too, Walt Nauta, for them to go to trial on this case, the retention of classified records that they are accused of, 31 documents Donald Trump is charged with withholding illegally after the presidency. He's pleaded not guilty to that. And then there's also an obstruction of justice part of this case.

That false statement claims. Claims that Walt Nauta was directed by Trump to move boxes to hide them from the federal government so that they couldn't get classified records back in their possession. So, a lot of different legal issues here that they're going to have to work through. The judge is acknowledging that.

She's not doing what the Justice Department wanted, which was a December trial date. But she also says there's no way I'm going to do what Donald Trump wanted to do here, which was not even put a date on the calendar. He wanted to essentially postpone even having a trial date set until after the election.

BOLDUAN: Yes, so it seems that she is kind of trying to, at least in her view, split the -- split what the desires are here. December, as she's laying out, is just -- is too aggressive to imagine. But then -- but indefinite -- an indefinite delay, she thinks, is completely unreasonable.

POLANTZ: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Tell me more about how -- the why about this and could this date move still and yet again?

POLANTZ: Yes, so, Kate, trial dates, they do move. The question now for us to watch is how firm this trial date will be. Both sides can try and push it further from that. But this starting point, right now it is a judge's order that we do have a trial date for late May. And she gives a little bit of an indication of why May, right? That's going to be a big question. Is this -- it's about a year from the moment that Trump was indicted alongside Nauta,, which was June 8th. So, the end of May really is a year timeline. That's pretty reasonable in a lot of court cases.

This case, she says, is complex. That was something the Justice Department didn't want her to find for legal reasons.

BOLDUAN: Right.

POLANTZ: But she is saying it is indeed complex. And she also is saying that, you know, she doesn't want to do what Trump said. She wants to put a date on the calendar because she deems it necessary to manage this proceeding through the important stages. Discovery, so that's turning over evidence, making sure there's the handling of classified records that's appropriate, motions, which is the arguments on both sides. She wants to make sure that lead-up takes place in a reasonable amount of time for both sides.

And then, on the other side of things, she says that the - the -- what the Justice Department wanted to do, have this trial start in December, was atypically accelerated and she did not think that that would allow for a fair trial or even give the Justice Department time to make sure they knew that they had met everything they needed to do.

So, there's a lot of things that will take place between now and May. She lays out the whole calendar. But that's where it is now. BOLDUAN: Mid-May. May 24th as a trial date to begin for Donald Trump's

-- the case against Donald Trump regarding his handling of classified documents. That investigation by the special counsel as we await potentially a third indictment right now regarding the other special counsel investigation into January 6th and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Katelyn, thank you so much for bringing that to us. I really appreciate it.

All right, so we also are talking about another aspect of Donald Trump's current and -- current history, I guess I'm going to put it, expunging impeachment. Something apparently House Republicans are considering. Some even pushing for it.

And there's new information today about a private phone call between Donald Trump and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about this. McCarthy telling Donald Trump that he supports essentially erasing from the congressional record the two impeachments that Trump suffered as president, but why, and why now? And can they even do it?

Joining us now for more on all of this is former Republican congressman, a key member of the House Select Committee that investigated January 6th, Adam Kinzinger.

It's good to see you, Congressman. Let's get to expunging in a second.

First, your reaction to now we -- there is a trial date set in the case against Trump and his handling of classified documents. What do you think of May 2024? What does it mean to you?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, I think the country is just ready for this to happen. So, we all wish it was tomorrow. But I'm not overly surprised it's May. I mean the thing I'm actually concerned about, Kate, is that it's going to get pushed even further again. You know, the closer it gets to the election and then beyond the election, because I think it's Donald Trump's calculus that he's going to, in his mind, win the election and then turn around and pardon himself.

[09:45:10]

And that's never been challenged constitutionally. So that has to go to the Supreme Court. That has to go through DOJ. DOJ can -- his own DOJ can drop the charges. So I think his focus is entirely on delay. It will be interesting to see if they can pull that off. It's a very complex issue with I think it's called CIPA, the Classified Information Procedures Act. And - so it will be interested to see if they can pull off May. I think December definitely was a bit aggressive probably for this case.

BOLDUAN: And just so - I mean and just -- let's talk politically and the impact on the political calendar. Obviously the first contest will have happened, many contests will have happened, Super Tuesday would have happened, getting into March and April. And I was just looking at my home state, Indiana, which was a decisive primary in 2016 when he first ran, when everyone started kind of giving up. In 2024, I think the primary date is May 7th is what I - what think I saw. So, a lot of this is going to be wrapped in the lead-up to this trial.

KINZINGER: Yes, it is. And so, look, I think, you know, probably we already know where any indictments that come down anymore, any further acts like, you know, legally probably is going to help Donald Trump in the primary. That doesn't mean it's going to help him in the national election, but in the primary because right now he's getting so bad, honestly, and looks so bad that now people have kind of buckled down and said, if I admit that Donald Trump is bad, then I have to kind of take inventory with the fact that I supported him for eight years, particularly in political folks.

So, yes, I think this may not change his view in the party, but certainly, look, every one of these Donald Trump is - you know, the rest of America, besides kind of the most hard core Republicans don't want a president that's potentially going to be convicted of a federal crime and already has been indicted of a crime.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you about this effort or talk of or push for expunging or trying to expunge Donald Trump's impeachments. First off, do you think they can do it? And, second, what do you see in this effort and what it says about really the relationship between McCarthy and Donald Trump?

KINZINGER: Well, I - you mean -- maybe they can technically expunge it from the congressional record, but the history books can't be expunged, right? I mean at least as long as we still have the First Amendment and free speech. People will remember that. This goes to show -- look, Kate, if all of a sudden it became conservative to like, you know, get a slingshot and fire a duck to the moon or something like that, Kevin McCarthy would be leading the charge to do that because his only thing -- he has compromised so much in his personal values to become speaker that he has to keep Donald Trump on his side and he has to keep his people on his side. So, somebody came up with this idea of expunging the impeachment. So now Kevin McCarthy has to lead that effort or he will not be sufficiently pro-Trump.

I think we've learned after a number of years, there really is no middle ground on Donald Trump. You either need to be all in or you need to be all out. You can't be lukewarm and, you know, Kevin McCarthy knows that, to his credit, because he knows how to play politics. It's just, I could never do that. And I think most Americans could probably never do that.

BOLDUAN: And it may have an effect of, if they do move forward with this, putting more moderate Republicans, Republicans who helped Kevin McCarthy win the majority and become speaker, put them in a - put them in a very tough position if their - if they are set up to need to vote on this as well.

Adam Kinzinger, always good to see you. Thank you.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: All right, Kate, coming up for us, a married father accused of living a secret life as a serial killer. Investigators now say that while his wife and kids were out of town, he likely lured his victims to his home. We have the latest on the Gilgo Beach murders when we come back.

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[09:50:53]

BOLDUAN: Disturbing new details this morning in the Gilgo Beach killings. New York police are looking into the possibility that the suspected serial killer lured victims to his home, killing them there. Rex Heuermann is in jail right now, charged in the murders of three women whose remains were found on Long Island's Gilgo Beach, less than six miles from his house.

CNN's Jean Casarez is here with much more on this.

Jean, tell me, why do investigators - what are we learning, why do they think some - the killings may have occurred at his house?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, apparently this was a working theory even before there was an arrest. And, remember, the women went missing in 2009 and 2010. Remains found shortly thereafter. Forensic technology exponentially has grown immensely in that area of time. And so, first of all, they found the travel records for his wife. And as each and every victim of the ones that are charged at this point went missing, his wife and his family were out of town. 2009, Iceland. 2010, Maryland, New Jersey. So there was ample ability to do this in the home.

Furthermore, they found that he had burner phones. And this is recent technology. They were able to - to ping those burner phones next to his office in New York City. And he was calling the victims' cell phones from those burner phone. But here's the thing, the triangulation of the cell phone data showed that his burner phones, the victims' cell phones, went to Massapequa, where the family home was. That cell phone tower data, at the very same time when those victims, one by one, were never seen again after their phones were in Massapequa.

BOLDUAN: Another element of what all of - this arrest and all of this coming out seems to have led to is now they're - his wife has filed for divorce. What do you know?

CASAREZ: His wife has filed for divorce. And while the investigation into that home continues, we want to read a statement from her attorney because he says, as you can imagine, our client and her family are going through a devastating time in their lives. The sensitive nature of her husband's arrest is taking an emotional toll on the immediate and extended family, especially their elder family members. Because, Kate, the whole family, the parents, the grandparents, they are in Long Island.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

CASAREZ: This is the family home that he was raised in. And so it just -- obviously extremely emotional.

You know, also, one thing that was very curious, there were four hairs of his wife that were found through forensic testing. Recently it was found on the victims or on the duct tape. And the question was why. Well, her hairs are going to be all throughout that home.

BOLDUAN: Right.

CASAREZ: Because people shed hairs constantly.

BOLDUAN: Wow. Jean, thank you so much for bringing that to us. It's great to see you, as always.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

Sunday night, a special hour on the murders on a new episode of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper," "The Gilgo Beach Killer." That is Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: All right, Kate, thank you.

And switching gears a bit and talking about some sports later today, the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team kicks off its quest for an historic third straight title in the World Cup. The reigning world champions meet Vietnam in their opening match in New Zealand, which is co-hosting the tournaments with Australia. The powerhouse U.S. team has placed in the top three of every World Cup since the tournament began and they are ranked number one this year.

Joining us now is CNN sports analyst and sports columnist for "USA Today," Christine Brennan.

Christine, great to see you again.

So, let's start there. The U.S.-Vietnam, what are you watching?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Rahel, I think the U.S. should win this and should win it easily. Vietnam is one of the eight countries that is having its first appearance in the Women's World Cup. As many know, the World Cup has gone from 24 teams to 32 teams. Just like the men. Another sign of equality. And so it's giving an opportunity to so many nations that it never had that chance before. Vietnam is one of them.

If the U.S. does not beat Vietnam decisively, you can bet there will be a lot of talking about what might be wrong with the U.S. team.

[09:55:03]

But I don't think that's going to be the case. Good for Vietnam for being there. Their country finally now cares about women's sports and women's soccer. But the U.S. should win this game handily.

SOLOMON: Certainly great to see. So you think they bring this one home. You think they at least beat Vietnam. Let me ask you about the U.S. team because, as we said, I mean they're looking to make history here with a third title, third straight title. There will a lot of familiar faces, but there will also be, Christine, I think -- did we lose you?

All right, we lost Christine. A lot more to watch. Hopefully we can get her back.

But in the meantime, we will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Breaking at this hour, a trial date now set for Donald Trump's classified documents case, as a potential third indictment looms over him.

[10:00:02]

When a federal judge says that jury selection will begin.

BOLDUAN: Russia attacking the world's food supply. Forces striking