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Democrats Call on Tuberville to Release Restriction on Military Nominations; Interview with Military Spouse and Secure Families Initiative Communications Director Kate Marsh Lord; Wagner Chief Spotted in Russia; Now: Grand Jury Convenes in Preparation for Potential Third Indictment, Trump's Attorneys Meets with Special Counsel; Russia's War on Ukraine; U.S.: Ukraine Devotes Additional Resources to Counteroffensive; Hearing to Determine Whether Teenage School Shooter Will Serve Life in Prison; Judge Considers Sentence as Oxford Shooter's Journal is Read in Court. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 27, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: New pressure this morning to convince Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville to drop his five-month- long hold on military nominations. Tuberville stalling more than 270 promotions because he does not approve, he says, of a Pentagon policy of reimbursing military members who leave their state to get abortions or reproductive care. But time is running out with the senate set to go into summer recess soon. Democrats are urging Tuberville to act.

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SEN. JACK REED (D-RI): They should not be political points. Now, before Senator Tuberville, we would be talking about our nominees. They're not nominees, they're hostages. We can't tolerate that. That is a disservice to these men and women, to our armed forces, to the men and women they lead. We have to do our duty.

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BERMAN: All right. CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill. Lauren, where do things stand right now?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. There are now 273 military officers up for promotions being held because of Tommy Tuberville's slow walking of this process in the Senate. And last night, what you saw was Democrats having an hours-long talkathon, about 11 Democratic senators spoke about issues related to Tuberville's holds, arguing that it had an impact on military readiness. And actually, specifically going over every single nominee that was held up and talking a lot about their qualifications and why they should be promoted.

We should just reiterate that Tommy Tuberville's holds don't ultimately block senators from being able to move forward with this process. But what it does is it makes it extremely difficult to move quickly. And therefore, Democrats have chosen not to bring these nominations one by one and burn valuable floor time arguing that it sets the wrong precedent for politicizing the military.

[10:35:00]

But so far, Tommy Tuberville is not backing down. And Republican leadership believes that this is likely going to go far past the August recess. They said that they do not expect that this will be worked out in the next several hours or days as the Senate is working through the National Defense Authorization Bill. Instead, they say that this is probably going to be prolonged and protracted problem that Tommy Tuberville is just very dug in. And despite the fact that a number of bipartisan groups have tried to come to him with potential off-ramps, there still is not any resolution in sight. John.

BERMAN: No resolution in sight. All right. Lauren Fox, thank you very much for that.

Rahel.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All right. John, thank you.

And I want to continue this conversation now with Kate Marsh Lord, she's a military spouse and a communication's director for a nonprofit focused on helping military families. She created a petition urging Senator Tuberville to, "Stop playing politics with the military." It has been signed by hundreds of active-duty military spouses.

Kate, welcome to the program. Good to have you. I just want to start where our correspondent left off. When you hear, no resolution in sight, how does that make you feel?

KATE MARSH LORD, MILITARY SPOUSE AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, SECURE FAMILIES INITIATIVE: Hi. Thank you so much for having me. It makes me feel incredibly frustrated. We are already in this time of limbo, military families are waiting to be able to move on to their next duty station, and to hear that it could continue for months is really, really heartbreaking.

SOLOMON: And, you know, when people hear this story, they may think about military readiness, they may think about those specific nominations. But help us understand how this impacts military families.

LORD: Absolutely. First, the senator has said something like it only impacts these 270 nominees directly, and I'll speak to why I don't think that's true in a moment. But I just want to point out how callous and cavalier, that is to say, even if it did only impacted these folks. We're talking about the best and the brightest and most accomplished military leaders, and the ones that the younger forces look up to. So, they're really playing with these folks who have literally dedicated decades of service to our country.

And it really -- as I said, I will get back to it, it impacts the entire military community, because this isn't happening in a vacuum. We're seeing how military lives are being on hold and how they're being treated and it's very discouraging.

SOLOMON: Now, to Senator Tuberville's office received your petition. He said he's actually -- I'm paraphrasing here, but he said he's actually very pro-military and that's why he's doing this. He says that he's doing it for all of the right reasons, I'm sure you have seen his response. So, if you were sitting across from him at the negotiating table, what would you say?

LORD: I would ask the senator to please listen to military leaders, and yes to military families when we are telling him the impact that this is having on our community. That it really is politicizing folks who are super apolitical who just want to serve our country, and defend the constitution, and serve a cause greater than themselves. He is politicizing folks who just want to do their jobs.

SOLOMON: With no resolution in sight, what are you hearing from military families? I mean, how are families preparing to work around this? I mean, what's the plan?

LORD: Right. The response to our petition and to Senator Tuberville, the response to our position has been very, very positive. I think hearing that there's no resolution in sight is going to be very discouraging, and especially for those folks who are literally in limbo. When they get an assignment, we spend months researching, preparing, thinking about all the possible outcomes, where we could be moving. And then, many people have moved out of their homes. They're literally living in hotels, waiting to find out if they're going to go ahead to a new duty station or remain where they are.

There's so much that's out of our control as military families. And it's really, really hard that they've done everything right, and are still just in limbo waiting for Senator to end his protest.

SOLOMON: Yes. What do you think happens next here with the August recess quickly approaching?

LORD: Unfortunately, we already have the marine corps commandant position is un -- not -- unconfirmed for the first time in over 150 years. And over the next couple of months, we expect several other positions of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to also be vacant. So, there's going to be a vacuum of leadership. It just provides this whole sense of uncertainty for the entire community to see these very, very important positions left vacant. So, you know, I hope that there is some sort of resolution soon, and I would just really ask again the senator to reconsider his position.

SOLOMON: Kate Marsh Lord, we appreciate your being with us today. Thank you.

Omar.

LORD: Thank you for having me.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, thank you so much.

Still ahead, he launched an armed insurrection and a march towards Moscow. And now, he's been spotted in Russia, in the same city as Vladimir Putin.

Also ahead, the grand jury and the January 6th investigation into Donald Trump is meeting today, and we have new details next.

[10:40:00]

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JIMENEZ: We want to update you on the developments out of Washington this morning. Right now, attorneys for Former President Donald Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith are meeting. Sources tell CNN, today's meeting was requested by the former president's legal team. This morning, CNN crews, as watchful as ever, spotted jurors and the prosecutor working for the special counsel entering the courthouse. They're hearing evidence from the special counsel's probe into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. As eloquently as you put it earlier, John, stuff is happening.

[10:45:00]

BERMAN: Stuff is happening. Two meetings now that we know about, the grand jury is meeting. And we know the grand jury has to be meeting if they are going to vote on an indictment, necessary, though not necessarily sufficient. And also, Jack Smith's attorneys meeting with Donald Trump's lawyers right now. We will see how this develops over the next several minutes.

In the meantime, unusual new developments out of Russia this morning. The man, who last month led an armed rebellion against the country's military leaders, has been spotted alive, first of all, which is interesting in it of itself. But he's been spotted in the same city as Vladimir Putin. Putin is hosting a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg.

And this morning, an image was posted on a pro-Wagner social media account. Yevgeny Prigozhin was the head of a Wagner military group. It shows Wagner Chief Prigozhin smiling, you can see him smiling right there with someone who was attending the summit. So, Prigozhin, as you remember, he led the revolt that ultimately marched toward Moscow.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now with the latest on this. So, Prigozhin's not just alive, he's happy and he's in the same city as Vladimir Putin. What do you make of that?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And it looks like, or the messaging seems to be, that he's doing business with old clients. He's media outlet is saying that this is a member of the delegation from the Central African Republic, and that's one of the handful of African clan states that Prigozhin interwoven with the -- with Wagner mercenary group, interwoven with the Kremlin have been helping back the leadership in the Central African Republic and a couple of other country as well. Mali, Mozambique, Sudan, Libya, to name but a few.

And the quid pro quo on that was access to minerals, including gold, including diamonds. So, this is kind of, in a way, this maybe what we're looking at here is part of Prigozhin's get out of jail free card. Because remember, Putin said there's going to be severe consequences for your betrayal, for your mutiny a year ago. Yet, here he is, seems to be doing business again with the very countries that he was doing business with in Africa at the behest of the Kremlin in the past.

Is he being rehabilitated or is this, sort of, some leverage he still has with Putin? All of that is unclear. But, yes, he's not dead. And simply people thought if got anywhere close to Putin, he would be.

BERMAN: No, that is the look of a dead man. That is the look happy man, as you say, doing business once again. Nic, particularly important developments on the ground in Ukraine where CNN has learned that the Ukrainians are now putting more and more troops, significant numbers of troops into the counteroffensive in ways and in places where they had not before, pushing towards the south, perhaps towards the Sea of Azov. Why is this so important?

ROBERTSON: It's important because, you know, to win the counteroffensive, they have to put their full shoulder to the wheel. And it's been tough going. We know that they faced these minefields. The Russians got heavy defenses. Things haven't joined up the way they wanted. But what we're hearing from the U.S. officials and from Ukrainians is that they've deployed the bulk of their military, they still have some in reserve to this front line, the southern front line, that it's about a hundred miles east to west, stretch south of Zaporizhzhia, and they've made some gains.

And it's not just the Ukrainians saying it, which is the interesting part. One of the strong Russians military contingents has admitted that they've had to pull out of a small village. Now, this is a relatively small gain, but it's a gain that the Ukrainians didn't have before. And we heard from Zelenskyy -- President Zelenskyy last night saying, look, our guys did well. On Wednesday, more to come.

BERMAN: And if they are deploying their reserves in numbers, that is something we have not seen to this point, it would be a significant development. Nic Robertson, great to see you. Thank you very much.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: All right. Coming up for us, the teenager who shot and killed four students at a Michigan high school is back in court this morning. Will he spend the rest of his life in prison?

And how should White House hopefuls address investigations surrounding Hunter Biden and Former President Trump? As they make their pitch to American voters, well, we'll talk to someone who has run for president himself, California Congressman Eric Swalwell joins "CNN News Central" in just a bit.

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[10:50:00]

JIMENEZ: There's a major question this morning, will teenage mass shooter Ethan Crumbley spend the rest of his life in prison? That decision is being weighed right now inside a Michigan courtroom. Crumbley was 15 when he killed four fellow classmates in Oxford High School in 2021. Victims who survived this massacre or lost a loved one are now speaking in court.

CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us with more. I mean, Brynn, we know these victim impact statements has their calls. They're sometimes difficult to listen to. What have you been hearing so far this morning?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, Omar, this is a heavy hearing, I can tell you that. This is what's called a Miller hearing. In Michigan, there is no death penalty. So, the court needs to decide will Ethan Crumbley spend the rest of his life in prison without parole or with parole? Can he be rehabilitated for those killings back in 2021 inside of that school?

And we're not just hearing from victims, in fact we haven't yet heard from the victims' family members just yet. We are actually hearing from the prosecution, who's essentially putting forward a case of why they think he should not receive parole. And they talk about some very difficult pieces of evidence that they uncovered in this case.

[10:55:00]

Including the fact that Ethan Crumbley had journals, that he researched these killings. Who he wanted to kill? How long would it take police to respond to the scene so that he could actually watch his victims suffer, according to these journals. I want you to hear an excerpt read by one of the sheriffs who investigated this case.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going -- record the shootings so when they show the video in court, everyone can see their children and friends dying. I want for the parents to see their kids burn to ash and bawl their eyes out. I'm going to spend the rest of my life in prison rotting like a tomato.

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GINGRAS: I mean, we are talking about a 15-year-old at the time of the crime, that's why this hearing is actually happening. Omar, there are family members inside that courtroom crying. Ethan Crumbley only allowed to have one hand away from his shackles so he can take notes, according to the judge. We're going to hear from the defense, too, essentially putting forward a case of why he can be rehabilitated, so that's to come. This could take several days, Omar. And the judge is going to be the one to make the decision in the coming month. Omar.

JIMENEZ: Even if we haven't heard the statement, just hearing that -- those words read, incredibly harrowing. Brynn, thank you so much for staying on that.

GINGRAS: Yes.

JIMENEZ: Rahel. SOLOMON: All right, Omar. Happening right now, lawyers for Former President Donald Trump are meeting with the special counsel over the January 6th investigation. Could a federal indictment happen today? You'll have the latest, coming up next.

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