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GOP Candidates Descend on Iowa to Speak at Party Dinner; CNN Obtains 911 Call in Bronny James' Cardiac Arrest; 150 Plus in U.S. under Heat Alerts Coast to Coast. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 28, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, HOST, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: Right. We're just talking about how tonight for the first time Donald Trump will be at a big Republican campaign event with the other candidates including Ron DeSantis. This is in Iowa; it's a big Republican Lincoln dinner. Of course Trump is dealing with these additional new charges in the Mar- a-Lago documents case.

DeSantis is dealing with trying to reboot his campaign. CNN's Jessica Dean is in Des Moines this morning, where all of a sudden, Jessica I mean, this event was big to begin with, now it's got this supercharged feel to it.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly does John and so much so many of us will be looking at him to see what he does there. And what he says the first time that we will see the former president in public, since all of this news has come out. So let me just zoom out for a second and give everyone kind of a snapshot of where the race stands in Iowa.

Of course, the Iowa caucuses January 15 is the first votes that we're going to see in this race. So it's the critical state. And right now there's a new Fox Business poll that came out just over the weekend. And it shows former President Trump at 46 percent Ron DeSantis at 16, Tim Scott at 11 and kind of everyone else.

But man that 46 percent you can see that the former president just really at an aggressive lead here in Iowa and so, that leaves all of the other candidates really trying to break through. And Governor Ron DeSantis, of course, is the closest in second place there. And we have seen him in the last couple of weeks reset his young campaign.

It's only been around for he's only launched about two months ago. But we saw him cutting his staff citing budget concerns. We've now seen him on a tour, a bus tour of rural Iowa, where he's really trying to get back to his message of electability that he is the one that can win in a general election in 2024.

And he has not been directly taking on Donald Trump that much from the stump. He'll do it when he's asked about it by reporters. But when he's on the stump talking to voters, he doesn't necessarily talk directly about the former president. But when we were traveling with him yesterday, he was asked by a reporter what would you, you know, how do you convince people who've supported the former president to support you. Here's what he said.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): In Florida, he won by three, I won by 20, for winning independent voters by double digits. And that's really the formula that you need to be able to beat Biden and to be able to beat the Democrats. We're not getting a mulligan on 2024. You either go, you get the job done, or you don't and so, I will get the job done.

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DEAN: And that's about as explicit as he has been John. The other candidates aside from ASA Hutchinson, Chris Christie just really are not aggressively going after the former president. And so, that really sets the stage for tonight. When we have almost all of them here, as you mentioned, they're each going to be giving about 10 minute speeches pitching themselves to Iowa voters.

And what we're going to be watching is do any of them start to change their strategy here? Does anybody start to directly go after former President Donald Trump who hasn't before? Or did they really stick to their stump speeches. And I obtained a memo from the Super PAC, that supporting former Vice President Mike Pence who has struggled to really gain some traction in this crowded primary field.

They were talking about seeing what's happening with DeSantis is an opportunity for them that they want to position themselves in a more aggressive stance. The question is kind of can anyone effectively do that be it Pence or Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, and can they break through? That's what they're all hoping for tonight. But when Donald Trump comes to town, it usually sucks a lot of the oxygen out of the room. John?

BERMAN: Jessica Dean in Des Moines, great to have you there. Keep us posted big day, Rahel?

RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: Well, a new Intel report is revealing more about China's relationship with Russia. The report was compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. And the report found that China has become an increasingly important buttress for Russia and its war effort.

And it details how Chinese state owned defense companies have provided Russia with various war technologies, despite Western sanctions. CNN's Natasha Bertrand is at the Pentagon. So Natasha, what else did this report say?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Rahel, a really significant report from the Director of National Intelligence here, which is unclassified, but does have that assessment in it from the intelligence community that China is becoming an increasingly important buttress for Russia's war effort in Ukraine.

Now, what the report says is that as of March, Chinese state defense companies have provided Russian defense companies with over $12 million worth of drones and drone equipment. And these companies these state owned companies have also provided Russia with dual use technology in terms of navigation equipment, jamming technology, and importantly, fighter jet parts.

Now, these are obviously all things that Russia could use as part of its war effort in Ukraine, even if it is not necessarily lethal equipment, not necessarily weapons that the Chinese are providing to the Russians. But the report also details just the level of economic cooperation going on between China and Russia, saying that that has actually intensified since the war began.

Despite efforts by the West to really dig into Russia's war chest tried to cut them off from the international community and the international economy so that they cannot continue to fund their war efforts in Ukraine. The report says that China has increasingly been sending semiconductors to the Russians.

Obviously, those are chips that can be used in Russian defense technology that they continue to produce for the war in Ukraine. Now, the report says that it is difficult to determine just how much Russia or China is interfering with Western sanctions.

But they do say in the report that they do believe that Chinese companies are helping Russia to evade the sanctions. Now, the Chinese did respond. And they provided a statement to CNN in which they said China does not sell weapons to parties involved in the Ukraine crisis and prudently handles the export of dual use items in accordance with laws and regulations.

The Biden Administration has repeatedly brought up with the Chinese the fact that they're watching very closely to see what kinds of weapons equipment non-lethal and lethal the Chinese may be willing to provide to the Russians. The Chinese have repeatedly denied that they are doing so and say that they want peace. But obviously the U.S. is not necessarily buying it here saying the Chinese are actually increasingly supporting Russia's war effort, Rahel.

SOLOMON: And Natasha, as you allude to there, I mean, it comes at a time when the U.S. is trying to reset relations with China. This of course is being one of the sticking points between the two nations. Natasha Bertrand live for us at the Pentagon. Thank you, Natasha. John?

BERMAN: All right. We're getting new reporting on these new charges against Donald Trump. And Bronny James, the son of LeBron James t is out of the hospital after suffering that sudden cardiac arrest. And for the first time, we're hearing the 911 call.

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[09:40:00] SOLOMON: Welcome back. LeBron James's son Bronny is back home now in resting days after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest during sports practice. And CNN has now obtained the 911 call for an ambulance immediately after he collapsed. The 18-year-old is an incoming freshman for USC's basketball team and was rushed to the hospital after the incident.

I want to bring in CNN's National Correspondent Natasha Chen. She joins us with more details. Natasha, I mean, luckily Bronny is home now, but the 911 call shows how scary this was for the people there.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rahel, he went home yesterday from the hospital. And this audio we're going to play for you shows the urgency of that moment on Monday morning at the Galen Center at the University of Southern California where the team practices. What you're going to hear are the team really trying to rally around him and trying to get him help. Here's the audio of that 911 call.

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CALLER: Get an ambulance here now.

OPERATOR: Ok alright sir. Alright sir, I'm going to send help there to, and where exactly are you?

CALLER: Yes, yes, yes. (Inaudible)

OPERATOR: Alright sir, we're going to send help OK, your telephone is hold on one, don't hang up sir, don't hang up. You telephone is --

OPERATOR: OK let's get next to him please, OK. How old is he?

OPERATOR: Get next to him with the phone, OK. Get next to him.

CALLER: Get next to him?

OPERATOR: Get next to him, please, with the phone. I need to find out if there's, is there a doctor on scene with them or a registered nurse?

CALLER: No there's no doctor on scene.

OPERATOR: OK, help is already, help is already on the way, OK. Get next to him please.

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CHEN: Even though you heard in that audio that they're saying there's no doctor or registered nurse there, there was definitely trained medical staff. In Cedars-Sinai Hospital, they released a statement yesterday, actually praising the trained staff at USC who jumped into action there. Let's read the statement from the doctor at Cedars-Sinai, saying thanks to the swift and effective response by USC athletics medical staff, Bronny James was successfully treated for a sudden cardiac arrest. He came to Cedars-Sinai fully conscious at neurologically intact and stable.

Mr. James was cared for promptly by highly trained staff and has been discharged home where he is resting. That doctor continues to say that they're very encouraged by his response resilience, family support. And we do want to point out that USC Medical Staff have experienced this before.

Just last July another player Vince Iwuchukwu also had a cardiac arrest, same place also during practice. And according to the Los Angeles Times, and the team really got to him in a matter of 45 seconds. He took more than six months to recover. So we are going to be tracking how Bronny James does here, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Absolutely, but we have heard medical professionals say after Bronny collapsed, how important it is that they get treatment that they get sort of you know, reaction as soon as you know, they collapse unfortunately. Natasha Chen, thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right, a new Justice Department probe into the Memphis Police Department after the deadly police beating of Tyree Nichols.

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[09:50:00]

BERMAN: This morning, the Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the city of Memphis and its police. Nearly seven months after Tyree Nichols was beaten to death at a traffic stop. The Department of Justice will look at the Memphis police use of force traffic stops searches and arrests, the investigation will focus on if the department targeted and discriminated against black residents.

A separate federal criminal civil rights investigation is already underway and five now former police officers charged in Nichols death. In January Nichols, a 29 year old black man was stopped by police and beaten, kicked and tased. He died three days later from his injuries. CNN's Nick Valencia joins us now on this new investigation, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning. Ever since the death of Tyree Nichols, community leaders in Memphis had been calling for the DOJ to come in to investigate the Memphis Police Department.

Now the DOJ is saying that they are going to grant that request saying that their decision to launch this civil rights investigation comes after a full sun review of publicly available information as well as they say information provided to them.

They didn't give a timeline as to how long this investigation will take, but did say that they hope to provide their findings soon. And if you remember an office of the DOJ has already been doing work in Memphis. Way back in March, they started working with the Memphis Police Department.

This investigation will run parallel to that work. And as you mentioned, it will look at use of force and stops by the Memphis Police Department to really you know, effectively to see if they participate or engage in discriminatory policing to see if they violated any constitutional rights or federal law.

Now, it was at the announcement of this investigation that the U.S. Attorney in Memphis said that the city plans to fully cooperate with the feds.

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KEVIN RITZ, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSESE: There cannot be one rule of law for the powerful and another for the powerless. There cannot be one rule of law for the rich and another for the poor.

And there cannot be one rule of law for people who look like me and another for people of color. And so I welcome this opportunity to let the facts lead and what I know will be an ongoing and important discussion about civil rights in our city. Together we can build a stronger Memphis.

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VALENCIA: Strong words there from the U.S. Attorney. Of course this investigation comes months after the brutal beating and death of Tyree Nichols at the hands of police. Five former Memphis police officers have pleaded not guilty to second degree murder charges as well as other charges related to the incident.

And it was in April that the Nichols family filed a federal lawsuit seeking $550 million from the city related to the incident. John?

BERMAN: So Nick, this is federal investigation into whether Tyree Nichols's civil rights were violated. What happens if they deem that they were?

VALENCIA: So that, you know, this is among a handful of patterns of practice investigations that the Biden Administration has launched in the last handful of years. And so, there's precedent, we know that if they find that this happened that there was discrimination discriminatory practices, a federal lawsuit will be filed against the city.

And there will be a demand for changes to be made. There's already it's worth noting, John, there already there's reforms that had been made at the local level by the city council in the months after Tyree Nichols that have to do with stops, police stops, traffic stops, things like that.

So reforms already are taking place at the local level. The feds now though is digging in with their way. John.

BERMAN: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you so much for bringing us up to speed here, Rahel?

SOLOMON: And John, coming up for us new charges against former President Trump federal prosecutors alleging that and tried to get surveillance footage erased at Mar-a-Lago. We have the details coming up next.

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[09:55:00]

BERMAN: Donald Trump tried to alter destroy mutilate and conceal evidence in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, the new charges and the new reporting this morning about what this does to his legal calendar.

SOLOMON: And all of this as Trump is set to head to Iowa and join a dozen other candidates at a campaign event. Trump is still the GOP's front runner, but will his legal troubles leave an opening for his rivals to gain ground.

BERMAN: The brutally hot summer for millions of Americans triple digit temperatures pushing power grids to their limits. Kate and Sara are off today. I'm John Berman with Rahel Solomon. This is CNN News Central.

SOLOMON: Well hours from now, Donald Trump will take the same campaign stage as his Republican rivals as his legal parol takes yet another very serious turn, major new charges in his classified documents case. Special Counsel Jack Smith now alleging two Trump employees.