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Mar-A-Lago Property Manager Release On $100,000 Bond; Fulton County District Attorney: "We're Ready To Go"; Trump Ally Bernie Kerik To Meet With Special Counsel; Hunter Biden Ex-Business Partner Speaks To Oversight CMTE; 6 Dead, 75 Hurt After Russian Strikes In Kryvyi Rih; Nurse & Baby Abducted In Haiti Amid Rise In Gangs; Source: Trump PAC Has Spent More Than $40M On Legal Fees This Year, More Than Double Spent In All of 2022. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 31, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:21]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: "We are ready to go." The Fulton County D.A. says the work is done in the probe of Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 Election in Georgia. An indictment decision could be announced at any moment. It also comes as the classified documents case against the former president moves forward with yet another co- defendant in court. We're on top of all of these moving details.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Plus, an American nurse and her child kidnapped in Haiti as the State Department is urging U.S. citizens to leave the country now. How officials are working to get them back.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Plus, a Delta passenger sues the airline claiming that it over-served a man who went on to grope her and her underage daughter. We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Mar-A-Lago property manager, Carlos De Oliveira is now out on bond after making his first court appearance in Miami. You can see him here leaving the federal courthouse. He did not enter a formal plea in the classified documents case. He's set to be formally arraigned next week.

Now, De Oliveira was indicted last week on four charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to the FBI. The Special Counsel says that Trump, close aide, Walt Nauta and De Oliveira together tried to delete security footage after it was subpoenaed by federal investigators and that the three men tried to alter, mutilate and conceal evidence.

According to the indictment, De Oliveira allegedly told Mar-A-Lago's IT director that the boss wanted to server deleted.

CNN's Randi Kaye is live outside the courthouse for us.

So Randi, what more do we know about Carlos De Oliveira's first court appearance?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, it was a very brief appearance, only about 20 minutes inside court. And once he got inside, he huddled at the table with his lawyer, John Irving, who was here from Washington D.C. Surrounding them were about five or six U.S. Marshals. But he seemed very calm. He was dressed in a navy blue suit. He addressed the judge with a very bright good morning and then the judge proceeded to read the charges against him.

He asked him if he - he informed him that he had the right to obtain a lawyer and he said that he understood that. Then the judge went on to set bond. He agreed to release him on $100,000 bond and then he also set some parameters for that, so he's not free to do as he pleases.

In fact, Carlos De Oliveira has to turn in his passport within the next 48 hours. He holds a U.S. passport, which he told the judge was expired, but he still said he had to turn that in. He also told him that he has some restrictions in terms of travel around the state of Florida. He can't leave South Florida without permission. He's also not allowed to make any contact with any of the witnesses that the government has ID'd.

The Special Counsel's team has given his lawyer a list of those witnesses, so he can't make any contact with them. It's worth noting, though, that he did not enter a plea. As you said, that will take place on August 10th in Fort Pierce, Florida. He did not have a Florida-based lawyer with him, which is needed in order for him to enter a plea. His D.C.-based attorney said that they are working on that. But this could, of course - this delay could, of course, delay the former president's trial in this case as well.

There is some question about whether or not that trial will take place before Election Day, so we'll see what kind of further delays mean for that, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, De Oliveira's team essentially doing the same thing that Walt Nauta's team did in waiting and delaying an official arraignment.

Randi Kaye outside the courthouse in Miami, thanks so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: And now to Georgia, where it appears that Trump and/or his allies could be indicted at any moment. The former president is under investigation for his efforts to overturn the state's election results. You may remember the phone call where Trump asked the - Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to "find the votes."

Well, right now, security barriers are in place. Courthouse employees have been ordered to work from home, and the D.A., who has been pretty mum, just told our affiliate: "We've been working for two and a half years. We're ready to go."

CNN's Sara Murray is live in Atlanta for us.

All signs, Sara, pointing towards an imminent indictment. What should we be expecting?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. You and I have had a lot of conversations about what imminent actually means when it comes to this case.

[15:05:00]

And we are now in this window where it could really come any day now that she decides to announce who, if anyone, will face charges in this case. I'm betting that this is something we get in the next week or two, not in the next day or two, just based on how this case is progressing.

But as you pointed out, some of these security preparations are already underway. And when our affiliate here caught up with Fani Willis over the weekend at a back-to-school event, she was very clear that she has the security situation on the top of her mind and where her investigation stands. Take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FANI WILLIS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA: Some people may not be happy with the decisions that I was making. And sometimes, when people are unhappy, they act in a way that could create harm. The work is accomplished. I mean, we've been working for two and a half years, we're ready to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: So she says we're ready to go. Today, a judge gave her another boost by rejecting Donald Trump's team's efforts to have her disqualified from the case and to have a lot of the evidence she's collected so far tossed. We'll see if that's the end of the legal maneuvering or if we can still see another judge weigh in on that in the coming weeks, Brianna.

KEILAR: And what more is the D.A. sharing, Sara, about potential security threats?

MURRAY: Yes, she's a black district attorney in the South and she's been pretty honest about the kinds of threats and harassment that she and her office have faced since this Trump investigation began and she was honest with her local government partners. In an email over the weekend, she forwarded this racist and sexualized threat she received and it told the Fulton County commissioners, essentially, this is a sampling of what my office has been getting over the last two and a half years. I want you guys to be aware of this kind of thing and I want you guys to be safe and vigilant and take precautions throughout the month of August. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Sara Murray live for us in Atlanta, we appreciate the report. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Back here in Washington, another investigation, the Special Counsel's probe into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 Election. The grand jury, which typically meets on just Tuesdays and Thursdays, could vote on whether to indict the former president at any time.

Former New York Police Commissioner, Bernie Kerik, he is expected to meet with the Special Counsel in about a week's time. Just days ago, he turned over documents connected to debunked voter fraud claims made by Trump and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

With me now, CNN Senior Justice Correspondent, Evan Perez. So Kerik was part of this effort to develop supposed evidence of fraud. Is that why his testimony is key to investigators?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. It's important because, obviously, he just turned over thousands of pages of documents that the Special Counsel had been trying to get for some time, Jim. And so the question is whether the fact that he's going in, in a few days, whether that means we have to wait until after that for an indictment of the former president, which everybody's anticipating, the former president himself is anticipating, given the fact that he got that target letter or is it possible that Kerik's testimony is about other players in that scheme, of course, which was to try to help - keep the former president in power.

Tim Parlatore, his attorney, was on with Paula Reid over the weekend and he addressed this issue. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY PARLATORE, ATTORNEY FOR BERNIE KERIK: When you have something like this to bring an indictment before you've finished your investigation, it - what - for whatever reason they may choose to do it, it feeds directly into the Trump campaign narrative about this all being about election interference. And so I think it would be incredibly stupid for them to go forward with indicting before they finish their investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: So there you have some free legal advice from Tim Parlatore to ...

SCIUTTO: I'm sure welcomed by the Special Counsel.

PEREZ: ... to Jack Smith.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

PEREZ: But look, I mean, the - there is an issue that the former president is raising about election interference, which, let's be fair, he's going to raise no matter what. So the question, though, does remain, is Kerik's testimony key ...

SCIUTTO: Right.

PEREZ: ... to the former president's case, if that's what they're going to bring or is it to other characters?

SCIUTTO: To our knowledge, are there other witnesses still on the list, in effect, to come in or do we not know?

PEREZ: We do know of at least a couple of other witnesses that are scheduled between now and the 17th of the month. Again, we've been - in gaming this out, we think that it's not necessary for those people to have been brought in before you bring an indictment.

It is - again, there are other players here.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

PEREZ: There are other characters who are involved in this scheme who may also face legal peril.

SCIUTTO: Understood. So much to watch.

Evan Perez, thanks so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Republicans are ramping up their efforts to try and link President Biden to Hunter Biden's controversial business dealings. Today, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee is hearing closed- door testimony with an ex-business partner of Hunter Biden, Devon Archer.

[15:10:01]

Archer is also dealing with his own share of legal troubles.

CNN's Zachary Cohen is on the Hill tracking all of this.

And Zach, you have some new reporting about what unfolded behind closed doors. But before we get to that, tell us about this associate of Hunter Biden's, Devon Archer.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Boris. Republicans really teed up this closed-door testimony today and promoted Devon Archer, the former business associate of Hunter Biden, as a potential bombshell witness, as somebody who might be able to deliver that kind of smoking gun evidence, linking the President to his son, Hunter Biden's, foreign business dealings.

But I'm hearing from sources who were in the room after hours of testimony, we just saw Devon Archer leaving. Sources in the room say that he did not deliver that smoking gun that Republicans had hoped for. A source familiar with the matter tells me that Archer told the committee that Hunter Biden was selling the "illusion," illusion in quotes, of access to his father. His father not directly implicating President Joe Biden in any of the foreign dealings, but rather saying that Hunter Biden was trying to essentially trick business partners into thinking he could provide access, direct access to his father.

We also talked a little bit to Congressman Dan Goldman, who's a Democrat on the Oversight Committee. He sat through several hours of this testimony today. Take a listen to how he characterized what Archer told the committee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DAN GOLDMAN (D-NY): I think it is safe to say that after yet another two hours, there still is no connection of any of Hunter Biden's business dealings with President Biden. Approximately 20 times over the course of a 10-year relationship, Hunter may have put his father on the phone with any number of different people, and they never once spoke about any business dealings as he described it. It was all casual conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So Goldman sort of explaining that Archer qualified the topics of discussion on these phone calls as niceties, that Biden sometimes didn't even know who was on the other line with his son Hunter. And sources in the room telling CNN now that Archer did not point the finger directly at any sort of a connection between Joe Biden and his son's foreign business dealings and rather said that he was - that Hunter Biden was selling the illusion of said access. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Really a stunning development, Zach, when you consider that Republicans were selling this as a breakthrough that would link Hunter's business dealings with his father. Instead, business was apparently never discussed, according to Devon Archer.

Zach Cohen, thanks so much for the reporting. Brianna?

KEILAR: Ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL - intensifying its attacks on Ukraine, striking multiple residential areas, as Moscow warns it may be forced to use nuclear weapons, why, next.

Plus, an American nurse and her child kidnapped in Haiti. What we're learning about the two and U.S. efforts to get them back.

And we're learning why an officer was fired after his canine mauled a truck driver, and get this, it is not because he sicced his dog on the unarmed man.

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[15:17:28]

KEILAR: Russia says it is intensifying its attacks on Ukraine. As Ukrainians report at least two deadly strikes here in the last 24 hours. At least four people died in Kherson and another six were killed in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Listen to what one woman experienced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Foreign language).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: On top of all of this, a top Russian security official, Dmitry Medvedev, is warning that Russia may use nuclear weapons if Ukraine's counteroffensive succeeds. Medvedev was president of Russia at one time, of course.

So I want to turn now to talk a little bit more about this with CNN's Nic Robertson. Nic, there was this drone attack on Sunday, not in Ukraine, but it was

in Moscow. Tell us what happened there.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. This sort of punctures Russia's myth, its state media myth, that they're winning what they call this special military operation inside Ukraine. And perhaps this is what the Ukrainians are trying to do with these drone attacks on Moscow, which have been increasing.

Witnesses to this attack, you can hear them standing on the street, as it happens overnight on Saturday into Sunday, Moscow time, screaming because they're shocked at what they're seeing. Ukraine is bringing Russia's war to the heart of its capital.

Now, does it let all the air out of Russia's narrative that it's winning? Not really, because they still control - Putin still controls the state media there.

But when you hear statements from Dmitry Medvedev indicating Russia will use its nuclear weapons if Ukraine's counteroffensive is successful, it does give you the idea that even inside the Kremlin walls or close to them at least, they're getting a bit worried about how well the Ukrainians might be about to do or how weak they feel they appear to be.

As far as the drone strikes on Moscow are concerned, the defense minister is calling them terrorist attacks and the Kremlin is basically trying to play them down. But the reality is, they are bringing home to some Russian citizens in the heart of the capital that there's a war going on and it's dangerous. And perhaps this is what Kyiv wants to achieve at the moment.

KEILAR: Yes, pictures are pretty stunning here. Nick Robertson live for us, appreciate it. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Well, the American nurse reportedly kidnapped with her child in Haiti, described the people she met there as "full of joy and life and love."

[15:20:05]

Alix Dorsainvil was in the country working for the nonprofit her husband, Sandro, had founded. The organization said Thursday that she and her child were taken right from the campus. That's the same day the State Department ordered all American visitors to leave the country due to rising dangers there, including of kidnapping. The U.S. State Travel Advisory says kidnapping is now widespread.

CNN's Kylie Atwood, she's at the State Department covering - Kylie, I wonder, what efforts is the State Department making now, the U.S., to help free this American nurse and her child?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, listen, the State Department is saying that this is an ongoing investigation. They aren't speaking to any of the specifics surrounding this kidnapping, other than saying, of course, that they are aware of these reports of this kidnapping.

And they aren't talking about any demands that are being made by the kidnappers to try and secure her release. They also aren't saying exactly who is holding this American and their son or daughter who is with them right now.

What the State Department spokesperson said earlier today what is this, listen to what they said in the briefing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW MILLER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Obviously, the safety and security of American citizens overseas is our highest priority. We are in regular contact with the Haitian authorities and will continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners. But because it's an ongoing law enforcement investigation, there's not any more detail I can offer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now, Jim, as you said in the introduction there, this happened on the same day that the State Department withdrew many of its diplomats from Haiti. Non-emergency personnel at the U.S. embassy were withdrawn due to the security situation in Haiti. But I asked the State Department spokesperson if there's any reason to believe that there could be linkage between this kidnapping and the fact that the U.S. withdrew some of those diplomats. They said, at this time, there's really no reason to believe that there's a linkage between those two events. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Yes. Let's just hope she finds her way home safely soon.

Kylie Atwood at the State Department, thanks so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, small dollar donations paying Donald Trump's big legal bills to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, details on the numbers.

And the impact of Sen. Tommy Tuberville's military blockade about to get a lot worse. The heads of the Army and Navy are retiring in just a matter of weeks and the Senate just went on vacation. CNN NEWS CENTRAL returns in just moments.

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[15:27:15]

SANCHEZ: We know former president, Donald Trump, has some serious campaign coffers, but now we know how much of that money is covering mounting legal bills. CNN has learned that Trump's Political Action Committee spent more than $40 million just this year to cover legal fees. And remember, he could be facing more indictments before the summer is through.

CNN's Kristen Holmes has been tracking the numbers on this.

So, Kristen, what stands out most to you about these details?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So this $40 million is only for the first half of the year. That is an incredibly large amount of money. And just for comparison, in the entire year of 2022, Save America PAC, which is the Political Action Committee that these legal bills are paid out of, only spent $16 million.

Now, looking at the $40 million, it is important to note that this is not just Donald Trump's legal bills. This is covering a multitude of associates, current, former employees, staffers at Mar-A-Lago, aides in the White House, aides after the White House, down at Mar-A-Lago. It's a huge group of people who have gotten somehow wrapped up in one of these investigations or another.

Now, we have learned that they're actually opening up a legal defense fund in order to help pay for those bills. Now, the legal defense fund will not take care of any of Donald Trump's bills himself. But again, we'll go to these associates.

Now, one thing we don't know is just how big of that umbrella is going to be, how many associates, because again, dozens and dozens of witnesses have come forward with lawyers who are paid for by Save America PAC. So the question, of course, is how many will be covered by this legal defense fund.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the other question is whether donors are unhappy about this. Because more than other candidates, a lot of Donald Trump's donations are actually small dollar donations.

HOLMES: That's right. And one thing to mention here is that months ago we reported this, that the actual structure for how donations work in Trump world. And that is that the very beginning, when Trump announced back in November, 1 percent of every dollar went towards Save America PAC and 99 percent went towards the campaign.

And then quietly they shifted that structure and it became 10 percent went towards Save America PAC and 90 percent went towards the campaign. But that's quite a significant leap there. And that was obviously because they were spending so much of this money on legal fees.

But when I talked to Trump political advisors, they don't think that this is going to actually affect donors in the sense that donors know what they're signing up for when they donate to Donald Trump. They know that he's going through all these legal issues. They know that this money could be used in that way.

But one thing to take note of is that even if the donors don't stop, as you said, a lot of these are small dollar donors. If you are hemorrhaging money, if you are burning through money at this rate, can they actually keep up? So even if you have the same amount, such small dollar donors, and you're burning through cash so quickly, that might be where the real problem is.

[15:30:00]

SANCHEZ: A potential challenge ahead ...

HOLMES: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... for the former president in his third try for president.

Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: Republican senator, Tommy Tuberville, is still holding ...