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Grand Jury Meets As Trump Braces For Possible 3rd Indictment; Fulton County Grand Jury Subpoena GA Journalist In Trump Probe; Kremlin Says It's Moving To Stop More Drone Attacks On Moscow; House GOP Announces Probe Into Hunter Biden Plea Deal. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 01, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:01:15]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All eyes on the courthouse. The grand jury investigating Donald Trump for events surrounding January 6 is meeting there at this moment. Could an indictment be minutes away?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Ukrainian forces launched yet another drone attack on Moscow just one day after a Russian missile strike, killed at least six people in Ukraine.

BERMAN: The Colorado River is draining fast, losing some 10 trillion gallons of water from 2000 to 2021. That's a lot. Kate is off today. I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

Happening now, the grand jury is meeting. The question is, are they voting? Could today be the day they hand up a new indictment against Donald Trump, this time for action surrounding January 6. We know that Trump received a target letter weeks ago.

Now we know his legal team claims they were told an indictment is pending. We know it doesn't seem like the grand jury has much work left to do. CNN spotted the jurors entering court early this morning. So what will happen now?

CNN's Senior Crime and Justice Reporter Katelyn Polantz is outside the court trying to discern any sign of actions. What's happening, Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, John, the grand jury is in, and they have momentum over the last couple of weeks in the January 6 investigation, we've been talking so much about this other case against Donald Trump, a separate investigation that resulted in criminal charges against him from the federal government related to handling of classified documents after his presidency.

Just six days ago, he was charged for a second time in that case, facing additional charges. But this is a different thing that we are talking about, and a very substantial one at that. It is a long investigation that this grand jury has been conducting with the assistance of the Special Counsel's Office, a specially appointed prosecutor by the Department of Justice, looking into Donald Trump, the Trump administration, and what happened politically after the 2020 election, when there were people around Donald Trump and Donald Trump himself, wanting to overturn the popular vote in various battleground states and block Congress from allowing the Joe Biden presidency to come into being.

So now we are waiting, because Donald Trump did receive a target letter about two weeks ago, saying he was very likely to be charged. The grand jury heard from a few additional witnesses that we know of, and now they have convened again after Donald Trump's attorneys have met with the Special Counsel's office. It's quite clear charges are coming. They are here at the federal courthouse. And we could be seeing something emerge as early as today, even this morning, if possible. But we have a whole team here at the courthouse today, John, watching and waiting to see exactly what will be made public, because grand juries, they operate in secret.

And not until they vote on and improve an indictment and the court system allows it to be released publicly does the Justice Department give it to the journalists so that we can see exactly what is said in that indictment. And we are really waiting to see what the Justice Department may have covered in this particular case.

BERMAN: All right, well, keep us posted on that front. And literally, we're just watching for any sign now with our eyes. What we see.

In the meantime, in Fulton County in Georgia, there is that investigation in Georgia from the Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis into Trump's efforts to overturn the election results there. And we learn of a subpoena for a journalist to more or less come back and testify again about what he saw. Why is this important?

[10:05:16]

POLANTZ: Right. So, George Chidi is the journalist. He's in Atlanta, and he was witnessed to some of the activities that happened in the State House related to Trump supporters, Republicans, who had been wanting to confirm Donald Trump as the winner of that state when he had not won the vote in that state. So the fake electors they gathered in the State House in December of 2020, George Chidi, this journalist, he had stumbled into their meeting, and then they kicked him out. And then eventually, they invited the press to come in and watch what they were doing.

But because he had stumbled upon them meeting to talk about apparently casting electoral votes for Donald Trump wrongfully, he was subpoenaed to testify by the district Attorney, Fani Willis in Fulton County, Georgia, in a state investigation, so separate from the federal one we're also talking about today.

And he now is receiving an additional subpoena to come back because there is a grand jury that is in session in August that could be looking at a possible indictment around that activity around Donald Trump and others' behavior in that state.

And so he did say in a post on the Intercept, I am reviewing my legal options with retained counsel, but I expect to testify as before after receiving assurances that I will not be compelled to offer information outside of the narrow issue of election interference and my observations on December 14, 2020. We'll see how that all comes together and when a case may emerge there as well.

BERMAN: All right, Katelyn Polantz, a lot going on. Maybe we will speak with you soon. Thank you. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. With us now, Daniel J. Horwitz, former Assistant District Attorney with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. He's also a partner at McLaughlin & Stern. Thank you so much for being here, sir.

I'm going to turn back to the federal case by Jack Smith looking into 2020 malfeasance on the part of Donald Trump. You've got the grand jury meeting today. He's already gotten Donald Trump the letter, the target letter, and his attorneys have already met with Jack Smith's Special Counsel, the prosecutors there. What does that tell you? How soon might this calm down?

DANIEL J. HORWITZ, FORMER ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: Tic tac, the die is cast, they could very well be voting if there are no more witnesses. And I know there were some interviews and some documents that were collected last week, but it really seems that they're really down to the final strokes.

And what's really unusual is we've now become accustomed to the bizarre becoming the usual, which is a former president having to surrender with the unsealing of an indictment. This will now be the third indictment and the third arraignment we have of a former president. Truly bizarre.

SIDNER: Yeah, it is unprecedented, but you can't say that enough, because every day it seems like there's something else that has come forward that is unprecedented. And like you, I think you put it really well, that this is becoming the norm when it comes to this particular former president.

I do want to ask you about all of these multiple investigations being juggled by Jack Smith. And then you have the state investigation. How does one go about doing this? Do you have the staff to deal with many multiples of not only defendants, but cases?

HORWITZ: Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, I think the pressure is actually more on Trump's legal team because he's got the same legal team for each of these cases. The Department of Justice has a deep bench, and so they can draw an individual prosecute, handle the case in Florida, the impending case that's going to be brought in Washington, D.C. for obstruction because of the election.

Obviously, Fulton County, the DA there has her own staff. And of course, my friends at the Manhattan DA's office have a well experienced team that's ready to go with the case against Donald Trump in New York.

SIDNER: His own attorneys obviously, will have to get attorneys in each of these different places, correct?

HORWITZ: That's right.

SIDNER: Which has been difficult for him and for the other defendants, how do you see this going down? Each of them have to have an attorney representing them separately?

HORWITZ: That's right. So I think for the former president, at least in the two cases that have been brought, his lead counsel is Todd Blanche, who is a solo practitioner, formerly a federal prosecutor, and also a partner at a large law firm.

So we'll see if Mr. Blanche is leading the charge in Washington, D.C. But it becomes a real challenge. I mean, because each court is going to say to the defendant, here's your case. We need to move this case forward. And it's going to be a scramble as to which case gets tried first.

Now, the case in Florida, I think, as you and I have discussed, there are a number of issues that could slow that down because of the confidential documents that are involved. The case in New York doesn't suffer from that, nor do I think the case in Washington, D.C. Will suffer from that, nor will the case if Fulton County brings a case.

[10:10:02]

So it's possible that you could see the case in D.C. going first. The case in Washington, and pardon me, in New York going first, and Fulton County before you deal with the Florida case.

SIDNER: It's a lot of cases to have to juggle and the court system will have to look at. You can't try them all at once, for sure.

HORWITZ: That's right.

SIDNER: Daniel J. Horwitz, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate you.

HORWITZ: Thanks for having me. John?

BERMAN: All right, Sara, we have new video this morning that shows Ukrainian forces involved in the counter offensive. This is around Bakhmut in the east. Let me show you what the video shows. This was provided to us by the Ukrainians, and you can see the activity here firing rockets and whatnot toward that area. That is just one front in the counter offensive right now. And while that's happening, actually, the Ukrainians or somebody continues to target Moscow with drone attacks.

The Ukrainians have not claimed responsibility for it yet, but we know for the third time in the last few weeks that there were attacks on buildings in Russia using drones. You can see some of the damage there.

With us now, CNN Military Analyst, retired U.S. Army Major General James "Spider" Marks. Spider, let's just start with what we're looking at here in the screen right now. This damage, and I have to say, albeit fairly limited to these buildings in Moscow. How important are these attacks, whether they're coming from the Ukrainians directly or not?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, let's assume that they are coming from Ukraine, John. And then I would characterize these attacks in Moscow as frankly a waste of capacity and a waste of time. The most successful way that Ukraine is going to convince Putin that there are some off ramps other than what he is currently doing, is to continue the offensive that they have right now that's taking place in Ukraine and to kill as many Russian soldiers as possible.

Not trying to be flippant, not trying to be hanging out there. Too grotesquely. What I'm telling you is. The best way to stop this is to achieve success in battle. That's the best strategy that's going to move this thing forward successfully for Ukraine. I think it's a fool's errand to be wasting drones capability, reconnaissance capacity and intellectual and physical energy at this point, going against indiscriminate targets in Moscow.

BERMAN: So, again, instead of this, instead of the drone attacks in Moscow, then how do you achieve what you say the Ukrainians need to do?

I have a picture up here of the so-called southern front, where you can see some of the gains from Ukrainian forces here, very faintly in yellow. They are making up some ground, not tons. How do they achieve your goals?

MARKS: These are their goals, which is to convince Russia that they need to move their soldiers, they need to move their personnel out of Ukraine. Frankly, the only way to do that is to be able to do that through great intelligence, very precise long-range fires that get to the enemy's rear, so that the enemy, the Russians, cannot advance their forces into Ukraine any further.

Over the course of the last four or five months, they've had a lot of time. The Russians have had a lot of time to dig in their positions, defensive positions are in depth, and it takes what is known as the advantage of three to one.

The attacker needs to have an advantage of three personnel to one personnel in order to achieve some success. So the Ukrainians have to have great intelligence, figure out where the weak points are and then exploit those weak points. Hold them where they're strong and then exploit where they're weak. It's the old expression. Get them where they ain't, go where the Russians are not strong, where they're vulnerable, isolate them, and then that will allow you to achieve success. This is a very hard fight against a dug in enemy. It's going to take time.

BERMAN: And in the meantime, the Russians are trying to take some initiative, too. There's new video in today of some Ukrainian points in the Zaporizhzhia region which have been hit by the Russians. If you're the Russians here, put yourself in their shoes, how should they be trying to fight back?

MARKS: Well, what they want to do is to limit the Ukrainian ability to maneuver. First of all, you want to try to deceive what your strengths are, what your capabilities are. So deception is always part of the game. And then you want to put these barriers in different positions where you think the enemy is going to be strong, that then cannibalizes, it moves the Ukrainians into positions where the Russians want them to be.

That's why we saw the application of minefields, sadly, unfortunately in the vicinity of Zaporizhzhia, not because of the possibility of a nuke (technical difficulty) that gives -- that could have given Ukraine a pathway, a course of action, an avenue of approach that might have been able to isolate the Russian forces. That's what the Russians are going to do right now. Increase their defensive positions, use of mines, try to make sure they continue to slow down the Ukrainian advance.

BERMAN: As always, Spider -- Retirement General James "Spider" Marks, great to speak with you. Thank you so much for helping us out this morning.

[10:15:08]

MARKS: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Sara?

SIDNER: An American woman is now jailed in the Bahamas, accused of trying to have her husband killed. What we're learning about their marriage and the alleged plot.

Also, three House GOP leaders want to take a closer look at Hunter Biden's plea deal with the Justice Department as Republicans lead an investigation into the first son, that is heating up ahead with details.

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BERMAN: New this morning, some filings from top House Republicans. They are asking the Justice Department about the plea deal with Hunter Biden, the one that basically fell apart last week before our eyes in a Delaware courtroom. These House Committee Chairs Jim Jordan, James Comer, and Jason Smith. They're asking the Attorney General for documents and information about that deal.

[10:20:15]

With us now, CNN's Zachary Cohen. Zach, give us a sense of what these Republicans are after?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, John. Once an impartial judge started raising questions about how this plea deal came together, it really opened the door for House Republicans to launch their own investigation. And those three top Republicans that you just showed there, Jim

Jordan, James Comer, and Jason Smith, it should come as no surprise that they are leading the way here, as Republicans more broadly are really re-upping their commitment to investigating President Joe Biden through his son, Hunter.

And that's how we get into what happened yesterday behind closed doors. The House Oversight Committee, which is led by James Comer, heard from a witness named Devon Archer, who was a former business associate of Hunter Biden. And Republicans had hoped that Devon Archer could provide them sort of the smoking gun evidence that would link the President to his son's foreign business deals. That's been a really major focus of House Republican investigations.

Democrats emerged making clear that Devon Archer did not offer that smoking gun evidence that Republicans had hoped for. And I want you to take a look at what James Comer said last night after the interview with Archer, as he suggests that the same was true as Democrats said.

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REP. JAMES COMER, (R-KY) CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Well, every day this bribery scandal becomes more credible.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Do you believe that this is now officially the Joe Biden bribery allegation? And do you believe that you will be able to prove that? Jim Comer?

COMER: I sure hope so. And I do believe that there's a lot of smoke. And where there's smoke, there's fire. We just heard testimony today that Joe Biden had lied to the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So Hunter Biden's personal legal problems aside, Republicans still face the challenge of tying the President to his son's foreign business dealings. Obviously, James Comer making clear there that they will continue to investigate. The White House has vehemently denied any connection between the President and Hunter Biden's foreign business deals, calling these investigations a wild goose chase in a statement yesterday after Archer's testimony.

So time will tell well how this plays out, but it's clear that these investigations from House Republicans will continue and continue to accumulate in number.

BERMAN: Zach Cohen, great to see you this morning. Thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: On our radar for you right now. Authorities in North Carolina have arrested a driver who says he accidentally struck six migrants in a Walmart parking lot. 68-year-old Daniel Gonzalez told family members he panicked and left the scene. He is charged with felony hit and run and is being held on $50,000 bond. Police say all six of the migrants who were hit are out of the hospital. Twitter's new giant flashing X sign, dark. It's been taken down from

the top of the company's San Francisco headquarters. The city had filed a notice of violation after the sign was installed without proper permits. Authorities say they received dozens of complaints about the sign from residents. The X is part of the rebranding effort by Elon Musk. The city says Twitter will be assessed fees for not going through the proper channels.

Also, tributes are pouring in for actor Angus Cloud. He died at his family's home in Oakland, California. He was best known for the HBO drama Euphoria. His family said it is with the heaviest heart that we say goodbye to an incredible human. They say Cloud buried his father last week and struggled with the loss and with his own mental health issues. Angus Cloud was just 25 years old. John?

BERMAN: Too young. So CNN has newly released body camera video of the moments that a now former Ohio police officer released his dog on an unarmed black man. Why the actions caught on camera were not the reason the officer was fired.

And new jobs numbers came out just a moment ago, standby for news.

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[10:28:49]

SIDNER: Just in, the U.S. job market slowly getting back into balance. A new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows job openings fell last month to the lowest level in over two years. CNN's Matt Egan is joining us now.

Matt, let's look at these numbers together.

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, Sara, this is another good sign for the economy. I know it sounds like bad news, but this is actually exactly what the Federal Reserve wants to see as they battle inflation.

So the number of job openings in June dipped slightly to 9.6 million. That is a two-year low. What the Fed is trying to do here is ease demand for workers without wrecking the jobs market. Too much demand is going to make them worried about wages going up too fast, and that could trickle down to consumers in terms of price spikes. So they want to get that under control.

And some context around this number, 9.6 million. I know that sounds like a lot, but there was actually a peak of 12 million last spring as inflation was going out of control, as the worker shortage was at its worst. And so what we're seeing now is a cool off to below 10 million, and pre-COVID it was 7 million. So we're kind of in the middle there. They're trying to get things back into balance between supply and demand.

[10:30:02]