Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

FBI Kills Utah Man Accused Of Threatening Biden; ProPublica: Justice Clarence Thomas Took Dozens Of Trips Paid For By Billionaire Friends; Taylor Swift Announces Re-recording of "1989" Album. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 10, 2023 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: The district attorney here is left with information on what he talked about it in the federal court. It doesn't mean she can't try the case. I mean, we have dual sovereignty, that is crimes committed against the state versus crimes committed against the United States.

And so, she clearly could move forward. It just makes a record of having witnesses testifying in different places that can cause issues with impeachment and differences in testimony. Those things had come up that are not always ideal moving forward.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: But back to the number. At least 12 people perhaps facing charges here. I want to play something for you that the former Georgia Lieutenant Governor, Geoff Duncan said. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEOFF DUNCAN, FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA: Look, this is going to get much tougher for him. In this indictment, it looks like all the signaling shows, there's going to be multiple people. Today, it signaled 12 people or more.

These folks don't really care to be in the cool kids' club anymore, right? If you're facing jail time and your face -- or just telling the truth about what Donald Trump stirred the pot on, I got to figure they're going to be playing a different game than they played post- 2020 election. These RICO charges are serious. And I think he's going to have a different game to play in Fulton County.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, with 12 people, how many of them won't want to be in the cool kids' club anymore as Lieutenant Governor just said? Is there a possibility of flipping people?

MOORE: There's always a possibility. And that's one of the reasons that prosecutors lump people into a case. It's a way to put an enormous amount of pressure on people to cooperate, to flip, if you will, and become witnesses for the government to explain what happened and how they got involved, who got them involved in the scheme, just directions they got during the course of the conspiracy. So, nobody wants to be on the wrong side of the versus mark. The issue is, for me, I think is you might have some delay in what we would typically expect to see people jumping ship, you know. Like rats jumping off a sinking ship because there are so many unique issues in this case that are going to have to be decided by an appellate court. So, they may be getting some legal advice that said, look, just kind of keep your powder dry for a little while.

Let's see if the court actually lets this case proceed. Let's see if it gets transferred to the federal court system. Let's see if there's a question of executive privilege. Let's see if there's First Amendment -- (INAUDIBLE)

I mean, all these things have got to be ironed out. So, you know, the rats may stay on the ship a little longer than we usually expect. But at the end of the day, there'll be people flipping.

BERMAN: A vivid bus, I have to say. Actually, informative metaphor. They're really interesting to think about. Michael Moore, great to see you. Thank you very much.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up for us. FBI agents shoot and kill a man while serving a warrant at his home as he's accused of making violent threats against President Biden. What more we're learning about that deadly complication now?

And a candidate in Ecuador's upcoming presidential election was assassinated right outside of a campaign event. All of it caught on video. The deadly escalation of violence and crime now gripping that country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:37:34]

BOLDUAN: We are learning more now about what led to the death of a Utah man who was killed by the FBI after he allegedly threatened to kill President Biden. A source tells CNN that federal agents were trying to serve a warrant at the home of Craig Robertson when he allegedly pulled a gun on the agents.

CNN's Josh Campbell is following this. He kind of picks up the story from here. Josh, walk us through this one and how he landed on the -- on federal agents' radar so long ago?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate. So this started back in March. It was actually a social media company that called the FBI's national threat operations center. This is the central intake point for tips from the public.

They said look, we're seeing concerning material on our platform, from this account associated with this suspect. At the time, the threat that they were looking at pertains to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. I'll read you according to this 40-page criminal complaint what the suspect allegedly wrote online. He said heading to New York to fulfill my dream of eradicating another George Soros two-but political hack DA. I'll be waiting in the courthouse parking garage with my suppressed nine-millimeter to smoke a radical full prosecutor that should never have been elected.

And what the FBI did was launched their investigation. They put this suspect first under surveillance. And then did what they do all the time with some of these tips.

They make contact with the person just to try to suss out who is this individual. Are they actually capable of conducting some type of attack? They described while the suspect was under surveillance, he was in a dark suit. He had a Donald Trump hat on, an AR-15 lapel pin.

They confronted him. He first told them that look, that was all part of some dream that he had had, these posts. He then got very aggressive and belligerent with the agents and said go away, come back when you have a warrant. But of course, we now know behind the scenes, the FBI was building its case.

They uncovered various other threats against prominent Democratic officials, including President Joe Biden. I'll read you one of the posts that certainly concerned the Secret Service and the FBI. The suspect allegedly writing.

I hear Biden is coming to Utah, digging out my old ghillie suit. That refers to camouflage attire worn often by snipers. And cleaning the dust off the M-24 sniper rifle.

Of course, the main concern was President Biden was indeed about to travel to the state of Utah. So, we're told that the FBI has gotten an arrest warrant. They went yesterday morning trying to take the suspect into custody.

A law enforcement source tells me that as they were giving him commands to come out of the house, he brandished a weapon toward those agents. One FBI agent opening fire fatally shooting him, Kate.

[11:40:01]

BOLDUAN: Josh Campbell, thank you so much.

CAMPBELL: You bet.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: So, a presidential candidate was assassinated in broad daylight while leaving a campaign event just days before the election. This happened in Ecuador, and it was all caught on camera. It is graphic.

Fernando Villavicencio was being led by officers. And as he walked away from the campaign rally, he was shot while getting into a car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, CNN's Rafael Romo joins us now with the very latest here. This is extraordinary and quite disturbing to see just days before the election, Raphael.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, John, disturbing, to say the least. Fernando Villavicencio had just finished the speech after a rally held at a school in Quito, the Ecuadorian capital. As he was leaving the school and being ushered into a car, gunfire rang out. It was at least 12 shots.

And all the people who moments before we're cheering him on, had to dive for coverage. Officials say this was a targeted attack against the man who once described his own country as a narco-state run by a political mafia. Authorities say nine people were injured.

Villavicencio is 59 -- or was 59 years old. He was an activist journalist and politician who was running in Ecuador's presidential elections to be held in less than two weeks on, August 20. He would frequently speak openly, John, against corruption in his country and had recently said that the mafia has subjugated his homeland.

And just to give you an idea of how bad the security situation is in Ecuador, seven of the eight candidates in the election were under police protection. The attack happened less than two weeks before the election. But officials say it will still go on as planned. John, back to you.

BERMAN: Again, as we said, political violence of this nature just shocking. Rafael Romo, thank you. Keep us posted on this. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up next for us. Brand new reporting from ProPublica shining a spotlight on -- and shining news spotlight on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and who's been bankrolling at least part of his lifestyle it seems for decades. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:46:40]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning. Look at this list of gifts reportedly given to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from his very rich friends. 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights, 12 VIP passes to sporting events, two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica, and one standing invitation at a golf club. This is all part of the new reporting out this morning by ProPublica.

CNN's Senior Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic joins us now. And, Joan, this comes as the court faces these persistent questions about, hey, what are your rules?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: That's right, John. You know, this is going to put much more pressure on Chief Justice John Roberts from outside the court, and also from inside the court. And I'll tell you what's been going on inside in a second but first, about Clarence Thomas himself. He did not respond to the ProPublica story. We have been trying to get a response from him ourselves, and he has not. But I can tell you back in April when a similar story broke. He said early in my tenure at the court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends who did not have business before the court was not reportable.

But, John, the rules have always made clear that any kind of travel on private jets as you -- as you just put up there, 26 private jet trips, that has always been covered. And other kinds of luxury travel vacations have been covered, you know, depending on if third parties have been paying for them. And you know, they have -- they have a certain limit on what kind of personal gifts they can accept but that's only you know $415 right now.

So, arguably, there are plenty of things that should have been disclosed. And I will say that Justice Thomas way back when he first came on the court in the 1990s did disclose some travel. And other justices have disclosed private jet travel over the year. So, that's certainly a gap.

But how have the justices responded? I can tell you that every time there's one of these reports, and this one is far more comprehensive than anything we've had before but for other reports of Justice Thomas or Justice Alito, that their colleagues don't discuss them as a group. They don't -- they generally let each other you know, respond as they will see these kinds of private scrutiny.

But as a group, they have been talking about a formal ethics code. But the Chief Justice who would like one does not want to do it without unanimity. And right now, they are at an impasse, John.

MORRISON: An impasse. Interesting. We'll see if this badges things at least a little. Joan Biskupic, thank you so much for that. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up. Why Taylor Swift is about to release her version of already her album that is already a hit? But first, here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with today's "CHASING LIFE."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of CNN's "CHASING LIFE" podcast. If you're like many people watching right now, you may feel like your attention span is shorter than it used to be. And you'd probably be right.

GUPTA (voiceover): Back in 2004, workers could pay attention to a computer screen for about two and a half minutes. A few years later, that dip to about 75 seconds. And the most recent study found that workers pay attention to a screen for only around 47 seconds before getting distracted. And then it takes about 25 minutes to get back on task.

[11:50:18] GUPTA: Now, think about that. The average American spends at least 10 hours a day looking at a screen. That has a lot of lost time. So, what can you do about it?

GUPTA (voiceover): Well, the researchers here suggest doing the most repetitive work of your day during the first part of your day, when you're probably the least alert. When you're at peak alertness, for most people that's a little later in the day, do the work that requires the most mental bandwidth.

GUPTA: And at the end of your work day, list the things you still need to accomplish, then offload those things from your brain by putting that list away until tomorrow. And you can hear more about how to optimize your health and chase life wherever you get your podcasts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:55:42]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: After weeks of speculation, the Swifties got it right. Taylor Swift is re-releasing her three-time Grammy Award-winning album, 1989. She made the announcement at the last stop on the first U.S. leg of her Eras Tour last night, on August 9, which is 8-9.

BERMAN: Oh I get it now.

BOLDUAN: 1989 is full of hits. Shake it off, bad blood, blank space, all John's favorites. And this version will be accompanied by five previously unreleased songs.

BERMAN: So, run don't walk to your nearest record store. This will be Swift's fourth re-recorded album and it will be out on October 27. That's what they said.

BOLDUAN: I think you and I may be the only two people who have not gone to her concert which I have heard is bananas amazing.

BERMAN: I hear as well.

BOLDUAN: Three hours of rockstarness.

BERMAN: I know people come multiple times. Thank you all for joining us, including Taylor Swift. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: Thanks -- (INAUDIBLE)

BERMAN: "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)