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Candidates Flock to Iowa State Fair; Fourth Person Charged in Dock Fight; Supreme Court Blocks Purdue Pharma Settlement. Aired 9:30- 10a ET
Aired August 11, 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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[09:34:02]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, this morning, almost every Republican presidential candidate is headed to Iowa to take part in the famous Iowa State Fair, home of the butter sculpture.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And so much more. It's not limited to the butter sculpture.
BERMAN: But the butter sculpture is pretty awesome. Let me just say that.
BOLDUAN: Yes, it is. It is.
BERMAN: It's a time-honored political tradition. More than just the butter sculpture. And it's a crucial opportunity for candidates to connect directly with voters in the party's first in the nation caucus state.
BOLDUAN: This morning, also on the campaign trail, we are learning that Senator Tim Scott is the latest candidate to sign the loyalty pledge required by the Republican National Committee in order to appear on stage for the first Republican debate, which happens in just days from now.
Joining us now, "Axios" senior contributor, Margaret Talev, and White House reporter for the "Associated Press," Seung Min Kim.
It's good to see you guys.
Where shall we begin? How about the Iowa State Fair.
BERMAN: Let's talk about the Iowa State Fair.
BOLDUAN: Let's do that.
What - Margaret, what do you think the Iowa State Fair is going to mean for the primary this time around? I always -- every time Donald Trump is part of an election, you have to say he changes it up, but what do you think it means?
[09:35:05]
MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, "AXIOS": And he is changing it up once again, right? I mean, you've got the sort of trolling move, plans to appear with all these members from the Florida congressional delegation who had backed him over Ron DeSantis. You've got Donald Trump kind of -- it is customary, it's pattern and practice, to go meet with the local paper, to go have a sit-down one-on-one with the Iowa governor. He's doing it his way. And he doesn't think that it will cost him, at least not in terms of the national nomination.
And the final way that he's changed it up is he doesn't want to take this GOP pledge to back the GOP nominee, even though the whole point of it was so that people would back him if he was the nominee.
So, I think, you know, the idea of this state fair is so that individual candidates can get to know individual voters. When you have a caucus process it's much more intimate. But Donald Trump, obviously, feels that Iowa voters, GOP voters, already know him and that he doesn't need to do that work the same way and he wants to distinguish himself from the rest of the pack. So, I think that's what we're going to see.
BERMAN: You know, Seung Min, Mike Pence, I think, learned the stark reality of Donald Trump in Iowa and Trump's supporters when he faced a question from the crowd at the Iowa State Fair. A man asked Mike Pence, the former vice president of the United States, who upheld the Constitution on January 6th last year, he asked Mike Pence, why did you commit treason on January 6th? That was the question to Mike Pence. There were some boos from the crowd. We have video of the moment, but really only the response. This is what Pence said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE (R), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could pick the American president. I mean, the American presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.
People deserve to know that on that day the former president asked me to choose him over my oath to the Constitution. I chose the Constitution. And I always will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now, obviously, Seung Min, Mike Pence was prepared for that question. But, still, it's just stark if this is what he is going to face whenever he goes to these Republican events.
SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Right. And it's actually been fascinating to observe Mike Pence ever since the January 6th indictment against Donald Trump became official because I feel like obviously this question of January 6th and the former vice president's actions that days, this is something that he had talked about on the campaign trail. But since the indictment came, I feel like Pence has really leaned into this and his role and how he was doing the right thing that day. He's really leaned into that so much more as it's become such a more public focus.
I remember his campaign just last week released those t-shirts that said he is too honest, obviously referring to the former president's comments about Pence's actions that day. And certainly he's going to continue to get questions like these as he's out on the campaign trail. Which is why that big question of whether Donald Trump is going to participate in that Republican debate in the next couple of weeks -- in less than two weeks is a really important question because Pence has made that debate stage and, obviously, that looming question of January 6th, the election, the continued election denialism from Donald Trump and just sort of all of the questions and all of the politics surrounding that day is going to be such a more focal point if Donald Trump and Pence are both there.
BOLDUAN: The thing is, on some level, I'm wondering if - if with Pence's campaign they say thank you so much for that question because while it's not helpful -- obviously no matter how Pence would answer the question, it's not going to help him with Donald Trump supporters. We know -- that's kind of baked in the cake already. But with all other Republicans, that could be exactly the kind of answer they want to hear right now.
BERMAN: That's a good point.
BOLDUAN: Let's talk about Ron DeSantis.
Margaret, DeSantis -- the super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis has a new ad out in -- well, one in Iowa and one in New Hampshire. But listen to what - listen to this part of the new ad out in Iowa.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden is destroying America. And instead of looking to America's future, Trump is busy attacking Republican governors.
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I spoke to Kim, I said, wow, you want to remain neutral. I said, that's strange.
Without me you know she was not going to win. You know that, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump, he's all about himself.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL) AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That is not the way we win as Republicans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Donald Trump recently criticizing Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. Ron DeSantis' super PAC oh so happy to point that out. What does this do?
TALEV: Well, so far in the polling it hasn't done enough. It hasn't done what DeSantis wants to do, which is peel Iowa evangelicals away from Donald Trump and to him. But, you knew, it makes sense as a tactic. He and his wife are close with Kim Reynolds, with the governor. She declined to back Trump and has said she'll stay neutral, which Trump reads as an endorsement of DeSantis essentially.
And you're seeing DeSantis try this in New Hampshire as well with an ad kind of pulling the governor -- the Republican governor there into that same frame.
[09:40:08]
Trump is shadow-boxing with the governor.
DeSantis is looking for ways to communicate to the GOP base that Trump is out for one person, himself, and not for the party. But so far that message has not closed the gap in these months of early polls.
BERMAN: Our friends Margaret Talev, Seung Min Kim, great to see you both. Thank you so much for being with us to celebrate the Iowa State Fair and butter. Appreciate it.
BOLDUAN: And so much more.
TALEV: (INAUDIBLE).
BOLDUAN: Coming up, a fourth person is now charged in that wild brawl on the Alabama riverfront. Why police still believe the brawl was not racially motivated. You're going to hear from the boat captain, next.
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[09:45:13]
BERMAN: This morning, a fourth person has been charged with assault in connection with the riverfront fight in Montgomery, Alabama. Twenty- one-year-old Mary Todd turned herself in and appeared in court in the last hour. She is the fourth white person accused of attacking a black riverboat co-captain. Police say the brawl, which was caught on camera, started over a docking spot. Authorities still believe it was not racially motivated, despite witness accounts of some racial slurs.
CNN's Ryan Young has the latest for us now with this new fourth person accused.
Ryan.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the fourth person accused. If you watch the video you can actually see the part she played in it. A lot of people on social media were very upset when she initially was not arrested because in the video it does appears that you see someone kicking and maybe even spitting on that co-pilot during this fracas that happened.
But, you know, there's been a lot of conversation about this week about those racial charges. Police still looking into that. But right now they're saying they don't believe it rises to that level just yet.
But take a listen to the boat captain talk about this whole incident. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM KITTRELL, CAPTAIN OF HARRIOTT II: But, you know, I saw it like, everybody else saw it. It looks like white people attacking a black man. I thought that. I felt that. I felt -- I felt that was the case, what everybody is thinking. But, you know, I don't know the hearts of those men. I have no idea what was -- what's in their hearts.
Now, I do know the hearts of my crew. And my crew was like frustrated because they couldn't get to the dock, and protective. So, I know that was -- that's what was going through their mind because that's what was going through mine.
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YOUNG: And, John, we've talked to people who work on that boat. They say they feel like family. A lot of people have been working on that boat for years. So, you can understand why they're rushing to the rescue of the co-pilot.
The other thing that we heard, and we actually read this in some documents that were given to police, that someone believed that one of the men who start -- they believe started the fight actually said, I'm going to get my gun. And they believed he was going to return to one of those boats, one of those pontoon boats, and retrieve a weapon. And, at that point, it sent more people into the fight because they wanted to stop that action from happening.
So, you can understand how this played out, all on video. And on top of that, the idea it was racially charged. And then the idea that a gun may be put into this, you understand why people responded so quickly.
John.
BERMAN: All right, Ryan Young, keep us posted on all these latest developments. Thank you very much.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Also on our radar this hour, a shift in approach for House Republican lawmakers, now saying they do not need to show evidence to accuse Joe Biden of corruption, even though they lack direct evidence that President Biden financially benefited from his son Hunter's business dealings. CNN's Jake Tapper pointed out the lack of evidence to Oversight Chairman James Comer. Here was his response.
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REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): This is why we're investigating. And it's difficult, Jake. It's very difficult. The Biden attorneys are obstructing. They're intimidating witnesses. The DOJ will not cooperate with us. The FBI will not cooperate with us. The IRS will not cooperate with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: The president has denied, of course, any -- being involved in any of his son's business dealings.
A 17-year-old is set to be arraigned today in the murder of a professional dancer at a Brooklyn gas station. Witnesses say O'Shae Sibley was dancing to a Beyonce song when he was stabbed to death. The suspect is charged with second-degree murder now as a hate crime and the Brooklyn da called Sibley's death tragic and senseless.
The armorer from the "Rust" movie set has now pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is charged in the death of the film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Alec Baldwin was also initially charged in her death, as you remember, but prosecutors dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against him in April. Gutierrez-Reed's trial is now set for December 6th.
John.
BERMAN: So, the makers of Oxycontin, that helped fuel the opioid epidemic, they may still have to face the music. The major move by the Supreme Court that has left the Sackler family vulnerable.
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[09:53:19]
BOLDUAN: The Supreme Court has blocked a massive settlement from going forward for Perdue Pharma, the makers of the opioid Oxycontin. Now, this came after an emergency request from the Biden administration that the high court step in. The $6 billion settlement would have been given - would have given the Sackler family, the family behind Purdue Pharma, broad protection from liability.
CNN's senior Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic has much more on this for us.
Joan, why did the Biden administration make this request? What are you hearing about that? And also, what is this -- what does this move by the Supreme Court do and say?
JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. Good morning, Kate.
You know, first of all, this was a settlement that was hammered out by the states and lawyers for victims of the opioid addiction that continues to, you know, plague America. But there was a kit condition -- And this is what was problematic for the Biden administration -- that the Sackler family, you know, the -- which had controlled Purdue Pharma, that it would be shielded from any future opioid-related civil court claims. And, in return, the Sackler family was going to put up the $6 billion. That's where the settlement stays. And the federal government came in and said, we want to challenge the bankruptcy judge's plan here because it exceeds what the bankruptcy code allows -- this is what the federal government had said -- and wanted the whole thing put on hold, at least for now. And the solicitor general, Elizabeth Prelogar, said this was an exceptional, unprecedented agreement. And here's what she said, in part, to the court.
[09:55:01]
"Allowing the court of appeals' decision," which endorsed the bankruptcy judge, "to stand would leave in place a road map for wealthy corporations and individuals to misuse the bankruptcy system to avoid mass tort liability."
Now, Purdue Pharma is -- was countering that, telling the Supreme Sourt, "the plan at issue will provide billions of dollars and life- saving benefits to the victims of the opioid crisis, but those funds cannot be distributed until the plan is consummated. And a stay," postponing this case in any way, "would waste valuable time, potentially several more months."
And indeed we now know, Kate, that the plan will be put on hold, at least till next year, because oral arguments on the bankruptcy question will be heard in December. And likely a decision will come sometime next spring, at least by the end of June.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: So interesting. Good to see you, Joan. Thank you so much.
John.
BERMAN: So, the death toll in Hawaii is growing. Fifty-five people now dead. And that number, sadly, is expected to rise. We have new reporting on the search for those still missing.
We're just a few minutes away from the first hearing before the federal judge hearing the January 6th case against Donald Trump. We are looking for any signs for how she will handle this trial, especially how quickly.
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