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Special Counsel Appointed In Hunter Biden Case; Soon: Judge Could Issue Order On Evidence Rules In Jan. 6 Case; At Least 55 People Killed In Devastating Maui Wildfires. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 11, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:25]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Breaking news in the investigation into President Biden's son, Hunter. The U.S. Attorney General announcing a special counsel in the case. This as the prosecutor leading the probe signals a trial is now likely. We're following the legal and political implications.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Plus, a warning to Donald Trump's legal team from the judge overseeing the election interference case saying more inflammatory statements will require a quicker start to the trial. We are live outside the court.

And the death toll in Hawaii only expected to grow in the coming hours. Officials say they're bringing in cadaver dogs as they've yet to even start searching the hundreds of burned out buildings. We will take you live to Maui.

We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Another controversial investigation that could have some pretty big repercussions for 2024 is escalating. Today, a special counsel was designated in the federal probe of Hunter Biden. Attorney General Merrick Garland named David Weiss to the role. Weiss has been leading this investigation.

MARQUARDT: Yes, he has. And he's been leading this investigation into Hunter Biden for the past five years, in fact. This week, he was formally asked - rather he asked himself to be elevated to that role of special counsel. We are tracking the legal and political fallout in real time.

First to our correspondent, CNN Kara Scannell, is on top of the DOJ threads and Lauren Fox is up on Capitol Hill getting a reaction.

Kara, to you first. Tell us how this came about today?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Well, Alex, yes, we got this surprise announcement from the attorney general, Merrick Garland, where he said that David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware who was appointed by former President Trump and asked to stay on for this very investigation.

Merrick Garland said that Weiss had asked him on Tuesday to be appointed special counsel to give him greater authority in this investigation and Garland saying that it was really in the public interest to do this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint him as special counsel. This appointment confirms my commitment to provide Mr. Weiss all the resources he requests. It also reaffirms that Mr. Weiss has the authority he needs to conduct a thorough investigation and to continue to take the steps he deems appropriate independently based only on the facts and the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: Now, it's not clear what led Weiss to change his mind and decide that he did need special counsel status. As you'll remember, Hunter Biden had reached a plea agreement with Weiss' office in which he would have pled guilty to two tax misdemeanors for not having paid his taxes on time as well as a diversion agreement on a gun possession charge.

That fell apart last month in a court after a judge asked a number of questions and said she wasn't ready to sign off on it. Now, Hunter Biden's team, according to the Department of Justice, had until today to weigh in, in private about where they were in their negotiations of whether they were going to revive this plea deal or not.

And Hunter Biden's team had asked to have until Monday to respond, but then we find out that they're appointing the special counsel. So the prosecutors in the court filing telling the judge that their negotiations had reached an impasse and that they were going to move ahead toward trial.

Now, Hunter Biden's team was caught off guard by this. His attorney is saying that they still expect a fair resolution in this case and they said it's hard to understand how they had this - reached this plea agreement, whether there were any charges that they could bring that they would successfully win. His team says that there aren't.

They say - they - the judge has given them until Monday to weigh in on this, but certainly a lot of questions still here about the designation of the special counsel.

KEILAR: There are - let's go to Capitol Hill now. Lauren, you were up there. Lawmakers on the Republican side, they've been calling for a special counsel for some time now. Now it's here and their criticisms, it seems, have only intensified still.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Yes, Brianna, you point out that last year, a number of House Republicans were calling for a special counsel to be named in this case. But now they are saying that essentially naming a special counsel has changed nothing for them in terms of pursuing their own investigations into both Hunter Biden and his foreign business dealings and also how this investigation played out by David Weiss.

And you hear from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in a tweet just a few moments ago saying, "This action by the Biden's DOJ cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigation or whitewash the Biden family corruption."

[15:05:10]

If Weiss negotiated the sweetheart deal, he couldn't get approved, how can he be trusted as the special counsel?" You have other Republicans in the Senate like Lindsey Graham arguing that this is little more than a bad political move. Here's what he said on FOX News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are the political implications for the President and his reelection bid, do you believe?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): This is like the dumbest - dumber than dirt political move. On a Friday afternoon and anything bad you want to talk about on a Friday afternoon, they make a four-minute announcement. We're going to turn Weiss into a special counsel to remove any and all doubt.

And he's right, there is no ongoing investigation of Hunter Biden or Joe Biden. Why would you accept a plea to half the case if you will continue to investigate the guy for other crimes? Nobody ever does that. The only reason we're talking about this is the plea deal blew up because of a good judge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: There's also some practical implications of what the effect is going to be, because David Weiss had been in negotiations with the House Judiciary Committee about potentially coming forward and answering some questions about the investigation and how it was handled, arguing he wanted to clear up some things that he said just weren't true for allegations that had come from two whistleblowers.

Now, of course, we are wondering whether or not David Weiss will still appear. The House Judiciary Committee saying that they still do expect him to come forward and that they haven't heard otherwise. Of course, we've reached out to the Department of Justice to get more clarity on whether or not Weiss still plans to come to Capitol Hill sometime in the next couple of months.

And so, Kara, these were Republicans angry that Weiss - that the special counsel is not someone new, that it's simply the U.S. attorney who's been designated. Do they have a point how unusual is it that the attorney general stuck with Weiss and didn't approve someone else for this investigation?

SCANNELL: I mean, it is unusual the requirement under the provisions of the law for special counsel is to appoint someone who is impartial and fair. Now, Weiss did stay on. He was a Trump appointee, someone that was not appointed by Biden. Of course, this is his son who's under investigation. We have seen in other investigations that they have brought in outsiders, people who have not been involved.

But even with Jack Smith's case, he did keep on a number of the top attorneys who were working on this case. But it is unusual that Weiss is still staying in this role, although he does have five years of knowledge about where this investigation has gone already.

MARQUARDT: All right. Kara Scannell, Lauren Fox all over this breaking news this afternoon. Thank you both very much.

Let's turn now to major developments in another special counsel case today. This morning was the first hearing in the Trump election subversion indictment. It was focused on setting up rules for how Trump can handle certain evidence in the case. But the judge also sent out some clear warnings of her own regarding what the former president says publicly about the case.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz is outside of the courthouse here in Washington.

So Katelyn, what happened in that courtroom today?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, there was a clear signal from Judge Tanya Chutkan that there is justice and there is politics. And Donald Trump, as a criminal defendant charged with multiple federal crimes in her court, justice is going to have to come first.

One of the things she said specifically is: "The fact that he," Donald Trump, "is running a political campaign currently has to yield to the administration of justice. And if that means he," Trump, "can't say exactly what he wants to say in a political speech, that is just how it's going to have to be."

Those are the judge's words. And the reason she's saying them here, Alex, is because she is putting some sort of parameters around what Donald Trump can do with the evidence he's receiving as his team prepares for trial. The things he will learn, specifically, about witnesses, searches that the Justice Department conducted, things that are very sensitive to this case that have never been shared with him before.

And so as he gets that information, Judge Tanya Chutkan has found that there is law that allows her to say to him, you can't share these things widely if they are under my order, that they must be protected going forward to trial. The reason to do that is to make sure that the trial has integrity, that the jury pool isn't tainted, that witnesses aren't intimidated.

And then on top of that, there are other restrictions for Donald Trump and that he's out on bail and one of the conditions for him not to be sitting in jail awaiting trial is that he can't talk to witnesses about the details of this case and he also can't publicly try and intimidate them or obstruct them in a way that would hurt the system of justice that is going to be put in place here as he heads to trial. [15:10:02]

Another quote from the judge about a fair trial: "It is a bedrock principle of the judicial process in this country. 'Legal trials are not like elections, to be won through the use of the meeting call, the radio and the newspaper.' This case is no exception." Alex.

MARQUARDT: All right. Katelyn Polantz at the courthouse, thank you very much.

KEILAR: Let's bring in now CNN Contributor and New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos and also former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori, who is with us. Ankush, let's start with the Hunter Biden part of this here. Designation of a special counsel today. What is your reaction to that and where - and really how we got to this point?

ANKUSH KHARDORI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: This Justice Department has done a lot of things that have been unprecedented, including most notably what they've been doing with Donald Trump. This is also unprecedented. I mean, I think we just have to observe that. I - look, I've never seen a federal criminal case travel this strange path.

Five years, a U.S. attorney from a prior administration. There's a plea agreement that seemed like it was about to wrap everything up and now it's falling apart in this rather dramatic fashion. And from here, it's very unclear where we go next. Looks like they're planning on filing charges potentially in California related to the tax charges that they were supposed to resolve in Delaware. And they now have the right to file more charges than just the ones that were already part of the plea agreement.

MARQUARDT: Evan, also in terms of the reaction inside Biden world, what do you think the president is feeling today? Do you think that they assumed that this was all going to go away with that plea deal? But now it's clearly going to drag on into this campaign season. How do you expect them and specifically the president to contend with this?

EVAN OSNOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Alex, there's a very personal element to this and a political element. The personal element is, let's call it what it is. It's very painful. I mean, the fact that this is his son. He's a close member of the family. He's in and out of the White House. He has traveled with the president on foreign trips recently. And this process, which seemed to be kind of winding down, is now flaring up in a way that could drag on for a long time, which just as a personal matter is a painful thing for any family.

As a political fact, yes, this now establishes this as an ongoing piece of the conversation. But I think one of the things you hear very clearly from people in the White House and specifically around the President is that there has been a five-year investigation into this matter by, as we know, a U.S. attorney appointed by Donald Trump and it has yet to find a single example of a case in which Hunter Biden's efforts to enrich himself, that's what we know he was doing. He was trying to take advantage of his connections in politics, that the President actually did anything that would benefit him or that the President did anything to try to change policy.

That fact hasn't changed and what we're now waiting to see is where does this investigation go? Anytime you get a special counsel, it can lead in directions you didn't know at the beginning. But at the moment, the facts on the ground remain the same, which is there is no evidence that Joe Biden benefited.

KEILAR: I mean, Evan, Ankush mentioned the political side of this. How much do you - you mentioned how unprecedented and how bizarre this whole thing seems to you. How much do you see the political here impacting the legal?

KHARDORI: I think that they're intertwined, right, unfortunately, for the Justice Department. You can't take the politics entirely out of the law in this situation. It's a variation on the problem they have with the Trump prosecutions, too. They want to have a very clear delineation between law and politics, but these are political figures, the most prominent political figures in the country, right?

So to some extent, I would imagine that this is aimed at placating Republicans on Capitol Hill, right, who have been insistent upon having this designation.

KEILAR: Well, let me ask you about that, because they are thoroughly unhappy with this. They've said there's a two-tier justice system. They wanted a special counsel, but then the whistleblowers came and they insisted that David Weiss had said he wanted to be a special counsel but couldn't, even though David Weiss said in a letter to Congress, actually, no, that's not what happened.

Now he is special counsel, and they're saying no, and they don't really like him. What do you make of that? Because this certainly doesn't seem like something that is good for President Biden and Democrats, politically.

KHARDORI: I mean, candidly, what I make of it is that they want this investigation to go on as long as possible, including through the 2024 election, and that would be easier to do if a new attorney had to take it over. I think, honestly, it may just be as simple as that, because Weiss has all the institutional knowledge, right?

If you brought in someone else to take it over, they'd have to get entirely up to speed. They'd have to relearn everything. They might want to revisit certain decisions that have been made, even if they came out the same way. That's time. It's resources. And I think, what we've seen on Capitol Hill this year, surrounding Hunter Biden, suggests that Republicans really like this to be front and center in the news.

MARQUARDT: Evan, you did touch on the personal side of this and how President Biden would be seeing this. Do you think that there's any regret on the President's part for running, not just the first time, but now running for re-election because it does put such a heavy spotlight on his son's troubles?

OSNOS: Well, this has been a fact of his life for a long time. [15:15:02]

The reality is Joe Biden's been in politics for decades, as we know. He knows that when you run, it's not just yourself, but your family runs. And these are family decisions. He would not have run for president in 2020 and indeed in 2024 were it not something that Hunter Biden and Hunter Biden's kids were willing to go through. So this is a family affair when it comes to the Biden family.

And I think they knew what they were getting into. Biden's talked about it quite explicitly before. But I think the thing to keep in mind is, look, there is going to be a sustained effort, as Ankush said, to try to generate what is in effect a counter-scandal to balance out what is happening around Trump, who is, after all, the Republican candidate here.

Hunter Biden's not running for president. So this is, for the moment, a personal matter for the president that is painful. It has political implications. But this is a different fact than having a Republican candidate who is, in fact, facing his own special counsel investigation.

KEILAR: Yes, it is different, of course. But certainly, as voters see it, I don't know, it creates sort of something or allows an opportunity to try to create the idea that there isn't and I think that's what we're going to see Republicans do.

Evan Osnos, Ankush Khardori, thank you so much ...

MARQUARDT: Thank you.

KEILAR: ... to both of you for coming and we appreciate it.

And ahead of this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, we are going to take you live to Maui, where people are desperately trying to leave the island, including one man who says he lost everything.

Plus, worrying new signs Americans are struggling to pay the bills.

And salacious new allegations against Phil Mickelson, including claims that he lost close to $100 million betting.

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KEILAR: Soon, residents of the decimated town of Lahaina will be able to go back home. The state's governor just telling a local television station that people should brace themselves though because "they will see destruction like they not ever seen in their lives." And that is really the truth when you look at these pictures.

Maui's mayor is expected to make the official announcement that residents can return to Lahaina or to be honest what is left of it later today. In the meantime, the White House says its emergency response is ramping up. The federal government just releasing enough food and water for 5,000 people for five days. And at this point, at least 55 people are dead from the devastating wildfires. That number though is expected to keep climbing substantially.

We have CNN's Veronica Miracle who is at the Kahului Airport for us. I know it's always a little busy there, but it's busier than usual, Veronica. Tell us what you're seeing.

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Brianna. This airport has seen its fair share of very busy summer travel days, especially with everything that's been going on with airlines. But this is at another level. So you can see right here, the lines behind me, but during this live shot, I'm going to try to walk the entire length of the line to get into TSA and we'll see if we can get to the line as I'm talking.

So a lot of these people have been trying to get out. In fact, the government, the local - the county is asking people to leave to save resources for those who have been impacted by the fire in Lahaina, the three fires that have been burning here.

It's - in fact, we spoke to one man who - with his wife, they came here from - on vacation from Sydney, Australia. They were in their hotel on Monday. They saw the fires burning. They got stuck. They had not been able to communicate with the airlines or really the outside world and they've been subsisting off of berries and fruit and a sandwich that they were able to get from aid workers, take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT GILFILLAN, AFFECTED BY WILDFIRE: We're leaving primarily because we're just using up food and resources that the locals need. Can't say we're glad to be leaving because we love Maui, but we have to. We have to do the right thing and leave the resources to the people who need them. But we'll be back. You need us to rebuild.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MIRACLE: So many people that we have spoken to recognize that this is, obviously, an incredibly dire situation for the people that live here. But vacations, of course, have been absolutely destroyed. So many people who've spent thousands of dollars have been impacted. We're coming up against a bench here, but I'm just going to turn over this way. The line continues. The line goes on and on and on and this has been happening all week.

We've seen people inside camping out. You can see people sleeping there with some sleeping bags. People are bringing around water. So all over the county, whether you're impacted by the fires or you are a traveler here who had your vacation interrupted, it's just been a real mess. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes, it certainly has. But listen, we talked to a state senator who represents Lahaina yesterday, and that's what he said, they need food, they need fuel and they need tourists to turn back around. And I think that man who's heading back to Australia said it best, need to leave the resources for those who need them.

Veronica Miracle live for us in Kahului, thank you. Alex?

MARQUARDT: Thanks, Brianna.

We want to speak now about this with La Phena Davis who lost her home in Maui.

La Phena, thank you so much for joining us today. We can only begin to imagine what difficult time this is for you and how you're processing what you've just been through. We understand that you lost your home that was on Front Street in Lahaina itself.

If you wouldn't mind, tell us and our viewers what you were feeling, what you saw as the fires approached your home.

LA PHENA DAVIS, LOST HOME IN MAUI: Thank you so much for this opportunity to speak on behalf of my family, my ohana and my community and our town that we've lived in for generations.

[15:24:55]

It's hard to describe because most of the feelings and emotions at that moment had to be suppressed in order to be quickly moving and to gather our families, gather our things and get out.

I was fortunate enough to leave when I saw the dense, black smoke ensue and consume - come from the mountain side and consume down to the ocean and then quickly approach our home. Even at that time, I still was in disbelief that it would ever reach our house. We were unable to gather any of our personal belongings. I got my computer and my important documents, but that was it.

We later tried to return to only watch our entire house burn to the ground and not just our home, but our entire neighborhood and community. So the emotions at that time were numbing, shocking. It's been several days I've been able to decompress. I was relieved to find out that all of my family was accounted for and evacuated as of yesterday afternoon.

So that's allowing me to have a little bit more confidence and unravel and unpack the emotions that we are - that I and my family are going through right now.

MARQUARDT: That is a huge relief. And, of course, we're extremely happy for you. We're also looking at these incredibly scenes of devastation in Lahaina right now.

La Phena, we have heard some criticism of the authorities for lack of warning, questions about sirens, questions about evacuation orders. You yourself have criticized the mayor of Miami (ph) and the police department saying that they failed your community. What do you think that they should have done that they didn't?

DAVIS: So I want to start off by recognizing our government's efforts, commending the National Guard, the Maui Fire Department, the Maui Police Department, and the community of local individuals on the ground who are making a difference right now.

The initial impression of the community of Lahaina was that we were not evacuated, that we were not given any warning. The community is angry, they're hurt, but with new information as it's coming out, I learned that the Maui Police Department were on foot, going from door to door, getting people out the best that they could. All communications were down.

There was no way to get information in or out. And the civil defense was not operational at that time. So I don't believe that it was possible for that to happen. I believe the fire department was doing their best. Maui Police Department did their best. And the local community also was doing their best.

New information from my close friends and families, they were awoken. They had to flee on foot. They had to jump into the river to escape the flames. They grabbed their neighbors and threw them in the river to escape the flames. The same thing down at Lahaina Harbor on Front Street.

So I have reconsidered my initial hurt and anger towards the communications that was going into Lahaina. For myself, I was frustrated. I did go up to the highest point in Kaanapali to get phone service so I could reach those that I know in media and in communications on the island to get out word, the actual situation, because what was coming over the airways just wasn't enough information for the residents to be able to evacuate and escape and I feel like there is going to be a lot more - there's a lot of unaccounted for people, and we're going to find a lot more of our friends and family that are unalived.

MARQUARDT: Yes, we have heard that from the mayor today that the death toll is only those who have been found outside and that searches still need to be carried out inside.

La Phena Davis, thank you so much for sharing your time with us. We know how difficult this is and we really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story and the stories of others, such dramatic stories of escape and survival that we've been hearing over the course of the past few days.

[15:30:04]

Of course, our thoughts are with you, your family and with the entire Maui community. So thank you for coming on.