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Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) Discusses Hunter Biden Plea Deal, Possible Trial; Prosecutors' Case In GA Election Probe Moving Faster Than Expected; Police Raid Kansas Newspaper Office, Owner's Home; Police: "Mob Of Criminals" Stole Up To $100K Worth Of Merchandise From L.A. Nordstrom; Tourists Flock To Rome's Ancient Archeological Sites. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 14, 2023 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:30:52]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Lawyers for Hunter Biden are now pushing to keep part of his plea deal alive days after U.S. Attorney David Weiss was named special counsel in the case and that plea deal fell apart.

In a new court filing, they claim their previous agreement pertaining to the felony gun charges is still, quote, "valid and binding." Another part of that involved tax charges.

Joining me now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz who sits on the Oversight Committee and also the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, thanks for taking the time this afternoon.

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: As you see this case continue, drag out, the plea deal fell apart, you have a special counsel now appointed, and now you have an attempt to resurrect at least part of this plea deal, do you see a fundamental mismanagement of this case by prosecutors?

MOSKOWITZ: No. I mean, there's no evidence of fundamental mismanagement.

First of all, David Weiss, a Trump-appointed prosecutor, someone who got every single solitary vote of a Republican Senate and Democratic Senate, he was a unanimous decision to become a U.S. attorney.

And so the fact that Merrick Garland is elevating him to be the special counsel, by the way, is something that people have been asking for, for a year.

And by people, I mean 93 House Republicans, including members of the Freedom Caucus and over 30 Senators, including people like Chuck Grassley and Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and Marco Rubio, they've been asking for this to happen. If Hunter has done something beyond the tax issue and beyond the gun

issue that deserves to be investigated, then that should happen. No one is above the law. That's why you're not hearing Democrats say that, you know, this is the weaponization of the Justice Department.

No. We're being consistent. When we say no one's above the law when it comes to Donald Trump, we mean it even if it's one of our own.

SCIUTTO: Fair point.

Let me ask you this about the administration's handling of this. Has the Biden administration, has the president himself been forthcoming enough with his involvement in this, with Hunter Biden, with phone calls?

You're aware of the allegations from the Republican side, some of which there's no proof, but has the administration been as forthcoming as it needed to be and as quickly as it needed to be?

MOSKOWITZ: Well, look, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are grasping at straws. So when the president was asked did you ever speak to Hunter about this and he said no, what he meant was he never spoke to him about business. Right?

The Republicans came back and like, oh, no, they spoke. You know, they had a phone call and someone else was in the room.

But even the Republicans' own witness, Devon Archer, who they've elevated, he said they never talked about business. This is Hunter Biden's business partner. Said when Joe Biden was on the phone talking to his son, they never talked about business.

And, in fact, Devon Archer, again, the Republican witness that they elevated that somehow he was the smoking gun, he said the stuff in the 1023 form, which is that FBI form that's seven years old that said Joe Biden was involved he, he said the stuff in there is not accurate.

Look, that's why they never say Joe Biden. They say the Biden crime family or they say the Bidens. They're trying to impute whatever is going on with Hunter onto Joe.

This is something that's been playing out obviously in the halls of Congress. It's something that's playing out in the media.

But if this was an evidence-based trial, this would have stopped on day one when it comes to Joe Biden because he's just not involved.

But, by the way, that's not going to stop the other side. They will impeach the president. They will impeach him over this issue.

They will do it at the time of when the Donald Trump trials are going on to try to have this dual trial going on.

And they're honest about it. I mean, this is just like when they said they were doing Benghazi to hurt Hillary Clinton's poll numbers. This is the same thing they're doing here with Joe Biden. SCIUTTO: Congressman Moskowitz, thanks so much for joining.

MOSKOWITZ: Thank you. Appreciate it.

[14:35:00]

SCIUTTO: Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A flash mob striking a high-end store in southern California, making off with hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise. We have the details when we come back.

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SCIUTTO: This just in to CNN. We are learning that the Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury hearing potential charges against Donald Trump and others for attempting to overturn the 2020 election there appears to be moving faster than expected.

CNN's Sara Murray joins me now.

This is based on witnesses we thought were going to testify tomorrow and testifying today. Who exactly and what's the significance?

[14:40:00]

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. There were two witnesses we knew of who were told essentially you should be ready to appear before the grand jury on Tuesday.

One of those is former Georgia lieutenant governor and CNN contributor, Geoff Duncan. The other is independent journalist, George Chidi. We have confirmed that both of them have now been told that they need to appear before this grand jury today.

Obviously, this is an indication that this case is moving pretty quickly before the grand jury. We had expected this grand jury presentation to take up to two days. But again, she seems to be consolidating the days for these witnesses to appear.

It's an indication that we could see indictments as early as later today. We don't know that. This could still take until tomorrow.

But we certainly are going to be on high alert for any potential charges emerging today or tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: Sara, is there a time limit for that happening today? In other words, would it have to happen before close of business if it were to happen today?

MURRAY: Well, look, what we are expecting to happen is that whenever the grand jury hands up these indictments, whether it is today, whether it is tomorrow, that they will become public very quickly after that.

So we don't exactly know, again, like when that is going to be, but we would not expect this necessarily to be something that gets carried overnight if the grand jury here doesn't get carried overnight.

I think if the grand jury ends up voting on these charges today we will likely see whatever they have to make public today.

But again, all we know right now with certainty is the grand jury is moving faster than expected.

SCIUTTO: A lot of folks hitting refresh on that filings Web site.

Sara Murray, in Fulton County, Georgia, thanks so much.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: A police raid on a small Kansas newspaper is leading to serious criticism today. More than 30 news and press freedom organizations, including CNN, are strongly condemning the Marion Police Department for raiding the paper's office and the home of its owner.

This is a photo of the aftermath. We're going to show it to you in just a second at "The Marion County Record." You can see, as soon as we get the photo, where a reporter's computer tower sat before police seized it. You see it there.

The co-owner and publisher says that officers confiscated computers, file servers and phones from reporters and editors.

He says the paper did nothing wrong in its reporting about a restaurant owner who claims that her privacy rights were violated.

CNN's Whitney Wild has been tracking this story for us.

Whitney, what more are we learning about this raid?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, we still have many more questions than answers at this point.

But the Marion County police chief is defending this action saying, yes, there are limitations on when law enforcement can execute a search warrant inside a newspaper's offices or on the journalists themselves.

However, the chief says that limitation only pertains to when journalists are not themselves suspects in some illegal activity here.

So the implication here is that the police chief at least believes that the journalists took part in some activity that was illegal.

However, as you point out, news organizations, including CNN, and press freedom advocates are highly, highly concerned about this. It is extraordinarily atypical.

Because, Boris, typically the process is that news organizations receive a subpoena and then they work with their lawyers to provide whatever information is necessary. That is the normal course of action. It is very rare that law enforcement actually executes a search

warrant because it's just not supposed to happen that way per federal laws.

Here's what a -- what the letter from the reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press wrote to the Marion police chief demanding those materials be returned to the journalists:

Saying, "There appears to be no justification for the breadth and intrusiveness of the search, particularly when investigative steps may have been available. And we are concerned that it may have violated federal law strictly limiting federal, state and local law enforcement's ability to conduct newsroom searches."

At issue here, Boris, again, is this local newspaper that published a story on a local restaurant owner. The newspaper believes that this raid was basically retaliation for that story that was published.

So a lot of back and forth here. So much more to learn, and we'll keep on it -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Whitney Wild, thank you so much for sharing those details.

Jim?

SCIUTTO: Now to some of the other headlines we are watching this hour.

Four divers who went missing off the North Carolina coast have thankfully been found alive. The Coast Guard says the group was rescued 46 miles southeast of Cape Fear.

They left on Sunday for a diving trip on a recreational boat around noon. Later that day, the Coast Guard was alerted they had not resurfaced. Details on the rescue not yet clear. But photos released by the Coast Guard do show tearful -- look at that there -- family reunions.

[14:45:06]

Also, gas prices are edging toward $4 a gallon. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline, $3.85 now. The highest level in nearly 10 months. Coming just as millions of Americans are planning road trips for Labor Day.

AAA says there are 11 states averaging $4 a gallon gas and higher already. That includes Arizona, Illinois and Utah.

And Mark Zuckerberg says he is throwing in the towel on his cage fight with Elon Musk. That was a real thing.

The Meta CEO posted on the Threads platform, of course, his competitor to Musk's "X," quote, "isn't serious," he said, about the fight and that it's time to move on.

Zuckerberg accused Musk of giving multiple excuses to delay their fight. Again, this is real. Including wanting a backyard practice match. Musk responded on his "X" platform by calling Zuckerberg a chicken.

Again, Boris, these are real quotes.

SANCHEZ: Important to point that out, Jim. This is actually happening in real life.

A brazen flash mob robbery that was captured on video. It happened in broad daylight at a Nordstrom store in Los Angeles. Police say that thieves swooped in, overwhelming the staff and grabbing high-end merchandise before making their getaway.

CNN's Josh Campbell joins us now live from Los Angeles.

So, Josh, are police any closer to identifying the alleged culprits?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, at this hour, their investigation remains. Our colleague, Sherry Mossberger, spoke with CNN -- or excuse me, LAPD a short time ago and they indicated at this point no identification of the suspects, at this point no leads, no arrests. That investigation continues.

But to set the stage for our viewers here, this was Saturday afternoon. You had people that were out and about at a mall. You had workers that were just doing their job.

And then this happened. Watch.

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CAMPBELL: Customers began to flee. There were obviously exasperated employees there who could do nothing but watch. We're told that up to $100,000 in merchandise was stolen.

The Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement, I'll read part of that.

They said, "To criminals it is just property taken, to those who live in the area and patronize the Topanga Mall it is a loss of feeling safe. The LAPD will exhaust all efforts to bring those responsible into custody and seek criminal prosecution."

These cases, obviously, so tough to crack because you have these members of this group there wearing masks, they're in and out in a matter of minutes. A lot of them actually fled the scene. Vehicles with paper license plates.

So really difficult there for police to try to get to the bottom of this -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: And, Josh, a similar incident happened in Los Angeles just a few days ago, right?

CAMPBELL: That's right. Very similar. In nearby Glendale, California. I believe we have some of those images as well.

You see this large criminal flash mob that strikes another shopping facility. In that case, we're told that up to $300,000 worth of merchandise was stolen. No new leads announced by police on that one.

But what they're doing is appealing to the public, if you know who this group was, there is a $50,000 reward that's being offered for information leading to their arrest.

But this incident certainly unsettling the area, the community here in Los Angeles. And for those people who were there at the mall it was certainly very terrifying -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Josh Campbell, thanks so much for the update.

Jim?

SCIUTTO: Coming up, a truly exceptional find in Rome as the private theater to the first century emperor, Nero, is uncovered just steps from the Vatican. We're going to have details on this remarkable discovery just ahead.

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[14:53:12]

SANCHEZ: The end of Covid lockdowns have brought a surge of tourists flocking to Rome this summer, many getting access for the first time to ancient sites that reveal Rome's history, including the spot where historians believe Julius Caesar met his bloody end in 44 B.C.

CNN's Ben Wedeman has more on these archaeological findings.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) Passersby peer down into the crime scene.

GIOVANNA COMPAGNONE, ARCHITECT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN: Giovanna Compagnone points to where the murder happened.

COMPAGNONE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN: During the Ides of March in 44 B.C., the Senate was in session and, there, Julius Caesar was assassinated by the conspirators, stabbed 23 times, says Giovanna --

COMPAGNONE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN: -- an architect who supervised the restoration of the ruins here.

OK, so the murder happened a while ago. But now, after more than two millennia, visitors can get a close look at where historians believe Roman Senators dispatched the would-be dictator. For years, it was stray cats who came, saw and conquered this square.

Now they have to make room for sightseers.

The authorities in Rome are eager to capitalize on the resurgence of tourism following the pandemic lockdown, recently observing a private theater built for a mad emperor immortalized in the epic 1951 blockbuster --

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Here is history's evil genius, Nero.

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[14:55:00]

WEDEMAN: Nero was a classic case, says a Rome-based archaeologist, Darius Ary, of a leader who thought he knew best.

DARIUS ARY, ARCHAEOLOGIST: But at a certain point, he realizes, as he's getting older, wait a minute, I can do whatever I want. Those guys advising me, they're inhibiting me. I can get rid of them. Who's to say I can't?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (INAUDIBLE)

WEDEMAN: The theater is where Nero, a self-styled poet, musician and actor, honed acts to entertain the masses. He was big into bread and circuses.

The bread and circuses are over now, but the city still brings in the masses.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rome.

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SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Ben Wedeman for that report.

Et tu, Jim Sciutto?

SCIUTTO: He gets all the good assignments.

Ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, a grand jury in Atlanta hearing evidence on election interference by Trump that could lead to another indictment for the former president. We'll have the latest just ahead.

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