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Georgia Election Subversion Case; 99 Dead in Maui Wildfires; Biden's Lawyer Asks to Withdraw from Case. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 15, 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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[09:33:50]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, aside from Donald Trump, 18 other people are facing criminal charges this morning in this Georgia indictment. Let's walk through who they are, starting at the top.

Mark Meadows was Trump's White House chief of staff. By definition, he was the president's right-hand man. Meadows was involved in the effort to contact state election official, including the infamous call where Trump asked Georgia's secretary of state to find those votes that he said he needed.

Then there is Jeffrey Clark. He's a Justice Department - he was a Justice Department official, and one of the few DOJ officials willing to go along with Trump's baseless election fraud claims. Even urging the acting attorney general at the time to sign documents that made false fraud claims.

Now, underneath those two there's a whole slew of other people. There was an entire legal team pushing those false claims as well. Chief among them, Rudy Giuliani, but also John Eastman, who wrote the memo theorizing that Vice President Pence could singlehandedly reject the vote certification.

Kenneth Chesebro, which you've heard some about, who wrote his own memo detailing how states could submit alternate slates of electors.

And Sidney Powell was also central. Not only because of some of her famously wild quotes and conspiracies that she threw around, but also central to some of those White House meetings where those bogus legal theories were being pushed.

[09:35:11]

According to the indictment, these three other attorneys, as you see here, Jenna Ellis, Ray Smith, and Robert Cheeley were also intimately involved in pressuring Georgia officials to subvert the true outcome of the election.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, on the so-called fake elector scheme, David Shafer, who was the former Republican state chair, allegedly reserved the room at the state capitol for the fake electors to meet. Shawn Still was a fake elector who allegedly encouraged others to sign. Mike Roman, a Trump campaign official who was said to be a go- between on both the fake elector's scheme and the efforts to breach election systems in Coffee County.

Cathy Latham, Scott Hall and Misty Hampton are all accused of giving pro-Trump officials access to ballots, computer systems and voting machines there. Latham was also a so-called fake elector.

The indictment alleges that Harrison Floyd, the leader of Black Voices for Trump, a publicist named Trevian Kutti, who used to work for Kanye West, and a pastor named Stephen Lee were all involved in the effort to intimidate two Georgia election workers who were wrongly accused of tampering with ballots.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the defendants in the Georgia case have to turn themselves in by August 25th. District Attorney Fani Willis says she wants to try all the defendants together. And while it will be up to the judge in the case to set the date for trial, Willis has said she's proposing a trial date within the next six months.

Here with me is CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers.

Thank you so much for being here.

We will get to some of these details. But just from your perspective as a former federal prosecutor, when you saw this indictment, what was your initial reaction to it?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It was, wow. I mean what detail, the number of defendants, the number of lawyers. It's really a blockbuster indictment. And it's really zeroing in, of course, on one state. You know, we know that these election interference actions were taken in a whole bunch of states. But when you really drill down on what happened in Georgia, all the different strands of that conspiracy come out in this indictment. It's pretty overwhelming.

SIDNER: We heard from, you know, Fani Willis, that she is going to do this hopefully within six months and with all 19 defendants. I covered the Oath Keepers trial. That had about 12 people. They broke it into two different cases. Can she do this? It --

RODGERS: Well, it won't be 19 defendants, because what will start to happen is we'll see movement. People will plead out because they'll be given good deals. People kind of at the bottom. People will flip and plead guilty and become cooperating witnesses. So, people will start to get out of the case. We won't end up with 19. But it's still, to me, impossible it can happen within six months. It's too complicated, too many players, too much evidence, and too many other criminal cases for the former president. I mean she's not even thinking about the fact that the calendar is pretty much full at this point.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about the potential to flip some of these defendants. Would you start with those with the fewest number of charges against them, those, sort of some of the people that are in Georgia that were having to do with the Coffee County elections? Where would you start to try and flip, or do you start very high up?

RODGERS: Well, when you're flipping, as opposed to just trying to get people to exit the case, to kind of streamline things -

SIDNER: Yes.

RODGERS: You want to see what they know and how they can help you, right? So, flipping the people at the very bottom may not be that helpful if all they know is that the person right above them told them to do it. You need people who really have the evidence that you need to try the folks at the top who are most likely to end up in the courtroom for trial. So, you have to assess that. Who knows the most? Who can they give us?

And then you're thinking about things like, are the lawyers likely to flip, because if they do they'll likely lose their law licenses, although many of them are under those processes already in the states where they're barred. So, all of these things kind of go into the mix and they'll just kind of set out feelers. How does your client feel about coming in and talking to us? And they'll kind of start that way.

SIDNER: I want to talk about Mark Meadows because he was, for a lot of people, a bit of a surprise because people thought that he might be cooperating with federal prosecutors in the other case that is similar to this that is being tried federally by the special counsel. And now here he is, he is now indicted in the state case.

What do you think happened here? Is it possible that he's cooperating in one and not in the other?

RODGERS: It's possible. You know, I was surprised as well because I thought it was likely that he was cooperating. And, of course, his lawyer would have required that all jurisdictions that could possibly charge him would kind of sign off on that cooperation.

It's possible given that Fani Willis has said that she wasn't really coordinating with Jack Smith, that they were proceeding on separate charges and that now that he's charged in this case, his lawyer will be involved in crafting some sort of deal for him that will allow cooperation across all cases, or it could be that he's really not cooperating, although now that he's actually been criminally charged, you have to think that that possibility will be moving up the ranks in terms of his thought processes.

SIDNER: It's just fascinating to try to peel apart the layers of this 97-page indictment.

I lastly want to ask you about Fulton County DA Fani Willis and her experience with RICO.

[09:40:03]

She -- back in 2022, just last year, brought a case, a RICO case, against Young Thug, a rapper, and several others. What does that case tell you about the timing of this case and how quickly, or slowly, it might be able to come to trial?

RODGERS: So, Fani Willis has a lot of experience with RICO throughout her prosecutorial career. So, she knows what she's doing in this regard.

But going back to the claim that she's going to try this case in six months, or she would like to, the Young Thug case is still in jury selection. I mean months and months just in jury selection. And picking a jury for the former president and these other high-ranking former officials and lawyers and so on is going to be even more complicated than picking a jury for the Young Thug RICO case. So, to me, that just underscores again that six months is an unrealistic goal to try this thing.

SIDNER: There's a lot of people, there is a lot of lawyers that will be involved, and there's a lot of lawyers who were charged. So, we will all be watching this case. It is pretty incredible to see how unprecedented this all is.

Jennifer Rodgers, thank you so much for coming on.

RODGERS: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up, CNN has learned Hunter Biden's top attorney has asked to withdraw from his client's case. Why? We have that next.

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[09:45:35]

BERMAN: This morning, authorities in Hawaii are expected to begin releasing more names of those who died in the Maui wildfires. The death toll is now at 99, but officials do warn that number could rise. It could even double. Crews have only been able to search a quarter of the burn area so far.

Officials are also scrambling to find housing for people who lost their homes. Hawaii's governor says of the more than 2,200 structures that were destroyed, 86 percent were homes.

CNN's Mike Valerio joins us from Maui this morning with the very latest.

What's happening now, Mike?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, John, I think that what we saw yesterday is a good snapshot, a good illustration of what is happening. We made it to Lahaina yesterday, our team here. And, you know, as soon as you get downtown, towards Front Street, you look out immediately towards the beautiful Pacific Ocean. And, John, you see these amazing opalescent waves and, you know, coastline out in the distance that is blooming with life.

And you turn in the other direction, and you see the complete opposite. You see just what looks like a high tide that sprung from hell, that swallowed up the entire town and did not let go and did not care at all what happened afterwards. And it's just charcoal, ashen, hellscape.

And it's in this context, John, that we have all of these dozens of emergency workers, recovery specialists, utility workers, police and residents who are sifting through the rubble of their lives. This is the environment in which they are working.

And it was so moving yesterday to hear FEMA's administrator recognize that. That this is going to be the atmosphere of recovery.

Here's what she said late yesterday. Listen.

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DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: As residents continue to mourn the loss of their friends, their loved one, their neighbors, the loss of their homes and their way of life, we know, and let them know, that we are mourning with them. Nothing can prepare you for what I saw during my time here, and nothing can prepare them for the emotional toll of the impact that this severe event has taken on them.

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VALERIO: So, the next few days, moving forward, in terms of what we should be looking at with the recovery, with trying to get into the next chapter for life at the epicenter of the disaster zone. You know, Hawaii's governor said late yesterday that he expects that 85 to 90 percent of the burn zone could be searched by the end of the weekend. That was certainly a surprising figure that was thrown out to all of us who have been here since the very beginning.

Also, 20 cadaver dogs are now working on site, compared to three. They could only work for the first few days for just a couple minutes at a time because of the high temperatures. And they can only work in the morning and in the late afternoon.

Also, John, I thought it was striking when we were in the disaster zone to see the number of National Guard troops that were deployed within the heart of Lahaina. There were about three dozen troops who were directing traffic, who were assisting police. You know, police want to make sure that only residents are getting back in to the heart of the community, that there aren't tourists or real estate speculators or, God forbid, you know, reports of, you know, potential looters anywhere, you know, near the heart of downtown.

So, there are also two Chinook National Huard helicopters that where we are right now, on the foothills of the highest peak of Maui, these helicopters the National Guard has been providing have also been dropping water. So, a huge effort as we move into what is in all likelihood a new phase of recovery and moving forward here on Maui, John.

BERMAN: All right, Mike Valerio, on Maui. Great to have you there, Mike. Thank you very much. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, a potentially big development when it comes to a case involving Hunter Biden. His top attorney has just now asked to withdraw from his case. Why? We have the details next.

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[09:53:48]

BOLDUAN: This just in to CNN, the lead attorney representing Hunter Biden now wants to withdraw from handling his case. CNN's Kara Scannell has the details for us.

This is really just coming in. What's behind this request? Fill us in, Kara.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this request just hit the docket. And this attorney, Chris Clark, has been Hunter Bidens's long time criminal defense attorney. And he has represented him in the negotiations with the Justice Department. So, in this filing, he's - he's says he needs to withdraw from this case because the plea deals, both the conversations and the actual paperwork, are now at the center of this dispute. So, he's a witness to this, so he can no longer advocate for Hunter Biden because he will be someone that will be, you know, a fact witness as they, obviously, are on different pages about what was covered in that plea agreement and just the nature and conversation of it.

So, he is moving out of this case right now. I mean there has been some tension on the legal team. I think it's an open question of where this goes from here. But at this moment, he's now off the case because he's a potential witness as they try to figure out their next steps.

I mean today is a deadline in this case for the prosecution to weigh in on Hunter Biden's team saying that the gun part of the deal, that was the gun diversion agreement, Hunter Biden's team said it is still valid and binding. Prosecutors have until noon today to weigh in. And the judge is also asking Hunter Biden's team to weigh in by the end of the day about where their view is on the tax plea agreement and where they go from here.

[09:55:09]

You know, all this in the backdrop of Merrick Garland, the attorney general, giving -

BOLDUAN: That's exactly what I was - I was actually - that - and that was what I was going to ask you is, is - and this could be completely separate and just happening at the same time. But the - but David Weiss was just given special counsel status. Does that have - does that factor into this?

SCANNELL: Yes, I mean, so he was given special counsel status. He asked for that on Tuesday telling the attorney general that he thought they were at this moment in this case where that was necessary to give him these different authorities.

BOLDUAN: OK.

SCANNELL: But this is still going on and still is kind of the front issue before this judge. So, obviously, he'll still continue as special counsel, but they've got this knotty issue that still has to be worked out.

BOLDUAN: I think that's a perfect way of saying it, quite a knotty issue. Well done walking us through it, Kara. All right, let's see what happens next. Thank you so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: Coming up, Donald Trump and 18 others are facing a new reality today and 41 criminal counts in Georgia. We have the indictment by the numbers.

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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