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Trump, 18 Co-Defendants Facing Friday Deadline To Surrender; Hilary Brings Powerful Winds And Rain, Flooding California Streets. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 21, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:33]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Could be today, could be tomorrow, but it will before noon on Friday, we could see former President Donald Trump or any one of his 18 co-defendants surrender at Fulton County Jail as they face criminal charges in the Georgia election probe.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A muddy mess. A new look at the aftermath of the historic storm that hit California. Where it's going next and how much strength does it have left?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This hour, President Biden is headed to Maui to see the devastation left behind from the wildfire. Still more than 800 people are unaccounted for. A local official just telling us last hour she hopes Biden will be bringing good news in the form of more funding when he arrives. We'll see.

I'm Kate Baldwin with John Berman and Sara Sidner, this is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: This is the week when a former president will go to jail to be booked and processed on state racketeering charges. When will he show up is still pending. But one thing's really clear, the former president's legal troubles and political campaign are colliding.

We know that Donald Trump will not show up on the GOP debate stage in Milwaukee this Wednesday when his 2024 challengers do. Trump has confirmed that. But will he show up in an Atlanta area jail today? He and his 18 accused conspirators have until Friday at noon to be booked on criminal charges there.

At this point, all 19 are expected to be fingerprinted and have a mug shot taken inside that jail. CNN's Katelyn Polantz is live outside the courthouse in Atlanta. What are you learning today?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Sara, here at the courthouse is where the DA works. And we've already seen some of the prosecutors on the team for this case working under DA Fannie Willis to prosecute Donald Trump and these others gathering here because they have work to do before these defendants are arrested and brought into the jail, potentially fingerprinted, to have their mugshots taken, searched even. All of that is very likely, at least for Donald Trump, to happen at the end of the week.

But before that, there's a negotiation taking place, and we're waiting to see exactly how that plays out today and in the coming days. A negotiation that will allow some of these people, these defendants, to have their defense lawyers, work with the DA's Office to make sure that arrest and processing at the jail goes very smoothly, to have bail terms set before anyone turns themselves in at the jail.

But there's 19 defendants here, hard to keep track of. We have a large team here around the courthouse as well as over at the jail watching. We haven't seen any defendants or their lawyers yet, but it's very likely that we see a couple of steps in this process, potentially as soon as today and in the coming days of this bail determination process, as well as people being booked at the Fulton County Jail.

SIDNER: And, Katelyn, we are looking at the plethora of people who are charged in this case. Who else among those who have been charged are important to watch? What movements are being made by some of these defendants?

POLANTZ: Well, Sara, some of these people are some of the most recognizable lawyers in America. Rudy Giuliani is one of the other defendants in this case. He, too, is going to have to show up and be arrested, have his bail term set, just like Donald Trump. Other very infamous lawyers who worked with Donald Trump after the election Ken Chesebro, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Sidney Powell, they are all some of the additional defendants.

And then there's Mark Meadows, the Chief of Staff to Trump in the White House. He already is told a federal court he wants his case moved out of state court into federal court. He wants his charges dismissed. And he's already beginning to make an argument to very aggressively attack his case in court. Whether or not Donald Trump is going along with him, he says he was working just at the behest of the president after the 2020 election. So we have to see what happens in that court as well. Sara?

SIDNER: Yes. Mark Meadow is the first to jump out in front with aggressive moves to try to get his case dismissed. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for all your work there in Atlanta. Kate?

[11:05:04]

BOLDUAN: And joining us now is CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers. Let's stick on that point, the moves being made by Mark Meadows and his legal team right now. Let's take it in pieces because it is pretty fascinating.

Part of the filing, they write this. "Stripped of the state's gloss, the underlying facts entail duties with the core functions of a Chief of Staff to the President of the United States, arranging or attending office meetings, contacting state officials on the President's behalf, visiting a government building and setting up a phone call for the President with a state official. Only by virtue of his Chief of staff role was Mr. Meadows involved in the conduct charge. Put another way, his federal position was a but-for cause of his alleged involvement." What do you think of that? Strong point?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, on the surface it's a strong point, Kate, but it kind of falls apart upon inspection. I mean -- but for the fact that I was working for a drug kingpin, I never would have been selling drugs on the street, right? So the fact that was his job takes him some way down the road to saying it's excusable, but there are still was a point, as prosecutors are arguing, that they crossed the line between the challenges that are normal and legal, and part of the process, and plotting to do things like send in fake slates of electors to the National Archives in Congress that are not part of normal challenging of elections.

So the trick here that the judge is going to have to kind of walk that line of figuring out, did they cross the line, was that part of his job, which of course, it was not. And then, I think ultimately, after getting through all of that, these motions will be denied.

BOLDUAN: Another part of this, Meadows' attorneys also note in the filing that he's not accused of violating any federal law in the special counsel's federal indictment against Trump, nor is he even alluded to as a conspirator. Does that carry weight in this decision to request dropping state charges?

RODGERS: Well, it does a little bit because part of the test is whether there's a violation of federal law here or really it's not so much federal law as far as a statute, but did you do something wrong that is part of your federal duties. You can say, did they -- did you act outside the bounds of federal law. So it does carry some weight.

But again, it's going to be an issue about how far they went and whether it was too far. And it's an interesting point that he wasn't named federal indictment. I think that tells us 100% if were still skeptical before, that he is not cooperating with any authorities, including federal authorities at this point, but it also doesn't get him so far. The federal authorities obviously made a strategic decision to just charge Donald Trump and not to expand beyond that in the interest of time. So that's not going to carry a lot of weight that Mark Meadows wasn't put into that indictment.

BOLDUAN: It's interesting, though. Does this request coming from Mark Meadows to have the state charges dismissed, and the arguments that his attorneys and he are making in this filing, does it in any way do anything to implicate that Meadows believes Trump acted illegally here? Does it confirm or acknowledge that they believe illegal activity took place?

RODGERS: No, it doesn't. I mean, what he's saying is that he didn't do anything illegal. If anything, it suggests that he's saying that nothing that was happening was illegal. But what it really tells us more than anything else is that Meadows is out for himself, that he's making aggressive moves. He has very capable lawyers. They want to get him out from under these charges, and he's not caring so much about what happens to anyone else at this point, which is honestly how any criminal defendant should behave.

If everyone else in this case behaves the same way, that's when you'll see a lot of cooperators coming in and the case getting stronger.

BOLDUAN: Jennifer, you also note how quickly this move comes from Mark Meadows. What does that suggest to you?

RODGERS: Well, they have to do the removal motion within 30 days. So it's not such a surprise, although the day after still is very fast. What it tells me is that they are not waiting for Donald Trump. Oftentimes, defendants lower down the indictment will kind of take their strategy from the lead defendant and his team. This case, that is not what's happening.

Mark Meadows is moving quickly. And to move to dismiss at this stage before the removal has even been decided shows again that he's very anxious to get out in front of this. He wants to be the lead on his own case. He's not following Donald Trump or anyone else. He's doing his best to get out of this ASAP.

BOLDUAN: Jennifer Rogers, good to see you. John?

BERMAN: So, Kate, in a manner of speaking, this week, we know that Donald Trump is going to jail. He is. He's going to the jail in Fulton County. He is not going to the first Republican presidential debate.

He announced he will not attend the Milwaukee event Wednesday night. CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us now with that announcement. Kristen?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. That's right.

[11:10:00]

Now, we had anticipated this. We had expected for weeks now, Trump has been polling his allies, advisers, even polling rallying crowds, asking if he should debate, continually pointing to his lead in all of these polls saying why should he have to debate if he has such a big lead.

Now, I just got off the phone with several Trump advisors this morning who say that really did play a big part in his decision not to participate in that debate. Looking at this commanding lead, they say that even if there is a breakout star, one of these other candidates comes forward, does a really good job, has a viral moment, as -- is usual during these debates, that they don't believe it can actually make up for that gap in the polling. The other thing they pointed to was whether or not Donald Trump being there or not would make him the punching bag.

Now, they still expect that Trump will take up a lot of oxygen in that room, even if he's not on stage. But they do believe it is better for the former president not to be there as these attacks are happening. Also hoping these advisors that some of this will shift to Ron DeSantis. He is, of course, a second place there behind Donald Trump, even if it is by a large margin. So, of course, something we want to be watching closely.

And part of this is going to be really how these other candidates differentiate themselves from Donald Trump. How do they get away from this shadow of the former president who has really sucked up most of the oxygen in this race, whether it be politically with his base or because of all of his legal issues? And it's just unclear how exactly that's going to look.

And some of these candidates have made a lot of their candidacy, if you look at Chris Christie, about hitting Donald Trump. So where does he pivot to when this debate happens? And that's something where we're all waiting to see just exactly how this plays out.

BERMAN: Any idea of what he'll be doing the night of the debate itself? Is he going to be live tweeting or I guess we call it live X- ing? Is he going to be X-ing during the debate, Kristen?

HOLMES: Well, right now I am told there is nothing on his calendar, but I don't know about X-ing. I can imagine that we will see some Truth Social posts. We have reported that Trump is expected to air an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday. It's unclear when that is being taped. I was told it was not being taped on Wednesday, but whether or not that has already happened. We're looking into that right now to kind of get that feel for what exactly he's going to be saying as this debate is happening.

BERMAN: The guy loves to watch TV, so you can imagine he will be watching.

Holmes: He does.

BERMAN: Kristen Holmes, great to see you. Thank you very much, Sara?

SIDNER: X-ing, is that what we're calling it now? X-ing?

BERMAN: X-ing. X-ing, that's what I'm going with.

SIDNER: I learned new things from you, John, always. All right. Still to come, 911 systems down, flooding and washed out roads. Hilary, now a post-tropical cyclone, but heavy rainfall and gusty winds are still expected across a large part of the Southwest. In San Diego, it was the rainiest summer day on record in over 170 years. We'll go there live.

Also this hour, President Biden heading to Hawaii to witness the devastation left from the Maui wildfires. 114 people now confirmed dead, and local officials say over 800 are still unaccounted for.

And New Iowa poll numbers out this morning suggest all but one GOP candidate may want to set their sights on New Hampshire. We'll have details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:17:53]

BOLDUAN: We've learned that firefighters are now going door to door in one Southern California community, as many are now starting to just assess the damage left behind by the major storm that blew through. This is the muddy mess that you can see that people are waking up to in Cathedral City, which is about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. I spoke with the city's fire chief earlier who said that the rain may have passed, but now they have a whole lot of work to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CONTRERAS, CHIEF, CATHEDRAL CITY CALIFORNIA FIRE DEPARTMENT: There's a lot of destruction, right, and Mother Nature clearly put her mark on us over the last 48 hours. And that's what you're seeing with that mud. And it's a combination of mud and sand that makes it really hard to get through.

The water, for the most part, has dissipated. But what we're really dealing with is that excess mud that is a lot like quicksand. It's real heavy and takes a lot of effort.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That's in Cathedral City. In Palm Springs, take a look at this. Palm Springs got a full year's worth of rain in just 24 hours, and it's far from the only broken record. Los Angeles recorded its rainiest summer day in at least 150 years. San Diego got ten times their average summertime rainfall between June and August in one day.

CNN's Kyung Lah is in San Diego. She's joining us now. Kyung, that looks like a mess around you.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know what, Kate? This is a mess here in San Diego, and that's really what this city is dealing with, on this street at least. This road did flood over overnight. Mainly there were some rescues of people in cars because they were driving around the barrier.

So what they're doing today here in San Diego is just trying to mop up a little bit. And this, the city says, is really not that bad considering how historic in nature this storm was, because it is unheard of to have this type of weather. As you were talking about, some of those statistics. In San Diego, this was the first time that -- this was the most rain that they got in 170 years. And the very first time that in Los Angeles there was any measurable rain on August 20th.

[11:20:03]

But it was in Cathedral City and in Palm Springs, in that entire area that is to the north and west of us that saw the heaviest impacts. There was flooding in the streets. There were rescues of people in their cars, and it did get the most amount of rain in 24 hours. A rainiest day ever recorded in summer.

Kate, as far as any sort of power outages, there are some spotty outages, just a few hundred people here and there. But all in all, it's just going to be a lot of cleanup today, at least here in the San Diego Area.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And starting to get an assessment of what everyone's dealing with as they're waking up this morning. It's good to see you, Kyung. Thank you. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. With us now, Daniel DeSelms, Palm Springs, California Emergency Management Coordinator. Thank you so much for joining us. I know it's a really busy time for you there.

I know that overnight and into this morning, the 911 system was not functioning. Can you tell us if that has been sorted out? And if not, what people should do if they do have an emergency?

DANIEL DESELMS, COORDINATOR, PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Yes, Sara. So it wasn't just a Palm Springs 911 system that went down, it was really a Coachella Valley wide outage. Frontier is working on it. Overnight, we had staff that was able to get it functional. So if anybody in the area does call 911, it's going to get routed to dispatchers through a non-emergency number. It is a temporary fix while we sort out the actual solution with frontier.

SIDNER: OK. So now if you call 911, it will go somewhere not in its normal place, but it'll go through dispatchers. They will actually be able to get service. It'll just go through the non-emergency first. Thank you for that. I think a lot of people need to understand that.

We are looking at pictures of Palm Springs right now where there is just gushing water and mud just coming at people. What can you tell us that you're seeing as far as the damage this morning as you see daybreak and you look at the surroundings?

DESELMS: So really damage assessments have just recently started. We waited till daylight so we could see the water to make sure that our crews were safe out there on the road. And you've seen the damage. We have water flowing over the top of roads, mud and debris in a lot of places, so road clearing has already begun.

We've shut down more roads in Palm Springs than we ever have before. We've already started to open them. We had a lot of help from Caltrans out here early, our own street crews. Some big concerns, though, is we have a major section of I-10 that is closed.

SIDNER: Mm. Whenever there is a major freeway closed in anywhere in California, it causes huge backup. So a portion of I-10 is closed. People should know that.

Are you still telling people, look, just stay home for right now. There are roads closed, there are issues that we are trying to sort out or are people starting to go out and about?

DESELMS: We're absolutely telling people if they don't have to be out to stay in their homes. One, the roads, we're still assessing the damage. And the places where there's still water and mud over the roads, we don't know how safe those are. And the second part of that is with all of those road closures, people are going to be sitting in traffic, so really just encouraging people if they don't have to be out to stay in their houses, we're working as quickly and safely as we can to get everything back up and running.

SIDNER: I just want to let people know, we're looking at some images here of Forest Falls, California. And you can see just how dangerous this is. Because you don't just get the flooding, you also get mudslides as well that can be incredibly powerful. So what you're saying to people is, look, if you don't have to be out, don't be out. That's the safest thing you can do right now, and to help emergency responders, too.

I do want to lastly ask you, where you all -- did you all feel the earthquake that took place in San Bernardino County?

DESELMS: I personally didn't feel it. I think a lot of us were busy running around, so we didn't feel it. Nobody that I've talked to actually felt the tremor.

SIDNER: All right. A lot of people going, what is going on in California? All the things are happening all at once. Good luck to you and thank you for letting us know. And the people of your area in Coachella Valley know that the 911 systems are operating now. You can actually call and get through to dispatch. Appreciate your time. John?

BERMAN: President Biden headed to Maui to see the scene of the deadliest American wildfire in more than 100 years. More than 800 people are still missing.

[11:24:44]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So moments from now, President Biden leaves for Maui. It has been nearly two weeks since flames swept through parts of that island. 114 people are now confirmed dead. And the latest update shows 850 people still unaccounted for. Rain in the forecast could complicate the difficult and delicate task of finding and identifying the remains of any more victims.

With us now is Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii. Senator, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Aloha, as I know you like to say.

Listen, senator, we keep hearing about the people unaccounted for. The mayor of Maui puts the number at 850 today. What's your understanding of what that number represents? Is it possible there are 850 deceased people still unidentified?