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First Republican Presidential Debate Will Feature 8 Qualified Nominees; Interview with Former Senior Adviser to Romney President Campaign and Former RNC Spokesman Kevin Sheridan; John Eastman, An Ex- Trump Attorney, Surrenders in Fulton County; Media Attempting to Get Trump Twitter Search Warrant Unsealed; Trump Expected to Surrender at Fulton County Jail on Thursday; Los Angeles Hospital Forced to Evacuate Due to Power Outage. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 22, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: What do you think, because I know you are always in the business of giving advice to Republicans, what do you think a win looks like on the debate stage tomorrow?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND (D) FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Yes, they don't listen to my advice though, goodness gracious. So, look, I think there are a few things. The first is that I somewhat disagree with my friend and my colleague today about who has the most to lose and the most the gain, and that being Ron DeSantis.

And the reason being is because we actually have DeSantis' work product. I mean, Ron DeSantis got molly-whopped in a debate by Andrew Gillum. And he got destroyed by Charlie Crist. and I'm not sure Charlie Crist is anybody's example of what a glowing political candidate should be at this stage in his career.

And so, we actually know how he debates and how poorly he debates. For me, it's going to go South Carolina, meaning Tim Scott and Nikki Haley with the most upside. Then Donald Trump even though he's not there, probably having an opportunity to win the debate. And then the third tier is going to be those individuals who actually have some fortitude who stand up against Donald Trump, and those two individuals right now are only Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie.

So, I think those are the three tiers of individuals who have an opportunity to win tomorrow night. And just for the record, Donald Trump's counterprogramming is horrible. I don't think anybody's going to be watching Tucker Carlson on Twitter or X, or whatever it's called now. And I don't think anybody's going to be responsive to his, "Counterprogramming."

However, regardless of it, Nikki and Tim who are talented, who do give a vision for the future, politically we disagree but it seems to be healthy for the Republican Party. Even if they have a good night, that -- that's going to be short lived, because at 6:00 a.m., people will be talking about something else. BOLDUAN: Yes. Kevin, what do you think could equate to a losing night for Donald Trump? I have a hard time seeing what a losing night for Donald Trump is tomorrow night.

KEVIN SHERIDAN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO ROMNEY PRESIDENT CAMPAIGN AND FORMER RNC SPOKESMAN: Yes, I don't either. I don't know how he loses. He'd -- certainly, he's not going to lose with his base.

BOLDUAN: Right.

SHERIDAN: We know that anything could happen, and they'd stick with him. But, you know, the worst thing that could happen for Donald Trump is that one of these candidates emerges as the alternative to Donald Trump, and the one percenters start to get pressured to get off the stage and get out of the race. And so, if that happens, right now, we don't have, you know, other than Ron DeSantis, there has not been an alternative emerge. And if that happens, somebody puts on an electric performance tomorrow night, it can happen, then maybe that shifts the race.

BOLDUAN: Guys, let's end with something very important because strange things happen on the way to debate stage sometimes. And this time it happens in the form of debate prep for Vivek Ramaswany. Ramaswany seems to be sending a different kind of message with his debate prep, though we know it is very important to know -- to be ready when you are hitting the stage. Let's show his form of debate prep that he, at least, was saying yesterday.

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BOLDUAN: So, that's three hours of debate prep there, Bakari Sellers. Thoughts?

SELLERS: Yes. Yes, I'm not too -- there's nothing about that that excites me. Look, I think that he is actually one of the candidates that is the kind of the biggest clown in the circus. And the reason being is because he really doesn't have any political depth. He hangs on to a lot of Republican tropes and stereotypes. He kind of mimics the language of Donald Trump. And he probably should be spending time with Kevin today preparing for the debate, because he really doesn't have any policy depth. And the fact that he is out there hitting a tennis ball shows you that he's not really going to take this seriously tomorrow night, and we're going to see his lack of depth shown through.

I think that he's going to be the one who actually the bottom falls out He is going to be the one who is actually the bottom falls out, because right now in most polls he's running third. I don't know how or why. I don't know who a Ramaswamy voter is. However, I think tomorrow night, the bottom will fall out due to that lack of depth.

BOLDUAN: Well, I will say, he is -- he does have --

SELLERS: And who plays tennis -- BOLDUAN: -- he does have a --

SELLERS: -- who plays tennis with their shirt off? Who plays tennis with their shirt off? Look, I mean, is that something --

BOLDUAN: Well, clearly you and I have not played together --

SELLERS: -- is that a thing?

BOLDUAN: -- because I've got all sorts of gear when I'm playing tennis. But we'll get into that later. Maybe -- I don't know. We're not -- we don't -- let's just not delve into that minefield right now, Bakari. Let's just end it there and let's all just be friends.

SELLERS: OK.

BOLDUAN: Kevin, I'm saving you today. But let the record also show that next time you get the viral moment question. Kevin Sheridan, Bakari Sellers, it's great to see you, guys. Thank you.

Sara.

SHERIDAN: Thank you.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Yes, Bakari spitting fire this morning --

BOLDUAN: Yes, just take it and run.

SIDNER: Watch out.

BOLDUAN: Take it and save me.

SIDNER: Yes.

All right. A group of media companies, including CNN, is seeking the release of more court filing linked to special council Jack Smith's search warrant of Trump's Twitter account. We'll take a much closer look at that story, ahead.

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[10:35:00]

SIDNER: A group of media organizations is asking the federal court in D.C. to unseal the materials that special counsel Jack Smith used when he secured a search warrant to of Former President Trump's Twitter account, formerly known or now known as X.

[10:40:00]

The warrant was looking for data and records related to Trump's account. According to the filings, there was no objection to the warrant itself from Twitter.

All right. Let's bring in CNN Senior Media Reporter Oliver Darcy. Oliver, first of all, a lot of people, including myself, we're a little surprised that he was actually using that as a communication device because he doesn't e-mail, he doesn't text.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Right.

SIDNER: But he tweets and direct messages?

DARCY: He was a frequent user of Twitter and we all know he was on that platform, you know, from morning until the very end of the night, and back up in the morning tweeting away. And so, I guess he was also messaging people privately, and so that's what Jack Smith has obtained, some of those direct messages that Trump sent. And now, media organizations, including CNN, outlets like "The New York Times", "CBS", "The Washington Post", a lot of major news organizations.

They're interested in getting more transparency into the warrant that Jack Smith applied for when he got the judge to sign off on the search warrant on Twitter. And so, they're looking, basically, for more transparency into this case.

SIDNER: The warrants themselves would tell you what they were looking for, correct? And that will give you some insight into what might be there.

DARCY: Yes, exactly. Why were they looking to search Trump's Twitter account? What were they hoping to, maybe, find? What do they think they would find and some media organizations that they can get to that application, they might learn more about this case. And it's obviously, you know, not strange for news organizations to seek this sort of transparency. It's normal.

The Justice Department, we should note, is opposing this motion, and they have until August 30th to reply. But I do think it is the first or one of the illustrations of news organizations looking for transparency. The big one, of course, in these cases will be cameras in the court. Will news organizations be able to have cameras to show the American public what happens in these historic trials? That's the major fight that is going to happen later this year or maybe early next year and we'll stay tuned and see what happens there.

SIDNER: I think the fight is already starting to happen in Georgia. Georgia may be the one place where we do get cameras in the court. But the federal courts have been loathed to let the cameras in for decades now. This is certainly not the first time when they've said no to cameras.

DARCY: It's not the first time and there have been a lot of transparency advocates saying that this is outdated. You know, we have cameras now. Come on, let it -- let the American public see what's happening, particularly, in these historic trials, you know.

There's going to be a lot of misinformation swirling around the Trump trials. And if you can stream it to the public, people can see in real-time what's actually happening there, I think that might be beneficial to the discourse around those trials. And that you're going to see a lot of pressure, I think, on these courts, on these judges to allow for those cameras.

SIDNER: I think you will see it, and some of it coming from us as well. Journalists want to see it, but the public also wants to see it. There are safety concerns that the court will be think about as well. Oliver Darcy, thank you so much. Appreciate you.

DARCY: Thank you.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, what kind of security measures are being put in place for Former President Trump's surrender on Thursday at the Fulton County Jail. A closer look at how unusual and also how mundane the processing of a former president of the United States is going to be. We'll be back.

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[10:45:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: This morning, officials are on high alert at the Fulton County Jail in Georgia where Former President Donald Trump is due to surrender on Thursday. The first of his two co-defendants have already turned themselves in, including John Eastman who was just booked and released. The Trump situation is, obviously, different. He is a former president. He has secret service protection.

With me now is the stealthy John Miller, CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, who just snuck on the set without anyone noticing. It's great to see you. Obviously, look, wherever a former president goes, there are security situations here. So, what is the situation?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, some of this has boiled down to a drill. You know, they've now -- the secret service has now guided Donald Trump through a booking process in New York City, in Miami, in Washington, so there's practice.

The difference here is this isn't being done in the office of the district attorney or the U.S. Marshal as they've done it before through special arrangements. But this is being done at the county jail, which kind of makes him like a regular person who has to go where they tell him to go. Could have done it another way, could have set it up special, but they have not.

BERMAN: Well, let -- can we break that down into parts? One of the things they've said in Georgia is they want to treat just him like anyone else, are they?

MILLER: To the extent that they can. So, you have two interests here. One is Georgia trying to say, we're going to treat him like anybody else. The other is the effect it has on the jail and the secret service factor. So, what you will see is this will be pretty much in and out. He's going to land at the airport, motorcade to the jail. That will be, you know, with secret service, Atlanta P.D., Fulton County sheriff. He'll be delivered to the jail.

He'll probably go into garage entrance, might not see him at all. They'll go through the processing. His bond is already set, pre- negotiated. He will be fingerprinted. He will have his mugshot taken. Unless that plan changes, that's the current plan. He will not be handcuffed during this process but that's a consideration to the secret service because as a protectee, they don't want that to happen. He'll go back to the car, back to the motorcade, back to the airport. The whole thing maybe relatively invisible.

BERMAN: That mean, could -- then you've said, it could have been handled differently. What way could it have been handled?

MILLER: They could have made an arrangement to have him fingerprinted at the courthouse. They could have foregone the mugshot. Everybody knows what he looks like.

BERMAN: Right.

MILLER: They can get a picture from the internet. They could have done some of the accommodations that were done in New York City and other places. But I think they are making a statement by not doing anything differently.

BERMAN: From time to time, Donald Trump is a person who likes to talk in public. Is there an opportunity for him in this process if he wants to grandstand for him to do so?

MILLER: He could. He could do it at the airport. He could stop outside the jail and talk to reporters. But I don't think we're going to see this. You have A, the judge's admonishment yesterday about not making certain statements and not crossing that line. And B, you have a case where there is bond set which means that bond can be revoked, those conditions can be changed.

So, as much as it may be tempting for Donald Trump to poke the bear here, I think if he goes out to makes a statement after this booking, the secret service will have to protect him from his own attorneys.

BERMAN: He may need to tread lightly, although not as stealthily as John Miller did when he entered the set. Great to see you.

MILLER: Thanks.

BERMAN: Thanks so much for coming.

Sara.

SIDNER: A blackout at a Los Angeles hospital has forced more than 200 patients to be evacuated. The latest on that dangerous situation, coming up.

[10:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BOLDUAN: L.A. County fire officials call it a very large scope emergency that they have on their hands. Firefighters evacuating more than 200 patients, including babies and people on ventilators, from a hospital in Los Angeles after a massive power outage. Officials say, a woman even gave birth during the blackout after backup power failed.

CNN's Nick Watt has the very latest for us from Los Angeles. Nick, what are you hearing?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, what a scene in the middle of the night. 1:00 a.m. in the special care center here, a six-storey tower that includes an OB/GYN, and a NICU unit. The power out. Total blackout. L.A. Fire Department went quickly on the scene.

And what they had to do, because of course, if there's no power, there are no elevators. They had to evacuate people down the stairwells into ambulances and on to other hospitals in the area.

Total of 241 patients were inside, 28 of them in critical condition. So, this was a major operation that they had to undertake.

[10:55:00]

You mentioned a baby. Apparently, a baby was born during the blackout. They got together a bunch of flashlights, and that baby was delivered by the light of flashlights. All of the critical patients have now been moved out, but there are some patients in here waiting to be moved. How did it happen? Well, why did it happen? Take a listen to what the president of the hospital had to say.

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JOHN RAFFOUL, PRESIDENT, ADVENTIST HEALTH WHITE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: We are in the mode of investigating that. We don't know the cause of the double failure that we had here at the hospital yet other than the fact that we had a major storm that hit us here in Southern California.

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WATT: So, the main power to the hospital, as the president just said, that died at 3:00 a.m. Monday morning, which was the height of that rare tropical storm that was moving past Los Angeles at the time. The emergency generators kicked in, but then nearly 24 hours later, the connectors that brought that emergency generator power into the tower, those connectors failed. It's unclear at this point how or why that happened.

Moving forward, well, they have ordered another emergency generator which they hope will be on scene within about an hour from now to bring power back to this building. Kate.

BOLDUAN: I mean, such a scary -- I mean, the backup to the backup that they're now bringing in. Such a scary situation. And to think the firefighters had to bring them all down manually because the elevators were also out. What a morning. Nick, thanks for being there. Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

We are watching the Fulton County Jail for you, where the first two of Donald Trump's co-defendants have already been reported to jail, a bail bondsman, and an attorney. And one of them has been released. We're learning that more bond agreements could be coming as prosecutors working with the Fulton County D.A. are also meeting this morning. That's ahead.

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