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Trump Co-Defendants Begin Surrendering in Georgia; Republican Presidential Candidates Set For First Debate. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 22, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:37]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Two down and 17 to go, Donald Trump's co- defendants now starting to surrender to face charges in Fulton County, Georgia. Trump himself set to turn himself in, this to the very same jail Thursday. The details on the bond agreement for the former president of the United States.

SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: All right, there they are, the eight Republican presidential candidates that will take to the debate stage tomorrow for the first 2024 GOP presidential debate.

But President and front-runner -- former President and front-runner Donald Trump may steal the spotlight on a very different stage.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: And no more small talk with your cab driver, because you won't have one, the first driverless taxis being introduced in California. But are they safe?

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner, and this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: Surrendered, booked and processed. Accused co-conspirators charged alongside Donald Trump in Georgia have just this morning started to turn themselves in at the jail in Fulton County, two so far, both booked.

And we're told at least one has been released. There has been a whole lot of activity in Atlanta today after the former president agreed to a $200,000 bond deal last night and posted on social media that he's going to surrender Thursday. It will be his fourth arrest this year, which could include his first mug shot.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz is in Georgia standing by for us with much more of the details as they're coming in.

Katelyn, two booked, 17 more to go.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: A lot more to go. There's a lot that has to happen here, both at the courthouse and over at the jail.

But the action this morning, the boldface headline is that John Eastman, one of the most prominent -- the person who gained quite a bit of notoriety after the election, a very well-known conservative lawyer, who is also a scholar, has now been arrested. And he has been booked at the Fulton County Jail.

He does have his bond agreement already set, and so it is very likely he will be released. We don't have an indication that John Eastman has been released from the Fulton County Jail yet on the charges he faces here in Georgia.

But he is the most prominent defendant to head over to the jail and go through this process of the criminal justice system, something that every one of these defendants in this case have 19, the racketeering case against Donald Trump and others for what they were planning to do to stop the transfer of power after the 2020 election, all of them are going to be negotiating their bond, as far as we know.

And then they will be arrested, they will report over to the jail, and then very likely be released on either cash bond, some sort of surety or even personal recognizance. But Donald Trump himself, he has his bond terms set. He has some restrictions, no intimidating witnesses, including on social media in this case.

And we're going to be waiting for him to come into the state of Georgia to also go through this process of being arrested and report to jail as a criminal defendant in Georgia in Fulton County.

BOLDUAN: Katelyn's getting all the details for us.

Katelyn, thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: Are you joining us now is Chris Timmons, trial attorney and former Georgia prosecutor.

Thank you so much for being here, sir.

I want to first ask you, because you would know better than anyone how this all works.

Can you give us a sense of the normal process of being booked into that jail there in Fulton County?

CHRIS TIMMONS, FORMER GEORGIA PROSECUTOR: Absolutely.

What typically happens is, you have somebody come in, they meet at the front desk. They have got to figure out what case they're associated with. They have got to look at the arrest warrant. After that, they're taken into the back, where they're fingerprinted. They have got a mug shot. Usually, they do some sort of medical assessment.

There may be some additional administrative matters before they're taken to the holding tank.

SIDNER: OK.

TIMMONS: And then, after that, they're either moved into general population in the jail or they're released. SIDNER: OK, and it seems to happen very quickly. We have now know

that two people have gone in. One of them went in. It seemed to be 10, 15 minutes, and he was out the door, the bails bondsman that first turned himself. And we know that John Eastman, former Trump attorney, has also turned himself in.

[11:05:00]

I do want to ask you about some of the details of Trump's bond order. In the next 48 hours, he is expected to do the same, go through that same exact process. The unusual thing for the country is that he will also have a mug shot, which is -- he hasn't had that yet in the four times he has been arrested.

But let me ask you about the restrictions. Is this agreement for the bond order normal, or the addition of those social media restrictions, is that unique to Donald Trump?

TIMMONS: That's -- I mean, that's unique to Donald Trump.

Usually, where you're going to see some sort of social media restriction is in a case where you have got stalking issues. And then, at that point, you're concerned that the defendant might talk about the victim on social media.

But this is one of the more extensive bond agreements that I have ever seen. And I was a prosecutor for 17.5 years, probably saw literally 2,000 bond agreements. But this is the first one that I have seen that is that detailed.

SIDNER: Can you give me a sense of what would happen to the former president if he violates any of those agreements?

I mean, he lives generally in Florida. What -- if he violates it, what can the judge do? I mean, would it mean an extradition if he had to be jailed?

TIMMONS: Yes, I mean, all of that's going to happen.

And so what happens is, when somebody violates a bond condition, the case is brought before the judge that has the case. In this case, it's Judge McAfee. And so what would happen is, the state would file a motion to revoke bond. At that point, there'd be a hearing, where the judge would make a decision, and I believe the standard is probable cause, meaning greater than 50 percent, that the defendant has violated their bond.

You don't get a jury trial. You have, essentially, a hearing before the judge. And so the state's going to put up whatever evidence it has with regard to the bond violation. And then the judge is going to make a decision, has that bond violation been violated or not?

But the other interesting thing is, if you have witness intimidation in this case, you can always add -- file a superseding indictment. And witness intimidation is a RICO predicate. So, what could happen in this case, if Donald Trump violates his bond, is not just that his bond could be revoked, but that the indictment could be added to with these additional charges.

SIDNER: Wow. I hadn't heard, that witness intimidation is a RICO predicate. And if he -- if it's happens now, then that could be added to the charges. So it's a really serious thing.

I think people don't realize when a judge says, you better not do this, you better be careful about how you skirt the rules.

I do want to put up a couple of things that Trump has posted on social media since this agreement was made. He put up a couple of different things. One of them, he goes after or criticizes Fani Willis, the DA in Fulton County. And you see them there side by side. One of them, he talks about her being a radical left district attorney. And he said that a couple of different times.

But she is not in this, correct? He can criticize the judge. He can criticize the attorneys. Would that ever change?

TIMMONS: No.

I mean, I think once you get to a level of what's referred to as a terroristic threat, where you threaten somebody with physical violence, and that might be a problem. But I don't think we have ever seen a tweet from Donald Trump where he has threatened physical violence. So I think that's unnecessary.

But, usually, when you have got a bond order, where you're looking at a condition, the biggest issue is going to be witness intimidation. And the other issue is, are they going to come to court? So, that's why a bond is typically in place. What's interesting is, this is a $200,000 bond, which would be hard to meet for most individuals.

And, usually, the bond is that high because you're concerned with flight. But, in this particular case, when you have got Donald Trump, who I believe is literally a billionaire, $200,000 just pocket change to him. So that wouldn't prevent flight.

But what's really going to prevent flight is, I believe, am not sure, but I think Donald Trump would want to trial in this case, and he'd want an opportunity to address the entire country, if not the entire world, on the issue of whether there was voter fraud in Georgia.

SIDNER: Chris Timmons, there are questions about whether or not Donald Trump is an actual billionaire, but he definitely has a lot of money.

(LAUGHTER)

SIDNER: Appreciate your time -- John.

TIMMONS: Sure. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, special counsel Jack Smith's team is pushing back after Donald Trump's legal team called for delaying the election subversion trial -- this is the federal case -- until 2026. Prosecutors want January 2024. CNN's Jessica Schneider in Washington.

So, what are the prosecutors' arguments here, Jessica?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, this is really become a back-and-forth battle between the special counsel's team and Trump's lawyers about just how soon this trial here in Washington could get started.

So, the special counsel has proposed January 2024. trump's team, though, saying they won't be able to start until 2026. And it was just overnight that the special counsel's team really called that huge gap in time unwarranted and unnecessary.

And the big sticking point here is mostly about how many documents Trump's team will actually have to review. The special counsel has already said in open court and a filings that there are about 11.6 million pages of documents as part of this discovery.

And when Trump's team laid out the arguments for delaying until 2026, they laid out these images of just how many pages that actually is. In fact, they compared it at one point to the Washington Monument stacked on top of itself eight times, with a million pages to spare, in their words.

[11:10:12]

But the special counsel is really shooting back. They're saying that description is overblown. And, specifically, they're saying that the former president and his team should really already be familiar with most of the documents as part of this discovery.

They're putting it this way. They're saying: "The lengthy time needed to review rests on the faulty assertion that it is necessary for a lawyer to conduct a page-by-page review of discovery for a defendant to receive a fair trial. But the defendant can, should and apparently will adopt the benefits of electronic review to reduce the volume of material needed to be searched and manually reviewed."

So, what the special counsel's really saying there is that Trump's team can do these keyword searches, and that they're really familiar with most of this material.

John, of course, all of these arguments we're now seeing in filings, we're going to see in person. They have got that next hearing on Monday, where they will battle this out, and perhaps a trial date will be set at that point -- John.

BERMAN: That is a big day, because, to a certain extent, every other day will fall into place after Judge Tanya Chutkan sets the date for this federal elections trial.

All right, Jessica Schneider, thank you very much for that -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, now to politics. Eight GOP presidential candidates will attend the party's very first

2024 presidential primary debate. The candidate leading the polls, former President Donald Trump, says he's not going to be there. How the campaigns are preparing to make the case to Republican voters without him -- just ahead.

Plus, search operations continue in Maui after those devastating wildfires. The death toll has risen to 150 people.

And just a bit later, a very large-scope emergency. Firefighters in Los Angeles evacuated more than 200 patients from a local hospital after a power outage overnight. We will have details on what's happened to all those patients next.

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[11:16:51]

SIDNER: Right now, eight Republican presidential candidates are putting the final touches on what they're going to say during the debate, except for apparently Vivek Ramaswamy, who is playing tennis.

But they're all set to face off tomorrow night in Milwaukee and make their case to Republican voters without the presence of the front- runner, former President Donald Trump see.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the details from Milwaukee.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, here in Milwaukee, the debate stage is now set.

There will be eight Republican candidates debating tomorrow night here trying to make their case for why they should be the strongest candidate to compete with the candidate who will not be here. Of course, that is former President Donald Trump.

But those eight candidates who will be on stage include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum made the cut. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson did as well. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy did, former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

So that will be the lineup on stage. Now, there is no doubt that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has a considerable amount of pressure on him going into this debate. I'm told he has been practicing extensively for several weeks, hired a very practice debating coach.

Of course, he is trying to make the case that he deserves to be and should be the second leading candidate to Donald Trump. But he will be at the center of all of this as those Republican rivals are trying to point out inconsistencies, in their view, in his record and his experience to lead.

But even though former President Donald Trump will not be on stage -- that's a decision he made, because he simply wants to essentially not be compared with all these candidates -- he will be at the center of this conversation.

All of the candidates, of course, have been practicing for the idea of him being on stage or not. But even though he's not, of course, his policies in many of his statements will be front and center to all of this.

But as we talked to many of the strategists advising these campaigns, they are indeed looking for a potential breakout moment to introduce themselves to the country. For all of the months and months of campaigning in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina, this represents their biggest opportunity on one stage, on one night, on national television to make their case to Republican voters.

The question, of course, is if any of them will be able to break through or if former President Donald Trump, when he surrenders to the Fulton County, Georgia, authorities on Thursday, we will simply swallow up any type of bounce or bump a candidate could get out of this.

But, for now, at least, the candidates are descending here in Milwaukee.They're spending their final days preparing. Tomorrow night,this first debate will be the opening bell of this chapter, at least, of this Republican primary race -- guys, back to you.

SIDNER: And that was our Jeff Zeleny in Milwaukee for us -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now former Obama administration official and CNN political commentator Van Jones and Republican strategist, former Trump campaign adviser, and CNN political commentator David Urban.

Van, I apologize, because David has played political multiple choice with me before. This will be your first time.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: I'm going to give you questions in the form of a multiple choice question. You weigh in accordingly.

[11:20:01]

The first question goes to you, Van. Which candidate has the most to gain in this debate, A, Ron DeSantis, B, Tim Scott, C, Donald Trump, D, none of the above, or someone else? You pick.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: D.

Vivek Ramaswamy is on the rise. He's -- he's going to -- he's a crowd- pleaser. He's an entertainer. He's a one-liner machine. And so if you're looking for a fresh face, he's going to be the guy with the most opportunities to introduce himself, because 99 percent of normal Americans never heard of this guy.

And so he could come on and make a big impression. I think his ideas are terrible, but he's a great performer. BERMAN: David Urban?

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I agree with Van.

This is -- folks on this debate stage are going to get to make big policy speeches. No one's going to pay attention to that. It's kind of the Roger Ailes orchestra pit theory of debates. And Ramaswamy is a kind of a quote master, is going to come out, I think, the best here at the end of the debate.

BERMAN: So, the orchestra pit theory, just so our viewers know, is that the only thing anyone remembers is the candidate who falls into the orchestra pit.

(LAUGHTER)

URBAN: Right.

BERMAN: What Roger Ailes used to say is, the only thing people remember isn't your policy, isn't some smart or analytical thing you said. It's the biggest flare-up there.

To that end, David, which candidate has the most to lose, A, Donald Trump, B, Ron DeSantis, C, Vivek Ramaswamy, or, D, someone else?

URBAN: Yes, I think -- John, I think the answer is B here. I think Governor DeSantis has the most to lose.

He's -- everyone's expecting a big performance from him. Everyone's looking for a big performance. If he doesn't deliver that big performance, I think his numbers continue to drop. He's got an incredibly gifted debate coach, political adviser helping on this, as Jeff alluded to earlier, in Brett O'Donnell, who has done lots of debate preps.

And I know he's been working hard on this. So -- but the expectations are so high for Governor DeSantis here that, if he doesn't hit a grand slam, that folks are going to be let down. And so he, I think, has the most to lose.

BERMAN: Van?

JONES: I agree.

And it's weird. Like, this thing is almost like, you're wanting for him to fail it and mess up. Like, there's almost this kind of thing, like, they're just like waiting for him to prove that he's a robot, prove that he's stiff, prove that he's awkward.

And if you're Chris Christie, you're really prepared to take him on for being overly programmed. So, I'm sure he's got Chris Christie in his head as well. So we will see how it goes.

Look, this guy is -- he's number two for a reason. He's done well, in terms of being able to project himself. Nobody heard of him a couple of years ago either. But he's used to that Florida press corps who will just let him rattle on, say whatever dumb thing he wants to say and just run it.

He's not used to having people punching him in the face, body and neck the whole night. We will see how he olds up.

BERMAN: So you guys have sent me up perfectly for the next question here, which is, who has won the pre-debate?

Because, usually, heading into a debate, what you want to do is, you want to set the lowest possible expectation, so that if -- George W. Bush used to say, if he walked out on the stage and didn't drool, people would think he won the debate, he had some fantastic debate.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: So, who has won/last the expectation game here, A, Chris Christie, B, Ron DeSantis, C, Donald Trump, D, none of the above?

Van, you go first.

JONES: I think Trump won the pre-debate. He's going to win during the debate, because he's counterprogramming with Tucker Carlson. He's going to win the after-debate, because he's going to get himself arrested and make himself a martyr.

So we will talk about this debate for about 17 seconds afterwards. Then we will be back to Donald Trump. So that's how I see it, but you may see it differently, brother.

BERMAN: David?

URBAN: Yes.

No, John, I -- again, amazingly, Van and have, I think, agreed on all these, so it's pretty bad.

(LAUGHTER)

URBAN: But, look, Donald Trump is once again sucking the oxygen out of the room here. Today, everyone's talking about Trump's turning himself in. He's going to have an interview with Tucker Carlson posted someplace tomorrow.

And then, Thursday, he's going to turn himself in, and we're talking about that now. And we will be talking about it on Thursday. So, again, orchestra pit theory, unless something -- unless someone really has a great zinger tomorrow, and something really memorable, I think Trump's going to be the big winner here in the pre-debate, post-debate and in this first debate.

So we will see on Thursday and Friday.

BERMAN: Let me talk about the expectations, dig in. This is not a multiple-choice question here.

But when talk about setting expectations before the debate, what happened with the DeSantis and the DeSantis super PAC, these memos going back and forth, DeSantis laying out his strategy, how much of a mistake was that?

And also, on expectations, Chris Christie likes to sort of preview that he's the toughest, biggest puncher on that stage. So, how high of a bar is he setting for himself, David?

URBAN: Yes, look, Chris Christie is an incredibly gifted political athlete, right, very nimble, is very quick-witted, has done this before, been there before.

[11:25:04]

Like Van alluded to earlier, Chris Christie lived in the New York media bubble, so "New York Times," lots of tough questions from tough press. He's used to doing this. He will do a very good job. I don't think that anybody, what they're doing in terms of previewing their strategy is really going to matter here.

Once you get on the stage, it's like the old Mike Tyson quote. Everyone's got a plan until you get punched in the nose. And when you get up there on the stage, there could be a lot of punching in the noses going on. And so everyone's plan is going to go out the window.

BERMAN: Yes.

URBAN: And we will see how they just -- they do.

BERMAN: You get punched in the nose and fall into the orchestra pit, to mix metaphors there.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: Van, quick last one.

URBAN: Yes, exactly.

JONES: Yes, look, Chris Christie, he will do great.

Like, I don't think that he's got an expectation problem. People expect him to come out there and attack Donald Trump. He's going to do that. But I do think it was a big pratfall for DeSantis' entire strategy to be put out there.

So, you know that, when he says some things, people are going to say, well, was that in your playbook? Was that in your -- was that what you're being told to, what you're being programmed with this robotic thing? Is that what your puppet master told you say?

I mean, it just rolls off the tongue, because you already know what he's going to say before it comes out there. I think that was a big mistake. And it does point to, you can't run your campaign. How are you going to run the country, buddy?

BERMAN: Van Jones, David Urban, thanks for playing, friends. Really appreciate -- Kate.

URBAN: Thanks, John. BOLDUAN: There he goes again, right, from the -- from...

BERMAN: No, no, that was...

BOLDUAN: That was New Hampshire, right?

BERMAN: It's funny. That was Marco Rubio in 2016, where Chris Christie kept on going -- well, it was Ronald Reagan who said to Jimmy Carter, "There you go again."

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

BERMAN: But, back in 2016, when Marco Rubio kept on repeating himself, it was Chris Christie who dug in there. So you know he will be ready, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's see what happens.

Coming up for us, newly released security video showing police searched a 98-year-old's home. She was the co-owner of the Kansas -- of a local Kansas newspaper that has faced an unprecedented law enforcement raid. Why that woman's son believes that police search contributed to her death one day later.

And the Fulton County Jail is where all of the action is today. The first two of Donald Trump's co-defendants have already reported to turn themselves in. And other co-defendants are sending in their attorneys to start negotiating the terms of their bond release, 19 people in all, Donald Trump set to surrender Thursday.

New details coming up.

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