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Soon, Sentencing for Two Proud Boys Members for Jan. 6 Actions; Trump Asks to Sever Case from Co-Defendants Wanting Speedy Trial; Leaked Audio Reveals Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R-FL) Super PAC's Appeal for $50 Million. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 01, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Another major sentencing day for former leaders of the Proud Boys group is now getting under way, prosecutors today seeking 27 years of jail time for at least one of the Capitol attackers. Will he spend decades behind bars?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, a new snapshot of the economy is in, and it is triggering phrase everybody wants to hear, inflation could be cooling. We will ask a member of the White House about it later this hour.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump avoids being on camera in court this time, but he's not going to be able to avoid it for long. The Georgia judge is ruling sure to make his trial must-see T.V.

I'm Kate Bolduan with Boris Sanchez and Rahel Solomon. This is CNN News Central.

SOLOMON: Any moment now, the sentencing begins for two members of the far right group, the Proud Boys, for their roles in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Right now, Dominic Pezzola is getting ready to learn his fate. And video from that day shows him smash out a window that rioters used to enter the Capitol. And once inside, he lit a cigar and took this video of himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Victory smoking in the Capitol, boys. This is (BLEEP) awesome. I knew we could take this (BLEEP).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: And another Proud Boys member, Ethan Nordean, will be sentenced later this afternoon.

Their sentences may turn out to be among the harshest of the January 6th defendants so far.

Let's bring in CNN's Evan Perez. He joins us now from Washington. So, Evan, what can we expect to happen today?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're going to be probably see some more very harsh sentences from the judge, Timothy Kelly.

Look, I sat in on the sentencings that happened yesterday. And you just can't come away without feeling that these were the people that were victims of the lies that were told by the former president who urged his followers to come to the Capitol on January 6th.

These are the two men sentenced yesterday, Joseph Biggs, got 17 years, Zachary Rehl got 15 years, and they spoke tearfully to the court. They were very, very sorry for what their roles in the events on January 6th. And both of them, military men, in the case of Biggs, he's a former Army man, and Rehl, he was also a former Marine, both of them are going to have their daughters grow up without them being around. And that is something that was weighing on them as they spoke to the judge and spoke to the courtroom yesterday.

Their lawyer, who I think spoke to the lawyers after the two sentencing put the blame squarely on the president. Listen.

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NORM PATTIS, ATTORNEY FOR ZACHARY REHL AND JOE BIGGS: The results were harsh and we're disappointed. We felt that the government was in the position of an unscrupulous merchant.

The sentencing recommendations from the professionals in this case, the Probation Department, were in the ten-year range. We felt those sentences would have been high. 15 to 17 years is too much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And, Rahel, the judge emphasized that part of the reason that the sentencing was so harsh was that he said that what these men did were participating in what happened on January 6th took away from the American public one of the great traditions, which is the peaceful transfer of power. And they have taken it away from the American public.

[10:05:01]

That is something that he said was very important to emphasize as part of this.

And, look, before this sentencing, we heard from some of the police officers who bore the brunt of those attacks on January 6th. One of them said, I wasn't sure I was going to come home that day. That was the first time she had ever felt that way while on the job at the Capitol. Rahel?

SOLOMON: Yes. Well, to see how the sentencing goes this morning. Evan Perez live for us in Washington, Evan, thank you. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Anytime now, a federal judge could make a critical ruling on whether or not the case against Mark Meadows will stay in a Georgia courtroom or be moved out and into a federal one. This is also a decision that is sure to impact far more than just Mark Meadows.

The ripple effects could very well impact Donald Trump's case as well. Trump is already making moves to try and push off the start of that trial, his trial, just as some of his co-defendants are asking to speed things up in Georgia.

With all of that happening, I guess we could describe it as behind the scenes. Just yesterday, Donald Trump formally entered a plea of not guilty in that election subversion case. He also waived his right to appear in Fulton County for his arraignment, which was set for Wednesday.

CNN's Zachary Cohen has very latest on all of these moving parts, and there's a lot of them, Zach, around this case. What are you hearing about the timing and also how this decision can impact the rest of the defendants?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes, this ruling in the Meadows case about moving -- trying to move his case to federal court could come at any point now. And it's just one of several ongoing moving pieces, as you mentioned, but it's an important one.

It could definitely impact several different defendants in this case, people like former DOJ Official Jeffrey Clark, people like President Donald Trump himself, right? These are former government officials who are arguing that their role -- everything they did around the 2020 election, they were doing under the auspice of their government job.

Now, Trump has not formally filed a motion to try to get his case moved, and it's very likely his lawyers are watching and waiting to see what happens in Meadows' case. But, for sure, Meadows -- this ruling around Meadows and whether or not he can move it to federal court is an important one.

BOLDUAN: It absolutely is. It's good to see, Zach. Thank you so much for your reporting. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss the legal implications with former Federal Prosecutor Renato Mariotti. Renato, always great to have you on.

I do want to mention we just got this news into CNN from Marshall Cohen. Kenneth Cheseboro, one of the architects of the fake electors plot in Georgia, has filed a plea of not guilty. He, like Donald Trump yesterday, has filed to skip his arraignment next week. Renato, just quickly, your reaction to that.

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I'm not surprised at that initial appearance, it's called an arraignment. Very little happens that isn't perfunctory. Usually, the defendant pleads not guilty, the judge sets some deadlines. So, skipping it, given the media circus, makes some sense to avoid the attention that might come with that.

SANCHEZ: A bit counterintuitive given that former President Donald Trump has not avoided the media circus at any point in his political career.

Let's talk about Mark Meadow and the situation with him. The judge, Steve Jones, on that case could make a decision any moment as to whether to move the charges against Meadows from state court to federal court. What are you going to be watching for when that decision comes down?

MARIOTTI: Okay, a couple things. So, first of all, as a starting point, the issue here is whether or not the crimes that have been charged were essentially for acts were under the color of his official duties. The bottom line is the judge has already signaled that the RICO crime that has been charged, the full scope of that wasn't part of Meadows' duties, but certain pieces of it, what was called an overt act, were part of the official duties of Meadows, or at least the judge hinted at that.

There's really nothing like this in the past. There's been no case quite like this one. It will be interesting to see what the judge does. What I expect the judge to do is ultimately decide with the prosecutor here, because, you know what, the prosecutors are the ones who write the indictment. And so I think they wrote the indictment in a way to make it sound like it wasn't official. So, I think they have the upper hand here, and they have the better argument too.

SANCHEZ: Uncharted territory on a number of levels, right, Renato? If Meadows doesn't get his case moved to federal court -- I mean, he was chief of staff at the White House. It doesn't get more official than that when it comes to carrying out the wishes of the president, right? So, if he doesn't get his case moved, what does it mean for the other co-defendants that are trying to move their cases to federal court?

MARIOTTI: Yes, very difficult. Not only was he someone who was acting as the chief of staff to the president of the United States at the time but his role was more advisory, okay?

[10:10:03]

He was not somebody who was more a decision-maker. He was somebody who was involved in the discussions working with Trump, aiding Trump, but he was not somebody who is out there submitting and writing fake elector certificates or doing anything that was really hands-on.

I think pretty much he has the best argument, others -- that's why he's going first and others are going to try to follow. I will say that, for Meadows, who I think is likely going to be avoiding indictment in D.C. by becoming a witness for Jack Smith, in Georgia, Fani Willis is having none of that. And he's going to be in a tough situation if he's in a trial with a whole bunch of others in state court.

SANCHEZ: On the thought that he's going to be on trial with a whole bunch of others, one of the co-defendants, Ray Smith, filed a motion to divide defendants into more manageable groups. The D.A., obviously, Fani Willis, has said she wants them all tried together. What's the likelihood of that succeeding? MARIOTTI: Great question. So, look, prosecutors always want to try everyone together, and they usually succeed because judges don't want to try the same case over and over and over again themselves. They're very busy people.

In this case, I think that the people who asked for a very speedy trial, Kenneth Cheseboro, the other Trump former lawyers who asked for a very speedy trial, I think they're going to get their own trial. And I suspect that everyone else is going to get stuck being tried together, whether they like it or not, because the bottom line is that the judge doesn't want to try the same case multiple times over and over again.

SANCHEZ: A lot of complicated legal maneuvers to walk through. Renato Mariotti, I always appreciate the expertise. Thanks.

MARIOTTI: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Rahel?

SOLOMON: All right. Coming up for us, between the wildfires in Hawaii, Hurricane Idalia and other natural disasters that hit the U.S., the Biden administration is pushing Congress to give more money to FEMA. How much they're asking for.

Also, a DeSantis-aligned super PAC making an urgent appeal to donors in a newly leaked audio. What we're learning about the campaign strategy and if this means trouble for the Florida governor.

And college football is back. But the conferences, as we know, them are changing. The latest shakeup coming from out west, just ahead.

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[10:15:00]

BOLDUAN: An urgent appeal to donors and the leaked audio taking us all inside the strategy around one presidential campaign. On the day of the first Republican presidential debate, the leaders of the super PAC backing Ron DeSantis made a big ask.

According to the leaked audio obtained by CNN, the super PAC heads told donors gathered in Milwaukee they needed $50 million, and they needed it quickly.

CNN Steve Contorno is part of the reporting team that obtained this audio, has this very interesting insight in reporting into this major super PAC leading the way for Ron DeSantis.

So, Steve, what was the pitch? What do they need?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Kate, there were about 60 donors at this meeting, which was just down the street from where the debate was being held, and they were told, according to this audio, essentially, look, we like our candidate, we like our odds, we like our plan, but we're going up against someone in former President Donald Trump, who is earning about $30 million a day worth of free exposure to all the attention he gets. And on days where he's indicted or going through to his legal troubles, that grows to $100 million a day. And so they told the room, we need resources to fight that.

How much? Well, listen to what Chris Jankowski said. We just need your help getting $50 million more by the end of the year and $100 million more by the end of March. I'm not worried about the second 50. We need the first 50. And that is quite the ask, given that the super PAC had raised on its own less than $50 million from the time it entered -- DeSantis entered the race, and it created itself to the end of June.

But the super PAC has built out essentially an unprecedented operation. We've never seen a super Pac essentially take on many of the aspects of a campaign. They are hosting DeSantis on the campaign trail. They're handling a lot of the logistics. But one expense they didn't expect to take on was advertising, and that is incredibly expensive. About $25 million of advertising has already been placed by the super PAC in Iowa, New Hampshire, for the fall. And so this money is going to help spread that message and keep that message going through in Iowa and New Hampshire through the rest of the year.

I think elsewhere in the audio is really interesting, they talk about who a typical Ron DeSantis voter is. Jeff Roe, the chief strategist for the super PAC, said, if you have an education, if you have higher income, if you read the Bible and go to church regularly, you happen to be a DeSantis supporter. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So interesting. Great reporting as always, Steve, thank you so much. Rahel?

SOLOMON: All right, Kate. Let's speak a bit more about advertising, because as the race for 2024 heats up, Republican presidential campaigns are spending big on advertising.

Between the start of the year and through the end of August, campaigns and outside groups have spent about $100 million on the airwaves, and the bulk of that is being spent on just four candidates former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Tim Scott, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. They account for more than half of the total ad spend so far.

Let's bring in CNN Political Director David Chalian to join us now. David, good to see you. Welcome.

So, let's start with the super PAC backing Trump MAGA.

[10:20:02]

They seem to be cooling. Their ads seem to be cooling their attacks on DeSantis. David, how do you read this? I mean, is this fair to say that they no longer see DeSantis as a threat?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I don't think you're going to see either the Trump campaign or his allied super PAC, MAGA Inc, take their foot off the gas of Ron DeSantis while he is still in this race and still in that second place spot. You are right to note we've seen a rotation in the ads and the Trump super PAC is much more focused on now insulating, as best they can, Donald Trump from all the legal morass that he is in. So, they are taking on, as they call it, the weaponization of the Justice Department and these political prosecutions, as they are trying to portray the real legal peril that Donald Trump is in and sort of protect him from that with ad dollars, but they also have an ad up talking about Donald Trump as the extreme frontrunner in this race.

Rahel, the spending, the $100 million mark is substantial. You ain't seen nothing yet. This is going to be an extraordinarily expensive campaign. We haven't even gotten into the heat of advertising season yet.

SOLOMON: That's a good way to put it, David. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Let me also ask -- let's stay with MAGA Inc for just a moment. Unlike some of the other spending groups, which have split their budget between the early states like Iowa and New Hampshire, MAGA Inc has spent most of its ad spend on national cable advertising campaigns. Read the tea leaves of that for us, David.

CHALIAN: You know, again, given what they are doing right now, and given what the Trump news is at the moment, he is dominating the narrative of this race, but it is due to these four criminal indictments now that he's facing. And that is not just an acute issue for him to insulate against and try to mitigate in Iowa and New Hampshire. It is nationally. There's little doubt about that.

You will see the Trump campaign is supremely focused on the delegate race and organizing in these early states to try to put this nomination race to bed as quickly as they possibly can. But from an advertising perspective, the super PAC, you are right, they are focused much more on a national campaign.

SOLOMON: David let's switch gears to Nikki Haley. So, she was on a podcast yesterday, the New Hampshire Journal podcast, and she was asked if she would be willing to offer the vice presidency to Donald Trump. Take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know who I'm going to offer it to, but I can tell you it's going to be the best person for the job. It's not going to be focused on whether the person is a man or a woman. It's not going to be focused on what race they are. It's not going to be focused on what's most popular.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: David, initial reaction to that?

CHALIAN: Well, certainly, the question was, would you put Donald Trump on your ticket as a running mate, and that was the answer, Rahel. I would say Donald Trump probably shouldn't be waiting by his phone if indeed Nikki Haley is the Republican nominee, that he's going to get the nod for number two. She obviously didn't reject it. She doesn't want to offend his supporters in any way. But that did not sound like a ringing endorsement.

SOLOMON: Yes, fair enough. Let's turn back to Trump for a moment and talk about potentially another roadblock. So, election officials in some key battleground states have started studying the legality of using the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from holding public office. As a reminder, that would ensure that any American can be disqualified from holding future office if they engaged in insurrection or rebellion. David, do you see this as a legitimate roadblock?

CHALIAN: You know, this is something that, if indeed it is to be employed in some way, the use of the 14th Amendment, to block Donald Trump from ballots, it seems to me that is something that is going to get litigated all the way up to the United States Supreme Court.

I know there have been conservative legal scholars who have been writing about this in recent weeks that he is actually disqualified from being on the ballot. But that is something that is going to have to get tested through the courts.

And so what you're seeing here in some states, elections officials are like, well, let's get to that test. If indeed we need to know whether or not it's appropriate to have them on the ballot, they're going to need some test cases to make their way through the judicial system. And so elections officials taking a look at this is one way to get about doing that.

SOLOMON: Yes. Well, as you say, at least according to -- at least in terms of ad spend, you ain't seen nothing yet with that $100 million, so a lot more to watch. David Chalian, thank you. Boris?

CHALIAN: Thanks, Rahel.

SANCHEZ: Coming up, new data is showing the unemployment rate is jumping significantly more than expected, but it's actually something the White House may want. Why that could be a good sign for the state of the economy, when we come back.

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[10:25:00]

BOLDUAN: This morning, potentially new signs that inflation could be cooling. The August jobs report is just out and it shows 187,000 jobs were added last month, more than expected, but still a slowdown from the past two years of blockbuster job growth. The unemployment rate, though, unexpectedly jumped to 3.8 percent.

We're going to hear from President Biden in the next hour about the state of the economy. But joining us right now is the acting secretary of labor, Julie Su.

[10:30:03]

Secretary, thank you so much for coming in.

Is this report that we're seeing from August good.