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NY Fraud Trial Resumes Without Trump In Courtroom; Trump Attorneys Try to Get Hush Money Charges Dismissed, Get Classified Docs Trial Delayed To After Election; 2023 On Track To Be Hottest Year Ever Recorded; Bidens' Dog Had More Biting Incidents Than First Reported. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 05, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:34:25]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: It is now day four of the Trump New York fraud trial, and today without the former president in attendance. His son, Eric, who's also charged in the civil case, absent as well.

Donald Trump spent the first three days of the trial attacking the judge and the attorney general.

Back on the stand today, though, Trump's former long-time accountant.

Let's get an update with CNN's Kara Scannell, who's live for us outside the courthouse. She's been watching today's proceedings.

So, Kara, what's been going on?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Boris, they finished the cross- examination of Trump's former long-time accountant after he was on the stand across three days.

[13:35:01]

And now they've moved inside the Trump Organization, calling the former controller, Jeff McConney. He just retired earlier this year but he has been the person that put together these financial statements that are at the heart of this case.

And what the state has begun to do for the first time is to connect the financial statements to the lenders, the people who gave the Trump Organization money.

And this goes to one of the claims that the state has in this case. These statements were issued to receive favorable interest rates.

We've seen the Seven Springs family property being mentioned for the first time in a document. And also seen another bank loan. That Deutsche Bank loan is being referenced and how they incorporated these financial statements into their credit report.

This is the first time we've seen this case move a little bit away from just the financial statements.

And on McConney's notes that he'd put in a handwritten note at the top of one of the statements that the final review would be done by DJT, Donald Trump. So connecting him and the former president to these statements for the first time.

But these are all still the building blocks of this case. We're only in day four, and it's expected to last as much as three months.

But the state is starting to move forward, kind of transitioning the case in some of these other areas that they're looking to make the claims on -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Yes. A long list of witnesses still to get through.

So, Kara, Trump's legal team is also trying to get his hush money trial dismissed and simultaneously trying to push his classified documents case until after the 2024 election. Talk to us about those moves.

SCANNELL: Yes, so Trump's legal team filed a motion to dismiss the indictment in the hush money case brought here in New York.

And one of their arguments is they're saying that the state had taken too long to bring this case because it has been something they investigated for almost five years before they seated this grand jury and asked the grand jury to indict the former president.

And they're saying that the timing here is suspect, that it was brought just a few weeks after Trump declared that he was running for re-election in 2024.

So trying to make the argument of election interference. This is a common argument we've heard from Trump. He's made it in some other cases.

He certainly makes it publicly as he is trying to say that all of these indictments he's facing are politically motivated in an attempt to interfere in the election. It's a long shot-argument.

They've also made some other legal arguments here. And they're hoping to get a hearing before the judge on some of these issues.

And in the classified documents case, his lawyers today making the pitch to delay the trial until after the election. It's currently scheduled for May.

But they're saying that they have not gotten the evidence that they should from prosecutors and even citing that one of the attorneys on that case is in the courthouse right behind me -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Kara Scannell, thanks so much for the update outside that Manhattan courthouse. Thanks.

Still to come, "gobsmackingly bananas." That's how scientists are describing the record global heat. Ahead, why this year is on track to be the hottest in recorded history.

And Commander has left the building. CNN is learning the Bidens' dog has been involved in a lot more biting incidents than have been reported, and now he is off the White House grounds.

Stay with us. We're back in just moments.

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[13:42:32]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: So 2023 is on track to become the hottest year ever recorded, even after a summer of record-smashing heat. September managed to somehow get even worse.

SANCHEZ: And we're already seeing abnormally hot temperatures for October. Grand Rapids, Michigan, beat its 1953 record with 86 degrees. Albany, New York, broke its 1967 heat record with 85 degrees.

And Burlington, Vermont, hit 84 degrees, breaking a previous record set in the late 1800s. Minneapolis, meantime, canceled its annual Twin Cities Marathon.

CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers, is here tracking all of these records being broken across the map.

And, Chad, meteorologists seem to be stunned by these extraordinary temperatures.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. September's over and above record temperature. It was -- I've seen the words "gobsmacked." I've seen just so many words on the Internet where people just can't believe it.

And going back to the marathon that they had to cancel, it's like a marathon should be a record about two hours and one minute. It's like somebody coming in and running it in an hour and 45. People would be going, what did I just witness?

And I think that's what the scientists are saying. What did I just witness? We know that June, July and August were the hottest summer ever on record.

But no one ever expected this September to be 1.75 degrees C, 3.1 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels. No one saw that coming. We don't even know what's going to go on from here.

Now, the earlier part of the year was a little cooler than 2016. But as I zoom into where we are now, we are so far above 2016 that, if we average the whole year together, I think 2023 will be the warmest year on record. That's probably just a certainty.

We see all of these months here. These are the hottest months on record. All of these are July, August, you know, back out here -- our July and August this year were very hot. But all of a sudden, one month stands out, September.

There's not another September on this map and not for many, many more bars that way. So this was so far and above what a normal July should be across North America.

A cooldown is coming. It is. I promise. But it's not going to help much because a warm-up is coming in the west. What goes up must come down, kind of thing.

But, yes, we are going to see some relief from those record high temperatures. We are going to be dropping by, in some spots, 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

[13:44:59]

This is what the globe looks like right now. And I know it may not have been hot in your area or may not have been cold in your area but we have to take a look at this globally.

There aren't too many spots that are blue. That means that it was a below-normal summer so far, because there weren't very many places -- Guys?

BROWN: Wow. Way to put it in perspective. That marathon analogy really did.

And even here in Washington, it's October, it's not feeling fall-like. It's not feeling like it typically does. And it really makes you think.

For more perspective, let's bring in our chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir.

Bill, I mean, these average temperatures appear to be above the threshold that many countries had promised to avoid in the Paris climate agreement.

What has been done so far to lower these temps? And is there anything more world leaders can do to combat this extreme heat?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Pam. There's so much that can be done.

First let's just go back to that chart that Chad had up there. I think it's worth showing again.

I'm reading some -- these are esteemed climate scientists from around the world looking at this Copernicus Chart. "Surprising, astounding, staggering bewildering, flabbergasting."

Professor Steven Ramsdorf, at Potsdam, says, "We understand global warming caused by fossil fuels for four decades has been going as predicted. We don't understand that red stripe at the right side there, the surprise upward leap that's happening now. And that worries me," he writes. So, yes, we are in uncharted territory. But at the same time, there's

a new report from the International Energy Agency, not exactly a group of tree-hugging hippies. These are folks who pooh-poohed clean energy for a long time.

And look at these charts. This is solar and electric car vehicle sales and heat pumps and battery storage additions.

So much of this clean technology is becoming so cheap and widespread really fast they now predict -- a couple of years ago, 2011, they were predicting we would hit 4.8 degrees warming. That would be the end of life as we know it on this earth.

Right now, the IEA is predicting we're on track for 2.4 degrees warming. Still not the Paris Accords of 1.5.

Still means probably losing coral reefs and making a lot of the belly of the earth uninhabitable. But a lot better than where we were headed before.

And now it's just a question of how hard the big petrol states, the big companies fight this transition.

IEA predicts we're going to hit peak planet-cooking pollution this decade maybe by 2025, in just a couple of years, and then start to flatten that curve down there.

But it's just a matter of how much the vested interests want to fight this transition.

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WEIR: And how much pain that will cause.

BROWN: Very frightening all around.

Bill Weir, thank you.

And still ahead, one of the top candidates for House speaker stayed in D.C. and working the phones to lock down support. We're going to have a live report from the capital.

Plus, there's a lot of bite going on at the White House. Commander Biden is in the doghouse after being blamed for more biting incidents than previously reported. Details next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:52:44]

BROWN: Commander, the Bidens' dog, is losing his White House privileges. CNN has learned the 2-year-old German Shepherd had more biting incidents than previously reported. The Secret Service acknowledged 11.

But sources tell CNN's Betsy Klein that that number is actually higher and it includes executive staff and other White House workers. And the bites have ranged in severity, with at least one requiring hospitalization.

So while the first family works for a solution for this ongoing issue, CNN has learned that Commander is gone from the White House.

Brandon McMillan joins us. He's the three-time Emmy-winning host of "Lucky Dog" and author of "The Story of Your Dog, A Straight-Forward Guide to a Complicated Animal."

All right, I'm going to start this segment just letting everyone know I am a dog lover. I've had all kinds of breeds. I love dogs.

I think this is pretty crazy that this dog that was at the White House bit so many people and remained there. Now, according to my colleague's Betsy Klein's reporting, excellent reporting, he's off the White House premises.

Help us put this in perspective. Commander is 2. He's still a repeat biter. Is this something that actually can be fixed? Can you make him a non-biter now?

BRANDON MCMILLAN, HOST, "LUCKY DOG" & AUTHOR: All I can tell you is there are no untrained dogs, just untrained owners. This dog was let down from the get-go.

BROWN: So what can be done now? You say the dog was down from the get- go? What can actually be done? Anything, or is it just engrained, you know?

MCMILLAN: Well, I can't speak about the dog because I haven't met the dog. I will say this, the White House is not exactly the best situation for a dog.

Now, I've never been at the White House, but common sense would tell me that the White House has a lot of moving parts. Tons of people. Tons of chaos going on.

That's the wrong situation for most dogs. If I had to guess, I would bet this dog didn't even know who his owner was.

BROWN: Wow. He is a German Shepherd. I do not want to stigmatize the breed. Again, I'm a lover of all breeds.

But does the breed have anything to do with this? Because you typically associate them with police dogs, right, being trained. You see them often at the airport for operational security and so forth.

[13:55:00]

So does the breed have anything to do with this? Or is it more about the bloodline? Or the environment, as you say, the White House environment.

Though I will note, you're not hearing about this kind of situation with past White House dogs. MCMILLAN: The breed has nothing to do with this. There are millions of

German Shepherds living in the U.S. right now. And the chances of us hearing about a German Shepherd bite are slim to none, it's not even a blip on the radar.

This is the wrong environment for the dog. This dog has bit, from what I understand, 11, 12 times now. Something is wrong. Something has gone wrong along the way. If I had to guess, the dog was just simply in the wrong environment.

There are two kinds of German Shepherds. There's the working line and the companion line.

Now, I don't know what line this dog is. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess it's more the working line German Shepherd. Which these types of dogs, the working line, it's not fit for the environment of the White House.

Dogs, for thousands of years, they were working animals. They had jobs. Suddenly, in the last hundred years or so, we took the jobs away. This is where the behavioral issues began.

German Shepherds without a job, yes, they're not a great dog. They need a job. This dog never had a job. It was in chaos, constant chaos. And this is why I say it's not the dog's fault. The dog was let down from day one.

BROWN: And I think that's a really important perspective. It's not about the breed. And it's really, frankly, unfair to the dog and the people working around the dog, a situation like that.

I want to ask you, though, I mean, these biting incidents, they have ranged from severity, being hospitalized, to medical staff having to attend to the person being bitten.

If this dog was not the first dog of the White House, I have to ask the question, would this dog still be alive?

MCMILLAN: Well, most dogs, when they bite, they go under investigation from animal control. And it's up to animal control what they do with the dog.

If the dog bites twice, there's a good chance it's going to get put down. Three times, that's a strike three, you're out.

BROWN: OK, Brandon, thank you so much for offering your perspective. Appreciate it.

MCMILLAN: Thank you.

BROWN: Well, President Biden takes action to build a section of the wall at the southern border. So the question is, why now?

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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