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How Classified Intel On Russia Went Missing During The Final Days Of Trump's Presidency; Jury Deliberations Resume In Defamation Damages Trial, Georgia Election Workers Seeking $48M From Giuliani; Pre-Holiday Blitz Ahead Of Iowa Caucus In January. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired December 15, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:02:13]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: It was so sensitive, it was locked inside a safe that was inside a vault at the CIA. And then it went missing. CNN has exclusively learned that a binder filled with highly classified intelligence went missing in the final hours of the Trump White House. And it's still missing three years later.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Verdict watch for Rudy Giuliani, how much is a jury going to tell him that he finally needs to pay for the lies that he told about two Georgia election workers. We may soon find out.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking news in what could be a one of its kind debate in the Republican presidential race. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: We begin with exclusive new CNN reporting about highly classified intelligence that went missing at the end of the Trump administration. The information relates to Russian election interference, information that was deemed so sensitive, it can only be accessed at the CIA. And the people working with the Intel had to keep their notes locked in a safe at CIA headquarters.

Yet in the final weeks of the Trump administration, a binder of this intel was brought to the White House at the request of the president as part of an effort to declassify documents. And in the final chaotic hours of his presidency, that binder disappeared. CNN's Katie Bo Lillis is part of the team that broke this story. Katie Bo, this is remarkable reporting. What can you tell us?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: So Sara, this binder that was brought to the White House contains raw intelligence that the U.S. and its NATO allies had collected on Russia's efforts to meddle in the 2016 election, including critically sources and methods which are some of the most sensitive information in the intelligence world.

So what we're talking about here is the underlying intelligence that forms the basis of the U.S. government's assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election. The disappearance of this binder was so alarming to intelligence officials that according to our sources, they actually briefed Senate Intelligence Committee leadership about the situation last year.

Now, we are told by one U.S. official familiar with the matter that this was not among the classified items that were found in last year search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and it wasn't why the FBI searched Trump's residence. But what is true, Sara, is that for more than two years after it went missing, this intelligence does not appear to have been found.

SIDNER: It is fascinating almost three years later that this highly intel -- highly -- high bit of intelligence is still out there somewhere. But how did end up at the White House in the first place?

[11:05:03]

LILLIS: So Trump had spent years, right, trying to declassify material that he said would prove his claims that the Russia investigation was a hoax. This intelligence was part of this massive collection of documents that he ordered brought to the White House and there was this kind of frantic scramble in the final days of the administration to redact the documents, so they could be declassified and released publicly.

On his last full day as president, Trump did issue a declassification order for these materials, but they didn't get released before he left office. And there's actually a Trump ally, who has filed suit over this hoping to sort of force the federal government's hand here, although the FBI says that the majority of the contents of the binder have now been posted publicly on its FOIA website.

So we, in reporting this story, my colleagues and myself spoke to more than a dozen sources, who described to us how this intelligence was brought to the White House in the final weeks of Trump's presidency, and then how it went missing.

SIDNER: Is there any sense from your reporting as to where exactly this missing intelligence is or what actually happened to it and who may have taken it?

LILLIS: It's a great question. We don't know what happened to the binder that went missing. There is one theory that emerged from testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, the former top aide to former chief of staff, Mark Meadows. She told the January 6th Committee that she was, quote, almost positive, it went home with Mr. Meadows. She said, had been kept in a safe in Meadows's office when it wasn't being worked on.

She also wrote about this in her new book claiming that on January 19th, which was the final night of the Trump presidency, that she saw Meadows leave the White House with an unredacted binder, quote, tucked under his arm. Now, Mark Meadows's attorney strongly denies this. He said in statement to us, Mr. Meadows was keenly aware of and adhered to requirements for the proper handling of classified material, any such material that he handled or was in his possession has been treated accordingly. And any suggestion that he is responsible for any missing binder or any other classified information is flat wrong.

CNN also reached out to officials with the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Justice Department, all of whom declined to comment. The Trump campaign also did not respond to our multiple requests for comment on the binder, which is all to say, Sara, that the mystery of this missing binder remains just that a mystery.

SIDNER: It is really good reporting and really disturbing that this is missing and out there somewhere. Katie Bo Lillis, thank you to you and your team for all of that. Kate?

BOLDUAN: We are waiting for the final word right now, a jury deliberating and Rudy Giuliani waiting to see how much he is going to have to pay for his lies potentially $48 million for defaming and attacking two Georgia election workers. CNN's Katelyn Polantz is outside court in Washington for us. Katelyn, we saw Giuliani walked into court earlier this morning. What's happening inside?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Everybody's in the building, and they are just waiting for that jury to come back. It's been more than five hours that the jury has been deliberating so three and a half hours yesterday, two hours this morning already. And they're looking at the numbers exactly how much should they fine Rudy Giuliani for what he was saying about these two women, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Georgia election workers, and everything that they had suffered.

So that $48 million, at least $48 million, that's what an expert witness, in their case says would take to repair their reputation alone for the defamation that they have suffered, the slanderous things that Rudy Giuliani said and then spread across the country to many people who were listening to him.

On top of that, they are also asking for an award of emotional distress. Their attorneys did not put a number on it. So that is entirely up to the jury, it could become quite a significant figure because that emotional distress was on full display in the courtroom when both of these women testified.

And then even on top of that, there's a third number that the jury has to come up with, and that is called punitive damages, the amount that Rudy Giuliani should be punished. And whenever we listened to the lawyer for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss in his closing arguments speak about this, he spoke extensively about how this should be a moment where this jury sends a message.

He said, send a message, send it to any other powerful figure with a platform or an audience, people like Rudy Giuliani. Truth is truth. And you will be held accountable. That is the message that they're asking the jury to come back with when they assess a number here.

BOLDUAN: And we're standing by for that. And it could come at any moment. Katelyn Polantz, outside the courthouse for us. Katelyn, thank you. John? BERMAN: All right. With me now is former Trump White House lawyer Jim Schultz. As we wait to hear from this jury to announce what they will award as damages, just talk about this journey for Rudy Giuliani from what he was to where he is at this minute, perhaps poised to be ordered to pay tens of millions of dollars for defaming two election workers.

[11:10:15]

JAMES SCHULTZ, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: Look, we talk -- they talked about punitive damages, I think that's where the risk really lies for him. Peep -- this jury may want to send a message, that it's not OK to do this, right? And we're going to punish powerful people that make those types of statements. He didn't help himself going out into the news media and doubling down on it during the trial.

So I think those types of things, look, that -- in the confines of that case, you have the compensatory damages, the emotional distress and the punitive damages, that $48 million number, you know, they may evaluate that one way or the other. But if they're looking to send a message, they'll do it by way of punitive damages.

BERMAN: Is this a new low in the sort of decades long descent of Rudy Giuliani as -- or is he already hit bottom --

SCHULTZ: Right. And this is just the continual descent of what was America's mayor at one point in time. And, you know, when he stood -- after 9/11, and all the good things that he had done after 9/11. And now to be here today, you know, being accused of, you know, being found, having to defame two kind of public servants who are there just working on election day and doing their jobs is really sad.

BERMAN: Do you ever wonder what happened?

SCHULTZ: I don't know. I mean I don't know what happened with him. Obviously, there was this dissent that kind of just found its way to where it is today. It's sad that that's where we are in politics today. But I mean, the fact that he did that, I mean, I think that the jury in this case, is going to hold him accountable. I don't know what that number is going to be. It's a crapshoot as to what that number is going to be, but it's going to be a real number.

BERMAN: So we keep on being told that he's got no money, that he's struggling to find funds to pay this lawyer or that lawyer. So the jury may come back with a huge number. He's going to say he can't pay it. But what will life be like then for Giuliani?

SCHULTZ: Look, he's got the -- he has mounting legal costs. He's going to have a judgment against him here, that he's going to have to pay something on, you know, I'm sure that there will be bankruptcies heading -- going, he'll be heading towards bankruptcies at some point in time, because you have all of these debts that are accumulating against him. So life is not going to be good for the former mayor.

BERMAN: All right. Jim Schultz, great to have you here, thanks so much. Have a Merry Christmas. SCHULTZ: Thank you. You too.

BERMAN: All right. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, a race against time. Republican candidates descending on New Hampshire in last minute pre-holiday blitz to try and win over key voters there.

And a new Pew Research poll signaling it may be too late for the Republicans who aren't Donald Trump to make it on the ticket. The new numbers from Republican voters, we have more coming up.

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[11:17:34]

BOLDUAN: New this morning, Nikki Haley has announced she has accepted the invitation to take part in the CNN presidential debate in Iowa. It's all going to happen just days before the Iowa caucuses. And that is definitely not lost on Nikki Haley herself as she's challenging Donald Trump to finally show up to face off in one of these debates.

From Iowa to New Hampshire to all of the early primary states, all of the candidates are heading out hitting the trail and a big pre-holiday campaign blitz. CNN's Steve Contorno is in New Hampshire. Steve, you're following Ron DeSantis today. What's his strategies as they not head into, they sprint into this final stretch before Iowa?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, he's going to have an event in New Hampshire. Right behind me, they're setting up for it right now. He'll be speaking in about an hour. And his message to voters here essentially is pay attention to Iowa because that is where he has puts most of his campaigns energy and resources into. And it's a state where they believe they can manufacture a surprise in the Iowa caucus.

But that has been somewhat frustrating for his New Hampshire supporters here. This is the states that demands the candidates give them a lot of face time. And he just hasn't put that much focus here as he is put into Iowa. And that is going to create some trouble for him going forward because this is a state that Donald Trump won in 2016 on the path to the nomination. And it's a state where Nikki Haley just secured the endorsement of the state's popular governor. So a lot of headwinds for him in New Hampshire.

Now, he is far from the only candidate who will be on the campaign trail this weekend. It's going to be an all-out blitz by these candidates. As you mentioned, we have Nikki Haley, who will spend Sunday through much of next week in Iowa, a state where she is trying to turn her momentum into some support and potentially put a surprise, strong showing in that state that can carry her into New Hampshire.

And then we have Vivek Ramaswamy, who is going to be all over Iowa over the next two days. And of course Trump, the dominant front runner in this race, he is going to be in New Hampshire tomorrow, in Nevada on Sunday, and then he will go back to Iowa on Tuesday. This is a more of a pickup of campaign events for him. We have not seen the former president on the campaign trail at this sort of pace, but it's just stressing the urgency that we're seeing here and he's out there trying to remind his voters, yes, we are in the lead but you have to vote. Kate?

[11:20:01]

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Steve Contorno in New Hampshire for us, thank you. John?

BERMAN: I wonder if they're going to play "Free Bird." I do want to note.

BOLDUAN: I demand it.

BERMAN: I do want to note that New Hampshire is not Alabama.

BOLDUAN: What?

BERMAN: And Ron DeSantis is not from Alabama.

BOLDUAN: What?

BERMAN: It's just an interesting choice of music. I'm just going to say that. Beyond that we're talking about these candidates trying to run against Donald Trump. There's this new poll from Pew, which shows that seven in 10 Republican voters say they wouldn't be satisfied with Trump as the nominee. This is actually a new position for him to be in. With us now, CNN senior data reporter, Harry Enten. Again, as I said, this is new. This is a big change Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, it's a big change. And I just want to know just how much this race has changed from the end of last year, because sometimes I think it gets lost a little bit. So this is the top choices for GOP nominee. And note in this particular poll question, the voters weren't given a ballot list of candidates, they essentially say, who do you want to be the nominee? And then they throw out a name.

And the fact that Donald Trump is doing so well on this metric, I think is so notable. He's up now to 52 percent on this particular metric. If you go back a year ago, when Monmouth University asked the same question, look at this, Ron DeSantis was actually leading Donald Trump by 13 points. DeSantis has fallen 25 points. Trump has gone up about the same. Now Haley is up as well. But the fact is, when you get someone at 52 percent, and the next two competitors are 14 and 11 percent, that guy at 52 percent is doing pretty gosh darn well.

BERMAN: What are the things Donald Trump has been saying on the campaign trail about Nikki Haley is where's this surge that's getting reported out there, is there evidence that Haley said something of a ceiling?

ENTEN: Yes, I think so. So take a look at the favorable ratings, all right? So these are views of Nikki Haley, September, December, favorable, unfavorable. If you look here, Haley is going backwards, right? She was at 47 percent in September. She's at 42 percent now. But more than that, John, more than that, the thing that I think is so worrisome, just take a look at these unfavorable ratings, 21 percent in September, now up to 30 percent.

So yes, she's been seeing some sort of jump in the polls in the horse race. But underneath that hood, there are a lot more Republicans who are becoming Haley skeptics.

BERMAN: That's what happens when you start going up in the polls, people attack you and your unfavorables tend to go up as well. She has received some key endorsements, Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire, that caught a lot of focus. But on the endorsement issue, it's not like Trump is suffering.

ENTEN: No, it's not. I mean, take a look here, endorsements from governors and members of Congress. Haley, congratulations, you're now up two. Look at Donald Trump, 98, 98 endorsements from members of Congress and governors. DeSantis is just seven. You know, where Donald Trump was at this point back in the 2016 cycle, John? Zero. He was at a grand total of zero endorsements. He is doing so much better now than he was doing back then. He's just doing completely better across the board, John.

BERMAN: I didn't actually know the answer but that's felt like a trick question that zero was going to be the right answer right there so I went with it. Sorry, here. You don't think endorses matter much in general anyway?

ENTEN: No. I -- let's take a look here. Did the endorsement leader win the GOP primary? Trump is the only one was a no in 2016. Look at all these yeses. Reagan in '80, Bush in '88, Dole in '96, Bush in 2000, McCain in 2008, Romney in 2012. At this particular point, it does look like the endorsement leader is going to win the primary, which is what usually happens. Trump of course has been accepted on so many things back in 2016. He was accepting.

BERMAN: A lot of times the endorsement comes after the people realize it's so and so is going to win the nomination.

ENTEN: Correlation causation.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thanks.

BERMAN: Sara?

SIDNER: All right, we're watching a D.C. courtroom right now. A jury is deciding how much Rudy Giuliani may have to pay for defaming and attacking two Georgia election workers. The number could be as high as $48 million.

[11:23:49]

And the House is gone for the holidays. But Chuck Schumer is determined to strike a deal to get aid to Ukraine in Israel. So what's the hold up? A battle over the border. We'll break down what's on the line coming up.

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BOLDUAN: So we often hear about the highest stakes battles on Capitol Hill. When it comes to the fight over whether or not to keep sending aid to Ukraine, try this one on for size. Look at this, quote, they are certain to fail without us. That is what a senior U.S. military official is now telling our colleague, Jim Sciutto. So now that we've established that, in this case, when it comes to Ukraine, the stakes are very high.

And here where things are standing now and stuck on Capitol Hill, the House has already left town, so you can leave that out as a factor at the moment. The Senate here -- for the Senate here is what the Democratic Majority Leader said on the House floor. If we believe something is important and urgent, we should stay and get the job done. So he's keeping them in Washington promising to hold another vote on an aid proposal next week no matter what.

But Senate Republicans say they're still way too far apart on the key sticking point, border security, for that timing to be realistic really at all. Here's Senator Lindsey Graham.

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[11:29:50]

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): They haven't written anything down. We've been doing this for 90 days. There is no legislative texts. The White House just got involved three days ago. You expect to, you know, to run out the clock and get it done? Well, I think the best thing to do is keep talking, try to find a deal that we can all live with, that will get through the House, come back in January and do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)