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Trump Departs Closed-Door Hearing In Florida On Classified Documents Case; Interview With Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ): Senate $95 Billion Foreign Aid Bill; Doctors: Defense Secy Had Non-Surgical Procedure Under General Anesthesia. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 12, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:34:08]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Donald Trump and his lawyers are now out of a federal courtroom in Florida. They met with Judge Aileen Cannon four hours today behind closed doors. The former president's legal team arguing that they need more access to classified evidence in the Mar- a-Lago documents case. Prosecutors are meeting separately with the judge to prevent sharing the highly sensitive materials.

We have CNN's Evan Perez, who is outside the courthouse there in Fort Pierce, Florida. Evan, when might we see a decision in this case?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, any time in the next couple of days we might see action from the judge. Right now, as you mentioned, the special counsel and their legal team, the lawyers for the government, are in the courthouse meeting with the judge, again, making their argument for why these documents should remain restricted.

[15:35:00]

Now, the former president spent about five hours inside the courthouse with his lawyers, with the judge, and the argument they're making is that, you know, if you're going to be having -- if you're going to have classified documents that are an issue in this case, that the government might use in the trial, and even documents that are relevant to his defense, that the government should provide complete access. In some cases, Brianna, the government is providing summaries of some of these documents because they say that the documents themselves are too sensitive for them to be shared with anyone, including Trump and his two co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.

The former president was here when he entered the court. He went by a crowd of supporters. There were people from the campaign handing out signs to some of those people, those supporters who were outside. He left without making any comment, though, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Evan, thank you so much for that report -- Alex.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Now, also some big news out of Georgia, where one of Trump's co-defendants is attempting to disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis in the election racketeering case. The judge now says that there may be grounds for her removal in the prosecution.

Let's get straight to CNN's Zach Cohen. So Zach, what's the judge saying?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Alex, the judge in this case, Scott McAfee, established a very clear threshold that defense attorneys have to meet in order to get Fani Willis, the district attorney in this case, disqualified.

And that threshold is proving that she had a financial benefit from her alleged relationship and her admitted relationship with her top prosecutor, Nathan Wade. Take a listen to what the judge said today in court when they were trying to talk about the willingness and the ability of these defense attorneys to subpoena Willis and Wade late this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE SCOTT MCAFEE, FULTON COUNTY, GA: I think it's clear that disqualification can occur if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one.

And the filings submitted on this issue so far have presented a conflict in the evidence that can't be resolved as a matter of law. Specifically looking at Defendant Roman's motion, it alleges a personal relationship that resulted in a financial benefit to the district attorney. And that is no longer a matter of complete speculation.

The state has admitted a relationship existed. And so what remains to be proven is the existence and extent of any financial benefit. Again, if there is, if there even was one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So the judge made it clear today that a hearing on Thursday where this evidence will be presented has to move forward despite objections from Fani Willis and her office. It remains to be seen if the defense attorneys can meet that burden, though, and Thursday's hearing is going to be a potentially pivotal moment in this case. And it could result with Fani -- in Fani Willis being disqualified or it could be a bit of a reset moment for her office as they can put this behind them.

MARQUARDT: We know you'll be watching that very closely. Zach Cohen, terrific reporting as always.

The Senate is inching closer to passing that foreign aid bill that provides assistance to Ukraine and Israel. A final vote is expected this week. We'll be discussing with Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. That's coming up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:38] KEILAR: The Senate is one step closer to passing a $95 billion foreign aid bill, which includes funding for Israel and Ukraine. Lawmakers were able to move the package forward with the support of 18 Republicans, despite opposition from former President Donald Trump. But can they get the bill passed this week?

Let's talk about this now with Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. He sits on the Armed Services Committee.

Sir, as you know, Trump is pressuring Republicans to kill this legislation. He says the U.S. should stop providing foreign aid unless it's structured as a loan. What is your reaction to that reasoning?

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): Well, it's a mistake. The former president doesn't seem to know what's in the best interests of our own national security. We need to make sure Putin loses here. If we don't, this could wind up in a wider conflict. So I don't understand his logic.

The good news is we have bipartisan support here in the Senate to do this, to get this Ukrainian aid. They're running out of ammunition. They need our help.

But Brianna, you know what we also had bipartisan support on? And that was border security last week. We've got this crisis at our border. And Senate Republicans, unfortunately, decided to walk away from this. They decided they wanted to keep the problem instead of coming up with a solution.

KEILAR: I mean, to that point, I was wondering how likely you think it is that this aid bill to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan gets killed, just like the larger bill that included border provisions did when Trump opposed it.

KELLY: Well, I mean, because of the bipartisan support we have now, I'm confident we're going to get this through the Senate. It's going to take us a couple of days. We can't get an agreement, so Senate process gets in the way of this. And politics is getting in the way of this. And this is what the American people really hate about Washington.

And back to the border security thing, we worked on that for months. This has been a problem for decades. We were going to provide more border patrol agents, asylum officers, judges, the technology to stop fentanyl at our border and have better policies to get control over our border. And because of the former president, that part of the deal is now dead.

Now, we've got to get this Ukraine security package done. If we don't, they're going to run out of ammunition. We can't allow that to happen.

So in the Senate here, you know, I'm confident we're going to get this done. It's not likely to fall apart right now. The other issue is, then, how do we get this through the House?

KEILAR: Yes, certainly a harder road there. Turning to Israel, this overnight Rafah operation where two Israeli hostages were rescued and they had been reunited with their families, so happy to have them home. But you also had more than 100 Palestinians who were killed by accompanying airstrikes. Do you have any understanding of why such extensive air cover was needed for this hostage rescue operation?

KELLY: Well, Brianna, I haven't seen the details on this operation yet. I'll probably get briefed on this sometime this week. And it's tragic whenever civilians, innocent men, women, children especially, you know, die in a conflict. You know, Israel did the right thing in trying to rescue these hostages. I imagine the strikes were some form of a distraction.

I've been pressuring the Israelis a number of times here to use more guided instead of unguided munitions.

[15:45:02]

I flew 39 combat missions in the first Gulf War and using dumb bombs in a conflict in this densely populated area is not the way to go. Clearly isn't.

But Israel was attacked in a brutal way on October 7th and has to defend itself. They're our ally. We're going to support them. We're going to give them the aid they need, hopefully in this package. But it's really tragic just to see just the extent of the loss of life here.

KEILAR: The White House is warning that a large offensive in Rafah, where you have more than a million Palestinians, they've converged there seeking refuge. It's also a key hub for aid entry and distribution. The White House is saying this would be a disaster. But Prime Minister Netanyahu really seems undeterred here. What are your concerns about what that would look like? And do you think Israel will make any changes short of there being conditions on its aid from the U.S.?

KELLY: Well, any time there's urban conflict in a dense area, I mean, we dealt with this in Iraq. You've got to be extra careful. And the Israelis are taking some steps that I've got to say are unprecedented.

Before they conduct an airstrike, they reach out to the community, text messages, flyers. Sometimes they even knock on doors and they monitor the number of people who leave the area. And if they don't, they adjust the rules of engagement up or down based on, you know, those results.

Having said that, 20,000, 30,000 innocent civilians, it's a huge number. And they've got to do a better job. We're pressing them to do a better job on this.

I was over in Israel right after October 7th, again, a few weeks ago. I brought this up with Yoav Golan, who's the defense minister, also directly with Netanyahu, that they have to do better on this issue. And, you know, conflict in Rafah, it's going to be a challenging -- it's going to be challenging for the IDF.

So hopefully the IDF comes up with some, you know, rules of engagement that protects innocent life there.

KEILAR: Netanyahu said that the expected IDF-Rafah operation has to be done by March 10th, the beginning of Ramadan. In your mind, does that eliminate possibility of a hostage deal pause in the fighting before then?

KELLY: Well, I don't think it necessarily eliminates it. And that's what we need right now. We need to bring these hostages home. We have American hostages that are still there. I've met with the families multiple times. It's a tragic situation. That needs to be the number one priority.

But nearly as important as that is eliminating this threat from Hamas. They've already made it clear that given the opportunity, they would repeat the attack that they did on October 7th. That can't be allowed to happen.

KEILAR: All right, Senator Mark Kelly, we appreciate your time this afternoon. Thanks for being with us.

KELLY: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: And up next, we have some new details on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. We have just learned that he's under -- undergone a procedure at Walter Reed. We'll have the latest on his condition ahead.

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[15:51:39]

KEILAR: Here in the last hour we learned that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin should be resuming his regular duties tomorrow after being hospitalized for a second time. This is according to a statement from his doctors. Really a second time unexpectedly following a first time where he was having a procedure done in December. The Pentagon says that Austin underwent a non-surgical procedure under general anesthesia today regarding an issue related to his bladder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. PAT RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: As I understand it. This was related to a emergent bladder issue. It was not related to his cancer treatment. Again, and as the statement that I just read out to you highlights, his prognosis for that is good and the bladder issue should not affect his recovery from that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: CNN's Katie Bo Lillis is on this story for us. So Katie Bo, what can you tell us about how the secretary is now doing?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN REPORTER: Yes, so, Alex, his doctors have told us now in a statement that he is expected to make a full recovery and that his prognosis for the underlying prostate cancer remains excellent.

But of course we do now know that he's not expected to be able to resume full duties until tomorrow, which means that the Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks will effectively remain the secretary of defense.

This clearly wasn't the original plan when Austin first went to Walter Reed yesterday and when the Pentagon issued a public statement saying that he was on his way back to the hospital. They said that Hicks was on standby, but that Austin was taking both his unclassified and his classified systems with him to the hospital so that he could continue to perform his duties.

Obviously, once they got him there, they realized he was going to require more intensive care than perhaps initially anticipated. And now of course we see Hicks taking over at least until tomorrow.

There are a few other things that Austin is going to miss as a result of this. We know also that he was expected to travel to Brussels to attend a NATO Defense Ministerial and in particular a meeting related to the provision of aid for Ukraine. He's now not going on that trip.

KEILAR: And it's interesting because so much controversy followed what was a failure to notify properly in January when he ended up going to Walter Reed and having more extensive care than he had anticipated. It seems very clear that they're taking a very cautious approach this time.

LILLIS: Yes, I think it is notable how differently team Austin is handling this hospitalization compared to his hospitalization in January. We are getting near real-time public updates on his condition and what is anticipated in terms of who will be carrying out the duties of the defense secretary. Because again, of course, the secretary received an extreme amount of criticism from Capitol Hill about his failure to notify not just the White House, but also other senior administration officials, Congress, even the press at the time of his hospitalization in January.

He's expected to testify before the House Armed Services Committee later this month to address some of those concerns and he has publicly acknowledged that his handling of that episode was a mistake.

Somewhat ironically, the Pentagon also carried out a 30-day review of the notification procedures for when the duties are transferred from one official to another. That review was completed last week and in fact is currently sitting on Secretary Austin's desk for his review.

KEILAR: He'll be ready to read that when he is back in the office.

[15:55:00]

And listen, good news that he is recovering well and that he's expected -- this is expected to be a full recovery as we learned today from the Pentagon. So that's very good news. Katie Bo Lillis. Thank you so much.

We have some new details coming in right now of the shooting at Joel Osteen's megachurch in Houston. We'll have an update ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: All Right, we have some breaking news. Authorities just releasing a picture of the woman accused of opening fire Sunday at Joel Osteen's megachurch in Houston.

Police say Genesee Moreno was shot and killed by off-duty officers. Two people were injured during the shooting, including Marino's 7- year-old son, who she had brought with her.

[16:00:00]

MARQUARDT: Investigators now saying that Moreno had a criminal history that dated back years, including a weapons charge as well as a history of mental illness.

So many questions. Antisemitic writings in her past, she had been detained, her ex-husband was Jewish as well as his family, the authorities saying that that may have played into things as well.

KEILAR: Yes and how did she get this weapon? Is this something that should have been flagged? We'll have to see what the process is. Obviously, many ways around getting a weapon without a background check but certainly she shouldn't have passed one.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.