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New Photos Show Trump Aide and Codefendant in Classified Documents Case Walt Nauta Moving Boxes around Mar-a-Lago in 2022; Tornado Devastates Town in Iowa; Ireland, Norway, and Spain to Recognize Palestinian State; Interview with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE); Sean "Diddy" Combs Accused of Sexual Assault in New Lawsuit, Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired May 22, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

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BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Trump for that machismo, for that what they believe to be strength. People don't vote for Donald Trump for policy depth, because he has none. He has -- Donald Trump has the policy depth of a shallow bathtub. And so that's what you see when you have him try to answer things about reproductive health. He simply cannot.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I will also say just as we've all lived through Trump's first-term together that whenever he says I have a policy coming out in two weeks, everyone should be dubious if that actually is. That seems to be a verbal sign for -- a verbal indication of no comment at the very least. Mike, its great to see you. It's been a minute. And Bakari, I don't know. Thanks, I guess, sometimes. Love you. Thank you.

A new hour of --

SELLERS: I was hoping it was John.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: There you go. A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A new phase in Donald Trump's classified documents case begins this morning as never before seen images surface of an aide moving boxes.

Cars sent flying through the air as tornadoes sweep through the Midwest and the storm now threatened cities from Texas to Vermont.

And new allegations this morning against P. Diddy, a woman files a complaint saying he drugged and sexually assaulted her.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. Sara Sidner is taking care of business. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: OK so we are following developments in two of Donald Trump's legal battles today. The defense has rested in his criminal trial in New York, and while closing arguments won't begin until next Tuesday, things are heating up in another case, the classified documents case out of Florida. New photos from June, 2022, shows this -- Trump aide and codefendant Walt Nauta moving boxes around Mar-a-Lago. Prosecutors say that Nauta move these boxes shortly before a Trump attorney was going to look through them after getting a subpoena to turn over classified materials.

Today, the judge in this case, Judge Aileen Cannon, is expected to hold two hearings where she's going to be hearing motions to dismiss cases from co-defendants, including Walt Nauta. CNN's Katelyn Polantz has more on those for us. Katelyn, bring us up to speed. These photos come out. What do we know? What do we need to know more about?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Kate, there's hundreds more documents available in the filings in this case in the southern district of Florida accusing Donald Trump, Walt Nauta, Carlos De Oliveira, of a conspiracy around hiding classified documents from the federal government, mishandling them. But Kate, it's really a slow burn, a very slow burn as things progress toward trial in this case. That's because Judge Aileen Cannon is taking all of the requests that the defense team has made in this case before trial, motions to dismiss, motions to suppress evidence, motions to toss out everything the FBI collected in the search of Mar-a-Lago in August previously -- in a previous year. All of that she's doing one at a time.

And so today is a hearing on a part of some of those requests. Today, she's looking at Walt Nauta's motion to dismiss. He's accusing the prosecutors of unfairly choosing to charge him because -- charge him with conspiracy and obstruction of justice because of his unwillingness to continue cooperating with the investigation. Prosecutors say he lied to us. We charged him because we had a reason to charge him. He was much different than other witnesses in this case.

But then there are other things that Judge Aileen Cannon isn't going to talk about today in court, but that she's going to have to work through, specifically Donald Trump's request that were now seeing all of these court papers on trying to toss out the evidence from the FBI search. He also is trying to toss a lot of testimony from his former lawyer, Evan Corcoran. He wants to cut out huge parts of the case against him. Judge Aileen Cannon, well get to that eventually.

But looking at the court papers now, it's giving us a fresh look at a lot of aspects of this case, including those new images of Walt Nauta carrying boxes after -- he was carrying boxes many months ago, but he told the FBI he didn't know much about moving those boxes.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you. Thank you so much, Kately.

John?

BERMAN: All right, this morning in Iowa people are waking up to extreme damage, violent winds, and reports of 17 tornadoes touching down. One city reported wind gusts of 100 miles per hour. A disaster emergency has been declared for 15 counties. Officials say there are multiple fatalities, multiple, and also dozens and dozens of injuries from the storm.

CNN's Whitney Wild is in Greenfield, one of the hardest hit towns. Whitney, what are you seeing?

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WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, what we see just outside of town is destruction that is hundreds of yards wide. So I'll just give you a look here. Again, we're at the edge of Greenfield. That is one of the hardest hit towns. And what you can see here just at the outskirts of town, John, is mangled trees, pieces, huge pieces of metal strewn about and crumpled like they're pieces of paper tossed throughout these fields.

Again, at the edge of Greenfield, this is in southwest Iowa, this is where the brunt of these storms hit. In neighboring Montgomery County, for example, 28 homes were impacted. And I'll take you across the street here at the edge of Greenfield where you can see really the expanse, John, of how far this debris was tossed around. This is not a highly populated area right where were standing. It's not like there are homes crunched together, and still you see all of this debris strewn about on these fields here in Adair County.

Just to put in perspective, John, how big of an impact a tornado like this is having in a town like Greenfield, Greenfield is small. It's only 2,000 people. The square footage is less than two miles. And that massive tornado just ripped through town around 4:00, between 4:00 and 4:45 yesterday afternoon. Ever since then, it was a search and rescue effort.

Here is a moment when one woman in this heart -- this heart-wrenching moment was able to reunite with her dog. Here is that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just thinking, Jesus, they were all here, and my last thing was like I knew my daughter was she was OK. She was in daycare. And all my family and friends who like live right here, we're all OK. But the dog wasn't here. But we found her, so I'm just so thankful to od that we're all here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: There is so much gratitude here. People are so thankful that they have their lives when they're looking at the path of destruction here, John. Again, you said that there are multiple fatalities. We don't yet know how many fatalities, we don't yet know the dollar amount of this damage. What we do know is that later today, Governor Kim Reynolds is expected and you come out and survey the damage and we'll bring you the very latest.

We are, just to put this in perspective again, we're at the edge of Greenfield. Theres a curfew there. We expect to go into town and we'll bring our CNN viewers the latest pictures from inside that town where the hardest hit -- the hardest hit spots from that time tornado are still trying to rebuild John. BERMAN: All right, Whitney Wild outside Greenfield. I'm not sure our

audience saw it, but we had this overhead footage of the town, and you can clearly see the path of destruction that tornado took as it went through, just a straight line of houses destroyed there. But the houses on either side of it, amazingly, still standing.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: So France's foreign minister is speaking out against the three countries that just announced they will formally recognize a Palestinian state, also as Israel threatens serious consequences toward Ireland, Spain, and Norway.

Shoes, iPads, phones, cushions, people go flying through the cabin. What passengers to say they experienced onboard that Singapore Airlines flight as it hit deadly turbulence. We have new descriptions coming in.

And Caitlin Clark just hit a level of success so as not seen since Michael Jordan.

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BOLDUAN: New reaction this morning from world leaders after Ireland, Spain, and Norway just announced the nations will soon formally recognize a Palestinian state. France's foreign minister is speaking out and just poke out saying that now is not the, quote, right time, for any of its E.U. neighbors to recognize Palestinian statehood.

So joining us right now is Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a key member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Thanks so much for coming on. So let's talk through this -- Norway, Ireland, Spain, in quick session, they announced these plans to recognize a Palestinian state. Hamas comes out with a statement applauding the announcement, saying "We call on countries around the world to recognize our legitimate national rights, support the struggle of our people for liberation and independence, and the end of the Zionist occupation of our land." That's a statement from Hamas and Israel.

And Israel, obviously, they are condemning this every way they can, recalling ambassadors, and saying that this shows the world that terrorism pays. What do you think of this? What do you want to hear from President Biden?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well, I expect what we'll hear from President Biden is a continued strong stance of support for Israel's right to exist and for the ongoing effort to try and resolve the Arab- Israeli conflict by reconciling Saudi Arabia and Israel, something that President Biden and his senior team and a group of us here in the Senate have dedicated a lot of time to in recent months.

There is a positive path forward here, Kate, that would lead to a Palestinian self-governing territory, but through negotiations directly, where Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel, Israel would announce a new path forward for negotiations directly for a Palestinian self-governing state, and the United States would provide security guarantees.

There's been a lot of effort put into this. That's what was underway just before the October 7th attacks next by Hamas. Let's be clear, Hamas is a hateful terrorist organization dedicated to killing Jews and destroying Israel. So that they put out a statement today cheering on these announcements by Spain and Norway and Ireland should suggest that this is not a constructive step at this time and we should continue pressing for a two-state solution through negotiations.

BOLDUAN: Is there any way to dial it -- is there any way to roll this back? You can't put the genie back in this bottle after this announcement, right?

COONS: It'll be difficult for those three countries to pull back their recognition, yes. But frankly, we need to get both sides back to the negotiating table for the release of hostages. I'll remind you, there are Americans still being held by Hamas in the tunnels under Gaza. Just after this interview, I'll be meeting with Rachel and Jon whose son Hersh we now know is alive but has been there, I believe, 228 days. A ceasefire in exchange for a hostage release and the negotiations for a path forward would be a significant positive step forward.

[08:15:00]

It would allow humanitarian relief in to Gaza and it would allow these families who have waited and prayed and worked so hard for so long to get the return of their loved ones.

I'll remind you, Kate, those hostages are of many faiths from many countries and many backgrounds being held in terrible conditions in the tunnels under Gaza.

BOLDUAN: House Speaker Mike Johnson is threatening right now to move ahead without the Senate to invite the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come address what would then just be the House Chamber.

He first floated the idea of having Netanyahu come to make it and address back in March. But since then, the ICC announced it is seeking the arrest warrant for Netanyahu.

Do you want to extend the invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu to come speak before Congress right now?

COONS: Well, I'd like to see Prime Minister Netanyahu dedicated to the effort to get the hostages released and listening to the repeated input over many months from our military leadership and from President Biden to put forward a concrete plan.

I'd love to hear from Prime Minister Netanyahu a concrete plan both for the relocation of civilian refugees away from the potential for fighting in Rafah and for the day after, for what happens, what's the future of Gaza? As you know, Benny Gantz a decorated military leader of Israel and now

a part of the War Cabinet, has said that he will leave the governing coalition by June 8th if there isn't some plan. There is deep frustration I think both inside Israel and here in the United States about the lack of a path forward.

So what is it that Prime Minister Netanyahu will be saying to us? Hopefully, is that that he recognizes the absence of a plan for a positive path forward is a real challenge.

BOLDUAN: One of the reasons I wanted to ask about that address is because at the same time, Democrats I've seen are upset that I will call it a similar invitation has not been extended to Kenya's president who is in Washington right now for a state visit.

You're meeting with him today, and this state visit is the first by an African president since 2008, and the Speaker's Office said that President Ruto didn't get the invite due to scheduling restraints. What do you think is going on here?

COONS: I think that was a huge mistake by Speaker Johnson. I think he should have invited President Ruto to address a full joint session of Congress, but this is a significant, substantial state visit.

Obviously, there will be a one-on-one meeting with our president. There will be events and meetings hosted by our vice president, by the secretary of Defense, secretary of State, secretary of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce and President Ruto will be meeting with Senate leadership, House leadership, and I am co-hosting a lunch for him with dozens and dozens of members of Congress later today at the Library of Congress for him to speak about his leadership role on advancing conservation, promoting bio-diversity and his leadership in the region.

President Ruto is a great partner in a significant democracy in a troubled region. Just look at the countries around him, like Somalia and Sudan and Ethiopia and he has a good partner in security, in public health, in promoting opportunity and the digital economy. We have a talented ambassador, Meg Whitman there and this long overdue state visit will be a great opportunity for our president and leaders in our Congress to show that they recognize the critical importance of Kenya in East Africa, but also in the world.

BOLDUAN: I will say, I mean, you've been there multiple times over the last year. It is a real -- it is a real recognition of just while our focus can be so narrowly -- our attention can be so narrowly focused sometimes, the world's issues and the partners of the United States all deserve so much attention and that is going to be -- a bright light is going to be shined on that today with your meetings with the president of Kenya.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time.

COONS: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. Thank you. Coming up for us, Sean "Diddy" Combs is facing new allegations of

sexual abuse this morning. What his new accuser, what the new accuser says happened, why she says Combs needs help. The lawsuit that has been filed.

New evidence also that vivid nightmares could be the first sign of serious health issues.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New allegations have been brought against Sean "Diddy" Combs just days after he apologized for attacking a former girlfriend in 2016.

Now a former model has filed a lawsuit against Combs claiming he drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2003 when they met at a New York fashion event.

Elizabeth Wagmeister who has been way out in front of the story is with us this morning. Elizabeth, what are you learning now?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Good morning, John.

Yes. So this is the seventh lawsuit to come out against Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Now, one of those lawsuits has been settled. Of course, that was as from Cassie. Now, this lawsuit comes from a former model who claims that when she was 22 years old back in 2003, that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Sean "Diddy" Combs in New York.

Now I do want to point out that I have reached out to his team. I have not heard back yet, so we will update you if and when we have any statement from him.

[08:25:10]

Now, also, in addition to this lawsuit, Misa Hylton, who is the ex of Sean "Diddy" Combs, they share a child. This is Diddy's oldest son. She has now come out and reacted to the surveillance video that we unveiled here at CNN.

She is supporting Cassie and she says that it has actually triggered her own trauma. I want to read part of that now to you, John -- sorry about that, just pulling up the statement.

She says: "I am heartbroken that Cassie must relive the horror of her abuse and my heart goes out to her. I know exactly how she feels and through my empathy, it has triggered my own trauma. Combs needs help and I am praying that he truly does the personal work and receives it."

So John, now, not only are we hearing from another woman very much inside Diddy's circle coming forward to support Cassie, but with this lawsuit from this model in 2003, we are now getting a continued pattern established of this alleged behavior. In that lawsuit, these claims are very similar to some other claims that we have seen in these past lawsuits.

And I do want to point out, it is a new accuser, new allegations, and a new attorney who is not representing any of these other women.

BERMAN: All right, Elizabeth Wagmeister, keep us posted on all of these new developments.

All hell broke loose: Passengers describe the moments of fatal turbulence on a flight that left one person dead and more than a hundred injured.

And new this morning, the White House wipes away billions more of student loan debt. How to find out if you're one of the borrowers who may benefit.

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