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Trump Lawyers: Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant May Have Violated His Rights: Native American Community Faces Influx of Migrants; Biden to Pardon Military Veterans Convicted Under Former Military Law Banning Gay Sex. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired June 25, 2024 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: In a Florida federal court today, Donald Trump's lawyers picked apart the warrant used to search his Mar-a-Lago estate back in 2022 for hundreds of classified documents that prosecutors say were illegal for him to have there. Defense lawyers said the warrant was not specific enough and may have violated the former president's rights. They also said that some of the information in the warrant application misled the judge who approved it.
Now, this attack on the paperwork is just one of the myriad ways the Trump team is trying to get the case tossed. Let's discuss with national security attorney Bradley Moss. Bradley, great to be with you.
We just got some new reporting from our team on the ground, and it sounds like Federal Judge Aileen Cannon said Tuesday that she had a hard time seeing any problems with the warrant the FBI obtained to search Mar-a-Lago back in the summer of 2022. In your eyes, does the Trump team have a strong argument to stand on against the original search warrant?
BRADLEY MOSS, NATIONAL SECURITY ATTORNEY: No, not really. The warrant, as even according to the reporting even Judge Cannon noted, was largely particularized. It did what it was required to do for that stage of an investigation.
This is before there was even an indictment, obviously. All they had to do was outline for the magistrate probable cause to believe that evidence, documentation, information relevant to the crime was going to be at those locations, outline where the agents could search, what they were to be collecting.
It's pretty clear this motion will go nowhere. I don't think Donald Trump's team really expected it to. They got more than they ever bargained for. They got weeks, if not months, of delay and a full hearing on it.
That's all they could really hope for. They got the delay they wanted. But on substance, no, I don't think anybody expects this motion to be granted.
What we all do want to know about is the morning's hearing that was done sealed behind closed doors, dealing with the attorney client privileged information that was disclosed to the grand jury.
SANCHEZ: I want to ask you about that. But as part of this reporting, apparently there was another tense moment in court and I want to get your thoughts on it. At one point, Trump's attorneys claimed that the prosecutors should have to provide information about any divisions or disagreements in the FBI about the case and whether any agents involved in the case disliked Donald Trump.
The prosecution immediately jumped up and called it an attempt to hijack the hearing. A dramatic moment, no question. But why would that information be relevant in this case? Is there grounds for the defense to seek that kind of detail?
MOSS: Yes, so that is relevant to a separate motion and that's kind of what the prosecution was noting when they objected. There's a separate set of motions dealing with selective prosecution and a motion to compel additional discovery. It's this fishing expedition the Trump team is doing, trying to gather details on whether or not there was some political motive behind the decision to go forward with a search warrant and the raid on Mar-a-Lago, whether or not there was dissent within the FBI ranks.
I mean, look, the FBI is a bureaucracy. There's going to be different agents and different lawyers within the FBI and the DOJ who are going to be considering this momentous decision to conduct a search of a former president's residence. Of course, I'm sure there were heated discussions, but ultimately it's going to be irrelevant to the issue of whether or not the warrant was proper, whether or not the investigation was proper. It's just a fishing expedition to throw political smear onto the whole thing.
SANCHEZ: Bradley, to the point that you made earlier about this morning's discussion regarding Evan Corcoran, the lawyer that was representing Trump on this issue of classified documents at Mar-a- Lago. Initially, the Trump team is again arguing that attorney-client privilege was breached in this case and that it should have been, and then that's a reason to toss the charges aside. Wasn't this adjudicated already though?
MOSS: Yes, so this was resolved by the judge out in D.C.
[15:35:00]
It's part of the grand jury proceedings before there was an indictment and attorney-client privilege was pierced under what's known as the crime-fraud exception. You can't use communications with your attorney to commit a future crime, and that is what was alleged against Donald Trump.
There was a lengthy ruling that's been made public as part of these motions that was issued in D.C. in terms of why the attorney-client privilege was pierced at that time, but they're allowed to relitigate it here because it was an indictment brought in the Southern District of Florida and Judge Cannon has her ability to disagree with what the judge in D.C. said. That's what we're really looking at because if that information gets tossed, if Judge Cannon decides the original ruling was erroneous, that would cripple the obstruction element of the government's case because it hinged a lot on those notes and that audio from Evan Corcoran.
SANCHEZ: As with so many of Donald Trump's legal cases, there are developments happening as we speak, and so I want to pivot to the New York Hush Money trial. Judge Merchan in that case has lifted parts of the gag order, but he's keeping restrictions on comments related to prosecutors, court staff, and their families so Trump can basically talk about witnesses in the case, people like Michael Cohen or Stormy Daniels. Trump's team has described it as a, quote, another unlawful decision.
At this point, after the conviction and before sentencing, do you think parts of the gag order still need to be in place?
MOSS: Yes, absolutely, and that's not necessarily out of the ordinary in a situation like this. Look, there's still very much the ability of Donald Trump to try to interfere with the ongoing integrity of the proceeding, especially because he still has to actually be sentenced. Prosecutors and their families still are at risk, as well as the court staff and their families.
That's why this -- that part of the gag order remains in place, at least until July 11th, but when it came to the witnesses, they've already testified. There's no more threat that his comments could jeopardize the ability of them to -- jeopardize their safety, put them at risk of not testifying. Their testimony is on the record, so he's going to be free, say whatever he wants about Michael Cohen at Thursday's debate. It's not going to change anything.
SANCHEZ: Bradley Moss always appreciate the analysis. Thanks for joining us.
MOSS: Of course.
SANCHEZ: Up next, an inside look at the remote tribal land being used by cartels as a border crossing, leaving sacred ground littered and many migrants either stranded or right back in the desperate situation where they started.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHAIRMAN VERION JOSE, TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION: There's an area right up here where they just turn around, drop them off, tell them just go across there.
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We see that for ourselves.
CULVER: Oh, look, crossing right here. You see this right there.
JOSE: Look at -- the encampment.
CULVER: I'm sure you had.
JOSE: See this right there, straight ahead. Crossing. Where's your camera? Get down and film it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A Native American tribe that straddles both sides of the southern border says they're facing a dilemma. On one hand, they sympathize with migrants crossing over their sacred land by the hundreds every day.
SANCHEZ: Yes, but on the other hand, that surge of people is bringing trash and cartels. CNN's David Culver has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAIRMAN VERION JOSE, TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION: From here of a mile, you're going to start to see a lot of debris, a lot of trash.
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. What is all these.
JOSE: This is the migrants. The migrants because they're --
CULVER: They just leave all day. I see clothes. I see trash.
CULVER (voice-over): The Tohono O'odham Nation's sacred land is bearing the brunt of migration.
JOSE: Your heart feels for the migrants and so forth like that, but then the other part says, look at the destruction that they're causing us. Look at the trash that they're leaving.
CULVER (voice-over): About 30 miles west of Tucson, Arizona, the reservation essentially straddles the U.S. southern border, which is marked by a simple cattle fence.
JOSE: This is the San Miguel gate, traditional crossing.
CULVER (voice-over): The tribe's chairman, Verion Jose, says a border wall here would ruin their traditional land.
JOSE: This is where the creator have put us.
CULVER: You don't see a boundary.
JOSE: We don't see a boundary.
CULVER (voice-over): But migrants do and so do cartels which use the Tohono O'odham's land as a profitable crossing ground.
JOSE: There's an area right up here where they just turn around, drop them off, tell them just go across there.
CULVER (voice-over): We see that for ourselves. CULVER: Oh, look, crossing right here. You see this right there.
JOSE: Look at -- the encampment.
CULVER: I'm sure you had.
JOSE: See this right there, straight ahead. Crossing. Where's your camera?
CULVER: (Speaking in Foreign Language).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).
CULVER: Mexico.
NORMA, MEXICAN MIGRANT: (Speaking in Foreign Language).
CULVER: To request asylum. They're from Mexico.
CULVER (voice-over): Dropped off with her three kids, Norma says she was told to walk towards a makeshift camp. Even in the scorching desert heat, she believes where she's headed will be better than what she's left behind.
NORMA: (Speaking in Foreign Language).
CULVER: She works for political party directly in Mexico and she says her political party lost. She said the surge in violence and danger is so much so that she and her --
(Speaking in Foreign Language).
NORMA: (Speaking in Foreign Language).
CULVER: Her kids have decided to cross into the U.S.
So the tribe allowed Border Patrol to set up a structure for the folks who do come over until their processed.
[15:45:00]
CULVER (voice-over): Everyone we meet here mostly families from the same country.
CULVER: (Speaking in Foreign Language).
CULVER (voice-over): Even the chairman intrigued with how they ended up in such a remote part of the border.
JOSE: -- where exactly they --
CULVER: I asked them. That's the thing. I said, do you know where we are? She didn't even know.
(Speaking in Foreign Language).
She has no idea we're where we are right now.
CULVER (voice-over): Chairman Jose believes cartels are behind it.
JOSE: It's a business. It's a business that doesn't play by the rules.
CULVER (voice-over): It's in part why the tribe coordinates with Customs and Border Protection, allowing them to set up substations on Tohono O'odham land along with several towers armed with far-reaching high-definition cameras.
CULVER: So they're searching from the air as well as the grounds here.
CULVER (voice-over): The border patrol often deploying to stop threats or to rescue stranded migrants.
Members of the tribe have noticed an increase in violence and crime, motivating some to turn to their Catholic faith. Prayers for safety and security echoed more than a thousand miles south of tribal territory in the outskirts of Mexico City.
It's here we again meet Norma, days after we watched her and her kids cross the border.
CULVER: It's really emotional for her to have the Virgin of Guadalupe and she carries this card with her and her constant prayer to the Virgin was to protect her kids more than anything else.
CULVER (voice-over): Forty-eight hours after crossing into the U.S., Border Patrols sent Norma and her kids back to Mexico just days after the Biden administration took executive action on the border, allowing for swift deportation of most migrants after a daily cap is reached.
NORMA: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: And it wasn't until they were physically at the border that she realized they were going to be sent back to Mexico.
CULVER (voice-over): The sixth day journey cost Norma more than $8,000 and ended where it started, back in the neighborhood where she still feels the threats of political oppression.
CULVER: She says she feels OK going out right now because we're here and we're together, but if she was by herself like normally she would only go out on Saturday in the middle of the day.
She says that her recommendation for others who may want to try to cross the way that she did is don't try it.
CULVER (voice-over): While Norma has no plans to cross again, back on Tohono O'odham land --
JOSE: Sometimes I'll come up here by myself just going to need a little solitude.
CULVER (voice-over): Chairman Jose fears without Congress coming together across party lines, migrants and drugs will continue to cross his sacred land.
JOSE: It has a major impact on us. We're not here to lay blame on who's -- who's responsible for this because I think we all are. And I do whatever it is to protect this land, yes.
That's all I got. My blood, sweat and tears, I got nothing more.
CULVER (voice-over): David Culver, CNN, Tohono O'odham Nation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Our thanks to David for that report.
And next, we have just learned that President Biden is expected to pardon a number of military veterans. We're headed live to the Pentagon right after this.
[15:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We have breaking news out of the Pentagon. We've just learned that President Biden is expected to grant pardons to military veterans convicted under a former military law that banned gay sex.
KEILAR: CNN's Oren Liebermann is with us now on this story. Oren, tell us what you know.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Boris and Brianna, according to three U.S. officials, this announcement from President Joe Biden could come as soon as tomorrow, and it is significant. It will grant presidential pardons when it's announced to service members who had been convicted under a former military rule that banned gay sex in the military, including consensual gay sex.
Now, the law, which was a former version of Article 125 under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, was in existence for -- from 1951 to 2013.
So for 62 years there, and it banned, as I said, even consensual gay sex within the military. And that's what these pardons will go after. That's what this will change when it's expected to be announced by President Joe Biden, perhaps as early as tomorrow.
Now, according to one of the officials we spoke with, this could affect as many as 2,000 service members who had been convicted under this law before it was repealed or changed, rather, in 2013.
Now, this is more than just about writing a historical wrong here. That's because these convictions on their record made it difficult, for example, to obtain VA benefits, to obtain potentially a home loan, the military education benefits. So this is intended to change all of that.
Now, it won't be automatic. According to what we have learned, those who had been convicted will apply and have their records changed for this presidential pardon. And then that will change the records there and change potentially how they have been discharged.
This is on top of a previous effort from DoD that was launched back in September, reaching out to service members who had been discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, potentially as many as 13,000 service members in that case, to upgrade their records and upgrade their discharges from dishonorable discharge to an honorable discharge.
[15:55:05]
Again, Boris and Brianna, this is more than about correcting a historical wrong. It is about getting them the benefits that they have so long deserved.
SANCHEZ: Oren Liebermann, an important update from the Pentagon. Thank you so much. Stay with us. We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: It is the catch of the year, and it didn't even happen on the baseball diamond. You've got to see this moment from last night's Orioles-Guardians game.
A fan named Tim Beyer was, I mean, he was just at the right place at the right time. He made a one-handed grab with a phone and drink in the other hand, and making it even more impressive, he also, that was -- you can barely see it there, that's a stroller. And a baby that he's got with him.
SANCHEZ: On the bottom right, in an interview after the game, he revealed that he is a season ticket holder, and had actually moved out of his usual seat so his family could have room to spread out.
[16:00:00]
He was also an outfielder in high school whose team won a state championship back in the late 1990s, according to MLB.com. Good for that guy.
I got to say, I am furious, though, that we did not once in the Newscast, mention that the Florida Panthers, my team, a team of destiny.
KEILAR: You did say this on the call.
SANCHEZ: They won the Stanley Cup last night. I was so pumped for them. Have I watched a minute of hockey my entire life? No, not a single minute.
KEILAR: Did they have any moments like that?
SANCHEZ: But it's my team, the Florida Panthers. No, good for that guy. He's a good dad.
KEILAR: That was pretty amazing, right?
SANCHEZ: You know who else is a good dad? Jake Tapper. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
