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Judge Delays Trump's Hush Money Sentencing Until Nov. 26 As Election Subversion Case Getting Underway; 14-Year-Old Suspect & His Father Appear In Court For First Time; U.S. Fears Russia May Target Vital Underwater Cables. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired September 06, 2024 - 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]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We're turning now to our breaking news. Former President Trump was supposed to be sentenced in his hush money conviction in New York State before the election, here soon.
That has now been pushed. It has been delayed by Judge Merchan until November 26th, after the election.
So let's bring in Paula Reid to talk a little bit more about this.
His reasoning here, in short, Paula, is that politics matter. And yet, Judge Tanya Chutkan, in the federal election subversion case, saw it very differently this week.
PAUL REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT; Yes, because both in the New York case where the former president has been convicted and, in the January 6th federal case that has really been stalled but now getting under way, the Trump lawyers are making similar arguments.
[13:35:08]
They're arguing that nothing should happen that could potentially influence the November election.
And they're also arguing, how the Supreme Court decision back in July granting Trump some immunity, how that applies in these given cases.
And just yesterday, we heard Judge Tanya Chutkan say the election doesn't matter here. This isn't about politics. And she's been consistent about that throughout her case.
But what's interesting today is Juan Merchan, who has also been pretty consistent, too, in his viewpoint that the election should not influence these proceedings, he is finally sort of conceding that, yes, as he decides whether or not he wants to delay the sentencing.
He has to take into consideration the Supreme Court decision, but also the fact that we are just several weeks away from a presidential election. So it's interesting just to see the contrast between these two cases
and these two judges and how they're responding to these arguments from the Trump team about their client, who is uniquely positioned as the Republican candidate for the presidency.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Accordingly, I want to point out, Paula, that we are getting some new reporting from CNN's Kaitlan Collins about Trump's view of this decision by Judge Juan Merchan.
Trump's legal team apparently pleased. The reporting is that while they maintain the case should be thrown out, his legal team is pleased with the decision to delay the sentencing.
Trump was apparently with his lawyers when he found out. Excuse me.
Paula, I do want to get back to something that you mentioned about Trump's attorneys in the federal election subversion case.
Because there, they're trying to stop Judge Chutkan for moving forward with the case, in part because they feel that certain testimony, specifically around his actions regarding January 6th and so forth, that should stay private until potentially after the election.
They believe that it could have an impact on voter's minds. What do you think we're going to see next with that case? How are we going to watch that argument play out in court about what should be made public?
REID: Yesterday, his lawyers were arguing in court, trying to convince the judge, Tanya Chutkan, not to allow the release of any additional evidence in the January 6th case. Because they argue that it could potentially impact the minds of voters.
But that is an argument that they lost, as we saw yesterday -- late yesterday. Judge Tanya Chutkan, she released her schedule for that case.
And going forward, there's a possibility that never-before-for seen evidence that was collected in this investigation, related to Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 election, could be released before the November election.
Because the way that she laid out the deadlines, the discovery deadlines in this case make that a possibility. So that is certainly a concern for the Trump legal team.
And their goal yesterday was to just try to delay anything of substance from happening in that case until after the November election, but they we're not successful.
So that is likely a big concern right now, probably the greatest legal threat for the former president between now and Election Day.
KEILAR: OK, what if he wins? What if he loses, Paula? Then how do his legal woes -- these -- this particular one and others play out? REID: So if former President Trump is re-elected, it is widely expected that his attorney general, whoever he appoints, will just dismiss the Mar-a-Lago documents case and the January 6th case.
His attorney general would have the power to, again, just toss those federal cases.
When it comes to the New York case, he has already been convicted. But like I said earlier, I think the sentencing, assuming it still happens, it would be an extraordinary event.
You have a president-elect potentially being sentenced to probation, possibly even prison time. That sounds like another trip back up to the Supreme Court.
I'm confident that his lawyers would likely try to prevent the sentencing at all and then try to block whatever sentencing he has.
Then of course, there's that case down in Georgia. That would likely just sort of be put on ice and delayed because you can't put a sitting president on criminal trial.
So really, it's pretty clear he has to win the election if he really wants to avoid these significant, potentially illegal consequences.
SANCHEZ: Paula, quickly though, these are his criminal cases. Becoming president would do nothing to impact the case against him from E. Jean Carroll, right? He owes or something like $90 million. That's a civil case. That's different, right?
REID: Yes. There are multiple civil cases. For example, he was -- there are multiple civil cases that he is facing.
When it comes to E. Jean Carroll, there are also multiple E. Jean Carroll cases. There's a defamation case where he owes her $83 million. And then today, he and his lawyers were in court fighting a $5 million judgment from a trial last year.
So, yes, it would be expected that most of those would continue. But I'm confident that his lawyers would try to find unique legal issues to prevent him from having to actually pay that if he is reelected.
SANCHEZ: Paula Reid, thank you so much for the breakdown.
Next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, family members of those killed in the Georgia high school shooting come face to face with both the 14-year- old suspect and his father.
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Why prosecutors, for only the second time in our nation's history, will try holding a parent partly responsible for what happened with murder charges.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KEILAR: A father and son, both accused of murder in the Georgia school shooting, could both spend the rest of their lives behind bars if convicted.
The 14-year-old alleged gunman appeared in court for the first time today after being charged in the killings of two teachers and two students at Apalachee High School this week.
And moments after the boy was arraigned, his father, Colin Gray, faced the same judge. Authorities arrested him yesterday on second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges. An arrest warrant alleges that Gray gave his son a weapon knowing that the teen was a threat to himself and to others.
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CNN's Rafael Romo is live northeast of Atlanta in Winder, Georgia.
Rafael, tell us what you're learning. We are learning that the teen is now facing even more charges. Talk to us about that and what happened in court.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's correct. As prosecutors learn more information, Brianna, more charges are expected. And that's what the district attorney said here a little bit earlier.
And it's hard to wrap your head around what happened here this morning. On the one hand, here at the Barrow County courthouse, we had back-to-back father and son court appearances for a mass shooting.
And that has gutted this community and appalled the entire nation, as you know.
On the other hand, Brianna, we had the families of some of the victims in the courtroom just steps away from the suspects. And understandably, some cried at different points during the proceedings.
And as for the legal case against Colt Gray, the 14-year-old accused of killing two fellow students and two teachers at Apalachee High School here in Winder, he was arraigned on four counts of felony murder.
As we have previously reported, the teenage suspect is expected to be tried as an adult. Gray's arms were shackled and he was wearing a green top up and tan pants.
The 14-year-old remained virtually motionless, other than shaking loose hair out of his face when he first sat down.
After initially saying that the suspect faced the death penalty, Judge Currie Mingledorff corrected himself, saying that he's only eligible for a life sentence, given that he is a minor.
Once the proceedings were done, District Attorney Smith made it clear more charges are entirely possible.
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BRAD SMITH, BARROW COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: There will be additional charges on Colt Gray. When he was taken into custody on Wednesday, we did not have the identities or the conditions of the other victims. So we we're not able to charge on those offences.
So when the evidence comes in and there's been a chance to heal physically, emotionally and spiritually, we will get with them and there will be additional charges that address the other victim.
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ROMO: And, Brianna, both father and son have their next preliminary hearing here at this courthouse on December 4th.
Now, back to you.
KEILAR: All right, Rafael Romo, thank you for the latest there.
Coming up, a CNN exclusive. U.S. officials warning there are signs a secretive Russian military unit may try to sabotage undersea cables, an attack that could disrupt key Internet and telecom communication between the U.S. and other parts of the world.
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SANCHEZ: Today, U.S. officials are sounding the alarm about potential sabotage from Russia that could disrupt the Web, financial markets and even military communications.
Officials say they're seeing an increased risk to critical undersea cables, which form the backbone of the Internet and telecommunications traffic around the world.
CNN's Jim Sciutto joins us now with more on this exclusive reporting.
Jim, what are you learning?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Listen, the U.S. is watching this with enormous concern. There are really two bits of news here as a U.S. official tells me concern about heightened Russian naval activity over key chokepoints of these undersea cables around the world.
But also the fear that Russia is changing its decision calculus, that it's decision-making on whether it would carry out an attack on this. Read that as they believe Russia is more likely to carry out just such an attack and that's causing great concern.
They've set up for years an entire unit to do this kind of thing. It's called the General staff Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research. Goes by GUGI. Those are the Russian initials.
GUGI sounds innocent. It is not. It has its own formidable fleet of surface ships, submarines, naval drones to do reconnaissance and potentially carry out a sabotage attack.
SANCHEZ: So what does this actually look like? In practical terms, how do you get to an undersea cable?
SCIUTTO: Send it -- send a sub down, right, and attack it. There are a number of ways you could attack it.
Here's why it matters. The ocean is covered with a network of this stuff. And the vast majority of Internet traffic travels on these cables underwater, fiber optic cables.
Telecommunications, civilian, military, government, which means industries depend on it. The financial markets, the energy markets depend on it. Also in Europe, energy travels on these cables.
So if you wanted to find a good way, a very good way to damage and do damage to an ally, like the U.S. and its allies without firing a shot, this would be a fantastic way to do it.
It's all often -- for a long time, considered a key vulnerability for the U.S. and its allies. And now they see Russia with an enormous so amount of activity around these choke points.
SANCHEZ: Now, the answer may not be clear because some of it might be covert. The U.S. would want to protect this kind of information. But what would the government do to prepare for something like that?
SCIUTTO: Watch. And I think part of letting Russia know that we know what you're up to --
SANCHEZ: Yes.
SCIUTTO: -- right? We're looking. As part of the messaging here, you'll often see that.
Doesn't mean it stops Russia because Russia might calculate, hey, if the war is not going well for us here in Ukraine, Ukrainian forces invading Russian territory, what would be a good way to inflict pain on the West?
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And the thing is, if this were to happen, you and I would feel it, folks watching at home. This wouldn't be some distant threat.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Jim Sciutto, thanks so much --
SCIUTTO: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: -- for that reporting. Appreciate it.
Still plenty more news to come on NEWS CENTRAL. We're going to return to that breaking news, Judge Juan Merchan delaying sentencing for Donald Trump in his hush money case until after the election. This is a decision with political and legal consequences. We'll break those down in just moments. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
