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One NYPD Officer Fatally Shot, Another Injured On Domestic Dispute Call; Trump Faces Wave Of New Legal Setbacks; Interview With Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM); Schwarzenegger Involved In Multi- Vehicle Accident In L.A.; First U.S. Shipment Of New Military Aid Arrives In Ukraine; Parts Of U.S. See Encouraging Drops In Cases, Hospitalizations; National Archives Transfers Trump Docs To Jan 6 Committee; McConnell Responds To Backlash Over Remark About Black Voters. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired January 22, 2022 - 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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[11:00:42]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this morning in New York. Governor Kathy Hochul condemning a shooting in Harlem that left one New York City police officer killed and another seriously injured. Police say the officers were responding to a domestic dispute call at an apartment when a man inside the home opened fire.

Officials have identified the dead officer as 22-year-old Jason Rivera. They say he along with the injured officer are the fourth and fifth NYPD officers to be shot in the city this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEECHANT SEWELL, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: Our department is hurting. Our city is hurting. It is beyond comprehension. I am not sure what words, if any, will carry the weight of this moment and what we are feeling.

We have four times this month rushed to the scene of NYPD officers shot by violent criminals in possession of deadly illegal guns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Polo Sandoval is live for us in New York, and joining us live now. Polo, what more can you tell us about what happened.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, you could hear the frustration of the police commissioner's voice there as she talks about what happened last night.

Three officers made their way into the Harlem apartment, responding to a domestic dispute call. And one of them did not make it out alive. Of course, we're talking about Jason Rivera. We're told, according to

the NYPD, that Rivera, along with another police officer, they walked down a hallway attempting to speak to the 47-year-old son of the mother who originally called authorities for assistance.

And that's when, according to the NYPD, the door swung open and immediately shots began to be fired towards these officers, fatally wounding Officer Rivera and severely wounding an Wilbert Mora, this officer who's currently fighting for his life.

And it wasn't until a third officer that was in the apartment -- managed to return fire, wounding a man that authorities have confirmed to be Leshawn McNeil, that this came to an end. Of course, we also understand that he has currently been hospitalized.

Look at the weapon that McNeil is believed to have used, according to investigators. It is a G Glock pistol but if you see there, it actually has a high capacity magazine attached, commonly known as a drum magazine.

So you could just imagine the level of fire power, if in fact it was completely full that this individual would have potentially had at their disposal when they opened fire on these officers.

And so the big question now is whether or not these officers knew what they were up against when they were walking down that hallway.

And when you look at the pictures from last night, it's certainly just heartbreaking to see, so many men and women in blue just standing shoulder to shoulder, basically paying their respects and honoring the life of their 22-year-old colleague.

And it's not just fellow NYPD officers as you see here as his remains were removed from the hospital. But also federal authorities that are even tweeting their condolences.

FBI New York tweeting quote, "Our hearts are heavy this morning as we mourn the loss of yet another hero police officer murdered while protecting our city. Police Officer Rivera was a 22-year-old rookie with his whole life ahead of him and his loss was senseless. Rest easy, Officer Rivera."

The FBI New York going out to tweet also their well wishes at the officer that is currently recovering. Of course, Wilbert Mora who they say is currently fighting for his life after being shot alongside his partner. He is the fourth officer shot in the line of duty this week.

"It has to stop," they write. "All of our hero officers deserve to come home always."

You also really are hearing this call for change and for improvement coming from the mayor himself, Eric Adams, who certainly is likely going to feel even more pressure to actually act on that vow that he made during his campaign to increase security in certain parts of the city, and try to restore peace and order to some of those parts of the city that have experienced some tragic shootings including the shooting of a baby just this week.

[11:04:43]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: It is our city against the killers. This was just not an attack on three brave officers. This was an attack on the city of New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Now, we are expecting to hear from authorities later today, not only to see what can potentially be done to try to take -- at least make the situation better, but also potentially an update on this investigation. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Keep us posted. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

All right. More than a year after the January 6th Capitol siege and even more shocking details are being learned about the days and weeks ahead of the insurrection. This week, new troubling revelations and legal setbacks for former president Donald Trump.

CNN's Jessica Schneider has that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The January 6th committee is getting access to all 700-plus documents from the Trump White House. the hand-over includes call logs, visitor logs, handwritten memos from chief of staff Mark Meadows, and draft speeches.

It's the latest development in what has been a disastrous week for Donald Trump. Not only did the Supreme Court rule against his efforts to keep his White House records secret, but New York's attorney general ramped up her probe of Trump's tax and financial filings and the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia requested a special grand jury for a criminal investigation.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.

SCHNEIDER: That phone call from Trump to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger in early January, 2021 is just part of the evidence D.A. Fani Willis is sifting through to determine if there was criminal interference in Georgia's 2020 election process.

Willis is seeking to issue subpoenas and compel the production of documents because she says many witnesses have so far refused to cooperate.

Meanwhile, New York attorney general Letitia James for the first time outlining specific accusations against the Trump Organization in a court filing saying the company repeatedly misstated the value of its property and assets, engaging in fraudulent or misleading practices.

Now the attorney general wants to compel the testimony of Trump and two of his children, Donald Trump, Jr. and Ivanka Trump. Trump has denied wrongdoing and a spokesperson for the Trump Organization says the allegations are baseless.

This as Ivanka Trump has become the first family member the January 6th Select Committee is asking to talk to. They sent an eight-page letter detailing why they want Ivanka to meet with the committee voluntarily saying she's one of the few who can reflect on Trump's state of mind and explain why it took so long to release a video message instructing rioters to leave the Capitol.

They also want Ivanka to divulge what she heard when Trump talked with VP Mike Pence by phone the morning of January 6th. And they want her to fill in details about how Fox hosts and other officials were urging Trump to stop the stolen election talk after January 6th.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Ivanka Trump is a critical figure because she was there in the morning. We believe she was there when Trump was still trying to twist Mike Pence's arm.

SCHNEIDER (on camera): The committee chair Bennie Thompson also telling CNN the panel is looking into Trump's possible involvement in the creation or submission of fake electors.

Our team reported that Trump campaign officials led by Rudy Giuliani oversaw efforts in December 2020 to put illegitimate slates of electors together from seven states that Trump lost to try to overturn the real election results.

Jessica Schneider, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's zero in on those seven states that she just mentioned -- Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico.

Let me bring in now the governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham. Governor, so good to see you. So you know, I do want to talk to you about the latest there in your state involving schools and COVID.

But first, I do have to ask you, you know, about this new reporting on Rudy Giuliani. And in two of the states, Pennsylvania and your state of New Mexico, there were legal caveats added at the last minute to say the pro Trump electors were only electors-in-waiting if Trump's legal challenges prevailed. But in the other five states, documents said the pro Trump electors were the rightful electors. So what's your reaction to this plot?

GOV. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM (D-NM): As it should be. It's an outrageous effort, and frankly it's not surprising. I have long believed through the investigation of the January 6th Committee that they were going to find any number of completely fraudulent, ineffective, inaccurate plans that were all about overturning the election.

And I'm pleased to see that New Mexico both in terms of how our secretary of state manages elections and assures that they're free and fair. And that the attorney general is very clear about accountability for those electors who were engaging in fraudulent electoral efforts to Congress.

[11:09:56]

GRISHAM: And I hope that we're one of the states in this context that shows that there will be repercussions for folks who are engaging in illegal activity related to the elections.

WHITFIELD: And then why do you feel so comfortable now? What specifically is being done in your state to ensure that electors will carry out the will of the citizens?

GRISHAM: Well, a couple of things. I mean one, we are a state that proudly identifies and uses our secretary of state in the context of she's one of the lead election protection experts in the country, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver. So I feel like New Mexico is at the forefront of knowing what the risks are and what they aren't.

Two, we are already expanding voter protections and assuring that our own audits, whether those are forensic or in the context of what occurs at those elections in real-time as people are casting their ballots.

And I think again, look, we've known there is no credible evidence anywhere including here. Biden won the election. Biden is the president. And any effort to discredit that is illegal, fraudulent, very dangerous activity. And the folks involved in that should be accountable, including the Republican Party who, it appears currently and as this unfolds, were part of that effort for the Trump presidency and campaign.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let me now turn to COVID. Schools across the U.S. struggling to find teachers, substitutes as omicron continues to take its toll. And in your state, a new program is streamlining the process to allow state workers and National Guard members easier access to actually work as substitute teachers.

And you governor, I understand, are one of the first to take part in the program. So talk to me about the importance of this, why you feel like you needed to help be an example of how you all have to evolve in the face of omicron?

GRISHAM: Right. Well look, states and governments have had to turn on a dime during the pandemic to stand up systems, to provide support to any of our critical, crucial basic services. There aren't any other options.

And educators and parents and students, you know, this pendulum swinging every single minute of every single day. School is open, school is closed. You're quarantined, you're isolated. Child care is open, child care is closed. Before after school programs, we don't have enough staff, there are not enough bus drivers, no one able to do the lunches.

It is mind numbing and I get it. I've got grandchildren involved in child care and in elementary school. And it is mind numbing and it creates such upheavals in day to day family lives including folks can't go to work.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

GRISHAM: So here's a way we have been woefully short on educators. Now New Mexico is investing in again raises for educators, more respect and dignity in the classroom, more resources, tools. I mean, we're doing all of that, a new pipeline, free college, free professional development, all of it, community schools.

But that doesn't in real-time solve the problem today. So we know a couple of things. That we can ask for help for substitute teaching and volunteers. The two that we can use, the whole of government, support teachers and our families, staff. And we have streamlined the background check, but not missing a beat.

In New Mexico, you have to do two. So we can combine those two, get them done simultaneously. We pay the fees, and already I've got 50 guardsmen and women and 50 state employees. And schools decide where you go, what you're suited for, how you help in a classroom. We follow the curriculum.

And you know, we've got a lot of state employees who are actually experienced educators.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

GRISHAM: So I'm feeling very good about this effort and the goal is to keep schools open and to support educators, parents, and students through the worst of omicron.

WHITFIELD: Well, it's certainly very inventive. And besides those background checks, quickly, what are the requirements for people who say, you know what, I'm equipped, I want to be a substitute teacher?

GRISHAM: So there's really three components. One, the background check is critical. So we are going to follow those very strict requirements. We want to make sure that everyone is safe in school.

Two, there is a safety course. So what do you do, right, if the fire alarm goes off? What do you do if you have a health emergency in your classroom?

So we are required to take that. It's about four hours or so of specific training. You can't get into a classroom without it.

And then the schools will do just like they do for all substitutes. They'll on board us, make sure that we're following the curriculum or that if I'm placed in an elementary school, which I believe I will next week. [11:14:59]

GRISHAM: Maybe I'm in the teachers' aide position, so that I'm supporting the educator to manage the class.

The whole goal is certainly not to interrupt the qualified experienced work that is required in our public schools, that just to shore them up to stay open.

And I hope maybe that it will stay as we develop a pipeline. You know, the whole point here is to really support, if not the most important hospitals, health care workers, child care workers and schools.

You know, these are the necessary services that we have to provide our families and citizens in all of our states.

WHITFIELD: Big new support system, we can see it being put in place in so many places.

Good luck to you, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. And good luck to you as you now go back to class in the capacity as a teacher.

GRISHAM: All right. Well, thank you very much. Thanks for having me, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All the best. Thanks so much.

GRISHAM: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, Arnold Schwarzenegger involved in a multi-vehicle car crash that sent one woman to the hospital. We'll have details on that.

Plus, hundreds of thousands of pounds of lethal aid from the U.S. is now in Ukraine as the threat of a Russian invasion looms. We're live from Moscow, straight ahead.

[11:16:15]

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WHITFIELD: Former California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger is said to be fine after being in a car accident with three other vehicles in Los Angeles Friday. Police say one woman had to be taken to the hospital with a cut on her head.

CNN's Natasha Chen is live for us now in Los Angeles. So Natasha, tell us more. What do we know about the woman's condition? How did this accident happen?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes Fred, we don't know a whole lot about her condition. Only that Los Angeles police did say that she was transported to a local hospital with an injury to her head.

We also don't know the cause of the collision but LAPD has said that neither drugs nor alcohol are suspected as a factor in this collision. They said four vehicles were involved here.

And if you take a look at the nighttime aerial shot by our affiliate, KABC, you could see it's quite dramatic there. The former governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger was driving the Yukon, the SUV there that was partially on top of another car. They had to bring that SUV back on to the road, and then, of course, later on, we see them towing away that red Prius there.

This happened at around 4:35 in the afternoon local time yesterday on busy Sunset Boulevard in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles in the west part of the city.

And so again, his -- Schwarzenegger's representative told "People Magazine" that he is fine. He's mainly concerned about that woman who was injured and taken to the hospital. And we are getting in touch with authorities to see how she's doing and if there is anymore information about how this happened. Because if you're taking a look at the pictures, it is quite dramatic, and of course, it would take some time to clear that intersection, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Oh yes. Some frightening moments there, even in the aftermath it still looks pretty frightening.

Natasha Chen, thank you so much.

All right. Still ahead concerns are mounting over a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both sides insisting they're committed to diplomacy. But can that prevent a military conflict. We're live in Moscow, next.

[11:22:22]

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WHITFIELD: A shipment of new U.S. military aid has now arrived in Ukraine as tens of thousands of Russian troops remain on the border. The U.S. embassy says the shipment includes ammunition for the front line defenders of Ukraine.

New military options are also being worked on by the Pentagon should Russia invade, which could include beefing up the U.S. presence in eastern Europe. And sources are telling CNN the U.S. embassy in Ukraine has requested authorization from the U.S. State Department to evacuate all nonessential staff and their families.

CNN's international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson is in Moscow for us.

So Nic, both sides say they are committed to diplomacy. For now, where is this heading?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the diplomatic track is open, and that was really the big question going into the meeting with Sergey Lavrov Russian foreign minister and Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday in Geneva. And the answer that came out was the path is still ahead. But the reality is at the same time Russia continues to build up its military presence around Ukraine, not just those hundred thousand troops that were close to the border on the eastern side of Ukraine but to the north, close to the capital in Belarus, large military exercises that Russia has underway there, put in sophisticated surface-to-air missiles.

So the signaling is diplomacy is there but so is the military option. Russia insists it has no intention to attack but the capacity to do that is getting greater by the day.

And we're now seeing this military aid flow in to ammunition from the United States. We're seeing javelin antitank missiles coming in from Estonia, Stinger surface-to-air missiles from Latvia and Lithuania. The British have sent in some anti-tank weapons as well.

The reality of this sort of military balance, if you like, is that what has been shipped in so far is only a little. It's coming in late. It's certainly not enough to stop a Russian invasion if that were to happen. But the question at this stage is, is it enough to change President Putin's calculus of what it would cost in terms of -- in terms of what an invasion would look like if he chose to go that way.

Again, the Russians say they don't plan to do that. Their credibility on this is not very high.

WHITFIELD: So with the arrival of this new U.S. military aid at the very least, what is the message that President Biden is perhaps sending or what's the message received if you're Vladimir Putin?

ROBERTSON: Yes, I think there's several things here. The message received is that, you know, the assessment of the United States and its allies is that the threat of economic sanctions alone is not going to work. The threat of NATO building up on Russia's western flank as it calls it, the eastern side of Europe. That doesn't appear, in the minds of the United States and European partners, to be enough to deter Putin.

So at the moment, Putin is looking at this escalating strategy to put him off. And it's now got to the point of trying to give the Ukrainians more military hardware.

[11:29:52]

ROBERTSON: And I think the takeaway in Moscow at the moment is, you know, they're still considering this diplomatic option. But the answers that they know that they're getting in writing from the United States this coming week are going to be negative to all their big questions.

So the takeaway has to be in Moscow at the moment is this military aid that's coming in significant enough for them to decide that the military option, if they were going to go for it, they say they're not, is this the time to do it? Do they need to move up their departure time, in military terms if you will, to the battlefield.

WHITFIELD: All right. Lots at stake and lots being weighed on all sides.

Nic Robertson in Moscow, thanks so much.

All right. Coming up, some good news on the horizon. Why some health experts are starting to believe that the end of the pandemic is in sight. We all have our fingers crossed, don't we?

[11:35:45]

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WHITFIELD: All right. There's growing hope today that the omicron surge may be on the decline. New cases are trending down in the U.S. and hospitalizations are dropping rapidly in some parts of the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: I do think if we do it right, we're going to have a 2022 in which COVID doesn't dominate our lives so much. And that means vaccinating and boosting, staying up to date with your vaccinations. That means that at certain times and for certain people it will be important to mask up, including with better masks, the N95s or similar, if you're older, immunosuppressed, especially if you're in a crowded indoor area where other people aren't masked.

And tests. Tests are a really good tool for certain things. Like any tool, use it right at the right time, in the right way and it can do a lot of good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Ok. Here with us now, CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen. She is a former Baltimore City Health commissioner as well and author of the book, "Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the fight for Public Health". Dr. Wen, congratulations on your book and good to see you.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Great to see you.

WHITFIELD: So we just heard from Dr. Frieden there. Do you share that same kind of optimism?

DR. WEN: I do. We have so many more tools now compared to 2020 or 2021. And we're also dealing with thankfully, a milder variant, with the omicron variant. At this point, the risk to most people who are vaccinated and boosted for having a severe outcome because of omicron is extremely low.

We're talking about somewhere between a cold and the flu is where omicron falls if you are vaccinated and boosted. So I really believe that it's time for us to think about what's next.

We need to get through this surge, but then how are we going to live with this virus so that it no longer dominates every single decision that we're making. WHITFIELD: The CDC put out a new study just yesterday showing that

booster shots were 90 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations during the omicron surge compared to 57 percent for people with just two doses.

Yet the CDC still says, you know, those with two shots are fully vaccinated. So is it time for an update?

DR. WEN: Yes, it is. It's a really good policy in general to update your guidelines when the science changes. And in this case, the science has become so clear. There is this growing evidence from around the world, including now through these really big studies here in the U.S. involving tens of thousands, one of these studies involved millions of individuals. It's now really clear that being fully vaccinated really should mean three shots.

And by the way, Fred, this is not unusual. The hepatitis vaccine is a three-dose vaccine. The polio vaccine is a four dose vaccine. It may sell be that the COVID vaccine is at least a three-dose vaccine.

And so we should be telling people that. And right now, there's been so much confusion to the point that even vulnerable patients, individuals who reside in nursing homes don't know that they have to get a third shot. That's why changing the definition is so important.

WHITFIELD: So I may be getting ahead of myself then, do we think after whether it's the third shot of the booster or eventually if we get to the fourth shot of the booster, do you see that this might end up being a vaccine that will be an annual routine similar to the flu vaccine in terms of just a one shot annually as well?

DR. WEN: We just don't know at this point. It's possible that this may be a three doses and you're done or four doses and you're done. It may be that there are some individuals who are particular immunocompromised, for example, or otherwise vulnerable who need to have annual shots and other people don't or maybe we need to get annual boosters.

We don't know. But what we do know is that for people who are at least six months out from Pfizer or Moderna or two months out from their initial Johnson & Johnson dose, they really have to get boosted right now.

This is not something that's nice to have. Getting boosted will reduce your chance of severe illness, and it also substantially reduces your chance of catching COVID and being able to transmit to others.

WHITFIELD: So the last few months have been particularly difficult for parents of children under the age of 5 who still cannot get a vaccine. Many child care facilities will shut down when there is a positive test, leaving parents to figure out, you know, what do I do at this point.

So while they don't want to risk bringing the virus back home, you know, as they head back to work, you know, families have to make some very difficult choices. [11:39:56]

WHITFIELD: So as a mom yourself, you know, what's the advice for parents who feel kind of stuck in this situation, particularly if their kids are under the age of 5?

DR. WEN: I'm in the situation as well. I have two little kids -- a 4- year-old who's in preschool and a not yet 2-year-old. And of course, we cannot wait for there to be vaccines for this younger age group.

In the meantime, I would advise parents to think about and families to think about your individual risk circumstance, your risk tolerance as well as the value of that activity.

And so for example, if everybody, all the adults in your family and older siblings, if everybody is fully vaccinated and boosted if they're eligible, the risk of illness to them is very low. And many parents might well say, well, day care or preschool is so essential for us to be able to work or also for the social development and cognitive development of our children that we have to do it.

And I really empathize with parents who are in this situation, but remember that all the things we can do, including indoor masking when in crowded places, testing when we're getting together with other families, if possible, all these things help to reduce risk, but ultimately we have to make the best decision for our own families based on our individual medical circumstances as well as what are the activities that are the most important to us, too.

WHITFIELD: Still so many choices and lots of dilemmas.

All right. Dr. Leana Wen, thank you so much.

All right. Coming up, more than 700 documents from the Trump White House are now in the hands of the January 6th committee after former President Trump's failed efforts to keep those documents private.

[11:41:33]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. The National Archives says it has turned over all of the records that former President Trump tried but failed to keep away from the January 6th Select Committee.

According to a Politico report, one of the documents includes a draft of an executive order from mid-December that Trump never issued. That order would have directed the Pentagon to seize voting machine -- machines rather -- as part of the former president's bid to overturn the election.

Laura Coates is a CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor. And she's also the author of a new book "Just Pursuit: A black prosecutor's fight for fairness."

Laura, so good to see you. Congratulations on the book. I'm going to ask you about that in a minute. But first let's talk about --

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: -- yes. Fantastic. Let's talk about this draft executive order that considered using the U.S. military to seize voting machines. I mean, this is how democracy works? I mean would that be a federal violation? And if so, how does the January 6th Committee or DOJ proceed with this information?

COATES: I mean it's really shocking to think that they were going to have the Pentagon involved in some respects in trying to try to overturn, I suppose, a fair and free election. We talked about it within the last year or two even the idea of using martial law and the fallacy and the oddity and the absurdity and horror of having that state of being in a democracy in the United States.

Now, to try to use your status as commander in chief to will the Armed Forces to somehow do the very thing that even the then attorney general Bill Barr said was not an issue. There was not fraud, let alone widespread voter fraud that would make the election of 2020 suspicious.

And so we have laws on the books, Fred, as you well know that say that it's criminal to interfere with any of our elections and knowing that it led up possibly or contributed to what we saw on January 6th, the committee and DOJ has a lot to work with here.

WHITFIELD: So the committee is still going through, you know, these 700 plus pages of the documents the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Trump to turn over. And they contain things like handwritten memos by the chief of staff, call logs, visitor records, and pages from the press secretary's briefing book.

I mean, what more is needed to make the case that unlawful, bad things happened?

COATES: It's a treasure trove of information, and I'm wondering if it will be an embarrassment of riches or it would be the final puzzle piece here.

Think about the timing of this, while we have been waiting for the Supreme Court to weigh on whether this notion of privilege coming from a former president could be constrained or whether it would be able to trump -- forgive the pun -- the incumbent President Biden, the congressional committee has moved forward.

They have had hundreds of interviews. I suspect if they have had enough substantiating and corroborating information to paint the picture, and then to have these actually fill in.

And now you're talking about the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Ivanka Trump who have been summoned in a way to the committee. And so now it's a matter of not getting the information for the first time but now can you confirm what we already know. And it will be very, very curious to see whether these people will follow the Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows route and try to fight it knowing privilege doesn't exist anymore or simply say, listen, I know you already have information, what do you now want to know?

WHITFIELD: Right. I mean you've got the corroboration, seemingly, especially with these documents now. Now you still need the added cooperation.

So Laura, when you hear the former press secretary Stephanie Grisham say point-blank, the chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorneys were all likely in the room helping to draft this executive order and plan to de-certify the election, I mean are we looking at attorneys who have familiarity with the way an executive order works that the attorneys, too, might be facing charges, and would they come from DOJ?

[11:49:53]

COATES: It's an embarrassment to the Bar for all attorneys to be involved in some form of criminal scheme, let alone one that seeks to overturn the will of the American people in a nefarious way.

And what you might think is, well, hold on, if there were attorneys in the room, Fred, maybe a different privilege will attach. But the attorney/client privilege does not attach when either there's an outside person who's not a client or the attorney and client is involved in criminal behavior or criminal enterprise.

And so whatever privilege would normally exist to try to give that buffer would not exist in a case like this. And the Supreme Court, it's a monumental decision that they said, look, even if you're a former or an incumbent president, the need to know from the American people is going to outweigh any presidential or personal prerogative to try to keep it hidden.

And an attorney/client privilege, that executive is not going to be enough. Attorney/client privilege also would not be enough. But it really is a shame.

But you know what, it reiterates this point, Fred, how close we came, but for Vice President Mike Pence deciding not to go along with it, to having a very different experience following the 2020 election.

WHITFIELD: Yes. I don't have another word for it except for -- I mean it's all so unbelievable. I mean, I think all of us thought that we had already heard a wealth of unbelievable, but this just takes the cake.

Ok, so now we've got a little bit of time left to talk about your book. Congratulations, again.

COATES: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: "Just Pursuit: a black prosecutor's fight for fairness". So it will be talking about your journey as a prosecutor, a mom and your overall fabulousness as a woman.

COATES: I wish to self-aggrandize myself, but you know what, it's not the kind of book that people thought I was going to write. I think the expectation for any lawyer is to write a Supreme Court based book and you talk about the law as if it's a legal textbook.

This really talks about the personal battles of allegiance that I had faced. It's my lived experience as a black woman, wife, mother, human being against the orders of the Office of the Department of Justice and what was entailed.

And I think it's a battle that is impactful for so many people to know that we don't have the luxury of shedding facets of our identity at the door. When we enter a room, a board room, let alone a courtroom and why justice is better served when you bring your whole self.

I talk about the challenges of mistaken identity, to what bits and blame (ph) (INAUDIBLE) court room to what it's like to have been a black woman trying to aid in the deportation and trying to avoid aiding in the deportation of an undocumented person.

It runs the gamut. It's deeply personal, and I hope people will be able to not only speak truth to power but know what the truth is.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, and it sounds like it underscores why you may look like a cool cucumber. None of it has been easy and it always continues to be a struggle and a fight.

Laura Coates, so good to see you. Again, the book is "Just Pursuit" --

COATES: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: -- and I can't wait to read it. Good to see you.

COATES: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you. We're back in a moment.

[11:52:50]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is defending his record on civil rights after claiming to inadvertently omit a word when talking about black voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your message for voters of color who are concerned that without the John Lewis Voting Rights Act they're not going to be able to vote in the midterms?

SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Well, the concern is misplaced because if you look at the statistics, African- American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN national politics reporter Eva McKend is live for us from Washington. Good to see you Eva.

So McConnell's office tells CNN he inadvertently left out the word "other", as in "other Americans". So what is McConnell saying now?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Fred, he clearly is taking the criticism personally. When he was speaking with reporters this week in Kentucky you could tell that this entire episode really got under his skin, the suggestion that he has any sort of racial bias.

He says he just missed a word, but his initial comments really tapped into a raw spot for many, and this is why we saw this uproar. There has long been attempts to erase the totality of the black American experience. Actually, right now attempts to erase the impact of anti- black racism in this country.

And so this did not happen in a vacuum, there is all of this context. He walked right into this one.

Here is what he had to say, though, in his defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCONNELL: I want to take an opportunity at the outset here to address the outrageous mischaracterization of my history and record on voting rights and race relations as a result of inadvertently leaving out the word "almost" in my comments the other day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So he then had to walk back to the microphone again and clarify that the missing word was "all" not "almost". You know, beyond this misstatement, though, was also anger at the tone of this dismissal of the concerns about the voting laws being passed by Republican state legislatures across the country.

To his point, yes, turnout was high in 2020, but voting access was expanded in response to the pandemic. And Republicans have sought to reverse course on those measures that led to increased turnout.

[11:59:52]

MCKEND: Now, this is not the first time McConnell has come under fire for comments pertaining to issues of race and racial discrimination in America. I know, because when I asked him about the racial history of the filibuster and reparations in recent years his answers have elicited similar outrage, Fred.