Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Special Grand Jury Seated In Manhattan D.A.'s Probe Of Trump Org. Finances Set To Expire At End Of Week; Microsoft: Russia Launched Hundreds Of Alleged Cyberattacks On Ukraine; McCarthy Gets Standing Ovation From House GOP After Defending Comments About 1/6. Aired 1:30- 2p ET

Aired April 27, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:33:15]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: We're back now with breaking news on former President Donald Trump.

CNN's Kara Scannell joins us with a new development in one of his legal fights.

Kara, fill us in.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana, so sources tell me that the special grand jury that had been seated in Manhattan, hearing evidence on the Manhattan district attorney's criminal investigation into the former president expires this week. Sources tell us it will not be extended.

This grand jury began hearing evidence late last year related to this investigation. Then there was a change in district attorneys.

And Alvin Bragg came in. Some of the top prosecutors asked him to authorize them to continue and seek an indictment. Bragg put the brakes on that and those two prosecutors resigned.

What we've learned now is, since then, that grand jury hadn't been hearing evidence. And while it could have been extended, because they already laid the foundations there, the sources tell me they decided not to.

So they can always bring in any grand jury they're rendering in New York all the time. So they could hear evidence of this in the future.

But I think it tell us Bragg's calculus on this investigation hasn't changed, that he does not believe there's anything at this point that would make him believe they should begin presenting evidence to this grand jury.

He has previously said -- he told us earlier this month that there's no magic to this grand jury and that their investigation is continuing. His prosecutors are working on it every day. CABRERA: OK, so they're still working on this. But you know previous

prosecutors who thought they had enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt their case resigned because Bragg said, not ready, not ready. Now this grand jury not extended, this special grand jury.

So does it look like this is going anywhere?

SCANNELL: I mean, it's really hard to know because we don't know all the facts that prosecutors have. You had some senior prosecutors who felt there was enough to bring felony charges against the former president.

[13:35:06]

But there were also people within that same office who took themselves off the investigation because they didn't think there was enough. They thought they were moving too quickly.

In a lot of these finance cases, it really comes down to what the people had in their mind and whether they can prove Trump had criminal intent.

This all relates to whether he was purposely inflating the value of his assets on these financial, statements that were provided to banks and insurers.

So there are a lot of other issues in this. That's the issue there. The prosecutors viewed the evidence differently.

Will this investigation ever lead to charges against the former president? That remains to be seen.

CABRERA: This is a criminal case. An update there. You have also been updating us on this civil case that the New York A.G. is pursuing right now.

Kara, thanks for staying on top of all of it for us. We know you will keep us posted.

Now to the words we've been waiting to hear from Dr. Fauci for over two years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase. Namely, we don't have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Out of the pandemic phase. Despite that, CNN has learned Dr. Fauci won't attend the White House Correspondent's Association Dinner over concerns about COVID-19.

And that news came out after the vice president announced she had tested positive for coronavirus. Kamala Harris remains isolated.

But she tweeted she has no symptoms and is grateful to be both vaccinated and boosted. Her office also announced she is takings Paxlovid, that anti-viral medication used to tread mild to moderate COVID-19, and people who are considered at risk of severe illness.

And there's good news for parents. COVID-19 vaccine boosters may be soon available to children ages five through 11. Pfizer has submitted now its application to the FDA for an emergency use authorization.

The company says its data shows kids in that age range who receive the low-dose booster about six months after their second vaccine or second shot, had a strong immune response with no safety concerns. Right now, boosters are only authorized for people 12 and older.

Breaking news on Russian attacks. But we're not talking military operations. We are now talking hundreds of hacking operations targeting Ukraine since this war began. We'll talk about the impact they're having next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:42:29]

CABRERA: We have more breaking news. Just moments ago, Microsoft released the most comprehensive public record yet of Russian hacking efforts related to the war in Ukraine.

The data revealed hundreds of alleged Russian cyberattacks, more than was previously thought, all timed to coincide with military movements.

CNN cybersecurity reporter, Sean Lyngaas, is joining us now.

Sean, how has our understanding of Russian cyber activity in Ukraine shifted or evolved since this war began?

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Ana, at the outset of the war, there were pundits and U.S. officials who were anticipating some sort of huge surge in cyberattacks.

The reality is Russian hacking operations against Ukraine have been going on for years. They have been collecting intelligence. The Russians have been doing many things to disrupt critical infrastructure in Ukraine over the years.

So the fact that there's a war going on changes things in a bit, in the sense that Russians are trying to collect intelligence. They're trying to strategically attack targets that might help the war effort. But it's also part of the background of the war.

Some people are saying, oh, where are all the cyberattacks at the beginning war? There were several examples of cyberattacks but they weren't necessarily that disruptive.

They previewed in the war, in a sense, in terms hitting Web sites of Ukrainian ministries. And then there were attempts to wipe data. But what this report from Microsoft does is it lays out a very

comprehensive look at what happens, just because Microsoft has more visibility than just about any other organization into cyber threats in the world.

CABRERA: I want to ask you more about the part of this report that says the attack coincided with military operations. How so?

LYNGAAS: Well, there are a few examples. It's unclear if they were coordinating closely with the military units in Russia or if Russia's cyber operatives are marching to their own tune.

But at the end of the day, they are often attacking some of the same targets.

One example was the tower in Kiev. If you recall, on March 1st, in Kiev, the TV tower was hit by a Russian missile strike. That same day, other telecommunications infrastructure in the region were hit by Russian hackers, according to Microsoft. That's one example.

Another example is the besieged city of Mariupol, where, you know, the Ukrainian military is holding on by a thread.

As that siege has been unfolding, according to Microsoft, alleged Russian hackers have sent emails to the Ukrainians saying, falsely saying that, oh, the Ukrainian government has abandoned you.

[13:45:05]

So those are two examples. There are many others -- Ana?

CABRERA: That sounds like it's part of their disinformation war and their disinformation that Russia likes to put out there.

Have these cyberattacks been successful? You said that many haven't been terribly disruptive. I guess it depends on how you measure success.

LYNGAAS: Right. In my opinion, in a war like this, bombs and bullets take precedence over hacking. However, cyber operations can be highly complementary of the sort of kinetic strikes.

So what we have seen is a mixed bag of success. In some cases, the attacks were parried by the Ukrainians. They've certainly matured their defenses in recent years.

In other cases, like the recent satellite attack against a satellite provide in Ukraine at the onset of the war, that did cut Internet for tens of thousands of people.

So it's been some successful and some not so much -- Ana?

CABRERA: Sean Lyngaas, interesting reporting for sure. Thank you very much for sharing.

All right. We have more audio surfacing of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ripping members of his own party. And what does he get from fellow Republicans? Standing ovation. Why?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:50:45]

CABRERA: Kevin McCarthy is on the defense. And Republicans are on their feet, giving the House minority leader a standing ovation today at a conference meeting.

That's despite newly released audio from "The New York Times" revealing McCarthy expressing concern over far-right members of his own party. He feared they could incite violence in the days after the capitol insurrection.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I'm calling Gaetz. I'm explaining to him. I don't know what I am going to say but I am going to have some other people call him, too.

But the nature of what -- if I'm going to get a briefing, another one from the FBI tomorrow -- this is serious (EXPLETIVE DELETED), to cut this out.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Yes, that's -- I mean, it's potentially illegal what he's doing.

MCCARTHY: Well, he's putting people in jeopardy.

(END AUDIO FEED)

CABRERA: CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, is with us now.

Gloria, it's safe to say these tapes are being leaked by someone on the inside, presumably a Republican lawmaker or staffer perhaps. We're learning McCarthy isn't losing support in the GOP conference. They gave him a standing ovation.

What is the party trying to accomplish here?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, the party doesn't want to get off message. The party wants to win the majority. Kevin McCarthy wants to win the majority.

He also wants to become speaker so he's kind of navigating this fine line.

But they need to show that they're unified, even, in truth, they are not.

I mean, you didn't see Matt Gaetz come out and say, gee, that was a great McCarthy tape. No, he criticized it. So there are these splits in the Republican Party.

I think people like Matt Gaetz are so skeptical of McCarthy, but they're going to wait to see what Donald Trump does, of course. But they don't want to get off the track, which is just going to take them to the majority.

CABRERA: Let's play more of this tape, listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

MCCARTHY: Well, he's putting people in jeopardy. He doesn't need to be doing this. We saw what people would do in the capitol, you know, and these people came prepared with rope, with everything else.

The tension it is too high. The country is too crazy. I do not want to look back and think we caused something or we missed something and someone got hurt. And I don't want to play politics with any of that.

(END AUDIO FEED)

CABRERA: So we hear the minority leader conceding dangerous inflammatory rhetoric from people in his own party could get people hurt.

BORGER: Yes.

CABRERA: Has McCarthy done anything, though, to rein these members in?

BORGER: No, absolutely not. I mean, Paul Gosar is someone who posted an animated video of him killing a Democratic member of Congress. Did he do anything about that?

Marjorie Taylor Greene, does he do anything about her? No, because he wants to become speaker above all else.

What's astonishing to me is, look at what a difference 15 months makes. It's been 15 months. And on January -- right after January 6th, McCarthy, rightly so, was afraid that that kind of incendiary language could cause more violence.

And he was right about that. He was worried about that. He was right to be worried about that.

And now it's a different picture altogether. Donald Trump is saying these folks, many of them were patriots.

The Republican Party has shifted in its outlook of what occurred on January 6th. And so Kevin McCarthy has shifted himself about that.

And you know, there's only one thing you can say about it, which is he wants to be speaker above all else. And he was -- you know, he was critical of Donald Trump at the time, too, if you'll recall.

CABRERA: And he's changed his tune in a big way there.

So if Republicans take back the House in the midterms and McCarthy does become speaker, what does that mean? Where do you think things are headed?

BORGER: Well, that's a really good question, and it's unanswerable.

First of all, I wouldn't assume that he's going to become speaker. I think he's still the likely choice.

But he may have to make some promises to members of the House Freedom Caucus, the conservatives, about what he will do for them and what he won't do for them.

[13:55:00]

He's already said he put Marjorie Taylor Greene on great committees, et cetera, et cetera.

So I think, even if he is speaker or if he is not speaker, the House will look very, very different and will bow to the wishes of lots of these conservatives because more of them are probably going to be members of Congress.

CABRERA: Gloria Borger, appreciate it. Thank you.

BORGER: Thank you.

CABRERA: That does it for us. Thank you for being here. Let's meet again tomorrow, same time, same place. Until then you can find me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera.

The news continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)