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Panel Ties Trump's Stolen Election Lies to Capitol Trump Raised $250 Million from Voter Fraud Lies; Global Markets Mixed After Wall Street Sell-Off; U.S. Senators Reach Bipartisan Deal on Gun Safety; White House Faces Questions on Whether Biden Will Seek Reelection; Potential Biden Trip to Saudi Arabia Sparks Controversy. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 14, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares in London. Just ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol will be in order.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump rejected the advice of his campaign experts on election night and, instead, followed the course recommended by an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani to just claim he won.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he really believes this stuff, he has, you know, lost contact with -- he's become detached from reality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had to have known he was spreading a big lie, and he continues to spread it to this very day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Isa Soares.

SOARES: Welcome to the show, everyone. It is Tuesday, June 14th. 9:00 a.m. here in London. 4:00 a.m. in Washington, where a U.S. House Committee is revealing bombshell testimony from members of Trump's inner circle, even his own family. The former president refusing to listen to facts, instead embracing the drunken claims of his personal attorney that the election was stolen. All of it leading up to the violent attack on the Capitol just weeks after the 2020 presidential vote. Well, a parade of Trump's own top aides said the former president was told repeatedly that his claims of election fraud were not true. Listen to former Attorney General William Barr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: When I went into this and would, you know, tell him how crazy some of these allegations were, there was never -- there was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were, in my opinion then, in my opinion now is that the election was not stolen by fraud. And I haven't seen anything since the election that changes my mind on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: But despite the complete lack of evidence, Trump continued to push his claims of voter fraud, leading Barr to make this declaration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARR: I thought, boy, if he really believes this stuff, he has, you know, lost contact with -- he's become detached from reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, there was another shocking allegation. Several former advisers testified before the committee that Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was drunk on election night and urged the president to declare victory. A lawyer for Giuliani denies the claim. But we want you to hear these accounts from witnesses in Donald Trump's inner circle. Top members of his own campaign team, his White House, and even his own family. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON MILLER, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: The mayor was intoxicated. There were suggestions by, I believe it was mayor Giuliani, to go and declare victory and say that we'd won it.

BILL STEPIEN, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: It was far too early to be making any calls like that. Ballots were still being counted.

IVANKA TRUMP, FORMER SENIOR TRUMP ADVISER: I don't know that I had a firm view as to what he should say in that circumstance. The results were still being counted.

Did you ever share, Mr. Kushner, your view of Mr. Giuliani? Did you ever share your UNIDENTIFIED MALE: perspective about him with the president?

JARED KUSHNER, FORMER SENIOR TRUMP ADVISER: Um, I guess -- yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me what you said.

KUSHNER: Basically, not the approach I would take if I was you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: As you know, Trump did take the Giuliani approach against the advice of his son-in-law and other top advisers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, with this testimony revealed publicly for the first time, there are also new allegations that Donald Trump broke the law. The committee says the former president raised $250 million based on the big lie about election fraud. Yet, according to investigators, most of the money went into a public action committee and not to try to overturn the results.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:05:00]

AMANDA WICK, JANUARY 6TH COMMITTEE INVESTIGATOR: The Trump campaign aggressively pushed false election claims to fundraise, telling supporters it would be used to fight voter fraud that did not exist. The emails continued through January 6th, even as President Trump spoke on the Ellipse. 30 minutes after the last fundraising email was sent, the Capitol was breached.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, the panel also says it has evidence that members of Trump's family benefitted from the money that was raised on his election conspiracies. Here's what one of the committee members said about Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): For example, We know that Guilfoyle was paid for the introduction she gave at the speech on January 6th. She received compensation for that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But is that a crime?

LOFGREN: I'm not saying it is a crime, but I think it's a grift.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, former house impeachment special counsel Norm Eisen suggested to CNN that Trump could face wire fraud and campaign finance charges over the fundraising. Here's January 6th Committee member Jamie Raskin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): You know, when a political campaign is over, it's almost impossible for the losing candidate to raise any money at that point because nobody really wants to invest in a lost cause, a cause that's already gone. And yet, he figured out a way to keep the money flowing in, by claiming that he had won the election and they were somehow battling it out, even after 60 courts had already rejected every claim of electoral fraud and corruption that they had suggested.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Of course, bringing federal charges against Trump would ultimately be up to the U.S. Justice Department. Committee Chair Bennie Thompson says the panel doesn't plan to recommend any criminal referrals, but Vice Chair Liz Cheney and others say the panel hasn't made that decision yet. And Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department said they're keeping an eye on the hearings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am watching, and I will be watching all the hearings. And I can assure you that the January 6th prosecutors are watching all the hearings, as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: So, what comes next for the January 6th Committee? Well, the next live hearing is set for Wednesday, the third of six televised proceedings. The U.S. House Democrat on the committee told CNN what we can expect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEPHANIE MURPHY (D-FL): Having been told by his campaign staff as well as his lawyers that he had lost the race, he got increasingly desperate and began to pressure people at a lot of different levels, to see if he could get them in on the con. And so, we will be laying out, much as we have in previous hearings, with first person testimonies or depositions or text messaging and data that we've collected, the narrative of what happened in all of those efforts to pressure people into doing something that wasn't right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, the committee's work has been thorough as well as painstaking. House investigators that conducted at least 1,000 witness interviews they have gathered and reviewed more than 140,000 documents and are following up on 500 tips. Of course, we'll stay on top of this story for you.

Well, and just a matter of hours, U.S. President Joe Biden is set to travel to Philadelphia, where he is expected to speak about the economy, as high inflation and recession fears rattle the stock market. On Monday, the Dow dropped nearly 900 points, as you can see there, while the S&P 500 closed down in bear market territory.

Following that Wall Street sell-off, we're seeing a really mixed reaction there in Asia. We're starting to see a bit of a rebound, really. We're seeing a similar situation to what we saw in Asia here in Europe. The markets have been open the last hour or so. The Xetra DAX up .3 of a percent. Paris CAC is pretty flat, to be honest. The FTSE 100 up 0.2 percent.

Only hours until a new trading day begins on Wall Street and where the U.S. futures stand right now. So, a bit of a rebound. We are seeing the Dow futures and Nasdaq. Nasdaq, of course, getting a bit of a battering yesterday. S&P 500 expected to open down quite significantly there, as you can see -- almost 4 percent.

CNN's Clare Sebastian joins me now here in London to make sense of all of this. And Clare, just explain what's rattling stock markets at this point? Because nothing has really changed. The fear of recession is there. Inflation is still high. So, why are we seeing the dramatic moves on stock markets.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so it's been an interesting couple of trading sessions. So, on Friday, we got the CPI, the inflation report out of the U.S. that was worse than expected. There were some people that thought that the previous report for April was showing that the inflation peaked, and then it accelerated again, down 8.6 percent. Then on Monday, we get this report from the "Wall Street Journal" that the Fed will likely raise rates not by half a percent, but by three quarters of a percent. They have not done that since 1994.

[04:10:00]

So, that is what has rattled the market. The fear, as you said, the fear is not inflation at this point, the fear is that the cure is going to be worse than the disease. That the Fed will have to act aggressively. The Fed is playing catch-up here. And in doing so, will tip the economy into recession.

SOARES: Right. Because I remember reading JPMorgan, saying, actually, the Fed needs to be more aggressive to try and have a handle on inflation.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean I think that there are some people in the market, on the flip side, that will look at this with some degree of relief. And the Fed is getting the message and that it's now acting and maybe is just front loading the medicine here. Just bringing in a three-quarter rate rise so it doesn't need to act even more aggressively in the future. That is a school of thought.

On the other hand, the reaction that we're seeing is not a knee-jerk either. This is a repricing. Because of course, when you get higher inflation and then higher interest rates, that crimps company margins, that that crimps consumption, that means that money is more expensive. And that means the next valuations at the moment are looking expensive. And that's why the declines that we saw yesterday were across the board.

SOARES: Yes, and we're seeing a sort of rebound on U.S. futures. We're expecting to hear from President Joe Biden today. What are we likely to hear from him today, Clare?

SEBASTIAN: Well, I think he is going to say that, you know, the efforts that he's made to support the economy are working. Don't panic. He talks a lot about the jobs market, how unemployment rates are still quite low. There are those who feel that that is somewhat artificial because a lot have dropped out of the labor force during the pandemic.

And I think he'll talk about the war on Ukraine and the impact that that is having. In a recent speech he said, he called it Putin's tax on food and gas. Putin's price hike. So, he'll likely to bring in the idea that, of course, the rises in food and energy that we're seen are the direct result of the war on Ukraine. Of course, we know that inflation started before that.

SOARES: Indeed, and it hasn't -- it has exacerbated it, but it did not -- wasn't the cause of it. Clare Sebastian, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Now, the Republican leading the U.S. Senate push for gun safety reform says he hopes to have the text of a bill ready by the end of this week. That is after, if you remember, bipartisan group announced that they agreed, in principle, on the framework for gun safety legislation. The agreement includes so-called red flag provisions, new protections for women, more funding for mental health services, and school security resources, as well as enhanced reviews for buyers under 21. Well that agreement could lead to the biggest gun reform legislation in decades. Democrats are voicing cautious optimism that this bill will pass. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Well, we've done the heavy lifting here. We have ten Republicans signed onto this framework, a framework that's going to save lives. These are five important changes in our gun laws, plus billions in mental health funding. In my belief is that we're just going to add Republicans from here on out.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): This piece of legislation, as drafted, should not be threatening to any law-abiding citizen in the United States of America. Not one. And no law-abiding gun owner should be offended by this. We take no rights away, no privileges away. We don't basically threaten you're going to lose anything at all, except maybe if we don't do this, you might lose a child or grandchild.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: But the vast majority of Republican Senators say they still want more details before announcing where they stand on the gun safety framework. A possible sign of how hard it'll be to get more Republicans, of course, on board.

And we are learning more about the 31 men arrested in the U.S. state of Idaho for conspiracy to riot at a pride parade in the city of Coeur d'Alene. Police say they had no knowledge of the group's arrival until someone called 911. The caller reported seeing a group dressed up like, quote, a little army. All the men were wearing clothing associated with Patriot Front classified as a white supremacist group by the Antidefamation League. The city's police chief says since that first call, the phone hasn't stopped ringing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF LEE WHITE, COEUR D'ALENE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Of the 149 calls that we know of so far that have come in, there are about 50/50 split between individuals in our community who are happy to give us their name and tell us that they're proud of the work we did and they're happy to be a part of this community. And the other 50 percent who are completely anonymous and want nothing more than to scream and yell at us and use some really choice words, offer death threats against myself and other members of the police department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, police announced they'll finish executing search warrants on the U-Haul truck the men were riding in, as well as other seized vehicles.

Meantime in Washington, a much-debated bill that would increase security for Supreme Court justices is expected to pass the House in the coming hours. House Democrats are giving it to the demands of their Republican colleagues after a man was arrested last week near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and charged with attempted murder. Democrats had wanted the bill to extend to Supreme Court clerks as well as staff. The move was criticized by the Senate minority leader, who said the bill wasn't meant to cover, quote, nameless staff that no one knows.

[04:15:02]

We'll stay on top of that for you.

Just ahead right here on the show, the presidential election is two years away, but that hasn't stopped people from speculating whether Joe Biden will run for a second term. Why it looks like one of the leading progressives from his own party may be hedging her bets.

Plus, extreme weather shuts down access to America's Yellowstone National Park. We'll give you all the details from Pedram Javaheri at the CNN Weather Center. That is next.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, record rainfall across portions of the Western United States. We're going to touch on this and of course, touch on the excessive heat building. All this coming up in a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: That's the sound of a tornado warning blaring through Chicago's Wrigley Field. A baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and Padres had to be delayed on Monday because of a major thunderstorm. The Cubs went on to lose, 4-1.

In the Western U.S., Yellowstone National Park has temporarily closed all entrances due to hazardous conditions. Experts say unprecedented rainfall and snowmelt are causing flooding as well as rock slides.

[04:20:00]

Park officials say no inbound traffic is allowed until conditions are cleared and roads and access for any damage of course. And near the park residents in Gardiner, Montana took video of flash floods -- as you can see there -- taking out part of a building on the Yellowstone River. Parts of the community there are without drinking water and power. Officials say people have been asked to evacuate, and rescues were ongoing on Monday throughout Park County.

More than 125 million people under heat alerts, meanwhile, across the United States. The record-breaking heat is forecast to spread east throughout the week. Daily high temperatures already being set across several cities with more expected. Joining me now, CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. And Pedram, good morning to you. Let's start off in Montana because that is incredible rainfall as that tornado bears down.

JAVAHERI: Absolutely, we had the severe weather. We had significant rainfall, as you noted, Isa. It was historic, the amount of rainfall we saw for this time of year equivalent to a month's worth of rain coming down in the matter of just a few hours. And of course, the snow is melting. We're approaching the beginning of summer here over the next week and temperatures gradually warming up. So, all of the elements come together here to produce a significant flooding that we saw across portions of Montana.

But you talk about severe weather, and that element moved across portions of the Chicago Metroplex, a tornado warning storm system across this region. You noted the disruptions there to the baseball game. But you notice the airports across O'Hare. Picking up a wind gust of 84 miles per hour. That's equivalent to a category 1 hurricane. A category 2 hurricane equivalent of wind gusts in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Again, speaking to the severity, the veracity of these storm as a word across portions of the Midwestern United States. Still at this hour about 600,000 customers without power spanning across this region of the Midwestern United States.

And then parts of at least 20 states dealing with heat indices and an heat advisories with a temperature that will climb up to the century mark. In fact, look at the potential here for records. As much as 120 record temperatures possible, really dominating the eastern third of the United States where we expect the heat indices or what it feels like within the humid humidity factor to be around say 105, 106. St. Louis aiming for a 100 degree afternoon or very close to it over the next couple days -- 86 is normal here for the week before summer officially gets underway.

Look at Minneapolis, middle 90s they go where it's 79 is what they expect for this time of year. So, an incredible departure from what is typically transitioning into the warm season for some of these areas, to getting to record territories. And kind of see where we've come down here with these temperatures into the 100 mark in the last 24 or so hours. Records falling left and right across a large area of the United States -- Isa.

SOARES: Very warm indeed. Pedram Javaheri, thanks very much.

Well, the U.S. presidential election is more than two years away, and people are already speculating on whether President Joe Biden will run for a second term. U.S. House Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told CNN's Dana Bash, quote, we'll take a look at it, when asked if she'd support President Biden's re-election. And President Obama's former chief strategist David Axelrod called the 79-year-old President Biden's age, quote, a major issue in his re-election. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed questions about his age during an interview with CNN's Don Lemon. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Oh, my gosh, he's the president of the United States. You know, he -- I can't even keep up with him. We just got back from New Mexico. We just got back from California. That is -- that is not a question that we should be even asking. Just look at the work that he does. Look what -- how he is delivering for the American public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, in contrast to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, liberal Senator Bernie Sanders has said he will not challenge President Biden in a primary and would support him if he runs for a second term. That's clear enough.

And it looks more and more like President Biden is planning a trip to Saudi Arabia as gasoline prices hit $5 a gallon in the United States. The potential trip is reviving old controversies. As a candidate, remember Mr. Biden said he viewed the kingdom as a pariah. And this might involve a visit with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. U.S. intelligence believes the Prince authorized the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

For more on this story, I'm joined now by international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson. And Nic, just how awkward, if it's going to be awkward, will this meeting be, given President Biden's comments vis-a- vis Khashoggi?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, he's really had an very estranged relationship with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is very likely to be the lasting and enduring leader of Saudi Arabia in the coming decades. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a huge historic ties and relationship, but Biden has sought to sort of set his presidency up and run his presidency as being strong on democracy and democratic leaders.

[04:25:00]

And MBS has made very clear he doesn't feel forced into that category. So, it's been a very estranged relationship.

But the White House is now saying that they are expected to see each other. That Biden is going to meet with the King. That's his -- King Salman, that's his main interlocutor. But the king is not well, and the reality is, it is MBS who runs the country and it is MBS who Biden needs, whose help Biden needs to increase Saudi Arabia's oil output.

SOARES: I'm glad you brought into that. Because I mean, is this a relationship then, what are you hearing from the White House regarding whether this is a forgive and forget moment, in terms of Khashoggi? Because now, as we set it out, it is about oil prices, fears of inflation, war on Ukraine. How much does President Biden need Saudi Arabia here?

ROBERTSON: He does. It is real politic. And the United States needs Saudi Arabia going forward in the future. This is a position -- stand aside Ukraine and Russia, but China is the big issue for the United States. And what the United States and President Biden doesn't need is a Saudi Arabia that decides to look more to China. We know that President Xi had been expected to visit Saudi Arabia recently to open -- or to sell missile defense systems and even a factory, to build it. That hasn't happened, but that tells you that Saudi Arabia is open to a stronger relationship with China. The United States doesn't need that. And it desperately needs Saudi Arabia to increase its oil output, to offset the oil that's not coming from Russia. And also, in its relationship with Iran at the moment, let's not forget, Iran is about to --

SOARES: A very good point.

ROBERTSON: -- abrogate even the stretch limits of the JCPOA -- the nuclear deal agreement of 2015. So, Saudi Arabia is very important to the United States and to President Biden. It's an important player in the region. But Biden has put himself in a corner by saying that he'll make Saudi Arabia a pariah. The two countries have cooperated a lot in terms of oil outputs, in terms of working against terrorism issues in the past, so there's a lot at stake here right now.

SOARES: We will be -- of course, I know you'll be monitoring it. We'll be all analyzing not just what is said but also the body language we'll see between both sides. Nic, thank you very much.

And still ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM, Russia tightened the noose on eastern Ukraine as troops gain ground in the fierce battle for a key city. We're live for you in Kyiv.

Plus, human rights groups and protesters are outraged by the UK's controversial new deportation policy that could drastically alter many lives. We're live in Paris. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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