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Sources: Pompeo, Trump Ally Mastriano Meeting With 1/6 Committee Today; GA Judge: Giuliani Must Appear Before Grand Jury On August 17; FBI Searches Trump's Florida Home In Classified Documents Probe; Trump v. Pence Plays Out In Wisconsin Governor Primary Race; Kutcher: Rare Disease Affected Ability To See, Hear & Walk; Petito Family To Sue Moab City Police After Missing Signs She Was In Danger. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired August 09, 2022 - 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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[13:30:16]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Two people speaking with the January 6th committee today. One, who would know about cabinet conversations about removing Trump from office after the insurrection. The other, a key player in Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Sources say investigators are meeting with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania.
CNN's Sara Murray has the details for us.
Sara, first, what does the committee hope to learn from those two key figures?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Pompeo played a pivotal role in the administration. He was a close Trump ally.
But he was also reportedly involved in discussions about the 25th Amendment and removing Trump from office. That is certainly what the committee is going to want to know from Pompeo.
When it comes to Mastriano, they may have wanted to learn a lot about any conversations with Trump about efforts he may have made to support Trump's efforts to overturn the election.
But we learned it was a really quick appearance. Only 15 minutes for Mastriano. And he didn't answer any of the committee's questions.
CABRERA: In Georgia, Rudy Giuliani seeking to postpone his testimony before the grand jury investigating interference in the 2020 election there. A judge just handed down his decision. What is it?
MURRAY: That's right. Giuliani was supposed to appear for testimony today and instead he decided to challenge that saying he had a medical procedure and couldn't travel. The judge said that Giuliani still does have to appear but later this
month. He said he has to appear August 17th, which should give Giuliani enough time to work out his travel.
Made some pretty colorful remarks in the hearing. Take a listen to what the judge said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE ROBERT MCBURNEY, FULTON COUNTY, GA, SUPERIOR COURT: John Madden drove all over the country in a big bus from stadium to stadium. So one thing we need to explore is whether Mr. Giuliani could get here without jeopardizing his recovery and his health, on a train, on a bus, or Uber, whatever it would be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: So you heard the judge there basically saying Rudy Giuliani, figure it out. If other people can figure out how to get to stadium to stadium without flying you can figure out a train or a bus.
Now we wait to see what Rudy Giuliani decides.
CABRERA: He's not going to escape having to appear.
Sara Murray, thank you for your reporting.
So you have the January 6th committee investigation, you have the Georgia investigation, those pressing forward, as the Justice Department also moves ahead with its own separate investigations into actions involving the former president.
And just hours ago, they executed a search warrant at his Florida home. This is an unprecedented move.
I want to get reaction from former director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, who joins us now.
Director Clapper, top congressional Republicans are trying to frame this search warrant as nothing more than the weaponization of the Justice Department for political purposes.
How do you see it?
JAMES CLAPPER: CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, as a longtime public servant in the government, I guess I'm looking at it more from a compliance standpoint than perhaps politician might.
On its face, you know, any documents generated during the presidency are actually the property of the government or more specifically the people.
And if they happen to be classified, then that actually compounds the importance of securing these documents because they could range from intelligence to nuclear command and control. Who knows? Having said all that, I agree with the speakers in a previous segment
that there has to be something more than just the presence of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. I think it has to be tied to something else.
This is a case where, you know, what's out there publicly is not the full story yet.
CABRERA: You talk about how some of these classified documents could have national security concerns. A source says some of them had top secret markings on them.
When you're talking about classified information that makes its way all the way to the top, to the president -- this isn't low level classified stuff, right -- what types of details could be in these documents?
CLAPPER: Well, about anything. I mean, the sensitive intelligence information, although, over time, that will age off.
It could be sensitive documents pertaining to, for example, nuclear command and control, although I kind of doubt that.
But there's a whole range of national security topics that could put the country's national security in jeopardy.
[13:35:09]
The president was, as we saw during the administration, a little loosey goosey about protecting classified information to start with. There is, as I understand, a lot of traffic in and out of Mar-a-Lago. So there's the potential for compromise.
But again, I don't think that in itself was sufficient to merit or justify the search-and-seizure activity that has occurred.
CABRERA: And just to, again, remind our viewers, the fact that Trump has access as the president to all kinds of classified information, and then he chooses to take some of those documents with him in his post presidency.
And then the National Archives comes asking for documents. He turns over 15 boxes that he had with him at Mar-a-Lago, but he still chooses to hold onto these additional documents.
When you just look at all of that and you think, Trump, you know, he's indicated he may run in 2024 again.
Again, as a former president, he still has some access to intel. As a candidate, if he secures the nomination, he would go on to receive regular intelligence briefings.
Do you believe Trump should be given access to any classified information at this point?
CLAPPER: Well, as in the past, former presidents have been afforded the courtesy, for example, of intelligence briefings, PDB-like updates.
And I don't know if that practice has been followed with President Trump or not. But I don't think it's carte blanche.
And certainly, prior presidents have, as far as I know, never taken that volume of sensitive or classified documents with them to their private residence.
Mar-a-Lago is not what is called a SCIF, a Sensitive Classified Information Facility, which is authorized and capable of protecting classified information.
So once again, a stunning development, but maybe not surprising.
CABRERA: Director Clapper, I always appreciate your time. Thank you for making time for us today.
A different race, familiar matchup. The latest battle between former President Trump and his Vice President Mike Pence playing out in Wisconsin today. What to watch in today's primaries next.
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CABRERA: Right now, voters are hitting the polls for primaries in Minnesota, Vermont and Connecticut.
Let's focus on a key race in Wisconsin. The Republican primary for governor there is another proxy battle between Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Former lieutenant governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, is endorsed by Pence, while Trump has thrown his support behind a political newcomer, businessman, Tim Michels.
CNN's Kristen Holmes is in Milwaukee today.
Kristen, what's the one big thing these candidates have in common?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, other than both being Republicans, they have both fully embraced Donald Trump's falsehoods of fraud around the 2020 election.
Including Kleefisch, who is backed by the establishment Republicans. She served as lieutenant governor to Scott Walker for eight years.
Trump has been focused on the 2020 election, as we know, but particularly laser focused on Wisconsin, a state he won in 2016 and then lost in 2020.
And he's called officials on numerous occasions trying to get them to overturn or decertify the election.
Now, Kleefisch has said that's not possible. Even if she wins governor, she cannot legally overturn or decertify the election. But Michels has not ruled thought out, saying he needs to see all of the facts first.
This is the third time we have seen a proxy battle between Trump and Pence in one of these gubernatorial primaries for Republicans in a swing state.
And if you're keeping score, which I know at least two men who are, they have each won one race. You have Pence winning in Georgia and Trump in Arizona.
This race had once been considered a shoo-in for Kleefisch, but after the Trump endorsement, after Michels pours millions of his own money into this campaign, it's now a highly competitive race.
CABRERA: All right, Kristen Holmes, we'll be watching that. Thank you.
A tennis legend says it's time for her to move in a different direction. Serena Williams is retiring. She doesn't like to use that word. Instead, she said she's evolving away from the game she helped transform.
Williams hinted at retirement just yesterday when she was asked what's motivated her to keep playing for so long.
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SERENA WILLIAMS, TENNIS PRO: I guess there's just a light at the end of the tunnel.
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: I'm getting closer to the light. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: Yes. So that's like lately, that's been it for me. Can't wait to get to that light. I love playing, though. So it's amazing, but you know, I can't do this forever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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CABRERA: Williams' remarkable career includes 23 grand slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals and more than $94 million in prize money. More than any other female athlete. What a career. What a legacy.
Actor Ashton Kutcher says he's lucky to be alive. More on the rare disease that he says knocked out his hearing, his vision, and made it difficult to walk.
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CABRERA: Ashton Kutcher says, for almost a year, he had trouble seeing, hearing, and walking. The actor is opening up about his battle with a severe form of a rare autoimmune disease, vasculitis. [13:50:08]
He just discussed it in an episode of "Running Wild with Bear Grylls."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHTON KUTCHER, ACTOR: It, like, knocked out my vision, knocked out my hearing
BEAR GRYLLS, HOST, "RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS": Yes.
KUTCHER: -- and knocked out all my equilibrium.
It took me like a year to build it all back up. You don't really appreciate it until it's gone, until you go, I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to see again. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to hear again or walk again.
GRYLLS: Wow. What an ordeal. Talk about strength through adversity.
Lucky to be alive.
KUTCHER: Lucky to be alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here.
Wow. Elizabeth, to see him now, he seems OK. Explain, what is vasculitis exactly?
DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What happened to him is clearly so scary. A lot of people don't know about vasculitis. It's an autoimmune response. Your blood vessels get restricted, so your immune system is attacking your blood vessels.
The cause is usually unknown. Sometimes there's a genetic reason. Sometimes it's because of medications. But it's usually not known why someone like Mr. Kutcher would get it.
Also, the severity varies from mild to life-threatening. His sounds like it was more on the severe side. And it's treated with a variety of drugs.
One of the things that makes vasculitis tough is that the symptoms are really quite, well, symptoms of a lot of things. It's fatigue. It can be weight loss or general aches and pains, loss of appetite, fever.
So it can be very difficult to diagnose -- Ana?
CABRERA: OK. Well, thank you, Elizabeth, for filling us in. What a story.
And now to a case that gripped the nation. And you'll recall, when police released the body cam footage of Gabby Petito, it horrified those who watched, especially her family. They watched her sobbing to officers about a fight with her fiance,
Brian Laundrie, during a cross-country road trip. This stop happened almost exactly a year ago. Just weeks later, Laundrie would murder her.
Now, her family plans to sue Moab City, Utah, police. The Petito family says officers failed to realize their daughter was in danger at that moment.
CNN's Jean Casarez is here with us.
And, Jean, the parents have taken the first step in filing suit. What exactly is therapy legal argument?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's very interesting because of -- because of the body cam video and because of an independent investigation about that traffic stop that was done by an outside agency.
That's where they really have their information that they say can show that there were negligence and wanton malicious acts that were done against Gabby.
And what they are saying is that their claims are, number one, that the law enforcement there, Moab Police Department, does not understand or enforce the Utah state laws, that they investigated Laundrie's, quote, "self-evidently false claims."
They do not properly train their officers on investigating domestic violence incidents or properly assess the circumstances, including, quote, "to identify Brian as the true primary aggressor."
And they really cite a lot of facts, they say, that are facts from that body cam.
Number one, Gabby, so emotional, crying. The officer comes over and says, you have some marks on your arms and on your face, and she admits she does.
And the officer even says, they look fresh. She said, they sort of sting. Did Brian do it? Yes, he hit me.
Well, they didn't document, according to this legal filing, at all, the marks that were on her.
And then when she says, I hit him first, they make her the dominant aggressor. And they discussed on that body cam of arresting her. They almost arrested her for domestic violence.
And then another point, Brian, he's reaching -- he says, I don't really have a cell phone at all. But then a little bit later, he's reaching into his pocket. There you go. Right there.
And the legal filing says that's his cell phone. And he gave them his number.
So, they were inconsistencies but the police never asked about those inconsistencies.
And finally, the legal filing says there was a witness, actually, two of them, but one called 911, saw them a few minutes before this stop, that he was hitting her on the streets of Moab.
They put that in the report, but they never tried to find that person that called and made that 911 call.
So that's why they are saying it's negligent and wanton, wrongful conduct. And they believe, if they had followed protocol, that she would be alive today, if they had filed charges and arrested him for domestic violence.
We'll see where this goes. It's very creative, Ana. And they're asking for $50 million.
And one more thing. Moab police say they cannot comment on this. And they also want to remind you that it's a week ago this Friday that it all happened.
CABRERA: Yes, I was going to ask you how police are defending themselves, but you say they aren't commenting right now.
[13:55:01]
Clearly, this is a case that could have broader implications for the family if the family is successful in this lawsuit.
Jean Casarez, thank you --
CASAREZ: Thanks.
CABRERA: -- as always.
And that does it for us today. Thank you for being with us. I'll see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place as always. Until then, join me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera.
The news continues with Victor Blackwell right after this. Don't go anywhere.
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