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Ukraine Braces For Stepped-Up Russian Attacks Around Independence Day; New York; Florida; Oklahoma Hold Primary Elections; Mar-A-Lago Boxes Had More Than 700 Pages Of Classified Papers; Biden Orders Airstrikes In Syria Targeting Iran-Backed Militias; U.S. To Announce $3 Billion In New Military Aid For Ukraine; Twitter Whistleblower Will Take Part In Capitol Hill Briefings; Interview with Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 24, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:24]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause. We begin this out in Ukraine, a country which today marks 31 years of independence from the Soviet Union and six months of brutal war with Russia.
The streets were quiet overnight and Ukraine is the second largest city Kharkiv where strict curfew is in place amid warnings. Moscow may be planning major strikes on civilian and government targets, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urging extra caution on this holiday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are sure to retaliate against any form of Russian carriers. But please tomorrow, be sure to follow security rules. Please respect the curfew, act on the air raid alarm signal. Pay attention to official announcements. And remember we all together have to get to our victory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A lot more from Ukraine in just a moment.
But first, one of most powerful Democrats in the U.S. Congress will not be heading back to Capitol Hill next year. A newly drawn New York congressional map created a contentious matchup between incumbents Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney. CNN projecting Nadler, Chair of the Judiciary Committee will be the Democratic nominee for New York's 12th district, bringing to an end Maloney's three decade long career in Congress.
And now the Florida was CNN projects Val Demings will win the Democratic Senate primary and will challenge incumbent Republican Marco Rubio. Demings, a former police chief of Orlando and has served in the House since 2017. Staying in Florida, CNN projecting Charlie Chris will be the Democratic nominee in the race for governor. He'll face incumbent Republican Ron DeSantis this coming November just 11 weeks away.
Joining me now once again from Washington, Republican strategist and CNN political commentator Alice Stewart, and Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis.
OK, so great, you could stick around and stay with us a little more. So come November we'll have the soft spoken genteel centrist Charlie Crist, former Republican governor turned Democrat up against Ron DeSantis, a divisive firing Trumpian Republican governor who many believe will try to run for the Republican nominee in 2024. And on that, here's Charlie Crist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE CRIST, DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Make no mistake about it. Because this guy wants to be president of the United States of America and everybody knows it. However, when we defeat them on November 8, that show is over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So Chris, you get first this hour, in so many ways, these two candidates could not be more different if they try. It seems though that Crist is trying to motivate the base, get people out to vote. You know, trying to stop the DeSantis making this run for the White House in the first place. Is that a strategy which is going to work?
CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I mean, here -- here's I think the reality and midterm elections are different than it's a presidential year elections, you know, it really is a base turnout, you got to turn out a lot of people who self-identify either as Democrats or Republicans. For him, he's got to have that pretty massive turnout amongst, you know, Democrats, and then try to win over as many of those independents as he can.
It's a tough state to be really brutally frank about it. Florida is not what I would consider a kind of a purplish swing state. It's definitely trending more and more conservative. And DeSantis has, you know, advantages, current governor, obviously, enormous war chest.
And so the real I think challenge for Crist, can he somehow tap into something, you know, whether it's motivating, you know, women who maybe are feeling alienated because of the Supreme Court's decision on abortion, or something, you know, you know, related to DeSantis his politics or leadership, that's going to probably be, you know, also a bit of a challenge. So he's got to tap into something in order to kind of excite people, but at the end of the day, it's a pretty uphill battle.
VAUSE: Let's listen to DeSantis addressing supporters after the results came in. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RON DESANTIS, FLORIDA GOVERNOR: This state is worth fighting for, our country is worth fighting for. So put on the full armor of God and take a stand against the left schemes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Alice, it sort of fiery divisive talk there, you know, God and country and fighting the left. Is that what this country needs right now?
ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, what the country needs and what people in Florida need is what Ron DeSantis is delivering and that is strong economic numbers.
[01:05:06]
Look, Florida right now has a booming economy. They have more people moving to the state than any other state. They have -- the tourism is doing tremendously well, the unemployment rate in Florida that 2.7 percent. That's the kind of agenda and message that Ron DeSantis can continue to deliver and convey to the people of Florida that will help him.
I happen to think he would be best served if he sort of dialed back a little bit of his vocal agenda and focus more on the jobs and economic agenda as more of a successful message. But if all that Charlie Chris is going to do is say that Ron DeSantis isn't a bully, taking away your freedom, and has no real viable contrast to the strong economic success that DeSantis has delivered to the people of Florida, it is going to be an open shut victory for DeSantis because I worked from Rick Scott's campaign running for governor in 2010. He ran on jobs, jobs, jobs. DeSantis is delivering on that. And that's what the people in the Sunshine State want.
VAUSE: Alice, just very quickly one of the DeSantis is chance of actually running for the Republican primary for 2024 and winning it defeating Donald Trump. Should he run?
STEWART: Well, a lot of it has to boil down to whether or not Donald Trump actually gets in, which is still, you know, the $10,000 question. If he does not certainly Ron DeSantis is clearly the front runner. If Donald Trump does run, this is going to be a really tough, tough decision.
I think what happens with, you know, the January 6 Commission and the Mar-a-Lago search is going to have a huge impact on Donald Trump. But right now talking with the DeSantis campaign, their number one agenda and the number one goal right now is running for reelection using these last 11 weeks to really galvanize not just the base, but the independents and undecided voters of Florida, win reelection and really work hard for the people of Florida.
VAUSE: Chris, how do you see that will play out?
KOFINIS: Well, in terms of his presidential ambitions, there's no question. You know, if it's Trump versus DeSantis, I think it's really hard for DeSantis to beat Trump, given the amount of support that, you know, Trump clearly has amongst the base.
The part that I find interesting, and we've kind of dialed it back to the current midterms, you know, even in the special elections, but even in some of the other ones, how few of these candidates seem to be talking about the issues that actually matter to most voters. They seem to be attacking each other, whether it's on personal style, or ideology, or cultural issues, but it's, you know, if you look at, you know, if you look at all the research, the key thing for most American voters, Republican, Democrat, Independent, is issues like inflation and, and how few of the candidates out there are talking about that.
And so what's interesting to me is, you know, which of these candidates, whether it's, you know, a Crist, whether it's, you know, a DeSantis, or whether it's someone else, and when finally realizes, you know, the way you maybe start winning elections and actually start putting yourself in a better position, whether it's, for the midterms or for higher ambitions actually start speaking to the everyday issues that actually matter to voters, instead of speaking to issues that maybe matter to you or those around you.
VAUSE: It's interesting, because one of those issues that has already been in play in these primaries is Roe v. Wade, and the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. So Alice, we a talk the last hour about the congressional district 19th in New York, and how Roe v. Wade played into that.
STEWART: Yes, that's a great, really testing case or battleground to really give us a litmus test on what we can expect in the general election. What we had in CD19 in New York was a special election runoff and the winner was the Democrat one in that that specific race is Pat Ryan winning in that. He really made this about the overturning of Roe v Wade and dialing back of women's health care choices and the situation that's putting a lot of women's health care in, that's what he really focused on what he campaigned on.
And here, this is one case, while this is a primary election day, this was a Republican versus a Democrat. The Democrat ran on Roe v. Wade, and he won. Granted this is a blue district, a blue area, but it is a good way to gauge what we might possibly can expect in the general election in November when we have again, Republicans versus Democrats and I expect more Democrats now to make Roe v Wade and abortion really cornerstone of their campaign seeing that it paid off in city 19 in New York.
VAUSE: And just very quickly, I'm overtime. So Chris (INAUDIBLE) do you see that as being a democratic strategy going forward?
KOFINIS: I mean, there's no question that, you know, a lot of candidates are going to use the abortion issue and what the Supreme Court did to motivate women voters to come out.
[01:10:06]
See I don't see it as kind of the -- it's not an either or you focus only on that issue and you don't focus on the other kind of economic or bread and butter issues. You got to marry the two in order to kind of present, you know, an alternative vision to what Republicans offer. And I think the candidates that do that actually are going to be in a stronger position than ones that just focus on only abortion. I don't think you're going to see a lot of candidates do that.
But I think that the tendency with an issue like that, because it's so much, it's so passionate, it fosters so much energy is to almost overcorrect. And only focus on that or speak to that too much. I think you've got to balance it out. But also speaking to the other kinds of economic and better broader issues that are really impacting so many Americans.
VAUSE: Yes, we'll see what happens. Chris and Alice, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate your time.
KOFINIS: Thank you.
STEWART: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: More now that the classified documents recovered from the Florida home of former President Donald Trump, a letter from the National Archives to Trump's legal team was published online by a Trump ally, confirming hundreds of pages marked classified and special access were recovered in January. The nature of the classified information was raising concerns among federal investigators about potential damage to national security. CNN's Evan Perez has more now reporting from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): More than 100 documents marked classified more than 700 pages in total. That's how much sensitive information the National Archives says was found when it examined 15 boxes of documents retrieved from Donald Trump's Palm Beach estate. That information all comes from a letter that the Archives sent to the former president's legal team back in May and made public on Tuesday.
The letter was sent to inform the former president's team that after more than a month of delay that was requested by Trump, the Archives was allowing the FBI to do a damage assessment. Some of the documents were labeled as Special Access Programs, some of the most closely guarded U.S. government secrets, and they had been stored in an unsecure room at Trump's beach house.
The letter makes clear that despite Trump's claim that he has been mistreated by the Justice Department and he's the victim of political persecution, the Biden administration has given Trump a great deal of differential treatment. For weeks, Trump asserted that he may want to assert executive privilege over some of these documents. But finally concerns from the intelligence community and the FBI prompted the archives to let the FBI examine the documents. And that led to the criminal investigation and the unprecedented search at Mar-a-Lago just over two weeks ago. Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE) VAUSE: U.S. military says it carried out precision airstrikes in Syria, targeting groups linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Present Joe Biden ordered the strikes on bunkers in Deir ez-Zor. U.S. Central Command says no one was killed. Strikes are meant to defend and protect American forces from attacks like the one on August 15. The drone strike targeted compound run by US-backed Syrian opposition fighters.
We're going now to Ukraine and as a mark -- as a mark the Independence Day in Ukraine, the U.S. is expected to announce its largest ever security package worth around $3 billion. The U.S. official tells CNN it will include Western air defense systems, as well as stockpiles of ammunition. Also earmarks money for training and maintenance. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary State promised to continue support for Ukraine urged other allies to do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We must keep raising the costs and international pressure on President Putin and his enablers until the rights of the Ukrainian people and their sovereign country are respected. And we must continue to provide humanitarian, security and diplomatic support for Ukrainians bravely defending their rights as the United States has done and will continue to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ukrainian resistance has lasted much longer than many expected and now Ukraine's defense minister for his allies may start to grow weary, the longer the conflict drags on, and that could eat away support. And he spoke with our CNN Sam Kiley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OLEKSIY REZNIKOV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: And we need more sophisticated weaponry. And we -- I would say that in March, it was tectonic changing, because our partners have decided to make transformation from the Soviet systems. I mean military systems, weaponry systems, to NATO standards.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was losing 200 men and women a day dead, another 400 or 500 wounded that's a whole battle group, a NATO battle group.
REZNIKOV: It was a really a lot of killed in actions and unwanted but when we get artillery and MLRS systems like HIMARS, these quantities download and you are right. We were paying by the blood of our lives of our people. And I hope that our partners understand it.
[01:15:02]
KILEY: Are you not afraid that the international community your partners may begin to tire of this war?
REZNIKOV: I call it fatigue syndrome, yes. And for me, it's one of the main threat. And we need to work on in with this threat. Because we need to speak like with you to communicate, to ask people don't be on this fatigue. Because this is very, very dangerous for us.
KILEY: Is it drifting into stalemate?
REZNIKOV: The worst scenario was behind us, live behind us. And we are in the stage of stabilizing of the battlefield or battle line with a small moving of the units. And we made a lot of who determine (ph) them. And I think that we own the edge of the new stage, because we have to go forward to start our contract, offensive campaign in different direction.
KILEY: So who did attack and blow up those aircraft in Crimea? Was it missiles or Special Forces?
REZNIKOV: I think it was the breaking rules don't smoke in the danger replaces.
KILEY: The Russians blew them up themselves.
REZNIKOV: It's what's like 30 Lucky Strike in the bowling game, who threw the ball? Probably Russian soldiers.
KILEY: If they continue to get fired from or if there's an escalation that comes from Belarus, will Ukraine attack Belarus?
REZNIKOV: It's a good question, because the official part of Belarus playing their game trying to balance between Russia, and I absolutely sure that Belarusian people, they don't want to go with a war to Ukraine.
KILEY: Could it spread across Europe this war?
REZNIKOV: No. I think that this war started in the Ukraine and will finish in Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Six months of war has forced millions of Ukrainians to leave their homes seeking safety beyond the country's borders. 6.6 million have been internally displaced inside Ukraine. Another 6.7 million and now refugees in countries across Europe. More than 1 million Ukrainians alone are living in Poland. And there one woman says she hopes to return home soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TATIANA AFANSIEVA, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE IN POLAND (through translator): I want to go home. I wish I could go home today. If only they would say that's it. We're safe there, you can go back. If only I was told that we can safely return, I would leave on foot now. It's almost half a year. It's half a year of my life ripped off from ripped out of my life simply. I had no life for these six months. It's not a life. It's not a life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Many aide groups, humanitarian groups are on the ground helping Ukrainians suffering from this war. Find out how you can help please visit cnn.com/impact.
Just ahead here on CNN, a whistleblower going public with explosive allegations against Twitter. He speaks exclusively to CNN, the serious security vulnerabilities he says the tech company is hiding. That's next.
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[01:22:22]
VAUSE: 20 minutes past the hour. Welcome back. Twitter is facing accusations of serious security vulnerabilities, executive cover ups and potential foreign spies working as employees. The allegations come from someone who should know for his former Security Chief. Peiter "Mudge" Zatko is expected to take part in closed door briefings on Capitol Hill this week. But before he speaks to lawmakers, he spoke exclusively to CNN Donie O'Sullivan.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Ready?
PEITER "MUDGE" ZATKO, FORMER TWITTER SECURITY CHIEF: Yes.
O'SULLIVAN: Why are you coming forward?
ZATKO: All my life I've been about finding places where I can go and make a difference.
O'SULLIVAN: This is Peiter Zatko, until January of this year he was head of security at Twitter. But now he's a whistleblower. And he says Twitter security problems are so grave there are risks to national security and democracy.
ZATKO: I think Twitter is a critical resource to the entire world. I think it's an extremely important platform.
O'SULLIVAN (voiceover): He's handed over information about the company to U.S. law enforcement agencies, including the SEC, FTC and the Department of Justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May I ask your name, Mister --
ZATKO: I'm Mudge.
O'SULLIVAN: Zatko is better known in the hacking world by his nickname Mudge. He's been a renowned cybersecurity expert for decades.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His roots are in hacking, figuring out how computers and software work.
O'SULLIVAN: That expertise might be why Jack Dorsey then CEO of Twitter hired Zatko after the company was hit by a massive attack in 2020 when hackers took over the accounts of some of the world's most famous people.
JOHN TYE, FOUNDER, WHISTLEBLOWER AID: Mudge was one of the top five or six executives at the company.
O'SULLIVAN: Zatko is represented by John Tye who founded Whistleblower Aid, the same group that represented Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.
TYE: We are in touch with the law enforcement agencies. They're taking this seriously.
O'SULLIVAN: Twitter is pushing back saying Zatko is peddling a narrative about our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context. When we spoke to Zatko and his lawyer, they said that the lawful whistleblower disclosure process only allows them to talk about these issues in general terms. For specific allegations about Twitter, they referred us to Zatko's disclosure.
TYE: I'm not going to go into details, but I will say that much stands by the disclosure and the allegations in there.
O'SULLIVAN: CNN and the Washington Post obtained a copy of the disclosure from a senior democratic official on Capitol Hill. In it, Zatko claims nearly half of Twitter's employees have access to some of the platform's main critical controls.
ZATKO: There's an analogy of an airplane so you get on an airplane and every passenger and the attendant crew all have access to the cockpit, to the controls.
[01:25:04]
You know that's entirely unnecessary might be easy. But there it's too easy to accidentally or intentionally turn an engine off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twitter accounts belonging to a whole lot of famous people --
O'SULLIVAN: That kind of access contributed to the massive attack in the summer of 2021 when hackers, two of them teenagers tricked a couple of Twitter employees into letting them into Twitter systems, that gave them access to accounts, including that of then presidential candidate Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have to tell you the significance of being able to breach the Twitter accounts with many millions of followers, including of leading politicians three months from a presidential election.
O'SULLIVAN (on camera): In the disclosure, you quote from a WIRED magazine article that says, But if a teenager with access to an administration panel can bring the company to its knees, just imagine what Vladimir Putin can do.
TYE: Foreign intelligence agencies have the resources to identify vulnerabilities that could have systemic effects across an entire platform across the whole internet. O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Twitter told CNN that since the 2020 hack, it had to improve these access systems, and a trained staff to protect themselves against hacking.
(on camera): If you're running any system, the more people that have access to the main switches. That's a very risky situation.
ZATKO: Yes, absolutely. I'm talking in generalities just large tech companies need to know what the risks are, and then they also need to have an appetite to go fix it.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Zatko also claims Twitter has been misleading about how many fake accounts and bots are on its platform. That's an issue that Elon Musk has made central to his attempt to get out of a deal to buy the company.
ELON MUSK, CEO, TESTA AND SPACEX: I guess right now, I'm sort of debating the number of bots on Twitter.
O'SULLIVAN (on camera): There will be suspicions of the timing of this. Are you guys carrying water for Elon Musk?
TYE: Absolutely not. We've been following the news just like everyone else. But that has nothing to do with his decisions or with the content of what was sent in to U.S. law enforcement agencies.
O'SULLIVAN: Mudge hasn't been talking to Musk in the background or anything like that?
TYE: Not at all.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Zatko says he was fired by Twitter in January of this year after he tried to raise the alarm internally. He points the finger at Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal saying he has worked to hide Twitter security vulnerabilities from the board.
(on camera): I suspect that Twitter might try to paint it like this. That's Mudge got fired, and he's trying to retaliate against the company.
TYE: Absolutely not. This is not any kind of personal issue for him. He was eventually fired in January of this year, but he hasn't given up on trying to do that job.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): In response to allegations, Twitter told CNN security and privacy had long been a priority at Twitter. As for Zatko, they said he quote was fired from his senior executive role at Twitter more than six months ago for poor performance and leadership. He now appears to be opportunistically seeking to inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders.
ZATKO: Your whole perception of the world is made from what you're seeing reading and consuming online. And if you don't have an understanding of what's real, what's not. Yes, I think this is pretty scary.
O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Are you nervous?
ZATKO: Yes. Yes. This wasn't my first choice. But yes, I just want to make the world a better place, a safer place. The levers that I have to do it are through security information and privacy.
O'SULLIVAN: That whistleblower disclosure in the hands of multiple U.S. law enforcement agencies. Outside of the U.S., Twitter is headquartered in -- its European headquarters are in Dublin in Ireland. So to comply with European data and privacy laws, it's actually the Irish data protection commissioner who is in charge of overseeing that for Twitter. They tell CNN that since this whistleblower has come to light, they have asked Twitter for information asking what is all of this about so issues for Twitter, both in the U.S., but around the world as well. Back to you.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you Donie O'Sullivan for that report. Now three more states have chosen their nominee so the U.S. midterm elections just 11 weeks away. When we come back, the big takeaways from Tuesday's primaries. Also, why a Trump ally may have thrown the former president under the bus.
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[01:33:59]
VAUSE: It's just gone 33 minutes past the hour.
Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause.
Well redrawn maps and (INAUDIBLE) are among the defining features of the latest Democratic primaries. In New York, House Democrat Jerry Nadler decisively defeated fellow incumbent Carolyn Maloney in the state's 12th congressional district.
These two Democrats both chair powerful House committees but were pitted against one another due to New York's redistricting.
And in Florida, House Democrat Val Demings, has secured the Democratic nomination for the Senate in a landslide win. She will face Republican Senator Marco Rubio in the November midterms.
But Florida's most closely watched battle was for the Democratic nomination for governor which Representative Charlie Crist has won. Crist, who once served as the Republican governor of Florida, defeated agricultural commissioner Nikki Fried. And he now takes on the immense task of challenging Republican Governor Ron DeSantis come this November.
Jessica Levinson is a law professor at Loyola University Law School. And she is with us again from Los Angeles. Thanks for coming back as our returning champion. [01:35:01]
JESSICA LEVINSON, LAW PROFESSOR, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: We'll see about that.
VAUSE: Ok. Well, what is your take away from the primaries tonight? What was the highlight for you? What sort of was the sort of, you know, all-encompassing overall headline if you'd like.
LEVINSON: So, I think for me, the headline is that the Republican Party as we saw so clearly when Liz Cheney lost her seat, which I believe she won in a primary just two years ago by 73 percent, that this is Trump's party. And I think we see that really up and down the board with maybe some exceptions.
And for Democrats I think they're finding a way to try and be competitive in places like Florida where they haven't won statewide in quite a while and where they have now a registration disadvantage.
I think you're going to hear more from Democrats about the importance of access to reproductive care. I think you're going to hear more from Democrats about Biden's legislative achievements because he's racked up some significant wins lately. And I think you're going to hear more from Democrats about the economy to the extent that the current economy holds for the next 11 weeks.
VAUSE: Yes. Well, the big race is, you know, the governor's race in Florida were we now have Charlie Crist, a centrist, pro-abortion, former Republican running against the man considered to be the biggest threat to Donald Trump's chances of winning the Republican Party nomination, with the very Trumpian Ron DeSantis. Here's part of his campaign ad. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Good morning ladies and gentlemen. This is your governor speaking. Today's training evolution -- dogfighting, taking on the corporate media.
The rules of engagement are as follows. Number one, don't fire unless fired upon. But when they fire, you fire back with overwhelming force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Apparently that stuff goes down really with Republican voters.
Crist campaigned on a return to political decency. DeSantis clearly is not on that ticket. He (INAUDIBLE) to health experts during the pandemic, that kind of stuff.
So is there something the Democrats should be watching in this race come November for the implications for 2024.
LEVINSON: Well, I think Democrats have to be looking for, obviously, points of weakness. Because, as you laid out, this isn't just about gubernatorial race even though this is such an important gubernatorial race. It's also about trying to stop DeSantis in his tracks.
Because he really is, I think, the heir apparent to the Trump throne. In some ways, he's Trump without the drama. He's Trump without being so erratic at all times.
And so, I think for Democrats what they have to do is try and find where is the foothold for Independent voters and how can they get the Democrat base energized, and of course, can they try and pick up some dissatisfied Republican voters. What are they looking at here?
It's always, always -- it comes down to the economy. People vote with their pocketbook. So they're going to have to make inroads into showing why these legislative achievements matter for people's pocketbooks.
And again, I think it's back to reproductive choice because it is something that really deeply affects a lot of people on a daily basis.
VAUSE: We also know now that, you know, speak of Trump and all the drama, 100 documents marked "classified" with over 700 pages were recovered from Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. That was in January.
And we know this because one of Trump's minions, who was dealing with the National Archives, posted a letter from him on his own Web site. Most legal experts have been left gob-smacked that it actually happened because of the revelations it contains.
And this is why John Solomon says he did it. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN SOLOMON, REPORTER: We have new evidence, the news (ph) has obtained correspondence between various parties during the lead up to the raid showing that the Biden White House -- that's right, the Biden White House, Joe Biden's White House, the one that said they had nothing to do this. They were deeply involved in the early instigation of the criminal probe against President Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Kind of, not quite. I mean if you look at -- I went through it. I was trying to work out what he was saying. But they're (INAUDIBLE) like an arm's length involvement of the White House when it comes to the FBI and the decision to go for a subpoena here. But I couldn't see any direct involvement there by Biden. What was your take?
LEVINSON: My take, I think gob-smacked is the right word to use here. This does so much more harm to the extent that people are actually watching and listening with an open mind. It does so much more harm to Trump.
It really shows that the Department of Justice, the National Archives tried so many times to get these documents. And frankly, I think really treated him very softly and carefully and said we really need these. And the idea that it shows involvement by the Biden administration,
when I believe what it actually shows, is the Biden administration said we'd like to delegate this decision to the National Archives.
Really, if people only believed what they're being told and don't actually check to see what is stated in this letter. It is a letter that I think, in so many ways, is damning to the former president. It outlines the really important information that he kept that shouldn't be kept by any private individual even a former president.
[01:40:00]
LEVINSON: And why does it matter? Because it puts all of us at risk. Again, if people are watching with an open mind, which is a big if, it is a damning letter for the former president.
VAUSE: Yes. Jessica, thanks much for being with us. We appreciate it. Jessica Levinson there in Los Angeles.
LEVINSON: Thank you.
VAUSE: Coming up here on CNN election day in Angola. Can a one-time rebel group topple the party that's run the country for nearly half a century? We will take a look in just a moment.
Also, a report finds the U.S. heavily dependent on Taiwan for its semiconductors. We'll speak to a U.S. congressman who just returned from the self-governing island about this (ph) and the impact of (INAUDIBLE) ties with Taiwan and Beijing.
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[01:44:50]
VAUSE: Indiana's governor, Republican Eric Holcomb is the latest U.S. lawmakers to lead a delegation to Taiwan much to the anger of Beijing. Holcomb's trip follows a visit by a House Speaker Nancy Pelosi which also enraged Beijing and triggered live fire military drills around the island.
The latest U.S. delegation signed multiple agreements on trade and investment, specifically on the development of semiconductors.
Joining us once again is Congressman Don Beyer. He was a part of a recent U.S. congressional delegation to visit Taiwan. He's with us again this hour from Alexandria. Thanks for coming back.
REP. DON BEYER (D-VA): Yes, absolutely.
VAUSE: Ok. So a hundred reviews of supply chains by the Biden administration found that with regards to semiconductors or computer chips, the United States is heavily dependent on a single company, Taiwan's TSMC, for producing its leading edge chips. And that puts at risk the ability to supply current and future U.S. national security and critical infrastructure needs. You know, historically the U.S. support for Taipei has been based on opposition to a communist takeover of a free democracy, right? But is Taiwan's autonomy now more important, because of the role it plays in supplying the world's semiconductors?
BEYER: Oh, very much so. I think it's really interesting that TSMC was the result of intentional good (ph) government policy, you know, where we actually decided that they were going to be dominant in the semiconductor business. Now TSMC is our largest supplier of chips, which is essential for everything from car sales, to refrigerators, to our phones.
You know, it's interesting. One of the questions I asked the parliamentarians when we were there in Taipei was do you feel threatened by the recent Chips and Science Act that we passed in Congress, $52 billion from chips investment in the United States?
And they said absolutely not, they intend to be part of that. The TSMC will expand to whether it's Arizona, Ohio, I'm not sure where. I think they see this as an ever-bigger partnership with us.
VAUSE: Well, despite, you know, that semiconductor Chips Act and the billions of dollars in subsidies, Taiwan is expected to dominate the world's supply of semiconductors for some time. The leader of Taiwan calls them democracy chips. This is Tsai Ing-wen speaking on Monday.
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TSAI ING-WEN, TAIWANESE PRESIDENT (through translator): Economic security is an important pillar of national and regional security. Taiwan is willing and able to strengthen cooperation with democratic partners in building sustainable supply chains for democracy chips.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Is President Tsai essentially saying if you want microchips, semiconductors then protect them and Taiwan and prevent a communist takeover by the mainland?
BEYER: Well, I think some of -- one of the scary things is if the mainland were to attack right away, that would have an enormously negative impact on technology throughout the world, you know.
But not just technology. China is our eighth largest trading partner. President Biden has revived the old President Obama notion of Indo- Pacific economic framework. We called it TPP eight years ago.
And Taiwan, I think while not formally part of this framework because we don't recognize it as a country, nevertheless, Katherine Tai, our trade representative over there, now talking about ever-improved trade relations between the island of Taiwan and the United States. They are a really important economic partner.
VAUSE: Congressman, thanks for being with us. We really appreciate your time.
BEYER: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: We'll be right back after a very short break. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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VAUSE: Welcome back.
Voters in Angola head to the polls in the coming hours to elect a new president and a new parliament. The leader of a one-time rebel group is taking on the ruling party, which has held power for nearly 50 years.
CNN's Zain Asher has details.
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ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Angola at a crossroads. Voters in the oil rich African nation will soon go to the polls to decide who will lead the country -- the party that's been in power for nearly five decades, or the opposition which is promising a fresh start, especially for the country's disaffected youth.
Angola's president, Joao Lourenco, leader of the ruling MPLA party campaigned last weekend, hoping for a second term in office.
JOAO LOURENCO, ANGOLAND PRESIDENT: There have been exactly five years since the moment we started this mandate that is ending now. We work during this mandate to make Angola a new Angola. An Angola that is better accepted by the Angolans but also by the international community.
ASHER: Lourenco was the handpicked successor to long time Angolan leader Jose Eduardo Dos Santos who ruled the country for 38 years. Upon taking office in 2017, Lourenco pledged to fight corruption and improve the economy.
But the World Bank says that in rural parts of the country more than half the population still live in poverty.
Angola's main opposition party, UNITA, is trying to appeal to the large number of voters in the country who are young and unemployed. UNITA leader Adalberto Costa Jr. says the MPLA's grip on power is to blame for many of the nation's problems.
ADALBERTO COSTA, JR. UNITA PARTY LEADER (through translator): There is a single party in power, a one party regime. A big cancer this country needs to get rid of. A cancer that feeds on everything to continue to govern.
Today, we can see everywhere that everyone is tired of this party, this single party that holds Angola hostage to its interests, the single party that does not allow Angola to be a democracy. ASHER: The MPLA and UNITA were on opposite sides of a 27-year civil
war which began shortly after Angola became independent from Portugal in 1975 and ended in 2002.
But analysts say this election is less about the country's history, and more about the people who are struggling to get by, and feel let down by the leaders.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not content or happy with the government actions. We await more from them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So if you ask me to vote, I have no one to vote for because even if I vote no one will help my son in life.
ASHER: Election experts say they expect the vote to be a tight race and many will be watching to see if it is a free and fair one. As the country's ruling party faces one of its biggest challenges from many of its citizens who have no money, no job but still have a vote.
Zain Asher, CNN.
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VAUSE: Round-the-world droughts are revealing hidden treasures and forgotten pieces of history. China's largest freshwater lake drained faster than usual during a brutal heat wave, revealing the site of an ancient temple. It happened a lot sooner than normal. Usually a view like this only happens in October.
In eastern Serbia, more than 20 warships have been exposed on the Danube. Experts say the ships were scuttled by Nazi forces in World War II, still contain ammunition and explosives.
And in Texas, dinosaur tracks thought to be more than 100 million years old are on display after a river dried up. Experts say the footprints could've been left by acrocanthosaurus, whatever that is, believed to weigh close to 7 tons. A very big dinosaur is what it was.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with my colleague and friend Rosemary Church. She's coming out (INAUDIBLE).
I'll see you right back here tomorrow.
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