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Uvalde Police Chief Fired; U.S. Launches Airstrikes in Syria; Georgia Election Probe; Nuclear Disaster Fears in Ukraine; DOJ Submits Proposal For Redacted Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 25, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:31]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.

The Justice Department has just submitted their proposed redactions to the Mar-a-Lago affidavit. A federal judge is now reviewing them and deciding what to unseal.

A lot of people want to see this document to understand why the FBI was compelled to search the home of former President Trump earlier this month. The Justice Department does not want any of it released. Donald Trump's team claims to want all of it released, though, when his lawyers had a chance to say that in court, they declined to do so.

BLACKWELL: In the meantime, we are learning more about just how long the National Archives work to retrieve government documents from the former president before the search of Mar-a-Lago.

An e-mail made public shows requests for the return of presidential records were happening even before Donald Trump left office.

CAMEROTA: OK, let's get to CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider.

So, Jessica, the DOJ has submitted their proposed redactions. What happens now?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, now we wait.

And, unfortunately, we don't know how long we're going to be waiting for. So, like you said, the filing from prosecutors, it came in under seal, so not revealed to the public, just before that noon deadline.

And, right now, the judge, Bruce Reinhart, he's reviewing what DOJ has said they believe is OK to make public. Now, it's very likely that most of this affidavit is blacked out with DOJ's recommendations, because they have made very clear that there is little, if anything, that can be released here without compromising their ongoing criminal investigation.

But the judge has pushed repeatedly, saying he believes the public should be informed here. So, to that note, right after DOJ filed, several media outlets, including CNN, filed a motion with the judge to immediately unseal and make public whatever DOJ has submitted, that way, the public could see immediately the extensive redactions that DOJ is likely asking for here.

So we will see what the judge decides. He may agree with DOJ's extensive redactions, make those public, or he might disagree. He might say more needs to be revealed. And, Alisyn and Victor, if that happens, he will likely give DOJ time to appeal his decision, which could just draw out this process and keep anything from public view for maybe several more weeks even.

So we're going to wait and see how it plays out. We could hear more today, or maybe tomorrow or even next week -- guys.

BLACKWELL: All right.

Jess, Trump's supporters, his allies have defended him and said, why didn't the FBI offer him more time, more opportunities to give back the documents before going into his home? There is this new e-mail that tells us just how long there's been resistance from Trump and his team. What have you learned from it?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, and, even in addition to that e-mail, our team is getting a lot more details about how long and extensive these efforts were by the National Archives to retrieve the presidential records.

In particular, a source has told our Jamie Gangel that the back-and- forth, the negotiations, it began right after Trump left office in January 2021. So that "Washington Post" e-mail that they got was in May 2021, where the Archives said they learned about two dozen boxes had been stored at the White House and still hadn't been returned.

But even before that, we have learned that, in the final weeks, when Trump was still in office, the White House Records Office told the Archives they hadn't received several crucial documents. It includes the letter that former President Obama left for Trump in 2017, letters from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and even that map, that infamous map of Hurricane Dorian's path that Trump famously altered with a sharpie.

So we're learning not only specifics about what was missing, but we're seeing how the Archives, they were negotiating with Trump's team for more than 18 months, before FBI agents finally served that search warrant on Mar-a-Lago about two-and-a-half weeks ago.

So, guys, this was an extensive process and a lot of back-and-forth between the Archives and Trump's team.

BLACKWELL: Eighteen months before the search of Mar-a-Lago.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Jessica Schneider, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Now to this. Today, in Fulton County, Georgia, a judge heard arguments about whether Governor Brian Kemp must testify in front of that special grand jury. This is all part of the investigation into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

CNN's Nick Valencia has been following this story.

So, what's the latest, Nick?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Victor. Hey, Alisyn.

We were in court to hear arguments from Kemp's attorneys, who are effectively saying that this special purpose grand jury has no jurisdiction to ask him to testify, his attorneys arguing but he's protected by executive privilege and sovereign immunity.

[14:05:03]

And take a listen to the arguments of one of his counsel saying why he is beyond, why they believe he's beyond the reach of this investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK BAUER, ATTORNEY FOR BRIAN KEMP: The governor doesn't think that he is beyond any reach of law. He's just beyond the reach of this particular subpoena, because there are other mechanisms. If the state needs or wants to investigate the official activities of the governor, that legal authority does exist.

It just doesn't exist with this special purpose grand jury.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: The district attorney's office doesn't agree.

They say he is uniquely knowledgeable about matters of election interference that this special purpose grand jury is investigating, including a December 2022 -- or 2020, rather, phone call between former President Trump and Kemp.

They also want to know if there was any threats made by Trump or others in Trump's orbits related to the election. They really want to know any details about any conversations that Kemp had with Trump or others in his orbit in the wake of the 2020 election.

The -- whether or not Kemp appears before this special purpose grand jury is now in the hands of Judge McBurney, who's overseeing this special purpose grand jury. He did not give a deadline as to when he will make his decision -- Victor, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, so, Nick, what about this, that group of pro-Trump fake electors that are also part of this investigation? But they're trying to disqualify the Fulton County DA. So what's the judge's decision about that. VALENCIA: Yes, remember, Alisyn, these electors, all 16 of them, were given target letters saying that they are targets of this criminal investigation.

One of them has already been able to disqualify or get Fani Willis disqualified. She held a fund-raiser for a political opponent of state senator -- of one of the state senators that's part of this fake electors scheme, this sham that tried to illegitimately certify President Donald Trump in the wake of the 2020 election as the rightful winner of the state of Georgia.

Eleven of these fake electors thought the because Burt Jones was successful in disqualifying Fani Willis, they too could prove that there's a political motivation behind Fani Willis' investigation. A judge disagreed, saying that it's no indication that there's any politics at play with Fani Willis related to these fake electors.

So they failed in their attempt.

But, guys, this is a lot of moving parts here. Remember, this all started with a now infamous phone call between former President Trump and Secretary of State here in Georgia Brad Raffensperger. It has expanded to include these fake electors, as well as Rudy Giuliani, Lindsey Graham, who's still in a lot of legal wrangling as to whether or not he's going to testify here.

So this investigation, my point is, is very broad and wide and wide- ranging that Fani Willis is running here -- Victor, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Nick Valencia, thank you for the update.

Let's bring in now Jennifer Rodgers. She's a CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor. We also have Peter Strzok. He's a former FBI deputy assistant director. He's also the author of "Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump."

Great to see both of you.

Jennifer, so about this DOJ, about the -- yes, the affidavit that everybody wants to see, except DOJ doesn't want it released, when do you think that the public could ever get their eyes on portions of this?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Alisyn, I think it's going to be a little while, because, of course, it will take some time.

If the judge does insist on releasing it with redactions, it'll take some time for the judge and DOJ to go back and forth and reach some agreement on what the judge thinks is reasonable. But then you also have to remember this is with a magistrate judge, not an Article 3 district court judge.

So, typically, how it works, the magistrate will actually make a report and recommendation to a district court judge, who is the one who has the power to issue an order for release of a document like this. So there may be some time built in for that process. And then that doesn't even get into the possible appeal if DOJ is

unhappy with where the judges land. So I think it's going to be at least into next week before we're able to see anything.

BLACKWELL: Peter, there are the legal concerns and the political concerns here. Are you seeing evidence and are you concerned that those political concerns are now undermining the legal concerns as it relates to unsealing any of this affidavit?

PETER STRZOK, FORMER FBI COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AGENT: Well, I think, clearly, what we have seen, and as you pointed out at the beginning of the segment, there has been a long list of sort of Republican excuses for what Trump did or didn't do and questions about, why wasn't he asked to cooperate? Why wasn't he asked for these documents?

And what we're seeing in reality is that there was a year-and-a-half of trying to get this. And, frankly, it makes me wonder right now why it took so long to get a search warrant. The fact of the matter is that DOJ and the FBI are proceeding in the way that they always do in cases like this.

And what you see through the politicization of this process, certainly by some commentators in support of Trump, are trying to make baseless, groundless arguments that there's something unusual here, that there was something unmerited. That's simply not true.

And as the facts are coming out, as we see that now it appears over 1,000 pages of documents which were marked classified, it's very apparent that this was a righteous investigation, that this was a righteous search warrant, that there was probable cause to support not just mishandling of classified information, but potential things touching on obstruction.

[14:10:10]

And so I do think the sort of the politics, bringing that into law enforcement arena is damaging. But I think the good news is, our system, as these facts come out, do nothing but highlight that the FBI and DOJ are absolutely doing things in accordance with the law and by the book.

CAMEROTA: Peter, one follow-up to that, because I was wondering the very same thing; 18 months, I mean, that's not a rush to judgment. That's not a snap decision.

So, knowing that they knew that President Trump had absconded, for lack of a better word, with these classified, some of them top secret, documents, at least 700 pages, these are not only national security threats. They're also not his belongings. They're the American people's belongings.

And so this 18-month grace period that the National Archives and the DOJ gave him, would anybody be granted that grace period? And are you concerned that they were floating out there for those 18 months?

STRZOK: No, I don't think anybody other than a president or former president would get that long a period of negotiation.

There is a valid observation that Attorney General Garland made that, particularly given the stature of a former president, particularly given the fact that DOJ has never served a search warrant, that it makes sense -- on a former president -- that it makes sense to be prudent in the approach, that it makes sense to approach that with increasing levels of sort of invasiveness, from a request, to a subpoena, and finally, only after exhausting everything else, to finally go for a search warrant.

So there's some argument for that, I think there's now a very valid argument, given everything we know, that -- whether 18 months was too long, because the fact is exactly what you point out. For every one of those 18 months, the reason these documents are classified, and certainly at the top secret level, and the SCI and Special Access Program level, is they have extraordinarily sensitive information in them, things potentially that like might lead to the death of agents overseas, things that might compromise billion-dollar systems.

Those things sitting unsecured in an environment where various foreign intelligence agencies are trying to get their hands on them, where former President Trump was doing God knows what with them were, where, who knows, people working at Mar-a-Lago might have had access, those are the sorts of extraordinary national security concerns that we absolutely need to be thinking about and hoping that had been addressed.

BLACKWELL: Jennifer, let me ask you this question. I have considered it. And you're the legal expert. I am not. So let's add that as context around this question.

They were aware that these two dozen boxes, give or take, were in the residence, in the East Wing of the White House. Could they have done something while they were still on federal property to keep them from being taken to Mar-a-Lago?

RODGERS: Well, that's a really interesting question, Victor. I mean, some of us thought about some of these issues when it was looking like Trump might refuse to leave office. Could someone go in and extract him and put President Biden in there if he refused to go?

I mean, these are very, very tough questions. I don't think they would have gone into take them from the Oval Office or the residents in the White House. I think they would have considered them secure enough at that time. There's now this notion coming out that he had declassified some of them. I think we all know that that's not a legitimate claim.

But I do not think that they would have moved until they left the premises of the White House, in part because I think they would have been more comfortable that they were relatively secure, and in part because how do you even logistically, physically, operationally think about doing something like that?

I just think that was probably a nonstarter, if anyone even thought about it at the time.

BLACKWELL: OK. Again, you're the legal expert. I am not.

Jennifer Rodgers, Peter Strzok, thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right, so U.S. forces carry out retaliatory strikes in Syria after a rocket attack injures U.S. service members.

Plus this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Turn in your badge and step down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The Uvalde school board voted unanimously to fire police Chief Pete Arredondo, so what's next for this community?

We will discuss with a member of the investigative committee looking into the school shooter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:47]

The U.S. carried out more airstrikes in Syria overnight. The strike that you're about to see here, according to a U.S. official, was in retaliation for a rocket attack that injured three U.S. troops on coalition bases.

BLACKWELL: Now, this is part of an escalating conflict between U.S. forces and Iranian-backed groups in Syria.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon.

So what do you know about these latest strikes, Oren?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Alisyn, we really over the course of the last 48 hours or so seen this pick up not only in terms of the escalation level, but also in terms of how quickly this is unfolding.

It begins a week ago. And here you can take it, this list that will give you a better sense of how quickly this has happened, when there were two attacks on bases used by U.S. troops in Syria, one a drone attack, one a rocket attack.

The U.S. retaliated for that on -- earlier on this week. That's when the U.S. carried out strikes against nine bunkers used by Iranian- backed groups for weapons storage, as well as for logistics support for their operations. And then this really begins to pick up pace.

That's when, within 24 hours, there were attacks on two separate bases housing U.S. troops in Syria known as Green Village and Conoco. In one of those attacks, according to U.S. Central Command, three U.S. troops were injured, suffering minor injuries. One of those troops, it should be noted, has returned to duty, while two others remain under evaluation.

[14:20:04]

In immediate response to that attack, U.S. attack helicopters carried out retaliatory strikes, killing, according to U.S. Central Command, two to three Iranian-backed militants in the region, as well as destroying rocket launchers and vehicles. That wasn't the end of the U.S. response.

There was a further response with AC-130 gunships and M777 howitzers, as well as helicopters as well, where they targeted more Iranian- backed militants, as well as rocket launchers.

The question now, where does this go from here? Does this continue in this rapid escalatory pace we have seen so far, or is this where it stops for now? And that's the key question here as we watch how quickly this is unfolding, and how it has gone over the course of the last 48 hours -- Victor and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Oren Liebermann, thank you for the reporting.

BLACKWELL: Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the U.N. says power has been restored at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after it was cut off earlier today.

The last two power units at the Russian-occupied plant reportedly went dark because of fires that broke out nearby.

CAMEROTA: The U.N. says delegates from the International Atomic Energy Agency might be able to examine the facility in the coming days.

Meanwhile, in Central Ukraine, the death toll continues to rise in that deadly train station attack. At least 25 people are dead and dozens wounded after Russian missiles struck the station in the town of Chaplyne yesterday.

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council that the missiles hit civilian targets, including that passenger train.

BLACKWELL: President Biden reiterated his support for Ukraine in a call with President Vladimir Zelenskyy today.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is at the White House.

So what are you hearing about this call?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Victor, it was a call that was just as important for the symbolism as it was for the substance.

And there certainly have been both. Symbolically, the president, President Biden has referred to this day, this celebration, to some degree, from Ukraine as bittersweet, recognizing that Independence Day is difficult to celebrate when you are currently in the midst of a war, made clear that the U.S. support will be consistent, it will be maintained, and it will be long-term.

And that was something that was underscored by the latest weapons package that the U.S. just signed off on over the course of the last 24 hours, $3 billion, the largest one-time package that has been signed to this point. It was targeted for Independence Day, lining up with it.

And the contents of that package really demonstrate what the president and his team have been talking about in terms of a long-term commitment. Some of those weapons systems, all of which the Ukrainians have been asking for, may not be delivered for years, one year, two year in the future. That was by design. That was to underscore that the U.S. is not going anywhere, that the U.S. takes very seriously not just the short-term security needs of Ukraine and its people, but also the long-term needs and the alliance that exists.

Now, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, just said moments ago the issue of the Zaporizhzhia power plant was brought up. Obviously, this is something White House officials have been very concerned about over the course the last several weeks, the president having a discussion with key ally leaders over the course of the last week.

While details of what was said are not clear yet, one thing that is clear, the U.S. very much believes that is not an area that should be considered a war zone. Whether or not there will be any shift in the dynamic that has largely been a stalemate, and a dangerous one, at that, still unclear, guys.

CAMEROTA: OK, Phil Mattingly, thank you for the very latest.

BLACKWELL: Should vacant hotel rooms house the homeless? It's a question that voters in Los Angeles will now have to answer.

Ahead, why some say this could do more harm than good.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:08]

BLACKWELL: Three months after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, the man largely blamed for the failed police response has just been fired.

CAMEROTA: School district police Chief Pete Arredondo was officially removed from his post last night after an emotional 90-minute public hearing.

CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz joins us live from Uvalde, where he has been so much over the past three months.

And, Shimon, the big question is, why did it take three long months?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that is the big question. Alisyn, coming out here to the memorial site and really the school

three months later, this should be a time when we should be seeing kids behind us, school is in session. It was supposed to be in session. We should see kids playing perhaps. We should be seeing school buses, parents coming to pick up their kids at this hour.

And it is just remarkable, Alisyn -- we stood out here in the days after the shooting -- but how eerily quiet it is out here. And it's just -- I couldn't help but notice. We just got here a short time ago, and what a different scene this is, what a different atmosphere it is here in this community.

And you can just hear the silence. You come here, this should be such a busy time for this community. And you talk about three months, the accountability and how long it's taken for this to happen, for the community, for the family members to see someone face some accountability.

And, finally, the school chief here, now former school Chief Pete Arredondo being fired last night by the school board, this is something family members wanted for quite some time. They're also really upset at how the school has been handling everything here, doing everything in private, having private discussions about what they were going to do and some of the planning that's gone into firing -- the firing of the now former chief.

And we heard a lot of that frustration last night, including from a little girl who spoke about her feelings and what she thinks.

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