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DOJ to File Public Response for Special Master; Preet Bharara is Interviewed about the Special Master Request; Water Crisis in Jackson; Biden to Push for Assault Weapons Ban; Russia Claims Ukraine Suffered Losses; Oleksandr Syenkevych is Interviewed about the War. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 30, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:30]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good Tuesday morning you to. I'm Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Poppy Harlow. We're glad you're with us.

Well, it's deadline day today for the Justice Department. Officials are expected to file a lengthy public response to former President Trump's bid for a special master, a third party that would be - that would oversee the FBI's review of those materials seized at Mar-a- Lago. The Justice Department now permitted to file up to 40 pages after they said a 20-page limit was just not enough.

Also this morning, CNN has learned that the intelligence community has been working with FBI officials since mid-May, combing through classified documents taken from Mar-a-Lago back in January. That's, remember, when Trump's team turned those over, as they work to determine any risks -- potential risks to high level sources and methods.

SCIUTTO: Plus, there's been a significant departure from the Secret Service. Assistant Director Tony Ornato is out. This two months after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchison testified that Ornato told her President Trump had an irate outburst after his security detail would not take him to the Capitol on January 6th. Ornato, unusual in that he left the Secret Service to become deputy chief of staff to then President Trump.

Let's begin this morning with CNN correspondent Kara Scannell.

Let's talk about the latest filing here. DOJ expected to file a lengthy response to Trump's request. What more do we know about it and what do we expect to be in it?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Jim and Poppy.

That's right, today is the deadline for the Department of Justice to file their brief in response to Trump's request for a special master. That's that third-party person who would review the material seized from Mar-a-Lago. DOJ says they want 40 pages to respond to this. That's double what the judge usually permits, because they say they need the extra room to counteract what Trump has said about different factual issues and different legal issues.

Now, Trump's lawyers will have until tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. to respond to this. And this is all teeing up for the hearing on Thursday in West Palm Beach before Judge Aileen Cannon. She is a Trump appointee.

Now, she has already said she has a preliminary interest in granting this request for a special master, but the Justice Department yesterday filing another brief with the court saying that they had completed their review of the materials taken from Mar-a-Lago and there is a limited set that pertains to these questions about attorney/client privilege.

Now, the DOJ is also going to file today under seal with the judge a much more detailed explanation of what actions they have taken and what they have found and what their filter team, that's a team separate from the investigative team, have already culled through these documents. That's due today, but it will be under seal.

Now, meanwhile, all of this is taking place as CNN has learned that on the classified document front, you know, of the same material seized from Mar-a-Lago, sources tell CNN that the intelligence agencies have been working with the FBI since mid-May, going through these materials. They've been doing a document by document review, our sources say, in order to determine whether any immediate steps need to be taken to protect sources and methods.

Jim. Poppy.

HARLOW: Kara Scannell, thanks so much for the reporting.

Let's talk about all these headlines with CNN's senior legal analyst Preet Bharara, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Preet, it's great to have you on a day like this.

PREET BHARARA, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Good to be here.

HARLOW: So why would - why would you, if you were leading DOJ on this, why would you ask for 40 pages, arguing 20 is not sufficient?

BHARARA: So, Poppy, if I can just pause for a moment and say, as a long practicing attorney, the fact that we are talking about page limits on national television is just a measure of how high the stakes are in this matter and how closely watched it is. It's something that happens all the time in ordinary cases, although, as a general matter, attorneys like to, you know, put in briefs and memos of law within the page limits prescribed by the court.

On the one hand, as Kara pointed out, the review is already done. And so one of the arguments the Department of Justice will likely make is that a special master is moot. The job is finished. The filter team has done its work. So they can be sure.

I think they must feel pretty strongly that they don't want a special master appointed to the matter. And -- because the judge has given an indication that she's inclined to appoint a special master, they want to make sure they believe no argument is left on the table. But they describe the facts in totality to the court, because they have a skeptical judge. And so sometimes when there's a skeptical judge and the judge telegraphs that she's skeptical, you want to take as much room as possible.

SCIUTTO: Preet, I want to ask a big picture question that gets at any potential criminal liability here. You'll remember looking back to 2016 that then-FBI Director James Comey heavily and publicly criticized Hillary Clinton's handling of classified material, but said at the time that no reasonable prosecutor would indict in that case.

[09:05:12]

The circumstances of this case, obviously different. Emails, hard documents, number of documents, classification levels, et cetera.

But are there specific legal standards, or at least practices that establish a sort of bar as to - as to which cases of mishandling of classified information draw indictments and which do not?

BHARARA: Yes, I mean, usually it's the case, if there was something that went beyond sort of negligence, only then can you bring a criminal case. In the case of Hillary Clinton, one of the considerations was, on those set of facts had anyone ever previously been prosecuted with a level of good faith or bad faith that could be reasonably attributable to the former first lady and the determination was it was not.

We don't have all the facts yet. I think one of the questions that we have that's still not answered because the -- most of the affidavit has been redacted, is, what was the level of intentionality on the part of Donald Trump? What was his level of knowledge? What did he do with the information? Why did he keep the information after repeated requests and repeated accommodations to him? And if those facts suggest, and we don't know this yet, those facts suggest, you know, more malicious intent on the part of the former president, not just, I'm keeping this because it's mine and (INAUDIBLE) petulance because he thinks everything belongs to him. If it's something more than that, then I think you're going to get closer to, if not over the line, of prosecution. I just think we need to know more facts.

SCIUTTO: That's helpful.

HARLOW: So, Preet, a lot of folks, I think, think back to Michael Cohen and his apartment being raided. Of course, formerly worked for Donald Trump. And the fact that a special master was appointed in that case. But the difference is, that was about, you know, privilege between an attorney and his client, Michael Cohen.

BHARARA: Yes. HARLOW: This is really about -- the argument the Trump team is making, this is about executive privilege. But Trump's not even the executive now. Biden's the executive. So, could - I mean, that's a -- that's a huge, important distinction, is it not? I mean he -- how can you claim executive privilege when you're no longer the executive?

BHARARA: Yes. So, I think you've hit the nail on the head, precisely. You know, usually the case arises with respect to executive privilege when an executive, usually one - almost always one who's in office at the time, the incumbent, says, I need my documents and my material and my confidence is protected from some other body, like Congress. And we've seen these skirmishes between the legislative branch and the executive branch over the last number of years, in fact, going back decades and decades.

Here, you have a former president who's trying to assert executive privilege, as against an incumbent president who doesn't want to assert it, within the executive branch itself. I mean the oddity of it, that you put your finger on, is that, you know, the National Archives are supposed to be the ones who retain these documents and maintain them because they belong to the United States government. They belong to the executive branch. And so it doesn't make a lot of sense. And that's another reason why maybe the government wants to spend a little more time in its brief to explain that chapter and verse to the court.

SCIUTTO: Preet Bharara, so many legal questions, and you're the man to answer them. Thanks so much.

BHARARA: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Another story we're following this morning. Just a dire situation developing in Mississippi's largest city, Jackson, as residents there, already dealing with record-setting rain, flooded streets, now left without running water.

HARLOW: So, Mississippi's governor, Tate Reeves, has now declared a state of emergency for the city after its main water treatment facility failed yesterday. That has left thousands without enough water to even flush the toilets or fight fires.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MS): This is a very different situation from a boil water notice, which is also a serious situation which residents of Jackson have become, tragically, numb to. Until it is fixed, it means we do not have reliable running water.

DR. DANIEL EDNEY, MISSISSIPPI STATE HEALTH OFFICER: The water is not safe to drink, and I'd even say it's not safe to brush your teeth with, because we are not seeing adequate chlorination and inability to consistently disinfect the water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, let's go to our meteorologist Chad Myers. Obviously, incredibly serious. You can't brush your teeth with it.

What more do we know?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we know, I mean, this was last week, that they had a lot of rain. And that rain got into the river. And it got into the reservoirs. And it got into places that you don't want it to get to. And then, finally, this week, yesterday, the pump failed. The big pump failed. There are a number of smaller pumps. But we didn't even get to major flood stage. We didn't even get to where we were in 2020 with this river. And, certainly, we're about seven feet lower than what we consider the record surge with this river.

Here's the Barnett Reservoir here. Here's the dam. There's the water that comes out of the dam.

I talked to the weather service there in Jackson. They said, this isn't really a flood-stopping reservoir.

[09:10:03]

This is a reservoir and a dam that kind of just holds back water for daily use, for entertainment, for, you know, for boating and all those kind of things.

There is the pumping station that failed. The problem is now they don't have water to drink. They are trying to put out 180,000 people's worth of water for drinking in this very short amount of time. The river is still flooded. It's coming down, but it is certainly still flooded. It will continue to flood downriver until it gets to the Mississippi as well.

The good news is, the radar is clear. And the good news is, after that, there's not much rain even to come later on today. So things are looking up when it comes to the water not going up. But the problem is, the water's not coming out of the faucets.

Jim. Poppy.

HARLOW: Oh, wow, a huge problem for them.

MYERS: Yes.

HARLOW: Chad Myers, thank you very much for explaining it to us.

Well, America's gun violence epidemic will be front and center when President Biden speaks today in Pennsylvania.

SCIUTTO: The president's going to push for an assault weapons ban. Part of a sharpened message ahead of the midterms.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond live from the White House.

And, Jeremy, what seems to be interesting about his message is that it's twofold, right, to have the ban but also he's talking about funding the police. JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And we've

heard President Biden link these two issues before, the issue of crime prevention, funding the police, calling for billions of dollars in additional funding in his 2023 budget proposal, but also at the same time trying to reduce crime by tackling the issue of gun safety reform. And that's what we'll hear from President Biden today as he's expected to renew his call for an assault weapons ban, something that the president was involved in as senator back in the '90s when we saw the last assault weapons ban pass and then ultimately expire in the early part of the 21st century.

But the president will also be calling for universal background checks. And he's also going to be highlighting plans to invest funds for, quote, effective, accountable community policing. That is all part of President Biden's plan. And he's also going to tout previous investments in public safety funding through that American Rescue Plan that passed early in his term.

Now, the White House believes that this assault weapons ban issue is a winning issue for Democrats heading into these midterm elections. If you look at the public polling on this issue, one poll from Fox back in June shows 63 percent of Americans in favor of an assault weapons ban, 32 percent opposed. Other polls show slightly different numbers. But, generally, a majority of Americans supporting this idea of an assault weapons ban.

And I spoke with a senior administration official who told me that, look, this is an issue where the partisan divide really exists in Congress but not necessarily with the public and that the president sees this as a defining and important issue.

Now, of course this is all going to fit in the president's broader midterm messaging push and you're going to hear the president today going after Republicans for claiming that they are pro police while at the same time calling for the FBI to be defunded in the wake of this investigation of former President Trump and the search of his Mar-a- Lago home, and also those Republicans who have defended the January 6th rioters who stormed the Capitol. President Biden is going to call out what he sees as a fundamental hypocrisy there.

Now, this is going to be the first of three trips that President Biden is making in the next week to that key battleground state of Pennsylvania. He's in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, today. He'll be in Philadelphia on Thursday for a soul of the nation speech, and then again in Pittsburgh on Monday. They see Pennsylvania, the White House does, as a key battleground state with both the governor's race and a Senate race that are very, very crucial in these November midterms.

Jim. Poppy.

SCIUTTO: And perhaps in a presidential race in 2024.

Jeremy Diamond, at the White House, thanks so much.

Coming up next, we're going to be live in Ukraine as the Ukrainian army launches a counteroffensive against Russian troops in the south. It's a key moment in this conflict. I'm going to speak to a mayor very close to those front lines.

Plus, new details about the gunman in a deadly supermarket shooting in Oregon. What he posted online before the attack.

HARLOW: Also later, Serena Williams advances to the second round of the U.S. Open. Is this really her last tournament? We will discuss what she said after the match that has everyone talking.

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[09:18:22]

SCIUTTO: Well, it's underway. Right now Ukrainian forces pushing their counteroffensive in the south, aimed at recapturing territory controlled by Russia since the early days of this invasion. An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claims Ukrainian troops have broken through Russian defenses in several areas of the front line, particularly near the city of Kherson, it's a key one, which was the first major city to fall to Russian forces. It comes as Zelenskyy is vowing to chase Russian troops all the way to the border and out of the country.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translator): If they want to survive, it's time for the Russian military to run away. Go home. If they do not hear me, they will have to deal with our defenders. We'll not stop until they free everything that belongs to Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, the Kremlin, on Monday, acknowledged Kyiv's counteroffensive in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, but also claimed the Ukrainian troops, quote, failed miserably and suffered heavy losses.

Our senior international correspondent Sam Kiley is in the region with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Ukrainian armed forces have launched a counteroffensive against the Russian invasion after many weeks of what it calls shaping operations, attacking logistics bases, communications lines, bridges, ammunition dumps and even airfields. Now, this latest counteroffensive is being hailed as an attempt to recapture Kherson, a very important, strategic location. The only regional capital that had fallen to the Russians. It was captured early on in the war because it controls the water supply into Russian-held Crimea.

Now, according to sources -- military sources that have told CNN that at least four villages have fallen fairly rapidly in the first day of fighting to the Ukrainians.

[09:20:07]

Whether they get held or not remains to be seen. But this is clearly an attempt by the Ukrainians to shift the whole initiative away from the Russians, to regain it for themselves and to try to punch through. They are saying that they've got enough troops, that they have very sophisticated new weaponry that has been supplied by NATO and other allies, and they are going to put it to good use.

Sam Kiley, CNN, in Kryvyi Rih.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Right near those front lines.

Joining me now is the mayor of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Oleksandr Syenkevych. Mykolaiv, just about, well, less than 60 miles from Kherson.

Mayor, thanks for coming back on the program.

MAYOR OLEKSANDR SYENKEVYCH, MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE: Hello studio (ph).

SCIUTTO: First, I want to ask you, as this counteroffensive is underway, do you believe Ukraine has the forces and weapons necessary to take back and hold Russian-held territory?

SYENKEVYCH: I think we for sure need more long-distance artillery that will be - that we will be able to use to attack their positions. They were on their positions in Kherson for long time, so they used those concrete (ph) factories situated in Kherson to make their shelters better. And they have concrete shelters which they use to cover the - even their tanks. So they go out, they shoot, and they fall back to those shelters.

So, for sure we will need more artillery, more ammo for those artilleries. And as soon as possible we will go forward.

But, anyway, the counteroffensive won't be so fast, because for sure our partners can help us with ammunition, with weapons and equipment, but no one will fight against Russia except Ukrainians. So, for us, it's the most valuable resource, our soldiers. And we need to save them because for these recent days we have many soldiers injured and we need to save their lives and not to go just forward without thinking about them.

SCIUTTO: I wonder if you could describe to Americans how important Kherson is to Ukraine. It's the -- arguably the biggest prize taken by Russia in this invasion, the largest city taken by Russia. What would its - what would its recapture mean if it happens to Ukrainians like yourself?

SYENKEVYCH: First of all, Kherson was occupied by Russians without any defense. Our troops fell back, give us chance to prepare Mykolaiv and the line of defense on the south of Ukraine. But we lost Kherson and they (INAUDIBLE) without a say big fights or measure loses from our side and from their side too.

So, in the first three days, they crossed the bridge, the Donetsk bridge that is bombarded now by Ukraine, and occupied the city. The most important thing that they created bases, military bases in that region. And, for example, it takes a rocket for about -- from one to two minutes to get from that region to the city of Mykolaiv. So, when we hear the bombardments, we hear the explosion and then we hear the (INAUDIBLE).

We've been having visual confirmation of rocket launch. We don't have too much time to say to people that they need to go to the shelters. For example, like two hours ago, before this steam, we had bombardment and one person was killed and two persons were injured. They used illegal cluster bombs that they launched from Kherson region.

So, we need to push them to at least make the region safer.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, because both Ukrainian and U.S. officials describe the importance of timing here, that between now and really mid-October, when the rainy season starts, it gets colder, is, is the fighting time. During that time period, particularly if this is described, as you say, as a gradual operation, how far do you expect Ukrainian forces to be able to go? That's really, what, six weeks or so during that time frame?

SYENKEVYCH: It's hard to predict any, you know, movements. At least, I think, last nine weeks, the borderline between Russians and our army is -- stays on the same place. So, it moves forward and back but still on the same place.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SYENKEVYCH: And -- but while that time, we got more artillery, we got more weapons and we are ready to move forward.

[09:25:05]

I think six -- next six weeks, that you just mentioned, will be very important for us because then the soil will be really, you know, muddy and it will be harder to use our equipment fast, because right now a lot of our special forces act in the way like shoot and run. So, it will be harder for us to do it. But, anyway, I think military heads, they know what to do and they estimated time.

SCIUTTO: Well, Mayor Oleksandr Syenkevych, we've been speaking to you periodically since the start of the invasion. We're glad you're still safe and we wish you the best going forward in these coming weeks.

SYENKEVYCH: Thank you.

HARLOW: Well, up next, a celebrity-packed crowd went wild for tennis legend Serena Williams as she advanced to the second round of the U.S. Open. But could this be her final tournament? We'll talk about what she said after the match that has everyone wondering.

We are also moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Futures up nearly 200 points after two days in the red. The move comes as prices in energy dip. Investors will get several updates today on the state of the economy, including home prices for June.

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