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Justice Department Opposes Trump's Plea for Special Master; Justice Department: Search Cast Doubt on Trump Lawyer's Claim; Texas Spent More than $12.7 Million to Relocate Migrants; Water Crisis in Jackson, Mississippi; Mikhail Gorbachev, the Last Soviet Leader Dies at Age 91. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired August 31, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane in for Max Foster here in London. Just ahead --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Justice Department weighing in with its side of the story of what happened in the run-up and in the aftermath of the search at Mar-a-Lago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically, they asked the Justice Department to punch him in the face and that's what the Justice Department did in this brief.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a really bad public safety issue for not just my family but for all of our families.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The governor and mayor both pointing fingers about who's at fault here, but a lot of residents want to know when is it going to get fixed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mikhail Gorbachev obviously is credited with being pivotal in bringing down the Iron Curtain, bringing together unity in Europe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After 12 years under Putin, Gorbachev wanted change. He wasn't alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Hello and welcome, it's Wednesday, August 31, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Washington and Palm Beach, Florida. Where Donald Trump's legal team has until tonight to respond to some explosive new allegations from the Justice Department. Federal prosecutors claim government documents were likely concealed and removed from storage at Mar-a-Lago's resort as part of an effort to obstruct their investigation. The Justice Department was responding to Trump's request for a "special master" to review materials seized from Mar-a-Lago. The department also says the former president lacks legal standing to
intervene in its investigation since the documents belong to the government not to Trump. The court filing came with a photo showing documents covered in classified markings found in a container in Trump's office. The Justice Department says more than 320 classified documents have been turned over by Trump all seized in the FBI search. CNN's Sara Murray reports.
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SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department weighing in with its side of the story of what happened in the run-up and in the after math of the search at Mar-a-Lago. This is all part of the court battle that's playing out over whether there should be a "special master," an independent third party appointed to review the documents that the FBI seized when they searched Mar-a-Lago.
Now the Trump team has argued they want this special master. The Justice Department in a late night filing said that they didn't believe it was necessary. They said that the government has already completed its work in going through the documents. It segregated any attorney/client privilege information.
And they also said that Donald Trump doesn't have the standing to intervene in this. These are not his documents. These are the property of the government. But they also laid out their clear rebuttal to what the Trump team has been saying. The Trump team has been saying the former president was cooperative with the Justice Department. They suggested that this search at Mar-a-Lago was over the top.
In this filing the Justice Department lays out what they found in this August search. They say there were over 100 unique documents with classified markings. And this is important because they say this is twice as many documents as what the Trump team produced after they had been subpoenaed. So, they had an opportunity, they said that they handed over everything as a result of this subpoena. And what the Justice Department is saying is, no, we found 100 unique documents with classified markings. They also included a photo that showed the cover sheets, the classification, sort of a sample of what they found.
And in this filing, they also set that said that there were documents likely concealed and removed from Mar-a-Lago from a storage room there in an attempt to obstruct the Justice Department's investigation.
Now this court fight is going to continue. Donald Trump's side has until Wednesday evening to respond. And there is going to be a hearing on this matter on Thursday.
Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Well, the court filing also contends Trump and his legal team have been pushing an incomplete and inaccurate narrative about the FBI search. It says the number of documents recovered in August cast serious doubt on the claim by Trump's lawyer that all classified material had been turned over. CNN's Evan Perez has more.
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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The photograph that we keep showing is -- these are documents that were recovered from according to this document today, it says the Justice Department says that it came from the 45 offices. This is the office of the former president, inside Mar-a-Lago.
And if you zoom in close in there under the heading that says, "Secret SCI," you will see the code that they use to describe the type of information in these documents. HCS is human intelligence. Again, these are the most sensitive things for the CIA in particular which has, you know, human spies in very dangerous places, hostile countries, and these people's lives would be in danger if someone could, you know, pinpoint who they were.
And again, this is the reason why these documents have these cover sheets and they have these codes because they tell everybody if you don't have the clearance to see this, you should not be looking at this.
And according to this document page 13, it says that even some of the agents who are doing the search -- and again these guys are cleared at some of the highest levels --even they had to get additional clearance just to be able to review some of these documents.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: So, as Evan Perez noted there, the materials stored inside Mar-a-Lago were highly sensitive. And in its court filing Justice Department argues appointing a special master to review the evidence would actually harm national security and delay the intelligence community's ongoing review of the documents. Here's a former FBI advisors take on what's at stake.
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PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I find this interesting because the president and his staff are saying some things that undercut his case. You are talking about how the documents are classified and what they clearly say.
The president is going to say the FBI came and raided my house and took some of my personal documents in addition to what are sensitive documents. And he thinks that that's going to be a defense to say that my house was violated. What's he telling us? Documents that are clearly identified as top secret were mixed in with personal documents. Let me tell you my interpretation. It's not that the FBI inappropriately raided the house, it's that I didn't even bother to look at the stuff to determine what was a dinner invitation, what was attorney/client privilege, and what was top secret code. He's almost saying to us, I didn't care about what was top secret and I didn't care to separate it out and store it properly. (END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: And here is what a former U.S. attorney had to say about Trump's request for a special master.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: The danger of his motion and her odd kind of indication, maybe I'll grant a special master, is that it would upend and put back on the footing that Trump has been seeking the whole time of executive privilege. And the DOJ just slices through that legally and factually. And legally it says, look, they're not his, he can't even bring a lawsuit. He has no interest in these. They don't belong to him at all.
If and when he is charged, he can make any claim he wants to, you know, under the law. But for now, he is a guy who has documents, he is a citizen who has documents that he that no business having. Period.
The crime here, the obstruction is he took them. He knew he didn't have a right to take them. He lied about having given them all up, that is the -- when he knew there was an investigation afoot. That's serious enough, that's obstruction, an actual 20 year maximum in the federal code. Whether or not there's a further like crazy "Manchurian Candidate" scenario here or not doesn't matter.
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MACFARLANE: So much more to delve into here and of course, we'll have much more on this story later this hour and on CNN's "EARLY START."
The Texas governor's political showdown with the Biden administration over immigration policies is proving costly. So far this year, Governor Greg Abbott has bussed as many as 9,000 migrants from his state to New York City and Washington, D.C. Now thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, CNN has learned that effort is costing Texas taxpayers millions of dollars. The details now from CNN's Polo Sandoval.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's taken us weeks to get to this point, to get an answer from state officials as far as how much this controversial border busing plan that Governor Abbott announced back in April is costing taxpayers. And now these documents showing these numbers here -- just under $13 million. The numbers are fairly conflicting in terms of how many migrants have actually been sent from the southern border to the northeast in the cities of Washington and New York. But if you do the math, it's still calculating at about $1,400 a person.
I'm from a border region myself. Even looked at flights and what it would cost me to fly from south Texas to New York tomorrow, costing about $500. So, it certainly raises some serious questions about the practicality, the cost effectiveness.
[04:10:02]
Greg Abbott when he made this announcement that he planned to basically take the border to the doorstep of lawmakers in Washington and to Eric Adams' doorstep here in New York made it very clear that he knew that this was not going to come cheap. But at the same time, it'll be interesting to find out once we do get a response -- if we get a response from Greg Abbott -- if he expected this. Because again, if you do the math, it just does not add up when it comes to the amount of money that the state of Texas is spending.
These are figures that were provided to me by the Texas Division of Emergency Management and this was in response to a request for information that I filed weeks ago. And again, laying out that clear number and it's important to point out that likely continues to grow as critics continue to say that this is simply the cost of making a political point as Governor Abbott seeks re-election.
He maintains however from the start that this is meant to provide some relief to some of the communities along the border that have been burdened with the increased number of migrants.
And we should also mention that Texas is not alone. Arizona also implementing a similar program and we're in the process of hopefully obtaining similar documents and similar figures from Arizona as well.
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MACFARLANE: Now the Republican controlled South Carolina House has just advanced a new total ban on abortion. At the last minute added an amendment that includes exceptions for rape and incest up to 12 weeks after conception. It also requires reporting it to law enforcement. The change was made after the original bill which does not include these exceptions was rejected. The bill also includes an exception if the mother's life is at risk, but only a narrow set of medical emergencies would qualify.
About 180,000 people in the Mississippi state capital are waiting for clean water. U.S. President Biden has ordered FEMA to help with the disaster relief efforts. The reason for the crisis, torrential rain led to flooding and overwhelmed the city's main water facility. One resident shared this photo of the water in her home. There's not enough clean water for drinking, for sanitation or fighting fires. But the flooding was just the final straw. The disaster is a combination of decades of failure to fix the system that dates back to the 1950s.
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CASSANDRA WELCHLIN, JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI RESIDENT: We will not use that water. And today I had to remind my kids, you know, don't use the water to brush your teeth. You need to get a bottle of water. And so, we have bottles of water in their restrooms because grit comes out of. And over the weekend, it was even worse. It was brown. And this is even before, you know, the cresting of the reservoir happened.
AARON BANKS, JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI CITY COUNCILMEMBER: I would say that the citizens here are resilient because all hands step up to the plate as always to help make sure that we are serving our vulnerable communities and that we're able to provide potable water. We're used to, you know, the emergency. The sad part about it is and they said reality is this is becoming somewhat of a norm. And we deserve a better quality of life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Some residents spent Tuesday in lines for hours in the heat to get one case of bottled water until officials ran out of supplies earlier than expected. CNN's Ryan Young has more from Jackson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not safe to brush your teeth with.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A desire situation in Jackson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were told on Friday that there was no way to predict exactly when, but that it was a near certainty that Jackson would fail to produce running water sometime in the next several weeks or months if something did not materially improve.
YOUNG (voice-over): Water issues are not new in Jackson, Mississippi. Years of neglect of the aged water system have led to numerous problems and residents have been under some sort of boil water notice or advisory several times in the last year alone after a 2021 winter storm shut down the entire system.
This time the recent flooding in the South bringing their system to the brink. The city maintains they just don't have the financial resources to make repairs on the antiquated system.
CHOKWE ANTAR LUMUMBA, JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI MAYOR: We don't have the funds in order to deal with 30 years of neglect.
YOUNG (voice-over): Damage to the water system this summer led officials to believe that it would lead inevitably to the systems complete failure. Monday it did. Backup pumps are running but the governor says they lack enough water to fight fires or flush toilets.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves tweeting that the state has requested a federal declared disaster and offered the state to pay half of the repairs needed if the city covers the other half. He declared state of emergency for the city and up to 4,500 National Guard members have been activated scrambling to distribute water to residents who are frustrated and scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's has been an ongoing problem that needs to be corrected and we hope that they are heading in the right direction.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is almost always something going on with the boil water notices or now with this all of a sudden shortage.
[04:15:00] It's just kind of scary because we don't know if anything is going to get done or when it's going to get done.
YOUNG (voice-over): Now a possible special meeting of the legislature to try to come up with the funding to fix the situation.
LUMUMBA: I don't want to hypothesize on why it has taken this long. I'm just grateful that the relief has arrived.
YOUNG (voice-over): Frustrated residents hoping that this time it's true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, I mean, whatever Jackson got going on, they need to get that right. It's very frustrating. It's very frustrating to have to fight for some water.
YOUNG: Yes, it was hard to watch. People sitting in their cars in 91 degree heat for hours. And sometimes not even getting the water that they were waiting for. Something that people say that they really want to know when this water situation is going to end, but this will not be a short term fix. Back to you.
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MACFARLANE: Now California officials are asking residents to cut back on their power usage over the long holiday weekend. More than 50 million people are under heat alerts from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest through this coming Tuesday. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest forecast -- Pedram.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christina. You know, when you talk about a population that is so large the impact certainly going to be wide reaching. We know is this a multiday setup. We know over 50 million, as you noted, are going to be impacted by this across parts of seven states. And what it together, these temperatures get dangerous every single day. Once you get to day three, day four, the impacts become far more significant. But you'll notice some 120 records expected across portions of the Western United States. So, we know again that this will be a major issue for a lot of people.
Notice the disparity between the excessive heat across the Western U.S. and almost a hint of autumn across portions of the Eastern United States. So, when you look at these numbers, typically the numbers you see in the latter portion of August into early September, they're on the down swing. They bring you back down to about say 5, maybe 7 degrees of seasonal averages and usually shy of the seasonal average which in places like bakersfield and Sacramento, they're in the middle and upper 90s.
But you'll notice they're about 5 to 10 degrees above the seasonal average which is something that you see in the middle of summer not the last few weeks of it. And that is precisely what makes this one more dangerous. In places like Death Valley into the 120s, temps you'd expect in the middle of July, not again approaching early September.
And notice records have been falling by the wayside across parts of the Western U.S. of the U.S. just the past 24 or so hours. Seattle climbing up to 90 degrees, a record that have been standing there since 1987. And in Reno, a 99 degree observation, time the record from the 1950s. So, speaking really to the wide reaching impacts across this region.
Now cross the Eastern U.S., there is some inclement weather that has brought with it cooler temperatures. General concerns of straight line winds that were in place there with these storms. But you will notice showers scattered about areas of the southern United States as well. The tail of that front, Christina, that will produce some showers, maybe some localized flooding around the southeast. Bring additional flooding concerns back around parts of western Texas. Which for them is good news at least with cooler temperatures in store in that region -- Christina.
MACFARLANE: Thanks very much, Pedram.
OK, coming up, the man who many say drew back the Iron Curtain has died. We'll look back at the life of Mikhail Gorbachev in a live report from Moscow.
And the U.S. jobs market is white hot, but that could start to cool as the Fed hints at higher interest rates.
And later this hour, U.S. President Joe Biden gave a fiery speech in Pennsylvania slamming what he called MAGA Republicans. Donald Trump has his own plans for a rally in the swing state in the coming days.
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MACFARLANE: The last leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev has died at the age of 91. At home he was known for policies like "glasnost" and "perestroika" meant to reform the soviet government and economy. And abroad he engaged with U.S. and Western leaders calling for nuclear disarmament and bringing an end to the Cold War. His relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin was at times complex. In 2012, he sat down with CNN's Christiane Amanpour and revealed his thoughts on Mr. Putin's leadership.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think President Putin is committed to any kind of reform and will the people's voice be heard under his presidency?
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, LAST LEADER OF SOVIET UNION (through translator): I think it will be hard for him given his nature do this, but there is no other way for him but to move toward greater democracy in Russia, toward real democracy in Russia. Because there is no other way for Russia to find a way out of its dead end, in which it's now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Well, CNN's Nada Bashir is following reactions pouring out from around the world for us. But first let's get to CNN's Fred Pleitgen who is live for us in Moscow today. Fred, we know Gorbachev was a polarizing figure, you know, viewed by the West very much a man of hero of liberalism, a man of courage and integrity. And yet in Russia that view is quite different. He is seen as a leader who lost an empire there. So, what reaction has there been to news of his passing this morning?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Christina. Yes, you're right, quite a controversial figure here in Russia. There are obviously some who are expressing their condolences and their sorrow today, also pretty high level members of Russia's Parliament and other public figures as well. And you already had Vladimir Putin's speaker coming out last night and saying that the Russian president had sent his condolences and will send an official telegram today as well.
However, there are a lot of people here in Russia who view Mikhail Gorbachev very critically. Obviously especially with the fact that it was under his leadership that the Soviet Union fell apart and that many people felt that, you know, their lives fell into disarray. Many people felt that they were personally humiliated by the way things went in Russia afterwards by a lot of economic uncertainty, the uncertainty as far as security was concerned as well. And they felt that the country itself was humiliated also on the international stage.
[04:25:00]
Going from a country that was pretty much on par with the West and the U.S., a nuclear super power in a bipolar world, to becoming almost a laughingstock among Western nations and a country that many felt was being publicly humiliated on the world stage.
And you know, I spoke to some younger Russians over the past couple years that I've been here and there were a lot of very critical voices. Some people even calling him an enemy of the people here in Russia. Nevertheless of course there are also some who are saying, look, he gave us freedom from Soviet rule, from the Soviet Union in order for Russia to at least have a path to a more free society if that's something that they chose to follow. So, really a mixed bag of things here.
And I think one thing that is really telling this morning -- in fact a couple of minutes ago the spokesman for the Kremlin he came out and said that there hasn't been a final decision made yet whether or not there will be a state funeral for Mikhail Gorbachev. That's something that's going to be decided today. So, you can see not much in the way of public mourning and certainly a figure that many people do view very critically.
We do know that he is going to be buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery, which is sort of the second most important cemetery here in this country. It's where Nikita Khrushchev was buried as well. He's going to be buried next to his wife Raisa, and of course he loved very much until she passed away in 1999. So, a complex situation around Mikhail Gorbachev, but nevertheless of
course I think people in Russia will also agree, a very towering and important historical figure who's passed away -- Christina.
MACFARLANE: Yes, possibly no state funeral, a real indication there, Fred, of how Russians are possibly feeling today. Thanks very much, Fred.
Let's turn to Nada here in the studio. And the tributes have been flooding in elsewhere around the globe from the West who were obviously, you know, very favorable to towards him. What have world leaders been say something.
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely, he has left behind a towering legacy and we have heard from world leaders overnight across the globe sharing their condolences.
We've heard from the U.S. President Biden saying that as leader of the USSR, Gorbachev worked with President Reagan to reduce to reduce our two countries nuclear arsenals, to the relief of people worldwide praying for an end to the nuclear arms race. He believed in glasnost and perestroika -- openness and restructuring -- not as a mere slogan, but as the path forward for the people of the Soviet Union after so many years of isolation and deprivation.
And we also heard from the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He actually described Gorbachev as: A one of a kind statesman who changed the course of history. He did more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War. The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist and tireless advocate for peace.
And here in the United Kingdom the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also shared his condolences. He actually sent out a tweet last night saying that he always admired the courage and integrity that Gorbachev showed in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion. In a time of Putin's aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.
And of course, Gorbachev's death has come at a particularly poignant moment as the war in Ukraine rages on. And the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as well expressing her condolences. But she also commended and hailed Gorbachev's efforts to bring down the Iron Curtain. She said, opened the way for a free Europe. And that is the legacy that will not be forgotten.
MACFARLANE: All right, Nada Bashir, thank you very much for that, Nada.
OK, and a few hours U.S. markets will open and here is how the Dow are looking now. Nasdaq and S&P are all up as you can see. And a possible rebound for all three indices as U.S. stocks had a rough ride on Tuesday finishing off for the third day in a row of losses. This follows a brief rally at the open, but then markets gave up their gains, 5 percent drop in oil prices led to a selloff in energy stocks. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell had signaled Friday that there would be
more hikes in interest rates soon. But it's not all bad news. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were more job openings July than expected. Employers were looking to hire around 11.2 million workers, that's slightly higher than June. But that number could be in jeopardy if the Fed continues to raise interest rates potentially costing more than 5 million jobs. But even the threat of a cooling jobs market isn't closing consumer wallets.
Lower gas prices are helping to push up consumer confidence, despite the threat of a recession.
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MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Consumer confidence is still low but it has gone up. The confidence board found that more people are ramping up their plans to make purchases, that includes a jump in the number of consumers who were planning to take a vacation. About 90 percent of consumers say that the current business conditions are good, that's up from 16 percent in July. All this is a big deal because consumer spending is the main engine of this economy and if it breaks down, all bets are off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, speaking of consumer spending, U.S. retailers say they're overstocked in clothing due to lower demands. So, some are packing it away in the hopes of selling it in future seasons. Demand as weakened and rising inflation and other factors. So, retailers including Kohl's and The Gap are using business strategy known as pack and hold to manage their bloated.
