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Mississippi Water Crisis; Ohio Police Shooting; Home Loans Without Red Tape?; President Biden Set to Deliver Prime-Time Address; Mar-a-Lago Case Court Hearing. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 01, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Putin says it's because of a work conflict, but the two leaders had a very strained relationship. Putin did find time to lay flowers on the former Soviet leader's coffin.

Appreciate your time today on INSIDE POLITICS. We will see you back here tomorrow.

Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thanks so much for joining us.

Happening now, a key hearing inside this Florida courthouse, and what happens this hour could have a significant impact on the criminal probe into former President Trump's handling of highly sensitive classified records.

Now, we have brand-new video of Trump's team arriving just moments ago, they're hoping the judge will decide in their favor and soon appoint a special master or third party to review documents seized from Mar-a-Lago last month. But the Justice Department argues it's not necessary and could actually hinder the investigation.

Let's break down what each side is arguing before this judge right now.

CNN's Sara Murray is leading us off

Sara, walk us through it.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, this is going to be the continuation of this court fight over whether there should be this third party to go through what was seized at Mar-a-Lago.

The Justice Department has argued that this is not a necessary step. They're saying that the Trump team pushed an inaccurate narrative about the search and that putting a special master in place now, when they have already gone through the material, is just going to slow down their criminal investigation and could potentially impede this national security risk assessment that has already been under way.

They're also pointing out that, while there are some potentially attorney-client privilege materials, that executive privilege doesn't apply in this scenario, because you're talking about sharing information with the executive branch.

But the Trump team in their filing last night continued to be very insistent that they want a special master. We saw a lot of deep skepticism of the Justice Department in their filing. Here's a line from that.

They said: "The purported justification for the initiation of this criminal probe was the alleged discovery of sensitive information contained within the 15 boxes of presidential records. But this discovery was fully anticipated, given the very nature of presidential records. Simply put, the notion that presidential records would contain sensitive information should not -- should have never been cause for alarm."

So they're essentially downplaying the fact that Trump had all of these documents at Mar-a-Lago with these classification markings, saying it's no surprise, essentially, no big deal that this former president had these potentially classified materials.

Now, it's going to be an interesting day in court today. We know that the former president has a number of lawyers around him. One of those lawyers is going to be Chris Kise. He's a new addition to the former president's legal team. He was a former Florida solicitor general. He's argued a number of cases in front of the Supreme Court.

And, frankly, his addition came as a relief to some of Trump's allies who were worried that Trump was still kind of treating this investigation as a P.R. problem, rather than a criminal matter.

CABRERA: Sara Murray, we know you're going to be following today's developments, again, this hearing under way right now.

Let's discuss with CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates and former federal prosecutor Shan Wu.

Shan, as this judge, Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, hears these arguments, contemplates her ruling, what do you think she's going to be looking at specifically, and what are her options?

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think she's looking at the arguments that DOJ has made, saying that there's really no standing here for Trump to ask for the special master.

She should -- I don't know if she will -- she should consider the usual context for special masters, which is to protect attorney-client information,usually, in searches of a law firm office, like the Giuliani instance. Obviously, Mar-a-Lago is not a lawyer's office. So that's an important distinction I hope she looks at.

But I think the big question here that goes to her options is scope, because what Trump's team wants is a very broad grant of authority to a special master to look at executive privilege, as well as attorney- client privilege, which is really a backdoor way of managing and trying to meddle in the criminal investigation. So if she says yes to a special master, the real question is, what

option is she going to choose? Is she going to grant a broad scope or a narrow scope?

CABRERA: That's something to watch, certainly.

And, Laura, one of the key Trump team arguments for this special master, as they laid out in their filing last night, was that finding sensitive documents, as they put it, in Trump's possession back in January should not have been alarming and really shouldn't have triggered a criminal investigation at all -- quote -- "This discovery was to be fully anticipated, given the very nature of presidential records."

One, it sounds like they're acknowledging he was in possession of classified material. Two, they're saying, that's OK because he's the former president. Is that a good legal argument?

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: No. I mean, it's so absurd to think about.

[13:05:00]

On the one hand, remember, part of the statutes that might be implicated is the mere possession of the documents themselves. so to essentially confirm, yes, they're there, and then the idea of, wouldn't you expect to have presidential records, well, here's the thing, Ana, as you well know.

Yes, presidents will have presidential records. He is not the president of the United States. And the idea of it being a token, a memento, some sort of tchotchke, this is not. We're talking about clearly marked documents with cover sheets that tell you the nature of the sensitivity.

I think many people had in their minds, they heard about the stamping or the idea of a marking, they thought -- I'm dating myself here -- toward the Dewey Decimal aspect at the library, when you had at the end of it when the book was due, a little bit of a stamp from your librarian.

No, these are cover sheets with the huge borders telling you, stop, this is not to be read by just anybody. So the idea here, saying, well, wouldn't you expect these to be in his possession, of course, the answer is not.

And, to Shan's point, it could very well be the judge goes beyond what is normally contemplated because of the huge microscope and magnifying glass on top of this particular case in the public interest. On the one hand, you could foresee the DOJ saying, you know what? We have dotted every I, we have crossed every T. If you want to have a special master there, be prepared, Your Honor, to ensure that we're not going to have our investigation derailed, because you cannot unring the bell.

We have seen the documents for several weeks, and any privilege issues are going to be separate from classified, top secret, sensitive material. If she is prepared to compartmentalize in a way that does not derail an investigation, I would be prepared for her to try to find some way to split that baby, even though it is not at all the course of normal affairs.

CABRERA: Shan, talking about how Trump's team is addressing this classification issue, it's interesting, because, yesterday, before that formal filing by his team, Trump was still saying he had declassified all these documents, so nothing to see here, nothing wrong, done wrong.

And yet that's not an argument his legal team is making.

WU: Right.

CABRERA: What do you make of that?

I think the legal team is maybe pulling back a bit now, probably to be more focused. Yes, it's a glaring omission. They're not making that particular argument.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: They're basically admitting, yes, there were classified documents.

WU: Yes. Yes.

The other problem, of course, is the whole idea that the FBI planted declassified documents. I mean, how do you declassify something that wasn't there yet? So, a lot of issues with that.

CABRERA: Well, and Trump is also saying and acknowledging in other statements that these documents were in cartons. They weren't laid out on the floor like that. They were in cartons.

WU: Right. Right.

CABRERA: So it sounds like he's even saying he knew they were there.

WU: Yes, I think that it's a little bit hard to discern where the theme of their strategy is going here.

But I think they're ultimately going to try to rely on the idea that it was fine for him as president to do whatever he wants, meaning he could take the documents. If they're classified, he could declassify them, even though that's not crucial to the potential charge, and that because they were -- quote -- "his records," he didn't have to go through the normal process with the archivist.

So I think that's really going to be the theme, which is very consistent with the Trump administration and enablers so far, is that the president has an emperor-like power to do whatever they want.

CABRERA: So, Laura, Trump's team says that the search was unwarranted, that all the National Archives had to do was just ask for the record, saying that they should have worked with Trump -- quote -- "in a good-faith effort to secure the recovery of those presidential records."

I mean, that's almost laughable, given the DOJ has given a pretty detailed timeline of its effort, and over and over again, to do just that.

COATES: Ana, the Trump team happens to be exactly right. All the Archives should have had to have done is ask asked for the documents back.

And, in turn, all Trump's team should have done was to return these documents. But we know that's not what happened here. There was a level of deference that was given to this former president that really is unprecedented here. The idea of the average person, speaking of that phrase no one being above the law, that includes the legal process of things.

If somebody were to subpoena information, let alone ask for it, the idea that you could have this entire more-than-a-yearlong process of negotiating what you wanted returned that did not belong to you is really unprecedented here.

And you saw in the filing that they tried to make a big ado about a gratuitous photograph, Ana, of the different evidentiary basis to say, hey, here are the different files, here's how -- here's where they are for our inventory purposes.

I just want to really undermine this talking point that suggests that it was somehow suggested that that was how they were found. Shan and I know this as being federal prosecutors. We know from just watching "Law & Order" as well, when you see the way that photographs are taken of crime scenes, they are very rarely put in the place to assume this is how it was really found.

When you see mountains of drugs on a particular their coffee table, if you see a weapon that has been used next to a measurement to show you how long the knife actual blade was, these are things that are routinely done. And they were never, I don't think, ever intended to try to manipulate or be disingenuous about how these documents are found.

[13:10:16]

And if that is the best argument to come up with, not that they weren't really there, or they weren't in the possession of the former president, or they weren't classified in some way, but the arrangement themselves of what was in the office was gratuitous, I don't know what kind of legal framework you can operate in from that point on.

CABRERA: And so, speaking of those documents laid out in the picture, let's bring that back, one of Trump's attorneys said something really striking about that picture, the classified documents found at the property that, again, are clearly marked. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALINA HABBA, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: I do have firsthand knowledge, as you know. I have been down there. I'm down there frequently. I have never seen that. I have never, ever seen that. That is not the way his office looks. Anybody that knows President Trump's office, he has guests frequently there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So, guests frequently there, she says, around these top secret documents. What does that mean, what she just said, for this investigation, for this case?

WU: Yes, I think going back to something Laura said, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that photo, but it's also very damning, because those cover sheets are so clearly marked that anybody who saw them would know, hey, these are very sensitive documents. Should they be here?

So, for that Trump lawyer to insert yourself into that, it's sort of like painting a welcome sign on her that says, hey, make me a witness. So it's very foolish OF her to insert herself into that that way, because now she could be asked, well, what did you see when you were down there?

And that's not going to be privileged.

CABRERA: Quickly, Laura, do you expect a ruling today?

COATES: I do expect there to be some ruling in the form of this judge. And I would not be surprised simply, Ana, if there was some way to have the guardrail, to have this second option of a special master, even though it's really unlikely that it would ever happen in another context.

This judge is well aware of the public interest. There's so many steps here, from the affidavit being publicized and beyond, that are unconventional, I would not be surprised if there was an additional unconventional measure taken, as long as it respected the investigative process.

CABRERA: And yet I know, Shan, you have said to me that you thought it's possible TOO that this could drag out even beyond this hearing, if other sides -- one side or the other says, wait a minute, this isn't going my way. I'd like more time to make more arguments.

We will see. Thank you both, Laura Coates, Shan Wu. We will get back to both of you if and when we hear any news from this hearing, which, again, started at the top of the hour.

Meantime, President Biden will give a prime-time address tonight on what he calls the continued battle for the soul of the nation.

And CNN's Phil Mattingly is at the White House for us.

Phil, this speech comes as we're approaching the midterms. President Biden has been taking a tougher public stance against what he's calling MAGA Republicans. He's taken some heat for using that term semi-fascism. Is he expected to go there again?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: If not the exact term, Ana, certainly the same exact message, if not more aggressive, if not darker, to some degree, mostly to highlight the very high stakes of this moment.

As you noted, over the course of the last several weeks, we have seen the president take on a new tone, a more aggressive tone about where the Republican Party currently stands. He has made clear he's not talking about Republicans writ large, but he is very much so talking about supporters of the former president.

This speech will outline in detail in a kind of elevated fashion just how deep the concern the president has in this moment and why, in the weeks ahead heading up to those midterm elections, this is such a critical moment.

Now, White House officials say this isn't going to be a speech about Donald Trump. It's not about any one individual. It is instead about the moment and the stakes for democracy. And the reason you have seen the president pivot so sharply over the course of the last several weeks is part of a convergence of factors.

You mentioned the battle of the soul -- for the soul of the nation, that framing that we have heard from White House officials. That's not new. This is a through line from the day he announced his run for the presidency back in 2019. Those exact words have really been the animating feature of why the president decided to run in the first place.

And while he hasn't necessarily discussed it in those terms very often since he's been in the White House, behind the scenes, I'm told it is often the animating or driving force behind many of the conversations he has with staff and advisers.

Over the course of the last several weeks, as election deniers have risen even further in the Republican Party, as there have been threats of violence, this has become more resonant in the president's mind. It's a speech he's wanted to give, I'm told, for several months, Ana, one that he plans to lay out.

One thing to note, it's not going to be all dark. It is going to try and strike an optimistic tone about what the country could do. The warning, though, will be very clear, Ana.

CABRERA: Phil Mattingly at the White House for us.

Thanks, Phil. And welcome back, by the way. I don't think you have been on my show since you came back from your time off. Good to have you here.

[13:15:00]

So, for the first time in nearly half-a-century, a Democrat will sit in Alaska's only House seat. Mary Peltola has beaten former Governor Sarah Palin in a special election. And this was to fill that late Republican Congressman Don Young's seat. Peltola is the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, but she may only be there a few weeks. She faces Palin again, among others, in November for the regular two-year term.

He was unarmed in bed, and now he's dead. Police in Columbus, Ohio, releasing bodycam footage showing an officer shooting a black man just seconds after opening his bedroom door. We have the video.

Plus, a high-stakes mission in the middle of a war zone. Inspectors finally reach the crippled nuclear power plant in Ukraine. We have more on their effort to save the world from potential disaster.

And no down payment, no credit score, no problem? One of the nation's biggest banks now offering some home loans without the usual red tape. We have got the details next.

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[13:20:24]

CABRERA: Weekly jobless claims dropped again to their lowest level in two months. And a new report shows layoffs are also at a historic low.

Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan to explain these new numbers and more broadly what they could mean.

Matt, let's start with this new number in terms of jobless claims.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, jobless claims are a leading economic indicator.

And for the last few weeks, economists had been predicting that this number is going to go up. Instead, jobless claims keep going down, 232,000. For some context, that is actually a two -month low. Let's look at the trend.

As you can see, jobless claims are way lower today than they were in early 2021, when they were over 800,000. What was concerning was that this spring, we actually saw claims start to creep up a bit. And that led to some worries, is this the start of a new cycle where layoffs are going to increase?

But that hasn't happened. In fact, we see that claims are ticking back lower. This is important, because this is actually happening despite the fact that Federal Reserve is trying, trying really hard, to slow down the jobs market to fight inflation. So far, that does not seem to be happening. The jobs market just remains really strong.

CABRERA: And so layoffs are actually decreasing as well. And yet there are some big companies that are announcing, get ready, layoffs are coming.

EGAN: That's right. We are hearing anecdotally about more layoffs.

Just in the last few days, Snapchat -- we also heard from Bed Bath & Beyond announcing major layoffs. Same thing from Ford, cutting thousands of jobs, Walmart, some corporate jobs, Wayfair, our sister company HBO, all of them cutting jobs.

But when you actually look at the numbers, this new report out from outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas found that layoffs declined by 21 percent between July and August. This is the weakest pace since at least 1993. Now, we know that recession fears are real right now. There is a reason to be concerned about what happens in the economy.

But during recessions, businesses hand out pink slips, a lot of them. And that is just not happening right now. And until it does, it's really hard to argue that this recession is already here.

CABRERA: Let's talk about the big news for some homebuyers. It might be easier, a lot easier to get a home loan, no down payment, no closing costs, no minimum credit score?

How do we get in on this deal?

EGAN: Right. So this is from Bank of America. This program just launched this week.

What's important to note here is that this is for first-time homebuyers. And right now it's only in five cities. And they're watching it in certain black and Hispanic communities. Now, as you mentioned, no closing costs, no mortgage insurance, no credit scores.

Now, the goal here is to try to chip away at the racial gap in the homeownership market. These are some concerning numbers, right, 43 percent homeownership among black families, well below 72 percent for whites, Hispanics, this is actually trending in the right direction. This is the first time that it's been above 50 percent. But, still, again, there is a big gap here.

I do think though, that the idea of no credit scores, no down payments, that's going to raise some concerns about kind of bringing back some bad memories of the subprime mortgage crisis. Bank of America says they're going to still do their due diligence, they're going to make sure people are paying their rent, paying their utility bills, their phone bills, their car payments. That's how they're going to assess this.

It's an interesting program for Bank of America. We will see how it goes and we will see if they roll it out to other cities.

CABRERA: OK, Matt Egan, you will be watching it. Thank you, as always.

EGAN: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: Want to head to Columbus, Ohio, now.

Police have released bodycam video showing the moment and officer shoots and kills an unarmed black man in his bed. Officers were carrying out a felony search warrant early Tuesday morning when an officer opened fire on 20-year-old Donovan Lewis.

A warning now, the video you're about to see is disturbing and it might be tough to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to send that dog in.

Hands. Hands.

(GUNSHOT)

(DOG BARKING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got something in his hands. He's got something in his hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN's Brynn Gingras is following this one for us.

Brynn, help us understand the moments leading up to that moment.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so they were serving a search warrant at about 2:30 in the morning. This happened yesterday morning.

And just so you know, that is within the Columbus Police Department's policy. That's also not abnormal for officers to serve a search warrant overnight. According to the police department, officers announced that search warrant and tried to get into the house for about eight to 10 minutes before they were actually let in.

They announced, hey, listen, anybody else home? Nobody was coming out. They put the dogs in. And that is when they realized this dog was sort of focusing on this one door. And that's why they approached that door.

[13:25:02]

Now, the big question here is that video that you just showed, that moment, basically, when that officer opens the door and immediately fires the shot at 20-year-old Donovan Lewis, which ended up taking his life.

The big question is, why was that shot taken so quickly? Now, of course, the police department saying he didn't come out. We were basically saying, you need to come out, we have a search warrant, and nobody was coming out.

So there's a lot of sort of vague area here that a lot of people are questioning, but an investigation is certainly under way. I want you to...

CABRERA: He had something in his hand, right? They saw something and then ultimately found a vape pen next to him?

GINGRAS: Correct. So when they opened -- and that is very important, and I'm happy to bring it up, because the police chief actually went frame by frame through that moment when they opened that door. So let's actually take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you're looking at this frame by frame, there appears to be something. He raises his hand. It was a -- like a vape pen or something that was found on the bed right next to him. It was like a little black -- like a vape pen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: And so they did find that vape pen next to him when they went into the room, cuffed him, eventually giving him medical aid after they realized that he had been shot.

One of the things that -- again, this is under investigation. This officer, he's a 30-year veteran of the force, Ricky Anderson. His lawyers have released a statement.

And I want to read it to you because it's important here. It says: "When we analyze police-involved shootings, we must look to the totality of the circumstances. And we are expressly forbidden from using 20/20 hindsight, because, unlike all of us, officers are not afforded the luxury of armchair reflection when they're faced with rapidly involving volatile encounters in dangerous situations."

So, again, this just happened. They released that video immediately. But there's a big history there at the Columbus Police Department. So certainly there's a lot of questions raised, but the investigation does have to play out.

CABRERA: OK, Brynn Gingras, thank you.

How bad has the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, gotten? Health officials are now telling the 150,000 residents there to shower with their mouth shut, assuming they have water in the first place.

It has been four days now since flooding pushed the city's decayed and damaged water system to failure. People have either brown water coming out of their faucets or nothing at all.

CNN's Amara Walker is in Jackson.

Amara, recruits are scrambling to restore the water there. What is the latest on those repairs?

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Mississippi governor, Tate Reeves, is still giving his news conference here at the Mississippi State Fairgrounds.

The purpose was to announce the site -- the mega-distribution state- run sites for water. But he did give an update and he said that the pumps are operating now at a much higher level, that there is reason for optimism, especially after those newly rented pumps were installed on Wednesday.

There were some issues, though, after that, because there were problems with the water chemistry and also the water pressure. But he did say that the water pressure was now back to normal. I do want to mention also the mayor of Jackson, Chokwe Lumumba, was present at this news conference or is present.

And he said he wanted to be there to show a united front, to show that the city and the state are working together, putting people above politics. As you would imagine, you see the lines here, of course, demand high for drinking water and non-potable water as well. People are grateful for the water distribution efforts.

But, of course, they're angry at the same time to be in this situation. I spoke with one woman earlier today. She has been in Jackson for 54 years. She raised her children here and now she's ready to leave. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEILA LANGDON, JACKSON RESIDENT: I have Crohn's disease. And there was a boil water notice sent out by the Health Department that the city released two days after they got the notice.

I had consumed two days of water, contaminated water. This is not helping me. It's caused my -- it's caused my condition to worsen. This needs to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: There are also 600 National Guard troops on these various sites to help with water distribution -- Ana.

CABRERA: Amara Walker, thank you for the latest again from Jackson, Mississippi.

Having to inspect a damaged nuclear plant is dangerous enough. Today, international inspectors did it in the middle of a war zone. What we're learning about the high-stakes mission to prevent nuclear disaster in Ukraine.

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