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Hearing Ends Over Trump's Request For Special Master To Review Docs; Time Square Becomes "Gun-Free" Zone As NY Gun Laws Take Effect; Record-Breaking Heat Wave Hits California, Western U.S.; Source: McCarthy To Call On Biden To Apologize For Calling Some Americans Fascists During Prebuttal Speech. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 01, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Thank you, Pete.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: It's the top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell.

Moments ago, a federal court hearing ended about the classified documents the FBI retrieved from Donald Trump's Florida home. For the first time, his lawyers were arguing in court about the case.

CAMEROTA: They want a special master or third party to oversee how the FBI is handling the classified documents taken from Mar-A-Lago.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Kara Scannell is outside the courthouse. What are you learning?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Well, Victor and Alisyn, the judge today saying she was not going to rule from the bench, but she would issue a written order in due course. Now, during the course of this hearing, there was a lot of back and forth between lawyers for the former president and for the Department of Justice. And one of Trump's lawyers was saying that, basically, that the government was making too big of a deal about these classified documents saying it was akin to an overdue library book.

They also call the FBI's search of Mar-A-Lago suspect. Now, Trump - lawyers for the Department of Justice said that since Trump is no longer president and because he's no longer president, he had no right to take those documents. They also defended their search as being completely lawful.

Now, one of Trump's lawyers was saying that they should have a special master to try to restore order and public trust and to lower the temperature in the nation to kind of take some of this heat off. Now, the judge had asked questions of both sides and she had asked them what would a special master do at this point, since the government already had a filter team go through this, but she also said it is not entirely settled law that a former president can't claim privilege after leaving office.

So she kind of left this as an open question. She did previously, before the hearing, said that she was leaning toward appointing a special master. This was really the first time we heard from both sides in court sticking out their positions. We also learned a little bit more information. You may recall that there were more than - there were about 320 classified documents taken and that prosecutor said that a limited subset of them had contained attorney-client-privilege information. That's what this whole fight is about, what this filter team would go through and look at and what a special master could handle.

And so what the prosecutor said today is that there are - there's 64 set, about 520 pages in total, he said that the vast majority of those are probably not covered by attorney-client privilege. So everyone had their day in court today, but the judge did not rule from the bench. She said that she would issue a written order in due course. Victor and Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Okay. Kara Scannell, thank you for that breaking news.

Let's discuss it further. Elie Honig is here. He's our CNN Senior Legal Analyst and a former federal prosecutor. We also have Brian Greer. He's a former lawyer for the CIA who worked with the Justice Department on Espionage Act cases. And Brian, interestingly and importantly, is one of the people on Earth who has seen the contents of Hillary Clinton's emails that were labeled top secret and we will get into the comparison there. Brian, we're really happy to have you.

But first, Elie, okay, so you predicted that it could go this way. So the judge has basically said, I'll get to it later.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. Welcome to federal courts where federal judges have life tenure and do whatever they want, whenever they want it. This does happen, sometimes the judge will hear arguments and then will take whatever time she wants to issue a written ruling. It could come within an hour. It could come later today, tonight, tomorrow, any day, weekend, Labor Day, next week, you name it. This is the mercy that litigants are at in front of federal judges. So she's heard the argument, she has the briefs and now we await the ruling.

BLACKWELL: Brian, I want you to weigh in on that gem that Kara just reported that the Trump legal team says that these documents in the possession of the former president were akin to an overdue library book. Your view on that?

BRIAN GREER, FORMER CIA LAWYER: Yes. I can't believe they're making that assertion. These are government records with highly classified information. It is imperative as the Justice Department has emphasized that the Intelligence Community be allowed to review these records, not only for the classification review and the damage assessment, but most importantly, for the near term risk mitigation efforts that they are taking - undertaking to look at whether sources are at risk or methods are at risk. I don't know any library book that would raise that kind of stakes.

CAMEROTA: Brian, I do want to ask you because some of Donald Trump's allies, like for instance, Lindsey Graham, Sen. Lindsey Graham, have said, well, Hillary Clinton was never prosecuted for her emails, so Donald Trump can't be. There would be rioting in the streets if Donald Trump were prosecuted for this because you are somebody who had such special access and saw Hillary Clinton's - the contents of that. Do you think that these are similar situations?

GREER: Yes, the situations really aren't comparable. As you mentioned, when I was at the CIA, I worked on several Espionage Act cases and then also at one point was privy to what were most if not all of the top secret Hillary Clinton emails. And I have to be a little careful in how I talk about them, but I can say that there's really no comparison. With those emails, what was happening was her staffers were trying to inform her of the pressing issues of the day, most of those topics were unclassified. Sometimes they would veer into potentially classified areas.

[15:05:01]

They would try to talk around those topics by speaking vaguely. But frankly, they just weren't very good at it and sometimes they just barely tipped over between the line of being classified and those records were, in fact - excuse me - classified. But in my view of those records, there was nothing that would expose intelligence sources. There was nothing that would expose collection methods. At most, there might be minor diplomatic kerfluffle created by that, but nothing on par with what we've seen from those pictures that we've seen from Mar-A-Lago where you have top secret SCI classification markings on the front of those records. And then if you flip that page over, you would see incredibly detailed sourcing method reporting in there.

BLACKWELL: Yes, there's also the distinction of obstruction in the Clinton case. The DOJ said there was no evidence of an attempt to obstruct and, of course, we saw on the DOJ filing that they say they have determined that there's evidence of an effort to conceal and remove to try to obstruct the government's case.

Elie, let me come back to you on this assertion from the judge that it's not settled law that a former president can't claim privilege. I assume we're talking executive privilege, because that's the one that's relevant to the office after leaving office. Wasn't that question answered?

HONIG: No, it's - it is an open question of law. The judge was correct in that. Now, it is very difficult for a former president to invoke executive privilege, particularly when the current president is not invoking it, but the Supreme Court has never closed the door on this. The Nixon case from 1977, not the Nixon tapes case, the other case. The Supreme Court specifically said there could be times when a former president has a right to invoke executive privilege or at least to try, but it's particularly difficult when it's against the current president and the Supreme Court this year in the archives case relating to January 6, basically said our ruling here denying executive privilege is not based on the fact that Donald Trump is a former president.

So it's not black letter law signed, stamped, sealed, no former president can ever invoke executive privilege. But it's a serious uphill climb to get there.

CAMEROTA: Brian, as you've just described to us, those cover sheets tell us that this - the top secret, the secret compartmented information is the nation's biggest secrets. And so tell us what's happening, because you know this, inside the Intelligence Community today to try to figure out what damage, if any, has been caused by these having been unsecured for the past year and a half?

GREER: Yes. Well, there's, I think, undoubtedly three different reviews going on in the Intelligence Community right now. The most important one, which CNN has reported is what I call a risk mitigation efforts. Looking quickly at the documents seen, do we have sources exposed? Do we have collection methods exposed? And if so, do we need to think about pulling that source back, at worst exfiltrating them out of the country or just having them stand down for a while. The same with collection platforms, do we need to take them down for a while.

That's the most important thing that's going on. There's also a classification review going on, which is just verifying that the documents are in fact currently and properly classified. That's important if charges are ever brought. And then there's this damage assessment that DNI Haines announced, where they're looking from a more analytical sort of long-term perspective of potential harm that could flow from the exposure and compromise of these documents.

BLACKWELL: But typically, Elie, a request for a special master comes immediately after the search. This came two weeks after.

HONIG: Yes.

BLACKWELL: The DOJ has had them and potentially is building a case using some of the information that they have gleaned from these documents. If a special master comes in and says these 50 pages you can include how's that impact the case?

HONIG: Look, this is a major screw up by Donald Trump's lawyers. The fact that they waited two weeks to put this motion in has now given DOJ really what I think as its most persuasive argument, which is we've already been reviewing these for two weeks, we've already been going through them, we've been sharing them with the Intelligence Community, it's too late.

And it sounds like that was an argument based on Kara's reporting that was featured today in the courthouse and then may well give the judge pause. It's really an inexcusable error by Trump's team. I mean, that is boilerplate, that is obvious, that is the first thing you do, if you want a special master, you have to be in there day one and request it. And the longer you wait, the more hurt your argument, this two week delay could really work against the Trump legal team.

CAMEROTA: And Brian, I mean, back to the fact that they, as Kara just reported, that they liken this to an overdue library book. I mean, the cavalier nature with which we've heard their defenses just - can you respond to that? GREER: Yes. I mean, it's disheartening given that our sources, our

partners overseas are looking at this proceeding. They know that Donald Trump was entrusted with these documents and now they see his lawyers being so cavalier about them, even though literally, I don't - we don't know that yet. I think it's important to be with - careful with that rhetoric, but there is a chance lives could be on the line, I would stress that we don't know that yet.

But the Cavalier nature of that is disheartening and it sort of contradicts how they've acted previously in this. When they went to give those records to the Justice Department, they had them all wrapped, double wrapped like you would normally do, treating them as classified. So they've definitely been contradictory throughout this.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

[15:10:00]

Elie, will Judge Cannon's word on a special master be the final word? Can either side appeal after this?

HONIG: Not necessarily the final word. Yes, either side can appeal. They would have to go up to the - it would be the 11th circuit court of appeals known to be on the more conservative side of the courts of appeals. I think DOJ has signaled though if they lose, but if the judge constrains this and says, we're going to get this done in a limited fashion very quickly, I think in their first brief DOJ signal that they're not likely to appeal, but I think if Trump loses, we know the history here. I would expect that appeal.

BLACKWELL: All right. Elie Honig, Brian Greer, thank you.

Beginning today, Time Square is officially a gun-free zone. This is part of a sweeping new gun control laws that they're now affecting, across - in effect, I should say, across New York City.

CAMEROTA: So they restrict firearms in sensitive areas like this popular tourist spot as well as subways, schools and restaurants. CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us live from Times Square. So Polo, walk us through the specifics of this new law and how our police expected to enforce this?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Victor and Alisyn, just not long after that Supreme Court ruling came down, officials in New York State said that there has been well over 50 percent increase in the number of people who've been applying for these concealed carry licenses.

So because of that, they've been trying to get ahead of it by establishing these gun-free zones. We're talking about subways, buses, schools, restaurants, parks and, of course, here, the crossroads of the world. Really it became sort of the center of the debate here as they tried to - as the city tried to establish and walk that fine line between adhering to the Supreme Court ruling, while at the same time recognizing the parts of New York City, for example, they should not be any availability or at least no ability for people to carry guns even with license. And that's why we saw this rollout of these locations, in addition to

stricter gun measures like background checks and even shortening the amount of time it takes to actually have to renew that license. Usually about five years that is now expected to be about three years.

And, of course, here in New York City, you can see the map and what has been established as that gun-free zone and it's not just here, the middle of Times Square, but also the streets that lead into and out of this very tourist heavy area. Of course, this has been strongly condemned, strongly criticized by pro-gun advocates, including the NRA.

But in speaking to some New Yorkers, we found that even those who support the ruling from the Supreme Court earlier this year seem to support city officials in this decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW, NEW YORK RESIDENT: I'm pro what the Supreme Court did, but I do agree that there should be parameters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And there are certainly some exceptions, that is if you live, if you work or if you transit through Times Square, then this particular gun-free zone regulation does that - does not apply. But look, when you hear from the NYPD they won't be actively patting down people or at least searching individuals, they really just have that in place just in case they need to actually prosecuted back to you guys.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Those are a lot of exceptions. I'm glad that you spell those out. Polo Sandoval, thank you very much.

Now to this, NOAA and the American Meteorological Society released their State of the Climate report this week and it shows climate change having a direct global impact with little signs of slowing down.

BLACKWELL: Here's a few of the records shattered last year, Earth's greenhouse gas levels are at their highest levels ever. Last year, was the sixth warmest year on record. And for the 10th year in a row, global sea levels reached record highs.

CAMEROTA: And here's the latest real world example, a state of emergency has been declared in California after a day of record breaking heat.

BLACKWELL: Officials are so concerned about the strain on the electrical grid that drivers are being told not to charge their electric vehicles. CNN's Jennifer Gray is joining us now. So how will this extreme weather affect Labor Day weekend travel plans?

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's going to affect it in a big way. This heat is very intense. It's even intense for locals in the area that are used to hot temperatures. Basically, this heat dome, this area of high pressure over the entire Southwest is just trapping the heat in and it's causing the heat or the temperatures to get warmer and warmer each day and not only are the temperatures going to be hot, it's going to stay hot well into the Labor Day weekend and then at least into the middle part of next week. So the longevity of this event is definitely significant.

We're not only breaking records, we are shattering records. Look at this, Anaheim 102, the previous record, high temperature 106 on Wednesday. So temperatures are really hot. This was, in fact, an all time monthly high temperature. For Anaheim, the previous record was 105 set in 2020. So we have these excessive heat warnings in effect. We have heat advisories in effect, stretching all the way from Southern California, all the way up into portions of Idaho, Oregon. We could set more than 160 record and this is for the next seven days.

[15:15:03]

So guys, it is going to stay hot well past the Labor Day weekend and not only in the West, Victor and Alisyn, we're seeing the heat comeback in the East as well.

BLACKWELL: All right. Jennifer Gray, thank you.

GRAY: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: President Biden will speak in primetime tonight. The White House says his address will be a sober reckoning on anti-democratic forces across the country.

CAMEROTA: And there's a disturbing trend, we have details on the major spike in reports of sexual assault in the military. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:19:55]

BLACKWELL: Tonight, in a rare primetime address, President Biden is expected to deliver a sober assessment of American democracy. Standing in the very place where it first took shape, Philadelphia's Independence Hall. And this follows the President's harsh critiques aimed at some Republicans for what he calls MAGA extremism.

CAMEROTA: Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will give the prebuttal to the President's speech. CNN's Jessica Dean is in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. So Jessica, what can we expect tonight?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn and Victor, a source is telling me that we can expect to hear House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy call on President Biden to apologize for calling some Americans fascist. He's of course, referring to President Biden's comments from last weekend when he was speaking to a group of donors and said that the underpinnings of the MAGA philosophy are really rooted in semi-fascism. That is - those were the President's words. We're also expecting to hear more about crime, about inflation. This is really a preview of what we're going to hear from GOP

candidates, House GOP candidates as they're on the trail leading up into the midterms that are coming later this fall. And the Minority Leader, I'm told, has been on a tour of about 20 states. This will be his 21st state in the month of August. He's been trying to get around as they really try to make the case to voters to give them back control of the House.

And he certainly is going to be making that case tonight really trying to draw quite a contrast between what the President is going to be talking about and what he and Republicans want to be talking about heading into the fall against some of those key issues. He also in the press release that kind of previewed this speech, they said that they believed the President would be disparaging hardworking Americans.

So that's kind of the line of thinking that we're going to be hearing from Leader McCarthy later tonight. And, of course, this all comes as I mentioned, Republicans are trying to win back both the House and the Senate, but particularly in the House. Of course, it's high stakes for Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, because he really has his sights set on being Speaker of the House and so he can really come out and he's going to want to - try to forcefully defend his members and also as he looks to the fall, we know from our reporting from sources telling us that Republicans are starting to talk amongst themselves that they might not have this huge victory that has long been anticipated, that it might be a bit narrower.

They're still expected to take the House, but that McCarthy may be working with a much smaller minority and that could change some of his decision making, some of the deals that he may have to cut. So that's kind of the political backstory, as we watch this speech later tonight, Alisyn and Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Jessica Dean for us there, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Let's talk about it. Let's bring in Scott Jennings. He's a CNN Political Commentator and former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush. We also have Ashley Allison. She's a CNN Political Commentator and former National Coalition's Director for Biden-Harris 2020. Great to have both of you.

Scott, I've heard you on a few different programs talk about how you're not crazy about this sort of more heated rhetoric from President Biden. I know you think it's kind of overheated. You don't think that it's unifying. But isn't this, Scott's, sort of a break the glass moment? I mean, when you have so many Republicans, the people that the President calls MAGA Republicans who deny the election results, in Arizona, there's an entire slate of Republicans who are election deniers who may be overseeing elections if they win, is it - doesn't that warrant some - up the rhetoric from the President?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he's trying to make the election about anything other than key economic issues, quality of life issues, which is what we're going to hear from Kevin McCarthy tonight. And it is an inflection point for the Republican Party because I think McCarthy's prebuttal laying out what we should be talking about is vital.

What Biden wants Republicans to do is to give into this debate and make this election a referendum on Donald Trump and what Trump stands for in some of the candidly crazy things he said lately. I mean, he said we should rerun the election right now. I should be reinstated.

This is not the ground on which Republicans need to be fighting this midterm. They need to be fighting it on the grounds of inflation. I mean, let's - the school test scores today, for goodness sakes, we have real issues in this country. That's fertile ground for Republican candidates. Biden is smart, I think, to try to shift that conversation. Republicans can't take the bait. They've got to keep focused and hopefully Kevin McCarthy speech tonight will set the tone for that.

BLACKWELL: Scott, let me stay with you, because it's not just where the President is. This is where voters are. Look at this latest ABC News poll. You remember that the economy cost of living, crime, this is what Republicans say they're running on. Those fall all behind democracy as the most important issue facing the United States. So is the President where the American people are?

JENNINGS: I think there's a lot of surveys out there that - I mean, there's some different results. I just - inflation is the number one issue. I mean, I think if you're running a Republican campaign, and you're not running hard on inflation, cost of food, quality of life, crime in your area, what's going on in your kids school, you're making a huge mistake. Now, I recognize Democratic campaigns will be having a different conversation, but for what Republicans have to do, it's all quality of life and don't take the bait on the other stuff.

CAMEROTA: Ashley, correct me if I I'm wrong, I feel like President Biden did try unity for a while.

[15:25:03]

He said a lot of things, he would start a lot of speeches because we covered them.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: With my friends across the aisle, my Republican friends across the aisle, Mitch, my longtime Republican friend in the Senate and he's changed, something has changed and he's changed his rhetoric, so what was that?

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So I think there's a couple of things happening right now. I think the President's speech tonight is going to be him not as a candidate, not as a surrogate for the Democratic Party, but as the leader of this country who wants to defend our democracy. And I suspect you will hear him call on Democrats, Independents and Republicans to take a stand in this moment and not support election deniers.

I know you don't want people - your party to be focused on Trump, but they are - your candidates talk about Trump, they want his endorsement. They are not leaving in this moment and I think Joe Biden is going to come out and say, our democracy needs to stand.

The other thing is that your candidates won't talk about - they - when they talk about inflation, they don't have an answer. They don't have a solution. They vote against the bills. They're not trying to improve our education system. They don't have real solutions and the Dems are at least trying.

And so I think that he will talk about democracy, but he will extend an olive branch to say it's time to actually come together and protect what this country is all about.

JENNINGS: May I respond?

BLACKWELL: Sure.

JENNINGS: I actually think Republicans do have an agenda. It's pretty simple. We've spent too much money. We have to curtail excessive spending, which has caused inflation. We have to secure the border. We have to be tough on crime, which is rampant around the country. That is an agenda. You don't have to overcomplicate it.

And I understand why Joe Biden would want to make this election about Donald Trump, because that's how he won in 2020. He successfully made it a referendum on Trump and that's how they think they're going to win again. My point is, if your Republican campaign - you don't have to take this bait, you don't have to fight on their turf. You have to fight on your turf and there is ample evidence in all the polling that people do want to hear about these quality of life issues.

And so I get it, I understand what the President is doing. And I would probably do the same thing if I were in his shoes. To your point about him trying to be a unifier, though, I mean, remember, he frequently in campaign mode - goes hardcore insult. I mean, I'm old enough to remember in 2012 when he told African-American voters, Republicans, Mitt Romney was going to put you all in chains.

CAMEROTA: Well, okay, but it sounds like that since he became president, I have heard him use a lot of unifying language. But I think something has changed in the past month.

JENNINGS: When he - when Republicans would go--

CAMEROTA: I've heard my friends across the aisle, he said that all the time.

JENNINGS: When Republicans would ...

ALLISON: Democrats are even frustrated at some point that he was being too nice to Republicans.

CAMEROTA: I've heard folks who have said that.

ALLISON: And so when I do my work, I hear people say, go harder, go harder. They're not trying to work with you.

JENNINGS: When Republicans wouldn't go along with the election bills, I mean, he said, quote, "You're either Jefferson Davis or your Bull Connor." I mean, this is not unifying rhetoric. He does get - I think he has thin skin when people disagree with him and we've seen it before.

BLACKWELL: Ashley, would it be better for the President - you're speaking about olive branches and the President is going to come together tonight and say we all need to come together. They're calling out sitting members of Congress by name. They seem to be a little more aggressive than the tone you're putting on it. Is that the best way to save the soul of the nation?

ALLISON: January 6 happen ...

BLACKWELL: Sure.

ALLISON; And they have had a lot of time to denounce the people who stormed the Capitol and killed law enforcement to say we don't want election deniers to be representing our party and to win this election, but they aren't. And so I do think he is - he should be sterner. We've had some time. These are elected leaders who want to take control of the house and put a political agenda for.

So I think he needs to call people out and say where do you stand right now. This is the moment to call it out.

CAMEROTA: I'll tell you where the head of the Republican Party, also known as Donald Trump, stands right now. He's also not moving on from January 6. He told us today, Scott, that he is supporting some of the insurrectionists financially. Here's what he said on the radio today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I met with them a number of times, but I met with them and I'm financially supporting people that are incredible. And they were in my office actually two days ago. It's very much on my mind. It's a disgrace what they've done to them. If I decide to run and if I win, I will be looking very, very strongly about pardons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Scott ...

JENNINGS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: ... he's met with them he says a number of times. We're talking about people at January 6, he's financially supporting them, he'll be pardoning them.

BLACKWELL: And what does that mean financially supporting them?

JENNINGS: Yes, I don't know, but ...

BLACKWELL: Writing checks?

JENNINGS: ... let me tell you what a disgrace is. A disgrace is if the Republican Party continues to go down this road and make the centerpiece of our argument to the American people relitigating the 2020 election and saying that somehow January 6 was a good thing, because that's what he's doing.

It's absolute lunacy. We have got to move on from this, because the American people expect us to - they expect us to have answers for their problems. This looking backward and trying to rewrite history about what happened on a disgraceful day, this is a dead end. It is not our future and cannot be.

BLACKWELL: What if are you talking about, if our party goes in this direction?

ALLISON: They're there.

BLACKWELL: That's where the party is going now.

JENNINGS: I'm talking about 2024. We need a new nominee. That's what I'm talking about. He wants to do it again and he wants to relitigate the 2020 election as his platform and it's a loser.

[15:30:04]

Look at the Wall Street Journal poll today, Joe Biden is beating Donald Trump in head to head matchup today.