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New Video of Election Tampering; Judge Grants Trump's Request; Uvalde Students Return to Class; Abduction of Memphis Teacher; New Prime Minister in Britain. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 06, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

Caught on camera. New surveillance video, first obtained by CNN, shows a Georgia Republican county official escorting two operatives, hired by an attorney for former President Donald Trump, into the county's election offices on the same day a voting system there was illegally breached. The goal, to produce evidence to back up Trump's baseless claims and ultimately overturn Joe Biden's victory in the election, even after his victory was certified on January 6th.

HARLOW: Right. We'll get into all of that in a moment.

Meantime, in Florida, a legal victory for former President Donald Trump. A federal judge there granting his request for a special master to review materials seized from Mar-a-Lago last month. How much could this complicate and definitely slow down the Justice Department's criminal probe into the former president's handling of classified documents? We will ask our attorneys ahead.

But let's begin with our senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin, who joins us with all of the details on this newly obtained video from a county in Georgia, taken, Drew, the same day a voting machine was breached.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it just shows the lengths that they were going to, to try to prove what they never proved, that there was some kind of fraud going on.

Breaches of voting machines now in swing states are under investigation across the country, guys. This one happened in Coffee County, Georgia. And CNN obtained this surveillance video at one of the offices where voting machines were breached at the behest of Donald Trump's attorneys.

I want to show you, that lady there, that's Cathy Latham, the former chairwoman of the Coffee County GOP. She's already under investigation, guys, for posing as one of those fake electors who signed documents that declared Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election. Latham can be seen escorting there a team of pro-Trump operatives into the Coffee County Elections Office, including an IT specialist who was working with Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.

This is all happening on the same day the voting systems in that office were illegally breached. It was January 7, 2021, the day after the attack on the Capitol. Now, according to the text messages, emails and witness testimony from a civil lawsuit against Georgia elections officials, they have connected Latham to the plan to give the group access to that election's office.

About a week before this voting machine breach, Latham, that same woman, testified before the Georgia state legislature, along with Rudy Giuliani, about alleged voter machine irregularities in that same county, Coffee County. Latham's attorney told CNN in a statement, Ms. Latham has not acted improperly or illegally. Ms. Latham did not authorize or participate in any ballot scanning efforts, computer imaging or any similar activity.

One important note, guys. Coffee County, where this happened, is a Republican stronghold. Donald Trump won this county with 70 percent of the vote, yet, as you can see from that video, the Trump team was able to use a sympathetic election official to get access to an election office.

SCIUTTO: Remarkable precedent.

As you said, this is not the only place this kind of thing is happening. What do we know?

GRIFFIN: Yes. There are a series of breaches of voting machines in other states. And at least one of the breaches in Michigan has been connected to what happened in Georgia. In fact, Doug Logan, the Cyber Ninja guy, was in Coffee County, Georgia. He's also being investigated as part of attorney general investigation in Michigan. It all points to this kind of coordinated plan to try to overturn these election results. But as we said, you know, with every one of these plots they have, no real evidence has ever surfaced that it was anything but a legitimate election, and Joe Biden was the winner. But we're seeing these connection points now, Jim and Poppy. All across the country, same people involved, and it's all about this tight little ring around Trump and his attorneys.

HARLOW: It is. And so, Drew, what is the status then of the sort of broader investigation into all of this?

GRIFFIN: You know, is there a broader investigation, Poppy? That is the big question. All these states have investigations going on.

HARLOW: Sure.

GRIFFIN: The Michigan secretary of state, I had a conversation with her last week, she said her state has turned over all of its information to the Department of Justice, but there's not been anything back in return. So, we don't know at this point if there is a larger federal investigation going on, or is this just a bunch of state investigations that will eventually play their way out.

[09:05:10] SCIUTTO: It's a great question. We'll continue to pursue.

Drew Griffin, great reporting. Thanks so much.

So, joining us now to discuss the legal issues behind all this, Norm Eisen. He was a special counsel for the House Judiciary Committee in Trump's first impeachment trial.

Norm, first of all, I wonder if you could clear up, you know, by law, who should have access to such offices and voting systems? I mean is the law clear on this?

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Jim, thanks for having me back.

The law makes clear, and it's the -- it starts with Georgia state law, on computer trespass and computer invasion of privacy, Jim, that only authorized individuals are supposed to have access to this. So now that we have this surveillance footage, it raises a very serious question about whether unauthorized individuals got access to the data. There's also federal statutes that are involved. There's personal information, very sensitive, on these systems. So, this raises very serious legal issues.

HARLOW: Norm, we just heard Drew explaining to us, you know, yes, there are these state by state investigations. But it's just not clear if DOJ is pursuing any broader investigation, right, that they've gotten this state information, but there's been no response in return, as Drew said.

When you talk about what the DA in Fulton County, Georgia, Fani Willis, is doing in that, you know, broadening probe into -- criminal probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, how would this, also taking place in Georgia in a different county, how - how might this impact that?

EISEN: Well, Poppy, there's indications that some of the planning and execution of this event took place within and using some of the contractors who may have been involved, took place within Fulton County, within Fani Willis' jurisdiction. So, that allows her to investigate these matters. They're serious ones under Georgia law. And, you know, you see the -- the same cast of characters.

I thought it was so interesting that Ms. Latham is also a fake elector. We know she's looking intensively at that. There's a grand jury in D.C., a federal grand jury, that's looking at the fake electors. So, this is already within Ms. Willis' jurisdiction. And I would be very surprised if the federal authorities didn't also look, under federal computer hacking, intrusion and invasion statutes, at whether there were federal issues here as well.

SCIUTTO: Norm, there's the continuing question with all these cases as to whether the legal system is keeping up with this, right, and with what level of speed and seriousness. This is, in Georgia, but as Drew made the point, similar access occurred in other states which could point, right, to there being a broader plan, conspiracy of which there's evidence, right? Because the president's comment -- the former president's comments and so on.

I mean, in your view, does it need to be a national investigation to some degree?

EISEN: Jim, I think we've - we've seen that with the work of the Georgia DA, there is a role for state investigators here. She's out in front of everyone investigating the alleged crimes committed by the former president and others involved with him. So, while you need a strong state review, yes, there is a role for a federal investigation.

We know there are multiple federal investigations going on. And I believe that the federal investigation, for example, into the fake electors, we know that exists. We know there's a grand jury. Because of the presence of a fake elector, allegedly as part of this, and, again, we have to note, her attorney says there was no wrongdoing. We'll see. Because of her presence, that federal grand jury could be expanded to include this, and probably should be.

HARLOW: Norm Eisen, thank you for helping us understand it.

EISEN: Thanks, Poppy. Thanks, Jim.

HARLOW: Also major legal headline this week. A legal victory for President Trump, albeit procedural. A federal judge in Florida granting the former president's request to appoint an independent special master to review some 11,000 items and documents seized by the FBI last month from Mar-a-Lago.

[09:10:08]

SCIUTTO: Of course, many of them highly classified.

Trump's legal team and the Justice Department now have until Friday to submit a list of potential candidates for that special master role.

CNN correspondent Kara Scannell following all of this.

Kara, the judge had a lot to say in this opinion. What else did we hear?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, she did.

So, she granted the former president's request to have a special master come in and review these materials for any personal items of his, like medical records, anything that could potentially be covered by attorney/client privilege or executive privilege. She also blocked the Department of Justice from using any of these more than 11,000 documents as part of their ongoing criminal investigation until this review is completed. And the judge in this case is Judge Aileen Cannon. She was appointed by the former president. She said one of her reasons for this was giving some deference to Trump's status as a former president. She wrote in the opinion, as plaintiff articulated at the hearing, the investigation and treatment of a former president is of unique interest to the general public and the country is served the best by an orderly process that promotes the interests and perception of fairness. But she also said one reason why she was giving the former president

this special master as he requested was because she had some concern about the FBI's filter team, which has conducted the initial review and has already gone through the records. That team, of course, is separate from the investigative team. On that point, here's what the judge said. She said, for the same reasons, chiefly that the risk that the government's filter review process will not adequately safeguard plaintiff's privileged and personal materials in terms of exposure to either the investigative team or the media, plaintiff has sufficiently established irreparable injury.

Now, the Justice Department said that they are reviewing this decision. We're waiting to see if they're going to file an appeal in this case. But, either way, there is a delay to the criminal investigation.

Of course, the next steps here, the judge has set a deadline for Friday, where she wants a joint filing from the former president's team and the Justice Department with a list of candidates who they think could serve as a special master. Likely someone who has some type of security clearance given the number of highly classified documents. She's also asking both sides to submit what they expect would be the duties and limitations in the role of the special master. In addition, she's also looking for them to propose a schedule for this review and come up with who is going to actually pay for the review.

Jim. Poppy.

SCIUTTO: And as we noted, the FBI agents who searched and recovered those documents, they had to get - they had to upgrade their security clearances in some circumstances because of the sensitivity of the material.

Kara Scannell, thanks so much for following, as always.

Still to come this hour, a day many parents and children in Uvalde, Texas, have understandably been dreading, the first day back in school, weeks after that horrible shooting. Hear from a parent who says his child's still is afraid despite the district's safety protocols.

HARLOW: Also, police have found a body near where a Memphis kindergarten teacher was abducted. The body so far has not been identified. The suspect in this case is in court this morning. We'll have the latest from Memphis ahead.

Also, new leadership in the United Kingdom. Liz Truss is now the British prime minister. She met with the queen this morning moments after Boris Johnson formally stepped down. We'll take you to 10 Downing Street.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:27]

SCIUTTO: Today is a deeply difficult day in Uvalde, Texas, for students, staff, parents, so many members of the community there. This as children return to school for the first time since that May 24th massacre that killed 19 little kids and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. No one will return to the site of the shooting, let's be clear. Instead, children are going to nearby schools.

HARLOW: That's right.

Our crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz is back in Uvalde, where he has been covering this since the tragedy.

Shimon, I mean it is -- it is impossible for any of us to put ourselves in the shoes of these parents, students, teachers. But I wonder what you're hearing from them this morning as we see these images.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So, we're outside here. This is Flores Elementary. This is actually where many of the students who were at school on May 24th, when the shooting took place, this is where they're coming. This is fifth grade. They were in fourth grade at the time. And so fifth graders are now coming to this school.

And we got to see some of them as they were coming here this morning. And it is remarkable to see the kids smiling, the resilience -- the resiliency right here and the resilience of these kids is so empowering and so incredible to see. Some of them are just so happy to be back at school.

I got a chance to see A.J. this morning. He's one of the kids that I've been following. He actually was shot in the leg. He was smiling this morning. You know, he got a new haircut. And I asked him how happy are you to be back? And he said, I'm so happy to be back.

And I know he doesn't sleep well. I've talked to him so many times. He usually doesn't sleep well. Tonight, he slept -- last night he told me he had a good night's sleep.

And what we're finding mostly here, certainly, is that it's mostly the parents that seem to be having more anxiety than the kids about this. We spoke to one parent here. We've spoken to parents who are having a lot of anxiety over bringing their kids to school.

Take a listen to what one of those parents told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM MARTINEZ, PARENT OF UVALDE SCHOOL STUDENTS: He said that he doesn't think they're going to be brave enough if it happens again. They're not going to go in there. They didn't go in there before. And he wants different cops. And that he's really not budging. The fencing, he said, they can just get a ladder and climb over it. So, right now, he's just not ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:20:00]

PROKUPECZ: So, in terms of the fencing, you heard Adam there talk about the fencing. There's none of that fencing here. So, what they've been doing at some of the schools is, they've been putting fencing all around the perimeter of the schools. They don't have that here. I don't know if they're eventually going to get it here, but some of the schools certainly have it. It's still the security here, the updated security is not 100 percent yet because the school has ordered all sorts of equipment, but they haven't received it yet. We are seeing, certainly, a larger presence of law enforcement, state troopers, department of public safety.

But I think the story here today really for this community is going to be the resiliency. And there is - there is a positive mood here. And I think that is so important to see, to see these kids smiling, to see these kids coming back and trying to get back to living their normal lives. That, to me, has been certainly very remarkable to see here this morning.

HARLOW: Can only imagine. Sending all our strength and good wishes to them and all those teachers working overtime, no doubt, to make them feel like they're at home.

Shimon, thanks very much.

All right, next hour, the man charged in connection with the disappearance of a Memphis schoolteacher will make his first court appearance. Surveillance footage captured the moment 34-year-old Eliza Fletcher was abducted as she was jogging early on Friday morning. She is still missing.

SCIUTTO: Just such a sad, alarming story. Yesterday evening police say they found a body. This about 20 minutes from where Fletcher was taken. To be clear, that person's identity, cause of death, have not yet been determined.

CNN's Gary Tuchman brings us the latest.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim and Poppy, Cleotha Abston will be arraigned within the next hour here in the Shelby County Courthouse in Memphis. He's being held on $500,000 bond. The main charge against him is called especially aggravated kidnapping. That's the name of the charge here in the state of Tennessee. But, of course, those charges could increase depending on what happens with the search for Eliza Fletcher.

Last night a huge police operation, a dramatic operation in south Memphis, about 15 minutes away from where we're standing here in Memphis. Scores of police officers, police cars, police helicopters. A tip had come in that a body might have been found. They closed off the neighborhood with police tape, and indeed made an announcement they had found a body. But they also said, they also emphasized, they hadn't identified the body. Today, we don't know if they have yet identified that body. If they

have, they aren't saying. But, of course, the operation was set up searching for Eliza Fletcher.

The reason that this is significant is this. After the kidnapping, police say they talked to a witness who saw Abston cleaning his SUV. He was cleaning the SUV, she said, a half mile away from where the body was found.

This guy Abston has quite a history. When he was 16 years old, back in the year 2000, he was found guilty of another kidnapping. He had kidnapped a man, an attorney here in Memphis, who got away. Abston did go to prison for about 20 years. He got out a year and ten months ago in November of 2020.

And now he's back in the legal system. And we anticipate learning more about this case during this arraignment.

Jim and Poppy, back to you.

HARLOW: All right, Gary will be in court for that.

Gary, thank you.

Right now, also, a manhunt is underway for one of the two brothers suspected in that mass stabbing over the weekend that left ten people dead and 18 others injured in multiple locations in Saskatchewan, Canada. Authorities have identified the two suspects as Damien and Myles Sanderson. Yesterday, Damien was found dead from injuries that police believe were not self-inflicted. His brother, Myles, remains at large and is considered both armed and dangerous.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss, will arrive soon at 10 Downing Street. The immediate challenges she will be greeted with after replacing Boris Johnson. And there she is meeting the queen. That's coming up.

HARLOW: We are also moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to virtually ring that bell at the opening today to highlight the launch of an initiative aimed at driving foreign investment to Ukraine. The moment comes as futures are pointing higher after the long holiday weekend. Investors looking for a break if they can in the losing streak we've been seeing in recent weeks. We'll keep an eye on all of it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:22]

HARLOW: Liz Truss is now the new prime minister of the United Kingdom. The conservative party leader officially taking the reins this morning after this meeting you see here with Queen Elizabeth.

Later today, truss will give a speech outside of 10 Downing Street as she begins to form her government.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Nadia Bashir joins us now from 10 Downing Street.

Let's begin with CNN anchor and correspondent Max Foster. He's outside the British parliament.

Max, Boris Johnson is gone, but inflation certainly isn't. The ongoing effects of Brexit. A war in Europe. Tell us about the big challenges the new prime minister will face.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: The immediate challenges, that economic challenge you described.

[09:30:00]

Inflation at 10 percent. But also increasing energy prices, which are escalating, doubling, tripling in the next couple of months. And it's seen as a massive crisis.