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Queen's Coffin Makes Final Trip To Buckingham Palace; Markets Down As Inflation Report Prompts Fed Rate Hike Fears; Multiple Investigations Into Trump And His Orbit Move Forward. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 13, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: People trying to go home for this stop. If you remember on the first night, when hundreds and hundreds of black cabs came up.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

AMANPOUR: And lined quietly here in the mall. The entire mall was filled with black cabs the night it was -- her death was announced.

FOSTER: The trail desk (INAUDIBLE). Wasn't it?

AMANPOUR: Yes. Yes. That was in Scotland. Yes.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And not because they were trying to get fares of people who were here.

AMANPOUR: No, no, no. We tried.

COOPER: Just out of respect.

AMANPOUR: Yes, out of respect.

FOSTER: They want to express something, didn't they?

AMANPOUR: Yes. Yes, yes. Their lights on, every single one of them. Yes.

COOPER: We're going to take a short break. We're going to continue to cover the procession of the Queen to here at Buckingham Palace. Stay with CNN, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:01]

COOPER: Welcome back. I'm Anderson Cooper in London outside Buckingham Palace with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Max Foster.

The body of Queen Elizabeth II is in England, the site of her final resting place. Her coffin now headed to Buckingham Palace for the night. Huge crowds have been descending on London, hoping to get a glimpse of the hearse as it makes its way. Tomorrow the Queen's coffin will travel to Westminster Hall where the people of England will be able to say their personal farewells to her.

As we continue to watch the -- we're about -- she's about, what, 15, 20 minutes or so, you'd say, away?

FOSTER. Yes. The A-40 you're seeing them coming into London soon. I'm quite struck by the cars on the other side of the road which hasn't been closed down, but cars are just stopping aware of what they're seeing to catch a moment. You know, people are getting out of their cars, you can see them along the edge just parking on the other side of the road. It's extraordinary.

COOPER: You may hear some yelling behind you, it's interesting, there's crowds of people sort of, I guess, who have been allowed in closer to Buckingham Palace and they're sort of running to try to get up close.

AMANPOUR: As they know -- because they're probably watching on their cameras on their phones.

COOPER: Right. Yes.

AMANPOUR: And they can see that the moment is approaching.

COOPER: And what you're hearing are some police or crowd control people sort of telling people to slow down and not run.

FOSTER: So they only had the other side, other pavement open before. They've opened this side of the pavement and basically -- but you know, the Mall.

COOPER: Right. It's interesting, though, and so --

AMANPOUR: They were there and now they're coming through.

FOSTER: They've opened the Mall basically.

AMANPOUR: Yes. Yes.

COOPER: For us I think it's startling because it has been so quiet throughout the day today.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

COOPER: Even though there have been crowds of people there hasn't been -- you don't hear yelling. You don't hear yelling. You don't hear --

AMANPOUR: And to be fair it's not the people yelling, it's the marshals.

COOPER: Right. Right.

AMANPOUR: Trying to keep them calm, trying not to have any accidents. Just trying to make sure that everybody -- yes. COOPER: That's why it's just so startling to hear someone sort of with

a raised voice.

FOSTER: Yes.

AMANPOUR: And the extraordinary sight of this particular procession and you'd call it a cortege with the hearse and the Queen's body is lit from within, as you said, and vehicles on the other side have stopped and where they can people have lined this route as well and will through Central London because she's going to come through the famous Marble Arch down Parklane, many tourists know that, around Wellington Square, down Constitution Hill. Constitution Hill and then here to the palace.

COOPER: And Max, if you would, we're just seeing in the lower left- hand side of your screen the Buckingham Palace. Will you just talk a little bit about what happens when the hearse arrives and will be there to greet it inside?

FOSTER: So I'm told that the whole family, including the Queen's children, all the Queen's children, all their spouses and all the grandchildren and spouses, and Princess Margaret's children as well. So I don't think they'll tell us that they weren't expecting to see them, so typically you'd see them at the gates there on the right which is open. They would be there to greet the hearse as it arrives, and then it goes inside.

I mean, there is an opportunity of course for members of the family to speak to the public. You know, I think they've been drawn to do that. I think it would just -- they've got an instinctive reaction to be able to do that. You know, Harry and Meghan, for example, they're drawn to that.

COOPER: So Harry and Meghan will be there.

FOSTER: Yes.

COOPER: William and Kate will be there as well.

FOSTER: Yes.

COOPER: Prince Edward, Prince Andrew, King Charles obviously and Camilla.

FOSTER: Yes. And then it goes inside and it sits in the bow room and there is a service there and the king will be there and presumably the rest of the family and then it's an opportunity for the staff to pay their respects.

COOPER: And as we said, that's not televised. And she will lay there at night and the room will never be empty, there will be people in the room.

FOSTER: Yes. It's a vigil. And then of course when the big moment is coming up, will be for the crown jeweler who -- there was only three people allowed to touch the crown jewels, they are the monarch, now the king, the crown jeweler and the archbishop of Canterberry because he needs the ability to pick up the crown and crown the king next year it will be. He will be placing the imperial state crown on the coffin.

We saw the Scottish crown which is the oldest crown up in Edinburgh, this is the imperial state crown and some of the sort of paraphernalia as we call it of the crown jewels will be resting on the coffin. And we'll see I think the plan is to have the crown on the coffin as it travels up the mall, which is a priceless and quite controversial piece of jewelry.

AMANPOUR: Well, I was going to say, yes. Yes.

FOSTER: That this is rehearsed.

AMANPOUR: And what we have to, yes, of course from the empire, some that were plundered. And there is a call to return -- for instance, here is a huge diamond from South Africa, there's a huge diamond from India, parts of old colonial empire, you know. Yes.

COOPER: We want to make sure that we are able to fully cover the queen's arrival here at Buckingham Palace. Obviously we're going to -- we're going to continue to follow the queen's final journey, obviously also following other news. I want to quickly send it back to Alisyn and to Victor in New York then we'll come right back -- Alisyn, Victor.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Anderson, thank you. We'll get back to you as the hearse approaches Buckingham Palace there.

Right now markets are down sharply, the Dow tumbling more than 1,000 points after the release of new data, inflation numbers.

[14:40:06]

While prices cooled off slightly last month food, energy and medical care were still painfully high for Americans.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Gas prices, meanwhile, continue to drop, the national average is now $3.71 a gallon. That's good news compared to where it's been in the past few months.

Joining us now is CNN business correspondent Rahel Solomon.

OK, walk us through the numbers today.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor and Alisyn, this was a slight easing but certainly fell short of expectations and, oh, by the way it comes the week before the Fed is supposed to meet next week to decide what to do with interest rates, right, so that's why you're seeing the reaction in the markets. So broadly inflation increased one tenths of a percent. You can see the Dow off now about a thousand points.

So broadly inflation increased one-tenth of a percent. That's modest but we were expecting inflation to move in the other direction the last month. Over the last year prices are up about 8.3 percent, I want to put this in perspective. When you look at CPI or inflation over the last few years or so you can see 8.3 is actually a moderation, maybe the worst is behind us, so there's some easing there, but when you look under the hood and determine what's happening here, you have two opposing forces.

So on the one hand as you pointed out, Alisyn, energy prices really continue to fall and that's helping on the inflation front. But food prices are moving in the opposite direction. Food prices continue to rise at a historic rate. Even, however, when you strip out those two categories, it's not just food prices. Core inflation continues to accelerate at a troubling pace. We saw the figure come in twice what we saw the month prior and twice what economists were expecting. So that's problematic.

Looking at some of the biggest drivers of inflation in this report, guys, shelter, which by the way if you are looking for an apartment you already know rent prices are through the roof. Take a look. Shelter prices which includes rent 6.2 percent compared to a year ago, medical care up 5 percent, new cars, double digits, 10 percent compared to a year ago, and furniture just about the sane, just hovering lower than 10 percent for the year.

And even looking at food which by the way continues to rise at historic rate overall food prices are up about 11.4 percent compared to a year ago, that is the highest yearly acceleration since 1979. And taking a look really quickly at categories, baked goods, meats, eggs, dairy, all continued to rise last month. So imagine trying to make a nice breakfast for yourself. I mean, you're still faced --

BLACKWELL: It's going to be pricey.

SOLOMON: Yes, exactly.

BLACKWELL: And certainly not the number the White House wanted as they are now celebrating the Inflation Reduction Act today.

Rahel Solomon, thank you.

The Justice Department has subpoenaed dozens of people in former President Trump's orbit, all while several committees on Capitol Hill are ramping up their own investigations.

CAMEROTA: And of course we continue to follow the scene in London. It's a drizzly night there, vintage London weather, as the queen's coffin travels to Buckingham Palace and you see all of the cars and people lining the street for this final journey of hers.

We will be back live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:48]

BLACKWELL: Live pictures, this is London and you are looking at Queen Elizabeth's hearse en route to her home for seven decades, Buckingham Palace. And you can see along the road the flashing lights there as cars have pulled over and people have gotten out of those vehicles to witness history. Their queen en route to the palace.

We of course will bring you those live pictures there. We are expecting the royal family to be waiting there at the gate to receive her, where she will spend the night surrounded by members of the clergy with which she had association with for so many years. Again, our special live coverage will continue out of London.

Back here in the U.S., the House Oversight Committee has asked the National Archives to find out if any more presidential records are missing. The letter from the committee's chairwoman spells out her concerns that some documents might still be unaccounted for, but the mishandling of the top secret documents is just one of many investigations into Trump and others in his orbit.

CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honing is here to help keep us all straight for us here.

You've highlighted the four probes, walk us through them.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Victor, so lots of different investigations. These are really the four main ones. We have DOJ's criminal investigation relating to January 6th. We also have DOJ investigating classified documents that were recovered down at Mar-a- Lago. We have the House January 6th Committee which will resume its work soon. And we have a new development, the Senate Judiciary Committee is looking into potential political interference with DOJ and the SDNY. We have new developments on all of them. You want to spin the wheel? Where do you want to start?

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's start with the DOJ, the January 6th investigation. I know there is a whole slew of subpoenas.

HONIG: Yes, dozens of new subpoenas in the last couple of days. Really hitting on all different aspects of Donald Trump's operation. Bill Stepien, his campaign manager, Sean Dollman who was in charge of fundraising for the campaign, that could be interesting. Dan Scavino, one of Donald Trump's closest aides. These are grand jury subpoenas, you cannot brush these off, they will have to testify.

Let's also remember we know DOJ has spoken with other key players who we've heard in the committee, Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, Marc Short, one of Mike Pence's key aides, Cassidy Hutchinson, we remember her, and finally keep in mind DOJ has done search warrants on the phones of Jeffrey Clark and John Eastman.

[14:50:04]

Now what are they looking at, Alisyn? The short answer is everything. The fake electors scheme, the pressure campaign on the Justice Department, state and local officials on the vice president, and the organization and the fundraising behind the rally. One of the things with subpoenas is you don't know where they're going to take you. I think DOJ is just following all investigative leads. So that is the DOJ criminal investigation.

CAMEROTA: OK. BLACKWELL: And now let's go to the classified documents investigation.

Things moving there.

HONIG: Yes. Down at Mar-a-Lago, it looks like they have agreement on who will be the special master, a retired federal judge, Raymond Deery, really wildly respected sort of across the aisle. Let's also remember Donald Trump -- excuse me, DOJ has filed a notice of appeal. They don't agree with the special master ruling. They don't think the special master should have access to classified documents. They don't think the special master should be reviewing for executive privilege.

And of course now we know that Congress is taking a look at what happened to those classified documents. Are there any missing trying to do a damage assessment. So that's the latest on the Mar-a-Lago probe.

CAMEROTA: OK. Where are we with the January 6th Committee hearing?

HONIG: Yes. So the January 6th Committee, they're not done. Let's remember, this fall we are going to get the sequel to the hearings. They're trying to decide one of their big decisions, are we going to invite informally or maybe subpoena Donald Trump or Mike Pence. There are some tactical considerations happening here. The committee also has to decide, are we going to make a formal criminal referral over to DOJ. Now there's no binding legal significance to that but it would increase the political pressure on DOJ. On the other hand, it could make any prosecution looked like it's politically motivated.

BLACKWELL: Your old office SDNY and the Senate.

HONIG: Yes. Yes. SO this is a new development. So Geoffrey Berman, who was U.S. attorney after I left, has now come out with this book where he writes that, quote, "Trump's Justice Department kept demanding that I use my office to aid them politically and I kept declining." He says I declined gently so I don't lose my job. They eventually did fire him. But he says in particular DOJ leaned on him to get rid of the Michael Cohen hush money investigation which may have done damage to Donald Trump.

Leaned on him to potentially prosecute John Kerry under a law that's almost never used. And now the Senate Judiciary Committee has said they're going to hold hearings. And I think it's really important that they do that because I was raised as a prosecutor that politics and prosecution absolutely do not mix.

CAMEROTA: I'm just curious, is there any problem with the fact that he kept that for his book instead of alerting somebody that he was getting pressure from the DOJ?

HONIG: You know, the right thing to do would have been to resign on the spot and announce why. So Geoffrey Berman did not do that. He served all the way up until he was fired. I don't think he's committed a crime by doing that but that is not the SDNY way, I'll put it that way. Try to be diplomatic.

CAMEROTA: Yes. You did. Elie Honig, thank you very much. Really helpful to walk through all that.

HONIG: Thank you both.

BLACKWELL: The queen's coffin is approaching Buckingham Palace. Thousands of people lining the streets. We've got live pictures here. A little tough to see through the trees there. But people are getting out of their cars to pay respect. Even more people, huge crowds out there outside the palace. We'll have more of our live special coverage ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:57:45]

COOPER: Welcome back to CNN's special live coverage of the queen's final journey. I'm Anderson Cooper near Buckingham Palace, here with Christiane Amanpour and CNN's Max Foster. We are really just minutes away from the queen's arrival here at Buckingham Palace. As you see her hearse making steady progress through now the streets really in Central London itself, just a few minutes really away from here.

AMANPOUR: Exactly. And for anybody who knows London, and visitors and tourists, she's gone alongside the park. Now turning after Marble Arch turning into Parklane and then that will then turn into what was called Constitution Hill and then the pier behind us. Behind us, Anderson, just look, it's dark. Pitch black behind us. You can't hear anybody say a thing.

COOPER: You cannot. There are probably several thousand people directly now in front of Buckingham Palace. And it is incredibly quiet, Christiane, at this point. A respectful silence has been permeating really much of the city throughout the day, but certainly here in this crowd tonight, it is -- they know that the Queen is near.

CNN's chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward and CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance are also out among the mourners outside Buckingham Palace.

Clarissa, where you are, they've let a lot more people come closer to Buckingham Palace.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And you can start to see. This is Buckingham Palace obviously right behind me. But the line of people, Anderson, goes all the way right down here. This goes all the way. This is Constitution Hill. It goes all the way down to Hyde Park. And you can see people are lined up, they are waiting. And what's so striking as you just alluded to, they are waiting patiently. They are waiting quietly. We haven't heard any jostling. We haven't heard any shouting.

People want to mark this moment. They want to have their front row seat on this historic event but they are comporting themselves with such decorum. And it's really pretty remarkable to see such a large crowd standing, some of them for hours, in the rain. It's getting chillier and you don't hear anyone, not a cross word. No one squabbling. No one pushing. No one shoving. Everyone just marking this momentous occasion.

COOPER: Yes.