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Sergey Lavrov Accuses The West Of Trying To Destroy Russia In His U.N. Speech; Tropical Storm Ian Strengthens As It Barrels Toward Florida; Democrats And Republicans Using Different Tactics To Attract Voters To Vote In The Midterms; Arizona Judge Rules State Can Enforce Near-Total Abortion Ban; DOJ Prosecutors Recommended Not Charging Matt Gaetz In Sex Trafficking Probe; Sources: Trump In Secret Court Fight To Stop Aides From Sharing Information About 1/6 With Grand Jury. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 24, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:01]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alex Marquardt in Washington in today for Jim Acosta.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin attempts to control the narrative in his faltering war in Ukraine, another top Russian official is lashing out today. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly just moments ago, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed the United States, claiming that the West is, quote, "trying to destroy Russia and remove it from the world's map."

CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood is at the United Nations.

Kylie, a lot of the angry bluster from Sergey Lavrov today.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Alex. And we just had a press conference with Foreign Minister Lavrov, and what he said was a lot of what we heard during those remarks. Going after the West. He was asked some direct questions but he really didn't give revealing answers that were all more detailed than we have heard from the Russians in the past.

He was asked about what the goals of Russia's war in Ukraine are, and he referenced only the statements from President Putin. He was asked about the potential use of nuclear weapons, and he referenced there being a nuclear weapons document in Russia that would determine when they would use such weapons. Really not giving a whole lot of new meat on the bone here.

But there was an interesting back and forth with one reporter who asked about President Putin, saying that he had received some questions and concerns from President Xi of China about the war in Ukraine. And listen to what he said during that back and forth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I'm asking you, are you coming under any pressure? I don't know, I'm asking.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: No, no, no, no. You asked me what about, how do we feel under pressure from China? Look, let's be honest. Let's be honest.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you coming under any pressure from China?

LAVROV: Look, you may tell your readers, listeners, viewers, that I avoided to answer your question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now obviously pressure from China is something that the Russian foreign minister didn't want to talk about today. We should note that the Chinese foreign minister also delivered remarks here at the United Nations today, and one thing that he said is that all parties to the conflict in Ukraine should prevent spillover effects.

Of course, he didn't call out Russia specifically, and that is in line with what we have seen from Chinese officials. You talk to U.S. officials here, even though President Xi expressed some of those concerns to President Putin, we really haven't seen the Chinese backing that up and putting any real pressure on Russia to stop this war in Ukraine.

MARQUARDT: Yes. Very interesting moment there, that non-answer speaking volumes.

Kylie, just switching out to some rare good news honestly. We have these two Americans, veterans who are back on U.S. soil after they were captured by pro-Russian forces fighting on the Ukrainian side in Ukraine. They were held for the past several months. What more do we know about how they were released and got home?

ATWOOD: Yes, their names are Alex Drueke and Andy Nguyen. As you said two Americans, they went to fight alongside the Ukrainians, and they were taken captive by Russian proxies, they were held for months. And their families knew very little about the conditions of their captivity. They headed to New York yesterday. They are arriving today in Alabama where they're going to be reunited with their family.

And we'll look to learn more about what that was like, being captive as a result of going over there to fight alongside the Ukrainians. We should note the State Department has urged all Americans not to go and fight in this war because of, you know, the grave risks associated with this that we've seen these two Americans go through. But the State Department was very supportive when they were released.

And we should note that it was the Saudis and the Turks who worked with the Ukrainians to broker this prisoner swap, these prisoners of war exchange between the Ukrainians and the Russians just this week -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: Multi-pronged diplomacy there. Kylie Atwood, after a very busy week at the United Nations, thanks for your terrific reporting out there. Now Russia replaced its deputy defense minister today and appointed a

man to that position who led the siege of the southern city of Mariupol. Now this comes at President Vladimir Putin toughens the punishment for those who refuse to serve in the Russian military. Nearly 1500 protesters have been detained in cities all across Russia since Putin announced his callup, his mobilization of 300,000 reservists and possibly more to come.

Meanwhile, four Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine are voting -- we should put that in quotes -- on joining Russia. Ukraine and Western governments have dismissed this as sham referenda, and NATO secretary general warns that Moscow could even use this to escalate the war even further.

Joining me now to discuss this is CNN national security analyst and former CIA chief of Russia operations, Steve Hall, and former undercover KGB agent Jack Barsky.

[16:05:00]

Steve, I want to start with you and that news that the head of logistics, this deputy defense minister for logistics, has been replaced. It's not news that the logistical side of Russia's war has been going really, really badly since day one. But what do you make of this switch?

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think Vladimir Putin is realizing that he's got to do something if he wants to improve the situation in Ukraine. And part of that something is preparing the battlefield, not just in Ukraine, but actually inside of Russia domestically, which is I think why you're getting a guy like Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying things like, well, this is, you know, the West or NATO attacking Russia.

That is really the only way that I think that he can try to get some sort of nationalistic sense to try to get young men in Russia to go to this war, which, you know, so far has been very good at killing a lot of young Russian men. So that in part reflects what I think Sergey Lavrov was saying today at the U.N.

MARQUARDT: Jack, I want to ask you about what we were talking to Kylie about, these two Americans who are now home after being held for several months by pro-Russian forces. We have yet to hear from them about what they really went through in that saga, but what do you imagine their captivity was like, what they saw, and what they experienced?

JACK BARSKY, FORMER UNDERCOVER KGB AGENT: Well, Russian prisons are not known for being health spas, OK? So they probably suffered severe conditions such as, you know, cold, dark, not very good food. But allow me to volunteer something here. The fact that there was an exchange is, for me, a good sign because we need to do more talking rather than more shooting.

This war is close to getting out of hand. And any kind of escalation is very dangerous to the existence of the planet. And that's what I've been worried about for quite some time.

MARQUARDT: We've been seeing these sham referenda, this voting if you want to call it that, in these four occupied areas of Ukraine.

Steve, we know which way this is going to go. We know that Russia is going to claim that these territories are now part of Russia. What difference do you think this makes on the battlefield? Because Russia is going to say, all right, you are now attacking Russian territory.

HALL: Well, yes. It's nothing more than a prelude or part of actually the annexation process of Russia. So they will begin to claim that, you know, the Donbas regions and also the land bridge in the south from Crimea over to Russia is now part of Russian territory because, you know, the people there said, please take us, Russia, which is, of course, you know, it's just -- it's silly.

(INAUDIBLE), first of all, for the Ukrainians, it means absolutely nothing. The Ukrainians, of course, will not sit back and say, OK, we get it, now that's part of Russia, so we better not, you know, attack there. I don't think anybody is buying this sort of shell game that the Russians are playing, which is that, OK, any attack against Russia, they'll say, is a very serious escalation. And then they take land and say, now this is part of Russia, so you better not attack it.

That doesn't really hold, you know, any water in the international side of things. I do think it allows Putin and the Kremlin to do more nuclear saber-rattling because they want us to be very worried about this, they want us to be very concerned about the potential use of nuclear weapons. And of course, you can't be flip about it. They are very serious weapons.

But I would be surprised at this point if that were the direction that Russia would try to go if the Ukrainians continue to fight in those areas which will be annexed shortly after they finish their silly referenda.

MARQUARDT: Yes. Putin saying that they're not bluffing. We've seen in the wake of Putin's announcement this week that 300,000 reservists, possibly more, are going to be called up to fight in Ukraine.

These incredible scenes at Russia's border, Russians fleeing to any country that they can essentially get into, whether it's by air or by road.

Jack, do you think that countries, like countries in Europe, should make it easier for these fleeing Russians to get in so that Putin cannot bolster his forces for Ukraine?

BARSKY: Why not? Of course. But let's not overestimate what we are hearing from selective reporting that Russian nationalism is still alive. And when it comes to this -- these sham elections, this is -- this primarily plays to the internal audience because Putin isn't stupid enough to believe that anybody in the West or outside of his country believes in that.

MARQUARDT: Steve, on this question of the mobilization, you know, these guys are going to go through apparently two weeks of training.

[16:10:01]

You know, many of them haven't fired a gun in years, if at all. What kind of impact, if any, do you think that they can have on the fight?

HALL: Well, on the one hand, it is going to take, obviously, time for them to come up and be trained properly in the units they're going to be deployed to, so that's going to be a long process. I think that the Russians, the more people, the more men, the more soldiers that they throw at this fight, which is typically and historically how the Russians have done things, just try to overwhelm it with more men on the battlefield. So that may help. But I think there was a Ukrainian who said earlier today on Twitter who I think captured it very well.

He said, look, we have managed to stop and for the most part defeat large portions of the already professional standing army that Russia tried to field against us. When they send in these callup guys, it's going to be even easier for us. I'm not sure that I'm quite that optimistic about it. I still think there's a long road ahead of the Ukrainians. But you know, I'm also quite sure that this callup is not going to be, you know, the end-all and be-all that I think that the Russians hope it's going to be.

MARQUARDT: And Jack, Steve did touch on it briefly but the domestic implications. We're seeing these incredible scenes, all kinds of videos coming out on social media of the future soldiers themselves furious, their families sad. You know, of course, no one wants to go off and fight. How much do you think this is going to resonate inside Russia and cause President Putin political problems?

BARSKY: Some. But I think -- I believe he still has a very strong grip on Russia. And as I said before, Russian nationalism is alive and well. There's a lot of Russians -- because you know, the Russian state, the population, have been brainwashed by Putin for over 20 years. You think that brainwashing doesn't stick? I mean, the majority -- I guarantee you that the majority of Russians believe in the propaganda that the West is trying to destroy Russia and the propaganda that one of the reasons that Putin is going into Ukraine is that he's fighting the Nazis there. If you repeat the same lie over and over and over again, it will stick.

MARQUARDT: Yes. Except now the rubber is hitting the road, and a lot of those people are going to actually go into Ukraine themselves rather than just watching these scenes on state television.

Gentlemen, we have to leave it there. Steve Hall, Jack Barsky, thank you so much for your expertise and time.

And coming up, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has declared a state of emergency for the entire state. We'll have the very latest on the forecast of a major storm that is approaching.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [16:16:00]

MARQUARDT: Storms in the Atlantic are wrecking coast lines and threatening millions of people in their paths. A state of emergency now in the state of Florida as Tropical Storm Ian is predicted to hit Florida as a major hurricane next week.

And then farther south in Puerto Rico, residents still struggling to recover after what was Hurricane Fiona knocked out power and washed out roads. Look at those incredible images. Fiona continuing now to cause trouble for the north in Canada as a post-tropical cyclone. Thousands there without power as the strength of this storm has collapsed some coastal homes. One official saying that the devastation in some areas is, quote, "breathtaking."

CNN meteorologist Britley Ritz is tracking the latest. Britley, what can we expect from these storms?

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, of course Ian, we'll expect to be intensifying as it moves into an environment that's a little bit more conducive, essentially. We're losing the wind shear, wind direction, wind speed changing with height, within the atmosphere. So it's expected to strengthen as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico. A lot of convection trying to find the center of that storm, which is what really depends on the track.

So as soon as we find that center, we'll have an idea of where this will make landfall. Current winds, max sustained winds, 45 miles per hour. Gusts reaching 60 miles per hour as it moves westward. And this will continue to strengthen as we mentioned, to moving over the Cayman Islands, moving into Monday morning. We've now got winds at 100 miles per hour.

A category 3 storm, a major hurricane, expected by Tuesday morning, taking its track into the Gulf of Mexico where we lose the shear. However, we have a trough that's digging further south. Depending on where that trough pushes further south or north depends on the track, which is why that storm is starting to move in and then we get the cone widening. So anywhere between Destine to Key West, we could have a potential landfall of hurricane, category 2 or stronger.

So a lot of inconsistency here with the model runs. I want to show you the American model, bringing it in further westward than originally projected over the last 24 hours. Now taking landfall Friday afternoon and early evening on the panhandle. However, the European comes in trying to make landfall Wednesday into Thursday somewhere on the west coast of Florida. And that also plays a big role in how much rain we're getting.

Notice the American model, less, four to six inches, but the European model, widespread four to six but isolated higher amounts up to a foot of rain. And of course, Fiona, post-tropical cyclone, now the center located over the Gulf of Lawrence, expected to take its track into Labrador, and of course the devastating images from the surge -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: So much all up and down the East Coast. Britley Ritz, thank you so much.

Now turning now to politics. One midterm election, two different sets of issues.

[16:20:01]

With 45 days until voters head to the polls, Republican candidates are largely focusing on crime and the economy, while Democrats are campaigning on the fight for abortion access.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more from New Hampshire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARYLOU BLAISDELL, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: Two years ago, if you would have said to me, four years ago, Roe v. Wade will be overturned, I would have said, you're crazy, that will never happen. But it happened.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For Marylou Blaisdell, the fall election is first and foremost about abortion rights.

BLAISDELL: I thought that my generation had that issue solved, but apparently we don't, and we're starting all over again.

ZELENY: But for Gary Hendricks, the November vote is primarily about President Biden.

GARY HENDRICKS, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: The people are unhappy with what Biden's doing, number one.

ZELENY: And a chance to put a check on Democratic policies in Washington.

HENDRICKS: He was just anti-oil. I mean I can see you wanting to, you know, save the environment, but do it at a pace that the -- that's not going to hurt the world.

ZELENY: It's one midterm election, but two decidedly different campaigns are underway here in New Hampshire and across the country. Democrats are trying to tap into an urgent desire to protect abortion rights and democracy.

That message resonates with Laura Miller, a pediatrician who said she paid little attention to politics before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

(On camera): Did that make you more motivated to vote?

LAURA MILLER, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: It did. Yes, definitely. Where now I feel like, OK, we need to get out and actually vote, not -- I don't even know that it makes a difference, but I feel now I need to because I have an opinion.

ZELENY: And was that ever something that you thought could happen in your lifetime?

MILLER: No, I didn't. No. And that's what kind of scares me with politics.

ZELENY (voice over): Yet Republicans believe inflation, crime, and immigration will motivate voters to change course.

Mike Gillespie owns a small business and said economic concerns are paramount.

MIKE GILLESPIE, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: I mean my cost to operate my business are astronomically more than they used to be. Finding employees is next to impossible.

ZELENY (on camera): You hope that November brings a change in Washington in terms of who controls Congress?

GILLESPIE: Absolutely. Absolutely.

ZELENY (voice over): This tale of two elections is playing out in a crush of campaign ads from coast to coast. On crime, Republicans are hammering Democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's more worried about criminals than victims.

ZELENY: Spending more than $21 million on ads in the last month alone, while Democrats have invested less than $5 million. On abortion, Democrats are dominating the air waves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kari Lake is serious. Serious about criminalizing abortion.

ZELENY: Spending $46 million over the last month in ads. Republicans, only $4 million. In New Hampshire, where key races will help determine control of the House and Senate, election integrity is now also at play.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 2020 election was undoubtedly stolen from President Trump.

ZELENY: Inside her store, Blaisdell said friends of all political persuasions voice concerns about the country's deep divide. The question is whether that becomes a voting issue in the final weeks of the race.

BLAISDELL: We should all be standing up and supporting this country and this democracy because there are those who are trying to tear it down through their anger and their false information that's out there.

ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Nashua, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Thanks to Jeff Zeleny for that report.

President Joe Biden's approval rating is resurging from a dismal low of the mid-30s, but he's still underwater on one issue, the economy. In a recent poll, Biden's approval has bounced back to 45 percent. But his approval on the economy, while improving, is still just 38 percent.

With me now to discuss is "The Washington Post" opinion columnist and CNN economics and political commentator Catherine Rampell and CNN political commentator Ana Navarro.

Thank you both for joining me this afternoon.

Catherine, I want to start with you. The economy is heading into a nosedive. We've seen these horrific numbers coming from the markets over the past few days, and this is exactly when voters are about to be heading to the polls in just a few weeks. How much do you think this was inevitable? And how much more do you think the administration could have done?

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So I would quibble a little bit with your characterization of the economy. I think we're getting actually a lot of very mixed signals about economic conditions right now. The job market is still quite strong. Inflation numbers still uncomfortably high. The housing market is slowing down. Retail sales slowing down. So you're getting a lot of mixed signals here.

But inflation is first and foremost the thing that Americans care most about when it comes to economic conditions. And as I said, that is still problematic. There's not a ton that the White House and or Congress could do to get price growth down. There are some little things that they could do around the edges. Things like fixing some of our immigration flows or repealing tariffs.

[16:25:01]

They have been very reluctant to undertake those measures. So most of the burden of dealing with this, as is usually the case, is on the Federal Reserve. And the challenge for the Federal Reserve is how you raise interest rates and cool inflation without tipping us into recession, which historically has been an inadvertent consequence of that path. So again, mixed signals right now. There are plenty of reasons to be quite worried, however, about the risk of recession going forward.

MARQUARDT: Ana, the Republicans obviously want to make this a race about the economy, about inflation, about crime. Democrats hoping that the decision on Roe v. Wade and the number of election-denying Republican candidates, Trump's multiple investigations, that that will get Democratic voters out, perhaps keep independents -- have independents come to their side, keep Republican voters at home.

Here we are 45 days out. How successful do you think Republican candidates are right now at talking about issues that they want to be talking about to get their voters out to vote for them?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Frankly, where I sit in Miami, Florida, right now I will tell you they're not being very successful. I don't understand why they keep getting into -- you know, in their own way. I don't understand why Ron DeSantis here in Florida, who has a good economic story to tell and sell, and compare to what's going on nationally, is instead focusing on giving immigrants a tour of the northeast, prosecuting and persecuting and going after LGBTQ and drag queens, making a big deal about CRT.

Republicans seem to be stuck on these manufactured culture war issues, which I think are diffusing the attention from the economy, which is what they should be laser focused on. It is very difficult for Republicans to get focus on the economy when you have things happening in states like Arizona, where there are so many close races. Like a court all of a sudden instituting a 1901 law banning abortion. 1901. That was the year Marconi received the first signal, radio signal, from across the Atlantic. That was a year that Arizona wasn't even a state.

And so while you are talking about abortion and while these things are happening, that tug on our heartstrings, it diffuses the attention from the pocketbook issues.

MARQUARDT: Right. President Biden spoke at a DNC event on Friday. Let's take a quick listen at some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I came to office, the economy was flat on its back. Millions out of work. So we acted quickly, we passed the American Rescue Plan, which lifted this nation from economic crisis to economic recovery. And every single Republican voted for it. Nearly 10 million more jobs have been created since I've been president. The highest number of jobs in that period of time of any president of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Catherine, how do you think, you know, voters, and particularly Democratic voters, are going to respond to that rosy assessment of what he's done on the economic front?

RAMPELL: Well, I think the president is in sort of a challenging position. He wants to tout the good news in the economy. Like I said, there is some good news, including in the job market, as the president just mentioned. But it sounds a little bit tone deaf, or it can at least, to talk about all of the jobs that have been created while kind of brushing aside or at least downplaying the very real pain that a lot of households are in because the cost of living has gone up so much, because their wages in those jobs that have been created are not keeping up with inflation.

So I think it's a difficult messaging challenge for this White House to be able to say, look at all the good stuff I've done, eh, you know, maybe that should overwhelm some of the negative trends we've seen so far. And to be clear, you know, there's also some debate about to what extent the president's policies are responsible for any of it. I think it's a contributor, of course. But, you know, Biden in that clip said that the economy was flat on its back when he took office. In fact, jobs had been -- job growth had been quite strong prior to

that because we were coming from a very, very low point in the economy as a result of the pandemic.

MARQUARDT: Before I let you both go, Ana, you were just speaking a moment ago about Arizona and the key races there. You mentioned a judge in Arizona ruling that the state can enforce a near-total ban on abortion. The only exception is to save the mother's life. This is likely to galvanize voters, particularly women voters, perhaps, ahead of the midterms there. You know, this, of course, while Republicans have been focusing more on crime and the economy.

[16:30:00]

How much impact do you think this ruling's going to have in these key races in Arizona?

NAVARRO: I think it's going to have a huge impact. Not only in Arizona, but across the nation.

Because we, as women, and I think Americans, regardless of gender, keep reading these horrible stories coming out of different states.

The story of the 10-year-old rape victim. The story of the mother having to carry the child without a skull, giving birth to him so she could bury him.

These are horrible, horrible stories that we realize we are -- it could happen anywhere in the country, particularly when you have efforts like Lindsey Graham trying to nationalize now and federalize the ban on abortion.

And so I do think that it is something that is impacting every single person, every single person that's reading these stories, and really being made to reflect and to think.

And we're going to vote with intention because of that.

MARQUARDT: All right, we have to leave it there. Just 45 days to go before the midterms.

Ana Navarro, Catherine Rampell, thank you so much for your time. Thank you.

Still ahead, CNN has new exclusive details about the secret battle that former President Donald Trump is waging to prevent a federal grand jury from getting information from his inner circle about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:35:47]

MARQUARDT: There are major developments this week in the sex trafficking investigation of Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. Federal prosecutors have recommended against charging the Republican lawmaker, who was under investigation for an alleged relationship with a 17- year-old girl.

A source tells CNN that the recommendation comes, in part, because prosecutors have questions over whether the central witness in the investigation would be perceived as credible in front of a jury.

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

Joining us now is CNN's senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, Elie Honig.

Elie, thanks so much for joining me today.

We're told senior DOJ officials have not made a final decision yet on whether to charge Gaetz. From what we do know, why is this significant?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Alex, it's very unlikely Matt Gaetz will be charged now.

Because when you have a scenario where the career prosecutors who work the case on the ground level recommend no charges, they can be overruled by senior officials, but it is very rare that happens. I think it's very unlikely Matt Gaetz gets charged.

What's so unusual is, a year and a half ago, these prosecutors, DOJ, gave a cooperation agreement to Joel Greenberg. You'll remember, he's the vile character who was Matt Gaetz's buddy and side kick. Joel Greenberg has pled guilty to sex trafficking of a minor, to stalking, to fraud, to other crimes.

Normally, as a prosecutor, when you make that move to give someone a cooperation agreement, you've already done your diligence, you already decided, we believe him, we can back him up.

Here, it seems, they didn't do that, or didn't do it right. Now they're in this terrible position that they put themselves in at DOJ where they're giving Joel Greenberg this generous agreement.

But they're not actually going to use his information to make a case against Matt Gaetz or anyone else.

So I have real criticisms over the way DOJ has handled this.

MARQUARDT: Elie, I want to turn to former President Donald Trump. We have new exclusive reporting that Trump's attorneys are fighting a secret court battle to block a federal grand jury from gathering information from that expanding circle of close Trump aides about his efforts to overturn the election.

So what does this tell you?

HONIG: Alex, first of all, it's important people know, there's nothing unusual or abnormal about the fact that this is happening in secret. We're in the grand jury phase. That's how you would handle things.

Now tells me two sides of the same coin. DOJ is trying to get at the most crucial, sensitive conversations between Donald Trump and his top advisers. Donald Trump's team is trying to prevent that.

Ultimately, this an argument about executive privilege. I think DOJ has the better of that argument because the law tells us that executive privilege is designed to protect against legitimate policy discussions, not to protect against evidence of wrongdoing or criminality.

So this is a battle that's ongoing. But I do suspect DOJ will ultimately prevail.

MARQUARDT: And this week, we also learned that the special master overseeing the Mar-a-Lago document investigation -- this is the special master that the Trump team requested -- ordered Trump's lawyers to back out-of-court court assertion that the FBI could have planted evidence at the property during their search last month.

So essentially, what this special master is saying is put up or shut up, right?

HONIG: Yes, Alex, this is going disastrously for Donald Trump and his team. As you said, they asked for this special master.

He's now putting them to their proof on their declassification claims, on their claims that evidence was planted. When you're in court, you can't run and hide. Ultimately, you have to put up and answer.

I will say, though, DOJ at the same time is not winning here. They're just trying to get back to zero. Remember, they didn't want a special master at all.

All this special master really has the power to do, ultimately, is give those documents back to DOJ. So they're just trying to get those documents back.

In the meantime, we're going on seven weeks, soon, since this search happened, and the special master's only now getting started. This is turning into a lose-lose scenario.

MARQUARDT: Yes, DOJ just wants to get back to their investigation.

Elie Honig, the man who never sleeps, thank you so much for breaking this down for us.

(LAUGHTER)

HONIG: That's what we --

(LAUGHTER)

HONIG: -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: We really appreciate you coming on. HONIG: Thanks.

MARQUARDT: Thank you, sir.

Still ahead, Iranians are rising up against decades of repression following the death of a 22-year-old young woman who was detained by the country's Morality Police for not wearing her head scarf properly. We'll have the latest on that story coming up next.

Plus, unexplained health incidents resembling concussion-like injuries. Join Dr. Sanjay Gupta for a new investigation into a global mystery. That special report called "IMMACULATE CONCUSSION: THE TRUTH BEHIND HAVANA SYNDROME." That begins tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

[16:40:11]

Here's a quick preview. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something happened to those individuals in Havana.

ANNOUNCER: A global mystery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This suggests it is brain damage.

ANNOUNCER: Confounds scientists.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What's the level of concern now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Much higher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would the motivation be, to be doing that to American diplomats?

GUPTA: Were you worried about the president potentially being attacked?

ANNOUNCER: Join Dr. Sanjay Gupta on a search for answers.

GUPTA: Do you think the brain is the battlefield of the future?

ANNOUNCER: CNN's special report, "IMMACULATE CONCUSSION: THE TRUTH BEHIND HAVANA SYNDROME," tomorrow at 8:00.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: Iran is attempting to stop widespread protests across the country by restricting Internet access and threatening protesters. So far, it's not really working.

[16:45:01] Incredible scenes all across that country. Iranians outraged over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran's Morality Police, apparently, for not wearing her head scarf properly over her hair.

Dozens are reportedly dead and more than 1,200, according to state media, arrested. These protesters primarily from a younger generation.

Atlantic Council senior fellow and IranSource editor, Holly Dagres, told "The Washington Post," quote, "They have the same needs and wants of youth everywhere, the freedom to express themselves and be themselves, and have little in common with the geriatric leadership of the Islamic republic."

Holly Dagres joins me now.

Holly, thank you so much for being with me today.

Incredible scenes out of Iran. This notion that women anywhere should be told what to do, what to wear, how to dress, clearly resonating not just in Iran, but all around the world.

How is this protest that we're seeing in Iran different than others we've seen in recent years?

HOLLY DAGRES, SENIOR FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL & SENIOR EDITOR, IRANSOURCE: Protests in recent years have become normalized since January 2017 to now. We've seen things ebb and flow over the years. But the ones we're seeing that have spread nationwide are unparalleled.

And the continuity. It's been over a week now, and Iranians are still taking to the streets, putting their lives on the line, knowing full well they might die protesting against their government. And I think that's very historic.

MARQUARDT: Historic, unparalleled? Does that mean you think they could lead to some kind of change?

DAGRES: It's really hard to say. The reality is that they live under an authoritarian government, and they've been having these protests for years.

But the numbers themselves, the fact that this is a youth-led movement, that women are at the forefront, it's telling me that this is not the Iran it used to be, and that Iranians are fed up with the status quo. And they don't want an Islamic republic. They want change in their country.

And as long as there's a geriatric leadership at the helm of this government, a clerical establishment, they don't want this anymore.

You can hear it in their chants. They're chanting, "Death to Khomeini," "Death to the dictator," "I will fight, I will die, I will take back Iran."

This is telling me they just don't want this government anymore.

MARQUARDT: We're seeing a lot of videos coming out of Iran showing these remarkable scenes.

Of course, the Internet has been severely restricted. So how has that impacted the ability of the protesters to organize and get their message out?

DAGRES: Well, over the years, the Iranian government has recognized that Internet and social media is a national security threat.

So what we've been seeing is that they actually throttle and slow the Internet to a snail-like pace. In some instances, actually push for a total Internet shutdown.

This is exactly what happened in November 2019 in which security forces arrested and killed thousands. They use that as a cover to commit these atrocities.

This is what's really concerning for us right now, watching what's happening on the ground.

But also, when we have no Internet, it means we're not accessing what's happening in the country. That makes it harder for us to know what's going on.

It's only hours later that we're able to see how things are unfolding, since it's hard to be -- many journalists are being arrested, actually, too.

MARQUARDT: The international community has taken some action. The U.S., for its part, sanctioned the Morality Police. The U.S. Treasury has put out a license in order to get better Internet access to these Iranians who are in the streets.

What more do you think the U.S. and the international community should be doing at this critical moment?

DAGRES: Well, I think it's definitely progress that they've finally, after many years, the U.S. government has decided to issue this general license for Internet freedom. It's something we've been calling for since the Trump administration years.

But what the international community needs to do is call for accountability. There are international multilateral mechanisms that they can use.

And I think that this is something they should be pushing for, making sure that the Iranian government's held accountable for what's happening on the ground.

MARQUARDT: I keep saying it, but these are remarkable scenes. Just an incredible moment for anybody who's been watching Iran.

I know that you'll continue to watch it closely. And we'll be in close touch. Thank you for coming today, Holly Dagres, from the Atlantic Council.

[16:49:15]

Now coming up, knocking it out of the park. St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols joining the 700 Club as the fourth player in MLB history to hit 700 career home runs. That story's coming up next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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MARQUARDT: It is one of the most storybook good-byes in the history of the sports. In his final season before retirement, St. Louis Cardinal star, Albert Pujols, last night hitting his 700th career home run.

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ANNOUNCER: Pujols into the air, deep to left. Taylor is back at the wall. It's 700! Albert Pujols has joined the 700 Home Run Club!

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MARQUARDT: You can hear Dodger fans erupting there even though they were losing because this feat has only been accomplished by three other players in Major League history, Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth.

The 42-year-old had just knocked his 699th home run in the previous inning. His kids were there with him to witness history.

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[16:55:02]

ALBERT PUJOLS, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS DESIGNATED HITTER: My beautiful family, you know, after all that's who I play for. They've been walking through this journey through the ups and downs, and to the cries, to the hurts, to the injuries. And knowing that they had my back is amazing how God works.

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MARQUARDT: Our congratulations to him.

And that does it for me. In Washington, I'm Alex Marquardt. Thank you so much for joining me today. Jim Acosta is back tomorrow from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

And Pamela Brown takes over right now after a quick break. Take care.

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