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Markets Rattled After British Pound Sinks To Record Low; Oil Prices Plunge Below $80 Friday, Avg. Gas Prices Up Slightly To $3.73 Per Gallon; Twitter Lawyers Depose Elon Musk Over Abandoned $44 Billion Buyout; Operative Behind Plans To Seize Voting Machines Briefed Meadows; 1/6 Committee Holds Hearing Wednesday, Vowing New Evidence; Train Plows Into Police Car With Woman Handcuffed Inside. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired September 26, 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]
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: The Dow is on track to officially enter a bear market, which is a 20 percent decline from previous highs. If the Dow closes down by more than 150 points, it will join the S&P 500 and NASDAQ in bear market territory.
As you mentioned, the British pound is in free-fall mode today, continues to lose ground against major currencies after U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss announced this plan to cut taxes. That plan has not gone over well with investors.
The Bank of England even put out a statement saying it is closely monitoring financial markets, although the Bank of England stopped short of announcing an emergency rate hike.
On the energy front, we have seen gasoline prices here in the United States continue to tick higher. The national average is up six cents a gallon from the recent low.
The good news, though, is that's probably not going to last simply because oil prices have come down so sharply, down more than 2 percent today, below $77 a barrel.
I think the bad news is why oil prices are down. They're down because of those same recession fears that are hitting the stock market Alisyn?
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK. Now we understand gloomy.
Matt Egan, thank you very much.
OK, now to this. Lawyers for Twitter are set to question billionaire, Elon Musk, in a deposition that could take days. This is all part of the ongoing litigation to determine whether the Tesla CEO will have to follow through with his $44 billion offer to buy the social media platform.
Musk tried to back out of the agreement in July, alleging that Twitter misrepresented the number of bots and fake accounts on its site. Let's bring in CNN's Donie O'Sullivan.
Donie, where do things stand today?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot going on. This is all going to trial in three weeks from today in Wilmington and Delaware. It's expected to last about a week.
But in the buildup, we are seeing Musk being deposed today, along with the Twitter CEO and former CEO, Jack Dorsey.
So we won't be hearing today really what is in these deposits, but we're likely to learn it as the trial approaches.
CAMEROTA: How does the Twitter whistleblower factor into this?
O'SULLIVAN: Very, very much so. So you may remember about a month ago, Twitter whistleblower, a former head of security, the company's executive who was the head of security, Peter Zacko, came out making all sort of allegations, saying Twitter was -- essentially had major cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
But he also made the specific point that Twitter was lying to Elon Musk about how many bots were on its platform, directly playing into Musk trying to back out of the Twitter deal.
All of this quite fortuitous timing for Musk of the whistleblower coming forward. And we asked the whistleblower, Peter Zacko, about that.
Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER ZACKO, WHISTLEBLOWER & FORMER TWITTER HEAD OF SECURITY: Not one person -- this is about something that everybody should care about with large companies, which is, you know, the honesty and truthfulness of the data that's being presented, publicly represented, the national security implications, and whether users can trust their data with these organizations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'SULLIVAN: So Zacho there is a really well-regarded cybersecurity expert. He says that he's coming forward, the timing is coincidental. It's got nothing to do with this Musk deal.
Just a reminder to our viewers, earlier this year, Musk pledged to pay $44 billion to buy Twitter. Now the company has -- the value has dropped significantly since then.
And he is trying to rely on this argument that actually I didn't know there was so many bots on Twitter than there actually is, and that's how he's trying back out of this deal.
Ultimately, the judge in Delaware will decide. I mean, it's going to be a very big decision.
If Musk ends up being the owner of Twitter against his wishes, you know, he's -- he has said that he would allow former President Trump back on the platform.
Given how much we've seen that President Trump is sharing these days with QAnon and all of that, that would be a very, very big and very significant decision.
CAMEROTA: There are implications for all of us in this decision.
O'SULLIVAN: Exactly.
CAMEROTA: All right, thanks for keeping an eye on it for us.
[14:34:96]
OK, text messages obtained by CNN reveal a key figure in the plot to overturn the 2020 election. Messages to then-White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, on plans to seize voting machines. What does this mean for Meadows? More on that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: Now to some new reporting that connects Trump's White House chief of staff to a key figure in the scheme to overturn the election.
Text messages obtained by CNN reveal that in late December 2020, Phil Waldron, a retired Army colonel and conspiracy theorist with connections to Michael Flynn, briefed Mark Meadows about his attempts to gain access to voting systems in battleground states.
CNN justice correspondent, Jessica Schneider, joins me.
Jessica, what do the texts say?
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, they really underscore how Trump's chief of staff was really participating in conversations with someone who former White House officials have described as a fringe outsider pushing these crazy ideas really.
Our team has learned from court filings actually that these communications are now of interest to state and federal prosecutors looking into those efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
So as to the texts themselves, our Zack Cohen has obtained these texts. They're from Phil Waldron, who was an early proponent of these election-related conspiracy theories. He was trying to get access to voting machines.
[13:40:00]
He sent them to Mark Meadows. And one was on December 23rd. And this text message was to tell Meadows that an Arizona judge had dismissed a lawsuit from GOP lawmakers who were trying to get state election officials to hands over voting machines. And he told Meadows there that even they lost Arizona, a state which
he said he hoped would be the lead domino, that they were turning their efforts now to Georgia. And that led Meadows to respond, "Pathetic."
Waldron also texted Meadows a few days later. And notably, Waldron eventually sent Meadows a Power Point presentation outlining a plan to overturn the election. That Power Point was later used to brief Republican lawmakers.
And we know that Waldron himself helped draft language for an executive order that was never actually issued, but he wanted it to direct the pentagon and DHS to seize voting machines on behalf of the White House.
So now all of this coming to light. And we know that criminal prosecutors in Georgia are demanding that Waldron and Meadows testify as part of the grand jury investigation that's been going on down there, Alisyn.
Our team has reached out for attorneys for Meadows, for Phil Waldron. They haven't responded to requests for comment.
But really this just shows that Waldron was communicating with Trump's chief of staff at this crucial time period just before January 6th -- Alisyn?
CAMEROTA: Really revealing.
Jessica Schneider, thank you.
Joining us now is Jessica Levinson. She's a professor at Loyola Law School. And CNN senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein, senior editor at "The Atlantic."
Guys, thank you so much for being here.
Jessica, is Mark Meadows in trouble for communicating with this, you know, fringe character, conspiracy theorist, who was actively trying to overturn the election results?
JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Yes, I'm going to give you everybody's least favorite answer from a lawyer, which is it depends. So that's why as Jessica Schneider reported, state and federal law enforcement want to talk to him.
Because just receiving the information alone may not be enough. But they really want to know how involved he was with the plots, which, frankly, are outside of the constitutional bounds to try and overturn the election.
Now being the receptacle of information again is one thing, but being involved in plotting, being involved in a scheme to try and seize voting machines with no rational basis to do so, being involved in the fake elector scheme, that could potentially lead to legal exposure. CAMEROTA: So, Ron, again, there's the work of the January 6th
committee. And we don't know the entirety of all that they've learned and found.
However, this Wednesday they will be holding another hearing, what is billed as I think their last public hearing before they present their final report.
From everything that we've heard in these hearings -- and there have been bombshells -- is there any way that they don't make a criminal referral to the DOJ after all of this?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, first, I think the Meadows revelations get into what has been the biggest, I think, advancement of the story and our understanding that the January 6th committee has put forward.
Which is, you know, it has changed our understanding of January 6th itself, from a sudden fit, a peak, into the culmination of what was a multi-faceted, multi-month effort to overturn the election.
It brought in an incredible breadth of the Republican Party. For example, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in Georgia and secretary of state in Arizona are people who have been -- who were central in the fake elector plots in their states.
And they may be in a position, you know, in a few weeks to win control over those -- over those elections in those same states.
So I think the January 6th committee has significantly changed our understanding of what happened and kind of, you know, the way this which this unfolded.
I think this hearing is probably going to be more of a summary. I know at least some members want to do another public hearing before the election.
But there's no question, I think, that, for people who are willing to accept the evidence, they have put forward a very compelling case.
The only question on the criminal referral is whether they think it would make harder for the Justice Department by shading it as sort of a political response to congressional demand pressure.
CAMEROTA: Jessica, before I get your response to that, let's listen to one of the committee members, Adam Schiff, who is previewing what we will hear this Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): I think it will be potentially more sweeping than some of the other hearings. But it, too, will be very thematic.
It will tell a story about a key element of Donald Trump's plot to overturn the election. And the public will certainly learn things it hasn't seen before. But it will also understand information it already has in a different
context by seeing how it relates to other elements of this plot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: So, Jessica, legally speaking, do you think that the committee still has loose ends to tie up, that, you know, maybe some of your questions haven't yet been answered, perhaps?
[13:45:03]
And do you think they don't make a criminal referral at the end of all of this?
LEVINSON: So I'm going to say, of course, Ron nailed it. And I think the last thing he said, which was, if people are willing to accept the evidence, then it really does shed light on a very different story.
It's not just this organic coming together of a few people who are angry. It's the White House really working hand in glove with people who tried to thwart the peaceful transfer of power.
So does the House Select Committee make a referral? It certainly seems like they're headed there. It feels inevitable.
But I think they will pull back if they believe -- and Ron touched on this -- if they believe it will make it harder for the Department of Justice to bring forward their own charges because they don't want it to look like the Department of Justice was leaned on. And that's why they're acting.
Which means really it's just a political question. It's not a question in my mind as to whether or not there are enough -- there's enough legal evidence there.
Legally speaking, yes, I frankly think we're at the point, in part, thanks to the January 6th committee, that we would have to have Merrick Garland, this term, explain to the American public why charges were not brought as opposed to justifying why they were brought.
CAMEROTA: Basically, what the committee has said is whatever decision they make, it will be unanimous. Which is interesting to hear.
Also interesting to hear is this excerpt from Maggie Haberman's book, "Confidence Man." This is basically Donald Trump explaining why he wanted to be president.
So I'll read a portion of it. "The question I get asked more than any other question, if you had to do it again, would you have done it?" Trump said of running for president. "Yes, I think so. Here's the way I look at it. I have so many rich friends and nobody knows who they are."
Ron, there you have it. That's just, you know, fame and -- and people -- just being famous, I guess, and people knowing his name. BROWNSTEIN: You know what's so interesting about -- and we talked
about this in 2016 more than we have the last couple of years -- was Trump's rise.
In many ways, it was like he was kind of in business where he saw a market opening and filled it in the Republican Party.
I mean, the Republican Party was heading in this direction for years with the Tea Party and other kinds of manifestations of a party that was increasingly animated by cultural grievance, whether it was centered on the voters, the places, and the people who were most uneasy about the way was country was changing.
It was a guy from 5th Avenue in New York, three times married, scandals in his past, who became the voice of aggrieved America that that was alienated by kind of a changing culture.
So it was always an unlikely fit. And his personal motivation and the political interests of his coalition never seem to exactly align. But he has solidified that, you know, that relationship.
And as much as there are voices in the Republican Party who want to say that the GOP is moving fast -- look at the primaries this summer. You know, his candidates, even the election deniers, the most extreme election deniers, are winning.
So whatever -- however this started, where we are now is a Republican Party where the Trump faction is the dominant faction. And those who are uneasy about him face the choice of, do they stay in a coalition where they are now subordinate to those interests?
CAMEROTA: Jessica Levinson, Ron Brownstein, great to see you both. Thank you.
[14:48:39]
So we have some disturbing video out of Colorado. It shows a train hitting a police car with a woman handcuffed inside. How did this happen? The details are next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:53:01]
CAMEROTA: Colorado police officer is on paid administrative leave after a train hit his patrol car that was parked on the railroad tracks with a handcuffed suspect locked inside.
CNN's Lucy Kafanov has the video.
And we warn you, the images are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SIREN) LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the night of September 16, Platteville Police Department officers responded to an alleged road rage incident involving a firearm.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Keep your hands above your head.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Don't move.
YARENI RIOS-GONZALEZ, ARRESTED BY POLICE: What's going on?
KAFANOV: Twenty-year-old driver, Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, was stopped in her truck just past a set of railroad tracks while the patrol vehicle parked on the tracks. Soon, a nightmare was to follow.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: There's no weapons in the car?
KAFANOV: After she was placed, handcuffed in that patrol vehicle, bodycam and dashcam video show a freight train with horns blaring, heading Rios-Gonzalez's way.
Noticing what was about to happen, one police officer ran for his life.
(TRAIN HORN)
KAFANOV: Rios-Gonzalez's attorney, Paul Wilkinson, tells CNN his client also saw the train coming and was, quote, "frantically trying to escape, trying to open doors."
Locked and handcuffed inside the police cruiser, she was out of options.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Send us medical emergency. The suspect was in the vehicle that was hit by the train.
KAFANOV: According to her attorney, Rios-Gonzalez, quote, "lost consciousness and woke up at the hospital very upset."
Wilkinson says his client sustained multiple injuries, including nine broke ribs, a broken arm, broken teeth and injuries to her head.
The Platteville police officer who parked on the railroad tracks has been placed on paid administrative leave while the incident is investigated.
According to a statement from their police chief, so far, no charges have been filed for Rios-Gonzalez or any officers involved in the incident, according to the Weld County District Attorney's Office.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[14:55:00]
KAFANOV: Now in the bodycam footage, you hear the officer saying it took Rios-Gonzalez a long time to pull over. They were trying to figure out whether she may have tossed a weapon out of the window. They later did find a gun holster in her vehicle.
But of course, Alisyn, none of the answers the question of why the police parked the cruiser on the train tracks in the first place.
We do know that three agencies have launched separate investigations. Local police are looking into the original road rage incident. The Colorado State Patrol is investigating the crash.
And the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is looking into how Rios- Gonzalez sustained those injuries while in police custody -- Alisyn?
CAMEROTA: Just awful. What an awful, awful story. Please keep us posted.
Lucy Kafanov, thank you.
Well, Hurricane Ian is barreling toward Florida. And we have the latest on the storm forecast and all of the preparations, next.
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