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Trump Falsely Claims George H.W. Bush Took Millions of Documents to Former Bowling Alley and Chinese Restaurant; Experts Say, Now is the Time to Buy Plane Tickets Ahead of Holidays; Police Officer Fired After Shooting Teen in McDonald's Parking Lot. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 11, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Former President Donald Trump is under federal investigation for having presidential documents, including classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence and resort in Florida. And while trying to defend himself, he made some curious claims at a rally this weekend about the former president, George H.W. Bush. Listen.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: George H.W. Bush took millions of documents to a former bowling alley and a former Chinese restaurant where they combined them so they're in a bowling alley/Chinese restaurant, a Chinese restaurant and a bowling alley with no security and a broken front door.

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GOLODRYGA: CNN Fact Check Reporter Daniel Dale looked into those claims about former President Bush. Daniel, what is he even talking about?

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: These claims are just not true. George H.W. Bush did not take millions of presidential documents anywhere. And the National Archives and Records Administration issued a statement this morning debunking the claims, just like it debunked a similar Trump claim about former President Barack Obama in August.

So, let's start with that Obama claim. One of the Trump's early defenses has been, hey, Barack Obama took millions of records to Chicago. Well, that is not true. The Archives issued a statement saying, no, we had those Obama administration records as a standard. We took the records to a Chicago facility. We managed. Obama wasn't involved. This wasn't Obama taking documents and wasn't at all like the Trump situation. So, okay, debunked in August.

But this weekend, Trump added the similar Bush claim. And here is the truth about that one. In the early 1990s, the Archives took Bush documents to a Texas facility, again, it managed, which happened to be a former bowling alley and restaurant. The National Archives have remodeled that facility into a professionally organized archival facility to temporarily store Bush documents before his permanent library opened.

So, it was basically a warehouse. It had no more lanes, no more pins. It was rows and rows of steel shelving with a dedicated vault area for classified material. This was entirely proper, appropriate, was never a secret and it is completely different than the Trump situation, where he took documents to his home, stored even classified material haphazardly and refused to return them to the Archives.

Now, what about Trump's claim that there was no security at this Bush document facility. Well, here is what at the Associated Press reported at the time. They said, uniform guards patrol the premises. There are closed circuit television monitors and sophisticated electronic detectors along walls and doors. Some printed material is classified and will remain so for years.

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It is only open to those with top secret clearances, so, very different from what Trump says.

GOLODRYGA: And meantime, Daniel, Trump also said at his rally this weekend that Bill Clinton took millions of documents to a former car dealership in Arkansas and that George W. Bush took millions of documents to a Texas warehouse. I know you looked in those claims as well. What did you find?

DALE: I did look into them and their false in the exact same way as the claims about Bush and Obama. On Clinton, the National Archives leased that former dealership, turned it into a temporary National Archives facility itself, took the documents there before Clinton's library in Arkansas was ready. On George W. Bush, guess, what, you know the pattern, the Archives took the documents to that warehouse before Bush's permanent library was ready in Dallas. The warehouse was, you guessed it, managed by the National Archives.

Now, the Archives statement this morning says the Archives always had control of the Clinton and Bush and Bush documents after the three left office. The statement said all Archives' temporary facility met strict archival and security standards and had been manage and staffed exclusively by employees of the National Archives and Records Administration, and that reports, otherwise, they said are, quote, false and misleading.

GOLODRYGA: Well, as always, Daniel, your fact checks are so explanatory and helpful. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Well, today the Justice Department faces a 5:00 P.M. Eastern deadline for its response after former President Trump asked the Supreme Court to restore the special master's review of Mar-a-Lago documents marked as classified. Trump wants those documents included after the appeals court exempted them from the special master process.

Joining me now to discuss is Shan Wu, defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. Shan, great to have you on.

So, Elie Honig predicted that he would hear from the DOJ at 4:59. I told him that we would him to that. Once they do respond, though, how do you expect or predict the Supreme Court to respond?

SHAN WU, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think the court will look at this in a very analytical manner as opposed to, hopefully, not letting any partisan politics play into it. There is a temptation for Justice Thomas, like the last temptation of Clarence Thomas. He could theoretically decide this on his own. I mean, far wiser and more likely, he is going to defer to the full court, but he's asking for this full brief on the issue.

And it is a very technical issue. But if you really boil it down to plain English, the position of the Trump team is that it is okay for the 11th Circuit to have considered on appeal the question of whether DOJ can be prevented from looking at the classified document but it is not okay for the 11th Circuit to consider whether the special master can have access to it. And, obviously, they would like the special master to have access so they can get a preview of those documents themselves. But it is a pretty technical issue.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. If you could just break that down a bit more, because any time people hear the Supreme Court being involved in any case, they take it seriously. How significant is this particular issue in the overall investigation itself?

WU: I don't think it will affect DOJ's ability to investigate except for one caveat, because they have access to what they really need right now, which is that group of classifieds to proceed. The Trump team wants to, themselves, get to see that, perhaps to see what issues are coming down the pipeline for their client.

Where it can still create a big problem for the criminal investigation is that if you have the special master reviewing the documents, the classified documents, making various decisions about them, then you create the possibility that DOJ could make a decision on how to treat the documents, for example, as something privileged or not, have the special master disagree and now this creates a problem going forward with the investigation.

GOLODRYGA: Let me ask you about another development, sources telling CNN that Cassidy Hutchinson, that star witness and former aide to the president's chief of staff, former president chief of staff from the January 6 committee hearings, is now going to be participating and cooperating with the Georgia investigation into election interference there. How crucial do you think that her cooperation will be in this case?

WU: Well, I think her cooperation is really important because she's the next best thing to her boss, Mark Meadows, coming in to testify. And I think also to the extent that there are questions of executive privilege that Meadows maybe raising, she may end up undercutting that because her substance may talk about issues that he thinks are privileged, but she's talking about it. And, secondly, it may also substantively undercut it because if she testifies about illegal actions, bad motivations, those clearly fall outside of legitimate executive privilege, because there is not policy being discussed, there's not legitimate executive functions going on.

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So, in that sense, she could be very valuable.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And we should remind our viewers that the next committee hearing, the January 6 Committee hearing, will be this Thursday, of course, we will be covering that here on CNN.

Shan Wu, thank you, as always. Great to see you.

WU: Good to see you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, still ahead, the cost to fly this Thanksgiving is expected to skyrocket as airlines are still dealing with staffing and capacity challenges caused by the pandemic. Why you should not wait to book your flights. We'll tell you why, up next.

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GOLODRYGA: Well, with the holiday season quickly approaching, deciding the right time to buy airline ticket seems to be more complicated now more than ever. Prices change daily, even hourly, and staffing shortages and capacity ramifications of the pandemic are still being felt. But experts say October is probably the best window of opportunity. In other words, buy them now.

CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean has more on this. So, Pete, why right now?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Right now, because we are six weeks out from airports getting really packed, Bianna. The experts say you should not wait any longer, especially considering that fact that passengers are really shocked by these thousands of cancelations over the summer, and now they're going to have to prepare for sticker shock.

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MUNTEAN (voice over): Thanksgiving travel is about to take off and it will be the most expensive of the last five years. Travel site Hopper says tickets will cost 19 percent more compared to last year, the average domestic round trip ticket, $274.

HAYLEY BERG, LEAD ECONOMIST, HOPPER: This Thanksgiving will be a very expensive holiday to travel, especially for travelers who are booking late.

MUNTEAN: Now, the pressure is on airlines to avoid a meltdown like this summer when they canceled a total of 55,000 flights. Federal data shows 40 percent of all of the cancelations were for reasons that the airlines couldn't control, not weather. BILLY NOLEN, ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: It is abundantly clear that the majority of delays rest with the airlines.

MUNTEAN: While airlines insist the blame is on the understaffed air traffic control centers.

SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: In the summer, we have shortages almost every day and they just can lead to hundreds of cancelations and delays.

MUNTEAN: Hiring is ramping up. The FAA is bringing on new air traffic controllers. American Airlines has hired more than 1400 new employees since Labor Day. United has added more than 1,500 new pilots and there are 15,000 new flight attendants at Southwest.

SARA NELSON, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: We're with you. We're pushing on our airlines to not overpromise in the schedule so that we can actually deliver what we're selling to you.

MUNTEAN: Even still, carriers are cutting their fall schedules, a move Delta called a huge improvement in curbing summer cancelations and delays. Industry data shows American Airlines dropped 31,000 placeholder flights from its November schedule. For travelers, it all add up to a travel season with fewer options and higher prices.

BERG: We're expecting to see chaos at the airports over the holidays, but American travelers have shown that they're resilient and they're willing to pay more and experience these disruptions to get back to see family and friends after two years of depressed travel.

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MUNTEAN (on camera): Here is the big tip if you have not bought your tickets just yet from Hopper. They say you can find the best deals by trying to book travel off peak. That means leaving town the Monday before Thanksgiving, and coming back the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Bianna, it might be a little long to be with the in-laws. If you take one thing away from this, try to miss the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. That is when things will be the busiest and tickets will be the most expensive.

GOLODRYGA: Some good tips, as always. Nothing says holiday cheer like a chaotic airport. Pete Muntean, thank you, as always. Thank you.

Well, still to come, the San Antonio police chief speaking out to CNN after firing an officer who shot a 17-year-old at a McDonald's parking lot. The teenager remains in critical condition.

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GOLODRYGA: New this morning, the San Antonio police chief says charges are expected to be filed this week against Officer James Brennan, the now fired officer who shot an unarmed teenager while he was eating at a McDonald's parking lot last week. The family of 17- year-old Erik Cantu says he is fighting for his life and remains hospitalized in critical condition after multiple surgeries.

CNN National Correspondent Ed Lavendera has been following this for us. Ed, what more do we know about this investigation?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a troubling story. This is a shooting that happened back on Sunday, October 2nd, just before 11:00 at night. And the police chief in San Antonio says that the rookie police officer who had only been on the job about seven months could now very well face criminal charges and those charges would include aggravated assault. If the teenager does not survive, and he is in critical condition, as you mentioned right now, the police chief says that those criminal charges could be upgraded.

But that is quite a change from where this story originally started. Originally, it was the 17-year-old teenager who was in his car eating McDonald's when the officer opened the door and within seconds fired ten rounds at the car as it was driving away from the scene there. And that young man ended up pulling over about a block away because of his wounds and his injuries. He was taken to a hospital. The police chief says as soon as he arrived on the scene, he knew there was a problem.

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CHIEF WILLIAM MCMANUS, SAN ANTONIO POLICE: We have a policy that prohibits officers from shooting at vehicles, moving vehicles, except if their life is in immediate -- they're life or someone else's life is in immediate danger. This -- and that is rarely the case. And this vehicle -- it was very telling to me that this vehicle was moving away from the officer and moving parallel with the officer. So, it was pretty clear to me at that point that we were going to have an issue.

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LAVANDERA: The criminal charges that were filed against 17-year-old Erik Cantu have been dropped, so all the focus now is on the officer. Erik Cantu's family says he is in the hospital on life support, sedated and that several bullets struck major organs. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: He's already had multiple surgeries. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

And thank you all for joining us today. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan begins after a quick break.

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