Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Biden Legal Team Finds Second Set Of Classified Documents; Biden Under Scrutiny For Handling Of Classified Documents; George Santos Rejects Republican Calls For His Resignation. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired January 12, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Hello, and a warm welcome to viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Max Foster in London. Bianca is off for the day. But, just ahead on CNN Newsroom,--

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There has been another set of documents that have been discovered. Some of those documents are classified.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, PRESS SECRETARY, WHITE HOUSE: This is an ongoing process. He takes this seriously when it comes to classify document.

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: There is no indication that Santos is going to resign because he clearly has no shame.

BRUCE BLAKEMAN, COUNTY EXECUTIVE, NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK: We don't need George Santos. But, if he wants to do the right thing, I think he should resign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His father's friends calling him a sociopath in court documents dated in 2019.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is leaving tools, clues and signs everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from London. This is CNN Newsroom with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: Well, it is Thursday, January 13, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington where silence speaks louder than words. And, in the case of the misplaced classified documents, the White House is very quiet. That's after President Biden's legal team found a second set of classified documents. It is not clear where they were found. But, wherever it was, they shouldn't have been there. President Biden is already facing questions about why the first set of highly sensitive material was in his former private office. Republicans are pouncing on the issue, claiming there is a double standard for how the government treats politicians. Phil Mattingly is at the White House with more. MATTINGLY: As President Biden and the White House Counsel's Office describe the initial discovery of 10 classified documents, documents that were turned over to the National Archives and the Justice Department, a Justice Department review ongoing. They never actually weighed in on whether or not there could be additional documents out there. As that was happening, there was actually a very quiet but very intensive review ongoing by the president's legal team to see if there were any. In fact, there are. A second set of government records has been discovered, according to people briefed on the matter. Some of those government records, they are indeed classified.

Now, the president and his team, again, never said that there weren't any other documents out there. They spoke only about that initial set of 10 classified documents. In fact, to some degree, they have been very careful not to say anything about what else may be out there. Let's take a listen to the White House press briefing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no assurances you can provide at this point that there are no other classified documents out there in any other office.

JEAN-PIERRE: Again, this is an ongoing process. So, I'm going to let the process continue. It is being reviewed by the Department of Justice, and I'm just going to leave it there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, that answer was one that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeated over and over to just about every question, underscoring the limitations, the White House says they feel like they're under, as the Justice Department continues this review. Now, what actually happens next, or if there even any more documents out there, is still an open question. So, two is what the actual documents, the second set of documents actually included. There are their sparse details about where they were found, what is inside of them, but it certainly exacerbates a situation that has been politically perilous for the president over the course of the last several days.

Republicans on Capitol Hill, both Senate and House Republicans, say they believe they should investigate the matter. They have called on the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to look into the matter, obviously drawing clear parallels even though these situations are quite different to former President Donald Trump and his classified records issues right now, his legal problems. How this actually ends going forward has very much remained an open question. The White House says they are fully cooperating. That isn't going to change, according to White House officials. But, certainly, finding a second set of classified records only complicates a problem that had only been growing in the hours before it was eventually revealed. Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.

FOSTER: Republicans are in a frenzy about whataboutism, calling for a special counsel to investigate President Biden, just like the government is doing with former President Donald Trump. CNN's Senior Law enforcement Analyst and former FBI Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe, has Republicans - and he says Republicans do have a point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, & FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: I agree with the Republicans. They - there should absolutely be a special counsel appointed and to review this matter. So, let's think about it. The special counsel, there is nothing magical about a special counsel's legal authority. They essentially have the same ability to investigate and charge crimes that a U.S. Attorney has. There is no competence issue here. You certainly have very competent U.S. attorneys to be able to do it. The whole reason to put a special counsel in is when the public would be reasonably concerned that an investigation had been, might be, could be, possibly was tainted by politics.

[04:05:00]

There is certainly that concern here with the Attorney General making investigative decisions over the guy who appointed him, President Biden. So, it absolutely calls out for a special counsel, and I think it goes a long way to addressing some of that criticism that the AG is receiving right now from the Republican side. I think they should handle each investigation in a similar manner as possible, acknowledging the fact that the facts in each situation are very, very different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, new U.S. House Republican George Santos says he has no plans of stepping down despite growing calls for his resignation from some fellow Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you resign?

REP. GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY): I will not.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Less than a week after Santos was sworn in, leaders of New York's Nassau County Republican Party are calling for his dismissal after it was discovered he fabricated details about his personal life. Some are calling Santos a disgrace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH CAIRO, CHAIRMAN, NASSAU COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: He has no place in the Nassau County Republican Committee, nor should he serve in public service, who is an elected official. He is not welcome here at Republican headquarters for meetings or at any of our events. As I said, he has disgraced the House of Representatives, and we do not consider him one of our Congress people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: But, new House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, says he is not joining the calls for Santos to resign. CNN's Melanie Zanona has those details.

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Embattled Congressman George Santos is facing growing pressure to resign after he admitted to lying about key details on his resume. The Nassau County GOP held a press conference where they called on him to step down. And, we've also seen several House Republicans from New York, also freshmen in neighboring districts, call on their colleague George Santos to step down. But, one person who is not joining the growing chorus of calls is Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He is arguing that that decision should be up to his voters to decide. And, Kevin McCarthy does say that he will give George Santos Committee assignments. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: I try to stick by the Constitution. The voters elected him to serve. If there is a concern, he has to go through the Ethics. Let him move through that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZANONA: Now, Santos himself has remained defiant. He told reporters today that he will not step down, and he followed that up with a tweet making clear that he has no plans to resign. But, GOP leadership will plan to meet with him in the coming days, and they're going to talk to him and try to figure out how to deal with George Santos going forward. Kevin McCarthy said he does plan to try to help him earn his trust around here, and he is going to give him the opportunity to do so. But, he could prove to be a distraction, an unwanted distraction, as House Republicans enter the new majority. Melanie Zanona, CNN, Capitol Hill.

FOSTER: Republicans are aware that if Santos were to resign, it would set up a special election in his district that would or could flip to the Democrats. But, that political reality doesn't matter the Nassau County Republican Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY D'ESPOSITO, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: I wanted to make it very clear that that is not our brand. That's not what we stand for. And, like I mentioned, the district that I represent is - has a heavily Orthodox Jewish population and Jews in general. The fact that he claimed that he was Jewish, that he had family who escaped the Holocaust, that's just not something that I can tolerate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, here is a look at all the things Santos did lie about, and this is just what we know about so far. And, the campaign watchdog group has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Santos. The group accuses him of illegally using campaign funds to pay personal expenses, amongst other things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLAKEMAN: We are now finding ways in which we can go around George Santos and make sure that the people in his district are served without having to deal with him. I will not deal with him. I think he should resign. Our own Chairman, Joe Cairo, said that we should have done a little better job. But, when someone comes for an interview and hands you a resume and fills out a questionnaire, we've never had this before. I mean, - and, who would have thought that an individual would just lie on top of why, and it's pathological.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BLAKEMAN: And, basically, I didn't know him that well. I had some interaction with him, but not a lot of interaction. So, I think that we were all shocked, not caught by surprise, shocked at the type of lies that that he was spinning, and obviously he has lost the public trust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:10:00]

FOSTER: Now, the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating who or what caused the key computer system to melt down, triggering the second major U.S. travel disaster in just a few weeks, the FAA ordered all flights grounded for about 90 minutes on Wednesday after a corrupted data file shut down a key system and its backup. We're told the system is now "operational and stable but only after causing some 10,500 flight delays throughout the day, and more than 1300 cancellations." The U.S. Transportation Secretary says the FAA will take responsibility for the mess.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: When there is an issue in the FAA that needs to get looked at, we're going to own it, same as we ask airlines to own their companies and their operations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: But, airports across the U.S. were affected by the mandatory ground stop as well as some overseas, including here in the UK. CNN Aviation Analyst Miles O'Brien says this latest travel nightmare should be a big wake-up call for the FAA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST, & SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT, PBS NEWSHOUR: Anybody who has followed the FAA closely over the years is aware the agency has had great difficulty innovating in the world of technology. A lot of it is consistent underfunding over the years. Some of it is an aviation culture which is a little bit hesitant to embrace new technologies for obvious safety concerns. But, what you've ended up with is a system that was built essentially in the 1950s with spinning radars and people talking on radios, VHF radios that really hasn't moved in to an age of the Internet, to an age of computers, to an age of satellites. And, this NOTAM situation isn't directly related to that, but it speaks to the overall culture there of allowing antiquated technology to persist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: CNN's Amara Walker spoke to travelers at the world's busiest airport, which is in Atlanta.

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, flight operations across the United States have returned to normal, per the FAA, at least for the most part. But, for much of the day, airlines were playing catch up. They were dealing with this ripple effect, this domino, of having to get their flights back in the air, rescheduling, get passengers rebooked. And, of course, that is why throughout much of Wednesday we saw the number of delays and cancellation continuing to tick up into the thousands. Of course, this has been a huge inconvenience for so many passengers, many of whom still have the debacle of the holidays still in mind where two to three weeks ago we saw a winter storm really cripple the airports and airlines, and of course subsequently the Southwest Airlines meltdown.

One passenger I spoke with told me that he actually missed a funeral because of the delay after delay that he had to deal with. So, he was unable to attend a funeral in New York. But, all in all, passengers seem to be taking this in stride, although in general there is a sense of frustration. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When my original flight was supposed to take off at 9:05, going to Miami and then from Miami to Costa Rica, well, now we've been delayed three times. There are no more flights leaving today that would get us there on time, nor tomorrow, nor Friday. And, at the very moment, our flight is set to arrive in Miami after the flight takes off to Costa Rica.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, I kind of thought it was a Southwest issue again. Luckily, I noticed it was red. It was the FAA issue. So, it's - everyone is affected, not just us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: The U.S. Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, says that there is no evidence of a cyberattack, although they are still looking into the cause of this FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) system outage. He said that the ground staff was issued out of an abundance of caution, and now federal officials are reviewing what happened, the cause, and the next steps to take.

FOSTER: Well, one of the families affected by the travel chaos is stranded in Hawaii. Leah Blaine posted this photo of her husband and daughter, as the whole flight waited for takeoff, and they waited and they waited for five hours, we're told, before they were informed their flight to Dallas had been canceled. Leah Blaine calling us now from Maui. I mean, you look pretty upbeat in the photos. But, you were sitting on the plane for five hours.

LEAH BLAINE, STRANDED AIR TRAVELER, MAUI, HAWAII (VIA TELEPHONE): Yes. We're all just trying to make the best of it.

FOSTER: Just explain how it played out. You got on the plane, and then what were you told?

BLAINE (VIA TELEPHONE): Yes. We got on the plane, and that didn't settled. And then, they immediately said that there has been a computer issue and they were working on getting it resolved and that we should be taking off within 30 minutes. So, - but then, that time came and went, and then we started getting text alerts that said, "Alright, your flight been pushed back another 45 minutes", and then that time would come and go, and then we'd another alert. And then, they came on the PA and said initially that it was an American Airlines issue, but then they came on after a couple hours and they said, no, this is nationwide.

[04:15:00]

This isn't just us. We're all grounded. We're working on it. We should be up and running. Thanks for your patience. So then, the flight attendants came around and sat us, and then we just kept getting pushed back and pushed back until - and, it was 10 p.m. when we were supposed to depart, and it was around 3 a.m. when they said our flight is timed out. Everyone is going to have to leave the plane.

FOSTER: Did you have some sympathy for the flight attendants?

BLAINE (VIA TELEPHONE): Oh, I did. They were working so hard to bring us water and food, and 90 percent of the people were super kind. But, there were a few people that were being very irritated and taking out their frustrations on some of the flight attendants.

FOSTER: And now, you've got a proper sense of what went wrong, computer failure effectively, but also the backup failing. What are your views on how it was all handled and what went wrong?

BLAINE (VIA TELEPHONE): Well, I think that most of the people involved, it wasn't their fault, and they did the best they could to accommodate. It's just difficult when it's the middle of the night and you're traveling with children, and the waits to be put up in a hotel room were three hours long. And, honestly, most of the people that we worked with were just doing the best they could with a situation that was much bigger than them. And, we appreciated everybody's help.

FOSTER: So, what are you going to do now?

BLAINE (VIA TELEPHONE): Well, we've had to rebook our flight multiple times. There was confusion, lots of just confusions. They - our flight was supposed to be Maui to Dallas to Kansas City. And, for a while, they would only get us through LAX and then Dallas. And so, we finally now have a flight booked where we can get back to Kansas City. We reach Thursday night around six. They put us up in a hotel. So, we have no car, no anything left. So, we're just kind of waiting it out. But, yes, so we've missed extra work and these things that - we finally got a plan to get home.

Well, we - my husband had to spend another few hours on the phone this morning with them, because when we did finally get the flight to Kansas City, they booked us in four separate flights, four separate seats all over the plane. And, I just don't really want my eight-year- old to be sitting by themselves on plane and we had seats all together so that we had to get that all straightened out, and that was another hour on the phone. But, I think we've got it now.

FOSTER: OK. Leah, this is good news. At least you're all safe. But, what a horrible experience. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your journey, and we hope that you do get home safely at some point.

BLAINE (VIA TELEPHONE): All right. Thank you. I appreciate it.

FOSTER: Thank you. The Royal Mail in the UK is asking users not to send letters and parcels internationally for now. The postal service says a cyber incident resulted in a severe service disruption, and that means it can't send mail abroad. It's not clear what the cyber incident was. But, an investigation is underway, we're told, and the Royal Mail says it has reported the issue to regulators and security authorities.

Mississippi has become the latest U.S. state to ban TikTok from its government devices. Governor Tate Reeves issued the directive on Wednesday, saying he is concerned that China could steal state government data. Mississippi is following more than a dozen other states and the federal government who have similar bans. TikTok has called those efforts a political gesture.

In just a few hours, the U.S. Consumer Price Index report for December will be released, and it's expected to show a further easing of inflationary pressure. Economists expect a decline in the CPI on a monthly basis. But, it's still expected to have risen 6.5 percent year-over-year. That's down from November's 7.1 percent increase. December's report will be the last one before the Fed's interest rate decision next month. Here is how the U.S. stock futures are faring ahead of that, slightly unnerved, but pretty level actually.

Still ahead on CNN, no sign yet of a missing Massachusetts woman. But, court documents from a previous case describe her husband as a sociopath. Plus, a five-year-old boy's sweat from his mother's arms during severe flooding in California. Extensive efforts underway to find and bring him to safety.

And, the battle for a small Ukrainian town rages on, Russian-backed mercenaries say they're in control, but not even the Kremlin is ready to make that call.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) FOSTER: Students are back in class after the winter break at the University of Idaho, nearly two months after the killing of four students at an off-campus home. The suspect, Bryan Kohberger, is due for his second court appearance later today. The 28-year-old is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. The killings, back in November, had left the entire community of Moscow in Idaho on edge. The suspect was a PhD student at Washington State University, just a 15-minute drive from Moscow.

Opening statements are set to begin today in the trial against five members of the far right group, the Proud Boys, charged with seditious conspiracy in relation to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. A federal judge has ruled that prosecutors can use a video of then President Donald Trump telling the group to stand back and stand by during a presidential debate in 2020. The judge said the comments showed an additional motive to advocate for Trump and engage in the charge - conspiracy to keep him in power.

French authorities are working to identify the motive behind Wednesday's attack on a busy Paris train station. A prosecutor says the suspect entered the Gare du Nord station and started hitting people with a metal hook. Six were wounded before off-duty Police opened fire to stop the attacker. He was taken to hospital and required surgery. Authorities believe the suspect could be from Libya or Algeria, but they'd been unable to question him due to his injuries.

[04:25:00]

Ukraine's Military is pushing back on claims from Russian-backed mercenaries that the town of Soledar in the Donetsk region has fallen. A head of the Wagner Group fighting for Moscow says his forces have captured all of the salt mining town. But, am Ukrainian soldier tells CNN his troops are hanging in there despite the difficult situation. Even the Kremlin is being cautious, saying that there was only a positive trend. Ukraine's President says Russia is exaggerating its claims in Soledar to boost support for its invasion at home. CNN's Clare Sebastian here with some new information, and we gather the Ukrainians have had a successful attack.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The Ukrainian Military, Max, saying this morning that they have killed 100 Russian soldiers in a position near the town of Soledar, which is of course in the Donetsk region. They haven't provided evidence. We haven't been able to verify this. But, it does suggest that fighting is still ongoing pretty intensively in that city and in the surrounding areas. Of course, it is very close to the town of Bakhmut, which has been one of the most contested parts of the fighting really throughout this conflict.

But, what we do know what both sides, even though we have these conflicting reports, what both sides seem to agree on is that the level of destruction in that town is pretty severe. We have some satellite imagery that we can show you that was provided this week that shows some apartment blocks, I think if we can bring that up, we have the before and after, showing just the scale of the destruction in that city that we go. We have the before. You can see sort of rows of apartment blocks. And, if we go to the after that you can see the destruction there. I think we have another one that shows a school and some surrounding buildings around that, similar story, sort of built- up area. They're fairly rural. And then, the after shot, you can see pretty much everything destroyed.

President Zelenskyy said this week that there was not a wall left standing in solidarity. We know this morning from the head of the regional Military administration that there are about 523 civilians, he said, left in the town from a pre-war population of more than 10,000.

FOSTER: In terms of how Russia is spinning this at the moment, we've seen some movements in Military personnel. Is that all part of the morale building process, or is that strategic?

SEBASTIAN: I think it's not clear at the moment how much of it is strategic and how much of it is down to sort of personalities. We know that - well, obviously, they've installed General Gerasimov who is basically the head of the Joint Chiefs. He is the head of the Armed Forces, which is a pretty significant decision, fourth general to take on this position during this war. I think it shows two things, one that the previous general has had a run of bad luck or strategy that hasn't worked.

The bombardment of Ukraine's infrastructure has not proved decisive. They lost Kherson in November. Then there was the attack on Makiivka on New Year's Day which killed 89 soldiers. So, it looks like they want to change things up. The other backdrop to this, which is significant in terms of solidarity, is Wagner has been gaining momentum, Prigozhin, the head of that mercenary group, has claimed credit for what's happening in Soledar, which if Russia does take that city, would really be the only victory they're brought home since the summer, Max.

FOSTER: OK. Clare, thank you. You're watching CNN Newsroom live from London. Up next, a Massachusetts man is facing new scrutiny after his wife disappeared on New Year's Day. And, Californians have seen a brutal two weeks of back-to-back deadly storms. Now, they're bracing for more wet weather.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)