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Donald Trump To Turn Himself In Tuesday At New York Courthouse; St. Petersburg Blast Kills Russian Military Blogger; Chinese Spy Balloon Was Able To Send Information To Beijing; U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy To Meet Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen This Week; Trump to Surrender at Manhattan D.A.'s Office; Trump Facing Legal Pressure on Several Fronts; French Minister's Interview, Cover Shot Stir Controversy. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired April 04, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

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[00:01:22]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming here on CNN NEWSROOM. The return of the old Trump all the time news cycle, with the once indicted, twice impeached one term president set to be arraigned in a New York courtroom.

Moments before the blasts which killed a pro-war Russian blogger who was handed a small statue of his likeness, possibly packed filled with explosives.

And not appropriate Madame Secretary, the dressing down on the French Secretary of State for dressing down for Playboy magazine.

In the coming hours, Donald Trump will once again make history for all the wrong reasons when he appears in the New York courtroom to be the first current or former U.S. president to face criminal charges.

The judge has turned down a request by media outlets including CNN for the arraignment to be broadcast live, but he will allow some photographers to take still pictures before the proceedings begin.

Right now, Trump is at his residence in the Trump Tower, where aide say he has been huddling with legal and political advisors.

He is not expected to speak publicly while in New York, instead will deliver remarks on his return to Mar-a-Lago in Florida Tuesday night.

Trump attorneys say they believe it will be difficult for him to get a fair trial in New York City. They're looking at every possible legal challenge to this case.

Meantime, a small number of Trump supporters gathered near Mar-a-Lago to cheer on the former president Monday, major security now in place in New York ahead of the former president's arraignment.

For more now we get CNN's legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Former President Trump is back in New York ahead of his historic court appearance as they prepare for the first ever arraignment of a former president, Trump's lawyers have been on the attack.

JOE TACOPINA, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: The team will look at every every potential issue that we will be able to challenge and we will challenge and of course, I very much anticipate a motion to dismiss coming because there's no law that fits this.

REID: But those legal challenges we'll have to wait for the charges to be unsealed which may not be until Trump's arraignment.

As Trump faces criminal charges for the first time, he just added another white collar Attorney Todd Blanche to his defense team. He previously represented former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

A grand jury returned an indictment Thursday after a years long probe into a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 election. CNN has learned the charges include more than 30 counts related to business fraud.

Trump is expected to be fingerprinted just like any other defendant, but it's not clear if he will have a mug shot according to sources. They say there are concerns about whether it could leak in violation of state law.

ALINA HABBA, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: Mug shots are for people so that you recognize who they are. He is the most recognized face in the world, let alone the country right now. So, there's no need for that, there's no need for the theatrics.

REID: On social media, Trump has attacked Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg calling him corrupt. He even went so far as to attack Judge Juan Merchan who will oversee the case, alleging the judge treated Trump's companies viciously when they went to trial last year, the judge presided over the prosecution of Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, as well as the tax fraud trial in which the family's company was found guilty of conspiracy and falsifying business records unrelated to the hush money scheme.

Trump's lawyers tried to clean up his attacks against the judge.

TACOPINA: I have no reason to believe this judge is biased. I've not been before him on this matter.

[00:05:02]

JAMES TRUSTY, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: I think a fair minded judge is likely to recognize there's something fundamentally wrong that we're crossing the Rubicon with this political persecution.

REID (on camera): And on Tuesday, former President Trump will appear at the courthouse here in Manhattan for his arraignment, and this will be a historic event, this is the first time a former president of the United States will make an official appearance in front of a judge on criminal charges.

Paula Reid, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: To Washington now, Michael Zeldin is a former U.S. federal prosecutor, now host of the podcast That Said with Michael Zeldin. Good to see you, Michael, thanks for staying up late.

MICHAEL ZELDIN, FORMER U.S. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR (on camera): My pleasure.

VAUSE: OK, so one late report that Trump is reportedly facing 34 felony counts and falsification of business records that triggered a good old fashioned rant on social media by the former president. Here's part of it.

Wow. District Attorney Vragg just illegally leaked the various points and complete information on the pathetic indictment against me. This means that he must be immediately indicted. And it goes on.

We'll get to the politicization of the investigation in a moment but first, explain how these charges of falsifying financial records, which are normally a misdemeanor, how can they be bumped up to a felony? What does that say about the case? What does it say about the evidence?

ZELDIN: Right. So, Michael Cohen makes $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, and then is repaid in 10 or 12 increments for that payment. Those payments are marked on the books as legal expenses, and they're not. That's a lie. And so that's a false business record. .

If those false business records are made in connection with another crime, the possibility of tax evasion or election law violations, then they become felonies. So we have 10 misdemeanors, which probably are barred by the statute limitations. Then you've got 10 misdemeanors that become felonies for tax, 10 misdemeanors which come felonies for federal election, and then maybe they wrap up this whole thing around with a conspiracy to conduct this. And that gets you, you know, to 10 more possible charges. So, that's how you get to 30, I think.

VAUSE: OK, so along with the attacks on the Manhattan D.A., there's been the fundraising that's gone along with all of this. Jason Miller, who was a senior Trump advisor tweeted a few hours ago, in three days since word of the indictment, they've raised a record $7 million, $2 million a day or just over that.

There has also been the O. J. like coverage of Trump's arrival in New York or New York City, rather. And keep all that in mind and I want you to listen to one of Trump's lawyers speaking to Fox. Here he is, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Do you think the president can get a fair trial here in New York?

HABBA: No, no, I think it's very difficult. I have been practicing and for him now, for a couple years and gone to court in New York for a few years. And I can tell you, it's not the same as representing anybody else, unfortunately, people no matter how much they try not to have their biases get involved. They do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Is a fair trial the last thing the Trump legal team actually wants here?

ZELDIN: Well, they do -- they do want a fair trial. What they'd like to do is move this to upstate New York, a more Republican leaning part of New York, they want to be out of the Democrat controlled as they would call it, city, because they think that if they can get one or two jurors who are Trump supporters, then at best, maybe they get a hung jury.

So, they I think they would want very much this to be out of New York City, but I don't think they'll prevail on that motion.

VAUSE: But what are the circus like atmosphere they've sort of created around all of this? Does that influence, you know, the hearing in any way? How does that play out?

ZELDIN: No, inside the courtroom, it won't impact the judge or the trial lawyers. That's a real political show on Trump's part, and, you know, it stirs up the base and it gets people talking about how this is a persecution. You heard Trump's lawyer say this is a persecution rather than a prosecution. That's all just media, political hype. In the courtroom, all that stuff stays outside

VAUSE: All four of the grand jury investigations into Trump's time before, during and after office, will most likely be ongoing when we head into next year's White House election.

So, we have the former Republican governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, who is running in 2024, he wants Trump to drop out and this is why, he explained, here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASA HUTCHINSON, FORMER REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: There's a presumption of innocence that goes with him as any criminal defendant is charged. But I said that he should step aside simply because there is -- more regard should be given to the office of presidency than any individual person their concerns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Which has never happened during Trump's time in office, but he is legally presumed innocent at this point.

So, if he does run and if he does win the White House around the same time, he's found guilty at any one of these four cases, what happens? Felons can't vote but they can be president?

[00:10:08]

ZELDIN: Yes, unless they are convicted of treason or seditious conspiracy, which could get them precluded from holding office.

But if he's convicted of tax violations, or interfering with a political election in Georgia or even obstructing the Mar-a-Lago documents retrieval case, none of that bars him from running for president.

Only treason and seditious conspiracy cases, which I don't think will be brought against him. So yes, he may not be able to vote for himself, but he could still serve in office.

VAUSE: Michael, thanks for being with us. We really appreciate it. Michael Zeldin there in Washington. Thank you.

Syrian state media reports multiple Israeli missiles were shut down overnight by the country's air defense system.

No comment from Israeli's military but this will be the fourth Israeli strike since last week, as the country has carried out attacks against what it considers targets linked to Iran. Iranian state media says and Israeli attack near Damascus last week killed two members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

Finland just hours away now from becoming NATO's newest member. An empty flag pole now sits among the other NATO nation flags outside NATO headquarters in Brussels where the Finnish flag will be raised Tuesday afternoon local time. NATO's Secretary General says Finland joining is a big boost for the Alliance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, SECRETARY GENERAL, NATO: This is a historic week, we will raise the Finnish flag for the first time here at the NATO headquarters. It will be a good day for Finland security, for Nordic security and for NATO as a whole.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Russian state media reporting that a hearing expected in the coming hours for the woman who's detained in connection with the blast that killed a prominent pro-Russian military blogger. Authorities in Russia and now calling it a terrorist act suggest it was planned and organized by Ukraine.

CNN's Matthew Chance following developments. He has more now reporting in from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): These are the extraordinary last moments of one of Russia's most controversial military bloggers, at a pro-war event in a St. Petersburg Cafe receiving an unexpected gift.

It's a small figurine painted gold wearing a combat helmet in his likeness. Investigators believe it may have been the bomb that killed him just seconds later.

This was the devastation caused by the explosion, which more than 30 other people were also injured. Security cameras caught the powerful blast tearing through the building in central St. Petersburg.

Russia is calling it terrorism, accusing Ukraine of orchestrating the attack something Kyiv denies.

This is Vladlen Tatarsky the outspoken military blogger targeted and killed with more than half a million subscribers to his telegram channel. He was notorious for extremist views in his support of the war. And for criticism of how it was being fought.

This is him at the Kremlin last year celebrating Russia's annexation of Ukrainian land with trademark vitriol. We will defeat everyone, he declared. We'll kill everyone and rob what we need. For him, Russia was not being hard enough in its campaign.

Already Russian police have arrested a suspect. A woman who Russian investigators named as Daria Trepova spotted arriving at the cafe carrying a large box shortly before the explosion.

Investigators say the same woman was recorded inside the cafe after Tatarsky received the figurine, interacting with the blogger moments before the blast.

She's also on camera outside the cafe as the injured evacuated the bomb site. Russian officials say Trepova was once arrested at an antiwar protests last year. And they say she's an active supporter of the poison than jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose organization the Russian authorities also accused of involvement in the bomb attack. Navalny supporters deny having anything to do with it.

But this is not the first time Russia has been shaken by the killing of a war advocates. This was the Moscow car bomb that killed Daria Dugina last August, the outspoken daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, the Kremlin accused Ukrainian saboteurs of this too which Kyiv denied.

[00:15:03]

But now, a second killing, this time in Putin's home city of St. Petersburg shows how Russia's special military operation in Ukraine is reverberating at home.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Turns out that Chinese spy balloon which was not able to send real time information to Beijing was actually sending real time information to Beijing, but just how much of what information was sent before the balloon was shut down by the -- off the U.S. East Coast remains unknown.

Details down from CNN's National Security Reporter Natasha Bertrand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER (on camera): The suspected Chinese spy balloon that was hovering over the United States before being shot down off the coast of South Carolina back in February was able to take some images and collect some signals intelligence over sensitive U.S. military installations across the United States.

Now, the U.S. government is saying that they were able to take steps to mitigate the kind of intelligence that the Chinese were able to gather.

But at the same time, we are told that the Chinese government was able to remotely erase the data on that spy balloon, making it possible that the U.S. government will not ever know for sure what the Chinese government was able to glean from that balloon.

In other words, the Chinese government may have been able to wipe all of the data on that device before the U.S. government was able to get its hands on.

So, the U.S. government does have some idea here of what the Chinese were able to gather, because they were able to determine that there were some pictures, as well as some signs that there were some signals intelligence gathered by this balloon.

But at this point, the U.S. is saying that they do not believe that any of this intelligence that the Chinese gathered anyway was more sophisticated than what Chinese satellites are able to gather as they orbit above the country on a daily basis.

Now, how much longer the FBI is going to be investigating this balloon, they have had it, of course, now for well over -- for about two months now. And they have gleaned some important new information about the algorithms that power the balloon software, for example, and how it is actually able to be maneuvered across its targets.

So, what we're waiting for now, of course, is a fuller picture by the U.S. government about what the balloons capabilities actually are. And of course, about the kind of intelligence it was able to gather about these sensitive U.S. military sites.

Natasha Bertrand, CNN, at the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Harvard professor and CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem is with us now. Good to see you.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (on camera): Good to see you. Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: It's always a pleasure. Now, how does this change the threat assessment posed by these Chinese spy balloons? It doesn't seem entirely surprising that information was actually being sent to Beijing in real time after all.

KAYYEM: No, it's not surprising at all, it shows why the administration was concerned about the balloons and was making a risk calculation between when they would shoot this balloon down, and whether it would harm people. That's why they waited.

But I think this sort of confirmation that there was live sort of intelligence gathering shows -- it shows a couple things. One is the capability of the Chinese to be able to deploy and capture information and means that there's potentially information that has to be modified, changed, moved, whatever it is that they captured, so that it can be continually can be used, but will be protected in the future.

But I think it goes to another point that not many people are talking about. Remember, in the days that follow, we were essentially shooting anything out of the sky, none of them turned out to be balloons.

But I -- this goes to why the Biden administration was so forward leaning, and maybe even too forward leaning in shooting down the potential -- the likelihood that there might have been other balloons. I think it shows that at that moment, they knew that there have been security and intelligence breaches and how to ensure that they weren't ongoing.

VAUSE: Yes, and they still really don't know exactly what intelligence has been gathered at this point. But he's a little more from CNN's reporting.

The intelligence community has not been overly concerned about the information the balloon was able to gather, because it is not much more sophisticated than what Chinese satellites are able to glean as they orbit over similar locations.

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me for a couple of reasons. First, if China could get the same information from satellites already in orbit, then why use balloons?

And secondly, did they use the balloons because they could loiter or linger in one area for longer at a lower altitude? And that gives them better intelligence gathering?

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. The ladder -- the ladder -- what you said the latter part is exactly right, that it's the hovering that becomes the sort of intelligence tool.

Remember, satellites are quite fast, they can pick up lots of information over time. But it's the hovering that can give you things like depth, distance as a real life distance. It is -- it's sort of like having a drone with pictures. But you're able to hover over the facility. So, let's assume some critical infrastructure and take in depth photos and potentially also audio so they could pick up other pinging sounds are there alarm sounds going off, other pieces of information that might be relevant to the Chinese as they get an overall picture of our critical infrastructure, what we might have on the ground.

[00:20:23]

And remember, this is not like they just have the balloon, they have the balloon, they have satellites, they have spies, they have signal intelligence. They have all sorts of different pieces of intelligence gathering and what they're doing back in Beijing is putting all those pieces together, this the balloon just provides a another lane but not a redundant lane, not a duplicate of lane, a new lane of information gathering.

VAUSE: Yes, back in 2001, there was a collision between a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet at the Hainan Island, Beijing and Washington at the time, then after the crisis opened a special line of communication for just that sort of event. We had just that sort of event with the Chinese, I believe, but no one called. What does that say?

KAYYEM: So, that was the most disturbing part of this situation for someone like me, is that, look, there's instances between countries that happen all the time, you know, they're not -- they're not hot wars, but they're warm, they go from cold to warm. And this was one of them, certainly, because of the threat that the balloon pose to the continental of the United States. And the concerns that that our airspace had been -- had basically had been violated, which we -- which was true in that case, and possibly true in the later cases. You have those communications at moments like that, because the belief is that if you can lower the temperature, do military to military communications, or diplomatic to diplomatic communications, rather than political to political, you can lower the temperature and people who have met each other who work together who may have trained together at one stage, who sort of know each other and are subject matter experts can break through the noise that we were hearing that week, the fact that that was never utilized was always somewhat worrisome, because it suggests that the Chinese or shows that the Chinese are content to essentially go dark, right?

In other words, that they will do things like this that sort of challenge us, you know, sort of wake us up in the sense of, yes, we're doing this and then are unwilling to communicate about that.

It's in the silences that there is misinterpretation, and that people will act based on inconclusive information. That's never good when you have two major countries like ours in what's essentially a conflict, but one that's -- that hopefully refrains from being a military conflict.

VAUSE: No one likes a silent treatment.

KAYYEM: Yes, exactly. Exactly. You don't want to go -- you don't want to ghost the United States if you're China. Like that's a bad idea.

VAUSE: It's a bad idea. Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

VAUSE: When we come back, hear the outrage from Beijing. Nancy Pelosi did it and so, that's Kevin McCarthy, the new speaker of the U.S. House will meet with Taiwan's president this week.

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[00:25:15]

VAUSE: Kevin McCarthy has confirmed he will host Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen in California this week. Even before the announcement, Beijing said it's firmly opposed to any official exchanges between Washington and Taiwan, which China claims is a renegade province.

President Tsai will arrive in the United States after wrapping up a trip to Central America, where she's been showing up ties with Belize and Guatemala to Taiwan's last remaining regional allies.

CNN's Anna Coren in Hong Kong live for us this hour. You know, it's interesting because the new speaker of the U.S. House so Kevin McCarthy, he will host in California, the Taiwanese president, Nancy Pelosi caused a lot more outrage because she actually went to Taiwan. So, it's something which is going to upset Beijing, but maybe not as much? How do you explain this?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, look, tensions are ramping up, John. We have just heard from the spokesperson of the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles, voicing China's protest over this confirmed meeting. He said China firmly oppose any form of official exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan saying "Disregarding China's solemn representations and repeated warnings, the U.S. insisted on arranging Tsai Ing-wen's transit and plotting and supporting the Taiwan authorities' pursuit of independence. China solemnly protests and strongly condemns this."

Now, John, President Tsai's office has obviously confirmed Wednesday's meeting. Her spokesperson told Taiwan state media let me read this to you. "It is the right of the 23 million people of Taiwan for a democratic Taiwan to have exchanges with other democracies."

Now, a few hours earlier, Kevin McCarthy's office issued a statement confirming the bipartisan meeting with Tsai is going to be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Los Angeles.

McCarthy will be the highest ranking U.S. official to meet the Taiwanese leader on American soil. Now this meeting was long anticipated and obviously he's guaranteed to further inflame the already fractured relationship between the United States and China.

Tsai has been in Central America for an official visit to Guatemala and Belize and a stopover in New York last week that really upset China at a banquet. Xi said Taiwan's relationship with the U.S. has "Never been closer." Now, China has accused the U.S. and Taiwan of collusion in planning this strip and threatened to "resolutely fight back if these two leaders meet".

Let's have a listen to what China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to say yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAO NING, CHINA'S MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS SPOKESPERSON (through translator): here is only one China in the world, and the Taiwan region is an inalienable part of China. The Chinese side has repeatedly stressed that we firmly oppose any form of official contact between the U.S. and the Taiwan authorities and oppose any form of official meeting between the U.S. and the Taiwan authorities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: And we're going to hear more and more of that rhetoric over the coming days. As we know, China believes that Taiwan belongs to it. It's refused to rule out the use of military force to bring Taiwan under Beijing's control and while the U.S. acknowledges China's position, it has never officially recognized Beijing's claim to the island.

Interestingly, the White House has declined to weigh in on this meeting. But John, as you mentioned, you know, when the former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last year, China responded by firing ballistic missiles over Taiwan, deploying warships in the Taiwan Straits and conducting that simulated blockade of the island.

No doubt, you know, we will see a similar response this time.

VAUSE: Yes, they literally went ballistic last time, so we'll see what happens. Anna, thank you. Anna Coren live for us in Hong Kong.

Australia has joined a growing list of countries banning TikTok on all government devices, which the Attorney General Mark Dreyfus says will go into effect as soon as possible with exemptions made on a case by case basis. It comes amid a major push by the U.S. and other Western countries to keep the Chinese owed Apple state devices over national security and privacy concerns.

Well, Donald Trump is getting ready to turn himself in a New York courthouse. When we come back, there's already heavy security there, details on all of that, as well as a decision on cameras in the courtroom.

Then, why the imminent proceedings could be just the tip of the legal iceberg when it comes to Trump's ongoing problems.

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back to viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

[00:32:12]

The judge presiding over Donald Trump's arraignment has announced news cameras will not be allowed to broadcast the historic proceedings live, scheduled to begin just hours from now.

In his ruling, the New York Supreme Court justice acknowledged unparalleled public interest, but said that must be weighed against competing interests. However, five still photographers will be allowed to take pictures before the hearing gets underway.

Trump returned to New York Monday. He is staying at Trump Tower at this hour.

Meantime, security has been beefed up with extra barricades and cameras across New York, and the mayor has issued a warning to any Trump supporters looking to cause trouble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple. Control yourselves. Not a playground for your misplaced anger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: U.S. officials say the chatter, or intelligence, around Trump's court appearance has been disorganized and sporadic, and there's no indication his supporters are planning any coordinated January 6th style violence. But we're told authorities are staying vigilant and not ruling anything out.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz picks up the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The former president is supposed to make his way down here with his motorcade Tuesday, where he will surrender just across the street at the Manhattan D.A.'s office.

And then after that the process begins. He will be under arrest. Paperwork will be filed. His fingerprints will be taken. It's unclear if there's going to be a mug shot taken right now.

But then, after all that, after his process and the arrest is complete, he's going to be taken up to the 15th floor, where he'll be arraigned and he'll see the judge. And then after that, we expect him to leave. It should be a relatively short process. We'll know more about the charges and any other things that perhaps the D.A. and his attorneys, obviously, have to say.

But everyone certainly expect -- expects it to be a pretty quick process. And then he'll make his way out, and he will go back to the airport and then head back to Florida, we're told. And so, you know, all in all, security here is expected to be elevated. We're already seeing barriers. We're seeing more officers here internally by day's end.

By the afternoon, there will be an increase in security, as there is concern over some of the supporters who will be showing up here tomorrow, as well as any protesters. So the police have all these barriers set up. And they're going to have more law enforcement; more police officers present here on Tuesday.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Shimon Prokupecz, thank you for that.

Meantime, the federal investigation into the mishandling of classified documents, which were found at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, is ramping up. Sources say special-counsel prosecutors have secured evidence about how that secret material was actually handled by Donald Trump around the resort. That includes notes, texts, emails, as well as photographs.

[00:35:01]

There are also signs the Justice Department is nearing the end of the investigation. This case, though, just one of several legal headaches, very big legal headaches for Trump.

Details now from CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the Stormy Daniels hush-money case, to the Mar-a-Lago documents probe, to the election interference grand jury in Georgia, and the federal January 6th inquiry, Donald Trump is entangled in a web of investigations, targeting him from many directions.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's pretty remarkable that you have multiple different states, the federal government all investigating the same person at once, but that person is the former president of the United States.

TODD (voice-over): Trump now faces no fewer than four separate criminal probes.

There's the history-making indictment in the Daniels case in New York, where Trump reportedly faces 30 plus counts related to business fraud.

In Washington, a special counsel was appointed by the Justice Department to oversee a criminal investigation into whether Trump tried to interfere with the results of the 2020 election and whether he incited the January 6th attack.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to walk down to the Capitol.

TODD (voice-over): There's the Justice Department's Mar-a-Lago investigation into whether Trump illegally mishandled classified documents when he brought them to his Florida estate after leaving the White House.

CNN now reporting federal prosecutors have obtained new evidence in the obstruction probe in that case, evidence like texts, emails and photographs.

And in Georgia, Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis is overseeing a special grand jury looking into whether Trump and his allies tried to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election victory in Georgia by allegedly setting up fake electors and pressuring the secretary of state to, quote, "find more votes" for Trump.

Which of these cases might be the most likely to bring convictions against the former president?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think the case that poses the greatest threat of the former president actually serving prison time is the Mar-a-Lago documents case that's being investigated by the special counsel.

The evidence, at least from what we've seen publicly, seems quite strong.

TODD (voice-over): Conversely, which case against Trump could be the weakest?

RODGERS: I think the one that maybe isn't going to get across the finish line is the federal January 6th case. I don't think they'll be able to charge the former president was seditious conspiracy. And I don't know whether they're going to charge him with anything on the January 6th side of things.

TODD: Donald Trump has repeatedly rejected the allegations in each of these investigations, characterizing them as facets of a witch hunt designed to take him down. He's called the Mar-a-Lago investigation, the weaponization of the justice system, and he slammed the Georgia and New York probes as being politically motivated.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A senior minister in the French government and longtime advocate for women's rights now facing political backlash for a racy photo shoot for "Playboy" magazine. Why did she do it? We'll explain when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: The French secretary of state has been dressed down by the prime minister after she dressed down for a photo shoot for "Playboy" magazine. [00:40:06]

The secretary of state is a longtime advocate for women's rights.

We get more now from CNN's Melissa Bell, explaining why she did it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in France, one of the government's junior ministers coming in for criticism after the decision she made not just to give an interview to France's "Playboy" magazine, the French version of Playboy magazine, but also to appear on its front cover.

That edition will come out on Thursday. It's been defended both by Marlene Schiappa herself and by the magazine's editor, who's been explaining that it's been changed quite a lot these last few years. This is an article about promoting, says Marlene Schiappa, women's rights and gay rights, and attracting attention to those causes.

Marlene Schiappa, who rose to prominence when Emmanuel Macron was first elected and made equality minister, had been known as a feminist author before that.

That is part of the questioning that's come around her decision to grant the interview and to appear on the cover, as has the forthcoming question of the reshuffle that we expect here in France on the back of the social protests that we have seen over pension reform, with many on her own side, taking the opportunity to lay into her decision.

It is a time of great political uncertainty here in France, but also people point out an ill-timed decision in terms of how it looks in the context of those ongoing protests over pension reform.

It is on Thursday that the unions will be back on the street for another day of mass strike action and protest.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

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VAUSE: NASA has named the four astronauts who will orbit the moon for the first time in more than half a century. Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victoria [SIC] Glover and Jeremy Hansen are scheduled for blastoff next year.

Koch will be the first woman. Hansen will be the first Canadian, Glover the first person of color on a lunar mission.

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VICTOR GLOVER, ARTEMIS II ASTRONAUT: I pray that God will bless this mission. But I also pray that we can continue to serve as a source of inspiration for cooperation and peace, not just between nations, but in our own nation. Thank you and God bless us all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: At least a year after that mission, NASA will try to return astronauts to the surface of the moon, something which hasn't been done since the Apollo program ended in 1972.

Notably, none of the astronauts named on Monday were alive at the last time humans walked on the moon.

The University of Connecticut men's basketball team has won March Madness for the fifth time in the program's history. They defeated San Diego State 76 to 59 in the championship game Monday.

Tristen Newton led the way for UConn with 19 points, 10 rebounds. Adama Sanogo from Mali had 17 points, 10 rebounds and won the Most Outstanding Player Award.

The Huskies won each of their six tournament games by at least 10 points, and with Monday's victory, they became only the sixth team to win at least five men's basketball championships.

Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause, back with more news at the top of the hour. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT is up next. See you in 17 minutes.

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