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Donald Trump to Face 37 Federal Charges in His Court Appearance; Republican Presidential Aspirant Calls Trump, Vengeful and Angry; Six Killed, 25 Injured in a Overnight Missile Attack in a Ukrainian City; Italy's Longest-Serving Prime Minister Dies; BTS Celebrates 10 Years of Music; Denver Nuggets Claims First NBA Championship in 47 Years. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired June 13, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead. Donald Trump set to appear in a federal courtroom in a matter of hours where he will be arraigned on criminal charges, the first time a former U.S. president has ever faced federal charges.
Security around the courthouse in Miami is tightening ahead of Trump's court appearance as his supporters gathered to rally around him.
And Russia launches a massive overnight attack on central Ukraine, missiles ripping through a residential area, leaving several people dead and others wounded.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center. This is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. And we are now just hours away from an historic arraignment inside a Miami courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump will appear to hear the 37 federal criminal charges against him.
Trump traveled to his golf club just outside Miami on Monday, where sources say he spent the day speaking with potential candidates to add to his legal team. We are told Trump is pushing for his attorneys to take a more aggressive stance against the Justice Department as they defend him against allegations of mishandling classified documents.
The Republican candidate for U.S. President is facing a total of 37 counts including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information.
Ahead of Trump's court appearance, Miami officials have beefed up security with the mayor and police chief saying the city is ready to handle a large crowd or any protests. Now this comes as law enforcement officials expressed concern over the potentially large number of Trump supporters expected to gather outside the courthouse.
CNN's Paula Reid is following developments from Miami.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The documents, the whole thing, is a witch hunt. It's a disgrace. It should never happen.
PAULA REID, CNN SR. LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former President Trump in Miami, ahead of his historic arraignment in federal court. With him was his personal aide and co-defendant, Walt Notta, who has been with him in Bedminster since the indictment came down.
Trump will be staying at his Doral golf course, where he is expected to meet with his legal team, currently being led by white-collar defense attorney Todd Blanch, after the departure, with his other top lawyers over the past few weeks.
TIM PARLATORE, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: There are things in here that I think, you know, if they have backup for are certainly problematic.
REID (voice-over): Trump is looking to bring in additional attorneys to handle the Florida-based case, but he has had trouble in the past hiring lawyers amid concerns about him paying his bills and firms worrying about alienating other clients by taking him on.
In the court of public opinion --
WILLIAM BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: If even half of it is true, then he's toast.
REID (voice-over): Trump's former attorney general, Bill Barr, who helped spin the Mueller special counsel in Trump's favor, said the indictment, alleging his former boss mishandled classified information, is damning.
BARR: He's not a victim here. He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets that the country has, and he kept them in a way at Mar-a-Lago that anyone who really cares about national security would their stomach would churn.
REID (voice-over): But his staunch allies on Capitol Hill, like Senator Lindsey Graham and House Judiciary Jim Jordan jumped to Trump's defense.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Espionage charges are absolutely ridiculous. He did not disseminate, leak. or provide information to a foreign power or to a news organization to damage this country. He is not a spy.
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH), HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: If he wants to store material in a box, in a bathroom, if he wants to store it in a box on a stage, he can do that. REID (voice-over): On Tuesday, the former president will surrender to
authorities, be arrested and booked before his arraignment where he's expected to plead not guilty.
The case landed in Florida where the alleged crimes were committed after a year of prosecutors collecting evidence with a Washington D.C.-based grand jury.
But the South Florida venue poses challenges. The jury pool is likely to be friendlier to Trump.
TRUMP: It's called election interference and they're doing the best they can with it.
[03:05:03]
REID (voice-over): And even before trial, Trump's lawyers are likely to try to suppress key evidence from one of Trump's own attorney's. Evan Corcoran, who testified to the grand jury in D.C. and whose own notes are used in the indictment to make the case that Trump tried to hide incriminating documents. He made a funny motion, Corcoran noted, as though, well, okay, why don't you take them with you to your hotel room? And if there's anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out.
Trump will make his first appearance Tuesday before a magistrate judge, but then the case will be heard before federal Trump appointee Judge Eileen Cannon.
JUDGE ELLEN CANNON, TRUMP-APPOINTEE: My severe thanks for the president for the honor of this nomination.
REID (voice-over): She was previously criticized for a ruling in another matter related to the Mar-a-Lago documents case. That decision was ultimately overturned.
(0n-camera): It's unclear if Trump will have his final legal team in place ahead of tomorrow's hearing, but his current legal team can absolutely handle this arraignment as it is just the first step in this historic case.
Paula Reid, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And earlier, I spoke with former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti and I asked him how strong he thinks the special counsel's case is against the former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It's extraordinarily strong. It is a case that if the person on the other side of the V, so to speak, if it was United States versus John Doe as opposed to United States versus Donald John Trump, I would say that the conviction was a virtual certainty. Obviously, the former president has some, you know, potential tools in
his toolbox that the typical defendant doesn't have, but it looks to be an extraordinarily overwhelming case.
CHURCH: And of course, it is worth noting that the former president calls this a historic indictment and court hearing, ridiculous and baseless. And he says it's one of the most horrific abuses of power in the country's history. What do you say to that?
MARIOTTI: Well, there's no evidence to support those very extreme allegations. What I see when I read the indictment is overwhelming evidence of his guilt. The former president, as you pointed out, had in his possession many important government documents, documents that were not his personal documents. These were in his diaries. These were attack plans, nuclear secrets, our vulnerabilities, some of the most vital documents that we have for national security.
Not only half of those documents, as you pointed out earlier in places like his bathroom or ballroom, but he kept those documents even though the government was trying desperately to get them back and to get them into safekeeping. They sent him requests and letters, a grand jury subpoena, a personal visit. After all of that, he not only intended to keep the documents and did whatever he could to keep them, but he actually directed his attorneys to lie to the government.
There's, you know, allegations and evidence that he tried to or to hide and destroy the documents. So not what we would expect from anyone, much less a former president. And that is why he has been charged. He had every opportunity to avoid charges, and he chose to try to obstruct the investigation instead of try to resolve the matter without criminal charges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Our thanks to Renato Mariotti for his perspective there.
Meanwhile, former Trump ally and ex-governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, is lashing out against Donald Trump. During a CNN Town Hall Monday, Christie said the former president's second term would be worse than the first. He even called Trump angry and vengeful. Mr. Christie also slammed Trump's conduct in connection with the mishandling of classified documents, calling it awful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE, FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's saying, I'm more important than the country. These are my papers. He saw in the indictment that his employees were scared. It was called his boxes, his boxes. He wants his boxes near him. He flew the boxes up to New Jersey for summer vacation. What is this like? They're a family member? I mean, seriously, I got my boxes with me.
And let me ask you a question. What exactly was he doing with them? Did someone remind him he's not the president anymore? You don't need these things anymore. This is vanity run amok, Anderson. Run amok, ego run amok. And he is now going to put this country through this, when we didn't have to go through it. Everyone's blaming the prosecutors. He did it. It's his conduct.
And he wants to continue to pretend he's president. He wants the trappings of the presidency around him. And I think one of those trappings is these documents that He could wave around to people as they detail the indictment. This is secret. I can't show you. I might've been able to show you, but now I can't. But this is what it's about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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CHURCH: Christie also took a swipe at his other Republican rivals, accusing them of playing political games.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIE: They're playing political games with you. Because they think if you kind of like Trump a little bit, and I don't say anything bad about Trump, and then Trump kind of implodes and goes away, then you're more likely to vote for me.
How about we do this? How about you decide who is the most honest, forthright leader who has common sense and will put you first? How about we stop these games?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Other Republicans are sharing a range of views on Trump's indictments. Some are taking a wait-and-see approach.
But as Manu Raju reports, others think it's all about politics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the first time since the news of the indictment broke late last week, lawmakers are returning to Washington.
We have not heard from a number of members who have not weighed in yet on the allegations in the Trump indictment. Some of them, as we have heard from, have typically been the ones rushing to Donald Trump's defense, including the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, who has vocally defended the former president.
Others, though, have been more critical. Those ones starting to come out more slowly. One of them I just spoke to, Senator John Thune, who said that these are serious allegations detailed in this indictment and he did not align himself with House GOP efforts to try to discredit the special prosecutor.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): Well, they're very serious allegations and the burden of proof for the Justice Department will be high. I think there are a lot of people across the country who have skepticism about the standards of justice and how they're applied and wanting to make sure that they're applied equally. RAJU: It says that you may have obstructed this investigation, made
false statements to prosecutors. Does that worry you?
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: No, I don't know anything about that now. Eventually they obviously got what they wanted. I don't know whether you obstructed or not.
REP. KELLY ARMSTRONG (R-ND): I wouldn't be pulling out the drapes and the curtains for a new FBI building right now.
RAJU: That last comment from Congressman Armstrong about the efforts to fund a new FBI headquarters. Armstrong making clear right there that Congress is probably not gonna go along with, at least the Republican-led House. That was echoed by Speaker McCarthy, who has been vocally critical of this investigation and the indictment against Donald Trump, although others have not gone as far as the speaker, including the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, who has yet to comment on this allegations and on the indictment since it came down late last week.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And we'll have much more on Donald Trump's arraignment, including a closer look at security preparations in Miami coming up a little later this hour.
And be sure to stay with CNN for special coverage throughout the day. For our North American viewers, that begins at 1 p.m. Eastern. And for our international viewers, special coverage picks up at 7 p.m. in London, 10 p.m. in Abu Dhabi.
Well, still to come, authorities have found a victim in the rubble of the interstate collapse in Philadelphia as new details are revealed about what led to the accident.
Plus Russia is targeting Ukrainian civilians yet again. Details on the latest missile strikes on a residential building. That's still to come.
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CHURCH: Authorities in Pennsylvania say they are working to identify a body recovered from the wreckage of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia. Part of the highway collapsed Sunday after a tanker truck caught on fire.
CNN's Danny Freeman has the latest on the investigation and the timeline to repair the busy stretch of highway.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On Monday we learned a lot more about what led to the collapse of I-95 behind me. State officials told us in a news conference that back on Sunday morning, a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline was traveling northbound on I-95. It tried to take an exit ramp but then that truck lost control.
The truck flipped on its side, crashed and ultimately ruptured and that's what ignited the fire that was so powerful it led to the collapse of the northbound lanes of I-95.
We also learned Monday that the southbound lanes will also have to be demolished because they are no longer structurally safe. And while initially there were no reported injuries in this incident, Pennsylvania State Police confirmed to CNN on Monday that a body was recovered from the wreckage, but the Philadelphia medical examiner has not confirmed the identity of that person just yet.
Now the big question, of course, is how long will this take to clean up? Well, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, he said hopefully swiftly, but it will not happen overnight.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said it will take some number of months. Take a listen though to what the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said during that news conference.
MIKE CARROLL, PENNSYLVANIA TRANSPORT SECRETARY: Contractors will work 24/7 in an effort to try and speed up the solution set and we continue to engineer the solution set that will come after the demolition is completed and we expect that demolition to be completed in four or five days.
FREEMAN: So four or five days to knock everything down but then at least a couple of months to clean everything up and of course fix it up but I can personally attest that traffic in this area was challenging the day a lot of these side streets not really capable of handling large trucks driving through them but the government at this point is still advising folks to avoid the area if at all possible and take public transportation.
Danny Freeman, CNN, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Ukrainian officials say Russia carried out high precision strikes on civilian targets overnight. At least six people were killed and 25 injured after a massive missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.
[03:20:03]
Officials say the missiles hit a multi-story apartment building and other civilian infrastructure. More on that in just a moment.
Meanwhile, there are reports of intense fighting along the border of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine is reporting more gains on the ground. A top defense official says they've recaptured seven villages in the past week.
And Clare Sebastian joins me now live from London. Good morning to you, Clare. So what more are you learning about these missile attacks on civilian targets in Central Ukraine overnight?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so Rosemary, we're talking about the town of Kryvyi Rih, which is in the Dnipropetrovsk region in the central southern part of Ukraine. Let's just pull up the map so you can locate it relatively close, I would say, to the front lines. But of course, Ukraine is a huge country, so we're talking about several hundred kilometers there.
They're saying that the death toll is now up to six, according to the head of the city military administration there, a Ukrainian official. The latest injury toll we have is 25 in that one five-story apartment building that you were just showing of which 19 were hospitalized and an additional four injured in another location. They're talking about a warehouse, an automobile company also being hit. You can see images of sort of mangled cars and trucks and some of the images that have been released.
Rescue efforts, we understand, are still ongoing there. And this is also the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has come out with some comments on this, this morning. He says Russian killers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people. This was, as we understand it, part of a broader aerial overnight assault by Russia, really part of the playbook that we've seen from them.
Fourteen cruise missiles launched overnight, according to the Ukrainian military, of which ten were shot down. In addition, they say at least four Shahed attack drones, of which they shot down one. And then in the morning, they say, another cruise missile was launched by Russia from the Caspian Sea, which was destroyed.
So continuing the theme of attrition, of trying to wear down the resolve of the Ukrainian people even as they embark on what we understand to be the early stages of this counteroffensive. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Clare, what is the latest on reports of more Ukrainian games on the ground?
SEBASTIAN: Yeah, these are small but significant, Rosemary. We're talking sort of small villages, hamlets, even most of them concentrated in this area in the very sort of southwestern part of the Donetsk region on the border with Zaporizhia.
The Ukrainians are saying that they are advancing, although we understand that progress is extremely difficult. Russia not officially admitting any retreats, but military bloggers very closely followed voices on this war are conceding that Ukraine has made progress there.
For the Ukrainians though, I think the challenge here is also managing expectations. This is what one of the advisers to President Zelenskyy told Christiane Amanpour about the counteroffensive as a whole.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IGOR ZHOKVA, CHIEF DIPLOMATIC ADVISER TO PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Once again, this is not the first counteroffensive operation we were having and definitely, probably, would not be the last counteroffensive operation. The ultimate goal of the counteroffensive as a process is to win back all the territories, including the Crimea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: The counter-offensive process as a whole, I think you can read into that, that they want you to understand this isn't going to be over quickly, this isn't going to be over in a matter of weeks. We know that Russia has built up intense defenses in that part of the country where the fighting is taking place, minefields, trenches, things like that.
But on the Russian side, there is a report from one closely followed military blogger that a general commander of a unit was killed in fighting around one of the villages that Ukraine claims to have taken. No official confirmation on that from the Ministry of Defense, but if true that would be significant.
CHURCH: Alright, Clare Sebastien, many thanks for that live report from London. I Appreciate it.
Well, at least 10 people in Ukrainian-controlled areas in the Kherson region have died since the Nova Kakhovka Dam collapse, according to Ukrainian officials. The disaster is leaving its mark on the region with floodwaters still inundating entire villages. The CEO of Ukraine's hydroelectric provider says the water in the reservoir is dropping, though slower than expected.
Evacuations are still underway. Ukrainian officials say the dam collapse is the, quote, "largest catastrophe caused by Russian invaders since the war began." The chief of the International Agency for Atomic Energy is headed to Ukraine to meet with President Zelenskyy and to assess the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which relies on the reservoir for cooling water.
Well, as bombs continue to rain down on Ukrainian cities, the country's state emergency service says nearly one-third of bomb shelters inspected by authorities are closed or unsuitable for use.
[03:25:05]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had ordered an audit of all bomb shelters earlier this month after three people were killed when they were unable to access a closed shelter in Kyiv.
The audit revealed that of the more than 62,000 bomb shelters that had been inspected, about 9 percent appeared to be closed and more than 23 percent were unsuitable for use.
Well, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. is seeking to learn more about the detention of Travis Leake. Leake, an American citizen, was detained over the weekend on alleged drug charges. Here's what Blinken said Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've been seeking to learn more about the apparent detention of Travis Leake. My number one priority as Secretary of State is the safety and security of Americans abroad, and this is no exception. So we're working to gather information to understand exactly what happened, and of course we will be very focused on this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: In 2014, Leake was interviewed by the late Anthony Bourdain for an episode of his show "Parts Unknown" in which Leake had expressed his frustrations with censorship in Russia.
Well, coming up, Miami police say they are ready for the crowds expected at Donald Trump's arraignment but violent rhetoric, some of it, from members of Congress, is raising concerns. Back with that in just a moment.
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[03:30:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: In just a matter of hours, former U.S. President Donald Trump will walk into a federal courthouse in Miami where he will be arrested and arraigned on 37 federal criminal charges related to his handling of classified documents.
The extraordinary event is already being acknowledged by the judge who called the proceedings genuinely historic. Trump traveled to his golf club just outside Miami on Monday where sources say he spent the day speaking with potential candidates to add to his legal team in Florida.
Miami's police chief insists the city is ready to handle any crowds outside the federal courthouse today. Authorities say they have enough resources to handle as many as 50,000 demonstrators, but some are worried that yellow police tape may not be enough given the level of violent rhetoric ahead of Trump's arraignment.
Republican Congressman Andy Biggs tweeted, we have now reached a war phase. An eye for an eye.
And failed Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, Kari Lake, said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARI LAKE, FORMER ARIZONA REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: We are at war, people. If you want to get to President Trump, you're going to have to go through me and you're going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And I'm going to tell you, yep, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, Miami police say they are working on security with federal, state and local partners, but the city has not issued any protest permits.
CNN's Carlos Suarez has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The city of Miami says they are ready for whatever happens outside of the federal courthouse in downtown Miami on Tuesday. Miami's police chief said that the Miami Police Department has enough resources for crowds of up to 50,000 people.
Now, when he was pressed for specifics, the chief of police said that his department was not going to get into where all of these resources are being deployed.
There is some concern heading into Tuesday that law-enforcement may not be ready for the possible crowds that will show up, both in support of the former president and those that are protesting the former president.
A few barricades have been set up around the courthouse and it is unclear if the Miami Police Department is going to separate supporters and protesters.
The police chief said that a decision on that will depend on the number of folks that show up on Tuesday. Here now is a part of a press conference that the police chief had on Monday.
CHIEF MANUEL MORALES, MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're bringing enough resources to handle crowd anywhere from 5000 to 50,000. We don't expect any issues, right? So we appreciate the public itself. Everybody going out there and expressing themselves in a peaceful and civil matter.
SUAREZ: The chief of police said a decision on whether streets around the courthouse will be closed has not been made.
Carlos Suarez, CNN, Doral, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: I'm joined this hour by Juliette Kayyem, a CNN National Security Analyst and former Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Good to have you with us.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: So security concerns are mounting ahead of Donald Trump's --
KAYYEM: Yeah.
CHURCH: -- arrival at the Miami courthouse. So with violent rhetoric rising online and also coming from some political figures and extreme --
KAYYEM: Yes.
CHURCH: -- right-wing groups making threats, as well as Trump himself. And this comes as Miami police prepare for the possibility of up to 50,000 protesters. But many worry that law enforcement may not be ready for the worst-case scenario. So how ready do you think they are?
[03:34:55]
KAYYEM: So I think there's a lot of things in their favor right now, say, as compared to January 6. The first is there's just incredible, there's significant notice, right, that there is an elevated threat environment.
They are taking it seriously. The mayor of Miami today had a press conference. We know that federal, local and state officials are working together. That's the range from the Secret Service and the Marshals all the way down to the local police department.
And so on the sort of preparation side, they're in better shape than they certainly would have been on January 6th. But I think what's more significant is that the threat, what we call the threat environment has changed. I am less worried about sort of a January 6th-type organized event.
That's because the right wing groups have been splintered. Their leadership is in jail. There's been hundreds of arrests and jailing of Trump's most violent supporters, and they know he can't get them out.
And also because Trump doesn't have the apparatus like he did as president to either move law enforcement or not have them stop potential violence. So there will be protests, there will be noise, but there is not the kind of organized concern that people like me had leading up to January 6.
CHURCH: That is interesting. And of course, with many suggesting possible lack of security on the ground and fears of protesters storming the court building. What more do you think law enforcement need to be doing to ensure everyone stays safe, just in case the worst thing happens?
KAYYEM: Yeah, so there'll be a couple things. First of all, there's a lot more security than we're seeing. There is no way, I'm promising you now, that a federal courthouse will get breached tomorrow. There's so much law-enforcement there, (inaudible) the Marshalls, the FBI, and the Secret Service. So Donald Trump will be safe. The judiciary and the legal apparatus will be safe at least tomorrow.
What I don't like and what certainly is irresponsible, if not dangerous, of Donald Trump and his leaders, is obviously this sort of incitement, this what I call like this sort of courting of violence. We've certainly seen on Twitter and and publicly on what people are saying, there's this sort of warlike mentality. There's a sort of call to arms without calling it that.
That creates in a very small set of people, a sense that they would, you know, that this is what's being asked for. And your biggest worry right now is the single individual being radicalized by all the activity, all the criticism, all the statements being made and turning to violence. That is the bigger concern, and those are harder to stop because if you guys were a heavily armed country and Florida has very loose gun laws, that would be the thing I would be most focused on for tomorrow.
CHURCH: And how much do you think has been learned since the January 6th interruption?
KAYYEM: A lot. I mean, first of all, you take this seriously. I think there was, I mean, look, I think there was a lot because Donald Trump didn't want the apparatus to be, the security apparatus to be prepared. But I also think that this idea that, oh, it couldn't happen here, which I think animated a lot of people leading into January 6th, it's exactly what happened, right? And I think we now know that.
We know that there are elements of Donald Trump supporters who will turn to violence, who view this as a injustice that only can be defended through violence. And they will, some of them will act on that.
I believe, however, that because of Donald Trump's isolation in many ways, because he cannot grant them pardons, because the right-wing organizations are basically undermined right now because of the lawsuits and because of the criminal investigations against them, that it will be much harder for the kind of unified, concerted, we're gonna storm the courthouse attitude. There'll be a lot of luster, don't get me wrong, but I think that it will not look like what we fear in terms of some sort of constitutional crisis.
CHURCH: All right, we'll be watching very closely. Of course, Juliette Kayyem, --
KAYYEM: Yes.
CHURCH: -- many thanks for being with us, I appreciate it.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
CHURCH: And still to come, the latest on the four children who survived a plane crash and more than a month stranded in the Colombian Amazon. And now a new search for a missing member of that rescue mission. Back with that in just a moment.
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[03:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: We're learning more about how four children survived more than a month in the Colombian Amazon after a plane crash that killed their mother and two others.
The oldest child, a 13-year-old girl named Leslie, is being hailed for her quote, "heroic role in caring for her siblings and keeping them alive in the jungle."
A member of the rescue team says the children built a small shelter and that Leslie used a soda bottle to get water from a nearby river. The children are being treated at a hospital in Bogota.
Their grandfather shared more about his resourceful granddaughter's quick thinking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARCISO MUCUTUY, CHILDREN'S GRANDFATHER (through translator): When she looked and saw that her mother was dead, she saw the feet of her youngest sister where the three dead were, and she pulled her out.
[03:45:03]
She immediately saw her other two siblings hurt, so she opened her mother's bag, took out clothes, ripped them, and wrapped them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Extraordinary there. And as the children continue their recovery, there is now a search for a rescue dog that helped with the mission.
Stefano Pozzebon has the latest from Bogota.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: On Monday, the Colombian military released the drawings made by the children that were rescued after spending more than 40 days in the Amazon rainforest. The four indigenous children by the way are still recovering in the hospital just behind my back and that's where they made these drawings.
It's interesting because these pictures show a new character that played a key role in their recovery, this dog Wilson. Wilson is a canine unit inscribed today to the Colombian Special Forces, who apparently made contacts with the four children in the heart of the jungle and stayed with them for a few days before vanishing himself and that's why many people here in Colombia are asking the government to keep the search and rescue operation going until even Wilson is found.
Meanwhile also on Monday we spoke with a Special Forces General who described the situation on the jungle and explained why his men took so long to find the kids due to the difficulty of the terrain. Take a listen. GENERAL PEDRO SANCHEZ, COLOMBIAN AIR FORCE: We conclude with the
evidence that maybe they walked about 20 kilometers. We compare the evidence with the tracks of GPS. We say, oh my goodness, we were very close to the kids, maybe about 100 feet.
POZZEBON: And General Sanchez also told us that his men will indeed try to stay in the jungle until Wilson is recovered -- Wilson the dog. Meanwhile the kids who are expected to stay in hospital under medical observation for between two and three weeks after which they will Be allowed to leave the premise and go back to normal life with their father who is here in Bogota.
For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
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CHURCH: America's largest bank has reached a substantial settlement with the victims of the late serial sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein. JPMorgan has agreed to pay Epstein's victims $290 million. It would settle a class action lawsuit accusing the bank of enabling Epstein to sex traffic them while he was a client. Epstein died in prison in 2019.
CNN's Kara Scannell has more details.
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KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $290 million to settle a lawsuit brought by victims of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation.
The deal, which was announced on Monday, would resolve a lawsuit brought by a Jane Doe last year. In the lawsuit, the victim alleges that the bank enabled Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation by turning a blind eye to a number of red flags, among them large cash withdrawals, as much as $750,000 in one year.
Authorities allege it was those cash withdrawals that Epstein used to pay the underage girls and the recruiters who found them. David Boyes, a lawyer for one of the victims, said that it was a great day for survivors of Epstein and for justice. He said he expects more than 100 survivors to seek compensation under this deal. Now, the deal still requires the approval of a federal judge, and as part of the settlement, J.P. Morgan will not admit or deny any wrongdoing.
Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.
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CHURCH: Italy will observe a national day of mourning on Wednesday as former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is laid to rest. Flowers, flags and other tributes are piling up outside his villa, north of Milan.
The billionaire businessman passed away Monday at the age of 86. Condolences are pouring in from world leaders including Pope Francis, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Current Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has ordered flags at half staff outside all public buildings.
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GIORGIO MELONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Silvio Berlusconi was most of all a fighter. He was a man who never feared to defend his beliefs. It was that courage, that determination, which made him one of the most influential men in Italy's history.
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CHURCH: Even the woman at the center of a 2010 sex scandal involving Berlusconi is paying tribute. Ruby the Heartstealer posted goodbye president on Instagram. Berlusconi was once the wealthiest man in Italy. He was elected prime minister three times serving nine years in office.
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CHURCH: Okay, you just heard the iconic K-pop band BTS, which is marking its 10th anniversary this week.
Although the group is on a temporary break right now, week-long celebrations have kicked off in their home country, South Korea. On Monday, the capital Seoul was lit up in purple, the band's signature color.
Ever since the seven-member boy band made its debut with this music video, they have gained a huge international following and generated a ton of pride back home.
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KIM ARA, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA RESIDENT (through translator): I'm so proud to be a citizen of the same country as BTS. Now, anywhere I go, when I say I'm from Korea, people always welcome me. So I'm very proud of them and happy. I hope BTS will continue their career.
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CHURCH: Well, the Denver Nuggets are now NBA champions for the first time in their 47-year history in the league.
Fans lit fireworks and celebrated in the streets after the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat, 94-89 in Game 5 of the finals on Monday, taking the series four games to one.
Jimmy Butler led Miami with 21 points in the losing effort. Denver's Nikola Jokic finished with a game-high 28 points and 16 rebounds and was named Most Valuable Player of the finals. The City of Denver will hold a victory parade on Thursday.
And thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo, next.
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