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CNN International: Hours Away from Trump's Federal Arraignment on 37 Criminal Counts; Trump's Legal Team Searching for more Lawyers to Defend Former President in Florida; Chris Christie Calls Trump Angry and Vengeful; Heavy Fighting Underway in Eastern Ukraine; U.S. Fed to Meet for Pivotal Interest Rate Decision; Miami Preparing for Trump's Court Appearance. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 13, 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]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former President Trump in Miami ahead of his historic arraignment in federal court.

DONALD TRUMP FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Witch hunt, witch hunt, scam, hoax.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is struggling to find attorneys right now partially because he's probably going to step into incriminating himself even further.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The government has to prove it at trial to a jury. But if they do it is devastating and it really should be the end of Trump's political career.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Loser, loser, loser. This is vanity run amok. That is a child. I am convinced that if he goes back to the White House that the next four U.S. will all be about him just settling scores.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: It is Tuesday. It is June the 13th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Miami, Florida. Where in just a matter of hours now former U.S. President Donald Trump will turn himself in and be arrested for a second time in just ten weeks. This time he's facing 37 federal criminal charges in this unprecedented arraignment.

NOBILO: And those charges are related to his handling of classified documents and include one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information. This will also be the second time Trump will plead not guilty to charges. Sources say the former president spent Monday speaking with potential candidates to add to his legal team in Florida.

FOSTER: And we are learning that special counsel Jack Smith is also beefing up his legal team that now has at least two prosecutors from the Miami U.S. attorney's office on board. Ahead of today's historic court appearance a coalition of media groups, including CNN, is asking for photo and video access and for audio recordings to be immediately released after the arraignment ends. CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports on what we can expect in the hours ahead.

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: He has been searching to add a Florida- based attorney to his team even since before two of his top attorneys on this case specifically resigned last Friday. They resigned in part because Trump was pursuing adding another attorney to the team and they've been the top attorneys who were litigating this. So he is down two attorneys who are handling the documents case.

Still searching for someone else. It's not clear right now that this will be resolved before he actually has that arraignment. That's not really seen as a big deal from the people that I've spoken with. Todd Blanche who is the other attorney that he added to his team just back in April only about two months ago, is going to be one of the people that you do see go into court with the former president.

It remains to be seen who he adds ultimately to the legal team though. Obviously, you can see, you know, when two people depart the team who've been working on this case, it's been difficult for Trump to find attorneys in the past. We may not even see him going into the courthouse. We believe there will be some courtroom sketches. But it's not going to be we believe photos or anything like we saw last time. Where photographers were briefly allowed in. That's when you saw those historic photos of Trump of course in the courtroom. We're not expecting that to happen.

So really the question is not among his team, what happens. Obviously, he'll plead not guilty. It's what happens next. Because that's when the next date will be set. That's when he could potentially be in front of Judge Cannon, the Trump appointed judge. I should note, who was appointed by Trump in just the days after he lost the 2020 election. That is what really, Trump's legal team and those around him will be looking at. It's obvious they're going to have that historic moment, as you noted, pleading not guilty for the second time in just a matter of months.

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NOBILO: Sources say the special counsel's team in recent months began making plans to bring charges against Trump in Florida southern district up to a year of using a Washington grand jury to gather evidence in the case. Legal experts are weighing in on what might have been behind that move.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVE ARONBERG, STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY: The special counsel is a well experienced, well-respected attorney, Jack Smith. But I don't think they counted on coming to Florida until the very end. I think they must have had internal discussion that they didn't want to go into all of these delays in a fight over venue. They wanted to have this in Washington D.C.

[04:05:00]

After all, Trump got 5 percent of the vote in Washington D.C. and the judges in D.C. are more experience in these national security matters. But they ultimately decide to go to south Florida for a few reasons. I think first, they knew that Trump would challenge venue. They didn't want to have a chance of losing the case. They don't want endless delays over challenging the venue. And of course, I think Jack Smith wanted the public to buy into this. It's one thing to go to D.C. in the friendly confines of the D.C. court. It's another thing to go get the indictment in Trump's home state, a red state in front of a grand jury of individuals from all walks of life, nonpolitical. And I think that makes a statement.

I think the Justice Department did a good job in creating what's called a speaking indictment. They gave 49 pages of really good information to describe what's going on here. Compare that to New York which took a different approach in its indictment of Donald Trump. They didn't give us much information. They played a little bit of hide the ball. But Jack Smith wanted the public to buy into this. So not only did he explain what the facts were, he also did a bit of show and tell. There were pictures in there. Now you have an iconic photo of the bathroom with the chandelier with all the boxes around. And so, I think that there may be new evidence that we learned of Trump. But I think they are already showing their hand and rightfully so.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, we've got much more ahead including a closer look at security preparations in Miami. But also be sure to tune in to our special coverage of this pivotal moment in U.S. history. The arrest and arraignment of Donald Trump begins at 2;00 p.m. in New York and Miami. That's 7:00 p.m. here in London.

Meanwhile, former Trump ally and ex governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, is lashing out against Donald Trump during a CNN Town Hall on Monday. Christie slammed Trump's conduct in connection with the mishandling of classified documents, calling it awful. He also said it's inexcusable for someone who is running for office.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's saying I'm more important than the country. These are my papers.

You saw in the indictment that his employees were scared. Those become 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've got to have 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 amuck, Anderson, run amuck. Ego run amuck. And he is 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.

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NOBILO: Christie also warned Americans that the former president's second term would be worse than the first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: He's angry and he's vengeful. And he's sad.

I am convinced that if he goes back to the White House, that the next four years will be all about him just settling scores.

And he has shown himself -- and I think most particularly in his post- presidency -- to be completely self-centered, completely self- consumed, and doesn't give a damn about the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: And Christie also call the former president a loser. Comparing his refusal to accept his defeat for reelection in 2020 to the behavior of a child.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: He hasn't won a dam thing since 2016. Three-time loser. 2018 we lost the House. 2020 we lost the White House. We lost the United States Senate a couple weeks later in 2021. And in 2022 we lost two more governorships, another Senate seat and barely took a House of Representatives when Joe Biden had the most incompetent first two years I've ever seen in my life. Loser, loser, loser. Now we're getting going it'll be different this time. Why? Why will it be different this time?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, at times Christie combined his criticism of Trump with attacks on President Joe Biden, saying neither man should be elected due to their age.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: If those two people are the nominees, they are going to be a combined 160 years old on election day. I'm sorry guys, nobody beats father time. Nobody does. I'm different than I was when I first got into office 13 years ago. OK, I'm different. I feel it. And I can't imagine 20 years from now, 22 years, when I'm 60 years old. At 82 being president of the United States. I think the single biggest thing I can contribute to unifying this

country is to get rid of Joe Biden and get rid of Donald Trump. They are past their sell by dates. OK, it's done. It's time. And they bring an old approach to this that is not constructive in uniting our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Our Tom Foreman, resident fact checker, takes a look at Chris Christie's responses at the CNN's Town Hall.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In this long rambling discussion Christy turns to the subject at one point of Russia -- which was once the hottest issue here for Republicans and Democrats alike.

[04:10:00]

And specifically he said that he always thought the accusations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians were garbage and the evidence backed his position.

CHRISTIE: I was involved in that campaign in 2016 with Donald Trump. Let me tell you something, I can guarantee you there was no colluding going on. They were trying to figure out how to get from New York to Wisconsin, OK. They were not -- colluding with the Russians was the last thing they were thinking about.

FOREMAN: As a political ally of Donald Trump, Christie came to Trump's defense many times on many subjects that's for sure. But he did mention tonight that he also rejected the former presidents claim that it was all a witch hunt. He said it was not that all. In fact he said at one point that he found the degree of Russian involvement in the election absolutely chilling, and we should report that the big investigation here, the Mueller report, found that there were attempts 2016 at collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign. And Trump aides were, quote, receptive to some offers even though no one was charged with conspiracy.

That's one area where he really veered off from a perfect accounting or exactly accurate accounting of what happened. But generally throughout his conversation, he managed to stick fairly close to the facts. Something we don't always see in political discussions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Ukrainian officials say Russia carried out high precision strikes on civilian targets overnight. At least six people were killed and 35 injured after a massive missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih. Officials say the missiles hit a multistory apartment building, another civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian military officials say of the 14 cruise missiles Russia fired at Ukraine, 10 were shot down by Ukraine air defense.

NOBILO: Meanwhile, there are reports of intense fighting on the border of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine is reporting more gains on the ground. A top defense official says that they've recaptured seven villages in the past week.

FOSTER: Clare is here. You've been looking at all this. It does not feel like it is full flow yet this offensive. But they are making progress.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and President Zelenskyy says, look, it's really hard. They've been hampered by the weather in the last few days. But they are moving forward. They are coming up against pretty stiff resistance though. This is an area that we know that Russia has spent months fortifying with things like landmines, and minefields, trenches and things like that.

I think the key thing to understand here is that this is quite a small pocket of land that they are taking. Significant but small, so far, village by village, sort of inch by inch. We've got some new video that will give you the lay of the land here that was put out by a sort of part of the Ukrainian armed forces, the Tavria Defense Forces -- they're calling themselves. And if we keep watching you can sort of see how the Ukrainians here claiming to have push the Russians into retreat. And you can see this is an extremely rural area, big fields, just small pockets of sort of residential areas.

And now you can see some soldiers which I think the Ukrainians are claiming Russian soldiers. They say some were taken prisoners, others managed to escape while they sort of went house by house clearing this village -- the Village of Makarivka, which is one of seven that Ukraine claims to have taken in this area.

I think the key thing for Ukraine right now, as well as managing expectations. And we see there was a lot of buildup to this counteroffensive and it is clear that it's not going to be a sort of lightning blitzkrieg type offensive here. Take a listen to what one of the advisers to President Zelenskyy told Christian Amanpour.

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IGOR ZHOVKVA, 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: Counteroffensive as a process. So, he is essentially reading between the lines and he thinks this is going to be over in a few weeks. There's going to be multiple counteroffensives here.

And I think the key thing now is that the focus is going to shift back on to weapons and weapons supplies from Ukraine's NATO ally. This week we have another Ramstein contact group meeting on Thursday. That's the sort of coalition of countries that coordinate weapon supplies. And you see the intensity of the fighting here and this is just the beginning. Then you sort of get a sense of the fact that they are going to need more and more to sustain this going forward.

FOSTER: Is this a testing probing stage, because it doesn't feel as if it's going to have a full impact separating and challenging the Russian forces that a full counteroffensive would.

SEBASTIAN: I mean, I think certainly military analysts will say that given that it's clear right now that Ukraine isn't limiting itself to one access on this very, very long frontline. That some of what we're seeing is probing activities. And we're not -- we haven't seen what they will describe, these analysts, is the major offensive in this counteroffensive. We haven't seen sort of hundreds of armored vehicles and tanks taking part in some kind of operation.

But as I say, you know, they might still be posing a defensive and they are up against stiff resistance here.

[04:15:00]

That's another thing to bear in mind, this -- we've seen reports that they have lost sort of 16 U.S. armored vehicles, those Bradleys. That's to be expected in an offensive like this. And again, that's why we're going to see Zelenskyy and other officials putting all their efforts into getting more weapon.

FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you so much.

NOBILO: More than 30 million Americans are under a severe storm threat across southern states from Texas to the east coast. Cities could face large hail, damaging winds and even tornadoes with some threats lasting through Wednesday.

FOSTER: The state of Colorado has seen its own share of bad weather with intense rain causing floodwaters to rise in Colorado Springs. Trapping cars in some places. Further north in Boulder, the city's mayor took this video of hail falling as floodwaters washed it away. Since then he says the hail has stopped but the town has seen significant flooding.

The Denver Nuggets have won their first ever NBA championship.

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(CROWD APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

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FOSTER: And the nuggets beat the Miami heat 94 to 89 to game 5 in the finals on Monday taking the series four game to one.

NOBILO: Denver's Nikola Jokic finished with a game high 28 points and 16 rebounds and was named Most Valuable Player of the finals. You'll hear more from the player later on this hour.

And still ahead this hour is the U.S. Federal Reserve board meeting in the coming hours to decide if it will hike interest rates for the 11th consecutive time. And we'll explain why that is a difficult situation. FOSTER: Indeed. Plus, a newly declassified report reveals just how

much of your private data is up for sale.

NOBILO: And next time you post somebody's health, you can really mean it. We'll tell you about a new study on the impact of drinking.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Despite Wall Street's recent rally and an U.S. that's managed to avoid a recession so far, the CEO of Goldman Sachs is warning that painful bumps are likely coming. David Solomon says the economy has been resilient this year but also faces sluggish growth and inflation that won't quite go away.

And that's the dilemma of the Federal Reserve board will face when begins its June meeting later today. Does it pause its relentless interest rate hikes or raise rates again to further cool the economy? Much could depend on a key inflation indicator and that is the Consumer Price Index. The main numbers are due out in the coming hours and they could influence the Fed's decision. Experts predict just a small annualize price increase. Which would be another sign that inflation is cooling. Of course investors will be paying close attention to all of this.

And here's a look at the features ahead of the opening bell. They're looking pretty positive right now.

NOBILO: Food delivery service Grubhub is laying off for 400 corporate employees. That's about 15 percent of its workforce. The company is citing higher costs and declining orders.

FOSTER: The Grubhub CEO says that while business has grown since 2019, the pre-pandemic period, operating costs have increased at a high rate. Grubhub is completing with Uber Eats and DoorDash for the restaurant delivery business.

Now according to a source close to the matter, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is set to file a temporary restraining order to freeze a pending merger between Microsoft and video game maker Activision- Blizzard. It would pause the deal worth $69 billion.

NOBILO: The FTC has argued that the deal is anticompetitive and would make the software giant the 3rd largest video game publisher in the world. Some U.K. officials have expressed similar concerns. But the deal was approved last month by antitrust officials from the EU.

FOSTER: He has a big task because the 3 big trade commissions disagree.

Americas largest bank has reached a substantial settlement with the victims of the late serial sex abuser, Jeffrey Epstein. JPMorgan has agreed to pay them $290 million. It would settle a class action lawsuit accusing the bank of enabling Epstein to sex traffic the victims whilst he was a client. Epstein died in prison in 2019. CNN's Kara Scannell has more details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 operations 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 alleged it was those cash withdrawals that Epstein used to pay the under-age girls and the recruiters who found them.

David Boise, a lawyer from 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 see compensation under this deal. Now the deal still requires the approval of a federal judge and as part of the settlement JPMorgan will not admit or deny any wrongdoing.

Kara Scannell, CNN New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will ask a Congress to lend more money to developing countries to counter China's growing influence. That's according to a copy of her prepared remarks which CNN has viewed. Yellen is expected to call for more investments in organizations like the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank and the African Development Fund. It comes as many countries are struggling to repay loans to China. A recent study showed that between 2008 and 2021 Beijing had spent $240 billion bailing out 22 nations, including Argentina, Pakistan, Kenya and Turkey.

FOSTER: Still ahead, preparing for protests, the Miami police get ready for Donald Trump's appearance in federal court and the crowds that could come along with him.

NOBILO: Plus, investigators detail what they say are incriminating internet searches made by a Utah woman accused in her husband's death.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: And I'm Max Foster.

NOBILO: Miami's police chief insists that the city is ready -- we're having some issues with our prompter at the moment. So we're just going to wait to hear what stories we can bring you right now. But I think let's -- shall we begin with the Federal Reserve? FOSTER: Let's do that. A meeting to discuss inflation rates. Officials

indicating they don't expect another rake hike this month. And we're going to have some more details on that later. But in the meantime, we'll be talking about Miami.

NOBILO: We certainly are. Miami's police chief, as you are saying, insists the city is ready to handle crowds outside the federal courthouse today. Authorities say that they have enough resources to deal with as many as 50,000 protesters. But some are worried that yellow police tape may not be enough given the level of violent rhetoric ahead of Trump's arraignment. Here's CNN's Carlos Suarez with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The city of Miami says that 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 5,000 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)

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