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CNN International: Trump's Legal Team in Flux in Classified Documents Case; Trump accuses President Biden of Orchestrating Charges; Ukraine: 3 Killed in Missile Strikes on Odesa; Putin: High- Precision Ammunition, Drones Needed; Hundreds Feared Dead as Boat Capsized in Niger River; Father of Rescued Children Calls Reunion a Miracle. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired June 14, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: And Donald Trump has made history becoming the first former U.S. president to be charged and arraigned for federal crimes. He pleaded not guilty to 37 counts in the classified documents investigation on Tuesday. But it's a long way ahead for the trial itself, which could take months or even years to play out.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Trump's legal team in the classified documents case is in limbo even as the federal proceedings against him are under way. The former president is still searching for a star attorney to take his case to trial. CNN's Brian Todd has those details.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Appearing in court with the former president on Tuesday, attorneys Todd Blanche and Chris Kise, two lawyers seen as well-respected, but maybe not the dream team Donald Trump seems to be looking for.
NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: What's missing on this team is a lead trial lawyer who is accustomed to standing up in front of Florida juries and leading the defense of high-profile criminal cases.
TODD (voice-over): Blanche is expected to be the lead attorney in the Mar-a-Lago documents case for now, but he's only been on Trump's legal team since April when he was hired in the Stormy Daniels hush money case in New York.
CHRIS KISE, FORMER FLORIDA SOLICITOR GENERAL: We're going to fight it hard.
TODD (voice-over): Chris Kise is a former Florida solicitor general who's closely tied to some of the state's top Republican politicians. He was brought on to handle the Mar-a-Lago documents case late last year, but reportedly had his role reduced fairly quickly by Team Trump.
EISEN: I think he's having difficulties because he's a challenging client and just the turmoil in the team accounts for that. TODD (voice-over): Blanche and Kise were tapped to appear with Trump in court on Tuesday after Trump spent most of Monday scrambling to add lawyers to his team, interviewing potential candidates at his Doral Resort outside Miami.
In a sudden and unexpected move, two of his top attorneys in the Mar- a-Lago case, Jim Trusty and John Rowley, left the legal team last Friday. Trump said he was removing them. They said they resigned.
Last month, Tim Parlatore, an attorney who had played an important role on Trump's legal team in the documents case, quit. Parlatore told CNN it wasn't because of the case or the client, but because Trump aide Boris Epshteyn, who's coordinating the legal team, undermined him.
TIM PARLATORE, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: Had really done everything he could to try to block us, to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president.
He served as kind of a filter to prevent us from getting information to the client and getting information from the client. In my opinion, he was not very honest with us or with the client on certain things.
TODD (voice-over): In response, a spokesperson for Trump told CNN, Parlatore's statements regarding current members of the legal team are unfounded and categorically false.
In fighting and chaos in Trump's legal circles is nothing new, analysts say, and it's often due to a client who's notorious for not listening to legal advice.
EISEN: You have a client who is very strong headed, who expects things from his lawyers that they cannot deliver. Who after his many decades of entanglement with the legal system, often appears to believe he knows better than his lawyers.
TODD: Norm Eisen points out there are many potential pitfalls ahead for any attorney who represents Trump in any of these cases, including the possibility that the attorneys themselves might become the subject of prosecutorial attention, as two of Trump attorneys have been.
One of his current lawyers, Evan Corcoran and former Trump lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, who was indicted and served jail time.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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FOSTER: Bernarda Villalona is a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, joins us now from New York. Thank you so much for joining us. What did we learn yesterday? What's the headline, would you say? Because we knew what to expect, but what came out of it for you?
BERNARDA VILLALONA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND FORMER PROSECUTOR: I think what came out of it for me is not really Donald Trump but actually his co-defendant, that being Walt Nauta. And what stood out to me in regards to him is that he showed up there and he didn't have an attorney in the sense that the arraignment couldn't go forward. So that stood out to me more than Donald Trump himself. We knew what the charges are in respect to both of the defendants so it was no surprise at all.
It was a common proceeding that happens at all arraignments. He was told of the charges and he was given another court date and he pled not guilty. So now the war -- not the fight -- continues. Now it starts in regards to this legal battle having to deal with Donald Trump.
NOBILO: Bernarda, one thing that we didn't get anything -- we didn't have any clarity about yesterday is the motive. Is it unusual for a motive not to be presented at this point in terms of why Trump took and then behaved the way he did around these classified documents?
VILLALONA: We may never know the motive as to why Donald Trump decided that he needed to take classified documents, be in possession of those classified documents and try to prevent a government from getting those classified documents back. We may never know.
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A trial can happen and we still won't know as to what was inside of his head when he made those decisions to willfully be in possession of documents that are so crucial to our national defense.
FOSTER: And obviously, when we heard from him later on, he suggested there was a conspiracy here that Biden was using this case to undermine Trump ahead of the election, try to get him out of the election. Just explain to us how if there is any chance that Biden could have had a role in this court case.
VILLALONA: Look, the reality is that Donald Trump, you are going to hear a lot more of this, you will hear a lot more of Biden being bashed. Of Jack Smith being bashed. About Democrats being bashed. That this is this big conspiracy against Donald Trump. The only defense that Donald Trump really has is to use the campaign as his defense. So that's why he is bashing all these people. And the reality of what happens, Biden had Merrick Garland, Merrick Garland actually appointed a special counsel. A special prosecutor to try to create some distance between this prosecution and Biden as well as Merrick Garland. And that was the purpose of that.
The reality is, is that, look, the evidence is there, Jack Smith followed the evidence. And that evidence led him before a grand jury and that grand jury based on that evidence decided to indict him. Now based on that indictment, we see exactly what the evidence is and that is not all the evidence in this case. We're going to hear a lot more of Donald Trump bashing everyone and fighting this during the campaign because hopes to win. Because if he were to win, he can either, one, get his case dismissed by appointing a new Attorney General or to even decide to pardon himself.
NOBILO: Procedurally what is the next step and also give us a sense of the overall time line of this. VILLALONA: So when having do deal with Donald Trump, we'll separate
him from his co-defendant. With Donald Trump since he was arraigned, next steps are going to be motions. And they're going to be a series of motions. And these motions are motions to dismiss. And the defense is going to seek to dismiss this case as possible for prosecutorial misconduct, for the role it played, that the attorney-client privilege was actually pierced. Or for the lack of sufficiency during the search warrant that was executed at Mar-a-Lago. So remember, the bulk of the evidence, at least 21 of those documents, came from that search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. And if they can get rid of that search warrant, and the results of the search warrants, then it makes a stronger case for Donald Trump.
But this case can be drawn out I think even past the election. It's all going to depend on, number one, what schedule the judge decides to place on the defense. And two, Donald Trump and his team whether they are going to answer ready to proceed. Because also you've got to remember, that they have the New York state criminal case and that New York state criminal case is scheduled for March aside from also the New York civil case with New York Attorney General Letitia James. And also, whatever may come out of Georgia and that investigation. But it's all going to ride on, one, the judge and two, Donald Trump's defense team.
Bernarda Villalona thank you so much for joining us with your perspective.
VILLALONA: Thank you.
NOBILO: Russia launched multiple missile and drone attacks on Ukraine overnight, Wednesday, according to Ukrainian military officials. In the port city of Odesa, at least three people were killed and 13 wounded by cruise missile strikes.
FOSTER: And in a separate shelling attack, three people were killed in eastern Donetsk region. The deadly assaults come as President Vladimir Putin admits Russia is lacking enough high precision ammunition and drones but out of the country's weapon quality is now improving.
NOBILO: For more on this we are joined by Salma Abdelaziz. Salma, we had a fairly unique opportunity to hear from President Vladimir Putin about how he thinks the war is going and potentially hints at what his focus might be next. What did we learn?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, he was sitting at a round table with war correspondents in Moscow discussing the conflict. Of course much of it was boasting as you would expect from President Putin, not exactly an honest or clear assessment. He talked about how Russian forces were doing so well on the ground, about how Ukrainian troops were facing catastrophic losses. Of course this doesn't match what we're actually seeing on the ground there our own team and hearing from Ukrainian officials.
He went on to give some reassurance as well. There's been fear inside Russia of another draft, another partial mobilization, if you will. He says that's not necessary at this time. That martial law is not necessary. That they have the manpower they need. But that he's going to continue to make assessments as he goes along. And he did admit -- say that the counteroffensive has begun. He claimed that it started at the beginning of June. But his assessment is rather dismissive of what Ukraine has been able to accomplish so far. Take a listen.
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): They started it using the strategic reserves and it continues to this very moment. Now as we speak, the combat in several regions is ongoing.
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What can I say, the enemy was not successful in any of the axis, they have suffered big losses.
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ABDELAZIZ: Now Ukrainian officials tell us that they've been able to actually make modest gains on the ground along that Zaporizhzhia/Donetsk access. This is the south of that frontline where there seems to be very fierce fighting right now between both sides.
But there was one rare admission of weakness from President Putin and that was that he said that the country lacks -- or the military, rather, lacks the high precision ammunition, drones, communication equipment and aircraft it needs to continue to carry this out on the battlefield.
Now, he said that they do have this equipment, but it's just not enough, that he wants to see more of it built. He says that he is ramping up weapons productions across the country. That the quality of weapons, according to President Putin, is getting better. But we also know from our own reporting that it is not just inside Russia that they are replenishing their arsenal, they are also turning to his allies like Iran for drones. So we do know and we're getting that rare admission from President Putin that they are looking to restock and might be lacking something on the ground.
FOSTER: Is that a definite appeal to them do you think, saying it publicly?
ABDELAZIZ: I don't know if it's an appeal, but I think it may be a bit of humility if you will from President Putin.
FOSTER: Salma, thank you.
U.S. President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg expressed their shared desire to welcome Sweden into NATO as soon as possible. The two leaders met at the White House on Tuesday ahead of a NATO summit next month in Lithuania. They also discussed the implications of Russia's war on Ukraine and importance of strengthening NATO deterrence and defense capabilities.
NOBILO: Still to come, a father in Columbia describes the moment his children were found after surviving more than a month in the jungle. More on his interview with CNN ahead.
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NOBILO: Hundreds of people are feared dead in Nigeria after a boat they were traveling in capsized in the river.
FOSTER: Authorities say the boat overturned after hitting a tree trunk. And a team is being deployed to carry out an on-the-spot assessment of what actually happened. For more on this let's go to CNN's Stephanie Busari live in Lagos, Nigeria. The numbers are horrifying.
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: Yes, and they look to get higher, Max. And police are saying that they're carrying out a search and rescue operation right now in the site in north central Nigeria in the state of Kwara. What we're learning, we don't have confirmed figures so far. But what we're learning is that in early hours of Monday morning, a wedding party decided to get on a big boat to ferry passengers to their destination because they were stranded.
We're in the height of rainy season in the country right now and many roads in the small communities are just washed out. So they decided to get on this boat and unfortunately hit a tree trunk. Many of them would not have been wearing life vests or any safety equipment and many of them would not have been able to swim.
A local chief told us that they will run 300 passengers on this boat and so far, he says only 53 of them have been accounted for. And that this chief described this incident as a big tragedy and said that he had lost at least four of his neighbors.
Now we don't know if the bride and groom were part of the party that joined this boat. And unfortunately these types of accidents are not uncommon here, Max, and people take these risks every day overloading into boats and with no safety equipment -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Stephanie Busari live in Lagos, thank you.
Tens of thousands of people are expected at Milan Cathedral in the coming hours for Silvio Berlusconi's funeral. The former Italian Prime Minister died on Monday at 86. Berlusconi built a multibillion-dollar business empire that included TV networks, department stores and football clubs before turning to politics in 1994. Mourners are leaving flags, flowers and other tributes as they pay their respects outside his villa north of Milan.
NOBILO: Author Cormac McCarthy whose dark and violent visions of America were often tinged of hope, has died at the age of 89. McCarthy road to fame late in life with his blockbuster coming-of-age novel "All the Pretty Horses." It was then followed by several other works including "The Road," which depicts a father and son's torturous trek through a post-apocalyptic America. And "No Country for Old Men" which the Cohen brothers made into an Oscar winning movie.
The father of the children who survived a plane crash and more than a month in the Colombian jungle calls their rescue a miracle.
FOSTER: All four are still recovering in hospital and could be there for weeks. Journalist Stefano Pozzebon has more.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: On Tuesday, the father of the Indigenous children that were rescued last week in the Colombian Amazon rainforest after spending 40 days alone in the jungle sat down with CNN to recount how that encounter was after that experience and especially the flight on the military helicopter that took them out of the jungle last Friday.
MANUEL RANOQUE, FATHER OF RESCUED CHILDREN (through translator): The moment we found the kids, we started to see thunder and lightning bolts. We left at the right moment. Ten minutes later, the helicopter could not have taken us.
POZZEBON: Mr. Ranoque is the biological father of the two youngest children and the stepfather of the oldest two. His late wife, Magdalena Mucutuy, died in that fatal airplane crash on May 1st. The children remain in medical observation in the Colombian Central Military Hospital here in Bogota. And they are receiving both psychological and physical support as they recover from their harrowing experience.
Meanwhile, the Colombian military forces have said that 70 commandos remain in the jungle to try to search and rescue Wilson, a canine unit that was lost in the search after making contact with the four children last week.
For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now in six short years the Vegas Golden Knights have gone from NHL upstart to Stanley Cup champions. We'll have highlights from their historic when.
NOBILO: And later, a woman presumed dead shocks her family at her funeral. Sorry, yes, that would be a shock.
FOSTER: You didn't mean to laugh. It's a nervous laugh.
NOBILO: Well, it's a great story. Most funerals don't end well.
FOSTER: It's positive.
NOBILO: We will tell you what happened.
FOSTER: Most funerals don't end well.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NOBILO: A remarkable siding off the California coast over the weekend. Up to 30 killer whales or ocas were spotted in Monterey Bay splashing about in large groups.
FOSTER: The head of the nonprofit California Killer Whale Project called it extraordinary but said there was no clear explanation why so many would gather. Sightings have been on the rise in recent weeks with some reported nearly every day for the past week.
In just their six seasons as a franchise, the National Hockey League's Vegas Golden Knights have won their first Stanley Cup title.
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(CROWD CHEERING)
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FOSTER: A very big cup. They dominated the Florida Panthers winning 9- 3 in game five of the finals taking the championship series four games to one. Vegas team captain Mark Stone scored three goals in the game. The first player to post a hat trick in a championship clinching victory since 1922.
Stories in the spotlight, a 76-year-old Ecuador woman is back in hospital after a frightening ordeal.
NOBILO: She was declared dead on Friday after a possible stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest.
[04:55:00]
Her family held a wake just hours later but that's when they heard knocking on the coffin lid from inside and realized she was still alive.
FOSTER: Her son posted this video of the incident on social media. He immediately called 911 and the woman was taken back to the same hospital where she was declared dead. Ecuador's health ministry says the woman is in intensive care and an investigation is under way. What do you say?
NOBILO: I mean, I'm just -- I'm shocked. You do hear these stories occasionally and apparently some drugs can give the appearance of death. But it is a lot of people's worst nightmare.
FOSTER: She has to be -- you know, they measured the vital signs to declare her dead and there are circumstances they may be weak those signs.
NOBILO: Yes, but still --
FOSTER: But this is very worrying.
NOBILO: Deeply worrying. But, yes, she's essentially back with her family. FOSTER: Yes, it is a good news story.
And after Johnny Depp has selected five charities to split his settlement $1 million settlement from a defamation case involving his ex-wife Amber Heard. A source close to the actor tells CNN, each charity will receive $200,000 in a donation.
NOBILO: Both Depp and Heard were found liable for defamation in the trial that last year grabbed the headlines. Teams for both actors reached a settlement with Heard agreeing to pay $1 million in damages.
And lastly, Disney movie fans will have to wait a little long for their favorite movies to be released. The company has announced a shakeup in its release calendar delaying several entries in the Star Wars and Marvel franchises, including Captain America and the next two Avengers movies.
FOSTER: It'll also delay the next three Avatar films. Changes, as the writers' strike halted several productions. The Third Avatar Movie is expected to drop in December 2025.
Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: I'm Bianca Nobilo. "CNN THIS MORNING" is up next right here on CNN.
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