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CNN International: CNN Obtains Audio of Donald Trump's 2021 Conversation About Classified Documents; Fallout After Rebellion in Russia; Putin Makes First Remarks Since End of Uprising; Beijing Predict 5 Percent Economic Growth this Year; Zelenskyy Claims Large Ukrainian Frontline Advances. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 27, 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]

MAX FOSTER CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world, I'm Max Foster in London. Bianca is off this week but just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is no crime, you know there is no crime. It's not a crime.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To actually hear the former president's words and to hear the tone of this conversation I think it is what could be potentially really damaging to Trump here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It bolsters the governments claim under the Espionage Act. It also bolsters their claim under the obstruction case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russian President Putin has broken his silence after a dramatic armed rebellion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Putin has no one to blame but himself for what occurred in Russia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's furious. He has been unmasked like the Wizard of Oz when the curtain is stripped back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

FOSTER: It is Tuesday, June 27th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast.

We begin with that new audio recording obtained by CNN in which former President Donald Trump is heard describing secret Pentagon documents to staffers at his New Jersey home in 2021. The tape, which is likely a key piece of evidence in the classified documents indictment against Trump, undercuts his claim that he didn't keep any classified documents after leaving the White House. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: These are bad sick people, but --

STAFFER: That was your coup, you know, against you. That --

TRUMP: Well, it started right at the --

STAFFER: Like when Milley is talking about, oh, you were going to try to do a coup. No, they were trying to do that before you even worse sworn in. They were trying to do that before you are even sworn in.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That's right.

STAFFER: Trying to overthrow your election.

TRUMP: Well, with Milley, let me see that, I'll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran.

(PAPERS SHUFFLING)

TRUMP: Isn't it amazing? I have a pile of papers; this thing just came up. Look.

(PAPERS SHUFFLING)

TRUMP: This was him. They presented me this -- this is off the record -- but they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.

WRITER: Wow.

TRUMP: We look at some. This was him. This wasn't done by me, this was him. All sorts of stuff papers long, look.

STAFFER: Mmm.

TRUMP: Wait a minute, Let's see here.

(PAPERS SHUFFLING)

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh my gosh.

STAFFER: (LAUGHTER) Yeah.

TRUMP: I just found, isn't that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know.

STAFFER: Mm-hm.

TRUMP: Except it is like, highly confidential.

STAFFER: Yeah. (LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this. You attack, and -- STAFFER: Hillary would print that out all the time, you know.

TRUMP: She'd send it --

STAFFER: Her private emails.

TRUMP: No, she'd send it to Anthony Weiner.

MULTIPLE: (laughter) Yeah.

TRUMP: The pervert.

STAFFER: Please print.

TRUMP: By the way. Isn't that incredible?

STAFFER: Yeah.

TRUMP: I was just thinking, because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, he wanted to attack Iran, and what --

TRUMP: These are the papers.

STAFFER: He said you did.

TRUMP: This was done by the military and given to me. Uh, I think we can probably, right?

STAFFER: I don't know, we'll, we'll have to see. Yeah, we'll have to try to --

Trump: Declassify it.

STAFFER: -- figure out a -- yeah.

TRUMP: See s president I could have declassified it.

STAFFER: Yeah. (LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret.

STAFFER: Yeah. (LAUGHTER) Now we have a problem.

TRUMP: Isn't that interesting?

STAFFER: Yeah.

TRUMP: It's so cool. I mean, it's so, look, her and I, and you probably almost don't believe me, but now you believe me.

WRITER: No, I believed you.

TRUMP: It's incredible, right?

WRITER: No, they never met a war they didn't want.

TRUMP: Hey, bring some, uh, bring some Cokes in please.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Again everything you heard there would contradict what the former president has been saying all along to his supporters and the media.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else. Talking about Iran and other things and it may have been held up or may not but that was not a document. I didn't have a document per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to your documents, did you ever show those classified documents to anyone?

TRUMP: Not really. I would have the right to. By the way they were declassified.

COLLINS: What do you mean not really?

TRUMP: Not that I can think of.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Earlier this month Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts. Including making false statements and mishandling concealed documents. Paul Reid breaks down what we just heard the former president say and why it's so remarkable.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This recording is from the summer of 2021 at Trump's Bedminster golf club.

[04:05:00]

He is speaking to two people working on an autobiography for former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. And the former president knew that he was being recorded. His only aides were making a recording of this meeting in addition to the folks working on that autobiography.

But even though he knew he was making a record of this conversation former president was, as you can hear on this tape, surprisingly casual when talking about some of our nation's most sensitive secrets. He admits that this information that he is sharing with others in the room who do not have a proper clearance or any clearance at all, acknowledges that this is classified information. That he could have declassified it when he was in the White House but that he no longer had the power to do so.

Now in public the former president has repeatedly said that he didn't have these documents. That it's not actually that document that he is referring to in this tape. One interesting quote and you can hear it on this CNN version of this

tape that was not included in the indictment. The former president said, these are those papers. And so, that he is insisting that in fact wherever he appears to be showing the other people in the room, are the papers that he alleges will vindicate him in terms of Mark Milley's comments about Iranian.

Now this tape is expected to be a central piece of evidence for the special counsel. Now another aspect of the tape that was not included in the indictment is former President Trump and at least one of his staffers mocking former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server. Now that's of course not really pertinent to the criminal case. But in the court of public opinion it does appear to be hubris.

Paula Reid, CNN Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Legal experts say that the implications of the tape could be damning for Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: This is why tapes are gold to prosecutors. I used to have cases where the first thing a good defense lawyer would ask me is, do have tapes? And if you do, that changes everything. Because we can now see the difference between this black and white transcript, where the words are fairly incriminating. And now it comes to life though. You hear the tone. You hear who's in the room. You hear that he means it. You hear that is actually shuffling papers. And this to me is the most important piece of evidence that we know of yet in this case.

This is the moment that we have, that prosecutors have of Donald Trump, not just storing them and move them around Mar-a-Lago -- which could be a crime in itself -- but actually using them to try to influence somebody. So is a key piece for the prosecutors.

JAMES SCHULTZ, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: This evidence is admissible. And I imagine that they're going to try to challenge a number of different -- on a number of different fronts. I'm not sure where they -- where they make their argument here to exclude this evidence. But if it is evidence, but if it is admissible in court, it's certainly troubling for their defense.

It bolsters the government's claim under the Espionage Act. It also bolsters their claim, you know, under the obstruction case. Because, you know, one of his -- one of the things he's been saying all along, is that he can just wave a magic wand and these documents are declassified. And in this instance in his own words he's saying it's not declassified. So that's very troubling for him, no doubt about it. And you know, I think that the only -- you know, the big question is going to be, what comes in at trial, you know, under the Classified Information Procedures Act. Is this all going to be admissible? Probably so. And it's going to be a big hurdle for them to get over. (END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The first hearing for Trump and the special counsel's office will take place in Florida, on July 14th. And later today Trump's right-hand man will appear for his arraignment. We will have a report of what we can expect from that later this hour.

The Russian president is speaking out publicly for the first time since the end of a short-lived insurrection which rattled his grip on power and through the country into uncertainty. In comments on Monday, Vladimir Putin lashed out at leaders of the Wagner Mercenary Group, accusing them of being traitors.

Video also showed Putin meeting with top officials in a show of normality after the upheaval of the weekend. The mutiny marked the greatest challenge to Putin's 23-year rule. But he appeared to have played down the threat that it posed, in a nationwide address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): An armed rebellion would have been suppressed in any case. The organizers of the rebellion, despite the loss of adequacy, could not fail to understand this. They understood everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: His comments coming after we first heard from the Wagner boss of Yevgeny Prigozhin. He was last seen in public on Saturday and his whereabouts still unknown. In an audio message Prigozhin said, the armed march to Moscow was not a move to oust Putin but instead a protest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, WAGNER GROUP (through translator): Two factors played into my decision to turn around. First factor we wanted to avoid a Russian bloodshed. Second is that we marched in demonstration of a protest not to overturn the power in the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:10:00]

FOSTER: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko played a key rule in bringing the uprising to an end. And he has been speaking just now -- he's still speaking. Isn't he, Clare? He speaking to this. Because he argues that he negotiated this deal between Prigozhin and the Russians.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is something that both Kremlin and Prigozhin have said. That Lukashenko was the one who essentially negotiated with Prigozhin. Got him to step back and negotiate this deal. Where apparently Prigozhin can now take up residence in some kind of exile. Perhaps retirement in Belarus. But we don't know if he's actually arrived there yet. And so far, no mention of Prigozhin from Lukashenko. What he has said though, is that he has ordered his army to full combat readiness. We don't know exactly what to read into that yet.

And he had this to say about the events in Russia. He said, I won't hide it, it was painful to watch the events that took place in the south of Russia. Not only for me, he said, many of our citizens took them close to heart because there is only one fatherland. This is something that we've heard multiple times from Lukashenko. Emphasizing his closeness, his close ties ethnically, politically to Russia.

You know, he hasn't done what state media in Belarus told us to expect. Which is that he's going to answer all of the burning questions around what happened. And crucially, he hasn't said yet where Prigozhin is. If he's still planning to come to Belarus and what the plans are for other Wagner fighters. Who according to President Putin in his speech yesterday, have now got news if they want to, to go to Belarus. We presume perhaps to form some kind of new grouping. Some kind of Wagner 2.0. But we just don't know yet. So there's still a lot riding on what Lukashenko has to say today.

FOSTER: Why would he harbor what he's describing as a threat to the fatherland? Does not quite add up, does it?

SEBASTIAN: So I think what we're getting now is a sort of separation, right, from what Putin calls the leaders, the organizers of this rebellion. Referring presumably to Prigozhin himself and the Wagner fighters. Which Russian officials including Putin has called pretty much everyone we've heard from, have been at pains to emphasizing the heroic deeds in Ukraine. Their heroism overall.

So I think, you know, Wagner, perhaps the fighters are being separated from their leadership. There is something in Russia that perhaps they don't want to disband the grouping because they've been so effective in Ukraine. And that would in the words of one Russian politician over the weekend, be a gift to the Ukrainians and NATO.

But we just do not know. I think that is one of the big defining questions is, what is going to happen to Wagner? They've been instrumental so far in Russia's efforts in Ukraine. And I think, you know, that is something that has to be closely watched. That's why we continue to watch whether or not we'll get anything from Lukashenko.

FOSTER: And in terms of his position in all this, he's the -- people describe him as Putin's puppet. Is that fair to say? Or is he respected by Putin as a, you know, someone at his level in another country?

SEBASTIAN: I mean, I think Belarus essentially functions as a subsidiary of Russia. Putin can use it for whatever means he chooses. This is in fact Belarus is one of the staging grounds for the initial invasion of Ukraine towards Kyiv. They've been holding joint military exercises, joint training. He's now planning to put, obviously, nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus. Which is something that NATO is extremely concerned about. And I think that what's happening now -- although it was like many elements of what happen over the weekend -- surprising to see Lukashenko's role in all of this. It is an extension of that that sort of vassal relationship that Belarus has with Russia.

FOSTER: A quick word on Putin's appearance last night. Because this is when we were meant to hear his explanation. He didn't mention Prigozhin, I don't think. And there is this irony, isn't there, that he's not being punished. I mean, some people say that he'll be punished down the line. Perhaps he's being punished by simply being sent to Belarus. But he's not been charged with anything.

SEBASTIAN: No. I mean I think that -- what we did get from the speech from Putin last night I think, which is a turnaround. Given the previous relationship between Putin and Prigozhin is that Putin I think now to see him as a threat and as an enemy. He didn't mention him by name. That in itself is significant. He doesn't ever mention, for example, Alexey Navalny by name. You never hear that name come out of Putin's mouth.

But he was very clear that while, you know, he's grateful for the heroism of the Wagner fighters. As I said, he sees the organizers of the rebellion as having betrayed their country. And the way he said it, the anger that was apparent in that speech, made it very clear. Interestingly on the flipside, much less clear that Prigozhin sees Putin as an enemy. He was pains in his own audio message to stress that this wasn't an attempted coup, that he was simply trying to protest and prevent the destruction of the Wagner Group.

FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you. We're watching Lukashenko speech as it comes in.

Now it turns out of U.S. intelligence may have known more about the Russian rebellion previously thought. Sources telling CNN the U.S. was able to gather in extremely detailed and accurate picture of Yevgeny Prigozhin's plans. That the information was closely guarded and shared only with select allies. Some NATO officials expressed frustration that they were not in the loop. But U.S. officials say that they didn't want to risk compromising sensitive sources and methods.

[04:15:02]

The White House is still watching what it says even after the rebellion ended. President Biden spoke to the top national security aids on Monday. And publicly he's emphasizing that the United States had no involvement at all. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House is continuing to monitor very closely the fallout from that attempted insurrection in Russia over the weekend. Officials very clear that we do not yet know exactly what is going to happen next. Or what the impact will be on the Wagner group for example on Russia's war in Ukraine. Or most importantly, on the future of Putin's hold on power inside of Russia.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Sunday, saying that it was clear that this insurrection revealed cracks in his regime. But asked on Monday, what the impact would be on Putin. Whether Putin has been weakened. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby just wouldn't go there. There was a number -- one of a number of questions that Kirby refused to answer.

And it speaks to how cautious U.S. officials and particularly the White House is being in commenting on the record about this situation. They wouldn't even label whether this was an insurrection, an attempted coup. And part of that is because of the fast-moving nature of the events. Another part of it is because what we saw of this is all unfolding. The White House trying to avoid the perception that the West is somehow weighing in here. We heard President Biden on Monday talk about that strategy.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We gave Putin no excuse to blame this on the West or to blame on NATO. We made it clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it. This is part of a struggle within the Russian system.

DIAMOND: Now Putin interestingly on Monday, he didn't directly blame the West for this coup. He only talked at one point about this being an outcome that the West had been seeking or wanted to see. Which was notable in and of itself, given how often Putin has reverted to that playbook of blaming the West for events in Russia or inside of Ukraine.

Now President Biden for his part, he is continuing to coordinate very closely with allies. He's expected to speak once again with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And on Tuesday, the White House is expected to announce $500 million of additional security assistance for Ukraine. Now that's intentional. It's an important message that the White House wants to send at this moment. That regardless of what happens in Russia, regardless of what happens in Moscow, the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

Jimmy Diamond CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: And now nearly 45 million people are under heat alerts in the southern U.S. as the heat wave that's blanketed the region is only set to intensify. The Texas cities of San Angelo and Del Rio both set daily high temperatures records again on Monday. For Del Rio, that's the ninth consecutive record setting day. The triple digit temperatures are set to spread into Oklahoma and Louisiana today. It could feel like 120 degrees Fahrenheit in New Orleans. That's nearly 49 degrees Celsius.

In Arkansas, the governor has declared a state of emergency after storms left more than 40,000 people without power. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the declaration will free up resources to help crews get the lines up and running again.

And those storms have had a knock-on impact on the thousands of flights across the southeast and the Ohio Valley. On Monday, more than 10,000 flights were canceled or delayed. United has the most heavily impacted system with 6 percent of its flights canceled already today. More than 1,400 flights have been delayed or canceled.

Still ahead, to spent or not to spend. We'll get an idea of how Americans are feeling about the economy with latest Consumer Confidence Report due out today.

Remember the famous line from the movie "Jaws?" You're going to need a bigger boat. Well, an Australian kayaker had an extraordinary experience. And there's drone footage to prove it.

And Ukraine's president praises his troops for major advances in the war against Russia. How they're using Russia's insurrection to their advantage it seems.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: We are expecting a key report on the U.S. economy in the next few hours. As the confidence board releases its consumer confidence index. Analysts are predicting an increase for June. As consumer spending has continued to rise despite inflation. May's reports showed confidence slipped to a six-month low, as the White House and Congressional Republicans were locked in a fight over the debt ceiling.

U.S. financial markets are looking to rebound from a lackluster trading day on Monday. You can see they are currently on their way up at least. On Monday, the Dow finished down 11 points. The Nasdaq was off more than 1 percent and the S&P 500 lost about half a percent.

China's premier is bullish about his country's economic outlook. He is predicting growth of about 5 percent for this year. That would be a big improvement over last year's 3 percent economic growth, which fell short of Beijing's target. Let's go live to CNN's Anna Coren in Hong Kong -- Anna.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Max, as you said, the Chinese premier sounding very optimistic about his country's economy. While addressing the World Economic Forum Summit in Tianjin today. Announcing that China's economic growth was projected to reach in annual target of around 5 percent.

Now it comes as the world's second largest economy is struggling to make the post COVID recovery that markets were anticipating. After it reopened at the end of last year, as you remember, virtually cuts self off from the rest of the world for almost three years with its harsh zero-COVID policies. Li Qiang said growth in the second quarter of this year would be higher than the first. And that China will roll out more effective policies to expand domestic demand and open markets. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LI QIANG, CHINESE PREMIER (through translator): For the whole year we are expected to achieve the target of about 5 percent economic growth set at the beginning of this year. [04:25:00]

Recently some international organizations and institutions have also raised their forecasts for China's economic growth this year. Showing their confidence in China's development prospects.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: But Max, not everyone is showing confidence. There's a long list of major banks and credit rating agencies that have cut forecasts for economic growth this year. Just yesterday S&P Global reduced growth forecast from 5.5 to 5.2. Joining Goldman Sachs, UBS, x JPMorgan, Nomura and others in reducing estimates.

Now the property sector remains a drag on the economy, as developer struggle to complete presold projects. And the local government debt burden comes into focus. Industrial output and retail sales remain sluggish and youth unemployment, Max, is a record 20.8 percent. And many young people across China are feeling disillusioned and anxious about China's economic uncertainty. They've resorted to prayer and flooding temples to pray for divine intervention in securing jobs. Look, analysts do believe that China will need to roll at more stimulus this year. It's just not known what that sort of stimulus will be -- Max.

FOSTER: Anna Coren live in Hong Kong, thank you.

Excuse me. The weekend rebellion in Russia is taking a toll on the country's economy there. the ruble briefly hit its lowest level in nearly 15 months on Monday. Trading about 87 to the U.S. dollar, before paring back some of its losses. Russian's scrambled to swap their cash for dollars over the weekend. Pushing up the exchange rate. The Russian currency has been surprisingly resilient for most of the year thanks to the central banks aggressive rate hikes.

The U.S. is expected to announce a new round of military aid for Ukraine as it fends off Russian troops. Reuters reported the package will be worth up to $500 million. And it would include munitions, vehicles and anti-tank weapons. It could help Ukraine make even more gains on the battlefield.

On Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his fighters had advanced on all directions -- or in all directions on the southern and eastern frontlines. Earlier Mr. Zelenskyy visited soldiers and the Donetsk region and praised them for their efforts. Ukrainian officials say Russian forces are now on the defensive. And that their main motivation is to hold on to the ground that they've left.

Ukraine also says that Russia is focusing its efforts on the Donetsk region where more than 35 clashes were reported on Monday. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has more on the frontline battles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Unprecedented chaos in Moscow has yet to ease Ukraine's bitter fight in the trenches. Close combat around Bakhmut, two weeks into the continued grind of the counter offensive open operations filmed over the weekend just as Wagner troops roll towards Moscow.

Here, the red, white and blue are Russians in disarray and surrendering. The hope is more will follow as word spreads of the failed rebellion and morale and discipline falter.

It was near here Ukraine proclaimed Monday progress on the frontlines with room for hope elsewhere.

To the south, another Donetsk front near the heavily contested Marinka, it appears some Kremlin loyal Chechen fighters were pulled to Moscow for his defense at the weekend. Here, they are strutting along an apparent highway near the capitol.

Bakhmut and Marinka opportunities for Ukraine in the east, but also further west near Kherson, on the Antonivskiy Bridge, the scene of intense clashes captured by this Russian drone, as Ukrainian forces claimed to cross over to the Russian controlled eastern bank, opening another front perhaps.

It is too early to tell whether or if Russia is crumbling. And Ukraine's progress has been incremental still.

This, a familiar scene when their fighters declared they'd captured another small village in the south, Rivnopil on Monday.

None of this yet the strategic sea change in Russian collapse. The weekend's madness that Zelenskyy visiting troops in the east Monday as well will hope follows.

He faces anxious choices even with all the Kremlin's intimate ugliness so exposed. Move now or wait for more in Moscow to unravel. He must be sure to make no mistakes of his own or interrupt the torrent of them in Moscow.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, an aide to Donald Trump heads to federal court later today. We'll explain what that could mean for the case against the former president.

Plus, a new ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that could affect the balance of power in Congress.

[04:30:00]