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Extreme Weather All Across The United States With Heat Waves, Heavy Rains And Floodings; Monica De Leon Barba Released By Kidnappers After Eight Months; Ukrainian Military To Start Training For F-16 Next Month; Sen. Joe Manchin Raises Speculation On Running For The Presidency; Jim Acosta Interviews Joe Lockhart And Doug Heye About The 2024 Presidential Race; Jim Acosta Interviews Dave Aronberg About Trump Investigations; Jim Acosta Interviews Cedric Leighton About Russia's War On Ukraine. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired July 16, 2023 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, thank you so much for hanging with us all weekend long. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The "CNN Newsroom" continues with Jim Acosta right now.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You're live in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. We begin tonight with a chaotic day of extreme weather around the country, from record high temperatures out west to heavy rainstorms and deadly flooding in the northeast. Pennsylvania is among the many states taking a beating from the downpours, as authorities north of Philadelphia say flash floods have now killed at least five people, including members of a family visiting from South Carolina whose car was swept away.

The storms also put major airports in New York and Boston under ground stops this afternoon and the conditions have forced airlines to cancel about 1,400 flights nationwide according to FlightAware. A domino effect is sure to disrupt travel heading into the coming week. Polo Sandoval joins us now from New York. Polo, it is just a big mess out there including in parts of New York City where you are. What else are you hearing about the weather's impact on air travel and what's happening across the southeast and the northeast I should say.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jim -- yeah, Jim, but the thing is it certainly has a domino effect, right? Anytime you see these storm systems, as we've learned over the last seven days or so in other parts of the country as well, these systems sweep through. Not only do they leave just so much death and destruction in their wake, but also just a massive bunch of travel issues as well.

I want you to hear directly from what officials in nearby Pennsylvania have said in the last hour as they were offering a brief, or at least the latest on the situation that unfolded yesterday. As we understand it, at least four people have died in some subsequent flooding that was experienced there in Pennsylvania. But one particular incident is just absolutely heartbreaking as one Pennsylvania state official describes it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM BREWER, CHIEF, UPPER MAKEFIELD, PENNSYLVANIA: As they tried to escape the fierce flood waters, dad took his four-year-old son, while the mother and the grandmother grabbed the two additional children ages nine months and two years. Miraculously, dad and his son were able to get safely. However, the grandmother, the mother, and the two children were swept away by the flood waters. And we have recovered the mother and she is one of the deceased. All right, she was found deceased also. The two children that we are looking for to bring home, we are continuing all efforts to find them. We cannot even begin and imagine what the family is going through with two beautiful children gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: It's absolutely heartbreaking. You can hear that official really sort of fighting through the emotion there and it's certainly being at least utilized as a potential reminder there of just the potential with these storms here and with one storm an entire family affected. So, it's certainly going to be something to watch there.

In terms of the travel issues, these storms are certainly wreaking havoc on that as well. Boston at a ground stop according to the FAA. That is a thunderstorm related issue there as well as JFK extending their ground stop as well, affecting tens of thousands or at least potentially affecting tens of thousands of flights throughout the country. Back to you.

ACOSTA: All right, Polo Sandoval, it's a mess in the northeast. Thanks so much. Now to the extreme temperatures across much of the country where it's getting hot and getting hotter. More than 80 million people are under heat alerts today in 14 states, stretching from Washington State all the way to Florida as a dangerous heat dome remains locked down over the western United States.

Blistering temperatures are breaking records. Parts of California, Nevada and Arizona are seeing the mercury shoot up past 100 degrees. CNN's Rafael Romo is at the Hoover Dam in southern Nevada. Rafael, you're less than an hour from Las Vegas where people are being advised to stay indoors because of the heat. How bad is it where you are?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is very hot Jim and the nice thing about doing a story like this is that you get to see the beauty behind me, Hoover Dam, marvel of engineering. The difficult part is that it is now officially, and let me underline officially, 111 degrees here right now. But we brought our own thermometer and take a look at this. It is over a hundred and twenty degrees according to this thing.

Now, some of our viewers may say this is probably not the most accurate thing in the world but regardless this is a visual representation of the kind of -- kind of situation that people are going through here.

[17:05:04] And in spite of all that, let me show you how many people have decided to spend their day here maybe people who have plans that they couldn't change at the last minute, they didn't know that this was going to be so hard that there was going to be a heat wave. And as bad as it's here, it's even worse in what is known as the hottest place on earth, Death Valley California. I earlier spoke with a park ranger and this is what he had to say about the possibility of the temperature there going as high as 130 degrees. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LAMAR, DEATH VALLEY PARK RANGER: If we end up getting to 130 degrees or they're not calling for it, but if we got to a 131, we'd be talking about an all-time temperature. So that would be pretty unusual. Where we're at right now, 125, 127, that's less unusual. That's pretty typical for a place like Death Valley.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And, Jim, you may ask, what are people doing to cope with the heat? Well, the same thing we're doing. Uh, this is number two for me. Also, an umbrella, and also another thing that has come very, very handy, especially in the last couple of hours. Take a look at this. We're just trying to spray ourselves, trying to make the best of it, but it is really, really hot here, Jim. Back to you.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. It is just scorching out there. All right, Rafael Romo, stay cool as best as you can't. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it. According to the CDC, the U.S. season average of 702 heat related deaths each year more than any extreme weather event including floods hurricanes and tornadoes, and joining us now is John Giles. He is the mayor of Mesa, Arizona and last check mayor, it was 108 degrees I think where you are Mesa. That is just unbelievable. Maybe it's a little hotter, you can give us the latest.

But you were born in Mesa. What do you think? You know, we were just hearing a park ranger say, well, sometimes these are the typical temperatures you might see in Death Valley. It is not unusual to see, I guess, the kinds of temperatures Rafael Romo were talking about at the Hoover Dam, but it just --- it does seem like we're seeing temperatures at unusually high levels and for unusually long stretches of time. What are you picking up on?

JOHN GILES, MAYOR OF MESA, ARIZONA: Yeah. No, you're right, Jim. We're used to hot temperatures in Mesa, Arizona. You know, 110 days are not unusual, even days in the high, you know, one -- one high -- high teens. What's a little unusual this July is the duration of those days back-to-back.

Typically, at this time of July, we're experiencing what we call our monsoon season, so some thunderstorms and some rain that brings the temperatures down. We haven't seen that this year. I think that's probably tied to some of the weather you're seeing across the nation. So, it is -- we're used to hot. We prepare for this all year long. We have hydration donation campaigns. We can set up cooling stations and hydration stations. So, we're well equipped to deal with this, but this year is lasting no longer than we expected.

ACOSTA: And what kind of challenges are you running into keeping people safe in your community?

GILES: Well, I was talking to our police chief, or our fire chief rather, earlier today. And when you're fighting a fire, for example, at 110 degrees, you know, that is really a challenging condition for our firefighters. We do have essential workers outside. Life goes on. You know, like I say, this is not all that unusual for us. The duration is.

So, we have learned -- we've prepared well, you know, all year long for these temperatures. We've got great infrastructure. We've got -- we know how to do this. You know, I could crack a joke now about the dry heat. You know, we're kind of used to functioning, you know, well above 100 degrees.

But for those who are unsheltered, for the elderly, for those who have underlying health conditions, this actually is very, very dangerous. We've already seen 14 deaths in Maricopa County due to extreme temperatures this summer. We're doing everything we can to help those who don't have the resources to get inside.

ACOSTA: Yeah, I was going to say what kind of advisories or warnings are you putting out to senior citizens? Because that, I mean, that is a vulnerable population there when the heat gets this high, no matter if it's the dry heat or what.

GILES: Well, this is kind of it reminds me to some extent of the pandemic. You know, there's a lot of disconnected seniors who don't have family or church groups or a social safety net. And so -- that we actually have adopted grandparent programs, calling programs to check up on those who we know are at most at risk. Certainly, the unsheltered population, we've opened up community rooms and nonprofits and churches. We're opening up cooling centers.

[17:09:58]

So, we're -- this is a dangerous condition for those who don't have shelter. For the rest of us, it's a minor inconvenience and it's something that we're used to, but it is actually deadly serious for a lot of members of our community.

ACOSTA: And because folks in your part of the country are so accustomed to very hot temperatures and the dry heat, as you were saying a few moments ago, that sort of thing, what is your sense of how climate change is impacting the heat in your part of the country? Are you just essentially seeing the typical stuff that you see every summer? Or are you starting to see some warning signs here and there in your community that make you say, okay, wait a minute, this might have something to do with climate change?

GILES: Well, this summer is unusual, as I indicated earlier, and that normally this time of year, if we're making news, it's because we have severe thunderstorms. We literally have a monsoon season that rolls about this time of year into Maricopa County. But we're dry as a bone and have been for weeks, and there's no rain in the forecast. So, something is off this year.

Mesa, like probably most cities in the United States, we are taking climate action very seriously. We have a climate action plan and for a climate action plan to be relevant in a place like Mesa, Arizona, it has to address heat mitigation. So, we are focusing on -- we announced a million-tree challenge earlier this year where we're trying to add an additional million trees to the -- to the -- to create a shade canopy over our community. So absolutely, we are seeing the effects of climate change, and it's got its own quirky personality in the desert.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. And you can't really stand things to get too much more hot out there. Stay cool. Stay safe. Mayor John Giles, thanks so much. Really appreciate your time.

GILES: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, thank you. And now to a long-awaited return home. American Monica de Leon Barba is coming back to California some eight months after she was kidnapped in Jalisco, Mexico, walking home from work with her dog. That's according to a statement from the FBI, which also says no arrests have been made as that investigation continues. CNN's Mike Valerio joins us from Los Angeles with more. Mike, what do we know about the circumstances surrounding her release? It is good news that she's getting back to the country -- to the U.S., back to this country.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Jim. And we know at this hour that this isn't just the culmination of a week, two weeks of work between the FBI, Department of State, and Homeland Security. This was a 227 day effort to bring Monica home back here to California and it has paid off immeasurably to her friends and family who are astounded and elated that she's coming back home.

So, to talk about the person who is behind the missing files you're seeing right here sent out by the FBI, Monica is a profoundly talented photographer, her family tells our partners up in San Francisco, and decides to take a summer job sharing her photographic talents back down in Jalisco where she was born 30 years ago.

She's an American citizen, makes her home in the San Francisco Bay Area, but decides to go back to Jalisco and ends up in the idyllic beautiful town of Tepetitlan just after Thanksgiving last year. And it's in the middle of the day, Jim, we have security footage to show you this. She is walking her dog in the middle of a busy street in this beautiful town. And these are the last moments that she was seen publicly.

Up until three cars surround her, up to five people also confront her, take her into a Chevy Suburban, and then make a beeline out of there. She is not seen from again. And the FBI says a more sinister element is added to this case in that this was not random, it was targeted, and her captors tried to negotiate a ransom deal with her family. I mean, absolutely horrifying and terrifying from their perspective. Fast forward to this weekend, the FBI sends out a statement that she

has been released and is coming home to America. The leader of the FBI in San Francisco writing to us in part, quote, "Our relief and joy at the safe return of Monica is profound. The FBI investigation is far from over, but we can now work this case knowing an innocent victim is reunited with her family."

So, a couple of things from that statement. The case isn't over because as you mentioned, Jim, no arrests have been made. They need to identify her captors So that is still a work in progress for this case, but we know that she has been reunited with her brother, other family members. And for all the dog lovers out there who can just think of what must be going through her mind, she is also according to the FBI going to be reunited with her dog she was separated from when she was abducted on that street back in November.

[17:14:58]

So, certainly, the best possible news that we can report here from California this afternoon, Jim.

ACOSTA: Absolutely, an added bit of good news there. All right, Mike Valerio in L.A. for us. Thanks so much. Coming up, a significant development for Ukraine and their push for training on U.S. fighter jets. The Biden administration's new message on those F-16's.

Plus, Senator Joe Manchin set to headline an event in an early voting state. He hasn't ruled out a third party bid for president. Should Democrats be worried about that? And will he, or won't he? Former President Donald Trump stays coy on whether he'll participate in Republican debates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's a, quite an easy question normally. Ronald Reagan didn't do it and a lot of other people didn't do it. When you have a big lead, you don't do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: New developments tonight in the war in Ukraine. The Biden administration says it will now allow European countries to train Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets.

[17:20:02]

The move is a potential boon to Ukraine's efforts to counter Russia's air superiority and CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us here in the studio, not at the White House, typically. Good to hear you and see you in person. The F-16 issue has been a contentious one for the White House. Even some Democrats have been pushing the president to do this, to allow this sort of thing to happen. What's changed? PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: And it's been a priority.

But there's added urgency now as this counteroffensive gets underway. And Ukrainian forces have not made the major gains that were expected at this point. So, this is a big development, one that Ukraine will see as a positive one, that allows these other countries to train them in F-16s, which are very complicated. aircrafts.

Now, earlier today National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that President Biden was the one that ultimately signed off on this. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The president has given a green light and we will allow, permit, support, facilitate, and in fact, provide the necessary tools for Ukrainians to begin being trained on F-16s as soon as the Europeans are prepared. You said today what the Europeans have said is that they need a couple of weeks to be able to put in place the necessary training facilities. And the president has said we are going to meet whatever timeline our European partners need today, tomorrow, the next day, it doesn't matter. The United States will not be the holdup in ensuring that this F-16 training can get underway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, as you heard there, there is going to be some time in between this having been allowed to happen and then eventually in these Ukrainian forces being trained. But look, the problem and the issue that Ukraine faces is that Russia has a lot more air power. And so that is what is really holding them back and what the Ukrainian president has said is holding them back and making those gains.

But of course, this comes against the backdrop of that controversial decision by the U.S. to send those cluster munitions to Ukraine and on the heels of the NATO summit where the UI.S. along with its allies committed to making sure they have security support.

ACOSTA: Yeah, and the Ukrainians, President Zelensky, they have been pushing really hard for these F-16s, so it'll be interesting to see how that develops and how quickly it happens for them. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much.

Coming up.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

ACOSTA: They're not saying Asa, they are booing. That is Republican presidential candidate and Trump critic Asa Hutchinson being heckled at a conservative conference. What the moment tells us about the state of the GOP right now, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:00] ACOSTA: Tomorrow a top influential Democrat will stump in the early primary state of New Hampshire, but there's a catch. It's not Joe Biden. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and the other Joe here in Washington, who hasn't ruled out running for the White House next year, will headline an event hosted by the organization No Labels. You haven't heard what No Labels is. It's a centrist group that could launch a third-party presidential ticket, possibly upending the 2024 election, and that's giving some Democrats a little heartburn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): I don't, you know, think No Labels is a political party. I mean, this is a few individuals putting dark money behind an organization. And that's not what our democracy should be about. I'm obviously concerned about what's going on here in Arizona and across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Let's get some perspective now on that and more of today's top political stories. Joining us now to discuss White House -- former White House press secretary during the Clinton administration, Joe Lockhart and Republican strategist Doug Heye. Joe, let me go to you first since we're talking about Joe's, that's only natural. How do you rate the chances? Does No Labels have no chance or some chance? And what do you make of what Joe Manchin is up to?

JOE LOCKHART, CLINTON WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I mean, they have no chance of a third party winning the presidency. They certainly have a chance of determining who the winner is. And I think that's what troubles some Democrats. I think there are voters, a lot of voters in the electorate who are motivated by voting against Donald Trump, assuming Donald Trump is the nominee.

I think what we don't know is what Joe Manchin is up to. There are traditionally in many of these races, people who get in or talk about getting in to make a point, to try to move the party in one direction or the other because they have an ideological bent and want to make sure that they moderate generally, you know, whether from the left or from the right.

But what is clear, and you can look at 1980 with John Anderson, you can look at 2000, probably the most significant, where Ralph Nader most definitely caused Al Gore to lose the election, George Bush to win. These third parties have an impact, usually a big impact, on who wins the presidency.

ACOSTA: Right, and maybe Ross Perot as well, back in '92, with your old boss, Bill Clinton. Doug, if No Labels puts up a candidate of their own, I mean, what do you think about this? Does this necessarily hurt the Democrats? Might it hurt Donald Trump? Might there be some Republicans out there who say, you know what, I'm not going to vote for Joe Biden, but I'll vote for Joe Manchin and that -- does that hurt Trump? I mean, how does it cut, do you think?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, the most important block of voters out there are those who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, but after four years of Trump wanting to go in a different direction, calm things down, and voted for Joe Biden. They clearly don't want to go back in the Donald Trump direction.

[17:29:57]

And so those are the voters that could potentially be peeled away by Manchin, by anybody else who might run in a third party. And it's not a big subset of voters, but it's very specific. A few voters here and there in Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia makes a big impact, especially because third party candidates typically struggle to answer questions on what they really stand for, what their reason of existence is.

I certainly remember Andrew Yang talking to you and struggling to talk about what exactly the Forward Party was and what it meant. Manchin could have those same problems.

ACOSTA: That's true. And let me switch gears, Joe, and ask you about what former President Donald Trump had to say on Fox earlier today. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX BUSINESS CHANNEL HOST: You didn't drain the swamp.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did. I fired Comey. I fired a lot of people. A lot of the people I had, I fired. I fired Comey very early. And, you know, there was a question as to whether or not you could. But I fired Comey. If I didn't fire Comey, I don't think I would have been able to serve out my term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I don't know if you picked up on the last thing that Donald Trump there said. As dishonest as he can be, he can sometimes be quite candid. Joe, he said at the very end of that clip there that had he not fired Jim Comey, he might not have been able to fill out the rest of his term.

LOCKHART: Yeah, well, I mean, he still believes or we're about to find out if he ever has to testify that he won the election. I mean, we can't expect either honesty or astute political analysis from Donald Trump. I don't think he's capable of either.

On draining the swamp, that's really a comical statement. He populated the swamp. He made the swamp bigger. He made Washington an entire swamp.

There's no doubt that before he got there, there were a number of special interests. It always wasn't and probably never will be a level playing field. But there was a level of corruption in the Trump administration that we haven't seen, oh, since probably almost a hundred years ago in American politics. ACOSTA: And Doug, this is a headline that stood out to me. Ron DeSantis's campaign confirming to CNN that it recently let go some staffers after some new fundraising numbers indicated the Florida governor has been struggling to raise money here in this early primary process.

What is your sense of it? This is starting to have some echoes of Scott Walker back in 2016, the young up and coming Republican governor who ultimately couldn't gain traction. Does DeSantis have time to turn this around and catch Trump? It is not a good sign when you're laying off staffers at this stage.

HEYE: It's certainly not a good sign. And clearly, he's going to have to make some redoubled efforts on what he's doing on the campaign. The good news for DeSantis is he has opportunities to do so. Everything that we've talked about so far in this campaign is sort of conjecture until the candidates stand next to each other and have a debate.

Now Donald Trump may or may not be there, but if you're Ron DeSantis, you're going to have -- or Tim Scott or Nikki Haley or anyone else who qualifies, you're going to have a lot of eyeballs there for you on several occasions.

This is a time to make your impact so that you can move forward. If he's unable to do that, whether again Trump is there or not, then this is not just a problem that he's dealing with in July, it'll be an existential one.

ACOSTA: And Joe, let me ask you about President Biden. His campaign and the DNC also released some new fundraising numbers this week. They've raised a combined $72 million since April, apparently. Do you think that's going to quiet some of the president's critics within his own party?

There was also a "New York Times" piece that said that perhaps the president is lacking in some of those small dollar donations. Not to get too far into the weeds but that might not be a good sign. What's your sense of it at this point?

LOCHART: Well, I think it's an impressive haul of money. And I think if you look at his campaign, it's very similar to Bill Clinton's campaign in '96. It's going to rely heavily on the DNC on the money side. Barack Obama kind of set up a third organization really dedicated to his campaign that did a lot of that work.

For Biden, he's relying on the DNC. He, you know, charged them with coming up with a big number. They did it. I think it has an impact on someone who might think about challenging him.

But I think we're kind of past that among Democratic stalwarts. The ones who were thinking of running were all doing it on the condition that Joe Biden didn't run. There's no reason for them to think that they can get in at this point, which is why I think if you're sitting in the Biden headquarter, you feel pretty good.

Trump is winning two to one, three to one. He's the best candidate for them to run against. They've got the money. They do need to worry though about this third-party candidacy because it does take the race and change the dynamics. And when you're sitting in the White House, you want the dynamics to stay exactly the same.

ACOSTA: Yeah. And Doug, finally, I want to show this video of Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson who has been deeply critical of Trump. He was repeatedly booed and heckled during the speech at a conference that was held by a pro-Trump organization. Let's listen to it. Let's watch.

[17:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BOOEING)

ASA HUTCHINSON, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I'm running for president of the United States.

(BOOEING)

We've got some great -- great people that are running and what we need -- we need is respect for those that might have different opinion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Doug, what is going on here? I mean, Asa Hutchinson is a lifelong Republican, has been an extremely loyal Republican for decades. And yet -- I mean, he has been critical of Donald Trump. Is that simply the reason here why he was treated in this fashion at that Turning Point conference?

HEYE: Yeah, absolutely. It's like if you watch a baseball game, sometimes the announcer will say, well, they're not saying boo.

ACOSTA: Yeah.

HEYE: In this case, they sure were and they were saying it over and over again. For the real Trumpy part of the base, the question is always, what have you done for me lately? Mitch McConnell, who did more to get through Donald Trump's legislative agenda than Donald Trump did, sometimes gets boos from those members of the real Trump core base.

So, it's not surprising. What Asa Hutchison does is what nobody wants to hear, is when you go see a band and they say, we're going to play some new material. The Trump base does not want a new material. They want the Trump talking points over and over again.

ACOSTA: Yeah, and they don't want to hear you going after Donald Trump. I mean, they just --

HEYE: At all.

ACOSTA: At all. And it seems to me that the more he does that, the more reaction he's going to get like that wherever he goes -- HEYE: No question about it.

ACOSTA: -- with the base. All right, Doug Heye, Joe Lockhart, thank you very much, really appreciate it.

This week, Jake Tapper will interview Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the GOP presidential candidate. Tune in to that exclusive on "The Lead" on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: On Tuesday, the first hearing in Donald Trump's criminal case with co-defendant Walter Nauta is expected in a Florida courtroom. The hearing presided over by Trump-elected federal judge, Trump-appointed federal judge, Aileen Cannon, will examine Trump's handling of classified information. The July 18th date was set after a fight where Special Counsel Jack Smith suggested Trump and Nauta were trying to create an unnecessary delay.

The state attorney for Palm Beach County, Dave Aronberg, joins me now. Dave, great to see you. What do you think of what we're going to see take place at this hearing? What are you going to be looking for?

DAVE ARONBERG, STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY: Jim, it should just be a regular hearing talking about scheduling of the production of classified documents, the ability to view them.

But where it gets really interesting is that Trump has requested that this trial be postponed until after the election. He wants an indefinite postponement, which really proves right.

All the critics said the reason why he's running is to avoid having his case tried because he thought that running for office would dissuade Merrick Garland from prosecuting him. Well, he was half right. Jack Smith is now a pit bull. So, he should have been careful what he asked for.

But now, he's saying the quiet part out loud. He's saying, don't even try me until after the election, when he thinks he'll be present and then can order his Department of Justice to get rid of the whole thing.

ACOSTA: Well, I do ask you a follow up on that, but let me ask you about these delay tactics because, as you know, we talked about this before. This is Trump's M.O. He wants to delay things when it comes to legal trouble as far as possible.

I was just having this conversation with Doug Heye, who was in the political panel just before you a few moments ago during the commercial break. Essentially, we could have a situation. Is this correct, Dave Aronberg, that Trump could successfully delay a lot of these proceedings not just in the classified documents case but in all of these cases that he's dealing with past the republican primary process?

And it wouldn't even be all that unusual to have the trials for these kinds of proceedings, these cases that he's facing, to go well into next year. Is that a reality? Is that a possibility?

ARONBERG: That is a big possibility. I think it's hard to try this case before the 2024 election. You've got classified documents. You've got this federal act called CIPA. So, it will be difficult. And you have a co-defendant who's already delaying things because he couldn't find a lawyer. So, you see where this is headed.

The difference here, Jim, is that Donald Trump is just saying, give me the whole enchilada, just postpone it indefinitely. Whereas I think Eileen Cannon, Judge Cannon is more likely to give him bits and pieces. Delay here, delay there, and then you turn around and it's already past the election. Essentially, it's death by a thousand paper cuts.

But Trump may be overplaying his hand by asking Judge Cannon to go ahead and delay this thing indefinitely. I don't think he'll get that. I think that's a bridge too far. If Judge Cannon grants that, I think she'll be reversed by the 11th circuit and possibly even taken off the case.

ACOSTA: Interesting. And as of Thursday, both Trump and Walt Nauta, their attorneys had not taken necessary steps to apply for security clearances, to review documents for that case. I mean, what does that say about the effectiveness of their counsel or can you just read between the lines and see some of this as delay tactics?

ARONBERG: I think it's a delay tactic. I mean, this is Trump's M.O. I mean, the fact that he's even saying that, let me argue that the Presidential Records Act allows me to keep these documents, I think is a frivolous argument. Jack Smith said so.

I mean, the Presidential Records Act no more allows Donald Trump to keep government documents as it allows him to keep Air Force One. But he is saying that he wants to argue that because it's what he calls a novel legal theory.

Jim, it is like if I say to you, today is Saturday, I'm not wrong, it's just a novel theory. So, it's really unique and ridiculous.

[17:45:00]

I think that it's his strategy. His lawyers know better. But this is to me the only way that Donald Trump avoids an ultimate conviction because he doesn't have a good defense for this, but he does have delay and time on his side.

ACOSTA: Well, that leads me back to what you were hinting at the beginning of this segment, which is a question that we dealt with when Trump was in office. That is this notion of a self-pardon. I suppose he could try to do what you were just saying a few moments ago. Hopefully, the Justice Department will just get rid of these cases for him. But what about this idea that he could pardon himself? I mean, does that part of the conversation as well in terms of what Trump is up to with all of these legal cases he's dealing with?

ARONBERG: It's a great law school question for future lawyers. We don't know the answer. I mean, I think --

ACOSTA: Yeah.

ARONBERG: -- it's probably known you cannot pardon yourself. But no one knows for sure. It's never been tried before. But Trump's best chance is to become president and then order his Department of Justice to drop everything. That he can do. But pardoning himself, I think, is a risky bet for him.

In the end, he's going to hope that he can push this past the election or if this case is heard before the election, he's hoping, Jim, for what's called jury nullification. He's hoping he'll get a few Trump supporters on that jury who will just say, I don't care what the facts are, I don't care what the law is, I'm not sending my guy to the Husqvarna.

ACOSTA: All right, Dave Aronberg, great to see you. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it. We will be right back.

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[17:50:00]

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ACOSTA: The clock is ticking on a crucial food export agreement between Ukraine and Russia tonight. The Black Sea grain deal as it's known is set to expire tomorrow unless Russia agrees to an extension. The U.N.-backed agreement has allowed the safe transport of grain and other food items from Ukraine during the war. A change would impact millions of people across the globe who depend on Ukraine as a food and grain supplier.

And here's U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on this earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: I can't predict what Vladimir Putin will do. If in fact they pull out of it, the rest of the world will take a look at that and say that Russia has turned its back on ensuring that the countries of the global south in Africa and Latin America and Asia can get the food they need at affordable prices, and I think that will come at an enormous diplomatic cost to Russia going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining us now is CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, I want to ask you about this grain deal in a moment. It's important. But first, your thoughts on the Ukrainians being able to train on these F-16 fighter jets. It's significant. We've talked about this before.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, RETIRED AIR FORCE COLONEL: Yes, we have, Jim. It is extremely important. It should have happened months ago. The problem is that training for the F-16 is going to take a long time.

When two Ukrainian pilots came to Arizona to take a look at F-16 training possibilities, the Arizona Air National Guard actually assessed their capability to train, and they came up with a plan that would take about eight months to train them.

These are experienced pilots. These aren't people that are walking off the street to become fighter pilots, which you really can't do.

ACOSTA: Right.

LEIGHTON: But the type of training that they said that they could do is not really all-inclusive. It's not the kind of training that, for example, takes in to account close air support requirements or suppression of enemy air defenses or things like that. So, it's not detailed enough. So, the training is going to take longer than what the Arizona Air National Guard assessed, in my opinion.

And the other part of this is when European nations are training the F-16 pilots, they will have a different syllabus, a different way of training these pilots, and it may take longer as well. So, if they can pull it off, if they could start it very quickly, if they can move forward, they can probably do it in nine months or so, but it would require that training to happen very quickly.

ACOSTA: So, there are hopes that this would be an immediate game changer or help the counteroffensive right away. That's just not going to happen because it's going to take too long.

LEIGHTON: Right. It's completely unrealistic.

ACOSTA: And Putin is threatening retaliation after the U.S. provided Ukraine with these cluster munitions. We talked about this as well. In an interview published today, he said Russia has a significant supply of their own and they reserve the right to respond in kind. He also said that using cluster bombs is illegal. I mean, does that even pass the (INAUDIBLE) test?

LEIGHTON: No, because when you look at events like last year in Kramatorsk, the attack on the train station, that attack was done by a cluster munition. There were at least five other attacks in the first two months of the war using cluster munitions that the Russians used against Ukrainian civilian targets. Those are war crimes.

What the United States is getting Ukraine, the cluster munitions that we're sending to Ukraine, those are to be used in a very specific military-oriented way, and that's a completely different scenario than what the Russians have done. So, it is extremely rich for Putin to say this. ACOSTA: Yeah, and speaking of rich and Putin, what about this grain deal that Russia appears to be playing games with? This is Putin hitting pressure points, trying to see how he can -- all the different ways he can squeeze the Ukrainians.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely, because this is how Ukraine finances its economy. And by that, the only way that Ukraine survives as a nation is to have not only access to the Black Sea but access for export purposes, and one of the biggest exports that they have is grain.

It also feeds the world to a large extent. Both Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of grain.

[17:54:56]

If Russia does not approve the extension of the grain deal, it's going to affect countries all over the world from Africa all the way to Asia, Europe, and eventually the Americans as well.

ACOSTA: And I was talking to the former Defense Secretary Bill Cohen yesterday, talked to Mark Hurtling, our friend, military advisor here over at CNN, analyst here at CNN, and we were talking about Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville continuing to singlehandedly block hundreds of military promotions over his opposition to the Pentagon's abortion policy. What do you think of this? How long can this go on?

LEIGHTON: It really should stop immediately and here's why. You know, Senator Tuberville makes the argument that readiness is not being affected by having the senior positions stay vacant or to have temporary people fill those positions. Well, that would be like saying a football coach is not important. And I think Senator Tuberville would argue, given his background, that coaching is important, that a coach is one of the most important aspects of a football team.

The same is true for the military. You need permanent people of the right rank in the right position not only to take care of military readiness issues but also to really promote the military policies of the United States and its allies. They need the type of contemporaries that can talk to their foreign counterparts. They need the type of people that are going to be there in those positions. What Tuberville is doing is really dangerous to national security.

ACOSTA: All right, Colonel Leighton, thanks so much. We'll be right back.

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