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CNN International: Trump Says He's a Target in Election Aftermath Probe; Michigan AG Chares 19 Over 2020 Fake Elector Plot; U.S. Soldier in North Korean Custody After Crossing Border; Tens of Millions Under Heat Warnings in U.S.; CNN Team Witnesses Russia's Strike on Odessa; EU Issues Red Alert for Southern Europe; U.S. Envoy John Kerry in China for Talks. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 19, 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]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane in for Max and Bianca here in London. Just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is the target of the January 6 investigation that he could be indicted in the coming days.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you say something about an election, they want to put you in jail for the rest of your life.

TRUMP: They were there proud. They were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable and it was a beautiful day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what to they do now? Weaponize government to go after their number opponent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to look back. I do not want to see him. I hope he doesn't get charged. I don't think that it'll be good for the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was able to break free from his minders there and he went back to the DMZ.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We believe the soldier is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our North Korean counterparts to resolve this incident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

MACFARLANE: It's Wednesday, July 19, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Washington where Donald Trump's legal troubles are piling up. The former U.S. president says he's been informed by the special counsel that he is a target of the criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. It's a sign that Trump could soon see a third indictment. And that does not include the Fulton County probe into attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia. Here's how Trump responded to the news at a town hall on Tuesday night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I got the letter on Sunday night, think of it. I don't think they've ever sent a letter on Sunday night. And they are in a rush because they want to interfere -- it's interference with the election. It's election interference. Never been done like this in the history of our country and it's a disgrace.

What's happening to our country, whether it's the borders or the elections or kinds of things like this where the DOJ has become a weapon for the Democrats. An absolute weapon. And it seems that every time my polls -- you know, we're leading by a lot and we're leading by a lot in a place called Iowa. A lot. And not only the Republicans but leading against Biden by a tremendous amount. They haven't seen anything like it. And they feel I guess they want to try and demean and diminish and frighten people. But they don't frighten us. Because were going to America great again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well it's possible that if Trump is indicted in the election aftermath probe, his legal team may try to delay the trial past next year's election. It's a tactic his lawyers are using in Florida in the classified documents case. Prosecutors want a speedy trial that would begin in December. But Trump's attorney wants it to be after the election. CNN's Paula Reid is outside the courthouse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: All eyes were on the judge to see just how receptive she was going to be to the Trump team strategy of trying to delay any possible trial until after the 2024 election. I was in court for about two hours for this hearing. And it was clear that Judge Cannon was amenable to the strategy. She thought that the special counsel's suggestion that they do this case, put it on trial in December, and that that was a compressed time line. She said look, cases like this take more time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well the special counsel's office has interviewed dozens of witnesses in both the classified documents and the January 6 cases. It's clear that Jack Smith is not just focused on those around Trump but likely zeroing in on the former president himself. More now from CNN's Katelyn Polantz in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Former President Donald Trump received a clear sign from Justice Department prosecutors that he is very likely to be indicted in the January 6, 2020, election investigation. A criminal investigation that's been led out of Washington, D.C. by the office of special counsel Jack Smith.

And Trump believes that he may be indicted here, that he may be arrested. Because he was told on Sunday in a letter to his lawyers from the Justice Department -- from Smith's prosecutors -- that he is the target of this investigation. We don't at this time know of anyone else who has been identified as a target or at least told by prosecutors that they are likely to be charged.

[04:05:00]

But this is the sort of signal that the Justice Department gives at the end of an investigation. And this has been a sprawling probe from the Justice Department, from the special counsel. It is separate from the documents case that Donald Trump has already been charged in in Florida. And this is an investigation that has looked at knowledge that Donald Trump had, that he lost the election.

It's looked at what was said inside the White House on crucial dates after the 2020 election in a late-night meeting on December 18 where supporters of his were throwing out outlandish ideas that he could use his powers of the presidency to overturn the election. It's also look at testimony from Vice President Mike Pence. He was serving alongside Trump at the time and was pressured to block the election results.

It's also looked at threats, intimidation and outreach that various people, including from Trump himself had made in battleground states, seven different battleground states. And there have been officials that CNN has confirmed in each of the seven battleground states that Donald Trump lost and in which he tried to overturn the election. They have spoken to investigators, that's Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada. And so this investigation is at a point where charges are very likely in the coming days or weeks. Donald Trump is very likely to be charged.

We don't know if others are. We haven't found other target letters out there that others have confirmed receiving. But this is an investigation that while the Justice Department is not commenting publicly, their target letter to Donald Trump on Sunday speaks volumes about the work of their grand jury which still is expected to meet as soon again as Thursday.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well as Katelyn mentioned, the special counsel's office has reached out to officials in all seven battleground states Trump targeted in his efforts to overturn the election. The most recent being former Arizona Governor Republican Doug Ducey. Trump publicly attacked Ducey -- a former ally -- over the state's certification of the results.

And meanwhile, the Michigan Attorney General has charged 16 people for their alleged participation in a fake electors' plot. The group includes current and former state Republican officials, Republican National Committee member, a sitting mayor, and Trump supporters who filed a frivolous lawsuit in an attempt to overturn the election results.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA NESSEL, MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: This plan to reject the will of the voters and undermine democracy was fraudulent and legally baseless. The false electors' actions undermine the public's faith in the integrity of our elections. And not only violated the spirit of the laws enshrining in defending our democracy, but we believe also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan and peaceably transfer power in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: As CNN's Jessica Schneider reports on the significance of these charges.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This is the first time these alleged fake electors have been charged criminally by a state prosecutor. The Attorney General here in Michigan, Dana Nessel, charging 16 people with eight different counts including conspiracy to commit election law forgery.

Now this all stems from December 14, 2020, when those fake electors tried to force their way into the state capital here in Lansing with fake certificates, falsely proclaiming that Donald Trump had won the election and that they as Republicans were the rightful electors. When in fact Joe Biden had one this state by 154,000 votes.

Dana Nessel's investigation has been ongoing since January. And she is now charging those 16 individuals who will be expected to turn themselves in.

Now, this is all happening while investigations into fake electors' plots are ongoing in the six other states where those fake electors' plots happened, including Arizona and Georgia. And at the same time the special counsel Jack Smith, he has been investigating the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Some of these fake electors have even testified to the grand jury.

So there's potentially a lot more charges to come in other states. But for now the Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel, being the first to charge these so-called fake electors with serious crimes that could amount to decades in prison if they're convicted.

In Lansing, Michigan, Jessica Schneider, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: A U.S. soldier is believed to be in North Korean custody after entering the demilitarized zone and, quote, willfully running across the border. Private Travis King was in trouble with the U.S. Army and had faced disciplinary action. He was supposed to be sent back to the U.S. but instead made his way to the DMZ'S joint security area and dashed over the military demarcation line. A U.S. admiral says so far there's been no contact with North Koreans over the fate of this soldier.

[04:10:00]

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is covering this story for us live from Hong Kong -- joins me now. Good to see you, Kristie. This it continuing to be a diplomatic headache for the United States and an extremely dangerous situation for the soldier. What more are you learning about this U.S. soldier and those efforts being made to recover him?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Christina, Army Private Travis King is the U.S. soldier who broke away from a tour group and crossed into North Korea willfully and without authorization. The U.N. command, a US-led group, says it's working with the North Korean military to resolve the incident. And on top of everything else, earlier today North Korea fired two ballistic missiles. So tension is high.

Now, King was not in uniform when he crossed into North Korea. He spent some 50 days in a detention facility in South Korea for assault involving at least one South Korean national. King, we learned, was facing disciplinary action by the U.S. military. He was set to be separated from the U.S. Army. And a U.S. official told CNN that King was escorted to the airport to go back to U.S. but because the escorts couldn't go through customs with him, he was able to leave the airport. And then King later crossed into North Korea during a tour of the joint security area or JSA.

Now let's bring up footage of what that area looks like. The JSA is located inside the DMZ -- that's the highly fortified border separating the two Koreas. The tour is organized by U.N. command. It is open to the public. And while there are check points to get to the JSA, once you're there, the actual border between North and South is only this small, raised line that's on the ground.

I want to show you these images. Let's bring it up for you. You may remember this, former U.S. President Donald Trump when he met with Kim Jong-un at the JSA in June of 2019, there they are standing right next to that very line. So during a JSA tour, participants they're usually kept about 20 yards away from that line.

Now this border crossing incident, it comes at a time of high tension. This year North Korea has already fired around a dozen missiles including long range ICBMs. And earlier this morning North Korea fired two short range ballistic missiles into the waters offer its eastern coast. That happened just hours after U.S. ballistic missile submarine docked in South Korea for the first time in decades. And now North Korea has an American soldier in its custody. This is a very sensitive time, Christina. His fate is uncertain. Back to you.

MACFARLANE: Yes, an extremely precarious time for this to be happening. Kristie Lu Stout there live from Hong Kong. Thanks, Kristie.

STOUT: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Now there is no end in sight for the heatwave that is baking the Southwestern U.S. Tens of millions of Americans are under heat alerts again today as the mercury is expected to soar well into the triple digits. More than 20 U.S. cities were at high temperature records on Tuesday. Ocean temperatures off the coast of Florida are at 90 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. And scientists are declaring a level two alert for coral reefs in the region. Let's get a look at the forecast now from CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: So obviously we have story after story of where it's hot and where it's not. Not as many stories about where it's not. The heat dome across parts of the Western U.S., again, across parts of the Atlantic, very hot across parts of Europe, and then again cooler here, but hot again across all of Asia. It's called tele-connection. This is a ridge, a trough, a ridge, a trough, a ridge, a trough. That's just how it goes around the globe and around the globe.

Now typically, they will move a little bit either to the east or the west, normally to the east, so you will begin to get a couple warm days and then it will cool off, but that has not been the case this year. Where it has been hot, it has stayed hot for weeks really. From Phoenix into parts of Texas, temperatures have been above 100 every single day for a month or so. And so 190 possible records here across the desert Southwest of the United States. Again, temperatures above 110 degrees for Phoenix. Then 110 or higher, so 43 degrees Celsius higher for 19 consecutive days. And that's just not typical. You should be able to cool down a little bit in the evenings and that just isn't the case. And we're going to break more records here because Phoenix, you're not going to be lower than 110 for your afternoon high. Another five days of 117s and 118s Fahrenheit.

Something else though that's moving a little bit of alarm. We talk about the ridge and trough moving a little bit. It has moved a little bit to the east where we're seeing the heat index now across parts of Texas and the Deep South part of the United States well over 100. But you have to add in the heat and humidity to kind of get that feel. The heat in the desert Southwest because it's a desert isn't a heat index. It's just the heat, it's the temperature. And all of the numbers you see are always in the shade.

[04:15:00]

Now for the Eastern half of the United States, a little bit of a cooldown for the end of the week. But not next week because the heat is back on above normal again right through all of Friday and Saturday of the next week, could be the hottest days. And we've been saying that now for a while. But more heat is on, more oppressive heat in the desert Southwest and even into the Midwest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Our thanks to Chad. And we'll have much more on the extreme weather later this hour. Including a look at flooding in China and wildfires across southern Europe. Plus, our teams in Odessa got a firsthand look at how Ukrainian air

defenses are destroying Russian missiles. We'll bring you the latest on the war in Ukraine.

And later, after drifting at sea for almost three months, an Australian sailor and his dog are rescued by a Mexican tuna boat. We'll have that incredible story of survival.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:00]

MACFARLANE: CNN teams on the ground in Odessa captured that video of Ukrainian air defenses destroying Russian missiles. And for the second night in a row, Russian forces launched cruise missiles on southern Ukrainian port city. Odessa's mayor says Wednesday's attack was the largest the city has seen since the start of the war.

And we're also hearing reports that EU lawmakers are calling on the International Criminal Court to consider an arrest warrant for the president of Belarus for his role in the country's war.

Clare Sebastian is joining me here now. Clare let's talk -- let's start with Odessa because the mayor is calling this one of the most horrible nights. And certainly this was a much bigger attack than we saw on Monday.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a really serious assault. He saying, as you said, that he hasn't seen anything bigger since the start of the war, almost a year and a half ago. We're now hearing in the late of day from the Air Force that there were 31 cruise missiles they shot down. They say 14, so not even half of them. 32 Shahed attack drones in which they shot down the majority -- 23 of them. But still some did get through.

We're hearing of injuries on the ground, most of those, it should be noted, from the affect of air defensive, fragments falling, damage on the ground from pieces of missile craters, blast waves, things like that. It is a very serious threat, the fact that these missiles are literally being shot down in the skies over residential areas. They are saying that several missiles that did get through hit a grain and oil terminal at Odessa port, a fire broke out there and that is still being put out. So really serious.

The Kremlin of course did say that it is considering further proposals to respond to the attack on the Kerch Bridge. I think that we can view it in the context of that. Perhaps also another way to express its disdain of the grain deal which it pulled out of on Monday.

And just quickly, we're hearing about a separate incident this morning in Crimea. A fire seems to have broken out at a military training ground. They've evacuated some 2,000 people from villages nearby, closed a section of highway -- that's Russian occupied Crimea of course. No suggestion as of yet as to the cause of that.

MACFARLANE: And this is in addition to some attacks that also happened of course in Kyiv overnight as well. What more are we learning about these reports from EU lawmakers who are proposing an arrest warrant for Belarusian President Lukashenko?

SEBASTIAN: Yes, this comes from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. They're out with a report today where they basically roundly condemn what they cause the unabated repression and systematic human rights violations of the regime of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus. One of the proposals that they come up with, is to call on the ICC to essentially issue a similar arrest warrant to what they issued in March for the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and his Children's Rights Commissioner over a scheme to illegally deport Ukrainian children into Russia.

So they are suggesting some complicity of the Lukashenko regime. And we don't have evidence that ourselves and we don't have any reaction as a yet from the ICC. But it does speak to a seriously deteriorating situation in Belarus when it comes to political prisoners -- they say there are 1500 of them -- repression, all kinds of different things. And of course they're really concerned about the proximity of this regime to Moscow and increasingly coming under their control. I think a sign of the times is that we're getting a report today from the Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, that another Belarusian journalist has been detained earlier this week. So we're looking for more clarity on that.

MACFARLANE: Clare, thanks very much.

Now soaring temperatures across southern Europe have prompted an EU red alert. It covers most of Italy, southern Spain, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro. Rome set a new record high at 41.8 degree Celsius on Tuesday.

And wildfires fueled by the heat have spread across Greece and Switzerland. One of the largest is burning north of Athens. 250 firefighters are on the scene.

And meanwhile, in India, floodwaters have reached the outer walls of the Taj Mahal. The country's most popular tourist attraction. Local media report the monument itself is not at risk.

And China's southern provinces are being battered by the remnants of typhoon Talim. The storm is expected to weaken after making a second landfall on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of people have evacuated to higher ground amid ongoing rescue operations.

CNN's Anna Coren is standing by live in Hong Kong. But first let's bring in our Barbie Nadeau who is in Rome. And Barbie, we know that this is happening all during peak tourist season. We're hearing of an increase in hospitalizations. How are the authorities handling this and of course these wildfires that we're hearing spreading not just in Italy but across Europe as well.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: That's right. You know, those wildfires are really something that authorities are very, very concerned about right now. Those fires burning outside of Athens and the conditions in which the firefighters have to work. [04:25:00]

Now the European Union has dispatched a number of assets including Canada, you know, planes to fight the fires and so, they're trying to help there. But every country in this heatwave is worried about their own situations with fires.

In terms of the temperature, we broke a record yesterday in Rome, 41.8 degrees but that record was only a year old. So it tells you how this is just a continuation of a problem that's going to, you know, not go away anytime soon.

Now we are at 10:00 in the morning and there are tourists here at the Spanish steps. They are out in the sun. Authorities have warned, please do not stay in the sun during hot times of the day from about noon to about 6:00 p.m. We've seen a 20 percent increase in emergency room calls from people who are suffering from heat-related problems. That's very, very concerning because it's not just as if it's been one day of hot weather. We're in the second week of it. And even if it does cool down, Christina, it's going to get down to like 35. 35 is still very, very hot. And you know, tourists who come to Rome want to spend every minute that they can in Rome. It's an open-air museum just like Florence, just like many other cities in southern Europe. And so, they are not taking the advice of the authorities at all -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yes, their one holiday a year, they'll probably take it regardless of the temperatures. Barbie, thank you.

Let's turn to Anna Coren who is in Hong Kong. And Anna, these high temperatures soaring across China as well. Underscoring the urgency of the talks currently going on between China and the U.S. climate envoy, John Kerry, both seeking a middle ground on climate-related issues. Do we know of any progress made on that so far?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, from what we understand, Christina, John Kerry has made some real inroads on this trip that will wrap up later today. He has said that the mood is very, very positive and while talks have been complex, they've also been very constructive.

In meeting with China's Vice President, Han Zheng, this morning, Kerry said that climate change is a universal threat that should be treated as a free-standing challenge requiring the efforts of, you know, the U.S. and China, the two largest economies, two, largest polluters to help resolve. Han said that China and the U.S. will issue a joint statement. We're expecting that later today. That will send a positive signal to the world. And he praised Kerry for the close communication and dialogue that he has maintained with China even during these months and years of strained relations.

As we know, Kerry is not your average U.S. diplomat. He was a presidential Democratic nominee, U.S. Secretary of State under President Obama, he is well liked and respected by the Chinese. We heard from China's top diplomat Wang Yi and the Premier Yixiang Li yesterday, they both referred to Kerry as an old friend. Now Kerry this morning, he spoke and he said: If we can come together

over these next months leading up to COP28 -- which is that U.N. climate summit -- which will be the most important since Paris, we will have an opportunity to be able to make a profound difference on this issue.

The Paris reference is that agreement signed in 2015 to keep global warning below 2 degrees Celsius of preindustrial temperatures. That was later revised to 1.5.

On this trip, you know, Kerry has been calling on China to curb expansion of coal plants and reduce its use of methane. China has always, you know, resisted these calls, Christina, saying that it's a developing nation. It needs to use fossil fuels to support its economic development. So, you know, we will hear from John Kerry probably sometime next hour. He will hold a press conference before the media, before flying back to Washington -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yes, and we will keep a close eye out for that press conference. Anna Coren, live in Hong Kong, thank you.

Now more than 900 wildfires are burning across Canada where authorities say almost 600 are out of control. The smoke is impacting air quality in a number of U.S. states including New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Authorities are urging people to avoid strenuous outdoor activities, take regular breaks, and keep asthma medicine handy.

All right, still ahead, Jake Tapper's exclusive interview with Republican Ron DeSantis. The White House hopeful reacts to the Justice Department's investigation of Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump is strategizing with powerful Republican allies in Washington who are going on the fence despite not knowing much about the case against him.

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