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More Than 80 Million Under Heat Alerts Across the U.S. Today; Interview with Mayor Kate Gallego about Extreme Heat in Phoenix; Trump PAC Has Spent $40 Million Plus on Legal Fees This Year; American Woman and Her Child Kidnapped in Haiti; At Least 44 Dead, 100 Plus Injured in Pakistan Blast; US Women Need Clear Win against Portugal; Moby Talks To CNN about Music, Politics And Podcasting; Possible Trump Indictment In Georgia. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 30, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:04]

PAULA REID, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, live from Washington, I'm Paula Reed in for Jim Acosta. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we're just one day away from closing out July. And it has already been a record-breaking month. One of the hottest months ever recorded on earth. And it is going out in a blaze of glory. Today, some 80 million Americans have been under heat alerts across the U.S.

CNN's Isabel Rosales has been braving the heat in Atlanta, which has been flirting with triple-digit temperatures.

Isabel, what is being done to keep people safe in these dangerous temperatures?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Paula. The city of Atlanta and other major cities across the U.S. have had really no choice with these dangerously high temperatures and the humidity but to open cooling centers, blasting folks who want to drop by with air- conditioning, and also giving them water to help give them a break from this heat.

Right now, the sun is starting to go down. We're feeling a breeze here. So we're feeling the coolest we felt all day here across the beltway in Atlanta. We're seeing folks coming out walking and exercising, walking their dogs as well. And during the peak heat time of 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. here, we actually tested out the temperature on the pavement right here so outside the air temperature was about 90 degrees. But on the pavement, close to 120 degrees. That is brutal.

Here is what folks had to tell me about how they were keeping cool.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILLIAN, FROM NEW YORK: It's warm. It's fine. I think you can adapt if you just keep working through it.

KEEGAN BECKER, FROM SOUTH AFRICA: If you're not used to the heat and stuff like this, I would suggest you don't necessarily come out and experience it because it is a lot. This heat is not much for me. Clearly I love, you know, long sleeves in the summer like this. But I will say for like dogs and stuff, we have packs. She's got booties, she's got her water and everything like that. So you have to make sure you have stuff for your dog and stuff.

HARRISON MANSELL, ATLANTA RESIDENT: You know, stay in light clothes and just drink a lot of water to stay hydrated.

KRISTEN CROVELLO, ATLANTA RESIDENT: Once you've been living in Atlanta for a long time you kind of just know how to handle it, you know how to embrace it a little bit. Like you're going to sweat. You're going to be a little bit uncomfortable. And that's just part of living here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And there is some relief on the way especially for the southwest from that record-breaking heat, although still experiencing those extreme temperatures. Phoenix on Saturday topped 110 degrees, Paula, for the 30th day in a row. Also marking the 17th day out of the calendar year where Phoenix has experienced temperatures above 115 degrees. That streak is expected to stop tomorrow.

But having said that, we're also keeping an eye, the Weather Prediction Center, on another heat wave that is expected to build into the early next week. That is for the south and the Gulf Coast areas with heat indexes expected to hit 110 and in some places as hot as 115 degrees -- Paula.

REID: Isabel Rosales, thank you.

And for much of the country, some relief is on the way. Let's get the latest from CNN meteorologist Britley Ritz.

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: While many are still dealing with the ridiculous and potentially even deadly and dangerous heat, finally we've had a cold front run through much of the Ohio Valley and the northeast. Unfortunately it brought severe weather yesterday. But it did do us some good. It took our temperatures down into the 70s for Sunday in Chicago and for Boston, same for you.

And we're staying in the 70s even into the upcoming workweek. So there's hope for the upcoming days ahead. But unfortunately, across the southwest, much of Sunday and into Monday, our temperatures are still well above normal by at least five degrees. There is some hope in the near future. Monday and Tuesday, starting to see the numbers start to taper back a bit. But Sunday here in Phoenix, topping out at around 111 degrees.

And the problem with that is now we're adding to the consecutive days where our temperatures have been over 110. So 30 turns to 31. But again Monday into Tuesday, starting to see that relief thanks to the monsoonal rains setting up here. We'll top out at 107 Monday, 106 on Tuesday, which is where we should be. But it doesn't last long. We clear out the skies for Phoenix and we're right back up to 115 degrees by the time we get into the weekend. That heat dome, that area of high pressure where it's trapping all

that warm, moist ocean air scoots east and we wind up in Dallas and Monroe, Louisiana, Birmingham, Alabama. New Orleans dealing with temperatures a good five to 10 degrees above normal as well. We are in the triple digits. And much of us across the southeast dealing with dew points, that measurement of moisture near the surface, over 70.

And when that's factored in with temperatures in the triple digits, it feels much hotter. I mean, New Orleans, you have a heat index of 107.

[19:05:00]

And same for Jacksonville, excessive heat warnings in effect up into parts of the Central Plains. Back now into New Orleans and the Florida Panhandle. The rest of the lower Mississippi Valley, down across the southeast and all of Florida under heat advisories -- Paula.

REID: Britley Ritz, thank you.

Joining us now is the mayor of Phoenix where it has been over 110 degrees for 30 days straight.

Mayor Kate Gallego, thank you for joining us. I know you're used to hot weather there in the desert. But how has this incredible heat wave impacted your community?

MAYOR KATE GALLEGO, PHOENIX: We take heat very seriously. We have wonderful weather most of the year. But summer is always a tough period for us. This summer has broken records and it's been particularly difficult for those who are most vulnerable.

We take climate change very seriously in Phoenix. We are on the frontlines. We're doing everything we can to reduce our emissions, whether it's investing in solar energy or greening our buildings.

REID: Well, this has got to put a tremendous strain on the power grid. So how do you ensure that it can withstand these extreme temperatures, especially because we've seen how catastrophic a blackout, for example, can be?

GALLEGO: So far the power grid has stood up. We've been investing in solar energy. Phoenix actually has more solar than any other city installed on our city facilities. And we're real leaders in that technology. Our utilities and their staff are working very hard to make sure that we keep the city running during these challenging times. There have been some records for power usage.

REID: Speaking of records, Phoenix is not the only place breaking records. They are not used to, though, all this extreme heat, many different areas in this location. So what advise do you have for them when they have never experienced this kind of heat before?

GALLEGO: I have spoken with several mayors about what has worked well for us. The city has a network of cooling centers alongside faith partners and non-profits, and we hand out cooling kits. We've learned to be better about communicating the locations of those cooling centers. Another piece of advice I have is to set up a single point of contact around heat issues.

Phoenix is the first city in the country to have a publicly funded office focused on heat. And that's been a one-stop shop for great ideas around heat. Our firefighters come up with innovative solutions. Even people in our art community have found ways to create aesthetically pleasing shade corridors. And we're now working to cover 75 percent of walkways in heavily trafficked areas like downtown with shade. For us we don't have humidity so shade makes a huge difference.

REID: I'll bet. It takes a village to combat this kind of heat. Well, this week, President Biden announced a new federal heat relief plan which you supported. So how will that help cities like Phoenix?

GALLEGO: I was really pleased to join President Biden for that conversation. He put in place additional protections for workers who are outside who are vulnerable to the heat. He is talking about a variety of different assistance programs, including better information and investments in western water. Perhaps the most important steps he has taken have been through the Inflation Reduction Act.

For anyone who's watching, there's help with your energy bills and really reducing that. Small businesses can get funding to install technology such as solar energy. There's opportunities for cities to get support with old solutions like planting trees but also new solutions like designing the transportation system to be better adapted to climate change.

Phoenix has over 100 miles of cool pavement, which is a lighter colored sealant that we put on our city streets and they don't absorb as much heat. That's a program that maybe more than anything have been getting questions about from other mayors. It's working well for us. It's still hot here, but when we design the city with heat in mind, we can make it a little bit more comfortable.

REID: Something simple that can make a big difference. Now the president is also touting part of that plan which calls on the Department of Labor to guarantee heat-related protections like water breaks for outdoor workers. Is that something that you're seeing in Phoenix, employers denying water breaks? We know this is an issue in Texas. But has this been an issue for you as well?

GALLEGO: We are working very hard with employers to talk about the importance of water breaks, including our city business partners, and making sure that you get a chance to cool down. We have also learned that we maybe need to adjust the time people work. For us that means starting earlier in the day when it is cooler.

[19:10:00]

And we're really rethinking, can we do activities inside? For example, this week the city opened our first city-sponsored housing, that's shipping container housing so it's taking old shipping containers and constructing them into housing units. That can be done inside where it is still difficult to do construction, but a lot more comfortable. So if we really make it a priority, we can make life better for our workers. REID: Mayor Kate Gallego, thank you so much for joining us to share

some of this important advice for your neighbors also experiencing this brutal heat.

GALLEGO: Yes, wishing everyone to stay cool out there.

REID: And new developments in the case against former President Trump. He says he did not ask his employees to delete security camera video. Of course, that's not what he's charged with. He's charged with attempting to get it deleted. My conversation with one of his former attorneys next. And the efforts to save an American woman and her child kidnapped this weekend in Haiti.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:15:11]

REID: Former President Trump is pushing back on the newest criminal charges he's facing. He took to social media today to deny that security footage from Mar-a-Lago was deleted. But that's not what he's accused of. Prosecutors alleged he was part of an attempt to delete the footage.

With so many legal issues surrounding the former president, I wanted to speak with one of his former attorneys Tim Parlatore. Part of our conversation centered on the stunning legal costs that the former president and his associates are racking up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REID: Save America, the former president's PAC, is expected to disclose about $40 million in legal spending. That is more than any other expense they have incurred. And it will bring the PAC's total post-presidential legal spending to about $56 million. What's your reaction to those new numbers?

TIM PARLATORE, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: Mine is a very small percentage of that.

(LAUGHTER)

REID: So you answer my next question. Were you paid by the PAC?

PARLATORE: Yes. Yes, I was.

REID: Do you want to disclose how much?

PARLATORE: I'm sure it's in the public filings. I don't remember off the top of my head. But it's a very small percentage of that. But, you know, they are paying obviously for the multiple different legal teams representing President Trump but also for the people that are representing all of the witnesses, all of his employees and associates. So that is something that certainly can get expensive. And so, you know, $40 million, that's a big number. REID: And you represented the former president. You also represented

some other -- represent and represented other witnesses in this case.

PARLATORE: Yes.

REID: How do you balance that? Because there are questions about what happens if there's a conflict. Do you have like the boss, quote- unquote, and then you have these other people whose legal fees are being funded by political action committee that supports the boss?

PARLATORE: Well, the source of the funding is a good attorney. A good and ethical attorney should represent the client and the client alone regardless of who's paying the bill. And, you know, your duty of loyalty is solely to the client.

If you represent multiple people, that's fine, as long as you get the appropriate privilege waivers -- I'm sorry, conflict waivers. But there are certain things you can't do. So for example, if it's get into a situation where two of your clients become adverse to one another. You can't advice one client to provide information that's going to be damaging to another.

And as long as you provide that information to the clients ahead of time and they both agree, OK, you know, we both want this lawyer but we both know that he is not going to advise us, you know, to turn on one another, then that's perfectly permissible. I have done it, you know, many times in many other cases.

REID: Yes. It's certainly something that is legal. There are ethics parameters. But to the average bear, it's going to look like the entire system is designed to make sure, particularly these witnesses, to not become, quote, "adverse" to the former president.

PARLATORE: It can have that appearance certainly. But if you have good and ethical lawyers that are working in it, then it's not a problem. Now where the problem would come in is if they were, you know, paying for lawyers for somebody, and then if they didn't do what they wanted them to do to all of a sudden, you know, cut off payment, that would be problematic.

REID: Of course the special counsel -- this is not a crime, right, to have these kinds of arrangements.

PARLATORE: Not at all.

REID: But the special counsel clearly has some questions or at least wants to make a point of it. One of the paragraphs in the superseding indictment, they talk about Carlos De Oliveira after these efforts, alleged efforts to get him to delete the server. And then there's a description of a signal chat, so a text chat between some employees and Walt Nauta assessing Carlos De Oliveira's, quote, "loyalty" to Trump.

And quote, "That same day, Trump called De Oliveira and told him that he would get him an attorney." That looks like a litmus test. You're loyal, you get an attorney. Is there a litmus test for getting an attorney through the PAC?

PARLATORE: Not that I have seen. Certainly not. And I have seen some people that they have paid for attorneys for -- you know, we've kind of questioned it. But quite the opposite of like yes, that person isn't really that friendly. But it's -- whether they pay for the attorneys or not, it doesn't really necessarily change things.

And one of the things you have to remember, special counsel, yes, of course, they are focusing on this. But that's part of a longstanding DOJ tactic where what they try to do is they try and separate witnesses and people from funding for their attorneys, bleed them dry so they lose their legal representation. And that's when they're much more susceptible to just saying whatever DOJ wants them to say.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[19:20:02]

REID: And an aide group says an American woman and her child have been kidnapped in Haiti. What's being done to get them back safely?

That's next on the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: The State Department says it's working to secure the safe return of a kidnapped American woman and her child in Haiti. Alix Dorsainvil is a nurse for a Christian aide group. The organization says she and her child were abducted on Thursday while serving in their community ministry near Port-au-Prince.

CNN's Athena Jones joins us live with more details.

Athena, this woman vanished the same day the State Department ordered the evacuation of all non-emergency personnel in Haiti citing the worsening security situation there.

[19:25:10]

So what more do we know?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Paula. That's exactly right. And that is really the context this is happening in. There's been long been growing concerns about the worsening security situation. It was just two years ago this month that President Jovenel Moise was assassinated by gangs and ever since then there's been a power vacuum with gangs taking control over swaths of the country.

And so because of gang violence, because of gunfire just last week for several days in a row, members of the personnel at the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince were ordered to stay exactly on that embassy compound. And then as you mentioned on Thursday, family members and non- emergency personnel ordered to leave Haiti immediately because it's so dangerous.

What we know is that the U.S. authorities are working with their Haitian counterparts to try to resolve this situation with this mother and her young child. Right now, it's unclear who is responsible for this kidnapping. It's unclear whether they've made any demands whatsoever.

We do have a statement from El Roi Haiti, that's the Christian humanitarian organization that this nurse from New Hampshire had gone down to Haiti to work for. Here's what they've said in a statement in part. "Alix is a deeply compassionate and loving person who considers Haiti her home and the Haitian people her friends and family. Alix has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering as she loves and serves the people of Haiti in the name of Jesus."

Now El Roi has said of course it's their highest priority to bring back these two safely. And so they're not going to be releasing a whole lot of additional information. We know from a State Department spokesperson that again their highest priority is the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad. But the context here, this kind of increasingly bad security situation is important.

I should mention that the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was recently in Haiti and he said the Haitians are trapped in a living nightmare. He said the humanitarian situation, the conditions there are appalling. And he has called for what he calls a robust security force deployed by member states of the U.N. to work with the Haitian National Police to try to defeat and dismantle and arrest control back from these gangs, and bring the security situation under control.

But as of right now, we still are awaiting more details, more news on the fate of this mother and her young child -- Paula.

REID: Of course we hope they're both found safe. Athena Jones, thank you.

And in the Middle East, dozens are reported dead following an alleged suicide bombing during a political convention in Pakistan. It happened this morning in the country's northwestern region.

CNN's Sophia Safi reports from Islamabad. We want to warn you, there are some graphic images in this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Over 40 people have been confirmed as dead and over 100 people injured, some of whom are still in a critical condition, according to government officials that we've spoken to. This took place at a political rally in the district of Bajor, which borders neighboring Afghanistan in the north of Pakistan in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

We still don't have a claim of responsibility. But this did, according to officials, this was a suicide attack targeting a workers' convention by the JUI-F Party in this region, in the town of Khar. We do know that there has been an increased in militancy especially in the north of Pakistan. This is again quite a deadly attack. The deadliest one being in January in the city of Peshawar, again in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Now Pakistan's government is often in recent months very harshly blamed the Afghan Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan for harboring militants who've come across the border to take out this kind of attacks in Pakistani soil. But at the moment, there has been no claim of responsibility.

There is a state of emergency in hospitals across the province. There has been an investigation called into the incident by both the prime minister, the president, as well as the country's interior minister. There is a very special visit by the Chinese vice premiere here in Pakistan on Monday.

And there's already been a public holiday called in the capital city of Islamabad to ensure that such attacks do not take place as a matter of precaution in the capital. So we're going out of the weekend into Monday in Pakistan with a heightened sense of unease, heightened sense of insecurity and a heightened sense of confusion as to who was behind this attack and why.

This is an important time here in Pakistan. General elections are due to be held later in October of this year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:34:47]

REID: Now to the World Cup underway in New Zealand. The American women head into their final group match against Portugal with questions swirling about the team's tactics and coaching.

The US team's manager did not bring in any substitutes in the second half of this week's match against the Dutch and the US women's national team settled for a one-one draw against Team Netherlands.

[19:35:13]

Briana Scurry joins me to walk us through these developments. She is of course, a World Cup champ, an Olympic gold medalist and the author of the memoir, "My Greatest Save: The Brave, Barrier-Breaking Journey of a World Champion Goalkeeper."

Thank you so much for being with us.

BRIANA SCURRY, FORMER WORLD CUP CHAMPION: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Let's start off. I mean, should fans be worried about what they're seeing right now?

SCURRY: I understand that they may be a little bit concerned because we haven't played our best soccer yet. We did have a fantastic second half against Netherlands. So that's encouraging to me. But this game against Portugal is vital, and I don't think the team is going to sleep on them.

They know they have to get at least a tie and a win would be better, obviously to go into the knockout phase, but I think they're going to come out serious and get to business.

REID: And it seems so far, maybe they haven't been playing up to their potential. Is that fair?

SCURRY: It is fair. It is fair. But a lot of teams in this World Cup have been the same.

I mean, I just saw earlier today, Germany lost to Colombia. I've seen other teams struggle that should normally do really well, and so it's an interesting parody in this World Cup right now, but obviously, you never want the US to have that problem where they get upset.

But I think right now, they understand that this is when the real tournament begins and they have to take care of business against Portugal.

REID: I mean, what was your reaction to that big upset with Germany?

SCURRY: I was astonished. Colombia looks fantastic. Very exciting. They have an 18-year-old player on there, Linda, and she is amazing.

So it's very encouraging for the South American team to have such great talent on their team, and maybe we'll have a couple of upsets, but hopefully not the US.

REID: So from your perspective, who have been the standout so far on the US team?

SCURRY: Sophia Smith by far. She had a fantastic first game, her first game ever and a World Cup Championship. Obviously, Lindsey Horan was angry and made her amazing goal against the Netherlands, and so, she is the captain, she needs to do better. And so I am hoping to see Alex Morgan rise to the top as well.

We're going to have to do really, really great defending and also make our chances in attacking when they come available. That's going to get us to where we want to go.

REID: Is there anyone else you think that, look, you need to step up your game?

SCURRY: You know, I feel like the defense has been a little bit suspect that time. So I think having Naomi Girma back there, even though she's very new, she should be able to speak a little bit more, be more assertive, and be more of a leader out there, even though she's young.

I'd like to see Alex Morgan essentially take you know, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman under her wing and say, hey, guys, we've got to get the business going here. This is serious. This is when the tournament starts and we have to show what we can do right now.

REID: Well, hopefully they hear that and heed your advice.

SCURRY: Yes.

REID: A lot of criticism. A lot of questions about the coaching here.

SCURRY: Yes.

REID: How do you think he is doing?

SCURRY: Yes, Vlatko is an interesting character. He has normally shifted his lineups a lot, but this tournament, he hasn't yet. He has played the same lineup the first game and the second game. I think a couple of changes would really help. Sometimes you need to do some changes just to shake things up. Hopefully, he'll do that.

I have a lot of faith in him, but it seems that a lot of people may not, but it's still early. And for me, it's a little bit too early to say.

REID: What's your message to all the young girls watching this tournament? I mean, what is your message to them? If they want to go compete at this level, I mean, is it possible? How hard is it, right?

SCURRY: It is very hard. I know. But it's also very possible. I mean, so many of these young girls that are playing right now, were nine, ten years old, watching the likes of Abby play, watching me play, and watching Mia play back in the late 90s, early 2000s. And now, here they are, on the grand stage and other countries also the same thing. Young players coming in and making a real impact for their country against teams that they're not expected to win against, and really just showing bravery, showing great skill, and passion and desire.

And so I think it's a wonderful stage for so many different players to see. And young girls who are seeing girls that look like them do their thing on the big stage and they have to believe that they can also be there as well.

REID: Yes, and with this bigger stage or the bigger audience comes more scrutiny, right?

SCURRY: Yes, absolutely. And more opportunity as well.

REID: More opportunity, so many incredible opportunities. What do you think is going to happen over the next you know, few matches? How do you think this is going to play out?

SCURRY: It's interesting, because there's an extra game now. So it's a 32-team tournament, so they put in an extra game, and so what's going to start to happen is you're going to see the teams that have depth that have players who played a couple of games. They might be a little bit tired, they might have a couple of knocks.

[19:40:02]

You're going to be able to see if other players can come in and step up and ride out those highs and lows that you'll see coming in the tournament.

Now, this is the knockout phase and it's serious, and if you don't have your game on the day, you find yourself on the plane home and so it is no joke. This is the real McCoy. This is when champions are made. These are the knockout phases that show you whether your team is really ready for the big time or not, and I think the US is definitely ready for it.

REID: Well, we will be watching. Thank you so much. It is such a pleasure to have you here and thank you so much for coming to talk with us about all of this and best of luck to Team USA.

And coming up, CNN speaks to the musician, Moby, about his new podcast and his strong opinions on the presidential run of someone he knows well, former President Trump, next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:45:19]

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

REID: That's of course a track from the musician, Moby known for speaking his mind. He is now getting candid in a new podcast he started called "Moby Pod."

He spoke to CNN's Chloe Melas about the subject he plans to take on, including misinformation and former President Donald Trump.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Paula, that's right. I sat down with Moby virtually and we talked about his new podcast called "Moby Pod" and he is taking on all sorts of topics with his co-host, Lindsey, one of which we got to talking about politics and he had a lot to say about former President Donald Trump Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELAS: Was it an easy decision, though, to kind of move from Moby the musician to Moby the podcaster?

MOBY, MUSICIAN/PRODUCER: When we started "Moby Pod," the goal was not monetization or generating revenue streams or brand sponsorships, the goal was meaningful conversation.

And because there is -- and I really feel like I'm stating the obvious, but there's such a defining cultural ethos or zeitgeist of loneliness. You know, our culture, we're a very lonely culture, and we love connecting with each other, we love connecting with people we've never met. We love connecting with content, with ideas.

And I feel like, there are so many ways that people can state the obvious, connect with content in a very unhealthy way. You know, in a way that promotes misinformation or anger or division or hate, and I feel like if someone has the opportunity to put something out into the world that does not promote misinformation, division, hate, bigotry, et cetera, it is almost like you could say there's a responsibility to do so.

And in terms of being potentially overwhelmed by the space, I would say, the concern with anything like a podcast is the vulnerability in it. Because, you know, if I'm writing a song, or if I'm on tour, and I'm playing a song live, there are lots of ways to present myself to an audience that are sort of glamorous.

And when you're having a 90-minute conversation with someone, there's no glamour to it. So it does sort of strip away the artifice in a way that is vulnerable, and that can be daunting, but at the same time, I guess I longed for that sort of honest communication.

MELAS: Have you come out and endorsed any particular candidate for the upcoming election? Or do you have thoughts?

MOBY: I mean, if the options are Trump and I've known Trump and the Trump's for decades and decades and decades, and I mean, I just have to agree with almost everybody who served in Trump's Cabinet, he is unfit to hold office. You know, whether it's -- and I'm just saying what Bill Barr or Rex Tillerson or John Kelly are like, they just keep repeating the same thing is he's seriously mentally ill and unfit to hold office.

So that's not even a partisan opinion, that's the opinion of the people who've worked with him and I've been around him for a long time, and I have to reiterate that like he is a dangerous, dangerous mentally ill person.

So not to make light of mental illness, but there's something actually profoundly wrong with him. So my vote and my support will be pretty much anybody who is Donald Trump, because I don't see how our republic survives another Trump presidency.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MELAS: You know, Moby really wants to take on misinformation and he wants to talk about all topics and have this new connection with his fans, not just through music, and I've already started listening, and it's great and it's exciting to see artists try to connect with their fans in different ways.

Back to you.

REID: Chloe Melas, thank you so much.

And coming up, Donald Trump could face charges in Georgia as early as this week. Next, what's being done in Atlanta ahead of the possible indictment.

And a preview of tonight's episode of "The Whole Story," What Happened in Georgia.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:54:23]

REID: In Georgia, a decision may be imminent on whether to indict former President Trump or his allies. Security barriers are now in place around the Fulton County courthouse.

In a statement, the sheriff's office there says it is proactively coordinating with local, state, and federal agencies to enhance security during a high-profile legal proceeding.

CNN's Sara Murray takes us inside the effort to set up a shadow slate of electors in Georgia and the swing states for Trump in this week's episode of "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper. Here's a preview

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking around at who else is seeing this like, hey, does anybody know what's going on in that room?

[19:55:06]

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Room 216 at the door Georgia State Capitol, just one floor below where the Democratic

electors are meeting to certify the Georgia vote for President-elect Biden.

MURRAY (on camera): So you follow him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I followed.

MURRAY: Do you go into the room?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went into the room, and I walked in the door. Hey, what's going on here? What are you doing? Like what is -- we're having a meeting -- and it was a woman's voice.

So I'm looking around and I've got the thing going, and then she says, who's got a camera going? And then another fellow comes and just sort of hustles me out. I said, but what is this meeting? And she says it's an education meeting.

MURRAY: So they told you it was an education meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And they all but frog marched me out of the room and then, they posted somebody out front to make sure nobody else went it.

MURRAY: So were you convinced it was an education meeting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was convinced it was exactly what I thought it was.

MURRAY (voice over): And what he thought turned out to be right, a group of Republican shadow electors gathered to sign an illegitimate certification for President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: CNN's Sara Murray joins me now. So attorneys representing some of these electors say there was something secretive about what they were up to, but that's not what you're hearing. So what should people understand about this alleged scheme?

MURRAY: Yes, you know, I think a lot of attorneys are nervous as we get into this indictment window and attorneys, especially for David Shafer, the head of the Republican Party here in Georgia, someone who helped organize that fake slate of electors for Donald Trump had been very vociferous in saying, you know, there was nothing secretive about this meeting.

Eventually, the cameras were allowed in. David Shafer came out and talked afterwards, but as we have been reporting this out, and as we've been doing these interviews for this documentary, really see how much they wanted to keep this meeting secret of going so far as to, you know, throw a local journalist out of the room and spread a lie about what the meeting was actually about before.

It seems like they acquiesced and realized, the reporters who were there were not going to go away until they figured out what was going on.

And again, that's just a small slice of what we're trying to show people in this documentary of all these wild events that unfolded in Georgia around the 2020 election, many of which are now part of Fulton County district attorney's criminal probe into Donald Trump and his allies.

REID: And the reporting, Sara, of course is that indictments could be imminent in Georgia, but what does that exactly mean? Are we talking days? Weeks?

MURRAY: Wouldn't we love to have the exact date and just circle it on the calendar, so we can plan for it? I mean, we know that she has sent a signal to her local partners here that beginning tomorrow, we are essentially in the window for potential indictments, that's when she is going to be taking enhanced security measures with her own team. She wanted to see more security at the courthouse.

But she just reaffirmed actually in a local news interview over the weekend that whatever she has to announce, if anyone is going to be charged, she is going to do it before September 1st.

So I still think we're probably not days away, we're probably more like weeks away. But this is coming in, and it is coming soon.

REID: And of course, we've been on high alert for a possible indictment of the former president in the federal investigation into January 6. Really unclear right now when that is going to happen. But does the timing of a federal indictment in any way impact will happen in Georgia?

MURRAY: This is a question we get asked a lot, you know, because you've learned and we've learned through our reporting that there has been some overlap in what Special Counsel Jack Smith is looking at and what Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis are looking at in terms of events that transpired in Georgia and some of the witnesses that they've talked to. But my sense in talking to people around the investigation here is

that Fani Willis is not going to back off of this. She's not going to back off her plans if she does plan to bring charges, regardless of what Jack Smith does.

And our understanding is at this point, there's been no ask from the Justice Department for her to do so, that these are really two investigations that are running in parallel sort of tandem to each other right now -- Paula.

REID: I know most people, they have jobs, kids, lives, they haven't really followed exactly what's going on in Georgia, but you have, every day. You're the best source reporter on the story. So what do you think people need to know about why they should tune in tonight to watch your special? What will they walk away with?

MURRAY: I think people don't understand just how much was going on in the state, how varied these efforts were, whether it was trying to pressure election workers, I mean, a former hip-hop publicist showing up to try to pressure an election worker to admit that she was part of some kind of voter fraud scheme, all the way up to you know, the things you may have heard about or read in the news like THE Donald Trump call to Georgia secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, pressuring him to find the votes.

I think in Georgia, just like we've learned in the federal case, it really is peeling back an onion and as we've gotten, you know, two- and-a-half years sort of past the beginning of this investigation, there has been more and more we've learned about these efforts.

I mean, when you think about an effort to breach the voting system in Coffee County, Georgia that didn't come to light until very recently.

REID: Well, Sara Murray, thank you so much. I know I will be tuning in and other should, too, to this all-new episode of "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper. It's one whole story, one whole hour. It airs next only on CNN.

And thanks for joining me this evening. I'm Paula Reid. Have a great evening.